Back Issue #131 Preview

COMICS’ BRONZE AGE & BEYOND

$9.95

™

NO. 131

The Demon TM & © DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

OCT. 2021

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T HE

DC T A Y C A G E L KIRBY

N! O M E D C! A M O DI! E! N R A O M M A K & N A M ns • Gibbo SAND

e t t e s s i B er featuring • Veitch • Wagn Rude IT! I B T S K–JU

DON’T AS

Volume 1, Number 131 October 2021 EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Michael Eury PUBLISHER John Morrow

Comics’ Bronze Age and Beyond!

DESIGNER Rich Fowlks COVER ARTISTS Jack Kirby and Mike Royer (originally from The Demon #2, Oct. 1974) COVER COLORIST Glenn Whitmore COVER DESIGNER Michael Kronenberg

SPECIAL THANKS Lee Allred Ed Lute Michael Allred Harry Mendryk Richard Arndt Dan Mishkin Robert Beerbohm John Morrow Stephen R. Bissette Clem Robins Buddy Blank Mike Royer Gary Cohn Bob Rozakis Robert V. Conte Josef Rubinstein Gerry Conway Steve Rude DC Comics Steve Sherman Steve Englehart Ryan Sook Mark Evanier Bryan D. Stroud Dave Gibbons Roy Thomas Grand Comics Rick Veitch Database Tom Veitch Michael Gustovich Matt Wagner Jack C. Harris Mark Waid Karl Heitmueller, Jr. John Wells Heritage Comics Auctions David Anthony Kraft James Heath Lantz Dave Lemieux Paul Levitz

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BACKSEAT DRIVER: Editorial by Michael Eury . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 PRO2PRO ROUNDTABLE: Ye Demon of Bronze Age . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 Etrigan rises from Kirby’s imagination and returns in other creators’ hands ROUGH STUFF . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24 Demon and Kamandi pencil artwork BEYOND CAPES: Kamandi, the King, and Those Who Followed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27 Venture to the far-flung future of the Last Boy on Earth BACK IN PRINT: Boy Commandos and Black Magic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43 The Simon & Kirby reunion that really wasn’t PRINCE STREET NEWS: Cartoon by Karl Heitmueller, Jr. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48 A seasonal break from Kirbydom: more superheroes wearing their own Halloween costumes FLASHBACK: The Bronze Age Sandman . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51 The last hurrah for the Simon & Kirby team FLASHBACK: OMAC: You and What One Man Army Corps? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59 This mohawked muscleman and Kirby’s uncanny eye for the future WHAT THE--?!: Kirby’s Odds and Ends . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69 The King’s most unconventional comics at DC—were they winners or losers?

BACK TALK: Reader Reactions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76

BACK ISSUE™ is published 8 times a year by TwoMorrows Publishing, 10407 Bedfordtown Drive, Raleigh, NC 27614. Michael Eury, Editor-in-Chief. John Morrow, Publisher. Editorial Office: BACK ISSUE, c/o Michael Eury, Editor-in-Chief, 112 Fairmount Way, New Bern, NC 28562. Email: euryman@gmail.com. Eight-issue subscriptions: $90 Economy US, $137 International, $36 Digital. Please send subscription orders and funds to TwoMorrows, NOT to the editorial office. Cover art by Jack Kirby and Mike Royer. The Demon © DC Comics. Other characters © their respective companies. All Rights Reserved. All editorial matter © 2021 TwoMorrows and Michael Eury, except for Prince Street News © 2021 Karl Heitmueller, Jr..

ISSN 1932-6904. Printed in China. FIRST PRINTING.

The Kirby Legacy at DC issue • BACK ISSUE • 1

The Demon by Jack Kirby and Matt Wagner, previously seen as the cover of 2010’s The Jack Kirby Collector #44. The Demon TM & © DC Comics.

PROOFREADER Rob Smentek

by

R o b e r t V. C o n t e

Rise, the Demon… Etrigan! (inset) Jack Kirby and Mike Royer’s cover to The Demon #1 (Aug.–Sept. 1972). (above) An incredible Royer recreation of the iconic cover, from 2019. Courtesy of the artist.

The Demon TM & © DC Comics.

When most comic-book readers hear or see the name “Jack Kirby,” their minds are usually flooded with an array of fantastical images of characters ranging from Marvel’s Black Panther, Captain America, and Devil Dinosaur; to DC Comics’ Kamandi, Mister Miracle, and New Gods; and sometimes various independent works including Captain Victory (Pacific Comics), Destroyer Duck (Eclipse Comics), and—toward the end of his life—a line of “Kirbyverse” titles (Topps Comics). With Kirby’s almost six decades of conceiving, illustrating, and writing comic books for myriad publishers, there is one unique title that, to me, stands out as one of his best—The Demon!

Sometime during the summer of 1979, I first came across the Demon Etrigan and his human host, demonologist Jason Blood, inside the pages of The Demon #8, at a local bargain bookstore in Huntington Station, New York, that sold old comics “25-cents each/ 5-for-a-buck!” In those days, hundreds of titles considered valuable today were available cheap by the stacks. It was fun to visit this store weekly and peruse titles that would be unceremoniously dumped inside makeshift, pressboard bins. Before long, I acquired the entire 16issue run of DC’s The Demon—all for the mere price of under $4.00!

Readers were first teased about The Demon on the last story page of another Kirby classic from his Fourth World saga—the last issue of DC’s The Forever People #10 (Aug.–Sept. 1972). A headshot of Etrigan—a red-eyed, yellow-skinned grimace with short horns and a cape, in the foreground of smoldering flame—gave a taste of things to come.

The entire series, written and drawn by Kirby with inks and letters by Michael Royer from 1972–1974, combined medieval times, the supernatural, and an antihero all into one complete story. Comics readers wishing to enjoy tales outside the traditional superhero genre were enticed to try The Demon, and it certainly did not disappoint. Guided by the wizard Merlin to seek and protect the Eternity Book from the malevolent forces of Morgaine Le Fey and her minions, Etrigan—suppressed inside the human form of Jason Blood—teams with colleagues Harry Matthews, Glenda Mark, and paranormal Randu Singh, forming a metaphysical “fantastic four” whom would face a supernatural rogues’ gallery including a Creature from the Beyond, a Howler, a Witchboy, a Phantom of the Sewers, a Baron von Evilstein, and an Ugly Meg. Blood and company were based in Gotham City, surroundings familiar to comics readers as home to the Darknight Detective, the Batman.

The Kirby Legacy at DC issue • BACK ISSUE • 3

THE ORIGINAL DEMON RUN

The Men Behind The Demon (top) Forever People #10 teaser of Kirby and Royer’s The Demon. (middle) Mike Royer and Jack Kirby in the 1970s. (lower) Royer at the drawing board, inking a Demon page. Both photos courtesy of Mike Royer. (bottom) Jack Kirby’s appreciation of Hal Foster’s masterpiece Prince Valiant not only provided inspiration for The Demon’s use of Camelot lore, but this sequence from the Dec. 25, 1937 strip inspired Etrigan’s horrific facial features.

The Demon TM & © DC Comics.

Prince Valiant TM & © King Features Syndicate.

One astounding thing about the 16-issue The Demon series is that its creative team stayed consistent throughout its production. Although Jack Kirby left our mortal realm in February 1994, his longtime colleague, inker, and letterer on the series, Michael Royer, briefly reminisces with BACK ISSUE about their tenure on the character: ROBERT V. CONTE: Any specific memories of your role working on the Demon’s first series? What was your dynamic with Jack Kirby?

