Category Archives: Topic

Featured Cover, Mystery Men #10

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Posted in 2 Fox, 2007/02, Featured Work, Periods, Topic, z Archive.

Mystery Men #10
Mystery Men #10 (May 1940) by Joe Simon

I was pleasantly surprised by a gift I received not too long ago from my niece. It was a calendar with a pulp art theme. I had never mentioned to her any interest in pulp art. In fact it is area of Americana that I have not dealt with very much. Anyway the calendar had some great art and was much appreciated. Then while in a book store I spotted “Pulp Art” by Robert Lesser. Well I really have too many books and even with its great price I was reluctant to buy it. That was until I spotted the painting from The Mysterious Wu Fang (see image below). Then I could not resist it, after all now I could consider the book as part of my Simon and Kirby research.

Now there is are four years between these two publications. Did Joe pick up a copy at a used book store or had he kept a copy from when it first came out? Who can say, but there is little doubt that Joe liked the image.

But there was also an unexpected link. When I looked at caption to the illustration of this painting in Lesser’s book it said the original was from the Steranko collection. Seems like Jim and Joe have similar tastes.

The Mysterious Wu Fang
The Mysterious Wu Fang (March 1936) by Jerome Rozen from the book Pulp Art by Robert Lesser

An Astonishing Jack Kirby Story

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Posted in 2007/02, 7 Freelance, Atlas Kirby, Featured Work, Periods, Topic, z Archive.

Astonishing #56
Astonishing #56 (December 1956) “Afraid To Dream” page 1 by Jack Kirby

It was mid 1956 and the Simon and Kirby studio had failed. Jack Kirby would help Joe Simon with some projects that if successful might bring the team back together again (in the end they did not). But in the mean time Jack had turned to freelance work in order to support his family. Jack was trying to sell DC on a new title that he and Joe Simon and developed called Challengers of the Unknown. Jack had also taken on some work from Atlas. It was a company he had worked for many years ago when it was called Timely. On that occasion Timely had failed to deliver of their promise of a share of the profits from S&K’s creation Captain America. If that was not bad enough, as Atlas they did not pay their artists all that well. But none of that really mattered because Jack simply needed the work.

Kirby took over all the story art for Yellow Claw #2 (December 1956). I have previously posted about this comic and I consider Jack’s Yellow Claw work for issues #2 and #3 to be some of his best effort. It appears that Jack did all the work himself; writing, penciling and inking. Of course since it is Kirby the penciling is great, but the real treat is to be able to see Jack inking his own art.

For the same month as Yellow Claw #2, Jack would do a four page story for Astonishing #56 call “Afraid To Dream”. It concerns a man who has trouble sleeping. His nights are disturbed by a continuing nightmare. In his dream a man crashes in a spaceship on a hostile world. It is night and the world is filled with numerous perils that the injured man must transverse in order to get to safety. But the spaceman must reach his destination soon for when day arrives the planet’s surface becomes too hot for him to survive. Jack has done other stories with vignettes showing the journey of some individual. Therefore I am confident that Jack also wrote “Afraid To Dream”.

Like YC #2, Kirby also inked his own pencils. The inking uses the S&K studio style of spotting only with a finer brush. Finer that is compared to previous S&K productions but still probably too extreme for DC. It is interesting to compare this Atlas work with the spotting that Jack had been doing the past year for Prize romance comics. At a glance these two inking techniques might appear quite distinct. The Prize romances have limited use of spotting and when spotting is used it generally floods an area with black. While for Atlas Jack did a lot of spotting (using a finer version of the S&K house style) and would rarely flood an area with black. However for Atlas Kirby would often cover a large area with closely arranged S&K style inking. These larger dark area are shape similarly as the flooded areas of the 1956 Prize romances. The differences between the two approaches is probably related to the jobs. During the previous year Jack had been doing the penciling for pretty much the entire line of Prize romances. Jack had help, at least at times, with the outline inking but he did the spotting himself. Considering the amount of work he was doing he wanted to keep the inking to a minimum and so avoided the S&K style hatching. When an a black area was needed, flooding it with inking would be quickest. With Atlas Jack probably wanted to impress Stan and the readers. So it was back to S&K style shop hatching but applying it with a finer touch. Jack may have been hoping that his work Atlas might lead not to just work as a penciler but to producing the comics like he had previously in the S&K studio.

