Jack Kirby Collector #15 by TwoMorrows Publishing

Fully Authorized By The Kirby Estate

$4.95 In The US

CELEBRATING THE LIFE & CAREER OF THE KING!

A 52-p age Theme ISSUE featuring Jack’s work in Science Fiction!!

Issue #15, Apr. 1997

A Rare Interview With Jack By

Shel Dorf The Story Behind

Sky Masters EC Comics Legend

Al Williamson Interviewed Why Didn’t It Last?

The Eternals Kirby Inker and friend

Mike Thibodeaux Interviewed Plus Features On:

Machine Man, Captain Victory, 2001, Starman Zero, Silver Surfer Graphic Novel And Others

including Jack’s Pencils Befo re They Were Inked, And Much Mo re!! 1997

Nominee For Best Bio graphical, Historical, or Jo urnalistic Presentation

Silver Surfer © Marvel Entertainment, Inc.

Unpublished Art

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UNSCIENTIFIC SUMMATIONS SURROUNDING THE SUPREME STYLIST! ITEM! We’re extremely proud to announce that TJKC has been nominated for a 1997 HARVEY AWARD! The awards are named in honor of the late HARVEY KURTZMAN and recognize outstanding achievements in comics, as voted on by industry professionals. We’re up against some stiff competition in the category of “Best Biographical, Historical, or Journalistic Presentation Contributing to the Understanding of Comics as an Art Form” (how’s that for a title?)! The awards will be given out at WONDERCON ‘97 in Oakland, CA on April 25. But win or lose, we just want to thank each and every one of you who’s contributed something to TJKC, who’s talked it up to someone else, or who’s continued buying each new issue. We also want to thank regulars Tom Ziuko, Richard Howell, Greg Theakston, Mark Evanier, Jon B. Cooke, D. Hambone, Randy Hoppe, Richard Kolkman, and all our great cover inkers! Without everyone’s support, TJKC wouldn’t be up for such a prestigious honor. Take a bow, Kirbyheads! ITEM! Don’t forget: the TJKC Site on the World Wide Web (maintained by Rascally RANDY HOPPE) has moved! The new URL is http://www.fantasty.com/kirby (the new location gives us more room to add graphics, sounds, and other cool Kirby stuff—but our TJKC e-mail address is still twomorrow@aol.com). And don’t forget about alt.comics.jack-kirby (the new Kirby Newsgroup), set up by Bodacious BOB HEER, which serves as a public forum for fans around the world to post questions and comments about Jack. There’s the KIRBY MAILING LIST, which you join by sending an e-mail request to Magnanimous MATT GORE at kirby-l-request@matthew.cumberland.org (be prepared to be inundated with e-mail—currently 30-40 messages daily—from Kirby fans around the world). Or try Charismatic CHRIS HARPER’s Jack Kirby Home Page, located at http://www.users.dircon.co.uk/~ampcon/.

Shipping In June! Order Now!

Pure Imagination’s The Complete Kirby Vol. 1 (a series reprinting all of Jack’s work from the beginning of his career) ships in June! Volume 1 includes Jack’s early work from Blue Bolt, Red Raven, Crash Comics, Jumbo Comics, plus other early comic book and strip work (some never published in the US), and an updated version of the text from The Jack Kirby Treasury Vol. 1. It’s a 164-page softcover in black-&-white with color cover for $25. To reserve your copy, send check or money order for $25 payable to Pure Imagination, Box 669902, Marietta, GA 30066. For more information, you can e-mail Greg Theakston at: 105420,1527@compuserve.com ITEM! We were totally blown away by Budding BRIAN HODGES new 20-page ashcan comic “K,” which is a loving tribute to Jack’s work on a certain Marvelous quartet from the 1960s. It had us laughing all the way through, and it’s only $3 postpaid from Brian at 148 Flippin Road, Lowgap, NC 27024. Trust us; you’ll love it! ITEM! COMICS REVUE is still reprinting Jack’s SKY MASTERS daily strips. #124 was the first issue to run them, and they’re up to #131, along with COMICS REVUE SPECIAL #1, which also contained some. Subscriptions are $45 for 12 issues or $90 for 25 issues, and your subscription can include back issues as well as future ones, so be sure to pick up all the ones with SKY MASTERS in them. The address is: Manuscript Press, PO Box 336, Mountain Home, TN 37684.

JOHN’S JUKEBOX Talk about déjà vu! In February of this year, genetic scientists in Scotland reported that they had successfully cloned an adult sheep, making an exact genetic duplicate of it. While this is a pretty remarkable step in modern genetics (and one that’s generating all sorts of ethical questions), fans of Jack’s Jimmy Olsen stories will remember that he introduced the concept of cloning on a much larger scale back in the early 1970s. (Come to think of it, Darkseid’s Evil Factory ended up being located in Scotland, turning out nasties like the FourArmed Terror. Hmmm...) Although Jack may not have been 100% accurate on how the process would develop in real life (unlike the instantly full-grown clones in Jimmy Olsen, the sheep that was cloned isn’t fullgrown), he brought a relatively unknown (at that time) bit of science to the public’s attention, in a typical example of what a forward thinker he was. And throughout his career, Jack managed to inject a lot of scientific themes into his comics. We’ll have to wait and see whether or not others will play a role in our existence, but in honor of Jack’s remarkable propensity to make the extraordinary believable, we present this science fiction theme issue. Enjoy! Long Live The King!

John Morrow, Editor • 502 Saint Mary’s St. • Raleigh, NC 27605 • (919) 833-8092 • FAX (919) 833-8023 e-mail: twomorrow@aol.com P.S. TJKC #9 is now sold out, and supplies on #8 are very low, so don’t delay! Order now; they won’t last long! Please list alternates if you’re ordering #8. ITEM! RICHARD KOLKMAN has shown us a rough draft of the preliminary version of the updated Kirby Checklist, so it should be ready soon! When it’s done, we’ll post it on the Internet for free downloading, and send printed copies out at-cost to anyone who’d like to check it for final errors. Then we’ll compile all the final changes, make decisions on any “iffy” entries, and release the completed version on the Internet and as an at-cost publication. Watch this space next issue for more details! ITEM! Keep sending letters to: Mr. Terry Stewart, Marvel Comics, 387 Park Avenue South, New York, NY 10016 asking that Marvel put “Created by Stan Lee & Jack Kirby” on books they co-created. (This is in conjunction with MARK MILLER’s ongoing letter-writing campaign. So write already!) ITEM! DITKOMANIA is back! After a recent hiatus, Bombastic BILL HALL has revamped the Ditko fanzine he’s been publishing for several years.Starting with #46 (the March 1997 issue, which is now shipping), it’s in a monthly newsletter format at 50¢ per issue, or $6 for a year’s subscription from Bill at 556 Main Street, Cromwell, CT 06416. ITEM! TJKC is gearing up for the convention circuit again, so look for us this Summer. As it looks now, we’ll most likely be at the San Diego Comic Con International on July 1720. In addition, we’re hoping to attend the Ramapo Comic Con on May 17 in Ramapo, NY; Heroes Convention in Charlotte, NC on June 13-15; and the Chicago ComicCon on July 4-6 (schedule permitting). So keep your eyes peeled for our booth, and be sure to stop by and chat! ITEM! Do your good deed for the day—send a donation to the educational fund that was set up in Jack’s name, to benefit children in his community through his synagogue. The address is: The Jack Kirby Educational Fund, Temple Etz Chaim, 1080 Janss Rd., Thousand Oaks, CA 91360.

KIRBY COLLECTOR CHECKLIST These Issues Of TJKC Are Available – See Page 51 TJKC #1: 16-page INTRODUCTORY ISSUE! Rare posters, 1978 Kirby traveling display, the MARVELMANIA PORTFOLIO, original OMAC sketch, unused THOR page, and more! $2.50 ($2.70 Canada, $3.70 elsewhere) TJKC #2: 16-page GENERAL INTEREST issue! Rare 1970s SANDMAN pages, phone conversations with Jack, MARVELMANIA PORTFOLIO plates, unpublished FF panels, Jack Ruby ESQUIRE page, other rare art, and more! $2.50 ($2.70 Canada, $3.70 elsewhere) TJKC #3: 16-page CAPTAIN AMERICA theme issue! JOE SIMON interview, MARVELMANIA plates, convention sketches, CAPTAIN AMERICA pages before they were inked, and more! $2.50 ($2.70 Canada, $3.70 elsewhere) TJKC #4: 16-page GENERAL INTEREST issue! MIKE ROYER intv., MARVELMANIA plates, THOR pencil pages before inking, unused ATLAS #1 pencils, Euro-Kirby fandom, and more! $2.50 ($2.70 Canada, $3.70 elsewhere) TJKC #5: 16-page GENERAL INTEREST issue! Jack’s 1972 speech at VANDERBILT UNIVERSITY, unpublished FF pencils, how Kirby used real people in his comics, essential Kirby collectibles, unpublished KOBRA pencils, and more! $2.50 ($2.70 Canada, $3.70 elsewhere) TJKC #6: 36-page FOURTH WORLD theme issue! Interviews with MARK EVANIER, STEVE SHERMAN and MIKE ROYER, story behind HUNGER DOGS and Jack’s original ending to NEW GODS, NEW GODS portfolio, unpublished art, and FOURTH WORLD pencils before inking! $4.95 ($5.40 Canada, $7.40 elsewhere) TJKC #7: 36-page KID GANG theme issue! Unpublished interview with Kirby, overview of S&K KID GANGS, unpublished art from BOYS’ RANCH, BOY EXPLORERS, JIMMY OLSEN, DINGBATS, X-MEN, & more! $4.95 ($5.40 Canada, $7.40 elsewhere) TJKC #8: 36-page CONVENTION issue! ALMOST SOLD OUT! $4.95 ($5.40 Canada, $7.40 elsewhere) TJKC #9: SORRY, THIS ISSUE IS SOLD OUT!! TJKC #10: 44-page HUMOR theme issue! ROZ KIRBY interview, STEVE GERBER on DESTROYER DUCK, GOODY RICKELS, FIGHTING AMERICAN, plus JIMMY OLSEN and THOR pages before inking, unpublished art, and more! $4.95 ($5.40 Canada, $7.40 elsewhere) TJKC #11: 44-page HOLLYWOOD theme issue! STUNTMAN, unused movie ideas, BLACK HOLE, LORD OF LIGHT, THE PRISONER adaptation, Jack’s career in ANIMATION, NEW GODS vs. STAR WARS, unpublished art, and more! New Kirby/Steranko and Kirby/Ordway covers. $4.95 ($5.40 Canada, $7.40 elsewhere) TJKC #12: 44-page INTERNATIONAL theme issue! Two KIRBY interviews, JOHN BYRNE interview, Kirby around the world, SAN DIEGO CON ’96 Kirby Panel (with EVANIER, WOLFMAN & STERN), CAPT. AMERICA pencils before inking, and more! New Kirby/Windsor-Smith cover. $4.95 ($5.40 Canada, $7.40 elsewhere) TJKC #13: 52-page SUPERNATURAL theme issue! An interview with Jack and Walter Gibson (creator of The Shadow), unpublished 7-page mystery story, DICK AYERS interview, THE DEMON, BLACK MAGIC, SPIRIT WORLD, ATLAS MONSTERS, published pages before inking, and more! New Kirby/Ayers and Kirby/Bissette covers. $4.95 ($5.40 Canada, $7.40 elsewhere) TJKC #14: 52-page THOR theme issue! Everything you wanted to know about Jack’s THOR work, plus interviews with CHIC STONE and WALT SIMONSON! Also, Jack’s uninked pencils to JOURNEY INTO MYSTERY #101 and others, unused THOR #169 art, pros and cons of Vince Colletta, and more! New Kirby/Stone and Kirby/Simonson covers. $4.95 ($5.40 Canada, $7.40 elsewhere) TJKC POSTER: See pg. 51. $7 ($8 Canada, $10 elsewhere)

(above) A little scientifically-inspired dialogue rewording from Silver Star #1. (right) Uninked pencils from Captain Victory #7, page 7.

Issue #15 Contents: The Great Kirby Sci-Fi Concepts . . . . 4 (an overview of Jack’s 1960s-70s ideas) Let’s Visit! By Shel Dorf . . . . . . . . . . 10 (Shel speaks to Jack in this obscure 1975 interview) Starman Zero & Tiger 21 . . . . . . . . . 12 (how good was Jack’s unused comic strip proposal of the late 1940s?) Solar Legion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 (Kirby’s forgotten heroes of the 1940s) Kirby, Physics & Harvey Comics . . . 15 (how Hugo Gernsback started Jack on a Race For The Moon) Interview with Al Williamson . . . . . 16 (the EC Comics legend discusses Jack, Wally Wood, and sci-fi) Silver Surfer Graphic Novel . . . . . . . 20 (the ultimate cosmic disappointment?) The Story Behind Sky Masters . . . . 21 (Jack’s behind-the-scenes legal battle examined in-depth) Centerfold: Eternals #4 Pencils . . . . 26 Kirby’s New History Of The World . . 28 (the Eternals explored) The Man Beyond The Machine . . . . 34 (a critical look at Machine Man) Kirby’s Space Oddity . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37 (Houston, we’ve got a problem...) Jack Kirby’s Infinite & Beyond . . . . . 38 (an examination of the 2001 comic) Interview With Mike Thibodeaux . . . 40 (Jack’s friend and inker speaks) Captain Victory & Pacific Comics . . 47 (Steve Schanes tells how they both came to be) Collector Comments . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49 Front cover inks: Terry Austin Back cover inks: Al Williamson Cover color: Tom Ziuko

The Jack Kirby Collector, Vol. 4, No. 15, Apr. 1997. Published bi-monthly by and © TwoMorrows Advertising, 502 Saint Mary’s St., Raleigh, NC 27605, USA. 919-833-8092. John Morrow, Editor. Pamela Morrow, Assistant Editor. Single issues: $4.95 US, $5.40 Canada, $7.40 outside North America. Six-issue subscriptions: $24.00 US, $32.00 Canada and Mexico, $44.00 outside North America. First printing. All characters are © their respective companies. All artwork is © Jack Kirby unless otherwise noted. All editorial matter is © the respective authors. PRINTED IN CANADA.

The Great Kirby Science Fiction Concepts by J.A. Fludd iterally hundreds of characters first came to life on the drawing board of Jack Kirby; characters on whom the entire history of comics has been built. With those characters came ideas—dozens of them, more ideas from the mind of this one man than from any other creator in the medium. The concepts Jack Kirby originated have shaped and informed everything that we read in comics today. The most satisfying and compelling Kirby concepts are his applications of science fiction ideas to the unique subject matter of superhero comics. It’s here that Kirby most comes alive, here that his storytelling is at its richest. Unlike fantasy and horror, which can rely on the supernatural, science fiction by definition must use scientific knowledge and theory as its point of departure. In popular culture outside of comics, this is the difference, say, between The Twilight Zone (a fantasy show) and The Outer Limits (hardcore science fiction). In his use of SF principles, Kirby always showed a deep fascination and appreciation of the wonders and mysteries of the universe. In his work at Marvel and DC during the ’60s and ’70s, he scarcely gave readers time to catch their breath between dazzling concepts. What follows are some of the highlights of a career spent building universes the way you or I prepare lunch.

“Conclusion:”), but when he and Thor confront Ego the Living Planet, an unusual bond forms between Pagan god and alien mechanoid. When Ego bombards his foes with living debris from his own mass, Thor digs the Recorder out of a pile of organic rubble, and the robot observes, “For the first time, a Recorder feels the emotion of... gratitude!” After their second adventure together, Thor extols the Recorder’s virtues to the ruler of Rigel, who plans to deactivate Thor’s companion: “And, surely as night doth follow day, he who is called Recorder doth feel... doth love... and therefore doth possess that which men call... soul!” Think about Thor’s plea for the rights and dignity of an artificial being—and remember the Recorder when you watch Data on Star Trek: The Next Generation.

The Observer Character People often associate Kirby with leaping, flying, twisting, punching heroes and extravagant action. However, in his SF-oriented work, there is a type of character who is the very opposite of figures like Captain America and Thor: the passive, intellectual observer. We first meet this type of character in Fantastic Four #13. He’s called the Watcher—a giant alien with glowing eyes and a Greek philosopher’s wardrobe. Though his power and knowledge are cosmically vast, the Watcher’s vocation is only to observe the workings of the universe and the deeds of other beings. His people obey a strict oath of non-participation in the affairs of other worlds. The Watcher’s problem is that he likes the human race (he’s especially fond of the Fantastic Four), and his entire history as a character is one of finding indirect ways to help his mortal friends. During the first coming of Galactus (FF #48-50), he directs the Human Torch to fetch Galactus’ Ultimate Nullifier, the hand-held weapon that Galactus fears because it can erase a galaxy with a flick of a switch. Reed Richards uses the Nullifier to blackmail Galactus into sparing Earth. Milton wrote, “They also serve, who only stand and wait.” In Marvel Comics, he also serves who only stands and watches. Thor also had an observer for a friend. In Thor #132, the Thunder God is about to brave the Black Galaxy—with a robot at his side. This is the Recorder, an artificial intelligence created by the Rigellian Colonizers to gather information on other worlds. The Recorder first strikes us as a model of functional efficiency (he even labels his sentences before he says them: “Observation:”,

One of many unused sci-fi concepts Jack proposed to animation studios in the late 1970s/early 1980s. 4

with a special navigation sense; and the Inhumans’ monarch, who was both Medusa’s cousin and her lover— Black Bolt, who drew power from electrons and never spoke. In FF #59 we learned why Black Bolt didn’t speak: the speech center of his brain triggered a destructive force that could level a city in a minute. The Inhumans storyline caught on well enough that the characters’ background was expanded upon in Thor. The backup feature called “Tales of The Inhumans” (Thor #146-152) linked Black Bolt’s people to yet another FF storyline, that of the alien Kree, who had visited Earth in prehistoric times and left Intergalactic Sentry 459 on a remote island (Fantastic Four #64). The story shows what happened when the Sentry robot awakened and carried out its function of monitoring the people of Attilan, descendants of humans on whom the Kree had experimented. Attilan’s ruler, King Randac, had become a super-being from exposure to his scientists’ discovery, a mutagenic “Terrigen Mist.” On witnessing Randac’s powers, the Sentry stated that Randac’s people should henceforth consider themselves “Inhuman”—and from that time on, it was standard practice for all citizens to partake of the Terrigen Mist and become Inhumans. Genetic engineering, a powerful theme in SF because of its implications for human identity and destiny, would figure in much of Kirby’s work. Also of note is that the archaeologist who discovers the Sentry in FF #64 is such a dead ringer for Dr. Daniel Damian (from The Eternals) that some fans consider them the same person. This is almost certainly an accident on Kirby’s part, but it shows that the Marvel Universe is so tightly woven that even accidents can become official continuity!

Galactus As the 50th issue of Fantastic Four approached, Stan and Jack decided to pit Earth’s greatest super-heroes against something that could scare (above) Galactus convention drawing. The buyer had Jack add the Silver Surfer figure to it later. the cape off Superman: Galactus, a creature older (below) Is the Eternals’ Dr. Damian the same character who appeared in FF #64? than the universe, possessed of infinite power and In the Fourth World comics of DC, another Kirby character cona hunger for entire planets to consume! The FF watched and listened tinues where the Watcher and the Recorder left off—minus the sympain horror as the Watcher showed them, holographically, what Galactus thy. Metron is the dispassionate god of knowledge who discovered the planned to do to Earth: With a gigantic “elemental converter,” the X-Element and created the Boom Tube. He loves nothing but his quest armored titan would release the energy in Earth’s oceans, then drain to meet the Source—the unknowable thing that the New Gods worthe molten core of the planet—obliterating all terrestrial life in the ship. In New Gods #1, the warlike Orion makes clear his contempt for process. Galactus’ Metron as someone who would “sell the universe into slavery for a feeding method is scrap of knowledge.” Metron, however, is not evil; he’s simply so goala horrifying applioriented that nothing touches him. cation of nuclear fusion, the same process at work in the Sun and the At the same time The Addams Family and The Munsters were hits hydrogen bomb. on TV, Marvel introduced its own weirdest family with the Inhumans. He is a nightmare It started in Fantastic Four #36 with Medusa, a woman with prehensile of Einsteinian hair and a mysterious past. Within a year we were to discover that physics. Medusa belonged to the Royal Family of Attilan, a genetically-engineered Galactus and civilization. Issues #44-47 introduced Medusa’s kin: her sister Crystal, the Watcher whose power over earth, wind, fire, and water was appropriate for a make an interestgirl who fell in love with the Human Torch; Crystal’s pet, the giant teleing contrast. porting bulldog Lockjaw; Gorgon, a hooved bruiser with a seismic Together, they stomp; Karnak, a martial-arts fighter who could sense the weakest reflect our oppospoint in anything and shatter it with a karate chop; Triton, a fish-man

The Inhumans

ing images of God. When the two of them confront each other on the second page of Fantastic Four #49, the picture asks us to consider which God, if any, we believe in: the loving and benevolent Higher Power embodied by the Watcher, or the judging, punishing destroyer that Galactus represents. Only science fiction can pose this kind of challenge to our ways of thinking.

we know it, but anti-matter—anti-protons, anti-neutrons, and positrons. Physics says it’s only blind chance that makes protons, neutrons, and electrons the stuff of what we consider “normal” matter; in the Negative Zone, the coin flipped the other way. When you pass through the ”distortion area,” a space-time buffer between the two universes, the atoms of your body are somehow safely changed from matter to antimatter. But in the Negative Zone is an “explosive area” where particles and their anti-particles converge and annihilate each other. Lee and Kirby exploited the Negative Zone in three classic FF stories. In #51, the Changeling, a bitter, jealous scientist who took the form of the Thing, nearly let Reed die in the explosive area before realizing how noble and sacrificing Reed was. In the end he threw Reed out of harm’s way and met the fate he planned for the FF’s leader. Reed faced annihilation again in FF #61 and #62, when he opened the Negative Zone portal to repel the Sandman and was swept inside. The lastminute intervention of Crystal and Triton saved him this time. Reed’s wife and child were in jeopardy in FF Annual #6, and only an anti-matter derivative could save Sue Richards from life-threatening labor complications. Reed, the Torch, and the Thing ventured into the Zone to obtain it from the paranoid, genocidal (and very aptly named) Annihilus.

The Negative Zone Space-time wormholes, parallel and alternate universes, dimensions higher than the fourth: These are all the stuff of modern theoretical physics. In Fantastic Four #51, Reed Richards’ work in this area led him to “sub-space,” a plane through which any point in the universe could be accessed—and the first stop on a trip from Earth to the Negative Zone. The Negative Zone: a parallel universe composed not of matter as

Wakanda And Vibranium When Lee and Kirby introduced the first black super-hero in Fantastic Four, they couldn’t make him just any black man with a costume and powers. Following on the heels of the Inhumans, Galactus, and the Silver Surfer, he had to be something much grander and more awesome. Hence, the Black Panther in FF #52. A super-scientific genius to rival Reed Richards and Dr. Doom, the Black Panther ruled his own African nation, Wakanda. His immense wealth derived from Wakanda’s chief export: a metal called vibranium with the amazing property of absorbing all kinetic and mechanical energy. (Later stories showed that vibranium had fallen from outer space.) The Panther had used his fortune to build an artificial jungle in which everything was electronic. In his first appearance, the Panther tested his powers by actually hunting the Fantastic Four in this jungle, in which Kirby drew some of his wildest surrealistic machinery. Much of SF asks in which direction future life and society will evolve. Will technology take over completely? Will man lose his identity to the machine? Will nature strike back against man’s presumption? Is it even possible to achieve a balance between human progress and the preservation of the natural world? In Wakanda, Kirby showed an African culture that had preserved its tribal traditions so well that it was actually able to assimilate futuristic technology into them. It’s still one of his most striking visions.

Ego The Living Planet The Colonizers of Rigel feared nothing— except what lay at the heart of a region of space that they (rather inaccurately) called the Black Galaxy. A forbidding area in which space seemed to take on fluid characteristics and was filled with bizarre, organic-seeming formations, the Captain Victory #9, page 13. Jack also explored “animals as men” with the High Evolutionary in Thor. Black Galaxy was identified as a “bioverse”—a 6

space occupied by an alien, living system. Venturing to its center in Thor #132, Thor and the Recorder came face to continent-sized face with Ego the Living Planet. Thor’s journey across the surface of Ego to learn the nature of his threat was a nightmarish version of Asimov’s Fantastic Voyage. Plummeting into an enormous skin pore, the Thunder God and the Recorder were beset by a swarm of “antibodies”—millions of warrior-forms that served the same function in Ego that white corpuscles do in the human body. The antibodies were the key to Ego’s plans for the galaxy beyond his bioverse: he actually meant to send his antibodies to other worlds as an endless, conquering horde. In effect, he was going to use his own immune system to attack other planets! A taste of Thor’s power soon changed Ego’s mind. Ego’s motive in attacking other worlds was never really clear, but it’s possible that he was trying to amass power to defend himself from his natural enemy, Galactus, who attacked and tried to consume him in Thor #160 and #161.