MIKE ROYER: Nothing specific comes to mind, as it was so many years ago. I do remember that I liked the [Demon] book and character because it was not the usual superhero stuff. It was a nice change of pace.

Of course, it was Jack’s usual mastery of dynamics and great visual storytelling and it worked for me.

That never changed, no matter what his subject matter happened to be.

Our working relationship was no different [on The Demon] than on other titles. On every book I would drive to Jack’s home and we would go over things… quickly, as I remember. Then it was homemade chocolate cake and a glass of milk with Jack and [his wife] Roz at their kitchen dining table, sitting on knocker chairs while we talked about kids and old movies, mostly Warner Bros. There were other books I sent to Jack via the old Post Office Special Delivery service.

CONTE: Do you have a particular favorite issue of The Demon that stands out?

ROYER: Gawrsh… that’s a good question. I guess each book was my favorite as I lettered and inked them. [I had] to letter, border, and circle balloons on 22 pages in just two days and then ink three pages a day to keep up with Jack. I just reveled in his great work and enjoyed them… and then went on to the next Kirby title.

CONTE: Both the Demon Omnibus hardcover and Jack Kirby: The Demon trade paperback are beautifully designed collections of this work for today’s comics readers to enjoy both of your incredible storytelling and exquisite artwork. Pages and panels originally excised from the original comics were added, too. Why do you feel the original Demon series has stood the test of time, remaining in print and online?

ROYER: Truthfully, I haven’t given it much thought.

There are two camps regarding this color thing but, honestly, I look at all the reprints and just wonder how did I keep up that production pace! [sighs] Of course, I am very proud of my work with Jack. I did not just trace his pencils. I completed his pencils in ink, the way I felt he would have.

Steve Sherman, who edited the “Demonology” letters column in the original 16-issue series, comments on Royer’s work on The Demon: “Mike is one of the finest inkers around and a terrific cartoonist in his own right.”

Veteran comics historian and retailer Robert Beerbohm (beerbohmrl@gmail.com) has specific memories of Jack Kirby’s excitement about his new character, which he shares with BACK ISSUE: “Back in 1972, during the first El Cortez [Hotel] San Diego Comic-Con, I talked a bit with Jack Kirby about his then-brand-new title, The Demon,” Beerbohm says. “Being a huge Hal Foster fan of both his 1930s Tarzan Sundays run as well as Prince Valiant, I was immediately struck by it as it seemed to pay homage to Foster’s character— dressed up to look almost identical. I asked Jack

4 • BACK ISSUE • The Kirby Legacy at DC Issue

Global Gruesomeness (top left) Kirby’s character’s exploits weren’t limited to his titular US periodical. This issue reprinted (top right) DC’s Demon #5 (Jan. 1973). Cover art by Kirby and Royer. (bottom) Artist Jim Aparo and writer Bob Haney were the first creators outside of Kirby and Royer to tell a Demon tale, teaming Etrigan with Batman in the moody, exquisitely illustrated The Brave and the Bold #109 (Oct.–Nov. 1973).

The Demon TM & © DC Comics.

about this. He replied to the affirmative, saying he was a bit over 20 years old when he read Valiant’s adventures in the Sunday newspapers.

“Jack talked a bit about how he had done horror ‘black magic’ comics with [former] partner Joe Simon some 20 years earlier, and how that early mid-’50s period in comic-book history had resulted in the collapse of major segments of the industry. And he had reservations about going back into that rabbit hole.

“Horror was making a bit of a come back of sorts.

Jack was pressured to come up with something inside that genre. Not really wanting to, he was inspired by Prince Valiant being a ‘demon’ but actually ostensibly being a good guy. Or, at least ending up on the side of the forces of good over evil.

“This is what I remember from talking with Jack Kirby in summer of 1972 as I dealt with selling out of the 600 copies I had pre-ordered [of The Demon #1] from Omaha News after I had taken some of my copies out to San Diego.”

The last issue of The Demon was published with a January 1974 cover date. Although the series did not strand readers with what is known as a “cancellation cliffhanger,” there was still disappointment. Why did Kirby base Jason Blood and Etrigan in Gotham City instead of Metropolis, Coast City, or an all-new location in DC Country? Was a cameo or crossover planned with Batman but unrealized? Batman appeared in Len Wein and Berni[e] Wrightson’s Swamp Thing #7 (Nov.–Dec. 1973), so the Batman/ Demon idea was not far-fetched. Reportedly, Kirby intended to create such a story if The Demon series had continued, but it was not to be.

However, the Caped Crusader did team up with Etrigan for the first time inside the pages of The Brave and the Bold (B&B) #109 (Oct.–Nov. 1973). The story, “Gotham Bay, Be My Grave!,” was written by Teen Titans co-creator Bob Haney with art and cover by longtime B&B series illustrator Jim Aparo. The only non-Kirby/Royer story featuring Etrigan published during the original series, this Haney/Aparo tale introduced the Demon to DC’s mainstream readership who did not follow Kirby’s work. This story does confirm the Darknight Detective’s awareness of the occult and of metaphysical exploits within his stomping grounds—at least in the story continuity that, at the time, was considered to be on Earth-One, although as previously explored in this magazine, Haney’s continuity-blindness often relegated his B&B tales to the so-called “Earth-B.” The Kirby Legacy at DC issue • BACK ISSUE • 5

by

Bryan D. Stroud

It was a major coup for DC Comics. Jack “King” Kirby Jack’s tenure with The Demon and Kamandi. I had seen the movie Planet of the Apes and thought it was coming back to the fold under exclusive was great. We could see that New Gods and contract, and was being given autonomy Forever People weren’t doing as well as nearly unheard of to work his magic. we’d hoped, and we needed something “Kirby’s coming!” was the clarion call new for Jack. Inspired by Planet of the through the books, announcing the Apes, I suggested we do a comic book return of the King. Following the with a boy in a post-cataclysmic famed Fourth World books, the world run by animals. Jack liked the second wave began and soon the idea and revived the name Kamandi readers would experience the postfrom an idea he had in the ‘50s for apocalyptic world of Kamandi, the a newspaper strip about a prehistoric Last Boy on Earth. caveman. Kamandi did well and According to then-DC publisher continued even after Jack went on Carmine Infantino in his autoto other things. If we’re keeping biography, The Amazing World score, you could consider Jack and of Carmine Infantino (Vanguard, carmine infantino me co-creators on Kamandi.”

2001), the concept of Kamandi the 1970 Comic Art Convention booklet, Carmine might have sung a was the result of a mixture of ideas: From courtesy of Scott Edelman. different tune had he looked back at “So, we moved into Stage Two of

Big Bang Weary Pity poor Kamandi, all alone (or so he thinks) on Earth A.D. (After Disaster).

Remastered pages 2–3 of Kamandi, the Last Boy on Earth #1 (Oct.–Nov. 1972),

by Jack Kirby, with inks and letters by Mike Royer.

TM & © DC Comics.

The Kirby Legacy at DC issue • BACK ISSUE • 27

a story written and illustrated by Jack Kirby for Harvey Comics in Alarming Tales #1 (Sept. 1957) titled “The Last Enemy!” The synopsis provided in the Grand Comics Database (comics.org) offers a familiar backdrop: “Drake travels to 2514 A.D. He finds dead tigers in a field. A rat tells him that all humans were killed in an atomic war and that animals inherited the Earth.”

