Jack Kirby Collector #44 Preview

JACK KIRBY COLLECTOR FORTY-FOUR

IN THE US

$995

Demon TM & ©2005 DC Comics.

Contents

THE NEW

Myths & Legends ISSUE! OPENING SHOT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2 (a Kirby documentary on the Fantastic 4 DVD?!)

UNDER THE COVERS . . . . . . . . . . . . .3 (leave, leave, the form of pencil...)

ISSUE #44, FALL 2005

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MUSEUM PAGE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4 (news from the Jack Kirby Museum) INNERVIEW . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5 (Jack’s rarely-seen 1983 interview) JACK F.A.Q.s . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .11 (Mark Evanier’s trip to Syd Shores) INCIDENTAL ICONOGRAPHY . . . . . . . .17 (a Norse is a Norse, of course, of course) KIRBY AS A GENRE . . . . . . . . . . . . .18 (Adam McGovern on who made who) ACCOLADES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .20 (Kirby Award-winner David Schwartz talks about Jack, Mark, and Mike) SOURCES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .23 (Etrigan’s great grandfather?)

RETROSPECTIVE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .24 (Jack’s midnight masterpiece, The Demon) GALLERY 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .27 (some Demonic pencils) OLD FRIENDS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .32 (Barry Alfonso shows us that Witchboy’s all grown up) PUBLIC DOMAIN THEATRE . . . . . . .34 (two complete Black Magic stories) KIRBY OBSCURA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .42 (journey into unexpected mystery...)

NEAR MYTHS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .44 (how faithful was Jack’s to legends) GALLERY 2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .48 (myth-illogical Kirby art, in pencil) RETROSPECTIVE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .54 (Thor the Thunderer revealed) BEFORE & AFTER . . . . . . . . . . . . . .60 (compare classic pencils to published inks, side-by-side) NEAR MYTHS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .66 (Odin’s not “all that,” and the legend of Galactus’ origin) KIRBYWOOD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .70 (F4 screenwriter Mike France speaks) COLLECTOR COMMENTS . . . . . . . . .78 PARTING SHOT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .80 (what would Demon #17 have been?)

Front cover inks: MATT WAGNER Front cover colors: DAVE STEWART Back cover painting: GEORGIO COMOLO Photocopies of Jack’s uninked pencils from published comics are reproduced courtesy of the Kirby Estate, which has our thanks for their support.

COPYRIGHTS: Black Panther, Captain America, Eternals, Falcon, Fantastic Four, Galactus, Giant-Man, Him, Hulk, Iron Man, Journey Into Mystery, Machine Man/X-51, Nick Fury, Odin, Prester John, Spider-Man, Thor, Watcher TM & ©2005 Marvel Characters, Inc. • Atlas, Barri-Boy, Batman, Brainiac, Darkseid, Demon, Desaad, Farley Fairfax, Flash, Forever People, Green Lantern, Guardian, House of Mystery, Jason Blood, Jimmy Olsen, Joker, Kamandi, Lex Luthor, Mark Moonrider, Merlin, Mister Miracle, Morgaine Le Fey, Newsboy Legion, Penguin, Sandman, Sandy, Super Powers, Superman, Vykin, Witchboy, Wonder Woman TM & ©2005 DC Comics. • Thunderfoot, Gladiator & Dracula drawings TM & ©2005 Jack Kirby Estate. • Black Magic TM Joe Simon and Jack Kirby. • 2001: A Space Odyssey © 1968 Turner Entertainment Co.

(above) A 1976 pencil drawing; we’re unsure what it was originally done for, but it nicely depicts the fabled battles of the gladiators in Rome. ©2005 Jack Kirby Estate.

The Jack Kirby Collector, Vol. 12, No. 44, Fall 2005. Published quarterly by & ©2005 TwoMorrows Publishing, 10407 Bedfordtown Drive, Raleigh, NC 27614, USA. 919-449-0344. John Morrow, Editor. Pamela Morrow, Asst. Editor. Eric Nolen-Weathington, Production Assistant. Single issues: $13 postpaid ($15 Canada, $16 elsewhere). Four-issue subscriptions: $36.00 US, $60.00 Canada, $64.00 elsewhere. All characters are trademarks of their respective companies. All artwork is ©2005 Jack Kirby unless otherwise noted. All editorial matter is ©2005 the respective authors. First printing. PRINTED IN CANADA.

Opening Shot

by John Morrow, editor of TJKC

he critics seemed to be pretty lukewarm toward this summer’s Fantastic 4 movie.

Ratings hovered at just a little above average, with most of the initial reviewer headlines proclaiming something along the lines of “Fantastic 4 is hardly fantastic.”