The difference between the true masterpiece and the rest is often surprisingly small. The spotting that Jack did for YC #2 and #3 is just amazing. Although the inking done for “Afraid To Dream” uses a similar approach somehow it just does not achieve the same results. It feels a bit rushed to me and just slightly off. Not much, so it is still enjoyable, but not achieving the masterpiece status.

“Afraid To Dream” is just four pages long and it is hardly one of Jack’s greatest work. Still the story is enjoyable and it is nice to see what Jack could do by himself. Kirby seemed to have a lot of control over what he did for Atlas at this time. Jack would loose that control for the work that he would shortly do for DC. However conditions at Atlas would in the not distant future change dramatically with the event called the Atlas Implosion. Kirby would return to doing freelance work after the Implosion, but working conditions would not be the same. After that Jack would be penciler only, writing and inking would be done by others.

Astonishing #56
Astonishing #56 (December 1956) by Joe Maneely

Jack may have been welcomed back to Atlas but he was not Stan Lee’s number one artist. Stan’s bright eye boy was Joe Maneely. Maneely was fast and he used detailed inking. Stan turned to him time and again for the most important covers or stories. The early death of Joe Maneely in 1958 probably had more impact on the future of Marvel Comics then even the Atlas Implosion. What would Fantastic Four #1 have been like if it was drawn by Maneely and not Kirby? Or what about Spiderman with Maneely instead of Ditko? Of course this sort of “what ifs” can never be truly be answered. I must confess I find Maneely to be the antithesis of what I seek in a comic book artist. To me his art is extremely dry and overwrought. I have no doubt that if he was the artist for the Fantastic Four I would never had become a Marvel junkie.

Stan Sakai, Usagi Yojimbo, and the Kirby Connection

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Posted in 2007/02, Odds & Ends, Topic, z Archive.

Usagi Yojimbo #100
Panel from Usagi Yojimbo #100

I have found that many Kirby fans do not read current comic books. It is an attitude that I frankly neither understand nor share. Granted the days are long gone when you could pick up any Marvel comic and be pretty sure of a good read. When I was young my brother and I would buy Marvel’s entire superhero line and Sgt. Fury. Today I suspect anyone on a allowance would not be able to afford to do the same thing. Heck even though adult readers might be able to afford to buy the entire Marvel line would they really want to?

Nonetheless there are still good comics being made (some of them even by Marvel). Often you have to go out of the standard superhero genre. One of my favorites is Usagi Yojimbo written and drawn by Stan Sakai. One might think a comic about a samurai rabbit is as far from Kirby as one could get. One might think that but one would be wrong. Every so often Stan does a pose that reminds me of Jack. I think Jack would approve. I have read comments by Jack that artist can learn things from his work but that they should express them in their own style.

Recently the Usagi Yojimbo #100 issue came out. Not a bad run for an artist especially when you consider that this is the hundredth Dark Horse issue. Usagi had a pretty good history before Dark Horse, they say totally it amounts to 160 issues. Stan and Dark Horse decided to celebrate the event anyway and put together a special celebration. This particular issue is the type of comic only a fan would enjoy, but if you are a fan it is a lot of fun. I particularly got a kick out of a panel that I show at the start of this post. Was this a sort of composite portrait of the standard Kirby fan drawn as a rabbit? I purposely left out the credits with the image. This panel is from a few pages drawn by Scott Shaw! and written by Mark Evanier. Yes that Evanier, former Kirby assistant and renown comic scholar. Stan Sakai (lettering) and Mark Evanier (writing) have a long history together with Sergio Aragones (art) working on a comic called Groo. I guess comics must be a small world since you do not need six degrees to connect Stan Sakai to Jack Kirby. You just need Mark Evanier.

Simon and Kirby’s Office, LOL

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Posted in 2007/02, Odds & Ends, Topic, z Archive.

Comic Book Creators, Jack Kirby
Jack Kirby from “Comic Book Creators, Jack Kirby” by Sue Hamilton

I finally got my copy of Sue Hamilton’s “Comic Book Creators, Jack Kirby”. The delay was my fault I had both taken my time in ordering it and tied the order with another book that had not been released yet. Anyway I previously posted on this book. It was written for young adults but I knew it had some nice photos in it so I wanted a copy. I have not read it yet but I did notice one inaccuracy. This comes after a description of Jack meeting Joe at Fox Comics and asking Joe for freelance work to supplement his income from Fox:

Together Jacob and Joe rented a one-room office. They began working nights and weekends on such comics as The Blue Beetle”.

