Giant-Size Master Of Kung Fu #3 [1975]

by

YELLOW CLAW was one of the books that Kirby did during his short stint at what became Marvel in the mid-1950s, before his longer run there starting in the late 1950s. Kirby did three issues (#2 – #4), each with four short stories with FBI agent Jimmy Woo foiling the plans of the Yellow Claw, often aided by the Claw’s very conflicted niece Suwan.

The stories in #2 were reprinted in two issues of GIANT-SIZE MASTER OF KUNG FU in the mid-1970s, although changing some lettering so that Jimmy is now an agent of SHIELD rather than the FBI.

The third issue reprinted “Concentrate on Chaos”, which has the Claw using a a crew of six mutants with mental powers to create havoc in the US. Kirby gets to do a nice Dali-esque page to show that. The stories all end rather quickly and aren’t that satisfying, but they do often have great visuals.

mokf3

Also reprinted in this issue is an untitled story where Jimmy is convinced to trail Suwan to the Claw’s HQ, only to be captured. For no good reason, the Claw just lets him go rather than killing him, but it’s kind of interesting that they toss him out of a boat in giant bubble, given Kirby’s later fascination with (and unfinished adaptation of) THE PRISONER.

A half century of Covers

by

STRANGE TALES #134, 1965. Frank Giacoia inks again for the final Human Torch solo story. Knights, archers, horses, castles and super-heroes. Just some of the things Kirby drew so well.

GREEN HORNET #7, 1942. An early Harvey cover, signed Jon Henri. There seem to be other hands in here, probably Joe Simon, but there’s a lot of Kirby in that killer clown. I like some of those other features, Blonde Bomber the Newsreel Ace, Mighty Midgets.

ACTION COMICS #638, 1989. A very nice image of Etrigan, very sharply inked by Terry Austin, one of a few chances he had to ink Kirby. This is also Kirby’s last published work for DC.



Covers to go

by

TWO-GUN KID #72, 1964. Excellent Frank Giacoia inks on a dynamic cover.

MARVEL SUPER-HEROES #54, 1975. One of the covers Kirby did for the 1970s reprint books, although by this time reprinting non-Kirby stories. A nice generic Hulk scene. Colletta inks.

BLACK MAGIC #16, 1952. Love the extra-dark moody inking S&K used for BLACK MAGIC. Plus Kirby being free to use his full skills at the grotesque.



–Link– Kirby’s Legacy at Slate

by

The Hogan’s Alley site at Slate features a few comic creators discussing Kirby and some of their favourite moments, including Steve Gerber, Neil Gaiman, Frank Miller and Neal Adams.

http://cagle.slate.msn.com/hogan/features/kirby.asp
http://cagle.slate.msn.com/hogan/features/kirby2.asp
http://cagle.slate.msn.com/hogan/features/kirby3.asp

House Of Mystery #199 [1972]

by

In addition to Challengers of the Unknown and Green Arrow, Kirby’s stint at DC in the 1950s saw him do 30 short stories and some covers for the various fantasy and science fiction anthologies.

Several of those stories were reprinted in the 1970s, including this one in HOUSE OF MYSTERY #199.  Originally printed in MY GREATEST ADVENTURE #17 as “I Doomed the World”, here it’s called “He Doomed The World” to accommodate the introduction by host Cain.

hom199

The story is a typical not-entirely-plausible ending story, where a rich inventor is hypnotized by aliens to send four explorers to the extremes of the Earth in a plane to destroy the world. The art is excellent, though, with lots of detailed images. I especially like the panel highlighted in the scan there, where Kirby draws this incredibly good looking and complex statue. There’s really no reason for that to be there, but I kind of like that he goes to that extra effort.

Published February 1972.

Not Brand Echh #3 [1967] – The Origin of Sore

by

NOT BRAND ECHH was of course Marvel’s title for self-parody. Kirby had stories in some of the early issues, doing parodies of the various characters he drew at Marvel (FF, Thor, Surfer), plus a, um, Forbush Man story.