Regardless of inspirations, Kamandi hit the outlets in the latter part of 1972 with issue #1 (Oct.–Nov. 1972), sporting bold Gaspar Saladino-supplied cover lettering declaring this a “1st DC issue” and “A new sensational DC Jack Kirby Blockbuster!”

That Kirby-illustrated cover featuring the Statue of Liberty at an alarming angle and half submerged was seemingly a nod to the final scene in Planet of the Apes, though Gerry Conway, who would come onto the series later, suggests a different explanation: “It was kind of an interesting concept. It was kind of that Planet of the Apes derivative idea. If you look at the first issue, the cover was a direct ripoff of a cover for an Andre Norton novel from the early ’60s called Daybreak – 2250 A.D. It was almost exactly that cover. As a result, I always felt that Kamandi was more of a pastiche than an original Kirby creation.”

Following this introductory story, Jack Kirby provided an important reference map titled “Kamandi’s Continent,” which allows the readers to see what has become of the Earth A. D. (After Disaster).

What was once North America, for example, is now divided into such mysterious regions as the Dominion of the Devils, Monster Lake, the Lion Tribes, Gorilla Communes, and the Expanding Tiger Empire.

Offshore are such hazards as the Intelligent Killer Whale Raiders, Leopard Sea Pirates, and the Bay of Bones. The former Central and South America now contain a jungle area and the “Tracking Site” or city of the nuclear people, respectively. Thus, we can see some foreshadowing of storylines to come as well as getting a feel for the world of Kamandi.

Over the next three years, the creative dynamo that was Jack Kirby cranked out monthly stories that he not only wrote, but illustrated, both covers and interiors, and even edited, while simultaneously handling other titles. [Editor’s note: See BACK ISSUE #14 for more details, as well as past editions of The Jack Kirby Collector.] Changes were on the horizon, however, beginning in the latter part of 1975.

“You maniacs! You blew it up!”

Material such as (top left) the 1958 Kirby-produced “The Last Enemy!” in Harvey’s Alarming Tales #1, (top right) Andre Norton’s sci-fi novel Daybreak – 2250 A.D. (cover painting by H. R. van Dongen), and (center left) the Rod Serling-scribed shocking ending to Hollywood’s Planet of the Apes predated (bottom) the King’s Kamandi #1 (Kirby-signed copy courtesy of Heritage). (center right) Courtesy of Bryan D. Stroud, Kamandi cast member Prince Tuftan, as illo’ed by Kirby embellisher Mike Royer.

Daybreak © Andre Norton estate. Planet of the Apes © 20th Century Studios. Kamandi TM & © DC Comics.

28 • BACK ISSUE • The Kirby Legacy at DC Issue

Land of the Giants (left) Batman and Kamandi first joined forces in The Brave and the Bold #120 (July 1975).

This was the third appearance of a Bronze Age Kirby character in B&B, following Batman/ the Demon in #109 and Batman/ Mister Miracle in #112. (right) Kirby would soon be leaving Earth A.D. when Kamandi #32 (Aug. 1975) was published.

TM & © DC Comics.

KAMANDI IN CONWAY’S CORNER

it heralds the beginning of a new chapter in KAMANDI’s history, Just prior to that, Kamandi ventured over to the Brave and the Bold with many more changes coming in the news few months. You see, title to team up with the Batman in issue #120 (July 1975). As with Jack has decided to leave DC and move on to other projects. nearly every B&B tale that Bob Haney scripted, it had little bearing That shouldn’t surprise you, since Jack (like most creative spirits) on current continuity and of course, one might ask, how the heck doesn’t stay in any one place for very long—there’s always some does Batman manage to meet up with the Last Boy on Earth? In new territory to explore, or old lands to reconquer. In fact, it’s the same motivation that brought KAMANDI’s new editor back essence, the Caped Crusader was summoned through magic to DC from a competing company…we wish Jack the and has what amounts to an out-of-body experience best of luck wherever his wandering ways take him!” with one remaining in the present in a coma and the That new editor, Gerry Conway, recalls for BACK other traveling to Earth A.D. to aid Kamandi and an ISSUE the genesis of his introduction to Kamandi: intelligent tribe of humans as they attempt to escape “Within the previous few months I’d been hired by the clutches of the gorilla squads near Mount Carmine Infantino at DC as the latest Marvel import Rushmore. The inspiration for summoning Batman and as these things went, as the new guy on the by the shaman was via his discovery of a copy of The team, I would be handed assignments and also create Brave and the Bold #118 (Apr. 1975). Fortunately for projects for myself, and I think Kamandi was at the tail the hardy band, the World’s Greatest Detective helps end of Jack’s contract with DC. He’d made it very clear to deliver them from their enemies, giving mankind that he wasn’t renewing the contract and I think hope for the future, before his reawakening from his Carmine just sort of wanted to take as much away “coma” in Gotham City Hospital. from Jack as he could at that point. He’d soured Returning to the main Kamandi series, with issue gerry conway on Jack pretty early on in the relationship when #32 (Aug. 1975) readers were offered a giant 64the New Gods books didn’t become the runaway page edition, featuring a reprint of issue #1, a Steve Sherman-conducted interview with accompanying photos of Jack hits that Carmine thought they should be, or the kind of books that Kirby, and a revised two-page map of Earth A.D. with such intriguing Carmine could mentally wrap his head around. So, he cancelled those additions as the Vortex, the Kanga-Rat Murder Society on the former and, in the process, he alienated Jack and then proceeded to hand Australian continent, and the island of the “God-Watchers.” Throw in Jack ideas that were mostly riffs on things he had seen or things that he thought would make good visuals. He’d hand them off to Jack and a brand-new tale, and your two quarters went a long way.

A mere two editions later, with #34 (Oct. 1975), Gerry Conway Jack would make of them what he would.

“Carmine hired Jack simply on the basis that Jack was Marvel’s top took the reins as Kamandi editor, with Paul Levitz as assistant editor.

Furthermore, Joe Kubert became the cover artist, but Jack Kirby artist,” continues Conway. “It was a competitive move. Jack produced was still scripting and penciling the stories. The letters column in these books that were like nothing that DC was doing and Carmine this issue, “The Time Capsule,” sought to explain the shake-up: had no idea what that was and just expected that somehow it would “It’s rather ironic that we should be writing this particular letter be these knock-’em-out-of-the-park books. And they did okay, but page for the issue of KAMANDI which marks the magazine’s third there was just no way for DC to market these books. It didn’t fit the anniversary. No doubt you already noticed the new name in the DC Universe and after a couple of years, Carmine pulled the plug and credits and are wondering what ‘Gerry Conway, Editor’ is doing on completely alienated Jack, but still had a five-year contract with him.”

Kamandi assistant editor Paul Levitz has some fond recollections a mag that Jack Kirby created and has been writing and penciling for some thirty-three issues. The explanation is very simple, and of working with the King: “There was a brief period there where The Kirby Legacy at DC issue • BACK ISSUE • 29

by

Richard J. Arndt

That Old S&K Magic… …is advertised but not delivered on these covers! That’s Carmine Infantino and Joe Orlando illo’ing the cover to Boy Commandos #2 (Nov.–Dec. 1973) and a Jerry Grandenetti/Creig Flessel cover on Black Magic #2 (Dec. 1973– Jan. 1974).