Well both Jack and Joe did work on the Blue Beetle but not at the freelance office. The Blue Beetle belonged to Fox Comics. At Fox Jack was drawing the syndication strip while Joe was editor and cover artist for the comic book version. Yes it is a small detail but it shows that the book was not written by someone not familiar with comic book history.

Still the book has some very nice photographs of a younger Jack and actually that was why I bought it. While looking through them I stopped at the one I show above and had to laugh. The caption was:

Jack Kirby proofing comic book covers in his office in 1949.

The reason I found this funny was that recently I had scan a photograph of Joe Simon at a desk (see below). Joe commented that they never had their own office and he had used Teddy Epstein’s office for the photo. Teddy was one of the owners of Prize Comics. So without a doubt Jack had done the same thing. I cannot blame Hamilton for this small mistake. After all I would have made the same error had not Joe not made his comment. Because seeing is believing we mistakenly judge photographs as objective evidence. As shown by these photos, and especially today with Photoshop, care most always be taken when using a photograph.

The two photographs were taken at either different locations or different times. The two photos have dissimilar desk arrangements and the items being examined are not the same. Jack is looking at some cover proofs. I cannot made out two of them but ones I can read are Young Love and Young Romance. The YL one is issue #5 (October 1949). The YR is a bit of a mystery as I have not been able to identify the issue. I wonder if it ever actually got published? Joe is looking at Headline, Young Romance and Justice Traps the Guilty comic books. Two of these I cannot make out but the YR is issue #2 (November 1947).

Joe Simon
Joe Simon

Featured Cover, Boys’ Ranch #2

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Posted in 2007/02, 5 Studio, Featured Work, Harvey, Periods, Topic, z Archive.

Boys' Ranch #2
Boys’ Ranch #2 (December 1950) by Jack Kirby

I have to admit that Boys’ Ranch along with Fighting American get short shift here in the Simon and Kirby blog. This is not because I feel that they are inferior work, quite the contrary. Much of what appears in this blog are the result of scanning and restoration work that I have been doing. I want to restore all the Simon and Kirby work. In all honestly it will be a long time, if ever, for such an effort to be completed. Boys’ Ranch and Fighting American have already been reprinted by Marvel, therefore they are low on my list of scanning to be done. I do have a particular love for Simon and Kirby covers and I take particular care in cover restorations. So you can expect that from time to time I will post on Boys’ Ranch and Fighting American covers.

Actually the covers from Boys’ Ranch are special in that all are really great covers. This is pretty unusual for Simon and Kirby productions. Well I guess you can say that all the Stuntman and Boy Explorers covers are all really fine but those were really short lived titles. Fighting American, Foxhole, Bulls Eye, Police Trap and In Love had great covers but the final covers just were not the same quality as the initial ones. The reason for the short comings of the final covers for these titles is that they were done when the Simon and Kirby studio was going through difficult times and would shortly disband. Because it was produced in the middle of the Simon and Kirby collaboration, Boys’ Ranch did not suffer from that problem.

The cover for Boys’ Ranch #2 puts special emphasis on Dandy and Clay Duncan but Angel and Wabash play their part as well. As first glance it might appear that we are looking at one moment in time, sort of like an illustration of a snap-shot. That however cannot be farther from the truth. The text in the balloons indicate that our heroes have been waiting to catch some cattle rustlers. Dandy has announced the arrival of the rustlers and is in the middle of rising up to fire his rifle. Clay has already begun firing. I am not quite sure about Angel. He appears to be rising up like Dandy but on the other hand is that smoke coming out of his right pistol? Wabash sits as if he is still waiting with no sign that he is even aware that their quarry has arrived. Although Clay may be in the midst of firing the first shot their prey has already returned fire with the bullet ricocheting off the rocks at Dandy and Clay’s feet.

Boys’ Ranch was published by Harvey and Joe Simon has said that S&K did not do the coloring for the comics they produced. Well whoever the colorist was he did a particularly nice job here. I especially like the use of graduated tones and highlights on Dandy and Clay Duncan. The red background grades to yellow near the horizon. This gives the impression of an approaching dawn and that our gang has been waiting all night. The colorist has shown in the left foreground that he is quite capable of effectively coloring rock formations. However he has wisely chosen to color the background rocks a neutral grey so that all our heroes stand out. Jack Kirby drew a great cover and the colorist made it even better.