I’m not a huge fan of the book. A lot of the parodies read to me a bit too much like someone read the “how to do a parody” strip in MAD #17 by Kurtzman and Wood, and didn’t quite get that it was a joke. But just by sheer volume there are always some good gags, and some of the art is good.

In #3 it was Thor who was up, under his gag-name of “Mighty Sore, Son of Shmodin”, against his arch-nemesis Hokey. Yeah, I know. Sore is kind of a good design, with a carpenter hammer, long blonde hair in braids, a chicken on his helmet and buttons that keep changing.

nbe3

Among the better gags in this one, I like the pile of newspapers with stories about Sore, except the Daily Bugle running “Spider-Man is a Fink” as the headline. The page shown above also has the expression “kirbyesque” referring to Hokey’s cannon, which might be the first time that expression was ever published. And for no explained reason, when the Warriors Three are shown, “Bullstag” has a sign on his chest saying “Legalize Potatoes”.

The 8 page story is inked by Frank Giacoia, who does a great job on it, very clear and faithful. The Kirby checklist notes an art assist to Marie Severin, which would seem to be the panel showing a crowd of tourists in Asgard, including caricatures of many celebrities of the day.

Published 1967

This Post, This Cover Gallery

by

Sorry, but I’ve got a lot of these already scanned, so it’s easier doing these than actual stories.

TALES OF SUSPENSE #52, 1964. Kirby only drew a handful of the early Iron Man stories, but of course did draw the covers for quite a while. The Crimson Dynamo is a pretty goofy looking villain, but doesn’t the Black Widow look nice. Inked by George Roussos.

GIANT-SIZE CONAN #5, 1975. Inked by Joe Sinnott, with some corrections on Conan’s face, probably by John Romita. Not sure why the correction, since Kirby’s version was fine, recognizably Conan. Sometimes I think they just meddle with the art for the sake of meddling. The only Conan art Kirby did for Marvel, although he did draw the character a few more times that have appeared in fanzines and other books.

WESTERN FIGHTERS #1, 1948. A nice S&K cover from one of the Hillman books. Love the inking on those, and the folds on the clothes.



More covers

by

Another trio of covers from through the years

STAR SPANGLED COMICS #49, 1945. More of the S&K DC books done during the time Kirby was in the army, so others were doing the interior Newsboy Legion stories. This one is a bit loose, but captures the fun nature of the feature.

JOURNEY INTO MYSTERY #96, 1963. During the first year of Thor, there were a number of issues where other artists did the feature, before Kirby permanently took over the feature with #101. Of course, he still did all the covers, including this one inked by Dick Ayers, with a nice trademark Kirby shocked crowd scene.

INVADERS, THE #15, 1977. Inked by Joe Sinnott. Kirby did a lot of covers for this WWII set super-hero book, which frequently featured new “retro” characters as well as real Golden Age characters. I doubt Kirby had a hand in designing them, but they were well done and he handled them very nicely.



Another Cover Gallery

by

Yet more covers. I’ll get to another book with an actual Kirby story soon.

SGT. FURY #8, 1964, inked by Dick Ayers, who also took over the art on the title this issue. The newest Howler menioned on the cover is Percival ‘Pinky’ Pinkerton, of course. Also introducing Zemo, who debuts in AVENGERS the same month.

CHARLIE CHAN #4, 1948. One of several Charlie Chan covers done by Simon&Kirby for Prize/Crestwood (with apparently only come minor Kirby work on the interiors of some issues, a few splash pages and panels). This one has some especially nice work, with lots of trademark Kirby touches, on the statue in the foreground.

WHAT IF #9, 1978, Joe Sinnott inks. Boy, would that have been an exciting Avengers line-up. Gorilla-Man and the Human Robot. Seriously, were they even trying?



–Link– Lord of Light

by

Kirby did over a dozen great (but probably completely unproducable) production design prints for a planned film adaptation of the novel LORD OF LIGHT. Take a look at them at this site.

http://www.lordoflight.com/art.html