The Eternals #1 [1976]

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Kirby’s first new series on his return to Marvel, a few months after he re-took the reins of CAPTAIN AMERICA, was THE ETERNALS. It also had the most complex set-up, with two hidden races emerging, the god-like Eternals and the monstrous Deviants.

The Eternals #1 [1976]

The first issue eases into the concepts, with just one of the Eternals, Ikaris, leading a father and daughter archaeologist team to a chamber of alien beings in South America, explaining the basis of the Eternals/Deviant setup, and then being attacked by a group of Deviants led by Kro.

Kirby really goes all out in the art for this. He opens big, with two full page splashes and a double page splash making up the first four pages, with detailed images of the huge constructs in the chamber. He continues with such nice images as the underwater Deviant city, the mountain home of the Eternals and more, all well inked by John Verpoorten (with a cover inked by Frank Giacoia). All in all it’s a good set up to what would be an entertaining and fairly long-lived series (19 issues and a double sized annual).

Published 1976.

First Romance Magazine #42 [1956] – Cover

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FIRST ROMANCE MAGAZINE #42, 1956. One of the Harvey romance covers Kirby did in that era. An average Kirby cover, but I’m assuming the art doesn’t refer to story in the caption. Check out this juxtaposition:

FirstRomanceMagazine42_93.jpg

If you can’t read it, it says

Should I Keep My Love a Secret? Or Compete With… “My Sister, My Rival”

Now, if that referred to this cover, by romance comic standards, it would be the bus driver in the background who’s speaking, meaning that’s his sister in the foreground, and she’s his rival for the affections of the coffee-counter guy. Now, I’ve got no problem with that, but I don’t think it would have gotten that code seal in the corner in 1956 with that plot.

The Superman Gallery #1 [1993]

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Since I had it out to compare the pencils with the just released Milgrom inked version (and Milgrom did a great job with it), here’s the unused cover to JIMMY OLSEN #133, as published in THE SUPERMAN GALLERY #1 in 1993.

A fairly minor entry in the Kirby bibliography, even moreso now that the inked version has been published and so many pages of Kirby pencils have been published in fanzines in the past decade, but there’s some other good stuff in here, including images by Joe Shuster, Curt Swan, Wayne Boring, some decent modern images (some not quite so much, depending on your tastes).

New Kirby – Jimmy Olsen v2

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Odd how after nothing for quite a while, several Kirby books, from different publishers, are coming out within weeks of one another…


DC has just published the concluding volume of Kirby’s issue’s of JIMMY OLSEN, with this collection of #142-148. In addition to the stories and covers from those issues (one of them mis-credited, #145 is Anderson inks on the cover, not Colletta. Oddly, Evanier gets it right in his introduction), they also have three pages of reproductions of Kirby’s pencil work, so you can see what his actual Superman head looks like, a Newsboy Legion short story from a post-Kirby issue for some reason, the aforementioned Evanier introduction and a cover inked by Al Milgrom over an alternate version of the cover to #133 (the pencils were previously published in THE SUPERMAN GALLERY back in 1993).

Jack Kirby Checklist 1998 Final Edition [1998]

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Figured I should mention that a lot of the information for these entries comes from THE JACK KIRBY CHECKLIST 1998 FINAL EDITION, published by TwoMorrows. An essential guide for the Kirby fan, this 100 page book is almost sure to lead you to some Kirby story you didn’t know about, or a source for a reprint of a story. Also contains sections on Kirby’s comic strip work, magazine articles about Kirby and unpublished work and more. Liberally illustrated with dozens of sketches of his many characters.

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You’d also want to get the 2001 Update of the list which appears in THE JACK KIRBY COLLECTOR #32. It lists a few corrections, new stuff published after the original list and newly discovered stuff.

Yet Another Cover Gallery

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RAWHIDE KID #41, 1964. Love that image of the Kid leading a revolt on a mining cart.