Featured Cover, Foxhole Comics #1

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Posted in 2007/02, 6 Mainline, Featured Work, Foxhole, Periods, Topic, z Archive.

Foxhole #1
Foxhole Comics #1 (October 1954) by Jack Kirby

I guess you can expect that some of my posts in the near future will be based on Foxhole. I am currently restoring the contents of this Mainline and then Charlton title. As I do so I am reminded just how great these comics are. Like I said in a recent comment, I believe that Foxhole is a sadly neglected Simon and Kirby masterpiece. The original comics have become rather pricey and the Super Comics reprints are not that easy to find. It would seem that Foxhole really deserves to be collected together in a reprint volume. Their only drawback is that there is not a lot of Kirby art in them, although what is there is quite good. However the other artists that work for S&K are at their best.

The premise behind Foxhole was that the stories were told by men who had actually served during a war. This does not mean that the stories were realistic, this was the ’50s after all. What you do get are features that are not your typical war stories. You might think when starting to read a story that it was something more appropriate for Black Magic or Young Romance. Then the story will take an unexpected turn and you realize that it really does belong in Foxhole. Most stories are rather short, usually five to seven pages long. But despite their brevity the stories still do not seem rushed. Kirby drew one story that had only two pages and it was still great.

The Foxhole covers were all done by Jack Kirby (but these were not used for the Super Comic reprints). Well that is except for Foxhole #7 which frankly does not seem to have anything to do with Simon and Kirby as none of the included artists worked for them. As I have previously discussed, I find these Foxhole covers just incredible pieces of comic book art, some of Jack’s best work. That is except for the Foxhole #6 which is one of those rare examples of a boring Jack Kirby cover.

The cover for Foxhole #1 is not quite like the other Kirby masterpieces Foxhole #2, #3, #4, or #5. This is largely because it has been shown, by I believe Tom Morehouse, to be a swipe from a painting. But you can understand why S&K choose this painting to copy from, it certainly is a striking image. The wounded soldier writing a letter on a beach with medics aiding a casualty in the background along with some other warriors lying face down beyond the need of any medical attention. It is fortunate that the Comic Code had not yet begun, because I am sure this cover would not have passed their censure. Despite the adverse publicity some of their comics received after the publication of “The Seduction of the Innocents”, Simon and Kirby generally did not have problems with the Comic Code. But there was one the original cover for Foxhole #4 featuring a dead soldier hanging upside down from a tree that the Comic Code rejected and was never published.

Foxhole #1
Foxhole #1 (October 1954) “A Day at the Beach” by unknown artist

I have not had the time to find the original article showing the source that this cover was swiped from (I do so need an index for the Jack Kirby Collector). It would be interesting to see if that source somehow provided the theme “A Day at the Beach”. That was the title used for the story that the cover was based on. Or was it the story that was based on the cover? In any case the story was drawn by another artist. I am not sure who the artist was but I wish S&K had picked someone better. It is not that the artist was bad it is just that most of the artists used in this title were so much better and the story really deserves a superior artist.

It has often been said that Kirby did layouts for the artists that worked for the S&K shop. I do not completely deny this as a possibility. On the other hand I do think it is necessary to make comparisons between a particular piece and contemporary work drawn by Kirby. Had Jack done a layout you would expect to see similar visual techniques used in telling the story. An artist might swipe a particular figure or even a panel from Kirby, but any similarity to Jack’s work that stretches over a number of panels is more likely to be due to the use of layouts. I have been making these comparisons as I restore the Foxhole comics and so far I have found nothing that suggests that Foxhole stories were done by artists working from Kirby layouts. This is most obvious in the action scenes such as the one I show above. I will return to this topic in my next Foxhole post where I will provide further examples including some drawn by Jack.

“A Day at the Beach” is a well written script based on the premise of a soldier writing to his mother. The irony of how the soldier describes to her what he is doing compared to what is actually occurring is nicely done. He is trying to convince her that he is safe but we know that he is anything but that. At the end of this story we see our hero marching off with his company in the direction pointed to by a road sign for Anzio. It is interesting that the writer of this story felt that such a simple reference would be sufficient for the readers. Even though those readers would have been too young to remember the actual events, I am sure the writer was correct to believe they would know about Anzio. Now after Korea, Vietnam and two Gulf wars I am not confident that many would recognize the name. I am ashamed to admit that although the name Anzio was familiar to me, I had to look up on the Internet to find out what it was about. Anzio was a controversial campaign by the Allies in Italy during World War II. Casualties were very high and not much ground was take. However the Germans were forced to divert much of their resources from the other Italian front and thus Anzio did help to bring an earlier end to the Italian campaign.