So I went in to my local multiplex (something I don’t get to do very often these days, being the father of two small kids), armed with popcorn, a non-comics friend, and low expectations for the film. I came out, however, feeling pretty happy with it, for two reasons.

First, I thought is was a good film. Not great, mind you; Dr. Doom needed to be a lot more interesting (despite casting Julian McMahon of TV’s Nip/Tuck, who I thought was visually perfect for the part), and the climax, while packing plenty of action, was over much too quickly (but it did a great job of showing the foursome working together against a common foe). If those two things had been better, I really think it would’ve been one of the top comics-related movies ever made. As it is, I felt they did an outstanding job of presenting the team’s origin (and it didn’t bother me at all that Doom went up into space with them, unlike in the comic book). The special effects were spectacular throughout, and while the acting may not win any Academy Awards, I don’t recall too many given out to other comics moviestars in the past. Chris Evans did a dead-on portrayal of what a hot-headed Johnny Storm would be like in real life. Ioan Gruffud was an appropriately stuffy Reed. Jessica Alba thankfully didn’t spend too much time being invisible (rowr!). Michael Chiklis was convincing and loveable as Ben. And the interplay between the Thing and the Torch was, for me, the highlight of the flick, perfectly capturing their volatile relationship from the Lee/Kirby comics.

While the film doesn’t look exactly Kirbyesque, there’s a lot of high-tech gadgetry and sets that were obviously inspired by Jack’s work, even if only Kirby geeks like us will ever know it. And of course, the huge end credit for Jack was the icing on the cake. All in all, it was a fun escapist romp, and I recommend everyone reading this magazine check it out on DVD (and check out screenwriter Mike France’s interview elsewhere in this issue).

The other reason I was happy after leaving the theatre was because, three weeks after the film’s release, there was a decent sized crowd. Since most comics fans undoubtedly went to see it the first week it was out, this makes me confident that the film also appealed to the general public, despite lackluster reviews. (Even my non-comics friend who went with me enjoyed it, having no idea who the FF were.) That in turns makes me hopeful that the DVD version of the film will sell a lot of copies.

But John, you ask; if the Kirby family isn’t receiving any money from the film (and they’re not), why do you want it to sell well on DVD? The reason is, the Fantastic 4 DVD contains a documentary on Jack Kirby! As I write this, I just finished watching a prerelease copy of it. Titled Jack Kirby: Storyteller, and produced by Jon Mefford (who’s assembled many of the extra features on Marvel’s recent film DVDs), it’s a one-hour look at Jack’s life and career. It features interviews with a who’s who of comics pros, including Stan Lee, Neal Adams, Steve Rude, Alex Ross, Barry Windsor-Smith, Walter Simonson, and more! There’s also commentary by Jack’s kids Lisa and Neal Kirby, Mark Evanier, Steve Sherman, Mike Royer, Mike Thibodeaux, and others involved in furthering the Kirby legacy, including yours truly (hey, somebody had to put the “Who?” in the who’s who). The bio presents plenty of rare family photos and Kirby art provided by TJKC and the Kirby estate, and while the visuals are focused on Jack’s Marvel work (this is, after all, a Marvel DVD), Jack’s entire career is discussed in detail, including the Simon & Kirby years, his DC period, and animation (plus a wonderful section devoted to Roz Kirby). And best of all, they got their facts right!

No, the Kirby family still doesn’t stand to gain a penny off the F4 movie or DVD, or the slew of promotional items that are blanketing toy and department stores around the world (have you seen the lifesize Thing Feet at Toys ’R’ Us?); we can only hope that, if the DVD does really well, perhaps 20th Century Fox will do the right thing and pony-up a co-creator payment for the Kirby family, to match even a fraction of what Stan Lee will receive (frankly, I’ve given up hope Marvel will ever do the right thing on its own). But regardless, this documentary stands to present Jack’s name and life to the general public in a way never before possible, and will hopefully generate some understanding of Jack’s role in the creation of Marvel’s characters, even if there’s no financial compensation coming for it.

So, what would Jack have thought of the F4 movie? Not really having known him, I can’t say for sure. But I like to think he’d have mostly enjoyed it (perhaps with the exception of Stan’s cameo as postman Willie Lumpkin); and I’m confident, after viewing the documentary, he’d be thrilled with the way his legacy is being preserved. From talking to producer Jon Mefford, I know that was his intention in deciding to make the documentary (an idea which, by the way, was enthusiastically approved of by Marvel Studios exec Avi Arad). That’s also the purpose of the new Jack Kirby Museum & Research Center (launched on August 28 by Rand Hoppe at www.kirbymuseum.org— see the Museum Page elsewhere in this issue for more info). And of course, it’s been the goal of this magazine for eleven years and counting.