HOUSE OF MYSTERY #78, 1958. As well as a number of stories, Kirby did a handful of covers for the DC fantasy books of the late 1950s

FANTASTIC FOUR #181, 1977. A nice large action-pose of the Thing by Kirby/Sinnott is always a pleasure.



100-Page Super Spectacular #15 [1973]

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One of DC’s best reprint forums of the early 1970s was the 100-Page Super Spectacular. #DC-15 was a good one, with two Simon&Kirby reprints.

First up was the Boy Commandos story from DETECTIVE COMICS #65, the untitled second Boy Commandos story. They also reprinted the cover, which has Batman and Robin (by Jerry Robinson) welcoming the BCs to the book, an issue late, but Batman is a busy guy…

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The story opens with, of all things, Nostradamus in 1565, in the court of Queen Catherine of France. It turns out that not only did he predict Hitler and his invasion of France, he also predicted the Boy Commandos. No word on if he predicted Devil Dinosaur.

From that introduction, we go to the then modern day, where Rip Carter and the Boy Commandos are practicing parachute jumping in England. Carter then announces that the boys have to go to school, and they go an English boys’ school. They get hazed by the other students and befriended by a gardener. Unfortunately, the gardener turns out to be a spy for the Germans, hoping to get some hint about what Carter’s unit is planning. Fortunately, Carter manages to figure this out in time to change his plan and destroy a weapons factory in France, just missing capturing Goering. Of course, the boys are disappointed that after that they still have to return to the school.

Oddly, the story just ends there, while I would have expected a return to the Nostradamus framing sequence.

Later in the issue, the Sandman story from ADVENTURE #81 is reprinted. “A Drama in Dreams” has Sandy suspicious about how Wesley Dodds is acting (and as an aside, didn’t Sandy and Bucky have the worst secret identities in the world? I mean, their first names? The mask doesn’t really help much with that kind of clue). For one thing, Wes doesn’t seem to know that he’s the Sandman. Sandy follows him, and finds out that “Wes” is a criminal double, who has captured the real Wes in order to steal one of his businesses. Eventually, it ends with Wes Dodds, disguised as the Sandman, impersonating the criminal, who’s impersonating Wes Dodds, who is, of course, the Sandman. Yeah, I was confused too.

Two good examples of early 1940s S&K, plus the issue has three Superboy stories, a Superbaby story, Aquaman, Hawk&Dove and Dial H For Hero.

Published March 1973

Who’s Who – The Definitive Directory Of The DC Universe #16 [1986]

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WHO’S WHO #16 featured four Kirby drawn entries (as well as Brian Bolland drawing the Kirby designed Morgaine le Fay from THE DEMON).

Mother Box gets an entry, inked by Mike Royer. Simple enough image of three styles of Mother Box, with backgrounds of the use of it at the hands of Orion, Scott Free and the Forever People.

New Genesis gets a page, inked by Greg Theakston. Four images of various scenes, including a nice one of the memorial statues, and a background of the destruction of New Genesis from THE HUNGER DOGS.

The New Gods get a great double page spread, inked by Theakston, with 29 characters in a big crowd scene (with, oddly, Fastbak being the largest one, right up front), as well as headshots of each.

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And the Newsboy Legion get a page, with a scene of the team back in Suicide Slum with their guardian, officer Jim Harper, inked by Karl Kesel.

Published June 1986

Upcoming Kirby – Marvel Visionaries Stan Lee

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A fair bit of Jack Kirby, some of it never before reprinted (the final
Kirby issue of THOR), in the upcoming Marvel Visionaries Stan Lee
hardcover, due February of next year.