The High Evolutionary Leave it to Jack Kirby to cross Camelot with The Island of Dr. Moreau. The High Evolutionary, who lived in a Central European mountain called Wundagore, first appeared in Thor #134. A scientist who had learned to control evolution itself, the High Evolutionary set himself up as a noble, Arthurian monarch; made himself a kingdom of upright postured, sentient animals; and set about teaching them a code of chivalry (with the help of Thor’s then-girlfriend, Jane Foster, who had been hypnotized into leaving New York by the Rigellian, Tana Nile). The High Evolutionary’s subjects were his “New-Men”; certain of them, with names like Sir Lepard, Sir Ossilot, and Sir Liyan, were his Knights of Wundagore. Unfortunately, in trying to deal with Thor (who showed up at Wundagore looking for Jane and battled the Knights), the Evolutionary left a wolf under the evolving ray for too long—and the canine evolved a million years into the future, becoming the evil, super-powered Man-Beast. In short order, the Man-Beast had seized control of the evolution machine and created a horde of evil New-Men to overthrow the Evolutionary. Captain Victory #12, page 4. Young Captain Victory confronts the “ghost” of Darkseid! Thor and the Knights teamed up and defeated Tales of Suspense #79, was created by the evil scientists of A.I.M. the big bad super-wolf, after which the High Evolutionary departed (Advanced Idea Mechanics), and it soon fell into the hands of one of with his New-Men (temporarily) for outer space. Kirby’s greatest arch-villains, the Red Skull. The good news was that The Man-Beast is one classic Kirby character who definitely hits standing between the Red Skull and his conquest of the universe was the wrong note today. It’s become well understood that wolves are not Captain America. It was probably Cap’s greatest battle, a battle won rapacious, man-slaying monsters; they are animals who share a very only when the Skull outfitted himself in an armor of gold and Cap human love of family, companions, song, and play. Still, it’s hard to grabbed the fiend by the hand in a way that stopped him from encloshate a story with a great Stan Lee script and Jack Kirby artwork, and a ing the Cube completely in his fingers. His power reduced, the Red title like “The Maddening Menace of the Super-Beast!” Skull destroyed the island on which they were battling and sank, armor and all, beneath the sea. The Cosmic Cube was lost—for the moment—somewhere in the ocean. Imagine that you had Aladdin’s Genie with unlimited wishes. What is the scientific principle behind the Cosmic Cube? It’s hard That’s the idea behind the Cosmic Cube, which you could hold in the to say. There are certain things in quantum mechanics that seem to palm of your hand and could instantly change your thoughts and wishes hint at a relationship among the mind, matter, energy, space, and time into physical reality. The bad news was that the Cube, introduced in that we don’t yet comprehend. The Cosmic Cube has figured in a number

The Cosmic Cube

of Marvel plots since it was first wielded by the Red Skull, but it originated as yet another science fiction nightmare from the King of Comics.

People are struck by Darkseid’s Omega Effect (probably the scariest power a comic-book villain ever had: With a glance, Darkseid can emit a beam of light from his eyes that can erase you from existence or send you anywhere, to any time, that he wants!). The actual Anti-Life Equation turned up in the very next issue. Forever People #8 revealed that Darkseid’s quarry was a trashy vulgarian named “Billion-Dollar Bates,” who had used his mysterious influence over people to amass a fortune and build a private army. Bates’ greed and lust far surpassed his intelligence, however, and the weird “Sect” that he thought was going to help him conquer the world was actually from Apokolips. Darkseid paralyzed Bates’ mind and, in his moment of triumph, confronted the Forever People. Ironically, the billionaire was accidentally shot to death by one of his own soldiers, and the ultimate prize slipped through Darkseid’s fingers. This, however, was only a setback for Darkseid, because when the bearer of the Anti-Life Equation dies, the Equation simply passes to someone else! The roots of the Anti-Life Equation are more in metaphysics than in science. However, it resonates as a science fiction theme because science describes things with calculations and equations, such as E=MC2. Here, Kirby has rendered the conflict between free will and universal slavery in terms of an equation. Brilliant!

DNAliens Kirby returned to the theme of genetic engineering—this time by contemporary human scientists—in his innovative Jimmy Olsen stories that tied in with the Fourth World. DNAliens (an ingenious and wonderfully descriptive expression) first appeared in Jimmy Olsen #135-138 as the work of the Project, a center for research with the human genome. They could take the form of clones, like the second Newsboy Legion and Guardian, or more exotic variations on humanoid life, such as the telekinetic/telepathic Dubbilex, with his demonic looks and genteel demeanor, or the infantile, troll-like Angry Charlie. The Project had a counterpart called the Evil Factory, which was run by two Apokolips gods named Simyan and Mokarri. The Evil Factory served Darkseid’s campaign on Earth by bringing forth creatures like the Four-Armed Terror and the monster in Loch Trevor.

The X-Element And The Boom Tube “When the old gods died, there arose the New Gods”—and Jack Kirby changed a piece of their mythology into a science fiction element for his saga of high-tech deities. In the Fourth World comics of DC, Kirby reinvented gods, pitching them out of the realm of myth and mysticism; the New Gods were beings of superior power, longevity —and scientific knowledge. In New Gods #1, Metron explains that the old gods’ “bridge” between their world and Earth was destroyed—and it’s not a very great leap to guess that he’s referring to Bifrost, the Rainbow Bridge of Asgard in Thor. Metron says that he found the way to create “what our young ones call the Boom Tube”—a conduit between Earth and the worlds of New Genesis/Apokolips—and it comes out in Kirby’s masterpiece “The Pact” in New Gods #7 that what Metron discovered was an “X-Element” that was unstable in space and time. It can be inferred that the X-Element was a remnant of Bifrost. The X-Element is the basis for both the Boom Tube and for Metron’s vehicle, the Mobius Chair that can take him anywhere he wishes (except to the Source, much to Metron’s frustration). The Boom Tube was only one part of an amazing collection of ideas that Kirby generated for New Gods and its companion books. This remarkable suite of comics hinged on a conflict over one elusive thing:

The Anti-Life Equation Somewhere on Earth, an unsuspecting mortal possessed a secret formula for the negation of free will everywhere in the universe. Darkseid of Apokolips wanted the Anti-Life Equation, and the war he waged on Earth to scare it out of whoever had it drove the plots of New Gods, Forever People, Mister Miracle, and Kirby’s issues of Jimmy Olsen. The most interesting wrinkles in this storyline occurred in Forever People, and it’s one of the great losses in comics history that we’ll never get to see how Kirby would have worked them out when it was all fresh in his mind. The first issue of the series reveals that Beautiful Dreamer, the female member of the Forever People, is somehow able to “interpret” the Equation— implying that if Darkseid had both her and the mortal he was seeking in his clutches, he could use them to overthrow the cosmos. Kirby never got the chance to return to this point. In Forever People #5-7, the flower children from New Genesis pick up an ally: Sonny Sumo, an Asian sumo wrestler who can compel others to do his bidding—as long as he is holding the Forever People’s Mother Box. Sonny does not seem to possess the true Anti-Life Equation, but in any event he is lost in feudal Japan when he and the Forever

A 1980s sci-fi-based Kirby ad for a SEGA video game. 8

elite. Darkseid rules by completely crushing the dignity and self-worth out of everyone around him (which is part of the reason why all the characters from Apokolips are the farthest thing from godlike); nothing would be more dangerous to him than the empowering and ennobling influence of Mother Boxes on the masses of his world. This becomes explicit in the story of “Himon” in Mister Miracle #9, in which we also see that many of Darkseid’s subjects are too demoralized to bring a Mother Box to life in any case. In the early ’70s, when Kirby was first introducing these concepts, computers that you could carry with you and had interactive programming were still a decade or more in the future. But in Mother Box we saw a glimpse of a world that might be coming, in which computers and their users are joined in the most intimate ways.

The Celestials And The Breeds Of Man Kirby’s last effort with the theme of gods was inspired by the writings of pop archaeologist Erich Von Däniken (Chariots of the Gods?), who argued that ancient civilizations worshipped and were helped by visitors from space. The Eternals reveals that these visitors were the Celestials, armored aliens big enough to take Galactus over their knees. The Celestials had altered the genes of prehistoric apes to create the human race and two related species. The Deviants were genetically unstable and produced monstrous, wildly mutated offspring; contact between humans and Deviants in ancient times was the basis for our legends about devils and demons. The Eternals were beautiful beings, immune to death and possessing powers of mind, matter, and energy that seemed magical. Our myths about gods sprang from them. The Eternals expresses in comic-book form two sayings that every science fiction fan knows well: “Every legend has its basis in fact” and “Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.” It was Jack Kirby’s last major creation for Marvel and, like all the others, has generated a wealth of stories in the Marvel Universe.

Cover pencils to Eternals #11.

Mother Box

Science fiction is the literature that takes issues from real life and presents them in unexpected ways, viewing them from unusual angles and letting us consider them in ways that we might not otherwise have done. From the first appearance of Superman, comics have always made use of the themes and language of SF. Nowhere else in comics do these themes take on the power and vibrancy that they do in the work of Jack Kirby, both in his collaboration with Stan Lee and on his own. In a career that encompasses the entire history of the medium, Jack Kirby put us on intimate terms with super-heroes, gods, and aliens. He flung us from one corner of one universe to the most distant reaches of the next, and made us love it, both for the awe, grandeur, and wonder that he brought to his work—and for that other most important ingredient in science fiction: the humanity. ✷

A New God’s best friend is his Mother Box, which keeps him connected with the Source. Mother Box is a powerful, hand-held personal computer—and much more. She is self-aware, nurturing, a font of unconditional love, just like your Mom. Her soft “pinging” sound can soothe your fear and anger. She can heal your wounds. Orion’s Mother Box changes his face from that of Mr. Hyde to a handsome prince. Mother Box helps Mister Miracle with his stunts and escapes, and enables the Forever People to summon and change places with Infinity Man. A Mother Box is brought to life by the love and faith of the New God who builds her. Not surprisingly, on Apokolips it is a crime to build or possess a Mother Box unless you belong to Darkseid’s power 9

Let’s Visit! by Shel Dorf A rare Kirby interview, conducted by Shel Dorf (Editor’s Note: This is one of Shel’s early columns, originally published in The Menomonee Falls Gazette, Vol. 4, #181, June 2, 1975. Jack did the self-portrait especially for this column. The success of these columns led to Shel’s later, more well-known columns in The Buyer’s Guide For Comic Fandom. © 1977 Shel Dorf )

KIRBY: As I stated, Caniff, Raymond and Foster were major influences in my work. However, there were illustrators like Howard Pyle, cartoonists like Winsor McCay, George McManus and Cliff Sterrett, who intrigued me profoundly. Editorial cartoonists with the stature of Rollin Kirby, C.H. Sykes and “Ding” Darling could hardly be ignored by any artist who yearned for concept and style. If you’d study my work in depth, you’d find all of these great craftsmen somewhere in its structure. DORF: Which science fiction writers were your favorites as a kid?

n May first of this year, Jack Kirby began his new contract with Marvel Comics. After a five year association with DC, he returned to Marvel — the company whose new direction he helped build. The comic book industry is full of capable craftsmen who turn out a quality product. Yet there is just a handful of true trend-setters. Kirby is in that league. He’s his own toughest critic, and seldom indulges in the luxury of a comfortable old format. He’s always pushing to make it better. Although he has been a comic book writer/artist for more than thirty years, he has that youthful excitement about what comes next.

SHEL DORF: What do you consider the first responsibility of a comic book artist/writer? JACK KIRBY: The first responsibility of a comic magazine writer/artist is to inject the necessary elements into his work in order to make it salable. DORF: Can you remember your most challenging assignment? KIRBY: My most challenging assignment was always the assignment I was working on. DORF: Is there an area of story-telling (TV scripts, movies) beyond the comic book format you’d like to try your hand at? KIRBY: I’m intrigued by all forms of storytelling, including Masai tribal dancing. But of course the chances are that turning out comics will always be my bag. DORF: Do you have a prepared script for each book you do? If not, please describe your approach. KIRBY: I approach writing as I do drawing — from the most salable angle. In each case, I’m telling a story. If the reader responds to that story, my writing or drawing has been a valid task. DORF: How much formal training did you have before becoming a professional? KIRBY: The men who made their mark as craft-masters of the comics (Caniff, Raymond, Foster, etc. ) had all the essentials necessary in their work to provide formative professionals, like myself, during the thirties, with the availability of well-rounded skills. In short, these fine men were the schools for a host of young people in search of quality in their own product. I believe that this borrowing process is still practiced to this day. I like to believe that in payment to the elder craftsmen, my own work has contributed something to a peer group younger than mine. This is the nature of formal training for comics. DORF: Who do you consider your major influences in drawing? 10

DORF: Can you name a few of your all-time favorite movies and explain why they impressed you? KIRBY: My favorites are Metropolis, Paul Muni’s Scarface, Errol Flynn’s Robin Hood, Gene Kelly’s The Pirate, Things to Come, and Sean Connery’s Goldfinger. These are all idealistic versions of reality, I know, but there is something in my makeup which responds to these kinds of works. Despite their fairy-tale qualities, each of these films has class. DORF: Why, after all these years, are comic books still looked upon as juvenile reading matter ? Or are they ? KIRBY: I fear that comic magazines still retain the “blue collar” status in the realm of literature. It will take some more thinking and doing to dress the media for marble halls—but, the time is coming. The generation oriented to comics will demand bigger and better things from the industry. DORF: If you had the option of turning one of your creations into a television series, which one would you choose? Why? KIRBY: I don’t consider it an ego trip to state that any of my works has the potential for transition to television. I’ll stand behind anything from my early Captain Americas to my latest efforts as prime material for TV consumption. I’m quite certain that a viewing audience would find my characters and stories both provocative, well-defined and with a point to make in reference to their subject matter. DORF: What do you do to keep your energy level up? Do you prefer a certain diet? KIRBY: My favorite exercise is thinking. Having given up contact sports, my only recourse to anything physical might result in tragic consequences for myself. My wife is bigger and swifter than I am and could well beat the hell out of me before I could dazzle her with fancy footwork. DORF: Does your family closely follow your work? Do they ever make suggestions? KIRBY: My family has always lived in proximity to my work but has somehow maintained its own interests. This is natural and good. They are individuals, children with their own lives to fill, and a wife who not only supplements what I do, but helps me to be what I am. Jack often mixed science fiction with mythology, as shown in these uninked pencils from Thor #166. DORF: The basic elements in your books always involve good triumphing over evil and without evil KIRBY: I’ll read anyone who writes science fiction. I’ve been a science in the world, there would be no virtues to strive for. Yet aren’t there fiction nut from the moment I discovered Hugo Gernsback’s publicasome evils we can do without and not upset the balance? What do you tion with a cover by Frank Paul. For sheer lyricism in science fiction consider these unnecessary evils to be? writing, Ray Bradbury is tops. As for blood and thunder, Alfred KIRBY: It is you and I who manufacture evil and virtue. As human Bester will do the thing for me... Heinlein, Asimov, Campbell, et al. beings we must discipline ourselves to recognize them for what they cover the range from reality to technology to mysticism whenever I are, learn the impact of both upon others, and dish out these products want these special themes. of our own humanity with understanding and moderation. DORF: Is there a personal code of ethics you’d suggest to a youngster DORF: Watergate has made a whole generation aware of corruption on his way up in the comics business? in so-called honorable high offices. Is it wrong for us to look for heroes KIRBY: I can give you my code. It’s simple. Honesty, reliability and in real life? Who do you consider the noblemen of today’s world? commercial aptitude. KIRBY: The people are the heroes of this world. War and pestilence and hunger have finished off a lot of outstanding individuals, but the DORF: When did you find the going hardest in your career? people who produced them remain in constant number. Sure Hitler KIRBY: I’ve never found it easy. Delivering a comic is hard work. There and Stalin killed a few million, but where are those two bastards are many people to please, including one’s self. A man has to sit down today? ✷ at his board and do the very best he can — on every assignment he gets. 11

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Starman Zero And Tiger 21 by John Morrow

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s Steve Sherman noted in his article in TJKC #11, in the 1950s Jack pitched an idea for a sci-fi television show called Tiger 21 to NBC-TV. The concept was a reworking of a late 1940s unused newspaper strip idea called Starman Zero, and a look at the first six unused Sunday pages shows the name Tiger 21 played an important part in the strip. Since the quality of the copies I have access to isn’t great, I’ve excerpted some of the clearer panels to illustrate this synopsis of the strip. (For more Starman Zero art, check out the Kirby Unleashed portfolio for Jack’s Starman Zero concept drawing, and Pure Imagination’s Jack Kirby Treasury Vol. 2 for a full Sunday page reproduction.) The story told in those first six Sundays is quite remarkable, and the dialogue is striking. (Traces of Jack’s handwriting are in the balloons, so he was at least partially involved in the scripting.) The first panel of Jack’s initial Sunday page shows a haunting close-up shot of a man’s eyes (the kind of close-up Jack would later use to great effect in his 1960s Marvel work). The opening dialogue reads:

“I can still remember my last moments as a mortal human being. There was a room of bare simplicity -- a clock face projected on a wall of pleasing color. I had twenty seconds before I stopped being flesh and blood -- and became -- something else -- ” After this provocative beginning, the story unfolds in a scientific research facility in the Chicago of the future.❶ A man is being wheeled into a radiation chamber, about to be subjected to a procedure code-named “Project Lifelong.” He’s been drugged, and apparently wasn’t fully aware of what he had volunteered for. As the procedure takes place, the subject feels “the weightless sensation of rising -- and suddenly, being everywhere at once.” As it ends, he stands up to discover that his mind has been transferred into a new indestructible body:❷ “It looked human... inside, it was all machine.” Giving up his human name (we’re never told what it was), the subject is given the classification Starman Zero.❸ His new body was designed to survive the rigors of space travel; it wouldn’t age (“The people I passed paid me no notice. A thousand years later, I would still look twenty-seven -- and brush shoulders with their descendants!” ), and didn’t need normal human sustenance (“Machines are not capable of enjoying human food... My mouth was just a speaking device.” ). Halfway through the second Sunday page, Starman Zero leaves the research facility for a Chicago rocket port, where he hops a passenger ship to England.❹ His mission: to make the “Saturn Run,” culminating with his blasting through deep space to his eventual destination—a star called Tiger 21! Once in outer space, Zero would cover the long distance from Saturn to Tiger 21 (900 billion miles!) by means of the Time Jump. The third Sunday page begins with British scientists readying his ship, as he mulls over how the Time Jump works: “The best I could make of it was that it blew you into nothingness and put you together again at a calculated distance. It only took a second.”

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Shades of Star Trek’s transporter room! As Starman Zero’s ship blasts off for Saturn, he ponders his purpose in life,❺ only to be interrupted by an alarm signal that warns him of an approaching Atomic Torpedo! It narrowly misses his vessel, and reaches its intended target; an intergalactic trading ship. As the fourth Sunday page begins, he witnesses the aftermath of the explosion, and notes the death of the unfortunate trader who piloted the devastated ship: “The body of a man drifted close to my ship. Like the bits of scattered debris, he sped on aimlessly... I judged his course to lead directly into the all-consuming flames of the sun.” Outraged by this merciless killing, Zero decides to track down the assailant:❻ “Perhaps, I did it because I’d been a scrounger myself -- hopping from one inferno to the next -- digging for the alien loot that would make my fortune. Machine or human, I was boiling mad!” 12

❻ Zero pursues the killer, and finds he is none other than Anson Rike, a notorious space bandit with a deadly reputation: “Anson Rike was a human jackal! I personally knew several traders who had lost their cargoes to him. He travelled the dark corners and struck fast! Until that moment, Rike was just a bad name to me. I saw him now -- a bloodstain -- that had to be wiped away.” Starman Zero takes chase through an asteroid belt, following Rike until he lands on a planetoid called Kreimhild 242. As our hero disembarks his ship, Rike strikes, spraying him with a deadly chemical solvent from his gun!❼ This would’ve killed an ordinary person, but Rike hadn’t planned on encountering an indestructible man: “The gun in my hand turned to fiery liquid! Everything I wore was eaten away by the raging chemical heat! I was stunned by the fact that I still lived -- that my body didn’t burn! I didn’t burn! Starman Zero couldn’t!”

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The fifth Sunday page (which ran in The Jack Kirby Treasury Vol. 2) begins as Rike stares in astonishment that Zero is still standing (albeit minus his spacesuit). This is the moment that Zero realizes what he has become; a truly immortal being: “Man had finally made a machine he couldn’t destroy! And it was mine to wear until eternity. Rike was no longer a danger. I could crush him as one did an insect underfoot!” Aided by the lack of gravity on Kreimhild 242, Starman Zero grabs Rike and tosses him into outer space. As he returns to his ship, Zero is plagued by “a thousand questions from this strange experience.” He begins to wonder what awaits him on Tiger 21 that would require him to have such power!❽ Unfortunately, we never do find out; the final Sunday page focuses on Zero’s experience with the Time Jump. The reason for time travel is made clear (“I suppose it was possible to get there the hard way, but things would wax pretty dull on a trip which took a million years to complete.” ). As he approaches Saturn, scientists stationed on one of its moons relay final instructions to him, and the time detonator begins its countdown.❾ A nice series of typical Kirby facial shots comprises the countdown panels, each with a progressively tighter close-up of Zero’s tense face.❿ As “zero hour” comes closer with each second, Starman Zero contemplates how time travel functions:

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“The universe is a round ball -- we are on one side of its surface -- Tiger 21 is on the other -- you punch a hole in your side of the ball -- travel in a straight line through the inside center -- and -- come -- out – on – the – other – side -- but while you cross the inside center of the ball, you no longer exist on its surface -- YOU NO -- LONGER -- EXIST -- ” Perhaps foreshadowing what Kirby had planned for him to find on the other side, Zero ponders what happened to the inventor of the Time Jump, Calvin Rochester, who’s been missing for ten years. As the countdown reaches zero, he goes through the “point of puncture” in time, and gives a beautiful description of the experience:

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“It was the feeling you get in the sudden drop of an elevator! Everything seemed to waver and swim. It lasted for a breath of an instant. One could hardly say anything had happened. In fact I didn’t believe anything had.” Starman Zero charts his course, and after spending what we’re told is a week in the vast grayness of sub-space (possibly Jack’s earliest use of the term), he emerges at his destination; the galaxy of Tiger 21, a million years from home. It’s here that the final Sunday page ends, leaving us to wonder what Zero would’ve found. Jack had built the strip up to a nice cliffhanger that would hopefully get syndicates interested. Unfortunately, the strip was never picked up. Although the panel borders were ruled and the balloons and captions were lettered, these Sunday pages remain uninked, indicating no syndicate came close to accepting it, and we can only speculate as to why. The heavy amount of text needed to convey this complex story tended to crowd out the artwork, and this may have worked against the strip in syndicates’ eyes. Perhaps they felt the public wasn’t ready for science fiction (several years later, the gorgeous EC sci-fi comics consistently sold poorly, indicating that even comic book readers weren’t that interested in the genre). Whatever the reason for its lack of success, Starman Zero remains a product of a youthful Jack Kirby, obviously inspired by the visions put in his mind by those early years of reading science fiction pulps. These few penciled strips remain today, showing us the early work of a comics master whose love of science fiction would lead him to later, more successful voyages into the genre that he held so near and dear to his heart. ✷ (these two pages) Random pencil panels from Jack’s six Starman Zero Sunday pages, done as samples to get newspaper syndicates interested in the concept. 13