Featured Cover, Adventure Comics #95

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Posted in 2007/01, 4 DC (early), Featured Work, Periods, Topic, z Archive.

Adventure Comics #95
Adventure Comics #95 (December 1944) by Jack Kirby

It was late in the war and both Jack Kirby and Joe Simon were performing their military service. Nonetheless the cover for Adventure #95 was clearly penciled by Jack. Earlier while working for DC and knowing that they would be called to duty, Simon and Kirby had backlogged art for DC to publish while they were gone. It is an indication of the importance that S&K gave toward covers that the stories they provided for Adventure Comics ran out months ago (the last in April 1944) while they still left enough covers to last a few more months to come (the last would be for April 1945).

Jack was under a lot of pressure to produce his art quickly before entering the service. However you could not tell it by looking at this cover. The cover was both beautifully composed and drawn. I use the term ‘beautifully’ to describe the manner of execution not the subject matter. One would hardly use that term to describe either the Japanese or the German officer. Today such depictions would not be considered politically correct. During World War II what was considered correct was politically something very different. Germany and Japan were our mortal enemies and as such their appearance were meant to reflect their “brutal nature”. Certainly Kirby has captured that quality in this cover. In order to be truly patriotic it was not enough to depict the enemy negatively, one also had to make fun of him and show the superiority of Americans. The Japanese officer smugly shows his German counterpart an announcement of the capture of Sandman. But of course this was obviously all part of Sandman’s plan because there he is with Sandy ready to pounce on the as yet clueless pair.

That this scene was supposed to be taken place in Japan can be shown by the soldier that Sandman has so quietly subdued. Another clue is the woodwork on our left. I am no more a student of Japanese architecture then apparently Jack Kirby was. But I strongly suspect you would find nothing like this woodwork in Japan. Even so the unusual nature of this wooden frame was meant to suggest the orient and therefore Japan and not America or even Germany. As if their appearances alone are not enough to label the officers as foreign, Jack provides a monocle for the German and cigarette holder for the Japanese. I find it interesting that the same symbol, in this case the cigarette holder, was used to identify someone as foreign and at the same time be such an important part of the image of that American icon, President Franklin D. Roosevelt.

Genesis of a Cover, Captain America #105

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Posted in 2007/01, 8 Marvel, Featured Work, Marvel Kirby, Periods, z Archive.

Captain America #105
Captain America #105 (September 1968) by Jack Kirby, John Romita and Dan Adkins?

Usually I confine myself in this blog to the time of Simon and Kirby’s collaboration. Occasionally I venture outside that period, for example in a series of posts I once did on Kirby margin notes. Generally I leave the Kirby’s more recent work to the Jack Kirby Blog where Bob does such a great job with it. But I thought it might be fun to discuss the silver age cover to Captain America #105 (September 1968) and some of its influences back to the beginning of the golden age of comics.

Detective Comics #27
Detective Comics #27 (May 1939) by Bob Kane

You can really go back to the dawn of the golden age of comics and find the motif of a hero arriving via a rope. Heck that is how Batman made his first appearance on the cover for Detective Comics #27. Such use of a rope is a natural for any hero who lacks the power of flight. Of course this sort of transportation can only have a restricted use. It would really be stretching the limits of believability for a hero to travel great distances like a city version of Tarzan. Some early heroes overcome that difficulty by having a gun that could shoot out the wire to swing on. That has always seemed a rather crude technique. It was only years later that Steve Ditko would give Spiderman a more elegant solution to this problem.

Mystery Men Comics #11
Mystery Men Comics #11 (June 1940) by Joe Simon

Even looking for a more immediate influence on Jack Kirby will take us pretty much into the early part of the golden age. Joe Simon’s cover to Mystery Men #11 was done while he was editor at Fox Comics. At that same time Kirby was also there doing the Blue Beetle syndication strip. Joe’s cover has the Blue Beetle using a rope or wire for moving between buildings. Our hero has exited one building just in time to avoid an adversary. However his destination seems if anything even more perilously filled with enemies. I presume the Blue Beetle is using something like a telephone wire that connects the two buildings, that may seem more realistic then a rope that just happens to be conveniently available. Unfortunately it does make it harder to understand how the hero manages to use the wire. With one arm being used to both hold the swooning woman and fire a gun, the Blue Beetle has only one arm to move along the support. It would seem a rather daunting challenge, but then again that what heroes are for.