TM & © DC Comics.

The famed Simon & Kirby partnership, which revolutionized the comics field, had lasted from 1940 until 1955, when changing times in the comics industry and changing goals of the partners caused the sundering of their partnership.

By 1973 Jack Kirby was in the third year of his exclusive contract with DC Comics. Joe Simon had just been rehired by DC to edit and write a number of titles, including his new creations Prez and Champion Sports, as well as editing the old stomping grounds of the Simon/Kirby team on the one-time Crestwood/Prize and now DC titles Young Romance and Young Love. The two did have an actual reteaming of Simon & Kirby on what was intended to be a one-shot effort with The Sandman. In addition, Simon launched a reprinting of the old S&K Crestwood/Prize Black Magic stories. The Sandman one-shot, which actually led to a series, is discussed elsewhere in this issue, but the reprint Black Magic and a simultaneous reprinting of Boy Commandos have not and are our topic today. Clearly, DC Comics was not averse to a reteaming or revival of the Simon & Kirby partnership.

BOY COMMANDOS

Boy Commandos had actually already seen some reprinting at DC back in 1971–1972, when DC’s titles were published at 48 pages for 25 cents. Five Boy Commandos classics had appeared as backup stories, running in Mister Miracle #4 (Sept.–Oct. 1971)–8 (May–June, 1972).

Those five stories came from Detective Comics #64 (June 1942), 76 (June 1943), 82 (Dec. 1943), and Boy Commandos #1 (Winter 1942–1943) and 3 (Summer 1943).

Both of the two issues of the 1973 Boy Commandos reprint series were part of a large number of reprint titles that DC launched in 1973, likely in an attempt to counter Marvel’s flood of reprint titles they had launched over the previous year. Marvel had released so many titles, most of them horror, that they threatened to dwarf the number of DC titles appearing on the newsstands of the day.

However, Boy Commandos’ editorial chores were not handled by Joe Simon, but by E. Nelson Bridwell, DC’s “keeper of the DC history.”

This isn’t particularly odd, as Boy Commandos was a DC title right

The Kirby Legacy at DC issue • BACK ISSUE • 43

from its start, while Black Magic had been published by Crestwood/Prize during its entire run. Bridwell was the obvious choice to oversee a homegrown DC reprint title. [Editor’s note: For the full story of DC loremaster Bridwell and DC’s 1970s reprint initiative, see BACK ISSUE #81.]

Boy Commandos #1 was cover-dated Sept.–Oct. 1973 and featured two 12page stories—the first, entitled “The Sphinx Speaks,” from Detective Comics #66 (Aug. 1942), and the second, entitled “Heroes Never Die,” from Boy Commandos #1 (Winter 1943). “The Sphinx Speaks” is a charming SF fantasy that starts in the far future of 3045, when a reporter gets the crummy job of “interviewing” an actual mummy. To his shock, the mummy talks back to him, telling the reporter that he comes back to life every thousand years or so to “stretch his legs”! When asked where the mummy learned ancient English slang, he replies that he’s not speaking slang but the “most refined English of the 20th Century… the speech of the Brooklyn Dodgers.” The mummy then tells the reporter how he learned his English from the Boy Commandos during the German invasion of Egypt in 1942. What evolves is a vivid, exciting, and amusing Boy Commandos story pretty much unlike any other.

Tale two features the boys in China, battling the Japanese, and is another great tale. Bridwell even provides a text piece on the history of the Boy Commandos.

All in all, a pretty good deal for 20 cents! “The Sphinx Speaks” was only the boys’ third adventure and shows how far Simon & Kirby were willing to go to break expectations. There’s also a bit of cover enhancing going on here as well. Most of the cover is a reprint of Boy Commandos #1’s cover, but the near-foreground has German machine guns and soldiers added by Luis Dominguez.

Boy Commandos #2 (Nov.–Dec. 1973), sporting a new cover not by Jack Kirby but by penciler Carmine Infantino and inker Joe Orlando, featured reprints from Boy Commandos #2 (Spring 1943) and 6 (Spring 1944).

The first, “Nine Lives for Victory,” concerns the boys’ involvement with an Allied cat and a very rat-like Nazi.

The second, “News from Belgium,” weaves a tale around the lads dealing with outlawed underground newspapers in occupied Belgium. The issue also included a text history on British commandos by Bridwell.

However, that was it for the reprint adventures of the Boy Commandos. The title was cancelled following #2, long before anyone could have known whether it was a sales hit or not. As Alter Ego editor and comics legend Roy Thomas explains, “Sales reports varied.

In the old days, determining sales after #3 might be fine for a bimonthly. On the other hand… [one-time DC editorial director] Dick Giordano told me that the companies didn’t really know anything about sales until about the fourth issue.” Often, sales dropped after the first issue but rebounded and began to rise with the fourth issue, at least for those titles sold at the newsstands. Direct sales would have been a completely different matter.

It was reported at the time in The Comic Reader that Boy Commandos, along with other reprint titles, was being cancelled to make room in the production line for the added work that would be necessary for the upcoming labor-intensive 100-page Super-Spectaculars issues that were being planned. In addition to oneshot appearances in various DC series, four titles were to be converted to full-time 100-page comics, including Batman, Detective Comics, Young Love, and Young Romance. So much for sales figures determining whether a title deserved to be published!

Dream Team (top) Joe Simon (left) and Jack Kirby, in a 1950 photo from Simon’s archives. Courtesy of Heritage Comics Auctions (www.ha.com). (inset top) DC Comics’ original Boy Commandos #1 (Winter 1942). Cover pencils by Jack Kirby, cover inks by Joe Simon. (bottom) Courtesy of Heritage, original/production art for the first issue of DC’s 1973 BC reprint series. Foreground art by Luis Dominguez, framing a Photostat of the original Kirby/Simon image. (inset bottom) The 1973 first issue in its published form.

TM & © DC Comics.

44 • BACK ISSUE • The Kirby Legacy at DC Issue

S&K Rejected (left) Editor Joe Simon and DC opted for this Jerry Grandenetti/Creig Flessel cover instead of Simon & Kirby for the first issue of Black Magic (Oct.–Nov. 1973). (right) Finally, vintage Kirby/Simon art—an alternate cover originally produced for 1950’s Black Magic #1— found a home on the cover of DC’s Black Magic #4 (June–July 1974).

TM & © DC Comics.

BLACK MAGIC

Life!” in that issue. That story was reprinted in DC’s Black Magic Black Magic, on the other hand, was handled directly by Joe Simon #4. Changes here are in the upper left side of the cover, where as editor. One of the reasons for its revival, beyond the quality of an upside-down lion’s image, produced as a negative image and the stories themselves, was that either Kirby or, more likely, Simon then colored red, is used as background. There’s no explanation had noticed that some of the early issues had dropped out of for the lion or why it’s presented upside-down. There no lion in copyright when he and Kirby had forgotten to renew them. To regain that story at all.

As an interesting sideline, that BM story was refried in 1971 by some control on those stories, they needed to be reprinted under Kirby, Mark Evanier, and Bill Draut as “After I Die!” in The House the original title.