This is a pivotal time for Jack’s legacy, with a lot of important events all converging. Many people are doing their best to raise Kirby’s public profile, and I hope you’ll all do your part—by buying the F4 DVD, joining the Kirby Museum, and continuing to support this publication. Together, we’ll see that Jack finally gets the credit he’s due, and have a lot of fun in the process. ★

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Kirby On Film (above) Michael Chiklis as the Thing. (top right) Jack Kirby with his art display, at a comics convention in the late 1970s. (below) Cover of the Fantastic 4 DVD, which features a documentary on Jack’s life. It’s due to hit stores on December 5.

Fantastic 4 DVD ©2005 20th Century Fox. Characters TM & ©2005 Marvel Characters, Inc.

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Under The Covers

ur front cover this issue is Matt Wagner’s third attempt at inking the below pencils from Jack’s “Black Book” sketchbook (done in the mid-1970s as a gift for his wife Roz). When we asked why he did two earlier versions (shown below), Matt responded, “The first one turned out “too Royer”—as you had distinctly asked for it not to be. Additionally, as had often been the case whenever I’d tried to ink a Kirby piece in the past, I lost all sense of texture—cloth looked the same as skin looked the same as rock looked the same as flame.

“On the next one, I decided to roughen things up a bit and used a scrubbly dry-brush effect that gave the piece an almost-indy/alternative comics look. Still wasn’t satisfied with it, though.

“In the end, I did a version with ink wash and that one worked out quite well. It really captures not only the textures, but also the spirit of Kirby’s pencils—as well as a hefty dose of my own identity as well. Showed it to Bob Schreck and Diana Schutz last week and they both thought it looked great—“a true collaboration.” At Matt’s request, the piece was then colored

by Dave Stewart, who has lots of experience at coloring over ink wash, and we think it ended up pretty spectacular!

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Our back cover is a painting of Galactus by Georgio Comolo that’s based on Jack’s beautiful full-pager from Thor #160. Georgio’s done a slew of amazing Kirby-based paintings, including the great Demon #7 two-page spread shown above (you should see it in color!). To view more examples of his work, and for commissions, be sure to visit his official website at <http://comolo.redsectorart.com/> ★

Demon TM & ©2005 DC Comics.

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Mark evanier

Jack F.A.Q.s

A column answering Frequently Asked Questions about Kirby

by Mark Evanier (below) A pretty punchy example of Syd Shores’ inks over Kirby from Captain America #101 (May 1968).

This image was shot from a copy of the original art, showing the detail that Shores put into his inking.

Captain America TM and ©2005 Marvel Characters, Inc.

We start this time with the following query from Michael Wohl: I’ve seen you write about which Kirby inkers were your favorites but I’ve never seen you give your opinion of Syd Shores, whose work I loved.

I’d also like to hear whatever you know about his return to Marvel after years away and what Jack thought of his inking. was not a big fan of what Shores did to Jack’s pencil art on Captain America. I liked him better embellishing Gene Colan but even there, I thought there were plenty of inkers who were more sensitive to the task.

That said, I will add that I liked Kirby/Shores a little better

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when I saw some of the original art. Shores was using a lot of fine lines—some, apparently executed with a ball-point pen of some sort—at a time when comic book printing was especially noxious, and a lot of what he put in went muddy. This was also a period when Marvel’s colorists were being influenced by what DC was doing with color in their books—darker colors, less reliance on bright primary tones, less yellow on the page. Kirby once described it as: “Everything being colored like it’s a war comic.”

(It is said that a few months later, Stan Lee happened to leaf through a pile of their comics—like Jack, he didn’t look at the printed books all that often—and said something like, “This isn’t how I want our books to look!” And with that, Marvel went back to brighter, lighter colors... and a better approach, I thought, at least for their super-hero titles.)

Still, even given those excuses, I thought Shores was miscast... not just as a Kirby inker but as an inker at all. And his stint inking Jack is a good example of, as you occasionally see in comics, an inker not being sure of his goal. Shores’s natural drawing style was quite different from what Jack was then doing... so was the end product supposed to look like Kirby or Shores? There are panels in those issues that skew in both directions and I don’t think either approach is particularly effective. Inking another artist is not something that comes naturally to some folks who know how to draw, and I don’t think Shores was really suited for the chore.