Daring Mystery #6 (September 1940) by Jack Kirby

I presume Jack Kirby liked the idea of the hero using a rope or wire to aid transportation. But he may have been uncomfortable with Joe’s solution of a wire already attached to the source and destination. Certainly rope swinging was both faster and more dramatic then going hand over hand. I believe that the cover for Daring Mystery #6 might have been Jack’s first use of a rope swinging hero.

Captain America Comics #7
Captain America Comics #7 (October 1941) by Jack Kirby

Not that terribly long after Daring Mystery #6 Jack would return to a swinging hero with the cover of Captain America #7. But what a difference a year can make. Cap’s pose, with his arched body and legs spread wide, is a little surprising but there is no denying the rope swinging brings high drama to the cover. Since Cap is taking his sidekick along and not some “helpless female” the hero’s hands are both free to hold the rope while Bucky clings in turn to Cap. Captain America does have one problem that heroes like Batman and Marvel Boy did not share. Generally Cap makes great use of his shield for things such as protection against bullets. Here with rope swinging it just seems to get in the way.


Adventures of the Fly #2 (September 1959) by Joe Simon and another?

I do not think that Kirby used rope swinging that often but it was one of his “tools” that he would pull out and use from time to time. It is hard to be sure about what Joe Simon may have brought to the creation of a particular Simon and Kirby piece. Did Joe provide layouts for the cover for Captain America #7? I will not suggest an answer to that question here. I will say that Joe seems very attached to Captain America’s pose for that cover. It turns up again years later in the cover for Adventures of the Fly #2. Some have attributed this cover to Jack but I am certain that the figure of the Fly was actually done by Joe.

Captain America #105
Unused pencils for Captain America #105 by Jack Kirby and Jim Steranko

I am sure that most, no make that all, of my readers know that Jack Kirby would return to drawing Captain America this time collaborating with Stan Lee. Jack would do some exciting covers for Marvel Comics. Sometimes Stan, as the editor, would request changes to a cover. Perhaps because I am such a Kirby fanboy, I generally do not understand what Stan found so objectionable. This was the fate for Kirby’s pencils for Captain America #105 cover . I will discuss what was done to the pencil version and by whom below. First let us discuss Jack’s return to the rope motif.

Captain America #105
Unused pencils for Captain America #105 Batroc and the Swordsman by Jack Kirby

Yes Jack has once again has the hero travel via a rope but it is not by means of swinging. Instead Kirby has returned to using an attached rope essentially like Joe Simon had used for Mystery Men #11 so many years previously. However Kirby overcame both the awkward questions of how to travel on such a rope and what to do with Cap’s shield. No longer is the shield an impediment but is now the means by which Cap can quickly slide along the rope! This is one of the solutions that only seems obvious once it has been done.

Captain America #105
Unused pencils for Captain America #105 The Living Laser by Jack Kirby

This was one of those cases mentioned above, where Stan had some problems with Jack’s take on the Cap #105 cover. The good news is that this led to Jack’s pencils never being inked. The bad news is the pencil version of the cover as it exists today is not all by Kirby. Basically everything other then the figure of Captain America is pure Kirby, untouched by any other hand.

Captain America #105
Unused pencils for Captain America #105 by Jack Kirby and Jim Steranko with Photoshop adjustments

Cap was modified both by penciling over what was already there, as well as erasing some of Jack’s pencils and adding new ones. Unfortunately there really is nothing that can be done to restore the pencils to the way Jack did it. Instead I have adjusted the scan using Photoshop. While this causes most of the image to deteriorate it helps brings out parts of the drawing that had been erased. Unfortunately it may still be hard to make out but it is the best that I can do. The important point is that Cap’s left leg was flexed and occupied the section that on the pencil version is now open sky.

When Stan was dissatisfied with Kirby efforts on this cover he turned to Jim Steranko to make corrections. Now I am a great admirer of Steranko. Even so I still shudder every time I think of Jim erasing Kirby’s pencils. After removing Jack’s version of Cap’s left leg Jim added his own. Presumable to make the whole figure uniform and to make some small adjustments, Steranko also penciled over the rest of the figure. Although I said the background was pure Kirby when Jim re-positioned the leg an area of the building previously covered by that leg had to be added. Jim kept to Jack’s type of architecture. The only difference that can be detected is that Jim’s pencils are slightly lighter then those by Jack. It is Steranko’s alterations to Kirby’s cover that is the state of the pencil version that exists today.