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and was quickly abandoned. This cosmic tale would have been lost forever if not for the efforts of Frank Temerson. by Todd Severin Temerson, the head of Tem The day has come when science has penetrated the mysteries of the Publishing, had universe and no longer is man confined to earth, for space has yielded earlier established boundaries; planets are united as one. himself in the comic In the interest of the denizens of the cosmos, Adam Starr has orgabook market by nized the Solar Legion to create peace and good will among men. purchasing both the Crash Comics #4 Comics Magazine Company and the Harry “A” Chesler comic book lineup in 1937. He ith the Fourth World series, Jack Kirby embarked on a journey then sold both businesses to Centaur Publishing in 1938, turning a of cosmic adventure, an odyssey of space-soaring heroes, interhandsome profit. Encouraged by the financial prospects in comic galactic battles and evil tyrants. This series, however, wasn’t publishing, Temerson returned to the business in May of 1940 with Kirby’s first foray into the realm of intergalactic adventure. As far Crash Comics. The majority of the work for Crash Comics was contracted back as 1939, Kirby looked towards the stars for inspiration when the through the Whitman studio. In addition to supplying new features King first unveiled the tale of Adam Starr and the Solar Legion. (such as Crash’s greatest success, The Cat Man) Whitman provided By 1939, Jack Kirby had already established himself as a skilled several back-up features for the publication. One title that he happily artist with his work at Lincoln Features, a small syndicate house lent to the pages of Crash was Solar Legion. which supplied weekly comic strips to newspapers. Kirby, working Appearing in the very first issue of Crash Comics, Solar Legion under the various pen names of Jack Curtiss, Bob Brown, Ted Grey, found a home, sharing its pages with Strongman, Buck Burke, Shangra and Richard Lee created and drew several weekly adventure strips. and the Blue Streak. These early stories were wonderful tales of interThis body of work brought enough notice to the young artist that he galactic war and adventure. One Solar Legion strip found Adam Starr was offered an assignment from Associated Features Syndicate to rocketing off to Saturn where he sought to bring peace to the vicious draw his first daily newspaper strip, The Lone Rider, which appeared war between two dictators, Mayo and Zara the Evil. In this tale, Starr under the name Lance Kirby. utilized his knowledge of an imminent solar eclipse to convince Mayo The Lone Rider only found limited success in syndication, and in that he had control over the Sun. After this display, Mayo renounced an effort to augment his weekly paycheck, Kirby began freelancing at the war and joined Starr in his peacekeeping efforts. Together, they other studios and came to the attention of Bert Whitman. In 1939, easily defeated Zara and brought peace to Saturn. Whitman hired Kirby to produce a science fiction adventure strip for This early work showcased many of the traits that would later go weekly syndication. This strip chronicled the exploits of Adam Starr, on to become the staple components of classic Kirby storytelling; the leader of Solar Legion, a peacekeeping unit that patrolled the warexciting, well-written plots, dynamic action panels, creative page layravaged reaches of the galaxy. Despite its high-flying name, however, outs and those marvelous Kirby spacecraft and machinations. Solar Legion never managed to get off the ground as a syndicated strip Crash Comics only lasted for five issues before being canceled and replaced by Cat Man’s own title. Solar Legion unfortunately never made the jump to the new magazine. By this time, Kirby had left Whitman’s studio for Fox and had begun his seminal work on Blue Bolt. Solar Legion was left behind and forgotten. When one lists the heroes of Kirby’s golden age work, Adam Starr of Solar Legion rarely comes to mind. This work, however, represented some of the earliest comic book output of Kirby’s extraordinary career, predated only by his work on Jumbo Comics in 1938 and Famous Funnies in 1939. Although nearly impossible to find today, it was in this strip that the young Jack Kirby laid down the foundations of his artistic career and first set the (above and top) Solar Legion panels from Crash Comics. All of Jack’s Solar Legion stories are about to be reprinted in stage for the tales of intergalactic adventures that would follow. ✷ Pure Imagination’s upcoming The Complete Kirby Vol. 1. (see page 2 for ordering details)

Solar Legion: Kirby’s Forgotten Heroes

through the universe. Cool stuff! And dig the weird alien creatures. The big problem with this material was that the stories were so short—four to six pages—that the plotlines seem truncated. Just when the story starts to get somewhere, it would limp to a halt, with some sort of lame conclusion like the space commander quickly wrapping it up by saying “Gee, that was strange. I guess we’ll never know what really happened.” But the story elements were mighty fine: the spontaneous development of artificial intelligence, mysterious physics-defying monoliths on the moon (shades of 2001!), mass to energy conversion... and a whole passel of more wild concepts, all in one little comic! Kirby also did a few shorts for Harvey’s other fantasy book, Alarming Tales (#1-5, 1957-58). #4 featured a moody, eerily evocative, Bradburyesque tale about an alienated young man who lived on Mars. He runs away into the desert and encounters a dragon-like beast. Then his father shows up and saves him—a groaningly sentimental cop-out ending, but nonetheless, this is a gem of a tale—until that point. The inking looks like Kirby’s own. It’s a lean, simple line, but it’s pure Kirby, raw and unadorned— the polar opposite of Williamson, but just as effective for that very reason. Its portrait of futuristic life is detailed and makes one hungry for more. More than any other artist of his time—with the possible exceptions of EC masters like Wood and Williamson—Kirby actualized the prose imaginings of Scientifiction writers of the ’20s and ’30s. ✷

Kirby, Physics & Harvey Comics by Link Yaco hen Kirby was a teen, he read science fiction. The SF field of the period was dominated by Hugo Gernsback, who coined the forerunning term “scientifiction,” offered a $10,000 reward for anyone who could prove a spiritual phenomenon, and was the world’s first regular television broadcaster (in 1936, once a week for 30 minutes, he broadcast a still picture of one of the DJs from one of the radio stations he owned). Gernsback, for whom the science fiction Hugo Award is named, soon started publishing material which casually confused galaxies with universes, and considered light years to be a unit of time. This is the SF that Kirby grew up with—the stuff of super-science and space operas. But as crude as it was, the basic concepts of decent physics were there—technical concepts that the mature Kirby would still be digesting in the late 1960s. When young Jacob Kurtzberg read about these concepts during the late ’20s and into the Depression, they seemed quite fresh, although many were already a couple of decades old: space flight (dating back to Jules Verne, and earlier to Sir Isaac Newton’s tale of a flight to the moon), death rays (laser-like weapons were used in fiction like Buck Rogers), inter-dimensional physics (which dated to turn-of-the-century German mathematician David Hilbert), relativistic physics (Einstein wrote his seminal work on energy, space, and time in the second decade of the century), computers (Charles Babbage had built the first computers in the previous century), and sub-atomic structure (quantum physicists such as Nils Bohr were already experimenting with cloud chambers and wave mechanics equations). Kirby grew up loving SF and used Gernsbackian elements whenever he could. One of his earliest solo efforts was The Solar Legion, done as a newspaper strip but printed in Crash Comics (#1-3, 1940). And his first effort with Joe Simon was the eponymous Blue Bolt for Blue Bolt (#2-10, 1940-41). Both were SF— no horror or fantasy elements, and only the slightest taint of superhero convention in the satiny, Romanesque outfit of the scientifically-endowed Blue Bolt character. But that was it for the next couple of decades. Kirby’s fantasy work for Timely/Atlas/Marvel as well as DC and other publishers was always limited by formula—monster stories, superhero teams, and so on, until the late ’50s. Simon and Kirby had split up after their own publishing venture, Mainline, went under in the wake of the Comics Code. Then Simon approached Alfred Harvey with a proposal to act as a producer for a whole batch of books, and from 1957-59, Kirby got to indulge in the pure SF of his childhood. Harvey had a number of fantasy anthology books, such as the intriguingly-titled Unearthly Spectaculars, that were being managed by Simon. Kirby did a few SF shorts for these, and contributed the bulk of the art for Race For The Moon #2 and #3 in 1958. (His creations, the cornily bizarre Three Rocketeers, filled a 1965 Harvey one-shot called Blast-Off, some seven years after it was drawn for the never-published Race For The Moon #4). Kirby got his best inking ever when EC favorite Al Williamson was brought on board to ink Race For The Moon (and material later used in Blast-Off). Like most Kirby inkers, Williamson was overshadowed by Kirby’s sheer intensity, but at moments his fine-line textures took over. On one page in particular, a six-panel job (shown here), every scene is on a different planet. These panels are exquisite, as Kirby’s powerful imagination propels the Three Rocketeers and Al Williamson’s fine surface textures

great. The first stuff I saw of Jack’s was the early stuff, so it’s sort of my favorite, but that certainly doesn’t take away from what he did later. The real good guys turned out a lot of stuff, and they never looked back. I don’t think Jack looked back. I have a feeling he did a drawing and that was it; on to the next one. The real good artists were like that. Raymond was like that, Foster was like that. TJKC: Jack mentioned many times that Hal Foster and Alex Raymond were big influences on his art, and you’ve said the same thing about your work. Do you see common elements between their work and Jack’s? AL: Well, in early Kirby work—1940, 1941—I can see certain influences of Alex there, especially the way Alex drew legs. If you look at Alex’s work around 1935-36, you’ll see Jack Kirby. I mean, you take from the best! He didn’t swipe them, he just got the idea, he got inspired, which is fine. All of us are inspired by something or someone. TJKC: What about their approaches to storytelling? AL: I think Jack was a better storyteller than Alex. Oh, yeah, Jack was a very good storyteller. I mean, Alex was very good when he did Rip Kirby—he was very good on the characterization. But I think Jack Kirby was a better storyteller in the long run.

Jack Kirby (left) and Al Williamson (right) talk shop. (photo by John Montero) (below) Williamson-inked panels from Race For The Moon #2.

Interview With Al Williamson

TJKC: Didn’t you attend Burne Hogarth’s School? AL: Actually, I just went to that Saturday morning sketch class he had. It was never really the school. I did go to the school when I was working for him, but only to pick up the work and spend some time there. That’s how I got to meet my dear friend Roy [Krenkel]. TJKC: Isn’t that also where you met Wally Wood? AL: Yeah, I met him at the school when I was working with Hogarth. He was there and I met him briefly, but I didn’t really get to know him until about 1950. As the years went on, we became better friends, but we hit it off right from the beginning. We talked serials, old movies. We talked comics, and we talked art. He just loved serials, and he loved comics. We had a lot in common.

Interviewed by John Morrow (Al Williamson was born March 21, 1931, and lived in Colombia, South America until the age of twelve. He’s no stranger to the science fiction genre, having made his mark drawing stories for EC’s science fiction comics in the 1950s, and later for Marvel’s Star Wars adaptations and the Star Wars newspaper strip in the 1970s and ’80s. In-between, he carved out a career in the syndicated comic strip field, and even inked a few of Jack’s stories in the late 1950s. This interview was conducted on January 6, 1997.)

TJKC: We hear now that the names “Simon & Kirby” on a book were a real sales factor. Were you guys aware of that name recognition? AL: Oh, sure. We were all crazy about that stuff. I know Wally liked Jack’s work very, very much. Marvin Stein liked Jack’s work very much. Marvin was a good friend; I met him back in 1945 when he was going to the Saturday morning sketch class at Hogarth’s. He wound up working with Jack Kirby. He was a great fan of Jack’s work. I remember going up to their studio when they did Prize Comics, to see Marvin. I met Jack probably 25 times, and every time I met him, he never recognized me; he didn’t remember me. (laughter) He was in a world of his own.

THE JACK KIRBY COLLECTOR: Was there much Kirby work available in Colombia where you grew up? AL WILLIAMSON: The first work I saw of Jack’s was in Colombia. I can’t remember the Spanish title, but in English it was Cosmic Carson. I loved it! The next stuff I saw of his was The Lone Rider in Famous Funnies. TJKC: Were you fluent in English at this age? AL: My father was Colombian, and my mother was American. They met here in the States, got married, and went down. I grew up down there, so I learned both Spanish and English at the same time. It was comic books that taught me to read both languages. (laughter) TJKC: Did you follow Jack’s work all the way through his career? AL: More or less. I loved that early stuff of his very much. I loved Stuntman, and the westerns he did were just 16

said, “Naahh....” TJKC: It sounds like you didn’t have much interaction with Stan. AL: Absolutely not. I’d take my pages in when they were done; all the artists had to do that. He’d look at it and say, “That’s fine,” or “Change this, fix this” or something. But I don’t recall him giving me any trouble. I never had trouble with Stan; he’s a nice guy. I enjoyed working for him.

Some of Al’s beautiful figure work, from 1973.

TJKC: As I understand it, Wally Wood urged you to go to EC. AL: That’s correct. Wally and Joe Orlando both. I went up in January or February of 1952, I think. I was just about to turn 21. They gave me a job, and I had my 21st birthday by the time I’d done my third story for them. I still don’t understand why they hired me. What’s annoying is, I look at some of that stuff, and I say to myself, “Why did you waste your time, Al? Why didn’t you really work?” I had absolutely no faith in my work or myself. It was terrible that I wasted so much time, and thought so little of myself. Not that I think I’m so hot, but I look back and I say, “You had the talent, why didn’t you work at it?” I didn’t really shape up until I was about thirty. TJKC: I’ve read all the stories about you going out and seeing movies and playing baseball, and letting your deadlines slide until the last minute. (laughter) AL: Well, when you’re a bachelor and don’t know any better, (laughter) you go ahead and live for the day. It’s when you get married that reality sets in. (laughter) But the thing I remember about going up to Prize was, there was a fellow there, a very fine artist named Mort Meskin. Mort Meskin was one of the sweetest gentlemen I’ve ever met in the business. He and I got along famously. Every time I’d see him, we’d sit and talk. I was just a kid, between eighteen and twenty-four, twenty-five. I had, and still have, a Sheena Sunday page he did for Eisner and Iger back in 1938, and I asked if he’d sign it for me. He did, and I’m very proud of it. He was a damn good artist.

TJKC: I understand that, at EC, the horror books were the big sellers, and the science fiction never did that well. AL: The money they made on the horror books was put back into the science fiction books, because they loved doing them. The science fiction never sold. TJKC: I’ve always wondered what it would’ve been like if Jack had worked at EC on some of the science fiction books. AL: Well, I have a feeling he probably wouldn’t be as dynamic as what he was on his own. First of all, you’ve got the pages already lettered, and you only had a certain amount of room to draw, which was kind of a drawback. The last job I ever did for them was a science fiction, and I said, “Please let me lay it out,” and they did. If you see that job, it’s quite different from the others. It’s got long panels, and things like that. Now I’m sure Jack could’ve done them, but whether he would’ve been able to give that wonderful “bam, sock, wow” look to those pages, I don’t know. It probably would look like his “love” stories. EC stories never had any action in them, unless somebody was slashing somebody, or stuffing somebody in a stove, or something like that. (laughter) I don’t think I ever drew anybody bopping anybody in those stories. I think he would’ve been wasted doing that stuff.

TJKC: I have your first published work as being in 1948. AL: It was two spot illustrations for Famous Funnies, for a story called “The World’s Ugliest Horse.” (laughter) That was my first published work. I don’t count the Hogarth stuff, because that was for Hogarth. TJKC: Did you do a lot of work before you hit EC? AL: Yeah, I worked for Toby Press, which was the Al Capp outfit. I did John Wayne Comics for them, a western. I did some more work here and there for Famous Funnies. Mostly it was western stuff. Then in 1950, I started working for different companies like ACG. I did some stuff for Marvel; that was one of my first jobs, too. I worked in the bullpen in early 1948 or ’49. TJKC: Was Stan Lee in charge? AL: Stan hired me as an inker, and I punched the time clock for a couple of weeks, and then I got tired of that. I’d just gotten out of school, and I hated going to school because it was a 9:00-3:00 business, y’know? I hated regimentation.

TJKC: Didn’t you do some westerns for Prize Comics? AL: I worked with Johnny Severin on some stories. He had a terrible deadline a couple of times, and I went over and we worked a couple of days. He put me up, fed me, and we worked around the clock and turned out fifteen or twenty pages between the two of us.

TJKC: What do you remember about working for Stan? AL: I brought my samples in, and there was a guy who came out and looked at them. He said he’d take them in and see if Stan was interested in hiring me. He came out and said, “Stan likes your work. He wants to hire you as an inker.” I wanted to pencil though, because I wanted to do Sub-Mariner. That was not to be! He gave me a staff job at $30 a week, but I had to punch the time clock. After a couple of weeks, I

TJKC: Didn’t you also work with Frazetta during the 1950s? AL: Yeah. Frank came and helped me out with some jobs; he inked some things for me. I was always late on deadlines, and he’d come in and give me a hand. He only helped me out for maybe three years, on and off. It wasn’t for every job. He helped me out with some John Wayne stuff. 17

TJKC: I’ve read that you used to bring jobs over to Wally Wood’s studio and work on them at his spare table. AL: Oh, yeah. I used to take my jobs over there. Several times he asked me to help him out, but I did very little. TJKC: Did you work better having somebody there to shoot the breeze with? AL: Yeah. We’d B.S. back and forth, we’d tell gags and crack up, and rehash a movie we liked and go through the dialogue. I still do it with some friends; Angelo Torres and I, and Mark Schultz. TJKC: You and Wally both had slick styles, but they were very different. AL: Well, Wally was Wally. He and Jack Kirby, you can’t mistake who they are. And the two of them working together is amazing, because you know it’s Jack Kirby and you know it’s Wally Wood! (laughter) TJKC: Did you and Wally ever discuss how to approach inking Kirby?

AL: No, it was a job. I remember going up to Harvey and getting work there. They said, “We haven’t got any work for you, but we have some stories here that Jack penciled. Do you want to ink them?” I’d never really inked anybody else before, but I said, “Sure,” because I looked at the stuff, and thought, “I can follow this.” It’s all there. I inked it, and they liked it, and they gave me three or four stories to do. TJKC: I was just reading some of those Race For The Moons. There’s some beautiful stuff there. AL: Well, he did a beautiful job. Some of it was redrawn by somebody there, I guess because it didn’t pass the Comics Code or something. There’s parts that I didn’t ink, because it’s not my drawing or Jack’s drawing. Somebody went over it and changed some things, like a monster or something to make it more pleasing to the eye, which bothered the hell outta me. I never really thought I did him justice, though. The drawing is there, because it’s Jack Kirby’s drawing, but I just traced what he penciled. TJKC: Did you feel intimidated to add too much of yourself to it? AL: I don’t do that. If the job is penciled, I would ink it the way the guy penciled it, because it’s his pencils. If I think it needs something, I’ll call the artist up and say, “Listen, I kinda would like to add a black here. Is this all right with you?” And as a rule, they say, “Sure. No problem.” But I don’t do any redrawing on anybody’s work unless I talk to the artist—and I very seldom have to do that. TJKC: You said it wasn’t until you were about thirty that you settled down. Was that when you got married? AL: Yeah. I met this wonderful girl, and we decided to get married, and I had no work. I hadn’t worked in months. So I sat down and started doing samples, and just when I started doing that, I got a call from Johnny Prentice to be his assistant on Rip Kirby. So that was great. That would be the first week of January, 1960. TJKC: Was doing a syndicated strip always a dream of yours? AL: I think so. I discovered newspaper strips first, even though they were reprinted in Latin American comic book form, which were different from American comics; they were bigger, and they printed a whole set of dailies and the Sunday pages. Then I saw American comic books six or eight months later.

Al was kind enough to ink this very complex Watcher pencil drawing (an unused Thor page from the Kirby Unleashed portfolio) for this issue’s back cover. He’s definitely earned his reputation as one of the nicest people in comics! 18

TJKC: Was there a lot more prestige working in comic strips as opposed to comic books? AL: Well, here’s the way it worked: fine artists looked down on illustrators; illustrators looked down

on newspaper strip artists; newspaper strip artists looked down on comic book artists! (laughter) And comic book artists looked down on underground comics. So there you go! (laughter) This went up to the ’60s and ’70s; that’s the way it was. It was still kind of prestigious to do a newspaper strip, but that’s not why I did it. I wanted to do one. TJKC: So that was not long after you inked Jack on Race For The Moon? AL: Yeah. I didn’t have too much work; things were not that good in the business. But I was my own worst enemy; I could’ve kept on working. TJKC: Is that why you turned to inking? AL: No, Race For The Moon was the only thing I inked. I didn’t ink anybody else’s work after that. TJKC: In the Kirby Checklist from The Art Of Jack Kirby, you’re credited with inking a story from Alarming Tales called “12,000 to 1.” AL: I don’t think so. In some of Jack’s hardcover books, they’ve listed me as inking a cover, which I didn’t ink. I feel very bad, because they’ve given me the credit. I have a feeling it was Marvin Stein that inked it, or somebody else. It’s not mine. I never inked any covers. The only thing I inked of Jack’s was those four or five stories, those five-pagers for Race For The Moon. TJKC: They also put you down for inking a Kirby story for Battle, called “Sitting Duck” from 1960 for Atlas. AL: No, I didn’t ink anything else of Jack’s. I feel bad that they give me credit for someone else’s hard work. No, no, no, that’s not right. TJKC: Jack started Sky Masters in 1958, with Wood inking. Did you ever assist Wood on that in any way? AL: No, not on Sky Masters, But I remember Wally was inking something of Jack’s for DC, and Wally called me and said, “Can you give me a hand with some backgrounds? I’m inking some of Kirby’s stuff, and I know you inked those stories.” So I said, “Sure, I’ll come over.” I looked at the stuff, and I remember just inking backgrounds. But not on the strip. And that was only an afternoon’s work. But I couldn’t tell you which ones they are, and it’s only one or two pages. But I remember Jack Kirby coming in, and the fellow who wrote the stuff [Dave Wood]. They were going over the stuff, and Jack looked at me like, “What the hell are you doing here?” (laughter) But I was just helping Wally out with the backgrounds. Wally told me later, “He’s worried that you might be inking his stuff. I told him, ‘Don’t worry, he’s a good artist, but he’s not gonna touch this. But don’t worry.’” Wally was a good guy. But Jack was a little concerned: “What’s this guy doing here?” And he scared me. You don’t wanna mess with Jack! (laughter) TJKC: You did a solo story for The Fly #2. How’d you get that job? AL: I was asked by the editor, and he gave me a five-pager to do. I’d never done superhero stuff before, and I sat down and did this Jack Kirby-type character they wanted me to do. I penciled it and took it in, and the editor had a fit. “Aahh, you’re a lousy artist. This is no good.” I had to do the first two pages over again, and he paid me $45 for five pages of work. And when it came out, the only thing he’d changed was the splash, and he’d copied it from

Jack. I was really pissed off. So dear old Angelo Torres gets a call from this guy, and he says, “I gave Williamson a job, and he’s a lousy artist, he can’t draw. I want you to do this four-page Fly story for me.” So Angelo went up and said, “Sure, I’ll do it.” Then he came over to the house and said, “Listen, Al. This guy said you can’t draw, you’re a lousy artist, and he wants me to do this four-page superhero thing, so I thought maybe I’d let you pencil it.” (laughter) So I did! I penciled the four pages, and gave it to Angelo, and he took it up. The editor looked at it and said, “See, this is great! You’re better than Williamson!” (laughter) So Angelo inked it, and the guy never knew I penciled it. TJKC: Did you follow Jack’s Marvel stuff in the 1960s? AL: I was busy working on syndicated strips, and I hated to look at some of the stuff that was coming out then, because they had an inker on him that wasn’t doing him justice. TJKC: Did you get to know Jack at all over the years? AL: I met him several times. We went to Lucca; we flew all together with Jeff Jones, and Jack and his wife in 1976. They were very nice. They were always kind of by themselves in Lucca. Jeff and I tried to take them around and introduce them to the artists and the people from Europe, and I think they enjoyed themselves. TJKC: Finally, can you elaborate on how you approached inking this issue’s cover? AL: I didn’t change anything. The only thing I added was the cross-hatch in the nebula. It needed it. That’s the only thing I added. Basically, I traced his pencils. I put it on the lightbox, and penciled it as close as possible; it took me a couple of sittings. Then I inked it, holding the xerox next to me, so I could see what I was doing. I tried to follow it as close as possible; I didn’t want to deviate at all from it. ✷

More Williamson inks on Kirby from Race For The Moon #2. Al inked several stories in #2 and #3, as well as material planned for #4, which finally saw print in a 1960s Harvey comic called Blast-Off. 19

