Following the one-shot with Joe Simon the previous year, DC continued the new Sandman in an on-going book in 1975. Different creators on the interiors, but Kirby and Royer were there with the cover art.
Very nice Kirby style nightmare monster, and I like the strong, bold inking, which works very well with this unique colouring scheme, which helps the dream portion of the cover pop out.
BLACK CAT MYSTERY #57, 1956. I can’t decide what I like best about this cover, the surreal concept, the fish taking notes or the fish with the slide projector controller. In any case, definitely one of my favourite of Kirby’s covers for Harvey in that period.
A trio of covers from various genres.
BLACK MAGIC #14, 1952.
WARFRONT #28, 1956.
TWO-GUN KID #70, 1964.
This issue of TWO-GUN KID has a Kirby/Ayers cover, and in addition has the 5 page Kirby/Ayers short story “The Outlaw”, with no continuing characters (the Two-Gun Kid stories in this issue are by John Severin).
![Two-Gun Kid #55 [1960]](http://kirbymuseum.org/blogs/kirby/wp-content/uploads/sites/8/2004/10/Two-Gun-Kid-55-1960.jpg)
“The Outlaw” is an excellent story, about a bank robber who manages to escape from the local sheriff, but the sheriff remains confident. Over the course of the story, the outlaw finds that he can’t do anything with his money for fear of being caught, and is under constant suspicion. Some very nice artwork, check out those faces in panels 2 and 6 of the scan.
Published 1960
Fin Fang Foom is probably the epitome of the Kirby monster, both in look and name, oft reprinted and brought into the Marvel super-hero lore many times by subsequent creators.
FANTASY MASTERPIECES #2 reprints the original story, from STRANGE TALES #89 (1961). Inked magnificently by Dick Ayers, and for some reason coloured orange rather than the original green. I don’t usually pick splash pages to post, but this one is just too perfect.
![Fantasy Masterpieces #2 [1966]](http://kirbymuseum.org/blogs/kirby/wp-content/uploads/sites/8/2004/10/Fantasy-Masterpieces-2-1966.jpg)
I just love that image, how Kirby mixes human and monster features with wild abandon to create something so memorable.
The story is about a resident of Formosa (Taiwan), derided as a coward by his father due to his his dedication to ancient studies rather than joining the army, acting as Red China prepares to invade by releasing the legendary beast Fin Fang Foom to unwittingly demolish the Red Chinese forces.
The character also inspired what is perhaps the most absurdly wonderful bit of comic related merchandise ever.
This issue of FM also reprints a Don Heck story, “Orogo”, for which Kirby did the splash page. I wonder if he drew that first, or was asked to do it after the original was done to punch up the story a bit. The cover of this issue is a collage of images from the three stories reprinted.
Published 1966
CHAMP COMICS #18, 1941. Another wartime cover. Don’t try to think too much about how exactly the Liberty Lads got the jump on those Japanese pilots, much less how the Japanese pilots could attack Washington DC.
DARING MYSTERY COMICS #8, 1942. You gotta feel for Blue Diamond. Right there on the cover, but grouped in with “and others” in the blurb, which names the other five guys.
STAR SPANGLED COMICS #40, 1945. And boy, is that a complicated flying machine for robbing a bank. If it actually works, you could sell the patent for more than the bank robbery would haul in.
Crime, Romance and Horror images designed to grab you and get your precious dime.
POLICE TRAP #4, 1955. Boy, that looks dangerous, doesn’t it? One of the S&K Mainline/Prize books.
TRUE BRIDE-TO-BE ROMANCE #17, 1956. A Harvey romance comic. That guy in the backgound looks like he’s going to cause some trouble.
BLACK MAGIC #V2#3, 1952. I don’t trust this guy, either.
DAREDEVIL #5, 1964. Wallace Wood took over (and slightly redesigned, before the big redesign) DD with this issue, and inked Jack Kirby’s cover.
TALES TO ASTONISH #64, 1965. Colletta inks on this one. The Giant-Man half is a nice bit of Kirby foreshortening.
AVENGERS, THE #22, 1965. Wood inks again. Great image of the Enchantress.
THOR #255, 1977. Inked by John Verpoorten, with some re-drawing. Because what, Kirby’s Thor doesn’t look like Thor? Weird. Nice to see the Warriors Three.
MARVEL TWO-IN-ONE #25, 1977. Inked by Joe Sinnott. Great to see a few more Kirby Thing drawings on these TWO-IN-ONE covers. That was always one of his defining characters.
INVADERS, THE #16, 1977. Inked by Joe Sinnott. Hm, Master Man. There’s a Roy Thomas villain for you.
LAST OF THE VIKING HEROES #5, 1988. Mike Thibodeaux’s comic, published by Genesis West, had a few contributions by Kirby. This cover, inked by Dave Stevens, is really sharp, looking like something out of Tales of Asgard.
NIGHTGLIDER #1, 1993. Another of the Topps “Kirbyverse” books. This is the weakest of the covers Kirby did for these books (well, except for the inking on one of them), still attractive but the figure isn’t really doing anything.
SECRET ORIGINS #19, 1987. A bit of a minor one, Kirby did the Guardian figure on here, while Murphy Anderson did the rest and inked the whole thing. It’s nice that Anderson got do to more than just re-draw Superman and Jimmy Olsen heads over Kirby for once.