Lee still was not happy with the Kirby/Steranko version of the cover. But now things get complicated. There exists two rough sketches on tracing paper. Someone has written in blue pencil the names John Romita on one and Dan Adkins on the other. Which came first? To decide this I used Occam’s razor, “all things being equal, the simplest solution is the best one”. The paper used was chosen because it would allow desired portions to be traced. The order I provide here gives the fewest changes to each step keeping particular attention to what tracing was done. Without any claim that this is absolutely correct, I am fairly confident in the sequence I provide here.

Captain America #105
Captain America #105 rough on tracing paper by Dan Adkins?

The Adkins sketch is the most rough one. So much so that I suspect we are just going to have to take the attribution on faith alone. Adkins has redrawn Captain America, swinging his legs around so that they are away from the viewer. In doing so, Adkins has shifted the center of the image to our left. Although done very crudely, the Swordsman, the Living Laser and the building the stand on were traced as one piece. Batroc was also probably traced but so roughly that it is hard to be certain. In any case Batroc’s position was shifted up and toward our left relative to his two companions.

Captain America #105
Captain America #105 rough on tracing paper by John Romita?

Now John Romita (senior) worked on it. Romita traced in regular pencil Cap’s torso from Adkins. He followed Adkins closely for the left elbow, the left side of the left forearm, the left side of the torso, the upper right shoulder area, the belt, the shorts and the right thigh. The upper edge of the shield is pretty close to Adkins placement. Romita lowered Cap’s left leg, moved the right lower leg to the right, and moved Cap’s right forearm out a bit. As can be seen, Romita tightened up the entire figure. (Here I must confess that I have not closely studied Romita’s work so I am counting on the silver age scholars among my readers to express their opinion on whether this attribution to John Romita is accurate.) Captain America is pretty close to the published version. With Cap’s new pose, clearly something had to be done about the background. Using blue pencil Romita has traced portions of Kirby’s architecture but shifting their locations. John did redraw the tall building on the right making it more angular relative to the horizon. Cap’s foes have also been trace from Kirby’s pencils. Batroc was moved a little bit higher then even Adkin’s placement. Romita switched the relative locations of the Swordsman and the Living Laser. I suspect that was done because he felt that the Swordsman would otherwise be too crowded. Batroc and the Living Laser adhere pretty close to Kirby’s pencil. The upper half of the Swordsman was traced while the pose for the lower body was altered.

At this point work must have begun on regular Strathmore paper, I am sure they would not want to end up inking on tracing paper. But further alterations were made from Romita’s rough. As I said previously the figure of Cap on the finished cover is pretty close to Romita’s drawing. The main differences are that both lower legs were made a little longer and the forearms placed a little further out. The lower rope follows both Dan’s and John’s path closely. But the upper portion is more faithful to Dan’s, leaving at the same place on Cap’s shield but angling a little more sharply. The rest of the background was rearrange once again, using Kirby’s pencils to trace from. Batroc’s position shifted down compared to Romita’s placement and his final placement is closest to that indicated by Adkins. The Swordsman and the Living Laser switch positions once again.

In the end on the published cover the buildings details follow Kirby, Cap’s foes are close traces from Jack, Cap himself is close to Romita’s drawing, and the overall background compositions is closest (but by no means matches) Adkins’ sketch. Of course the whole idea of using the shield to slide down a rope was Kirby’s. The Jack Kirby Checklist attributes the Cap #105 cover to “Kirby/Romita/Adkins” which sounds like an accurate description to me.

Captain America #105
Sketch on back of pencils for the cover for Captain America #105 by unidentified artist

If that was not complicated enough, on the back of the Kirby/Steranko pencils is a small sketch. What part did it play in creation of the cover for Cap #105? I do not have a clue, but I will say I do not believe that this was done by Jack. I have never seen any evidence of Jack using crude sketches such as this one. Even in some work stopped at the very early stages Kirby had better placed lines and none of this pencil swirling.

Marvel Super Action #7
Marvel Super Action #7 (April 1978) by Mike Zeck

But that still is not the end of the story. Years later Mike Zeck did the cover for Marvel Super Action #7. Is it a homage to Kirby/Romita/Adkins or a swipe? You can make your own decision. What do I think? I think I have written a long enough post as it is.

