Adventure #98 (October 1945) by Gil Kane?

Recently Tom Morehouse disagreed with my posting that the cover for KO Komics #1 was not done by Kirby. In his comment Tom also added:

Another example of an unfinished Kirby cover left behind and completed by another is Adventure Comics #98. There Kirby drew the “caveman” (who looks a lot like Brooklyn of the BC) and large animal heads but the rest of the cover was done by another (Gil Kane perhaps?).

Adventure #98 (October 1945) by Gil Kane?

The Jack Kirby Checklist also attributes the caveman to Jack, but does not mention the animal heads. It is hard to say much about these animal heads, at least with any conviction. Jack was even less accurate with his anatomy of animals then he was with people. Still his animals seem to have a real presence. These heads just do not seem to capture that sort of Kirby “life”. But I suppose I would be willing to accept Jack as the artist for the animals if I could agree with attribution of the caveman. I have little doubt that the origin of the running figure was Jack. I just think it was swiped from Kirby and not some unfinished piece by him. The figure looks like it was originally pretty complete. Then why did the inker (who based on other work appears to be the same artist as the penciler) ignore Jacks penciling to provide the botched version of the left hand. Look at the caveman’s ear, it is normal in overall size but has a very fat edge. That type of fat ear is typical of this artist. On the other hand Kirby would not draw fat ears but when viewed from behind like this figure would make excessively large ears (see cover to Adventure #88 below). But even if you are willing place the blame for these faults on a bad inker that would not explain the lower right arm. Here once again we find an artist that has broken the form in a way that Kirby never seemed to do. These sort of errors are more easily explained as a less talented artist doing a swipe from a Kirby figure.

Adventure #88 (October 1943) by Jack Kirby

I believe Tom is correct in suggesting Gil Kane’s involvement. Normally I would find it hard to accept that such a poor artist (who also did work on other Adventure covers and Sandman stories) was the same as the incredibly talented Gil Kane. But I have heard it said a number of times that Gil started as a rather bad artist and at one point decided to improve himself with rather spectacular results. I have also read interviews where Gil said that he originally worked for S&K and later did some of their features while they were off in the military. So I suspect this really was done by Gil.

Whatever the history of this piece, the finished cover is truly bizarre. What were the bad guys doing hanging onto the animal heads? Why was the caveman wearing a hat? Even more, why was does he seem to take the center stage as the hero, while Sandman and Sandy cower in the lower corner? I usual do not like a cover that does not “tell” a clear story. But this one is such a collection of weird combinations that it has become the comic book equivalent of surrealism. I may not understand what is happening but it still captures my interest. In its goofiness it has become a masterpiece.

Star Spangled #7 (April 1942)

Scholar Stan Taylor has added his own comment on the cover to KO Komics #1

I was always under the impression that the KO Komics cover was a swipe from a panel from Star Spangled #7, page 11. The lower left panel. I thought the swiper just redrew the right arm straight.

Unless two pieces of comic art are nearly identical or share some unusual feature, it can sometimes be difficult to be sure if we are dealing with a swipe or not. I provide an image of the panel in question to let the readers decide for themselves. Just scroll down to yesterday’s post to see the KO #1 and the SS #50 images.

Whether or not SS #7 was the original to KO #1 and SS #50, it does provide a good example of how Jack Kirby would handle some features. The first thing to note is the differences of how the figure’s left leg attaches to the hip. My interpretation of Jack’s rendition is that the upper thigh is brought only slightly forward but it is also brought out to the side. This provides a good pose to show the Guardian as crouching away from the light beam. But crouching is not correct for the slugging Guardian for SS #50 and KO #1. Perhaps because of this both show the left thigh brought much more forward and not to the side to provide a pivot for the swing. To me it looks like they made the attachment between hip and leg much too high, particularly in KO #1.

As Tom Morehouse pointed that in SS #50, or the original model sheet if it existed, the lower legs are cut off. When the KO #1 artist drew the legs he broke the form in a way Kirby would never do. This is particularly true with the figure’s left leg. Kirby’s example arcs from the knee to what I interpret as the start of the foot with the ankle just providing a minor deviation on one side. In KO #1 we find a similar arcing leg that suddenly deviates to the opposite direction (the ankle?), then reversing again for a short distance before meeting the foot. The right leg actually shows the same thing just not as exaggerated. But notice that Kirby does not show all of the feet. Could the KO #1 artist misidentified the feet as the ankles and then added feet to that? Actually this might be evidence to support Stan’s impression.