Stan and Jack were at cross-purposes on the character, and since Stan (as Jack’s boss and dialogue writer) had the final say, Jack’s ideas never made it into print. Perhaps that’s why the 1978 Graphic Novel The Silver Surfer (published by Simon & Schuster, with a copyright to Stan Lee and Jack Kirby) is so disappointing. You can almost feel Stan and Jack struggling with one another’s vision of the character. To better understand, open the book, but don’t read it; just look at the pictures withThe Silver Surfer Graphic Novel examined, out reading the dialogue, and try to follow Jack’s idea for the story. by Mike Gartland and John Morrow Jack obviously drew it with his original approach in mind. Kirby’s Surfer is a being created of energy; the opening sequence shows the f all the Stan Lee/Jack Kirby collaborations, the Silver Surfer is Surfer literally being “created” from Galactus’ hand. He’s an extension the character Stan had the least initial input on (Stan has said of Galactus; a being who knows nothing of mankind, and who goes in Jack included the character in FF #48 without any prior discussearch of discovery of the human condition. He adopts a human guise sion about it). But Stan became extremely attached to the character, so he can observe people close-up. Later, his naivete allows him to be and long after he’d turned other characters over to different writers, seduced by Galactus’ female creation Ardina, and eventually he Stan insisted on writing the Surfer’s adventures. From all indications, returns to Galactus’ hand, the source of his creation. With the excephe and Jack had very different ideas about the direction the character tion of a short hallucination scene where the Surfer confronts Shalla should be taken. Jack’s original concept was that the Surfer wasn’t Bal (no doubt insisted upon by Stan), the art (sans dialogue) clearly human—he was completely naive about humanity (he’d certainly portrays Jack’s original version of the character. have to be to sacrifice so many lives for Galactus); an emotional blank Stan’s version—which he imposes over Jack’s by way of dialogue— slate, with no understanding of love. So when Stan crafted his origin has the Surfer as a man with a past who made a great sacrifice (and for the character in Silver Surfer #1—wherein the Surfer was originally keeps on sacrificing). He writes around Jack’s art as best he can, reita human deeply in love with a woman named Shalla Bal—it’s easy to erating that the Surfer was created “by” Galactus, not “from” him. see why Jack would’ve been upset. (One wonders if Stan had John The dialogue is typical Stan, with preachy references to how needlessly Buscema handle the art on the Surfer’s solo book to avoid the likely savage humans are, how we allow others to live in poverty, and how arguments that would’ve arisen if Jack were drawing it.) Basically, we stand on the brink of self-destruction. And through it all, Lee never lets the reader forget that his Surfer was once a man, and that he suffered for the masses. (Many people feel that the character’s constant whining about his suffering is what killed the original Surfer comic. Interestingly, Jack was put on the comic with its last issue, and changed its direction to where the Surfer was swearing vengeance against the human race for all the suffering he’d been put through. It’s a shame the book was cancelled before that plot got followed through on.) It’s tempting to view Lee and Kirby’s relationship here in the same light as Galactus and the Surfer’s. Lee (the Galactus figure, with the greater power as editor and writer) isn’t evil; he simply does what he feels is necessary from his vantage point. Jack (the Surfer figure, subservient to Lee, despite his own great “powers”) feels Lee is misguided, and attempts to alter Lee’s plans for the book. If either man’s vision had won out completely, this book would’ve been more satisfying, but it falls flat due to the lack of a clear direction; both men were struggling for control, and it shows. Jack’s art in the Graphic Novel is more than adequate, and even exceptional in spots (Sinnott’s inks were up to their usual high standard). Likewise, Lee’s dialogue is professional and polished, despite his relative lack of comics work in the preceding few years. But in the end, The Silver Surfer Graphic Novel stands, not as a lasting testament to how great Lee and Kirby were together, but as one final reminder of why Page 5 pencils from The Silver Surfer Graphic Novel, without dialogue; doesn’t it read better this way? they couldn’t work together anymore. ✷ 20

The Ultimate Cosmic Disappointment

The Story Behind Sky Masters by Jon B. Cooke ystifying to fans of Jack Kirby is the story behind his stay at National Periodical Publications (today’s DC Comics) between 1957-59 — that is, why was his second visit with the publisher so brief? Getting back on his feet again after the near-death of the comics industry and closing Simon & Kirby’s Mainline shop for good, Jack seemed to have found a home at National, kicking things off by creating the first superhero team of the Silver Age, the Challengers of the Unknown. He also redefined Green Arrow, and produced almost three dozen tales of mystery and imagination (plus one western!). But by 1959, after 30 months and over six hundred pages of art, Jack abruptly left the reigning publisher of adventure comics behind to work for the struggling Atlas Comics, a publisher with reputedly one of the lowest page rates in the business. Why? To find the answer we have to look beyond the lowly comic book to that holy grail of art assignments, the syndicated comic strip, and to Jack’s greatest achievement in the field, Sky Masters of the Space Force. Hailed as one of the finest serial action strips to appear after the heyday of the art form (coming twenty years after the “adventurous decade” of Dick Tracy, Flash Gordon, and Terry and the Pirates, and in the midst of the still-popular daily gag strip), the sci-fi series debuted while Jack was at National on September 8, 1958 before a country caught up in space race fever. Written by Challengers writers Dave and Dick Wood, penciled (and often plotted and written) by Jack, inked at the onset by the even-then legendary Wally Wood and later by Kirby mainstay Dick Ayers, the strip seemed a recipe for success. It lasted until February 25, 1961, with Jack producing 774 daily strips and 53 Sunday pages, the latter appearing between February 8, 1959 and February 7, 1960. Scoring a lucrative comic strip gig was a high aspiration for many a lowly-paid comic book artist. In the fifties, not only was there the prestige of joining ranks with such personalities as Al Capp, Charles Schulz, and Walt Kelly (and the financial reward accompanying such an honor), but a cartoonist could peddle his talent before a national audience instead of the increasingly marginalized comic book readership. While Jack told Greg Theakston, “I don’t like the newspaper strips because you were severely limited in the amount of space you had to tell a story,”1 he certainly pursued a syndicate job, putting great effort into pitching numerous ideas, including Inky, Starman Zero, Surf Hunter, Chip Hardy, etc., over the years, and even drawing the Black Hole strip as late as 1979. Doing Sky Masters, Jack was now at a high point in his career: in the realm of idols Alex Raymond and Milton Caniff, getting a healthy cut of the profits, with an entire nation of not just kids, but grown-ups as his audience. But the opportunity turned sour almost from the onset. On December 11, 1958 (three months into the strip’s run), Jack Schiff, a managing editor for National Periodical Publications, filed a legal complaint against Jack Kirby for withholding 4% of the proceeds derived from Kirby’s share of Sky Masters, as was agreed to in return for Schiff ’s securing the syndicate job for Kirby and the Woods. Kirby countersued in the following weeks, stating that the alleged agreement was actually a gratuity offered to Schiff, but the editor demanded excessive payments, and that the contract was made under duress. Depositions by both parties were made, and on March 10, 1959, the County Clerk of Westchester County granted index number 1798-59 to the New York Supreme Court case, Jack Schiff vs. Jack Kirby, David Wood, and Dick Wood. The following is derived from the surviving court documents, and reveals as much about the entirely different word of comic strip syndicates as it does about Jack’s fall from grace at National, and the pitfalls of a freelance artist’s experience making deals on the side.

Jack holds up the original art to the 10/1/58 daily. (photo by Bob Latimer)

Schiff’s Case In January 1958, the country was gripped in Sputnik Fever and Harry Elmlark was in his own space race. As general manager for the newspaper syndicate, the George Matthew Adams Service, Elmlark saw the events of the previous fall and caught scent of a trend. The Russian launching of the first artificial satellite into orbit on October 4, 1957 took the world by surprise. Now the Cold War abruptly moved to outer space, into the very skies above, and the U.S. government jumped into a frenzy of catch-up rocket building, with the American public braced for the fallout of this new Space Age. It was his job to exploit trends that make for successful comic strips, and Elmlark saw big capitalist bucks for his small syndicate in that 23-inch Soviet satellite. But where to find the right talent or property for a strip that could satisfy the growing national desire for true-to-life space adventure? Elmlark settled on National, publisher of the science fiction comics Strange Adventures and Mystery in Space (and home to the world’s most famous alien, Superman) to voice his ideas with managing editor, Jack Schiff. Schiff was a busy man. Not only did he oversee all the supernatural titles, Tomahawk, and the Batman books, but he produced those monthly single-page public service announcements which appeared in every National comic published between 1950-67, in addition to pitching comics as educational tools to any organization that would listen. He served as company contact with the new Comics Code Authority, and as de facto managing editor, he coordinated production schedules, issued writing and art assignments, and acted as liaison between freelancers and the front office.”2 But Schiff made room in his hectic schedule to speak to Elmlark. Schiff understood Elmlark’s quest, as he states in his deposition (extensively quoted hereafter): “It was only natural that aggressive syndicates and publishers would seek new entries in the cartoon strip and comic book field to exploit the heightened interest of their large readership in the world beyond our minute planetary system.” “Mr. Elmlark inquired whether National Comics had any science fiction space feature available that could be adapted for syndication,” Schiff wrote. “He was… pretty sure he could sell a good space strip. I showed him several features [we] had been running, but he said he wasn’t sure it was quite what he wanted. Perhaps, he suggested, we might get something up for him, based on one of these. We discussed outer space types of stories taking place in the future, and ‘those just around the corner,’ that is more realistic, along the lines of the newest developments in the headlines. I told him that I had been contemplating a science fiction strip myself [possibly Space Ranger, a strip Julius 21

(above) The 3/15/59 Sunday page, inked by Wally Wood. (next page) The document that Kirby said he signed under duress. Schwartz said was being discussed by Schiff 3 though not appearing in Showcase until summer ’58], and he said that he would be very interested in my doing a strip, since I had quite a bit of experience both in the comics field and in handling and writing a syndicated strip [Schiff was the one who convinced McClure to syndicate Batman, beginning in 1943 4] for my firm. He did say, however, that he needed something quickly, because he was going on the road very shortly and he wanted to get a ‘feeler’ on a space strip. He made it clear that I could, if I didn’t do it myself, get a writer and artist to prepare such a strip for submission by me.” Schiff says he immediately went to Executive Vice President and General Manager of National, Jack Leibowitz, and his boss told him, according to Leibowitz’s sworn deposition, that the company “had no interest in such a venture and that [Schiff] could go into it on his own or handle it for himself anyway he wanted and use freelancers from whom the company was purchasing material.” Remembering that Dave Wood (who along with brother Dick, were among Schiff ’s regular freelance writers) had mentioned collaborating with Kirby on a “space science fiction feature” they tried to sell to a syndicate, Schiff called the writer. Wood suggested meeting the next day to show the editor the art samples, “to see if they had possibilities.” “At his apartment I looked at… some samples of space art by Kirby and some other artist, without any definite continuity. Dave had some outlines for possible stories which I read, including one called Space Busters.” But Schiff didn’t think it was material Elmlark was interested in. “Dave and I then agreed to collaborate on a new story and we kicked around several possibilities, including the idea of a strip that dealt with space rocket launchings, moon shots and general story lines just a little ahead of current developments in the news. We decided that we should approach Kirby as artist for the strip. I then told Dave I would see Elmlark and show him Kirby’s art, if Kirby was willing to go along with us on a new strip. Dave said he was sure Kirby would.” The next morning Schiff met with Kirby and Wood, and Kirby said “he would be willing to speculate on a strip with Dave Wood and myself.” The editor later showed Elmlark the Kirby samples [quite probably the wordless Kirby/Marvin Stein piece seen in The Jack Kirby Treasury Vol. 2], and the agent found the art “satisfactory, but said a good storyline was needed with a week of continuity and pencil samples… he was looking at other artists’ work, and he had to make his mind up quickly.” Schiff suggested Wood as writer but Elmlark “didn’t see the necessity — it would be better if I handled it alone. I said I might be too tied up to do it so quickly, and we left it at that…”

Schiff then saw Kirby and Wood in the office, and Kirby “stated that he was very anxious to take a crack at such a strip. (At this point, I was in a position to package the deal, a practice that is not uncommon in the field…)” The Wood brothers wrote an outline and delivered it to Schiff the following Monday, but “I didn’t think it was quite the thing Elmlark wanted, but being tied up both in the office and with some outside activities, I told Dave that rather than hold things up, maybe it would be better if I sent him and Kirby to Elmlark and let them work it out directly.” The writer and artist saw Elmlark, “and Dave came back very enthusiastic and thanked me effusively.” The Woods were writing continuity, and “Kirby would get right to work on it, and if Elmlark liked it, he would take it on the road with him. Dave Wood said that I would naturally be getting a percentage for arranging the deal… Kirby too said he was very grateful” and that Schiff would receive a cut. The spec work completed, Elmlark took them on the road, and the team began discussing a contract. “They’d agreed on five percent for me and I said that was fine. Later I spoke to Kirby in my office, and he said that five percent was to be my interest.” France “Eddie” Herron, longtime Simon & Kirby collaborator and one of Schiff ’s mainstay writers, remembered in a deposition filed in support of Schiff ’s case, “[In January, 1958], I was present in Dave Wood’s apartment… [where] Kirby and the two Woods wanted to discuss cartoon strips as I had had prior experience in the field. …Kirby told me that Jack Schiff was responsible for making the contact with the syndicate for the Woods and himself and that, of course, Mr. Schiff was to have [5%] from the strip’s sale… In fact, Kirby asked me if that seemed to be a fair amount in my opinion… I told them that I thought it was fair and that if Mr. Schiff was agreeable I would be willing to make the same deal with him for my own strip if he could get a syndicate to exploit it.” “When word from Elmlark came back that he thought he could definitely sell the strip, Wood and Kirby began to prepare the feature in earnest,” Schiff deposed. “A temporary contract was entered into with the syndicate — a binder — and definite negotiations began between Dave and Dick Wood and Jack Kirby, at which point a dispute arose. Wood called me and said that Kirby was making excessive demands upon him. Instead of the 50/50 basis that they had agreed upon in their former collaborative ventures, Kirby was asking for 662⁄3%, because he said he had to give his inker a cut of 331⁄3%. (Several weeks of pencils and inks had been prepared at this time.) Wood said that he had refused, particularly since Kirby had been called in on this whole deal by Dave and me and hadn’t initiated it. Kirby, he said, then told him that he would 22

bow out of the picture altogether, that Wood would get another artist.” Kirby visited Schiff later that day and said he couldn’t do an even split, “that Dave Wood was asking for that much because he had to share with his brother, Dick, and that [Kirby] was entitled to more because he had to pay the inker, to whom he was giving half his share. He said that he would rather not bother with the feature otherwise. I tried to smooth things over, and told him that it would be silly to give this up, at this point, since the inking expense was one he was incurring voluntarily. Dave called me that night to tell me… he was going to arrange for another artist, if Kirby wouldn’t be reasonable and wanted to bow out.” Wood called Schiff the following morning to say that “Kirby had come to see him very early that same morning and had agreed to compromise on a 60/40 basis, that is, Kirby to get 60% with the provision that Marvin Stein, the inker, would get a percentage (which Kirby later told me was 20%), and that Kirby would pay for the lettering and other art expenses. At this point Dave told me that Kirby had wanted to lower my percentage to 3%, but they had finally settled on 4%. I said that was all right and let’s not have any more disputes when the strip is just beginning to be sold.” Herron concurs as, “sometime later, I learned that… [Schiff] agreed to take four percent… I expressed surprise that Mr. Schiff had taken the cut and Kirby told me that Mr. Schiff had taken the percentage of four percent in order that the Woods and Kirby could work out their arrangements on a satisfactory basis.” Schiff, Kirby, and Wood then met and “I suggested,” the editor said, “that it should be recorded in writing. Both said that I didn’t have to worry, that I was set… but if I wanted, in the meantime they would sign a notation of my part of the deal… I drew up this note and both… signed it in my office.” “Thus, the indisputable facts set forth above by me,” Schiff declared, “demonstrate that I rendered services to Kirby and Wood, at their request, that through me they obtained their opportunity to put out a strip which had and has every chance of being a great success; that both recognized their obligation to me and that they each specifically agreed to pay me 4%… (And in recognition of this agreement, [the Woods]… instructed the syndicate to pay my percentage directly to me.)”

Episode Guide to Sky Masters START DATE DAILY STORIES First Man In Space 9/8/58 Sabotage 11/21/58 Mayday Shannon 3/8/59 The Sky Above, The Mud Below 5/9/59 9/22/59 Alfie 1/4/60 Refugee Robot 3/28/60 H-Bomb Handshake Weather Watcher 7/10/60 The Young Spaceman 12/27/60

SUNDAY STORIES Atom Horse Project Darkside Mr. Lunivac Jumbo Jones Yoga Spaceman

START DATE 2/8/59 3/29/59 7/5/59 8/16/59 12/20/59

Last daily: 2/25/61 • Last Sunday: 2/7/60. Comics Revue will continue publishing Sky Masters all the way through to the end of the strip. Thanks to CR’s Rick Norwood for the above information.

and the Woods went to the syndicate without Schiff, but with his knowledge and consent, and entered into negotiations and conferences about a strip. Elmlark and the defendants discussed many proposed cartoon strips and stories. Kirby, “at great expenditure of time and money by himself, drew a series of cartoon strips which the agency accepted as a basis of the Sky Masters strip.” Thereafter, an agreement was entered into between the syndicate, Kirby, and the Woods, but Schiff did not attend or enter into the negotiations relating to this contract, nor did he confer with the syndicate regarding the development of the strip. Kirby and the Woods wrote up a joint contract, one that Schiff had no participation in nor was he consulted on. During these negotiations, the team agreed to offer Schiff a gratuity, but when the editor was told of the offering, he refused, “demanding instead various sums greatly in excess of the gratuity.” Meanwhile, Kirby alleges, Schiff threatened to reduce art assignments if the artist didn’t give in to his demands, and subsequently, the deposition states, Kirby’s average bi-monthly earnings dropped from $1800 down to $200. In a telling piece of pre-trial testimony (the only testimony that exists in the N.Y. Supreme Court archives, excerpted from Schiff ’s deposition), the following exchange took place between Kirby and Schiff ’s lawyer, Myron Shapiro: Q: Did [Schiff] tell you in any words or substance that if you would not sign that note you would not get any more assignments? Yes or no. KIRBY: I will give you his gestures. Q: I want his words, not his gestures. KIRBY: His gestures were very eloquent. Q: You have to give me his words. You are now under oath, and I call on you to answer that question yes or no without any volunteering or characterization. KIRBY: He said he would think ill of me. Q: Did he say anything else besides that? KIRBY: He said he would be unhappy. Q: Did he say anything else besides that? KIRBY: That he would misconstrue me as being the kind of man he thinks I am. Q: Did he say anything else besides that? KIRBY: “Sign it.” Q: Did he say anything else beside the words you have given me? KIRBY: “Sign it.” That’s all he said.

Kirby’s Defense As defendant, Kirby remembered certain aspects differently. His deposition, prepared by attorney Hilton Soba (written in much more blunt legalese than Schiff ’s almost chatty submission), presents an opposing viewpoint, one in which the artist felt pressured into paying a kickback. “[Schiff] is employed as editor by Detective House, Inc… and in such capacity assigns cartoon work to [Kirby, the Woods, and Herron] who work for the said publisher on a ‘free lance basis.’ [Schiff] told [Kirby &] Wood, individually, of an inquiry by the George Matthews Adams Agency concerning an artist and writer team to create a scientific space flight comic strip to be syndicated to newspapers.” Kirby

Kirby charged that his signature was obtained by duress “in that [Schiff] did threaten to withhold the purchasing of [Kirby’s] cartoons unless he agreed to pay to [Schiff] a commission, putting [Kirby] in fear and apprehension for his livelihood…” Dated April 15, 1958, the note states, “This is to acknowledge that Jack Schiff, as agent, has a share in the comic strip, Sky ---- [indicating that the surname of “Cannon” or “Masters” was still being debated], to the extent of 4% of the total amount earned jointly by the undersigned creators of said strip.” It was signed by Jack Kirby and David Wood. Schiff denied threatening to reduce Kirby’s workload in his answer to Kirby’s deposition. “The circumstances of Kirby’s employment from January 1958 to the end of that year show that his assignments held up throughout, even though he was busy with his new strip, his assignments from other publishers and his other business 23

was full of Jacks.”5 No testimony, if there was any, remains, but Justice Fanelli’s final decrees were among the existing documents. The court ruled in favor of Schiff. “[Schiff’s] making the contact possible and his bringing such business opportunity to the attention of Kirby and Wood was not in the nature of a favor or gratuity but rather was something for which all the parties intended he was to receive compensation despite the fact that [Schiff] might not in the future be called upon to render any further services,” Fanelli concluded. “The fact that the bargain may be a hard one will not deprive it of validity and, under the circumstances of this case, it cannot be said that the bargain provided for is grossly unreasonable or unconscionable. It is quite apparent that defendant Kirby was the best judge of the worth of [Schiff’s] contact and of the business opportunity afforded him… and the price he wished to pay for them. It is not for this court to decide whether 4% of [Kirby’s] earnings is excessive or inadequate or whether [he] made a good or bad bargain.” On December 21, Kirby was ordered by the court “to account for and pay to [Schiff]… 4% of any and all proceeds” of the Sky Masters strip, and was to file and serve “a verified account for the period from February 1, 1958 to date… all the details of the proceeds.” Kirby was also decreed to “execute and deliver to the [syndicate] instructions in writing” to pay Schiff 4% of the proceeds in the future, and to pay for all court costs and Schiff ’s legal fees. While Kirby continued on Sky Masters for more than a year after the court’s decision, he apparently had his fill of syndicate life. “Because of the hard feelings A 1980 reprint volume called Comic Art Showcase #1 featured this promo art on its cover. caused by the Sky Masters incident,” Joe Simon remembers, “Kirby wouldn’t or couldn’t return to DC Comics. enterprises. Kirby’s income from National Comics in 1957 and 1958 He was working at Marvel when I met him on Columbus Circle, at the was $8,600 and $8,146 respectively. Thus, the difference in [his] earnentrance to Central Park. In a brown derby hat, twirling a cane-hanings in 1958 from my firm is only $454… [a decrease so slight that it’s] dled umbrella, he looked quite dapper, like an English horseman off remarkable when it is considered he was busily engaged in the timeto the foxes. consuming job of researching and preparing a new cartoon strip for “‘Is that a dress code for syndicated artists?’ I asked. daily and Sunday syndication.” (After reaching an all-time high in Feb. “‘I’ll never do another newspaper strip again,’ he vowed.”5 1958—around the time Schiff’s percentage was first discussed—Kirby’s DC Whether Jack Kirby tired of the format constraints of strip work, output started a long downward trend, as shown by the chart on page 25.) regardless of financial reward, or of the distaste of having Schiff Schiff also said that in Oct.-Dec. 1958, Kirby came to National continue to profit off of the artist’s work, is lost to history, but Sky less and less in search of work. “Whether Kirby deliberately cut his Masters was cancelled just as the drama of space exploration was requests for work and slowed down his completion of assignments, unfolding live on national television—adventure that comic strips because he realized that his earnings in 1958 were matching 1957… or just couldn’t compete with. Kirby was understandably never anxious to because he was so occupied with the strip and his other assigndiscuss this period when asked, opting instead to dismiss the events ments… I do not know.” as “editorial problems.” But what is known is that he did return excluKirby deposed that during August 1958, Schiff demanded 6% of sively to comics after the strip’s demise in February 1961, and did no all the earnings from Sky Masters, and was amended to a sliding scale work for National until after Schiff ’s 1967 retirement. But the mark he running from 4% up to 10%. Subsequently the demand was reduced left on comic strips is still vibrant today, and his all-too-brief teaming to 5%, but a disagreement again arose, and “although the attorney[s]… with Wally Wood is a classic of great comic strip work. ✷ exchanged proposed agreements, the parties could not and never did 1 Pg. 49-50, The Jack Kirby Treasury, Vol. 2, Greg Theakston, New York: Pure Imagination, 1991. 2 Pg. 26, The Comic Book Heroes, Gerard Jones and Will Jacobs, Rocklin, California: Prima Publishing, 1996. 3 Schwartz quoted on pg. 69, Science Fiction Comics: The Illustrated History, Michael Benton, Dallas, Texas: Taylor Publishing Company, 1992. 4 Schiff quoted on pg. 70, DC Comics: Sixty Years of the World’s Favorite Comic Book Heroes, Les Daniels, New York: Bullfinch Press, 1995. 5 Pg. 195, The Comic Book Makers, Joe Simon with Jim Simon, New York: Crestwood/II Publications, 1990.

agree to the terms and percentages of the gratuity.” All parties met again, this time in Wood’s attorney’s office, and Kirby offered a flat $500 to Schiff in return for a “general release since [Schiff] had placed the claim for payment on a contractual rather than a gratuity basis.” Schiff refused and here the matter was brought to the courts, in late 1958, as Sky Masters was starting out strong in a reported 300+ papers across the country. Schiff charged breach of contract, Kirby accused the editor of past consideration, and the litigation was off and running. Kirby asked for a dismissal but the court denied the request and set a trial date. Trial was held on October 16, and on December 3, 1959, in the New York Supreme Court in White Plains, the final judgement of presiding Justice George M. Fanelli was announced. “Jack Liebowitz appeared as a witness for Jack Schiff,” Joe Simon remembers. “Jack Kirby was the defiant defendant. Jack Oleck and I attended the proceedings that day. The courtroom

Enormous gratitude goes to Andrew D. Cooke and A. John Rath for help in obtaining the legal documents used in this article, and to the N.Y. Supreme Court clerk’s office for their assistance. Sincere appreciation also goes to Greg Theakston, Mark Evanier, Rick Norwood, and Les Daniels for their sometimes unwitting help. Special kudos to Joe and Jim Simon for giving the date and location of the court case which made this article possible.

Kirby’s Bi-Monthly Output At National (DC), 1956-59 Schiff begins making solo assignments to Kirby, Oct. ’56

Kirby & Wood sign syndicate binder, Feb. 10, ’58 Harry Elmlark visits Schiff to discuss sci-fi strip. Schiff talks to Wood, who talks to Kirby. Preliminary work begins on Sky Masters. Jan. ’58

Simon & Kirby solicit work (Showcase #6) from Schiff, July ’56

Sputnik launched, Oct. 4, ’57

Kirby & Wood sign Schiff's document, April 15, ’58

Schiff unsuccessfully tries to negotiate a higher percentage for himself, Aug. ’58

Kirby & Wood sign syndicate contract, May 14, ’58

Sky Masters debuts in 300+ papers, Sept. 8, ’58 Schiff files complaint against Kirby, Dec. 11, ’58

Bi-Monthly # of Pages Produced

70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 Aug Oct Dec Feb Apr June Aug Oct Dec Feb Apr June Aug Oct Dec Feb

1956

1957

1958

1959

Page counts are based on information from The Art Of Jack Kirby. Dates are determined by subtracting six months from the cover dates of the published comics, which is approximately the time Jack would've been working on them. Dated notations are taken from surviving court records.