Featured Cover, Fighting American #3

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Posted in 2007/01, 7 Freelance, Featured Work, Periods, Prize, Topic, z Archive.

Fighting American #3
Fighting American #3 (August 1954) by Jack Kirby

In a comment recently, Mike made a request for post on Fighting American. Well it happens that I just finished restoring the cover to Fighting American #3. The first two issues of FA were pretty much the standard action hero format. Fighting America and Speedboy were Simon and Kirby’s remake of their own patriotic heroes Captain America and Bucky. Atlas Comics had recently brought out a cold war version of Captain America along with the Human Torch and Sub-Mariner. However the times had changed and despite Joe McCarthy, or perhaps because of him, the public did not consider the Communists as quite the same threat as the Nazis. Atlas Comic’s Captain America did not last long but Simon and Kirby adjusted to the times. With issue #3, Fighting American adopted a more humorous approach. Yes the Commies were still the villains, but nobody was meant to take Poison Ivan and Hotsky Trotski seriously.

Featured Story, The Vision from Marvel Mystery #25

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Posted in 2007/01, 3 Timely, Assorted, Featured Work, Periods, Topic, z Archive.

Marvel Mystery Comics #25
Marvel Mystery Comics #25 (November 1941) The Vision, page 1 by Jack Kirby

Professor Enric Zagnar is the leading authority of metaphysics in the country. But he is forced to resign because of his predictions that man will one day be able to control the forces of nature. He retreats from the town vowing revenge and dedicates himself to uncovering the secrets that would make his predictions come true. A short while later a storm hits the town. This is no ordinary storm but one with much fury and persistence. Smoke from a lightning strike of a tree allows the Vision to enter to save the people of the town. He directs the townsmen to climb the nearby mountain in order avoid the flood that forms. But before the people can reach the top a blast from dynamite prevents them from going further. It is Zagner at the peak, relishing his revenge. Zagner urges the storm on using a spell that he reads from a book entitled “Black Magic”. The Vision proceeds to climb in an attempt to stop Zagner. Seeing the Vision, Zagner in turn rolls down a large boulder and when that is unsuccessful throws more dynamite. Despite all this the Vision reaches the top and a fight with Zagnar ensues. Though a dirty trick Zagnar defeats the Vision. Just when he is about to deliver the coup de grace with a large rock, Zagnar gets hit by a bolt of lightning from his own storm! The Vision recovers and reads out the counter spell from the Black Magic book to end the storm and save the day.

Marvel Mystery Comics #25
Marvel Mystery Comics #25 (November 1941) The Vision, page 6 by Jack Kirby

As with the Vision story from Marvel Mystery #24 this splash page makes use of over sized figures. Note the small houses being washed away by the rushing water. I really like the way the title separates the Vision from his foe. The only fault I find with this exciting splash, and it is a minor one, is the “pinning” of the “The” in the title. It seems so unnecessary for this splash. Further it really fails as trompe l’oeil. Not only does the pin not look realistic but also the sharp end is visible so how is the title “pinned” down?

The title of the book that Zagnar uses, Black Magic, is a common enough term. Still it seems interesting that of all the possible titles that Simon and Kirby could have chosen they picked one that they would use again for a comic book that they would launch about nine years later.

The Vision is an unusual hero for a comic book. Comic book art depends on the visual image to provide an indication of the character. Heroes are handsome, heroines beautiful and villains ugly. Although the hero, the Vision is anything but handsome. Of course what Simon and Kirby are doing is to use the Visions unnatural appearance as an indication that he is not of this world. I was just simplifying things when I said villains are ugly, a good comic book artist will go well beyond just making the foe ugly. With his name, Enric Zagnar, is marked as different. Although foreign sounding the origin of the name was probably purposely left ambiguous. Notice that in the first two story panels at the bottom Kirby provides Zagnar with what was then considered long hair. Such hair length was the mark of an intellectual and appropriate for the then Professor Zagnar. In the first panel Zagnar looks fairly normal (but there are those big ears that Kirby would often draw with heads viewed from the back). The next panel provides a glimpse of Zagnar’s already disturbed personality heightened by being partly cut off with the panel edges. The splash panel provides what Zagnar will look like when he becomes at the end of his transformation. You do not need the eyes or the grotesque mouth, the hair alone reveals that Zagnar has gone way past the edge of sanity.