The original Black Magic title had been an S&K production from of Secrets #92 (June–July 1971), the legendary issue that also featured the first appearance of Swamp Thing. #1 (Oct.–Nov. 1950) till 33 (Nov.–Dec. 1954), when the title The second Kirby cover, for #7 (Dec. 1974–Jan. 1975), was temporarily cancelled due to the impending Comics is an actual reprint from Black Magic #17 (Oct. 1952), Code ban on horror comics. When it was revived in but it too is altered. The young woman’s head drawn 1957, it ran another 17 issues until it was finally

by Kirby has been changed from a typical Kirby cancelled for good in 1961. In that second version, redhead to a paste-over by an unknown artist into only Joe Simon was involved. Kirby had nothing to a pretty blonde. I suspect that unknown artist may do with the Code-approved version of Black Magic. actually be Grandenetti, channeling Will Eisner, as The 1973 DC revival’s first issue was cover-dated he used to do back in the 1950s. She certainly looks Oct.–Dec. 1973 and featured a Jerry Grandenetti/ like an Eisner blonde.

Creig Flessel cover illustrating one of Kirby’s many gigantic-head-but-little-body story characters. All the WHATEVER HAPPENED TO THE ‘K’ IN stories in that first issue were S&K stories, but unlike ‘S&K’? editor Bridwell’s largely un-retouched stories Why weren’t Kirby’s old covers, which to my eyes in Boy Commandos, DC’s Black Magic featured look just fine, exclusively used on the reprint jerry grandenetti many changes and several rather odd editorial series? Marvel certainly reused their Kirby covers— decisions by Simon.

Self-caricature from Vampirella #16 (Apr. 1972). at times, with numerous changes—on their reFirst, although Jack Kirby had drawn excellent covers for the first 33 issues of the original run, only two Kirby print horror titles. Also, why wasn’t Kirby, who was right there covers were used on DC’s Black Magic. The other seven were done at DC, commissioned to draw new covers? I suspect that Kirby’s by the team of Grandenetti and Flessel, who often were simply old covers were considered “old hat” by DC editorial. They were reinterpreting Kirby’s original covers. As Harry Mendryk of The dark, far darker than most DC covers at the time, and the pre-Code Jack Kirby Museum explains in his excellent online article “Black Kirby/Simon artwork did not resemble either his modern work or the Magic at DC” (Jan. 18, 2009; used by permission), Joe Simon told monster work he’d done for Marvel in the late 1950s–early 1960s. him directly that “he used Flessel to do Grandenetti’s inking but Those pre-Code covers were from another era, not particularly appreciated at the time for what they were. Another reason for [then he] didn’t identify any work in particular.”

The two Kirby covers that were used were both altered for commissioning new covers by Grandenetti/Flessel could simply be publication on the DC version. Black Magic #4 (June–July 1974) that the new covers looked more like DC titles than Marvel ones featured an actual unused alternate cover that had originally that did use versions of Kirby’s often-altered original covers.

As for new covers, Kirby had already seemed a little reluctant, been intended for Black Magic #1 (Aug. 1950). This partially unfinished cover was to accompany the story “Last Second of for whatever reasons, to renew his partnership—in however limited The Kirby Legacy at DC issue • BACK ISSUE • 45

TM

by

Ed Lute

The creative partnership of Joe Simon and Jack “King” Kirby spanned over 40 years and left a lasting impact on the comic-book industry from superheroes to the romance genre and just about everything in between.

Their last collaboration was a Sandman revival for DC Comics in late 1973. But how did these two iconic creators reunite for a new comic book almost 20 years after they stopped regularly working together?

BACK ISSUE takes a look at Simon & Kirby’s time working on the original Golden Age Sandman, how they partnered up one final time for their Bronze Age revival of the Sandman, and the character’s life after Simon & Kirby.

GOLDEN AGE DREAM TEAM

Although the Bronze Age Sandman title was the last one that the Simon & Kirby team worked on together, it wasn’t the first time that these two creative geniuses co-produced a Sandman comic book for DC Comics.

Joe and Jack had also worked on the original Sandman back in the Golden Age of Comics. Let’s look beyond BACK ISSUE’s usual Bronze Age timeframe to journey back into the Golden Age of Comics to understand the creators’ history with the character.

Within the pages of the DC Comics’ anthology series Adventure Comics #40 (July 1939), readers were introduced to Wesley Dodds, the Sandman. Dodds’ original costumed guise consisted of a gas mask, a fedora, and a green business suit. He didn’t have any superpowers, so he used a sleeping-gas gun to subdue criminals. The character was created by writer Gardner Fox and artist Bert Christman. After Christman left the feature to join the US Navy, several different artists such as Creig Flessel and Ogden Whitney illustrated the stories. However, the Sandman never achieved the popularity that some of his contemporaries did, and the character was revamped.

From Mystery Man to Costumed Crusader (bottom left) The Sandman as he originally looked, on Creig Flessel’s cover for the hero’s first appearance in Adventure Comics #40 (July 1939). (bottom right) The revamped Sandman, with Sandy, as reimagined by Kirby and Simon, on the cover of Adventure #74 (May 1942).

TM & © DC Comics.

Famous First (and Last) No one could nod off while eyeing this dynamic Jack Kirby cover for The Sandman #1 (Winter 1974), which signaled the return of the legendary Simon & Kirby team. This would be their final collaboration.

TM & © DC Comics.

The Kirby Legacy at DC issue • BACK ISSUE • 51

Issue #1 featured what appeared to be a cover variant with a purple background instead of the more commonly found blue background. However, the variation wasn’t intentional.

According to then-DC Comics assistant editor Paul Levitz, “Sorry to disappoint you, but that wasn’t a ‘variant’ cover.

When Visions Merge (left) Signed by Joe Simon and formerly hailing from Mr. Simon’s personal archives, the original Simon/Jerry Grandenetti cover for Simon’s original concept for DC’s Sandman #1. (right) Compare the published version’s production art, which includes a stat of Jack Kirby’s artwork, to see how the original was Kirby-ized.

Both, courtesy of Heritage.

TM & © DC Comics.

On the long print runs of the day, occasionally the color feed would vary slightly for a while, and at the speed the press ran, a large number of copies would come out slightly differently.

I vaguely recall it being the case on Swamp Thing #1 (Nov. 1972). Not intentional, and not truly a variant.”

TM & © DC Comics.

A SANDMAN #1 VARIANT? DREAM ON!

Adventure Comics #69 (Dec. 1941) featured a new Sandman story written by Mort Weisinger, penciled by Paul Norris, and inked by Chad Grothkopf. In an attempt to attract readers of costumed crimefighters, this time Sandman was adorned in a brightly colored superhero costume and not the pulp-like outfit he had previously worn. This issue also introduced his kid sidekick, Sandy, the Golden Boy. Kid sidekicks had become all the rage in comics since Robin, the Boy Wonder debuted as Batman’s sidekick in Detective Comics #38 (Apr. 1940), and it seemed that every superhero now needed one.

Weisinger, Norris, and Grothkopf left the feature a few issues later. Enter Simon & Kirby. Their first Sandman story appeared in Adventure Comics #72 (Mar. 1942).

In Simon’s 2011 autobiography Joe Simon: My Life in Comics, he told of his work with Kirby on the Golden Age Sandman: “The first series we did [at DC Comics] was The Sandman. Creig Flessel had been the artist on the original series. His stuff was beautifully illustrated, but it wasn’t selling. The character looked ridiculous to me, a guy in a gas mask, with a gun that sprayed sleeping gas to knock out the bad guys.

So, we just did it in the trademark Simon and Kirby style, with the skin-tight superhero costume and a sidekick named Sandy.