Sky Masters Contract Enclosed as exhibit “A” in Jack Kirby’s deposition was the May 14, 1958 contract between Kirby, the Woods, and the George Matthew Adams Service covering the terms and conditions of the syndication and sale of the daily comic strip and Sunday page, Sky Masters. The document reveals a deal that comics artists may not have been used to: a far more lucrative situation than the usual page-rate arrangement which denied any and all ownership claims, and one of the reasons why a syndicate job was so coveted. (The following points are paraphrased and edited for brevity.) 1. The creators agree to write and produce the strip, “which is to deal primarily with outer space,” and deliver it to the syndicate in finished form, in groups of six or more, at least six weeks in advance of the publication date. The team will also produce and deliver a Sunday page “suitable for use as a tabloid page, one-half standard page and one-third standard page.” 2. The team will receive one-half of the net income from the sale of the daily strip and Sunday page. “The net income shall be such

amount which is left over from the gross income received by us from newspapers after first deducting… all engraving, printing, mat making and blocking costs as well as the cost of servicing the clients.” 3. All costs of the strip’s promotion will be at the syndicate’s expense, and “we will use our best efforts to negotiate with newspapers, and any other media or sources of commercial and merchandising exploitation as we deem practical.” 4. “If the daily strip is not released to us before September 22, 1958,” the agreement is null and void. 5. The strip will not be released unless gross income is at least $500 per week from the sale. 6. The syndicate retains the option of delaying the release of the Sunday page until all parties agree to distribute it.

Page Counts (including covers; 1⁄2 pages are counted as full pages)

Date

Pages

July-Aug. ’56 Sept.-Oct. Nov.-Dec. Jan.-Feb. ’57 Mar.-Apr. May-June July-Aug. Sept.-Oct. Nov.-Dec. Jan.-Feb. ’58 Mar.-Apr. May-June July-Aug. Sept.-Oct. Nov.-Dec. Jan.-Feb. ’59 TOTAL

25 44 27 27 26 34 71 52 8 75 59 44 47 43 26 0 608

10. If the creators want to quit the strip, notification must be four months in advance, and the team agrees to not produce a similar feature for another firm. Any future compensation after resigning the strip will depend on the income left over from paying the new creative team, if any. In the event the syndicate chooses not to continue with the strip, “this agreement shall be terminated and the rights to [the material] will revert to you as authors to do with as you see fit.” 11. While working on the strip, the team agrees not to produce any feature similar in “theme, characters and title.” Any other features created by the team will be given first option to the syndicate. 12. If the syndicate fails to deliver as promised within 30 days of notification, rights will revert to the creators. And vice-versa. 13. Terms of compensation.

7. A 50-50 split of “the net income received for either the printed material or the title of the feature from such media as radio, television, magazines, motion pictures or any other source.”

14. In the event of death, “the survivor of you shall have the absolute right to designate a competent successor,” who will be bound to this agreement.

8. The syndicate has exclusive rights to do all the selling.

15. The agreement is binding.

9. The agreement is a ten year contract.

16. The agreement supercedes our agreement of Feb. 10, 1958.

Jack’s pencils from Eternals #4, page 2-3.

The Eternals: Kirby’s New History Of The World J An Overview by Charles Hatfield

ack Kirby had a disconcerting habit of reinventing the world. In the cream of his work with Stan Lee in the 1960s, Kirby positioned his heroes within a vast, teeming cosmology, encompassing hidden lands, other-dimensional zones and worlds within worlds. This radically imaginative universe became the foundation of Marvel’s now-staggering media fiefdom. Breaking with Lee and Marvel in 1970, Kirby created the Fourth World at DC, which poised humankind between rival “gods” from the sister worlds of New Genesis and Apokolips. This Manichean premise has only recently been recognized as a cornerstone of DC’s “continuity.” After the Fourth World, Kirby redrew the map of the world yet again, with Kamandi, the Last Boy on Earth, a post-apocalyptic fantasy, as well as OMAC, a dystopian revision of Captain America’s supersoldier premise. With his return to Marvel in 1976, Kirby undertook what may have been his single most ambitious series ever: The Eternals, in which the entire history of the Earth is rewritten in a few bold strokes.

his rhetoric tendentious to a fault, Von Däniken’s yarnspinning grew out of a kernel of brilliance: the merging of “unsolved mysteries of the past” with the then (as now) popular fascination with UFOs and alien visitation. What force could have enabled humankind to construct the pyramids? The stone heads of Easter Island? The lines on Peru’s Nazca plain? Gods from outer space! If the idea of visitors from space offers a slate on which we can inscribe our various popular obsessions (as X-Files, for instance, treats alien visitation as a pretext for its own mythology of conspiracies), then Von Däniken ingeniously used this tabula to revive the mystery of our own origins. This blend proved popular enough to spawn many sequels and imitations, in print and on film. Indeed, so popular was Chariots? that by 1974 (less than two years prior to Eternals) the book had gone through at least thirty-three US printings, topping 4,000,000 copies. Kirby himself was not immune to such pseudoscientific fantasizing (“UFO ‘flapology,’ ” he called it), and in case any doubt lingers about The Eternals’ line of descent, a blurb on the cover of issue #2 (“More fantastic than Chariots of the Gods!”) makes his debt to Von Däniken explicit [although the blurb wasn’t on Jack’s pencils]. As usual, Kirby was timely in his choice of subjects but highly idiosyncratic in his delivery.

UFO ‘Flapology’ The Eternals, eventually spanning some nineteen issues and one annual (July 1976- January 1978), took its cue from the speculative pseudo-archaeology of Erich Von Däniken, author of Chariots of the Gods? (1968) and related tomes. Von Däniken’s spurious thesis was that humankind had been visited, millennia ago, by benign, highly-advanced extraterrestrials whose likeness and activities were encoded in human artifacts and legend. While his evidence was skewed and partial, and

Children of the Gods

Kirby’s own preoccupations are apparent in The Eternals’ premise, which is simple, all-encompassing and thus radical: humanity is not the only advanced hominid species on earth; we share the globe with two sister species—on the one hand, the deathless Eternals, reclusive superbeings graced with such powers as telepathy and levitation; on the other, the miserable Deviants, cursed with an unstable genetic makeup which causes each new generation to breed new, unprecedented horrors. The Eternals, favoring peace and seclusion, interfere but rarely in human affairs, and in only the subtlest ways, while the Deviants, nursing bitter memories of a lost empire, scheme of conquest in their undersea hideaway, Lemuria—the last remnant of their erstwhile kingdom. More alarming than this revelation, however, is the cosmic event which brings Eternals and Deviants out of hiding—the return of the gods. These are our creators, the unfathomable Celestials who (in an echo of Von Däniken) first bred humans, Eternals and Deviants by transforming our common ancestor, “the dawn ape.” They have come back to judge the success of their experiment. The newly-arrived Fourth Host of the Celestials—that is, the fourth visitation of the gods—promises a final, irrevocable judgment, an apocalyptic reckoning that will come after fifty years of observation. Fifty years from now, the earth will pass muster, or die. In a few bold strokes, then, Kirby provides not only angels (Eternals), demons (Deviants) and gods—a richly populated cosmography—but also an eschatology: this is the way the world might end. Such a remarkably bold conception, knitting together origins and endings, Jack’s unused cover to Eternals #2, which was then called Return Of The Gods. 28

More engaging than Ikaris’ stolid, Nordic heroism is the antic unpredictability of Sersi (read Circe), whose fey yet childlike demeanor and bewitching sensuality steal the show. Kirby also scores with great Zuras (guess who), patriarch of the Eternals, resplendent in scarlet hair and beard, and Thena, daughter of Zuras, who provides a more centered yet no less dynamic female counterpart to Sersi. Makarri, lightningquick runner, and Ajak, leader of the Celestials’ “ground crew,” complete the core group of Eternals, though many others appear in significant roles. Yet the series isn’t solely “about” these characters, despite their status as humanity’s defenders. The Eternals is really about confronting a final judgment, one which subsumes Eternal, Deviant and human alike. The fact that the book is named for the Eternals, not the gods, suggests an editorial move to stem the radical implications of the series, and perhaps to blunt any comparisons to New Gods. Yet the book’s original working title, Return of the Gods (shown in Kirby’s pencils for early issues), is actually more apropos, for the Eternals are not the series’ exclusive focus. What concerns Kirby here is the wake-up call that the gods’ return sends to all three species: will Earth be found wanting, and swept away like countless Celestial experiments before it, or will it pass judgment and thus live to see “the day of Alpha”? Everything that happens in the series falls under the shadow of judgment. If the Eternals are dimmed somewhat by the fact that they too are subject to the gods’ judgment, then the Deviants, likewise, are something less than Darkseid and company, the villains of the Fourth World. Darkseid represents a principle, a drive or hunger made flesh. He is a god: an immanent idea given an eminent form. By contrast, the Deviants in The Eternals are mere upstarts, flinging bombs at the gods but unable to get out of their shadow. Driven underseas by the discipline of the Second Host, millennia before, the Deviants burn with tragic memories, as well as the curse of their volatile genetic inheritance. What they lack is grandeur. Eternals #2, page 6, showing Kirby’s conception of the three species of Earth. Brother Tode, tyrant of Lemuria, is a typical Kirby autocrat, cold and imperious, but is humans and gods, has no precedent in US comics. also absurdly froglike in appearance—more Jabba the Hut than Darth The Eternals, then, is not simply a replay of Kirby’s Fourth World, Vader. He never stirs from his throne of privilege, on which he squats despite the inevitable comparison. The series poses a problem far difmuch like his namesake. ferent from the problem which dominates the Fourth World (that of More noble than Tode, yet subject to his whim, is the series’ chief freedom versus totalitarianism, as argued in Jack Kirby Collector #6). villain, the Deviant warlord Kro. Though he begins as a mere funcGranted, the Eternals echo the superhumans of New Genesis: graceful tionary, Kro almost immediately shows a heroic if absurdly futile pride: and sublime (a capricious and quarrelsome few notwithstanding), they “Yes, we lost!—and, we were driven in shame to the bowels of the are the superheroes of the series, costumed and powered much like the earth!! But we shall rise again!” (#2). Kro’s character is not entirely conNew Gods and Forever People. Their mountain-top retreat, Olympia, sistent, for at times he is called upon to do things which ill become his recalls Supertown, the flying city of New Genesis. The Eternal “Ikaris” dignity, such as playing the part of “the Devil” to excite humanity into (read Icarus), whose likeness appears on every cover, anchors the series, rash action against the gods. Yet as the series progresses, Kro reveals much like Orion of New Gods (though without the latter’s tragic shading). surprising depths, and develops into an ambiguous and fascinating 29

character, capable of heroic gestures and even warmth. In issue #6 he consents to appear with Ikaris and company at an anthropology lecture at “City College”; in #8-10 he leads Thena, his erstwhile lover (!), into Lemuria—in an effort to win back her sympathy. Kro is in truth “noble, wise, and brave,” as he boasts in #8, capable of more than evil and flimflammery. He is not a villain on par with Darkseid, but that is not what is called for here. The humans in The Eternals suffer a fate similar to the onlookers in New Gods: by and large, they are colorless, and often forced into mouthing an elevated expository prose which ill suits conversation. This handicap is apparent from the first. The series begins with a “cyclopean” (this word reverberates throughout the series) setting which literally overwhelms the human characters, as archaeologist Daniel Damian and his daughter Margo enter an ancient Incan ruin, guided by one “Ike Harris.” Ike, a rugged young man in dark glasses who knows more than a mortal should, soon stands revealed as Ikaris the Eternal, and so his mannered speech begins to make sense. Unfortunately Doctor Damian and his daughter are saddled with high-flown language of their own (e.g., “A-as an archaeologist, I-I‘m dumbfounded at the sight of an ancient myth come alive!,” #3), and attempts to bring the dialogue

down to earth in the first several issues are few and perfunctory. The dialogue at times betrays Kirby’s grand vision, for what he is interested in, clearly, is not sheer scope, but rather human nature— human fears and aspirations—as seen on a cosmic scale. Kirby, despite appearances, is not indifferent to the humans in his story, but the nature of the tale demands a finesse in scripting which sometimes eludes him. Issue #3, for instance, presents a very human dilemma and therefore an interesting crisis: when Doctor Damian elects to stay behind at the landing site of the Celestials, and thus to live out the remainder of his days within the gods’ impenetrable “atom shield,” can young Margo afford to stay too? The decision is made for her by a chivalric (and chauvinistic) Ikaris, who scoops her up under his arm and carries her off, finally zapping her with an energy beam to quell her protests. The moment of parting has a certain resonance, but the doctor’s language, again, is stiff: “What I’m trying to say is that you can’t sacrifice your youth for my dreams! ...Good bye, Margo... be happy, child!” In fairness, Kirby does not let it go at that. Margo suffers from the loss, and Ikaris knows it: “The loss of a father is a great price to pay for a full life—in time the gods will exact such payment from us all!!” More than any other issue in the series, #3 brings Margo to life in her grief. Yet throughout the rest of the series, Margo is consigned to the role of passive onlooker. Kirby does have fun, however, with City College professor Samuel Holden, who, unlike the bearded, safari-ready Doctor Damian, represents professional respectability at its deadly dullest—a respectability that Sersi, enamored of the good doctor, tweaks at every opportunity. For instance, Holden’s “discourse on anthropology” in #8 succeeds only in boring his guests right out of the room, at which point Sersi conjures a big band and invites him to dance. By issue #12, Holden is a bundle of nerves, “ready to pass out from the sheer thrill of it all,” as Sersi quips. Faced with the unknown, the doctor cries out in a fearful close-up, “T-There’s n-no turning back! Don’t leave me, Sersi!!” This is a far cry from his stuffy, hobbling dialogue in #6. As Kirby knocks the stuffing out of Doctor Holden, he also burns the fat out of his scripting. There are other engaging characters in the series, including the mischievous Sprite, youngest of the featured Eternals, a puckish squirt who likes to sow confusion and so ends up getting a spanking over Ikaris’ bended knee (!). Sprite comes to the rescue in #13 (“The Astronauts”) by summoning the enigmatic “Forgotten One” to counteract a Deviant threat. The Forgotten One, an Eternal long banished from sight by Zuras for his insistence on meddling “in human affairs,” represents (and implicitly, was) all the great heroes of human history: Gilgamesh, Hercules, Samson. Dispatched by Sprite, he now redeems himself by stopping a foolhardy Deviant assault on the Celestials’ orbiting mother ship. Stories like these, dispensing with the usual star players, show Kirby’s imagination at its most restless and protean. (Though the cover to #13 shows the faces of five familiar characters, only one, Kro, appears within.) Clearly, Kirby is less concerned with stars, and more with the apocalyptic situation he has established.

Eternals #4 splash page pencils. 30

Page 2-3 spread from Eternals #11 (inked by Mike Royer), showing a plethora of characters who never got more exposure in the series. It’s enough to send tremors down your spine. Throughout the series, the Celestials remain aloof, unknowable and immune to every form of assault. Atomic bombs explode in their The Return of the Gods, then, would be the better title. The Fourth hands, but they remain unmoved. Ballistic missiles target them for Host of the Celestials, Kirby’s voiceless, inscrutable “giants,” are an destruction, but stay locked in their silos, unable to fly. Deviants and extraordinary achievement—the sort of grandiose conception which Eternals alike scheme for the gods’ destruction, but these schemes would be absurd, deadly, in lesser hands, but which Kirby brings to prove groundless. Though Ikaris himself entertains fears of a “war” with brilliant life. Characteristically, these“gods” are massive humanoid the gods (#19), we are never given any reason to believe that such a war forms encased in metal, possessing a grandeur at once ponderous and could be waged, let alone won. Issue #7’s encounter between three elegant. Here, at last, Kirby’s trademark style—reconciling fluid, gung-ho SHIELD agents and the gods of the Fourth Host is such an organic forms with a huge, architectonic sense of volume—finds its uneven match as to be ridiculous—the men cannot grasp the extent of perfect expression: living machines, their bodies organized masses of the gods’ power. Of all the characters in The Eternals, it is the Celestials symbol and ornament, mysteriously hinting at function but really teswho most clearly represent a stretch for Kirby the storyteller—and tifying to Kirby’s love of swirling, technoglyphic detail. (I’m indebted despite their humanoid forms, they are utterly immovable, enigmatic here to Christopher Brayshaw’s essay, “The Monument Carver’s Store,” and cold. forthcoming in a volume from Fantagraphics, for its provocative discussion of Kirby’s style, in particular his mingling of the organic and the mechanistic.) Arishem, Jemiah, Eson, Tefral—these are god-engines, epitomizing The cyclopean elements in The Eternals are most persuasive; the Kirby’s tendency to promiscuously blend body and machine (think of book deserves a larger format. Artistically, Kirby runs riot in the first Dr. Doom in his armor, or Metron in his Mobius Chair). Here Kirby’s several issues, yielding one spectacular splash after another. Issue #1 love of the technological intersects perfectly with his sense of the mythic begins with monumental visions of “the legendary Chamber of the and primal. Arishem, in particular, his palm branded with the equation Gods”: giant statues and carvings depict enormous helmeted figures for doomsday, is an inspired vision, so much so that Kirby returns to in machines, their high-tech trappings rendered as ancient glyphs. him repeatedly, stressing the significance of his fifty-year vigil over the “Outer space technology translated in terms of mythology,” Doctor Earth. Armored in red, face hidden behind a metal grill, Arishem is a Damian remarks. “Incredible!” Indeed-Kirby’s “techno” style reigns character only in the most remote, inaccessible sense, lacking even the supreme in these pages, but with a weathered, rough quality befitting anthropocentric touches of a Galactus: “Inside the impregnable armor stone. The doctor’s remark is spot-on because it in effect describes the is a mind incomprehensible to man!” (#7, “The Fourth Host”). This reverse of the procedure Kirby follows throughout The Eternals; that is, technological god, sentinel of the Celestial host, distills the premise of translating mythology into pseudo-scientific terms. The translation is The Eternals into one anthropomorphic symbol: the shadow of judgment, a happy one, as Kirby’s love of technological detail meshes beautifully a titanic memento mori standing on a pylon. 31

The Celestials

Epic Yet Inconsistent

with the ancient cultures evoked in the settings. Issue #2 represents the series’ visual apogee, boasting some five full-page splashes in addition to an extraordinary two-page spread of the Celestials’ spacecraft—this in a seventeen-page story! Yet these huge images are not mere visual stunts: each splash, masterfully composed to guide the eye, seems freighted with significance. Unfortunately, neither the visuals nor the storytelling in The Eternals is consistent in quality. Even the first few issues show variation: once the book’s whopping premise is established, Kirby strains to follow his first act with a brisk, fast-moving tale about Kro fomenting panic in New York City, but the story’s gimmick (Kro masquerading as the Devil) seems inadequate to the sense of scale established in the first two issues. The carnage in #3-6 is relentless—and sometimes impressive, as when spacesuited Deviants drop from a flaming sky—but the skirmishes seem minor, even diversionary, and the concept too prosaic after the cosmological revelations of #1-2. The art too is inconsistent—for example, Kirby’s sense of scale fails him in #3, as the fleeing Ikaris and Margo seem much too large in relation to the Celestials. Such glitches diminish his grand conception somewhat. Issue #4, the last inked by the generally faithful John Verpoorten (Marvel’s then-production manager), is especially ragged: Sersi’s countenance is unstable, varying from panel to panel, and when letterer Irv Watanabe takes over from John Costanza, the contrast is unflattering. (Raunchy Flexographic printing makes for dark and clotted artwork throughout the series, in contrast to the cleaner look of Kirby’s work at DC.)

The Lemuria Trilogy Issue #7, “The Fourth Host,” reasserts the true scale, majesty and significance of the gods’ visitation, and thus recovers the thread seemingly lost during the previous three issues. Yet the blend of story and drawing peaks with issues #8-10, which add much weight and texture to the storyline. It is here the Deviants cease to be one-dimensional A full-page panel in pencil from Eternals #2, page 31; Arishem in all his glory. villains, and take on a rather more tragic if not sympathetic shading; it is here that we get and his family. Here only the ability to kill is valued; mercy and tenderto know the Deviants at home, in the sunken kingdom of Lemuria. ness are worse than handicaps. Again, Kirby shows great control as a This kingdom has its share of horrors, yet the greatest are moral scripter, hammering the point home with an incantatory rhythm: rather than physical. Most horrific is the spectacle of Deviant eugenics In the City of the Toads, the price of life is high!! at work: “mutates,” loathsome but pitiable offspring of the Deviants’ In the City of the Toads, the fight for life is a daily routine! unstable genetic code, are swept into the furnaces at “Purity Time,” a In the City of the Toads, the mask of cruelty is more valued than the cathartic cleansing ritual that rids Lemuria of anything too monstrous. living heart!! When Thena asks Kro where the wretched creatures in the “Death Woe to him who lives in this city! For here, peace is a shadow—and Wagons” are being sent, the warlord flatly replies, “To the place—from shame, the daily bread. which they will never return to haunt us.” Pointing to a distant structure spewing flame and smoke, he says simply, “It is there, Thena.” Here In counterpoint, Kirby’s drawings enact the pointless violence of the Kirby achieves the fierce understatement which characterizes his best arena with brutal force. writing. It’s a moment of quiet horror, deftly handled. “The City of Toads” is cruel and obscene, a culture founded on Alternately, some mutates are consigned to the arena to amuse Tode genetically inherited shame—but it is a believable setting, not a mere 32

catalog of horrors. At last the Deviants’ grudge against the gods, nursed for so many centuries, begins to make sense. The story is the Deviants’, and Kirby does his best to give it to us on their terms, though that means upsetting the simple dualism of his world. The series’ most surprising bits of characterization come in these three issues, as Thena descends into Lemuria with Kro. That Thena and Kro should have been lovers in a bygone age is surprising in and of itself, but welcome—both gain in stature and complexity from this unexpected twist. Yet Kirby goes further, introducing in the arena the series’ strangest pair: the scaly red giant Karkas, a reluctant fighter, noble in character but horrific in appearance; and a nameless character who becomes known simply as “The Reject,” a savage killer, ignorant of all tender feelings and civilized nuances despite his handsome, even human countenance (from which other Deviants turn away in horror, and which Thena mistakenly interprets as a sign of “value”). This arc comes to a startling end. In “Mother” (#10), Thena severs her connection with Kro and adopts the hopeless mutates, Karkas and the Reject, as her charges, even as an inquisitive Celestial, Eson, wreaks havoc on Lemuria. This bold balancing of small- and largescale crises is aided by terrific artwork that captures both intimate nuance and panoramic violence. Indeed, throughout this arc Kirby, beautifully inked by Mike Royer (on board since #5), brings Lemuria’s underwater setting to vivid life. The art enjoys a consistency and beauty not seen since #1-2: the scenes of arena combat, undersea travel and Purity Time are splendidly atmospheric, and the Deviants’ futile struggle with Eson spectacular if ironic.

way around. Rather, editorial pressure may have dampened Kirby’s enthusiasm. More specifically, The Eternals’ ambiguous placement within Marvel’s byzantine continuity may have handicapped the series. The issue of continuity, raised by fan (and soon-to-be Marvel staffer) Ralph Macchio in #3’s letter column and debated thereafter, found Kirby’s impulses apparently at odds with the very fandom he had helped to foster in the 1960s—an irony made all the more bitter by the half-hearted surrender implied by the Hulk story. More generally, all of Kirby’s work from this period would seem to show a loss of focus, symptomatic of Kirby’s discontent as he prepared to leave comics altogether. The matter of continuity, and the challenge The Eternals posed to it, will be addressed in depth in Jack Kirby Collector #18. In the meantime, I submit that the first thirteen issues of Eternals represent the zenith of Kirby’s ambition—his most audacious, most promising, and in hindsight most clearly disappointed attempt to rewrite the world. ✷ (Special thanks to Chris Brayshaw, Jon Cooke, John Morrow and Garrie Burr for inspiration and research assistance.)