Hardcover: 304 pages
Publisher: Marvel Comics; (February 1, 2005)
ISBN: 0785116931

In celebration of its 65th anniversary, the House of Ideas proudly presents a timeless testament to another true Marvel visionary! In 1961, writer Stan Lee penned Fantastic Four #1, an historic issue unlike any comic book that had come before. This super-hero team had true personalities – they doubted their own abilities, battled problems of money and illness, and even fought among themselves. The monumental popularity of this realistic comic-book style inspired Lee to create similarly themed titles – including Hulk, X-Men, and Avengers with artist Jack Kirby; and Amazing Spider-Man with artist
Steve Ditko. By 1965, Lee had successfully established Marvel Comics as a cohesive universe populated by world-famous comic-book characters. Now, this deluxe keepsake edition collects his greatest moments – some never before reprinted:

“Captain America Foils the Traitor’s Revenge” (Captain America Comics #3): Stan’s first story, a two-page text piece! “The Red Skull’s Deadly Revenge” (Captain America Comics #16): The defining Golden Age Red Skull story! “The Raving Madman” (Suspense #29): Stan’s satire on Frederick Wertham and the comics witch hunts of the ’50s! “Your Name Is Frankenstein!” (Menace #7): A modern Frankenstein story, featuring many of the elements of the later Marvel books! “Where Walks the Ghost” (Amazing Adult Fantasy #11): A short, twist-ending story by Lee and Ditko! Plus: “Spider-Man” (Amazing Fantasy #15); “A Visit With the Fantastic Four” (Fantastic Four #11); “How Stan and Steve Create Spider-Man” (Amazing Spider-Man Annual #1); “In Mortal Combat with Sub-Mariner” Daredevil #7); “The Final Chapter” (Amazing Spider-Man #33);“Bedlam in the Baxter Building” (Fantastic Four Annual #3); “And Who Shall Mourn for Him?” (Silver Surfer #5); “Brother, Take My Hand” (Daredevil) #47; “And Now, The Goblin,” “In the Grip of the Goblin,” and “The Goblin’s Last Stand” (from Amazing Spider-Man #96-98); “No Longer Alone” (Captain America #110); “No More the Thunder God,” “When Gods Go Mad,” and “One God Must Fall” (from Thor #179-181); “While the World Spins Mad” (Marvel Premiere #3); and “The Circle of Life” (Spectacular Spider-Man Super-Special 1995)!

Superman’s Pal, Jimmy Olsen #144 [1971]

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The second collection of Jimmy Olsen stories by Jack Kirby should be out this week, bringing all of the 1970s Fourth World stories by Kirby into print.

#144 will be among those issues. It opens with a Kirby cover inked by Neal Adams, featuring the Newsboy Legion and Jimmy Olsen, as well as Jimmy Olsen’s Pal, Superman, with a giant sea monster. Far-out!! indeed.

“A Big Thing In A Deep Scottish Lake” is a 22-page story inked by Colletta, with of course facial modifications by Murphy Anderson. Morgan Edge sends Jimmy and the Newsboys off to Scotland to investigate the Lake Trevor Monster, and directs his contacts at Intergang to take care of them.

Superman's Pal, Jimmy Olsen #144 [1971]

And for once, Flippa’s scuba gear finally comes in handy, as he goes down to explore the lake, while their guide, Felix MacFinney, reveals himself to be an Intergang agent. Fortunately, they’re saved by the Scrapper Trooper (a miniature clone of Scrapper) and the timely arrival of the Loch Trevor monster, who looks to be a distant relative of Fin Fang Foom.

Meanwhile, Superman and the Guardian are invited to a new discotheque, where they encounter Dubbilex the DNAlien, Terry Dean and the San Diego Five String Mob.

“The Torn Photograph” is a two-page vignette giving some hints about some of the mysteries surrounding the DNA Project, stuff Kirby didn’t get a chance to fully explore, but many of which informed modern day Superman stories featuring the Project.

Back-up this issue is the cover and lead story from STAR-SPANGLED COMICS #10, the fourth Newsboy Legion story from 1942, “Kings For A Day”. It features the boys winning an election where kids run the city for a day. They take jobs as Mayor, DA, Police chief and Commissioner of Sanitation. Of course, they’re disappointed to find that they’re honourary positions, but still manage to foil various criminals, with some help of Jim Harper, the Guardian.

Published 1971