52 • BACK ISSUE • The Kirby Legacy at DC Issue

Sweet Dreams (top) The new Sandman’s premise is laid out for readers on this page 2–3 spread from Simon & Kirby’s The Sandman #1. (inset bottom) A few months after the Simon & Kirby Sandman one-shot, The Sandman returned with issue #2 (Apr.–May 1975), with this Kirby cover grabbing readers. (bottom) Inside, artist Ernie Chua (Chan), and frequent Kirby embellisher Mike Royer did their best to emulate the King’s energetic art style.

TM & © DC Comics.

“Our stories appeared in Adventure Comics and a couple of issues of World’s Finest Comics. There were even a few that were used in All-Star Comics, where he was a member of the Justice Society of America.

Each issue of that title was a collection of stories starring the different JSA characters. Somehow, they managed to tie our stories in with the rest. Within a few short months there were blurbs appearing on the comics, proclaiming, ‘New SANDMAN Hit by Simon & Kirby!’” The revamped Sandman by Simon & Kirby had become a popular feature.

Adventure #74 (May 1942) featured a beautiful Simon & Kirby Sandman cover. This was their first Sandman cover for the title, but not their last.

Their cover for Adventure #84 (Mar. 1943), with the Sandman talking directly to the reader, remains iconic. The Sandman would dominate the covers of Adventure Comics until issue #102 (Feb. 1946), which was his final appearance in the title. Simon & Kirby had already vacated the feature by that time, their last issue being #90 (Feb. 1944), although a Simon-less Kirby would pencil the Sandman’s final appearance in the book.

In 1956, Joe Simon and Jack Kirby’s partnership ended amicably, and they went on their own creative journeys, in and out of the world of comic books. Beginning in 1970, Kirby’s trajectory had circled back to DC Comics, where he created what many consider his magnum opus, the Fourth World (see BACK ISSUE #104). It was during Kirby’s 1970–1975 time at DC that Simon also made his way back to the publisher, as an editor and writer.

The Kirby Legacy at DC issue • BACK ISSUE • 53

“A startling look into… the World That’s Coming.” Anyone familiar with the original OMAC series or the work of Jack Kirby knows that those words are proudly emblazoned on the cover of the first issue. As well, Kirby was known for advancing ideas of the future in a lot of his work. As a matter of fact, in his introduction to the DC Comics collection Jack Kirby’s OMAC: One Man Army Corps (2008), former Kirby assistant Mark Evanier stated, “[Jack] thought in the future, often forgetting that the real world hadn’t quite caught up with him and never would. I am still astounded at the number of accurate predictions Jack made about how things would be in ten, twenty, thirty years.”

Most of the character’s Bronze Age appearances took place in the future, so it’s not surprising that subsequent creators dealt with predictions as well.

But, in light of that blurb, we’re going to examine who predicted what, and how well they did. In addition, some of the storylines dealt with the concept of time travel, so we’ll look back at that aspect of those stories. Or is it forward?

Or sideways? (Time travel always messes with your perspective.)

CRYSTAL BALL

by

Brian Martin

I Go to Pieces Detail from Jack Kirby’s clairvoyant and crazy OMAC: One Man Army Corps #1 (Sept.–Oct. 1974). Inks by Mike Royer.

TM & © DC Comics.

OMAC begins in an unspecified future. DC would later explain the relationships between many of their future-set comics in an article in Amazing World of DC Comics #12 (that series was examined in BACK ISSUE #100). In that essay, OMAC was linked to another Kirby kreation Kamandi, and sets the series not long before the Great Disaster, a DCU event that reduces the world almost to rubble. Things are still rather civilized at the point we come in, as we meet Buddy Blank, a nondescript, slightly downtrodden individual, as he works for “Pseudo-People Inc.” in a fairly standard office.

It is here that we encounter the first Kirby prediction we want to examine. At PPI, if you feel bad, they have a Crying Room, or a Destruct Room, or a few other specialty rooms. In these you can do pretty much what the name says, all in the name of keeping employees happy. These days, of course, many workplaces have gyms, daycare, and even crisis counseling. Kirby did a pretty good job predicting the generality, if not the specifics, though I am sure there are many reading this who would love to have the type of room PPI does where you could kick a Pseudo Person down a rail and into a wall!

Buddy is chosen by members of the Global Peace Agency as the best candidate for their current project. This agency, a grouping of literally faceless individuals, does not represent any one country, as they frequently make clear. Their name pretty much sums up their raison d’être. A nice idea, but one we are still far from achieving. Kirby also predicts something with regard to their origin that has not borne out as time goes by. The Peace Agency grew out of NASA, but given the cuts to that agency’s funding in recent times, that genesis does not seem likely.

The agents subject Buddy to “electronic surgery,” which turns him into the One Man Army Corps with that name again giving us pretty much all the information we need regarding the character.

The surgery is performed by a bolt of energy linking Buddy to a satellite that is self-aware and even has a name: Brother Eye. This is done at PPI as that company is involved in some shady dealings, to say the least. Pseudo-People creates exactly what their name implies, artificial beings. The state in which they are delivered to their customers forms the basis for the cover of OMAC #1 (Sept.–Oct. 1974) that some readers found, and may continue to find, just a wee bit disturbing. Just before being transformed, Buddy discovers that some of these Pseudos are being used as remote control bombs! This is another instance of Kirby predicting the future, since in the real world suicide bombers did not enter the public consciousness until the 1980s.

In this instance, I’m sure Kirby would have been much happier to be wrong.

OMAC proceeds to destroy the plant but during his rampage, Kirby has him wonder aloud, “Where does humanity stop and technology begin?”

The next time you see a group of people each on their cell phone, think of that. At issue’s end, mission completed, OMAC sets out to find the mastermind behind it all, Mr. Big. The Kirby Legacy at DC issue • BACK ISSUE • 59

WE BUILT THIS CITY

As the second installment begins, OMAC tracks Mr. Big to Electric City.

The twist is, Mr. Big has rented the entire city. Ostensibly it is for a party, but as things progress, we find his real purpose is to destroy the OMAC project since the designer of Brother Eye, Myron Forest, lives in Electric City.

Tragically Forest is killed in the story, but the GPA does manage to capture their quarry due to OMAC’s actions.

When it comes to predicting the future, you may think there is nothing to examine in this story.

I mean, c’mon, rent a city? It’s not quite that far-fetched. In the story, it is done because it means the citizens will not have to pay taxes for the rest of the year, an attractive proposition to be sure. As for the real world, in 2010 entertainer Snoop Dog tried to rent the tiny country of Lichtenstein (62 square miles).

It did not happen, but according to recent online adds, anyone could rent the country for a paltry $70,000 a night. There is a two-night minimum, of course.

In the development of the story, we learn brother eye how closely OMAC and Brother Eye are He’s watching you. TM & © DC Comics. related as our star is told by Myron Forest that the ocular orbiter will provide him with extra power when he needs it and it later protects him from bullets and helps him simulate death so he will be taken to Mr. Big.

YET ANOTHER MOVIE

Issue #3 begins with OMAC relaxing watching a movie. Of interest to us is, according to the caption, that this movie is “translated electronically and fed into the human brain.” We are not quite there yet with virtual reality, but I’d say we’re getting close.

OMAC’s mission in this issue and the next is to capture a small-time dictator named Kafka. You can draw your own conclusions where that choice of name is concerned. As OMAC approaches the country in question, his vehicle is attacked by “smart bombs” that are “guided by television.”