The Fall Issues #11-13 lack the tragic undercurrents of the Lemuria trilogy, but are still tense and involving. In fact, “The Russians Are Coming” (#11) manages a nightmarish intensity at its climax, as Kirby scripts with a thumping, Harvey Kurtzman-like cadence, closing with a literally fatal irony. The last panel is chilling. “The Astronauts” (#13) relies even more heavily on scripting: Kirby piles on the captions, perhaps because this story, like #11, requires a great deal of exposition to make sense of the gods’ otherwise inexplicable actions. Sadly, The Eternals falls hard after #13. The decline in quality is precipitous and depressing. Issues #14-16 involve Ikaris (now clearly the series’ superpowered star) in a disastrously misguided “crossover” with Marvel’s Hulk—only in this case it’s a replica of the Hulk, brought to life by an overflow of Eternal energy. Kirby plays coyly with Marvel continuity, which he probably didn’t care one whit about anyway: his Hulk is his alone, a “pseudo-Hulk” as he puts it, who exists only to cause trouble. The conceit has some satiric potential, and indeed Kirby gets in some sly digs at Marvel fans who expect other Marvel characters to get involved at any moment. (They expect in vain.) But the story is pointless, the art wan and flavorless. Whether by editorial fiat, or by simple lack of enthusiasm, the expected splashes and spreads are denied, except for one poorly composed splash in #15 which testifies to Kirby’s slackening interest. #17 recovers somewhat, but by now the series’ emphasis on the gods has been completely lost. The writing is on the wall: the spark has faded, and mere make-work has taken the place of the bravura storytelling in #1-13. When the gods return in the last two issues, #18-19, it is on a reduced scale, in a Thor-ish story which pits Ikaris against his Loki-like cousin Druig. A serviceable annual from October 1977 (concurrent with the Hulk storyline) completes the set, capitalizing on Karkas and the Reject but again neglecting the Celestials and thus the book’s very premise. What happened? Why did The Eternals, begun with such bright promise, totter to such an inglorious end? Frankly, this question lures us into the dicey waters of speculation. Chris Knowles has suggested (Jack Kirby Collector #13) that Kirby lost his nerve, that the book’s iconoclastic premise violated his own sense of religious decorum—but this seems out of character, for years later Kirby remained remarkably candid in his view that gods are what we make them, not the other

1976 San Diego Comic Con program book drawing, inked by Dave Stevens. 33

The Man Beyond The Machine by Jarret Keene t first glance, Machine Man (with its clever, oxymoronic title) appears to be a minor, insignificant series within the King’s immense and influential body of work. Though the series hung on after Kirby’s departure, commercially speaking, it appeared destined for early retirement. No matter how much gratuitous action one administers, the story of a purple robot plagued with human thoughts and emotions seems a sure recipe for lackluster sales. Moreover, much of Kirby’s return-to-Marvel output is usually considered inconsistent, even inferior, when compared to his acclaimed tenures on Fantastic Four and the Fourth World books. Despite such commonplace opinions, Machine Man readily displays Kirby’s inventive and compelling workmanship. Its first six issues contain a visual thematic thread, a motif which underscores the craft Kirby applied to all of his creations. Evidence of this commitment includes the refrain of the human face, an image which resonates throughout the storyline. Eventually, Machine Man’s face is revealed as the site of his inner conflict, the source of his identity crisis. To transcend his disorientation, Machine Man must confront a philosophical question of the highest order: beyond the physical form, what constitutes a genuine human being? In some of Kirby’s best stories, the face is a facade, one that masks dark secrets. For instance, New Gods introduces Orion, the powerful, warlike god of New Genesis, whom we later learn was born on that planet’s evil antithesis, Apokolips. In “Spawn!” (New Gods #5), we are reminded that Orion’s mother box sustains his heroic appearance and keeps others from detecting his Apokolipsian heritage. (“Mother Box protects me!” he says. “She calms and restructures and keeps me part of New Genesis!”) In another title, the creepy cosmonaut from “The

Soyuz Survivor” (Kamandi #35) transforms into a bizarre, elastic-tissued monster, erupting Alien-style from his space-helmet. This visual motif of evil disguised behind faces can be found in such disparate titles as Our Fighting Forces and Devil Dinosaur. Looking back on Kirby’s DC stint, it’s clear that the face is one of his stock images. For instance, Kirby loads OMAC’s paranoiac dystopia with subtle, ominous references. Members of the Global Peace Agency use cosmetic spray to extinguish their features, to become faceless, anonymous guardians of humanity. The evil Mister Big constructs “build-a-friends,” beautiful primed female automatons who seek out world leaders, kiss them, then detonate; the face of one of these robots dominates the opening splash of #1. OMAC’s satellite safeguard, Brother Eye (ironically named for one of our more expressive features), monitors the earth, ready to beam down information and molecular energy at the hero’s discretion. Meanwhile, Kamandi, the Last Boy on Earth, wanders the nuclear ravaged USA in search of an expressive human face like his own, one that has retained its intelligence; yet the human faces in “The Last Gang in Chicago!” (#20-21), for instance, conceal only cold circuitry. In Mister Miracle, Doctor Bedlam repeatedly manifests his physical presence through one of his indistinct “animates,” a process Kirby typically details panel-by-panel, as a blank-faced puppet gradually assumes the villain’s snarling features. Rewind further back to Ben Grimm and Bruce Banner’s gruesome facial contortions as they changed into, respectively, rock-ribbed bruiser and green-skinned goliath, and compare these with The Demon, another superhero/monster crossover with an emphasis on mutating features. Masks, a staple in superhero comics, are brought to shocking, innovative heights under Kirby’s direction. In the underappreciated 1st Issue Special #5, Manhunter braves the dangers of the Cave of the Talking Heads, where the Chopper operates flame-throwing masks that chant “Death! You will find death!” and a particularly wicked invention called “the Electric Head,” a device which envelops the intended victim’s face and melts the brain. More memorable are the savage, otherworldly disguises of the Red Skull and Doctor Doom. Indeed, faces, whether masked, duplicitous or deadly, are a visual hallmark of Kirby’s work. Likewise, Machine Man is chock-full of faces. In the first issue, readers are introduced to Colonel Kragg who, true to his namesake, is craggy-faced. Furthermore, he wears an eye-patch, having been mutilated in a previous skirmish with an X-model. In fact, the eye-patch is symbolic of the colonel’s limited vision: he’s unable to perceive that his quarry is different than the maniacal robots that killed his men. Like Melville’s Captain Ahab, Kragg is so obsessed with revenge, with obliterating his non-human prey, that his own humanity becomes questionable. The second issue (“House of Nightmares”) explodes with a nightmarish splash page: Machine Man is strapped to a chair and surrounded by an insidious crew, a self-proclaimed “brotherhood of living steel and wire,” intent on stealing his mask. “No! No! Please don’t touch my face—!!” he pleads, but to no avail. The brotherhood strips Machine Man of his disguise, revealing his harsh The unused (and very psychedelic!) cover to Machine Man #6. Walt Simonson drew the final cover. robotic features. In this horrifying sequence, we

emotions, and face of a human, but the body of a robot. He can never be one or the other. Thus, the mask, in Machine Man’s view, becomes a caricature of something he can never completely attain. Yet his father’s ghostly presence succeeds for a time in convincing him otherwise. Throughout the series, the terms “face” and “mask” are used interchangeably, often within the same panel. “Now, stop acting like a child and reclaim that face,” commands Machine Man’s father. “It’s human to wear a mask! It’s human to live with fear and hate! It’s also human to rise above it!” Here, Abel Stark confirms that appearances are often deceiving, that what we present to others is not always the truth. The face is a mask, and if fear and hate rule Machine Man’s life, he must find a way to transcend these counterproductive emotions. As Abel Stark comments, everyone dons a false face; it’s no basis for any informed opinion or judgment and, contrary to his son’s original assumption, it’s no cause for anxiety. Yet for all that, this remains a difficult tenet for Machine Man to live up to. What lurks behind Ten-For’s mask, however, is infinitely more sinister. If you’ve ever doubted Kirby’s unparalleled genius, take note of the juxtaposition between Aaron Stack and Ten-For in issue #4. Kirby skillfully contrasts Machine Man’s stirring, emotionally charged unmasking in the presence of his father with the cold, dead stare of Ten-For as he reveals the atomic cannon hidden behind his gruesome faceplate! Machine Man’s admission of weakness is what distinguishes him from his homicidal steelbelted adversary. Yet in his weakness, he will discover the strength and motivation to challenge Ten-For’s despotism. Aaron Stack’s emotional response to his father’s counsel is further evidence that he is more man than machine, that he has a stake in the final outcome. Another uncanny yet masterful stroke is introducing our hero to an upscale costume ball in issue #5. After Ten-For deceives Kragg’s men into believing that Machine Man is the aggressor, our hero grimly announces his refusal to defend humanity. Later, mistaken as a guest, he joins a nearby party. What follows is downright spooky: Machine Man begins to assail the masked guests. First, he flips Hercules headover-heels. Next, he ensnares a soda-spraying jester with a mechanical lasso, then spins him like a top. Apparently, the party’s spirits cause the guests to goad Machine Man in his abusive antics. Does Machine Man, in the presence of masked humans, take offense at their desire to distort their appearances? After all, our hero’s greatest wish is to be recognized as nothing less than human, to be distortion-free. This point is, of course, speculative—but consider that Machine Man’s horseplay perhaps signals his inner resentment towards those who, despite their festive intentions, choose to disguise something that he deeply treasures, namely their humanity. At one point, Machine Man admonishes the gathering, heralding the portentous invasion of alien warships, but the crowd is not impressed. Only reporter Tracy Warner credits his story. Warner is as tough as she is voluptuous, as are most of Kirby’s heroines. She berates

Machine Man #6 splash page pencils. learn how intensely our hero cherishes his mask, how necessary it is for his mental stability. No matter how much he tries to convince himself otherwise, appearances are everything. How can he consider himself human if he’s not looked upon as such? Even more disturbing is how this brotherhood rebukes Machine Man. First, they claim him as their own: “You don’t want to be one of us!” they scold. “Your true face is no different than ours!!” Next, they insist that he’s nothing more than a machine, something manufactured on an assembly line. Of course, this reduction is Machine Man’s greatest fear; he wakes up screaming, “I am an individual!” Interestingly, our hero equates mechanization with a loss or lack of individuality, a condition of powerless anonymity. Later, in issue #4, Machine Man suffers something akin to a nervous breakdown when confronted with his father’s apparition. In a truly bizarre scene, our hero attempts to cast off his father, who appears via Machine Man’s memory banks. “I cared, son!” the father consoles. “You know that I gave my life to save yours! Would a man do that for a mere machine?” Yet our hero is not so easily soothed: “My humanity consists of nothing more than a welded mask!” he contends, removing his disguise, then flinging it in disgust. The mask is not only Machine Man’s cherished symbol of humanity, but also his curse, his source of anxiety. It’s what traps him between the distant poles of man and machine, keeps him in a confused limbo of self-identification. He has the thoughts, 35

Machine Man for opting not to fight: “What’s wrong, mister?” she says with unctuous sarcasm. “Did some big, bad men in uniform hassle you unjustly? Is that why you’re pouting? Instead of doing a man’s job!” Talk of men leads Machine Man to remove his mask and confess his inner torment. “Have yourself a ball, honey!” he says mockingly. “Take a good look and tell me where my duty lies! Am I a man or a machine!!?” And, of course, if our hero can’t answer the question, neither can Warner. Who convinces Machine Man to rejoin the fray in issue #6? An African-American cab driver named Barney Bates. “Hardly anyone puts out for the next guy these days...” Barney bemoans. “But all of us have a share in the pie... see what I mean?” Oddly enough, the pie metaphor resonates deep inside our hero. Instantly, he once again aligns himself with “the little guy” and literally springs into action. He wades through the effects of Ten-For’s callous destruction and comforts the wounded. “I couldn’t stomach a society of slaves and masters!” he ruminates. Thus, another of Kirby’s distinctive thematic concerns, the struggle

between freedom and oppressive power, is revisited (cf. Charles Hatfield’s essay on the Fourth World in TJKC #6). When Machine Man realizes what’s really at stake, that totalitarianism threatens individual freedom, he’s ready for battle and willing to lay down his life for others. His sense of self might not be resolved—he still doesn’t know if he’s man or machine—but he is sure of what he’s for and against. He supports individual identity and freedom; he loathes institutional, dehumanizing authority. Machine Man knows what it’s like to be treated as something less than human, and here is where he finds common ground with the common man. Allowing Ten-For and his Autocron empire to enslave the world’s population would be an inhuman act, devoid of empathy and commitment. As our hero explains to his immobilized enemy, “I wasn’t going to exchange one form of tyranny for an ever greater one!” To act in accordance with higher moral principles is what defines our humanity; responsibility and sacrifice offer transcendence. Our hero, in order to locate the man beyond the machine, must put aside his neuroses and protect the unprotected. With Machine Man #1-6, not only does Kirby offer his mind-blowing brand of sci-fi action, but he engages a dilemma he’d left unresolved at DC. Since the cancellation of his Fourth World titles, Kirby had yet to clarify his philosophy on superheroic responsibility. As Earl Wells skillfully surmises in his essay “Once and For All, Who Was the Author of Marvel?”(The Comics Journal #181), Kirby, because of his embittered experiences at Marvel, might have created the New Gods as a hostile response to the Marvel philosophy that “with great power there must also come great responsibility, and great sacrifice.” Citing as evidence the King’s grim sensibilities after leaving Marvel, Wells suggests that Kirby never accepted Marvel’s prescription of heroic sacrifice, but, instead, held that great power results in power trips, conflict, war, death (or antilife). However, Kirby’s philosophy is more complex than Wells’ argument allows, for, with his return to Marvel, Kirby, in starker terms, affirmed his conviction that a true hero is morally responsible for the greater good. As Machine Man learns, after he’s converted Ten-For into an anti-Autocron atomic bomb, the mask means little. Sacrifice, on the other hand, defines not only a hero, but provides transcendence, the chance to become a compassionate, responsible and complete human being. ✷ (above) It took a cabbie to encourage Machine Man to save the human race in issue #6. (left) Machine Man #6, page 2 pencils. 36

a small miracle: Kirby’s 2001 didn’t just break the rules of the American comics industry. It ignored the rules. It gave the rules a big fat raspberry. In expanding on the film he had adapted into an oversized Treasury Edition format for Marvel, Kirby would have no heroes, no villains, no plot resolutions, no stock situations, no sidekicks and sometimes even no dialogue. And in the late-1970s mainstream comics market, all of this meant: No Chance. 2001 died in less than a year; even the addition of a dorky android leading character in a last-ditch plotline calculated to appeal to kids couldn’t save it (and I could almost smell Kirby’s distaste for these final stories). But in the book’s brief flight, Kirby scored some quiet victories that are best appreciated long after the books were published:

Kirby’s Space Oddity by Robert L. Bryant Jr. ouston, we’ve got a problem. So the honchos at Marvel Comics must have said in late 1976 as they pondered how to sell their new monthly, 2001: A Space Odyssey. Like NASA technicians trying to balance the chemicals in a Saturn V’s fuel tanks, the Marvel men might have reduced their dilemma to an equation: On the plus side: Art and scripts by Jack Kirby. A tie-in with the 1968 cult classic science fiction film by Stanley Kubrick conjuring up all the icons of the movie. The Monolith, HAL, the Star Child, the light show. A futuristic venue for the master of comic-art action. On the minus side: No continuing characters. No cliffhangers. No superheroes. No HAL, the only real character in the movie. Little action. Lots of philosophy about the evolution of mankind. Marvel gritted its teeth and launched. 2001 soared briefly, fell off the radar and sank into the ocean of failed comics. That it flew at all is

• Even more than in the Treasury Edition, Kirby found the comics equivalent of Kubrick’s famous shock cut from a hurtling bone to an orbiting satellite, from past to future. Kirby juxtaposes shapes and poses: An ape-man tossing a spear / An astronaut tossing an alien artifact. A Stone Age woman lifting a chunk of food / A Space Age woman lifting a communicator. A wagon wheel kicking up rocks / A circular space station soaring through a meteor swarm. These are among the most effective transitions ever achieved in comics. • The “stargate” sequences in almost every issue let Kirby cut loose with some of his wildest cosmic art since his Fourth World books. Aided by able Mike Royer inks, these sequences turn space and time into a Fourth of July light show that Kubrick himself would have applauded. • In the “Norton of New York” storyline, Kirby defiantly bites the hand that feeds him. The lonely, unhappy Norton plays out comic-book fantasies a la Westworld (fantasies structured exactly like the superheroics Kirby disdains in 2001), then watches a 3-D superhero tape and chows down on a “Self-Heet” chicken dinner. It’s Kirby’s indictment of futuristic couch potatoes. (But heeding the Monolith’s call, old Norton soon finds himself in another galaxy, getting fried by aliens’ death rays and wishing he’d stood in bed. Message: couch potatoes live longer.) • And mostly, Kirby won a victory over comics conventions by stubbornly refusing to explain almost anything.

Splash page from 2001 #7. Despite the captions’ promise, nothing every really got answered in the series. 37

Who are the aliens that chase Norton? Why are the Monoliths tinkering with human intelligence and turning astronauts into “New Seeds,” star children that look like baby Watchers? The builtin frustrations (and strengths) of Kirby’s anthology format reach their peak in one issue in which a “New Seed” observes random violence on an unnamed, warblasted planet. Thugs attack a woman. A muscled Samaritan dynamites the thugs. A dying thug shoots the rescuer and the rescuee. In Kirby’s uncompromising vision of 2001, heroics die anonymously in the mud, and the future is as cold and mysterious as the rocky surface of the Monolith. ✷

atypical Kirby material as it was adapted from a source not of Jack’s design. But the artist embraced Stanley Kubrick’s film as a work he could inject his heartfelt feelings into and express his constant theme of overcoming adversity and the attainment of inner peace. Jack must have taken on the assignment of producing the comic book with some satisfaction. First, he enjoyed the film. When asked in 1969 (Nostalgia Journal #30) if he had seen it, Kirby said, “Sure, loved it! I see it from a technician’s viewpoint. From that viewpoint, it’s perfect, I loved it! I loved the music and the concept was terrific. A lot of people went to see it for various reasons. There was a wide variety of opinion on it. I saw it as a viewer and liked it as a viewer and I made my own reason, in my mind, as to what the ending meant. I think that’s what everyone’s supposed to do. So for myself it became one thing, to a lot of people the ending became something else because they interpreted it differently or had their own vision of what it might be. I think that was Kubrick’s intent.” Second, Jack had just completed a 70-page oversize adaptation as a Marvel Treasury Special (reviewed by this writer in TJKC #11) and must have been brimming with ideas for a continuing series. “Various characters will be in it, some continuing,” Jack told FOOM #15 of his intentions for the new title, “but the strip will retain the original conception of the Monolith and the idea of Man being transformed into something different through it.” For its ten-issue run, Jack pretty much stuck to that blueprint, with some notable exceptions, and he achieved an interesting mix of remarkable achievement and surprisingly redundant variants of the film, sometimes nearly scene for scene. Save for the transition of the series to showcasing Mister Machine/Machine Man in #8-10, Jack’s continuing characters were icons from the film: the enigmatic Monolith and the New Seed (“star baby” of the movie’s finale). “Yes, the New Seed is the conquering hero in this latest Marvel drama,” Kirby writes in his text feature for 2001 #1. “He will always be there in the story’s final moments to taunt us with the question we shall never answer. The little shaver is, perhaps, the embodiment of our own hopes in a world which daily makes us more than a bit uneasy about the future… in the meager space devoted to his appearance, he brightens our hopes considerably. He is a comforting visual, almost tangible

Jack Kirby’s Infinite & Beyond 2001: A Space Odyssey explored, by Jon B. Cooke s with most great storytellers, much, if not all, of Jack Kirby’s work is a variation on a theme. At the heart of his enormous body of work, spanning over a half century, is a constant re-telling of his own life story, in tales that depict his ascension from the poverty-ridden, brutal slums of the Lower East Side to a better life filled with love and self-realization, attained through the sheer force of will, talent and the whims of fate. Expressed best in such masterpieces as “Himon,” “Street Code,” and (what I consider his finest effort) “Gang Sweetheart,” Jack would take that theme and adapt it universally, sometimes in pretty cosmic — and unusual — places. In one sense, the monthly comic series 2001: A Space Odyssey was

(above) Marvel Treasury Special pencils, page 30. (right) Jack’s diagram for dialogue and placement of his collages on page 18 of the 2001 Treasury. 38

the two-part “Marak the Merciless” in #3-4, Kirby began to hit his stride, presenting one of his greatest double-page spreads (the spectacular battle scene in #3) and an all-tooinfrequent look at Jack’s thoughts of the feminine influence on human history. He also deviates from the film’s template by having the future counterpart, Marik, live out his life “at the normal rate” in the astronaut’s fantasy world, and not be converted into a space fetus, subverting the constant theme of evolution in the series. The next two-parter is a curious insight into Kirby’s view into the subculture that the artist helped create, the world of the comics geek. In the saga of “Norton of New York 2040 A.D.,” Jack focuses not on the nerdish, anal retentive aspects of the collector’s mindset, but instead revels in the wish fulfillment Dr. Wertham had concern with — the comics fan as would-be super hero. “Eventually, I think [they] will try to realize their fantasies and perhaps the technology will evolve to the point where it can be done,” Jack told FOOM #16. With sentimental panache, Jack sends Norton into Comicsville, an amusement park in total reality, with no “virtual” about it, under the guise of the White Zero (an appropriate moniker for not a few fans). Norton’s longing to be a real hero compels him to space exploration where he rescues a star princess (identical in design to the Rigellian, Tana Nile, from Jack’s Thor comics), and survives the “Ultimate Trip” only to be martyred, in a wonderful full page splash, at the base of the Monolith, and finish out an abbreviated life as “Captain Cosmic,” becoming yet another New Seed. As the final issues of 2001 would contain the adventures of sentient Mister Machine, Jack pretty much wrapped up his take on Kubrick and Clarke’s concepts with #7 featuring an extended look at the life of a New Seed. Beginning as most of the stories ended — the transmutation of an astronaut into a cosmic baby creature — Kirby depicts a tour de force and glorious variation on his theme of hope for mankind, and it remains the masterwork of the series. The New Seed traverses galaxies, anxiously seeking knowledge, and stopping to observe a “planet of smashed cities” and Machine Man’s origin was tied to the Monolith, as shown here in Jack’s pencils from 2001 #8, page 31. humanoid life “doomed by the sullied air reminder that the future is not yet up for grabs. And wherever his jourand the mutated botulisms.” He watches the attempted gang rape of a ney takes him matters not one whit to this writer. The mere fact that beautiful girl, seeing it thwarted by a lone protector. Amidst a dying the chances of his making it are still good is the comforting thought.” world, the man and woman express mutual love, just before they are Jack’s take on the film initially consisted of replaying the fundaboth murdered by the “right of holocaust.” The moved New Seed takes mental concepts: the alien-constructed Monolith makes a mystic their essence — the light of their souls — and travels to a young world, connection with a brighter-than-average hominid, prompting the placing the element of pure love into the sterile seas, where life will hapless soul to take a significant step towards higher development, begin anew, and “a billion years will pass before lovers may live again abruptly cutting to astronaut adventure that leads to a physical transto test the whims of fate.” formation into an embryonic “little squirt,” the next stage of human In spite of the hell and holocaust, whether acutely personal or evolution Jack christened the New Seed. cosmic, Jack’s perennial message was that humanity can rise above the Though drawn with enthusiastic vigor, the first two issues are adversity of injustice and hatred and achieve a life of peace and love. rather pedestrian Kirby fare. Excepting the spectacular space monsters It is the theme that remains and resonates, and whether set in Suicide in both numbers and the presence of a rare female protagonist in #2, the Slum, Armaghetto, or a planet “where death is the master,” it is the issues are bland (and surprisingly wordy) rehashings of the movie. With message of Jack’s own life. ✷ 39

Jack’s comic books influenced me. TJKC: How’d you first meet Jack? MIKE: I met Jack briefly at a Hollywood comic convention in 1972. Then in 1974, his son Neal invited me and a friend of mine, Steve Robertson, over. Steve’s a good friend, and if not for him, I don’t think I’d have gone over, because I was very shy at the time. Steve was the one that called and got us over to Neal’s one day. And during our wide-eyed visit, Neal was kind enough to ask if we’d like to go and visit his dad. Our jaws dropped. We were going to the King’s house! TJKC: What was that first trip up to the house like? MIKE: I just remember sweating a lot as we were driving up what seemed to be a long winding mountain road. I was anticipating arriving at a towering castle with life size statues of the Thor, Odin, Hulk, and Captain America. (laughter) My imagination as a kid got the best of me. On the outside, it appeared to be a typical suburban home, but once I entered their home the fantastic artwork on the walls made it a magical sanctuary.

Jack Kirby, Frank Frazetta, and Mike Thibodeaux in the 1980s.