KO #1 (October 1945)

I previously expressed my belief that despite what the Kirby Checklist says the KO #1 cover was not done by Jack. Well Tom Morehouse added a comment to that post giving an opposing view. Tom is a fine Kirby scholar and made some interesting observations.

I have to strongly disagree with you on this one. If you remove the lower legs (knees down) the punch trail, helmet wings and cape what you have is a Kirby rendition of the Guardian from Star Spangled which has been altered in the inking process by a less than adept artist. What this, in all likelihood was originally, is an incomplete cover or model sheet sketch left behind when S & K went to serve in the military. The exact same illo of the Guardian figure, drawn by another artist, can be found in Star Spangled #50 published at around the same time (with a correct punch trail coming from over the shoulder and down as opposed to across). K.O. #1 was produced by Jason Comic Art (JCA), the same shop which would later produce the JC Penney giveaway 48 Famous Americans. It is a stand alone cover as there is no such character in the interior stories In addition to what’s been added, a close examination of the figure’s left hand shows erasure (of the Guardian’s shield). Both Jim Vadaboncouer and I have noted this and although the evidence is circumstantial I think dismissing this as not by Kirby is incorrect although who the other artist is will remain a mystery. It might have been someone working at DC who, knowing S & K were returning soon, took it, “finished” it and sold it to JCA but the original figure was drawn by Jack just never finished. Another example of an unfinished Kirby cover left behind and completed by another is Adventure Comics #98. There Kirby drew the “caveman” (who looks a lot like Brooklyn of the BC) and large animal heads but the rest of the cover was done by another (Gil Kane perhaps?).

Star Spangled #50 (November 1945) panel from page 11 by unidentified artist

Above I provide an image of the panel Tom referred to. There can be no doubt that there is some kind of history connecting these two works. It cannot be a simple swiping one from the other because both comics were published within a month of one another. Yes there is something funny about the hero’s left hand, although I am not so sure that the erasing of the shield would explain it. In fact the KO #1 artist draws the left arm so close to the leg that it is hard to believe that there was room for a shield. That alone makes KO #1 look more like a swipe then an original drawing done by Jack. However the Guardian wore a peculiar helmet and one depicted in KO #1 is a good match once you take away the wings. I have no doubt that Tom is right that KO #1 is based on a drawing of the Guardian. That being the case the connection between SS #50 and KO #1 must be in DC. There are possibilities other then a model sheet that might explain the relationship between these two images. However even if the model sheet theory is accepted that by no means proves Kirby’s involvement. By this time Jack had been in the military for about 2 years and other artists had been involved in working on the Newsboy Legion. A model sheet or cover proposal could easily have been made by an artist other then Jack.

Tom believes that the original model sheet was not completed below the knees. That would explain away my original statement that the legs were clearly not done by Jack. But it would not explain the problems with the upper part of the figure. As I said in my original post, this sort of straight arm swing looks wrong for Kirby. Jack excelled at representation of a slugging hero and used it often, but I can think of no Kirby example like that of KO #1. There are problems with the drawing for the upper part of the figure as well, although they are not as severe as the legs. The hero on KO #1 was given a hunchback. The upper arm is unnaturally short and the lower edge cuts in as it approaches the elbow in a way that breaks the form. The lower arm is excessively long and appears to have a extra joint. Perhaps this is just the artist attempt at doing the gloves but it just looks unnatural. Jack’s anatomy was not accurate and his proportions were often off but he would never make these mistakes in the form. Also examine the fingers on the figures right fist. There is a dramatic decrease in size along the row as the artist attempts, but fails, to depict a natural hand. A famous Kirby mannerism is to draw square fists so he would not have done such a relatively small pinkie. The artist for the SS #50 story is not anywhere near as good as Kirby but even he avoids these errors. These are not just inking errors but display the same lack of understanding that the artist showed on the legs. I am sure the entire figure was drawn by the same artist and that artist was not Jack Kirby. The KO #1 artist swiped from some source that ultimately came from DC, but the straight arm swing convinces me that even the source of the swipe was not Jack.

Providing a connection of KO #1 to the Guardian from the Newsboy Legion does not automatically give a connection to Kirby. The attribution must still rest on the KO #1 art itself. I find that evidence more than sufficient to state that it was not done by Jack Kirby.

In his comment Tom’s also mentions the cover to Adventure #98. I had planned to eventually post on that cover, but this gives me a reason to do it sooner rather then later. So stay tuned!