Anyone who watched coverage of the Gulf War in 1990–1991 will remember the world being introduced to this sort of technology. Guess what? Kirby had already thought of it.

Brother Eye provides that extra power mentioned earlier when OMAC is attempting to overturn Kafka’s giant armored-and-wheeled bunker. Almost crushed beneath it, OMAC receives the power boost necessary to conquer his foe.

Kirby did miss a chance when Kafka is processed after capture. The dictator is fingerprinted and voice printed to confirm his identity, but there is no mention of any sort of precognition with regard to DNA testing or the like.

SHOOTING STAR

The quest for immortality has been a human concern for almost as long as there have been humans. Jack Kirby posits in OMAC #5 (May–June 1975) that in the World That’s Coming, certain criminals will make it a reality by providing those that can afford it with a young new body into which they will merely transplant your brain! This idea had, of course, existed for quite some time in science fiction in one form or another, and Kirby merely followed it to one

OMAC: Alpha and Omega (top) Buddy Blank becomes OMAC in issue #1. (inset) Joe Kubert’s cover for the original series’ final issue, #8 (Nov.–Dec. 1975). (left) #8’s inglorious conclusion, and (right) Royer’s original lettered final panel, giving a glimpse of what Kirby had in mind for #9. TM & © DC Comics.

60 • BACK ISSUE • The Kirby Legacy at DC Issue

From (Last) Boy (on Earth) to (One) Man (Army Corps) (left) Two Kirby concepts are linked in Kamandi #50 (Apr.–May 1977).

Cover by Rich Buckler and Alfredo Alcala. (right) Jim Starlin not only illo’ed the cover to Kamandi #59, he also received cover-billing for his OMAC backup that launched in this ill-fated, quickly cancelled final issue.

TM & © DC Comics.

logical conclusion by transforming it into a criminal enterprise. If the process, or anything even remotely like it, is even possible, we do not seem to be close to it at the moment. Putting aside the ethical dilemmas involved, in this case it was probably just the reuse of a common trope to provide an antagonist for the story.

As OMAC follows leads to find the captives who will be sacrificed in this horrid process, he finds his main informant at a shooting gallery.

The kick is, on this firing line the shooters are not firing at revolving ducks, but holograms of various imaginary and vicious creatures. This to me is a direct precursor to just about every first-person shooter game that has been produced for any video game platform since they began.

OMAC and his contact begin their mission in a “Magna-remote,” a computer-driven car. Remote-control vehicles were probably not a Kirby invention, but as we get closer and closer to them in our world, it is another point in his favor that he perpetuated the concept.

During their trip to the “terminal” where the prisoners are held, they manage to rescue a young woman slated to be a victim.

We mention it here since OMAC’s guide says the perpetrators were summoning a transport by “pocket phone,” Too bad those things never came about… they sound like they could have been useful!

When we arrive at the facility at the heart of the quest, we discover that the instructions for the brain-swap operation are contained on a circuit board that is inserted into a computer, and the electronic brain carries out the process of exchanging the corporeal ones! Granted, the board Kirby depicts is quite a bit larger than anything in use now, but computer-assisted surgery is a reality in our lives today. Is it far in the future where all human involvement will be completely removed from many procedures?

And no, I do not consider this a prediction of the current practice of drinking bottled water.

Living as I do on the shores of one of the Great Lakes, it has become very apparent in recent years that in maybe the very near future, access to abundant fresh water may be one of the most important resources a country can possess.

During the story, Dr. Skuba manages to revert OMAC back to Buddy Blank and prevent Brother Eye from reversing the process. In an attempt to coerce the villain into surrendering, the satellite sends him a message threatening him with action by the Peace Agency. Skeptical, Skuba runs the utterance through a “voice print” and determines he is talking to a machine. This is a slightly sophisticated version of the Turing Test. Named after British computer scientist Alan Turing (1912– 1954), this test is used during a conversation to determine if an artificial intelligence can be distinguished from a true human being.

Kirby left the characters in not the greatest situation. Buddy is presumably trapped on an island that has just exploded, while Dr. Skuba has managed to turn Brother Eye into a giant magnet that soon leaves it encased in rock. Certainly a cliffhanger. No wonder it took a while for someone else to utilize the characters.

One final word before we leave the King. At the start we mentioned that Kirby frequently extrapolated as to what the future might hold. With OMAC he certainly did it with more frequency, throwing out predictions pretty much every issue. It obviously wasn’t accidental, though. He used the phrase “in the world that’s coming” as a preface to introducing pretty much every situation and every concept throughout all eight issues.

WATER, WATER EVERYWHERE...

OMAC #8 had a cover date of Nov.–Dec. 1975. After that, the character sat dormant until the beginning of what was to be the DC Explosion.

This moment in history has been much discussed, with a great overall view being presented in Keith Dallas and John Wells’ 2018 TwoMorrows book, Comic Book Implosion. In the case of OMAC, one story appeared before the collapse. Kamandi #59 (Sept.–Oct. 1978) featured the One Man Army Corps as a backup feature. In this case, not only did the backup not continue, but it was the final issue of Kamandi as well.

Kirby’s OMAC run was abruptly cancelled with the eighth issue, precipitating an extremely forced wrapping-up of the plot in the final panel of a six-panel page! The plot that was so unceremoniously concluded concerned another prognostication that is now a reality.

Dr. Sandor Skuba (not much subtlety there, admittedly) has developed a process to shrink the entire liquid contents of a large lake down into a container about the size of a standard brick.

He then plans to ransom them back to the nations of the world.

THE DC SPARK

The Kirby Legacy at DC issue • BACK ISSUE • 61

First issue specials, heroes, and losers… these were among Jack Kirby’s odd jobs at DC. Was the King of Comics right for these books? Were the Losers actually winners? Did Atlas have to carry more than the world on his shoulders? Did Kirby’s unique style do justice to Justice, Inc.? What made some concepts work and others fail?

BACK ISSUE will shine its spotlight on the freelance work King Jack put out for DC Comics. Watch out for the Kirby Krackle, dear readers.

FIRST THINGS FIRST

by

James Heath Lantz

While The Demon and Kamandi (covered elsewhere in this issue) and his opus Fourth World Saga (see BI #104) are his best-known works for DC Comics, Jack Kirby proved that he could transcend genres with his art and storytelling as much as Miles Davis and Prince did with their music.

Among the titles the King of Comics used to experiment with his drawing pencils was 1st Issue Special. Kirby wrote, drew, and edited issues #1, 5, and 6 of that tryout series which was the focus of an article in BACK ISSUE #71. In that article, then-DC Comics writer/editor Gerry Conway stated that DC’s publisher, Carmine Infantino, wanted to give Jack something to do. This resulted in Kirby producing what BI writer Jack Abramowitz described as his most bizarre creations.

1st Issue Special #1 (Apr. 1975) introduced readers to Atlas. As with Marvel’s Fantastic Four and Thor and DC’s Fourth World, Kirby conceived characters, settings, and other elements that were, are, and will always be larger than life, while opening the doors of his imagination to show what he was capable of putting on the comicbook page. The man-god Atlas, along with his mentor Chagra, are on a quest for vengeance against the being who killed his family, Hyssa the Lizard King. Chagra agrees to aid Atlas if the powerful mortal helps him find the Crystal Mountain. Chagra believes Atlas to be of a people from there, and the gemstone around the title hero’s neck may prove this.