Interview With Michael Thibodeaux

TJKC: Did Jack impact any great words of wisdom to you at that first meeting? MIKE: To tell you the truth, I was so star-struck I wouldn’t have known. Once I realized that he was

Interviewed by John Morrow (Mike Thibodeaux first started inking Jack’s work in 1981, and continued on and off for the remainder of Jack’s career. But many people are unaware of how close Mike is to the Kirby family, and that he serves as their official art agent. He generously agreed to an interview, which was conducted by telephone a few weeks after the 1996 San Diego Comic Con.) THE JACK KIRBY COLLECTOR: Did you grow up reading Jack’s work? MICHAEL THIBODEAUX: Absolutely. It was hard not to read Jack’s work in the mid-60s since almost every Marvel cover featured his artwork! The local barber shop was where I was first introduced to comic books. They’d always have a small stack of books for kids to read. Though my attention span kept me from reading the stories—Jack’s art spoke to me even then! Even at the tender age of 6 or 7, I distinctly remember singling out Jack’s monster books (Strange Tales, Tales of Suspense, etc.). It wasn’t until a few years later at a local Rexall Drug Store that my entire focus would be on Jack Kirby’s talent. Among an array of mostly DC titles, it was the cover of Fantastic Four #54 that jumped out at me—a large figure of the Torch flaming towards you framed along the sides with head shots of the Fantastic Four and the Inhumans. And all that was contained within this one issue was the Black Panther, the Inhumans trapped in the Eternal Dome, and a medieval warrior from the mythical isle of Avalon with technology vastly beyond our own. But what was most moving to me was a single panel that featured Crystal in an ethereal form behind an anguished and tortured Johnny Storm. It was a posture and pose that touched me with the emotional artistry that would rival the masters of centuries ago. Quite an introduction to Jack’s world. I thought this was a one-time masterpiece, but after purchasing Fantastic Four #55 and witnessing a full length epic battle between the Thing and the Silver Surfer, I realized this was a typical monthly endeavor for Jack. I was then forever hooked and had to unearth everything the man had done. TJKC: How old were you at that point? MIKE: Twelve. TJKC: What with your Last of the Viking Heroes series, I assumed Thor had made a big impression on you. MIKE: From Cap to the X-Men, I read them all. I had other personal reasons for doing the Last of the Viking Heroes. But I believe all of

Jack drew this Captain America sketch to inspire Mike to break into comics. 40

accessible to me, I was calling Roz and Jack weekly to visit them. (laughter) It was Jack’s stories that I remember most, new ones and embellished old ones. His words of wisdom were always wrapped up somewhere in his tales. He was my idol and my mentor. He was so down-to-earth. They just don’t come any better. TJKC: Did Roz do the usual ‘milk and cookies’ thing, and ordering out for McDonalds? MIKE: (laughter) I believe it was fruit. She is always very gracious. If you wanted pheasant under glass, Roz would probably order it for you. TJKC: What did you do before you started inking Jack’s work? MIKE: Let me start by prefacing: if not for Jack I may not have become an artist. During college I worked for an airline advertising agency. I later landed an art directing job for One-Stop Posters where I stayed for eleven years. I had also freelanced for Mattel Toys and Disney. But of all my dreams, one of my biggest was to work with Jack and to ink his art. TJKC: What was the first thing you inked for Jack, and how did it come about? MIKE: The very first thing was a huge drawing of Thor. The dimensions were 24" x 36". I was heavy into airbrushing, and I did a lot of photo retouching work. He asked me if I could do that on this Thor drawing, so I took the drawing home and airbrushed it and inked it up, and he seemed pretty impressed with it. TJKC: Captain Victory #3 was the first regular Kirby book you inked. How did that come about? MIKE: I would always show my artwork to Jack. I was trying to break into the field, and I wanted to do something with him. And then one day Roz called me, and told me Jack had something to ask me. I remember him getting on the phone, and saying Mike Royer was under contract with Disney, and didn’t have enough time to ink the book. He asked if I could possibly do it. I was shocked, I was just shocked! (laughter) I think I blurted out, “How much do I have to pay you?” That’s when it started. TJKC: So was this before the first issue hit the stands? MIKE: Yes. Actually, the first two issues of Captain Victory were done several years before Pacific picked it up. If I remember correctly, I think Jack said it was completed about three years before I worked on it in 1981. TJKC: Do you know what it was originally done for? MIKE: I’ve heard different things.

A Kirby Hulk drawing, commissioned by a fan. Inks by Thibodeaux. three days, and then near the end of the series, there’d be six pages in one day, which I was not very good at. In the beginning he tried to get them to me on a regular basis. I think he was also working on other projects at the time, and that’s why he didn’t devote all his time to it. He was still working for Ruby-Spears, and he was always doing specialty pieces for people. He was always working! (laughter)

TJKC: When you started working on Captain Victory, would you drive out to the house and pick up the pencils from him? Were you living near him at that point? MIKE: I lived about twenty minutes away. I wanted all the time I could get to work on the pages, so I told him whenever he had one done, I’d drive up there. But Jack would be working on some other project and suddenly he’d pump out five pages of Captain Victory in one day. (laughter) I wish he’d have spread the work out more evenly. (laughter)

TJKC: What was a typical session like? Would you take the pencils back to your studio and immediately get to work? MIKE: Yeah. But I gotta tell you, when I had the first book, I couldn’t even touch it. It sat there for a week, I was so scared! (laughter) But I eventually did the sacrilegious deed of covering up Jack’s pencils with ink.

TJKC: How fast did you have to ink to keep up with him? MIKE: It was very erratic. There were times I had to do one page in 41

TJKC: What kind of advice did Jack give you about inking his work? MIKE: Mainly just not to change anything! (laughter) At one point, I was looking at Wally Wood’s stuff. I was trying to get that kind of feel, and when I took it over there, he said not to change anything. I think this was in #4. He told me to just spot blacks and to not change a thing. Jack did however prefer brushwork. He liked a fluid stroke that went from thin to thick to thin again. He kept telling me to look over Royer’s inking, because he thought Royer at that point in time was just perfect on him.

it. It’s quite amazing to me, because I have to redraw, re-sketch and rework. (laughter) TJKC: Did you and Jack discuss what he had in mind for Captain Victory as he was working on it? Are there any insights you can share? MIKE: I wish I had more information, but the main thing I remember was that he said it was a continuation of New Gods. TJKC: Did you get the sense that was an idea he had for several years, or that he decided to tie it in on a whim? MIKE: He was disappointed when New Gods was canceled, and he wanted to continue the series. And if I remember correctly, Captain Victory was his way of doing it.

TJKC: There seems to be an assumption among people that Kirby was so busy penciling, he didn’t care who was inking his books. Was that the case? MIKE: I think there is some truth to that. He was so concerned about the story itself, and the story working. There were times in the beginning when I knew I didn’t do a very good job on a page, because I was rushing so much. I remember when he was looking it over, it seemed he was more concerned about the flow of the page, and the dialogue. Don’t get me wrong; there were many times he sent me home to either thicken my line work or perfect my explosion line from thick to thin. However, writing was important to him, and it amazed me, because what originally got me into comics was the art. I think he was so deep on so many different levels, it’s really hard to give an opinion on his true feelings about inkers. In my opinion, I think it all should have remained in its raw state of pencils.

TJKC: So he didn’t just decide one day to do it; he had been burning to do this for awhile, and this was the opportunity to do it? MIKE: Jack didn’t need an opportunity, he’d just do it. He did it for himself. Pacific Comics just happened to pick it up. TJKC: Why did Captain Victory end? Was it poor sales, or was Pacific going out of business? MIKE: I remember I did a couple of

TJKC: Did you actually watch him work on pages? MIKE: Yeah, it was amazing. I think this has been mentioned before, but the layouts he did were so rough, you could hardly see the figures. And then he’d start up in the lefthand corner. I remember sitting there waiting for him, when we were kinda late on a deadline for Pacific. It was like the image was already there, and he was tracing

(above) One of Jack’s three Honeycomb Cereal 3-D posters, inked by Mike. (right) An unused first try at this poster. 42

(left) The other two 3-D posters, inked by Mike. There were minor changes made to the art before they were printed.

jobs for Pacific, and they stopped paying. I think they were in financial trouble at that point. But they always took care of Jack; he was always paid up front. To this day I wonder what happened to them, because they had the market cornered. They were the one big independent out there. It still doesn’t make sense to me.

Unused 3-D poster idea, still in pencil stage.

concepts. I remember a kid riding a bike and a girl rollerskating. This would’ve been in the early 1980s; we were doing Captain Victory at the time.

TJKC: When did you become the Kirbys’ official art agent? MIKE: When they got all their artwork back from Marvel in 1987. They received about 2,000 pages back, when they should’ve received 20,000. I went over there with Mark Evanier, and we categorized everything. It was incredible! Just seeing all of the artwork was mindboggling. I remember sitting up there until about midnight a couple of times, just taking my time writing it down so I could look at it longer. (laughter) Roz, at that point, thought Mark would be good at selling it, but he was so busy with all his other projects that he didn’t have time, so she called and asked me to do it.

TJKC: Was Jack involved in the creation of the Viking Heroes characters? MIKE: Jack was involved in one way. I was trying to come up with a concept of my own, and he kept saying, “Do something you love. What do you love?” And I thought the Vikings were the coolest guys ever! (laughter) They were the ultimate adventurers. Traveling all over the world, with their incredible, mythical gods. The visuals have such endless possibilities. Most importantly, it gave me the opportunity to draw scantily-clad women. He was more of a mentor in showing me the importance in pursuing things you are passionate about; don’t try to follow formulas. Formulas can sometimes create barriers for the imagination. Along with this advice, he also drew three Viking Heroes covers for me.

TJKC: Did you ink any of the Ruby-Spears stuff Jack did pencils on? MIKE: I did some presentation pieces, but I don’t remember if they were for Ruby-Spears or for some other company. There were some toy posters that went into cereal boxes for General Mills. Nobody knows about these things, but I remember inking them. They were kid sports

TJKC: Did you think back to those old Thor books for inspiration? I see a little of the Warriors Three in there. MIKE: I did, big time. I thought Jack never got to carry those far enough. I wish he’d stayed at Marvel a little longer to do something there. Unlike gods, my characters were earthbound mortals. I dwelled more 43

on the bond of friendships than the loyalty of hierarchy. TJKC: Phantom Force started as a back-up in Last of the Viking Heroes. What can you tell me about the evolution of that? MIKE: As I became part of the Kirby family, I continually hounded Jack about doing something together. I kept pushing him on it. That first story in LVH #4, he just gave me suggestions. It was a quick little story. After that, he suggested I do an entire book about it, and I felt I didn’t have the characters quite well enough established. He would just throw me ideas. TJKC: So you came up with the initial characters? MIKE: Yes. In the first book, there’s four different characters you meet. When he saw that, he said, “Mike, you need more than this. You need something to punch the reader with.” He got to the point where it got beyond my own scope. He created cosmic characters. I did a concept drawing of Darkfyre and Jack threw this helmet on him that reminded me of Darkseid. He said, “You want something that’s gonna knock the reader down. Something that’s cosmic, far beyond earth people.” TJKC: How did you decide Phantom Force deserved its own book? Had Viking Heroes run its course? MIKE: Jack at that point drew several conceptual designs for Phantom Force. The fact of working with Jack on any kind of idea led me to drop the Viking Heroes until Phantom Force ran its course. C’mon, it’s

Jack Kirby! (laughter) Jack got carried away drawing the first book. He was only going to do a couple of splash pages, and he ended up drawing the whole book. That’s how he worked. I started inking the originals over a light table for the first issue, and then Rob Liefeld found out I had saved the pencils. That’s how he became involved. He came up to me at the San Diego Con and said, “Let’s put this through Image, and since you have the pencils...” The only thing that I wasn’t too happy about was that I inked the whole book on overlays hoping to save the originals in the pencil form—but by the time the project was finished, Rob talked me into letting the Image artists ink directly over the pencils. He pointed out that the artists would have more of an inspirational boost if they inked the actual pencils! Hence, the pencils were lost forever. But I thought it was well worth it, because it was such a cool thing that these young famous artists were so excited about inking over Jack. And going through Image was really gonna make a difference, too. We were gonna put it through our company, Genesis West, but with the proceeds going to Jack and Roz, the “Image” imprint would surely help boost sales. And it was exciting, I thought, to see how the contemporary style of today’s artists would ink Jack. TJKC: How did the book do? MIKE: Extremely well. But what’s sad is, they had, I think, a million copies pre-sold at one time, and they didn’t get it out on time. So when they resolicited it about six months later, the orders dropped by 75%. I wish I knew exactly what happened there. I think when they started the company, they had so many projects going that they overextended themselves. Some projects were put on the back burner, and Phantom Force was one of them.

Marty Lasick’s inks for the cover of the upcoming Rincon #3. The original pencil drawing for this was shown in TJKC #11. The Kirbys gave permission to use these characters to both Mike Thibodeaux and Michael Zuccaro, and Mike has used them as the Evil Empire (The Star Slavers), who are the adversaries of Rincon in his upcoming series.

TJKC: I remember thinking Gin Seng looked a lot like Bruce Lee in 44

problem there. But the Bruce Lee estate was not so receptive to this (their loss). So after eight pages into it, he canned it until I came along with the Phantom Force. He even changed some of the faces for me; he didn’t want it to look too much like Bruce Lee. But apparently you still saw the resemblance. He told me when he saw Enter The Dragon, he was extremely moved. (laughter) He loved all that kind of stuff. He was a big Clint Eastwood and Charles Bronson fan. In fact, for his birthday, I started buying him Death Wish videos. (laughter) I got him all three of those. He just loved that stuff. TJKC: What are your future plans for Genesis West? What’s the background the Phantom Force lawsuit? MIKE: King Features was bought out by the Hearst Corporation, and they own The Phantom, which was recently made into a movie. Phantom Force was being shopped to CBS as an animation piece at one point, and the Hearst Corporation got wind of it. They felt it would affect their movie deal that was going on at the time, and they came down on us like a ton of bricks. Our lawyer told us we’d lose so much money fighting it, it wasn’t worth the trouble. What irritates me is that the Hearst’s lawyers said we had such good sales because of The Phantom. Bah! It was because of Jack and Image and the product itself. We just finished a Kublak 3-part mini-series, a character of the Phantom Force, and we’ll probably come out with that. But at this point, with the way the market’s going, I think we’re gonna shop it around to see if Dark Horse or Image will pick it up. Jack’s contribution includes a cover, character pin-up and two pages.

The first Kirby art Mike worked on; a Thor pencil, which he inked and airbrushed (shown at left). that one sequence with the kids in #1. Did Jack base the look of the character on him? MIKE: Actually, those pages were designed for a Bruce Lee story Jack did back in 1978. He was heavily into Bruce Lee. I always thought they were pretty incredibly pages, and Jack pulled them out and said, “Mike, let’s work them into the story.” And I’m saying, “Jack, it doesn’t work in my story,” and Jack says, “Sure it will!” (laughter) So he went on with all these epic concepts and wild ideas... he made it work. I was really against it at first, but he said, “No, no, you need a guy like this in it. A down-to-earth guy. A really good guy.”

TJKC: Do you plan to continue the Phantom Force storyline at some point? MIKE: Maybe, but I’m more excited about the Rincon book we’re working on, which was formerly called Malibu Maniacs. Malibu Comics came after us about the word Malibu, so... (laughter) Rincon is a pretty popular beach out here, with a pretty good surf break like Malibu. Jack was listing off names of beaches here, and he had Rincon Raiders at one point. After Malibu Maniacs got nailed, we decided to just

go with Rincon. TJKC: So even when he wasn’t contributing art to the books, he was still giving ideas? MIKE: Constantly, which to me was extremely intimidating, because I’m not Jack Kirby. At one point he wanted me to have a twelve-issue mini-series of three different titles coming out simultaneously in one month, all intertwining and connecting! (laughter) And I kept telling him, “There’s only one guy in the history of comics that could do that, and that was you!” I didn’t have that much time. He was saying I could do it in six months, and I was saying, “Six years, maybe.” (laughter) But it was quite inspiring that he had this much confidence in me. And although I wasn’t able to fulfill his vision of putting out 36 books in one year, I’m still working on fulfilling the Rincon series.

TJKC: Do you remember what the Bruce Lee pages were originally for? MIKE: All I know is he did it around 1978. He just did them for himself. Jack would do that. Don Rickles could really make Jack laugh. As an homage to Don Rickles, he included him in the Jimmy Olsen series. He then called up the Rickles’ estate to get an OK. There was no

TJKC: Are there still some more of Jack’s drawings stashed away that’ll be showing up? 45

MIKE: Definitely. I think I have five covers for Rincon. I have one of the best double-spreads I’ve ever seen Jack do, which was, incidentally, inked by Marty Lasick. When I was doing presentations, I was overextended at one point, and Marty was helping me do them. He was inking for Jack for awhile. He kept begging me to let him ink this one double spread for Rincon. I gave in as I usually do with him and he ended up inking it. He inked it in a bold, contemporary style, yet inkeeping with the delicate brushwork style around the figure like the style of the 1960s. A merging of contemporary and old inking styles that truly works. I think he did a killer job. We then let him ink four of the five Kirby covers for Rincon. The results were quite beautiful. I think the book has a lot to offer when it’s finally out there.

your preference of movies, food... if you listened closely, he had answers for everyone. And he always took the time to care about everyone. TJKC: What’s the most important thing you learned from Jack? MIKE: It’s not so much what I’ve learned, but what I’ve gained. My thoughts immediately go back to my childhood. My father was a violent man, who on the weekends would drink a lot and end up in a verbal or physical confrontation with whomever was within striking distance. If I happened to be home during one of his unpredictable moods, I’d find myself drawn to the safe haven of my bedroom where I would get lost in my comics... usually Jack’s comics! This was my bunker and my comics were my bulletproof vests. The situation probably enhanced my love for comics. In order to escape my surroundings, I focused all of my energy into comics which allowed me to become quite a connoisseur of Jack’s style, imaginative ability, and accomplishments. In a sense, Jack became a father figure to me. I found emotional support in his stories and powerful illustrations. In a childhood of tremendous turmoil—as with so many others—I think I needed a guardian angel. My angel came with a pencil. He was an artist named Jack Kirby. ✷

TJKC: When Jack went back to DC to wrap-up New Gods, you inked a few covers of the reprint books, but D. Bruce Berry inked the final story. Were you working on other stuff at the time? MIKE: I was extremely busy at that time, working as an art director for One Stop Posters, freelancing for Mattel toys and working on my Viking Heroes comic. Still, I think it was a decision at DC. I was doing so much stuff back then, it’s hard to remember exactly what was going on. TJKC: Do you have a favorite memory of Jack? MIKE: There are thousands of them, but one in particular that stands out is when Jack said that Dr. Doom was really Stan Lee! He said there’s really nothing wrong with Doom at all... he just thinks there is. He said that Stan had the same insecurities, and there’s nothing for him to be insecure about, but Stan always felt there was something wrong with himself. He told me this on two separate occasions. Jack would say something, and you’d have to think about it for a few days before it’d come into clarity. He’d always try to illustrate a point by telling war stories. (laughter) Back then you couldn’t get through a conversation without hearing a war story. I remember asking Jack if he believed in God, and if there was a God. He said that everything comes through our sense of perception, and it may not be reality at all. And I remember him talking about being in a church with his group in WWII. And his Captain said something about not lighting a match, not talking, not doing anything, because the enemy was nearby. It was pitch black, and he had to sit there quietly for hours. And after a while he could discern shapes, and see little figures within the church, and he said something about this proving there was no such thing as absolute darkness. Nothing is black or white. There was no absolute good, and no absolute evil, and therefore there was no supreme being. Roz would always run in, saying, “The boys don’t want to hear any more war stories!” (laughter) You could count on her doing it every time. She was trying to save us. I think she’d heard them so many times, she thought everyone else was tired of hearing them... we weren’t. TJKC: Can you sum up the way Jack thought, or can it be summed up? Would you say Jack was so much deeper than the average person? MIKE: It is beyond my capability of understanding. As strange as it sounds, I think Jack was an accommodator in every sense of the word. He’d feed your soul with imaginative bold graphics as well as forfeit any of his desires to fulfill yours—

Unused Captain Victory page, inked by Thibodeaux. 46

for our parents’ home; both bedrooms were full, floor to ceiling. We opened a retail store called Pacific Comics, the first dedicated comic book store in southern California. It was an instant success. On Saturdays, the customers would line up down the block just to get into the 700 square foot store. We were successful and opened 3 additional stores. The major problem at that time was getting new inventory for the stores. Pacific Comics was buying a large percentage of all new comics being shipped to San Diego. We decided to try something that had not by Steve Schanes been done before: buying direct from the publishers. We, along with he story of Pacific Comics started in 1971. I was age 17, walking several other like-minded people in other parts of the country, persuaded through a flea market looking for unique items. I came upon a Marvel and DC to sell directly to us at a deep discount without the right man who had several boxes of comic books for sale. I always liked to return unsold products. During this time we were in regular comcomic books, and learned to read with the help of comics. (I was born munication with Jack Kirby. We would send him copies of his printed with a severe case of Dyslexia and could not read well because the work; Jack did not get routine complimentary samples from Marvel, words would be configured in my mind differently than they were especially of the foreign reprints. Jack appreciated this gesture. actually printed. Comic books enabled me to see pictures along with Pacific Comics Distribution came about because we were able to words; the words now made sense.) I bought the collection of 900 buy new comics at a discount and other local people wanted to open comics for $50. I was a big fan of DC Comics and could not relate to their own comic book stores. We closed our stores and became fullMarvels. I gave the Marvels to my brother Bill, age 14. time distributors. We were soon buying large amounts of new comics Immediately we decided to become comic book dealers. Every day and servicing 600 retailers worldwide from three wholesale locations. after school I would ride my bike around the small town of Pacific Beach These stores were very popular; they needed more products. looking for old comics at used book stores. The collection grew rapidly. Bill and I decided we would become a comic book publisher. There The next year we issued our first mail order catalogue, placed our first were no books on this subject, and the major companies weren’t about ad in The Buyer’s Guide For Comic Fandom #13, and attended our first to give us any free advice. We needed an approach that was unique and San Diego Comic Convention. (I met Jack Kirby at the 1972 con.) The fair. After discussions with comic book artists and writers, we became response to that first catalogue was overwhelming. People we didn’t aware that these creative people did not own or control the concepts know were sending us thousands of dollars. The collection grew too big they created. Opportunity knocked; we would offer creator rights and a progressive royalty program. We called a few artists to see if they would be interested. The talent was very thrilled by this radical new approach, but they were also hesitant because they could be blacklisted if they bucked the established system. Jack Kirby had no fear. He sent us a 48-page comic book he called Captain Victory, a graphic novel. This work was complete. What a man Jack was to take such a risk on two young men with a dream. We couldn’t believe a top talent like Jack Kirby would work with us. We jumped at the opportunity. That first story was broken into the first two 32-page issues of Captain Victory. It’s always hard to start with the top talent because you get comfortable with the professional level. Jack was the ultimate professional. Here was a man who had done it all, but still had the patience and maturity to work with new people. Besides the regular Captain Victory series, we also published a one-shot Captain Victory Special. Jack also produced six issues of Silver Star. We had ongoing talks with Jack regarding additional new concepts that included the Midnight Men and others. Jack had more concepts than any other creator I have ever worked with. Unfortunately, the comics market is very volatile and Pacific Comics closed in 1984. I continued to see Jack annually at the San Diego Comic Con. He influenced my life—such a nice man. ✷ Unused Captain Victory cover, probably done in the mid-1970s when Jack drew the original CV Graphic Novel.

Captain Victory & Pacific Comics

48 Page 2-3 splash from Captain Victory #8, still in pencil form. Although these pencils were done late in his career, Jack’s sense of design and layout was as keen as ever.