After this single outing, Atlas would not return to the pages of DC Comics until Superman #677–680’s “The Coming of Atlas” in 2008. Superman writer James Robinson, according an interview with Comic Book Resources, stated that he believed that Atlas was a character similar to Marvel’s Prince Namor, the SubMariner, an anti-hero who walks the fine line between hero and villain. This shows when Atlas fights the Metropolis Science Police, Superman, Supergirl, and superdog Krypto in an effort to become the city’s protector. It’s later revealed that Atlas was part of the government’s Project 7734, an organization trying to kill Superman.

FIS #5 (Aug. 1975) had Kirby combine mysticism with superhero adventure with Manhunter, a concept that, like Simon & Kirby’s Sandman, traded on an old

Shouldering the Burden The cover of Atlas’ original—and, for decades, only—appearance, in 1st Issue Special #1 (Apr. 1975). Art by Jack Kirby and D. Bruce Berry.

TM & © DC Comics.

The Kirby Legacy at DC issue • BACK ISSUE • 69

DC name for a new direction. When an elder of the group called Manhunters finds he is too old to carry out their mission of bringing justice to the world, public defense lawyer Mark Shaw becomes his successor. His first mission is to take on Al “The Hog” Beefer’s gang after one of his clients is murdered.

Mark Shaw never got to fight the Hog after 1st Issue Special #5.

However, the Manhunter can be seen in writer Steve Englehart’s late-’70s run of Justice League of America, while Mark Shaw shows up in the pages of volume one of Suicide Squad before appearing in 1988–1990’s Manhunter series. [Editor’s note: Shaw temporarily adopted the codename the Privateer. See BACK ISSUE #28 for his story.]

Shaw’s Manhunter costume from FIS would become the model for the Manhunter androids created by the Guardians of the Universe before the formation of the Green Lantern Corps, as shown in Justice League of America #140 and the post-Crisis “Millennium” crossover.

1st Issue Special #6 (Sept. 1975) allowed Kirby to provide readers with a group of dead-end kids called the Dingbats of Danger Street, comprised of youngsters named Good Looks, Krunch, Non-Fat, and Bananas. They accidentally aid police Lieutenant Terry Mullins in defeating the Gasser and Jumpin’ Jack (cue Rolling Stones music). These rebels without a clue do so to save one of their own, Non-Fat, from the villains.

The Dingbats didn’t get their own series from DC. According to Mark Evanier in Kirby: King of Comics, Jack Kirby wrote and drew three issues, but DC only chose to print one, in FIS #6. The Dingbats’ previously unpublished adventures by Jack Kirby, and inkers Mike Royer and D. Bruce Berry, were presented in the TwoMorrows book Dingbat Love, edited by John Morrow. In the DC Universe, Good Looks and the gang caused mayhem in cameos during writer Karl Kesel’s run on The Adventures of Superman, with a full guest-starring role in issue #549 (Aug. 1997).

They, according to Kesel in BI #71, served as a counterpoint to another Kirby creation, the Newsboy Legion, and Joe Simon’s Green Team.

Another Kirby concept that saw life after he left DC Comics was Kobra, Kirby’s take on the Corsican Brothers, the main difference being that each twin was on opposite sides of the law.

One could not injure or even kill the other without feeling the pain himself. Ordinary man Jason Burr discovered his sibling Jeffrey is the villainous King Kobra, head of the Kobra Organization. Jason thereby agrees to help authorities in their pursuit of the snakethemed bad guy. Kobra kills Jason after later finding a means to sever their psychic link.

Kirby developed the character (originally titled King Kobra) with Steve Sherman before returning to Marvel. It was then assigned to scribe Martin Pasko, who was initially unimpressed with the concept. Changes were made for Kobra #1 (Feb.–Mar. 1976) that deviated from Kirby’s original premise for the series. According to Rob Kelly’s Kobra article in BI #35, Pasko kept the Corsican Brothers thread while adding his own elements from research he did about India. This is because Pasko felt Kirby’s overall original version was not the King’s best work.

Man of Steel (left) Who better than Kirby to launch DC’s new 1st Issue Special title? Splash to issue #1. (inset) Kirby’s Atlas was resurrected by writer James Robinson and tangled with the Metropolis Marvel on this Alex Ross-painted cover to Superman #678 (Sept. 2008).

TM & © DC Comics.

New Spin on An Old Name (bottom left) Cover to Kirby’s Manhunter premiere, in FIS #5, with Berry inks. (bottom center) Writer Steve Englehart’s Justice League of America #140 (Mar. 1977) repurposes the Kirby Manhunter visual. Cover by Rich Buckler and Frank McLaughlin. (bottom right) Mark Shaw’s story continues, in Manhunter #1 (July 1988). Cover

by Doug Rice and Sam Kieth.

TM & © DC Comics.

70 • BACK ISSUE • The Kirby Legacy at DC Issue

KIRBY’S OTHER MANHUNTER

Not long before Jack Kirby premiered Mark Shaw, Manhunter in 1st Issue Special #5, another DC Manhunter with Kirby connections made a splash in the industry: Paul Kirk, Manhunter, in an award-winning, oft-reprinted backup series written by Archie Goodwin in Detective Comics #437–443 in 1973–1974, which made a fan-favorite of its young artist, Walter Simonson. (See BI #64 for the full story.)

“Paul Kirk, Manhunter” was originally a P.I. feature written and illustrated by Ed Moore that appeared in the early 1940s in DC’s Adventure Comics #58–72. As they did with the Sandman, as chronicled elsewhere in this issue, Joe Simon and Jack Kirby were tapped to revitalize the Golden Age Manhunter feature, and did so for a short stint BACK ISSUE #131 THE KIRBY LEGACY AT DC! Explores Jack Kirby’s post-Fourth beginning in Adventure #73 (Apr. 1942) by turning him World Bronze Age DC characters! Demon, Kamandi, OMAC, Sandman, and into Kirby’s Odd Jobs (Atlas, Manhunter, and more). a costumed superhero.

Simon & Kirby named their Plus: the SIMON & KIRBY Reunion That Wasn’t! Featuring new Manhunter RickGRANT, Nelson in their first outing, but he BISSETTE, BYRNE, CONWAY, GIBBONS, GOLDEN, RUCKA, SEMEIKS, THOMAS, TIMM, WAGNER, and more. promptly reverted to the Kirk guise. – editor Demon cover by KIRBY and MIKE ROYER! (84-page FULL-COLOR magazine) $9.95 (Digital Edition) $4.99

Gang War

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(top left) Meet the Dingbats! (bottom left) Superman Blue sees red when the dudes from Danger Street mix it up with the Newsboy Legion on this spread from Adventures of Superman #549 (Aug. 1997). By Karl Kesel, Stuart Immonen, and Jose Marzan, Jr. TM & © DC Comics.

Stifle, You Dingbats! (right) Original Kirby/Royer art, courtesy of Heritage Comics Auctions (www.ha.com), from the second Dingbats tale—which went unpublished until TwoMorrows’ fearless leader John Morrow presented Dingbats #2 and #3 (plus other unseen Kirby stories) in Jack Kirby’s Dingbat Love, available now at www.twomorrows.com! TM & © DC Comics.

The Kirby Legacy at DC issue • BACK ISSUE • 71

TM & © DC Comics.

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