Collector Comments Send letters to: The Jack Kirby Collector c/o TwoMorrows • 502 Saint Mary’s St. Raleigh, NC 27605 or E-mail to: twomorrow@aol.com (We got lots of interesting responses to the little April “EXTRA” news bulletin we inserted into #14’s subscription copies. Except for one reader who was extremely annoyed at us, the response was unanimously positive! But our favorite response was this one:)

I fell for it big time, but my “friend” is “Mighty Thor” at you for your April Fools’ joke in the latest Jack Kirby Collector!! Philip L. Fried, Brook Park, OH (See what you miss when you don’t subscribe directly from us? For all of you who pick up TJKC at comics shops, if you’d like a copy of the little prank we included with subscription copies of TJKC #14, send 25¢ and a Self-Addressed Stamped Envelope with 32¢ worth of postage on it—more outside the US—and we’ll send you a copy.) John, John... What have you done to your fine TJKC? Of course, I’m referring to your latest issue (#14) featuring Thor. How can you ever hope to surpass this issue in articles and art? Why make such a great issue so early in your run? How can the work after this issue be better? I have waited a long time for this tribute to Kirby’s Thor with great expectation. I would have been well pleased if it had met the usual outstanding standards of previous issues. To my surprise, #14 exceeded all previous issues combined! Thank you very much for all that you have done to make this a special issue. I shall treasure it for a long time to come. Carl Reno, Lawton, OK (Thanks for the compliment Carl, but I hope you think this issue’s even better than #14! And just wait... there’s even more great stuff coming up.) Another excellent issue, John. I have a few comments to append on the general subject of inkers. This issue almost made me feel sorry for poor Vinnie Colletta, whom I see more as a victim than a villain. As long as I’ve been following funnybooks, I see fans asking of him, “Why is this guy so bad?” Given the way the business treated folks and paid them, I would think a more logical question would be to query, “Why is anyone else any good?” And I think we should acknowledge that Colletta certainly had his fans. When Bill Everett took over inking Thor and did, to my eye, some of the best Kirby inking of all time, readers were appalled. Sales took a teensy dip around that time, which may well have had nothing to do

with the change of embellishers; still, Stan Lee decided Colletta’s absence was hurting the book and got him back. (The mail was also wildly negative when Royer replaced Colletta on the DC material. Ironically, most of it charged that Mike was “changing” Kirby too much... which, of course, we all know not to be the case.) Colletta did use assistants on his work, and often. This is not at all uncommon in the business. For the record, the gent who did much of the background inking on the Fourth World books was Art Cappello. Art was a mainstay of Charlton’s romance line for many years where he made a career out of swiping Don Heck’s work. Colletta paid him (or was supposed to pay him) the huge sum of fifty cents a page, which was low even given what DC paid Colletta then. I was surprised to see that Chic Stone thought that Frank Giacoia overpowered Jack’s penciling. I never felt that way, and I would wager that most Kirby fans would feel that Stone’s inking submerged as much of Jack’s style as Frank did, if not moreso. That is not a criticism, as I loved Stone’s inking on Kirby, and I wish he’d stayed longer at Marvel. I also think it’s a shame that he never did any penciling for Stan at the time, as Stone’s concurrent work for A.C.G. and Tower demonstrated solid storytelling... and more than a little influence from all that Kirby inking. It’s a nice mystery we’ll probably never solve as to why Dick Ayers found himself in possession of those stats of Jack’s Thor pencils. Stats cost a lot of money at the time, so Marvel was not very free in dispensing them. My first thought was that Ayers was originally slated to ink that issue. Most of the decisions made at the time as to who would ink a given issue were made or changed at the last minute. If you look over Marvels of the period, you can see that the inker’s name is frequently lettered in by someone other than Artie Simek or Sam Rosen. Often, it is Stan Lee’s lettering, or Sol Brodsky’s or the inker’s himself. That would mean that when the story was lettered, someone else was planned as the inker, and then plans changed. In the published Thor story in question, the credit line for George Bell (Roussos) was obviously a correction. It wouldn’t surprise me at all if the name of Dick Ayers was under a patch on that splash page. (It’s probably someone with a name that short. You can also often see where the credit box was sized to accommodate a short name and then, when they had to letter in a different inker credit, the name had to be abbreviated — like “G. Bell” or “Geo. Bell” — because there wasn’t room for the full name.) This happened a lot on Marvel splash pages. If you have the original art to one, you can often hold the page up to the light and see that a different inker credit was lettered-in, then whited-over. If anyone reading this comes across an example, I’d love to hear it. (I have a list of some I’ve seen, plus an appeal for others, in a CBG column that will probably be out soon.) Anyway, Ayers could have been slated to ink that issue... but that wouldn’t have explained why he would need stats of it, since he’d have the originals in front of him. Another possible explanation is that Stan may have been thinking of using the Tomorrow Man in a story that Ayers was to pencil (a Human Torch, maybe) so he gave Dick the stats to study. Or maybe Stan just wanted Dick to study what Kirby was doing, art-wise. Or maybe Dick picked them up in the office by accident. We’ll probably never know. One last thing about inking. Most of the covers, front and back you’ve been printing, are done (I assume) with the inker tracing a stat of Kirby pencils, not by actually inking the pencil art. Greg Theakston’s wonderful Heroes And Villains volume was done this way, as well: we all traced a Xerox of what Jack had penciled. It’s the only way to go about it, of course, but folks should remember that it’s not real inking, and that the faithfulness to Kirby is often a matter of not how good the inker is, but of how much energy he puts in to replicating the pencils and also how good the stat is. It is interesting that, working this way, an inker more often imposes his own drawing into the face of the characters. Both Stone and Simonson, on

the covers to this issue, strayed most visibly in Thor’s face, especially by repositioning the eyes slightly. I am not faulting either gent, as they are both wonderfully talented and both results were excellent. But I’ll bet that, if they’d been inking actual pencils, the results would have been even closer to the precise expressions that Jack penciled. Since your method of presentation encourages the reader to compare pencils to inks, it might be worth noting that these covers are not inked in the usual manner. Looking forward to the next issue. And the next and the next and the next... Mark Evanier, Los Angeles, CA (Thanks for the insightful comments on inkers, Mark. However, I felt we gave Vince Colletta a pretty fair shake in #14. Indeed, Vince does have a lot of fans, even if I don’t happen to be one. And despite the comparison we showed of how he omitted details from Jack’s pencils—a pretty minor example compared to some I’ve seen, but the only one I had access to that would reproduce well— many of his fans (and detractors) spoke up in their Thor articles, and rightfully so. While I try to keep TJKC very positive, I want everyone to feel they can voice their opinions here. Don’t be afraid to speak up, Colletta Fans! Mark’s right about how our inkers do their covers for TJKC. It’s actually a lot harder than their usual inking work, since they have to either trace off a xerox or use vellum and a lightbox. Some of the Kirby is bound to get lost in the process, but I’ve got to say that I’ve been overwhelming pleased with every cover we’ve had inked. This is due largely to the diligence of the gracious professionals who’ve done the inking, and it stands as a testament to Jack’s penciling skill that the art holds up even under these less-than-ideal inking circumstances. By the way; Mark recently posted a sneak preview of one of the chapters from his upcoming Kirby Biography on the Kirby Mailing List on the Internet. The book’s not due out for a year or two, but judging from this preliminary look, it’s going to be a must-have item for Kirby fans. We’ll keep you posted as it progresses.) TJKC #14 is a graphic delight, even more so than usual. For photocopied pencils and unpublished or obscure artwork, this ish sets a new standard in quantity and quality. In particular, the frequent use of penciled pages with handwritten margin notes sheds new light on Kirby’s creative method, and especially the way he interacted with others in the editorial process. The notes are particularly revealing when contrasted with the final scripts, as in the examples from Thor #147 (pages 18-19, 41) and #154 (p. 29). Here we can see Lee’s contributions, presumably, and how much the final work gains from them. The latter example (29) is also revealing art-wise, as Colletta’s omissions are made glaringly clear. If this is a typical example of Colletta’s handiwork, he has much to answer for. Also of interest is the contrast, in detail and strength, between the pencils for Journey Into Mystery #101 and Thor #169. The latter seems so much more solid, more detailed and massive! The work gains in strength and loses in delicacy as the years go by. This may be exaggerated by the relative quality of the stats, but the evolution nonetheless seems clear. I enjoyed seeing the pencils-to-inks contrast between the covers and the original Kirby drawings. I note the Chic Stone is faithful to the last detail, and adds only the slightest of feathering, while Walt Simonson shows, ever so subtly, a Colletta-like impulse to soften some of Kirby’s lines (e.g., on the knuckles of Thor’s leading hand). Both covers are very fine, in particular the front, which, with its well-harmonized colors (an inadvertent Valentine? check out the month and issue number, the pink and purple tones!) is one of the most attractive seen in a long time. In sum, I think the art in #14 is an education in itself. This is your best use of visual resources yet. As for the writing, I find #14 a pleasant potpourri of styles, from the rather slapdash, colloquial quality of David Penalosa’s introduction, to the rigorous verbal stumpers of Comtois and Montejo’s “Artistic Craftsman.” For the latter, by the way, I have a great admiration: the

academic register of the language is actually rather provocative, and the points made are subtle and instructive. This may be the most filling essay you’ve run; it’s certainly one I will be citing in my own future work. The critical mouthfuls here (e.g., “massive colossi, the anthropomorphic representation of... elemental forces held in check” or, better yet, “a rhythmic use of kinematics... a contrapuntal dynamic”), once unpacked, actually have much to tell us about Kirby’s way of seeing stories. In particular, the observation about oblique angles will help me in the future. Of the two interviews, Jon Cooke’s conversation with Simonson comes off best. I was frustrated by the brevity of the Stone; I would have liked to have had more from him, even if it didn’t seem directly germane to Kirby. The more I can find out about an inker as an *artist*, as a person in his own right, the greater the yield I get from the interview as far as my understanding of his inks goes. Richard Kolkman’s bit on the “Origins of the Stone Men” was actually quite revealing, as these inorganiccum-organic creatures seem to capture something definitive in Kirby’s outlook. I think of characters like the Thing when I see these: their ponderous, craggy faces are pure Kirby. The Thor/New Gods connection actually haunts this entire issue, which is odd, given that only John Modica’s too-brief one-pager actually focuses on the topic. I like Mark Mayerson’s schematic piece on differences between Thor and the later stuff; I’m tempted to agree with him. Ted Krasniewski’s “Lesson in Kirby Magic” was far too brief. He writes well, with admirable compression and great turns of phrase. I would have liked to read him for a few more pages! Jim Vadeboncoeur’s point about passing off “opinion” as history is well-taken; there has been quite a bit of mythologizing in Kirby fandom, I guess. Yet I think your responses, showing that history can be open to interpretation, are also pertinent. Jim’s tone, unfortunately, suggests that history is a purely factual enterprise, when it fact it’s a cumulative, always controversial one that requires different and competing interpretations of fact. What I think would be good is a regular “Corrections” column or sidebar which you actively *encourage* readers to fill—in a historical undertaking such as this, we should welcome a bit of civil counterpoint. Just lay out the ground rules: point out errors in fact, don’t rub people’s noses in them; present counter-claims to claims made in previous issues, but in the spirit of colleague-ship, not one-upmanship. What do you think? In all, John, a splendiferous issue, full of fine material both written and visual. Charles Hatfield, Storrs, CT (Yes indeed, #14’s cover color scheme was a sly little Valentine; when I saw the lovely pinks and purples Tom Ziuko put into his color art, I decided to pick them up for use in the background. Charles mentioned how much he enjoyed the “Kirby As Artistic Craftsman” article, and that’s just the type of piece we’re looking for for the upcoming “Art” issue in #19. If you’ve ever wanted to express your opinions of Jack’s work from an artistic viewpoint, this is your chance! We’ll also feature a full report on the large Kirby art holdings at the Words & Pictures Museum in Massachusetts; Charles Hatfield is spearheading the effort to get this together for TJKC, with the assistance of the fine folks at the museum. We’ll also feature an interview with Kevin Eastman, who founded the museum, and has been gracious enough to allow us access for this piece. Sorry for the relative brevity of the Chic Stone piece. We let our interviewees decide how they’d prefer to be interviewed, and Chic chose to do his by mail, which doesn’t allow for the give-and-take questioning that you can do by phone or in-person. But since Chic lives only a few minutes from my old home town, I’ll try to talk him into doing something else for a future issue next time I visit my folks. Are you listening, Chic?! Ted Krasniewski sent us several pieces, and we only had room for one, but look for more from him soon. I’m all for an expanded “Corrections” section in each

issue, so c’mon folks, let us know when we’ve messed up! But let’s be civil, OK?) I’ve heard for years that Colletta left out parts of Kirby’s pencils when inking. However, the two panels in TJKC #14, page 29, are the first examples I’ve actually seen. The thing that struck me after carefully examining the examples was that Colletta was not just leaving things out, he was doing definite damage to Kirby’s compositions. Kirby was a master at directing the viewer’s eye to what was important in a panel. Colletta was obviously insensitive to what Kirby was trying to do, even when it didn’t involve much line work. In the first panel, the missing figure leaves a hole in the composition. Besides being a visual bridge between the man on the left and Loki, the missing man’s left hand has the fingers pointing at Loki’s face. In the inked panel, the edge of the building and the black mass behind Loki act as a visual stop. The second panel is even more offensive to me. The graphical shape of Kirby’s fleeing crowd is a triangle, the bottom of which points to Loki. A triangle balanced on it’s point is a shape which implies tension, which is exactly what the panel contents are all about. The crowd, as inked by Colletta, is a more horizontal shape, which doesn’t point at Loki and as a graphical shape is more stable. The kicker, though, is the plume on the back of Loki’s helmet. Notice that Kirby drew it sweeping upwards, pointing at Loki’s left arm. This is to bring your gaze up Loki’s arm and back to the crowd. Colletta had the plume fall off the bottom of the panel, leading your eye nowhere. Here’s a case where the amount of inking involved was negligible. Colletta saved himself next-to-no work by changing this, yet did definite damage to the way Kirby composed the panel. It’s not simply that Colletta left out figures that Kirby drew or simplified backgrounds, he definitely had a negative impact on Kirby’s storytelling. I can’t forgive him for that. Mark Mayerson, Toronto, Ontario, CANADA

Results From The TJKC Kirby Portfolio Questionnaire: Included in subscriber copies of TJKC #13 was a questionnaire, asking for readers’ opinions about a Kirby portfolio we hope to publish. Here are the top-rated responses we received (each got a clear majority): What’s the MAXIMUM you’d be willing to spend on a portfolio? • $26-$50 When asked to rank six pieces of Kirby art in order of preference, respondents chose the following: #1 = Darkseid prototype drawing in full-color #2 = Kirby Unleashed cover art #3 = Unused Spider-Man Marvelmania poster art #4 = One of Jack’s collages in full-color #5 = The two Galaxy Green tryout pages #6 = Captain Nice poster art Which format do you prefer? • 11” x 17” plates in a b&w illustrated envelope How interested would you be to see the thirteen Lord Of Light plates offered? • Moderately interested, as long as it doesn’t get too expensive. We also asked for comments and suggestions, and we’re taking them all into consideration. We’ll decide by next issue whether or not to publish the portfolio. Thanks to everyone who responded; we got a really good response rate, possibly due to our drawing for a free copy of the portfolio. And the winner of the free portfolio is: BRUCE YOUNGER! If we end up not publishing it, Bruce wins a free year’s subscription to TJKC. Congratulations, Bruce!

Submit SomethingGet Free Issues! The Jack Kirby Collector is a not-for-profit publication, put together with submissions from Jack’s fans around the world. We don’t pay for submissions, but if we print art or articles you submit, we’ll send you a free copy of that issue or extend your subscription by one issue. Here’s a tentative list of upcoming issues, to give you ideas of things to write about. But don’t limit yourself to these—we may run a miscellaneous issue here or there, so anything you write may be published. And just because we covered a topic once, don’t think we won’t print more about it. So get creative, and get writing! And as always, send us copies of your Kirby art! #17 (O ct. ’97): DC Issue

Challengers Of The Unknown, Green Arrow, Manhunter, Sandman, Kamandi, Atlas, Kung-Fu Fighter, OMAC, Kobra; we’ll cover Jack’s DC books from the 1940s to the ’80s. Cover inks by Mike Royer and Steve Rude! Deadline: 7/1/97. #18 (Dec. ’97): Marvel Issue

We’ll cover Jack’s 1970s Marvel books like Captain America and Black Panther, and delve back into the 1960s, with interviews from some surprise Bullpenners! Deadline: 9/1/97. #19 (Feb. ’98): Art Issue

We’ll examine the artistic worth of Jack’s comics, exploring the subtleties and nuances of his storytelling techniques. Send us your criticism and commentary. Deadline: 11/1/97. #20 (Apr. ’98): Jack’s Women

From Mother Delilah to Big Barda, we’ll explore Jack’s heroines. Deadline: 1/1/98.

Submission Guidelines: Submit artwork in one of these forms: 1) Clear color or black-&-white photocopies. 2) Scanned images - 300ppi IBM or Macintosh. 3) Originals (carefully packed and insured). Submit articles in one of these forms: 1) Typed or laser printed pages. 2) E-mail to: twomorrow@aol.com 3) An ASCII file, IBM or Macintosh format. 4) Photocopies of previously printed articles OK. We’ll pay return postage and insurance for originals - please write or call first. Please include background info whenever possible.

NEXT ISSUE: #16 is a sweat-dripping, testosterone-pumping, teeth-gritting TOUGH GUYS Theme Issue! Our front cover is inked by FRANK (Sin City) MILLER, which leads into his new interview in this issue! We’ll also feature a new interview with the creator of one of the toughest heroes of all, WILL (The Spirit) EISNER, as he discusses the early days when Jack was an employee at the Eisner/Iger studios! Our back cover is inked by fan-favorite KARL KESEL! Then get ready, as we cover Jack’s cowboys, gangsters, kid gangs, spies, soldiers, and even a little “tough love”! And throughout, we’ll show an amazing assortment of unpublished Kirby art including unused pages, published pages BEFORE they were inked, and more! Since we’re taking an extra month between issues to attend summer conventions, we’ll see ya in mid-July! Deadline for submissions: 5/15/97.

Classifieds (10¢ per word, $1 minimum) ______________________________ WANTED: The Marvelmania Portfolio. I am willing to pay the highest prices possible. Contact - Brian Postman, #2A, 238 East 24th Street, New York, NY 10010 or call: (212)213-6242. ______________________________ MARVEL/KIRBY ITEMS: 1966 FF Golden Record $100; 1967 set of 7 color posters $70; 1960’s mini-pennants Cap, Thor, Ironman, DD $50 ea.; 1979 Bullseye portfolio $25; Gods portfolio $15; FF/Doom signed prints $300. Contact Curtis @ 415-637-9634 or P.O. Box 236, San Carlos, CA 94070-0236. ______________________________ WANTED: Kirby’s “Heimdall, Sigurd, Baldur, Honir” posters. Also interested in Kirby’s Thor posters original art. Reproductions acceptable. Brent Bulani, 1-519-672-6696. ______________________________

WANTED: Especially interested in Jack Kirby and Steve Ditko pre-hero Marvel and early Marvel superhero covers, splashes, and pages. Buy-Sell-Trade! Other artists too. Conrad Eschenberg, Rt. 1, Box 204-A, Cold Spring, NY 10516, (914)265-2649. ______________________________

If you’re viewing a digital version of this publication, PLEASE read this plea from the publisher!

ORIGINAL KIRBY ART: Fantastic Four #90 last page $650; Silver Surfer Novel p.60 $575; Eternals #14 p.30 & 31 $375 each; Thor #147 p.8 $295; Capt. America #105 p.10 $550; Amazing Adventures #4 p.6 $350; New Gods #4 p.12 $600; Black Panther #12 p.10 $350; Desaad sketch $400. Contact Curtis @ 415-637-9634 or PO Box 236, San Carlos, CA 94070-0236. ______________________________

his is COPYRIGHTED MATERIAL, which is NOT INTENDED FOR FREE T DOWNLOADING ANYWHERE. If you’re a print subscriber, or you paid the modest fee we charge to download it at our website, you have our sincere thanks—your support allows us to keep producing publications like this one. If instead you downloaded it for free from some other website or torrent, please know that it was absolutely 100% DONE WITHOUT OUR CONSENT, and it was an ILLEGAL POSTING OF OUR COPYRIGHTED MATERIAL. If that’s the case, here’s what you should do:

TJKC wants to publish a Kirby Portfolio, and we need to locate copies of Jack’s second GALAXY GREEN tryout page (a California fan named MIKE PRICE bought it in the 1970s; we’ve already located the splash page), and Jack’s CAPTAIN NICE poster art. If you have any information, please help! ______________________________

1) Go ahead and READ THIS DIGITAL ISSUE, and see what you think. 2) If you enjoy it enough to keep it, DO THE RIGHT THING and purchase a legal download of it from our website, or purchase the print edition at our website (which entitles you to the Digital Edition for free) or at your local comic book shop. We’d love to have you as a regular paid reader. 3) Otherwise, DELETE IT FROM YOUR COMPUTER and DO NOT SHARE IT WITH FRIENDS OR POST IT ANYWHERE. 4) Finally, DON’T KEEP DOWNLOADING OUR MATERIAL ILLEGALLY, for free. We offer one complete issue of all our magazines for free downloading at our website, which should be sufficient for you to decide if you want to purchase others. If you enjoy our publications enough to keep downloading them, support our company by paying for the material we produce. We’re not some giant corporation with deep pockets, and can absorb these losses. We’re a small company—literally a “mom and pop” shop—with dozens of hard-working freelance creators, slaving away day and night and on weekends, to make a pretty minimal amount of income for all this work. We love what we do, but our editors, authors, and your local comic shop owner, rely on income from this publication to stay in business. Please don’t rob us of the small amount of compensation we receive. Doing so will ensure there won’t be any future products like this to download.

England’s JACK KIRBY QUARTERLY is now available in North America! Published about four times a year, it’s mailed First Class in a sturdy envelope. Each issue is 24 or more pages with plenty of unseen Kirby art, interviews, insightful articles, reviews, commentary, all featuring the King’s work. Mail $16 for a 4 issue subscription, or $4 for a sample issue to: JACK KIRBY QUARTERLY, c /o Montilla Productions, P.O. Box 204, West Kingston, RI 02892-0204.

TwoMorrows publications should only be downloaded at

www.twomorrows.com

Canada & Mexico residents: $22 (U.S.) for 4 issues, $5.50 (U.S.) per sample issue. Back issues currently available: # 0-3 in facsimile edition, 4, 5, 6, and 7, all at sample issue price (Issues 4 & 5 in very low quantity). Please make check out to MONTILLA PRODUCTIONS and write "JKQ Sub" or "JKQ Sample" in the memo line. European residents contact: Amplitude Concepts, 25 Napier Drive, The Parklands, Tipton, West Midlands, DY4 7NW, United Kingdom.

Celebrating the life and career of the King!

BIMO NTHLY!

O N SALE HERE!

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THE JACK KIRBY COLLECTOR #15 A TWOMORROWS ADVERTISING PRODUCTION IN ASSOCIATION WITH THE KIRBY ESTATE EDITED BY JOHN MORROW DESIGN & LAYOUT BY JOHN & PAMELA MORROW PROOFREADING BY RICHARD HOWELL COVER COLOR BY TOM ZIUKO CONTRIBUTORS: BILL ALGER

TERRY AUSTIN ROBERT L. BRYANT JR. LEN CALLO JON B. COOKE SHEL DORF J.A. FLUDD MIKE GARTLAND DAVID HAMILTON CHARLES HATFIELD JARRET KEENE MARTY LASICK HARRY W. MILLER JOHN MONTERO RICK NORWOOD JERRY ORDWAY MARK PACELLA LEO PANDO STEVE ROBERTSON STEVE SCHANES TODD SEVERIN DAVE STEVENS CARL TAYLOR GREG THEAKSTON MIKE THIBODEAUX STEVEN J. WEILL AL WILLIAMSON BARRY WINDSOR-SMITH LINK YACO SPECIAL THANKS TO: BILL ALGER TERRY AUSTIN LEN CALLO JON B. COOKE ANDY COOKE SHEL DORF MARK EVANIER D. HAMBONE RANDY HOPPE RICHARD HOWELL MARTY LASICK JERRY ORDWAY MARK PACELLA STEVE ROBERTSON STEVE SCHANES DAVE STEVENS GREG THEAKSTON MIKE THIBODEAUX AL WILLIAMSON TOM ZIUKO & OF COURSE ROZ KIRBY MAILING CREW D. HAMBONE GLEN MUSIAL ED STELLI PATRICK VARKER AND THE OTHER KIRBY FANS IN RALEIGH, NC

We have extra copies of the FULL-COLOR 17" x 23" promotional poster we give to comics shops that carry TJKC. Help us pay for our press run, and get a beautiful Kirby collectible in the process! Price includes shipping in a sturdy mailing tube. ($7 US, $8 Canada, $10 outside N. America.)

Fully Authorized by the Kirby Estate

Retailers Get 5&40 Discounts and Free Shipping! Call 919-833-8092 To Carry TJKC In Your Store! COPYRIGHTS: Ajak, Arishem, Balder, Barney Bates, Captain America, Celestials, Deviants, Dr. Damian, Eternals, Galactus, Hulk, Ikaris, Kro, Margo Damian, Monolith, Mr. Machine/Machine Man/X-51, New Seed, Odin, Sif, Silver Surfer, Thing, Thor, Watcher, Zuras © Marvel Entertainment, Inc. • Demon, Mr. Miracle, Orion © DC Comics, Inc. • Blackmass, Bloody Marrien, Captain Victory, Danny Martin, Dr. Royer, General Hascomb, Holly Martin, Klavus, Ronin Rocketeers, Silver Star, Sky Masters, Solar Legion, Tarin © Jack Kirby • Starman Zero © Joe Simon & Jack Kirby • Race For The Moon © Harvey Comics • Honeycomb Kids © General Mills • Rincon and all associated characters © Genesis West • Thunderground is a trademark of SEGA