Once upon a time, Syd Shores was Marvel’s star adventure artist. He held the post for a period after Kirby and Al Avison but before Bill Everett, Joe Maneely and the return of Kirby. No less than Gene Colan and John Buscema would later cite him as a powerful teacher/influence, and you could see a lot of other guys who drew for Stan Lee back then wishing they were Shores.

Shores started at Marvel as an inker, working with Simon and Kirby on their first Captain America books. In an unpublished interview with Shores that recently came my way, he explained: “I had been assisting Mac Raboy and it didn’t pay enough. I’d just gotten married and I was desperate for a real paycheck.

So I wrote and drew this strip called “The Terror” and I took it up to Timely Comics, just picking them at random. The whole office consisted of Joe Simon and Jack Kirby and we sat around talking for a 11

From THIS:

He Got THIS?

Incidental Iconography An ongoing analysis of Kirby’s visual shorthand, and how he inadvertently used it to develop his characters,

by Sean Kleefeld uch has been written about Jack be the source of Jack’s 1957 version Kirby’s work on Thor—from the of Thor, with the fur cape, horned helmet, debate over who controlled the character’s bare arms and a tunic with circular plates destiny (Stan or Jack) to how the Thor that showed up in embedded in it. Would that Rackham’s Siegfried Journey Into Mystery was not Jack’s first attempt at the character. carried a hammer, he could easily be mistaken for This article, as the rest of those in this column, will focus on the the son of Odin. visual evolution of the character.

We cut to a few years later, as Jack was Jack’s first professional attempt at the character showed up in working on Marvel’s new Fantastic Four comic Adventure Comics #75 in 1942. The character design was fairly book. Stan Lee had recently gotten sales numbers evidently based on the typical depictions of Norse legends, sporting an back on their first issues and was beginning to unkempt beard, a winged Viking helmet, loin cloth, arm bands, and strapped boots. This Thor wields a utilitarian hammer and has a sheathed sword about his belt.

Kirby’s design here must largely have come from older depictions of the character, although the over-abundance of muscles seems to have been Jack’s own addition. It should be pointed out, though, that real Vikings never wore helmets with wings or horns—more on this in a bit.

A Jack Kirby Thor next appears in Tales of the Unexpected #16. This is a most 5 Adventure Comics #7 significant pre-Marvel attempt at the character, in large part see that Martin Goodman was because of his chronal proximity, having right, and that they should been created in 1957. This version of Thor return to publishing super-heroes. The first tentative response was The Incredible bears visual hallmarks of the previous Hulk, and before the first issue’s sales numbers came in, he had Jack Kirby working on their next they-could-still-argue-he’s-not-quite-an-outright-super-hero-ifest dots! two: the scruffy beard, fur-like loin cloth, cted #16—ch pe ex Un e th and sheathed sword from the earlier appearNational-began-asking-questions super-hero: Thor, the god of thunder. Indeed the job Tales of ance; and the horned helmet, tunic and uniform boots from the latter. numbers indicate Journey Into Mystery #83 was wedged comfortably between Hulk There are two new additions to the design, though, #2 and Amazing Fantasy #15. that are clearly noteworthy. First is the addition of a Whether it was Stan or Jack who suggested Thor is beyond the cape. This cape appears to be simply a fur clasped scope of this column (and has been around Thor’s neck and one could easily see a Viking addressed elsewhere repeatedly) but it using it to ward off the cold, winter winds of Norway. clearly fell to Jack to develop the characThe second, more curious, addition is that of circular ter’s visual design. Whether by intention designs added to the chest area of his tunic. Looking or serendipity, Jack effectively lifted his carefully at the art, one can see that this isn’t the character design from his Unexpected simple circular designs that appear in later Marvel story. The few differences are: this new comics, but appear to be more numerous, and Thor is clean-shaven, does not carry a focused exclusively on the upper body. The suggessword, and sports a trimmed and hemmed tion seems to be that of a form of armor; small cape instead of a fur one as well as winged plates sewn onto a leather tunic to deflect blows helmet instead of a horned one. The changes away from vital areas of the chest. Like the to his facial hair and cape were almost horned helmet, this also has little relation back to certainly done for editorial reasons, to place historical Vikings. Both have their roots in fiction.

Thor more squarely in the super-hero genre; The “classical” image of a Viking is wellthe cape having been long established as a known in large part due to opera. Richard super-hero emblem and the bare chin also Wagner’s series of four operas collectively called having been long established as heroic visual, Rackham’s “Wotan Rev The Ring of the Nibelung is perhaps one of the much like the white cowboy hat. And if there eals His Ang uish to Brün most widely known works of fiction about Vikings. (The powerful and was any question with regard to Stan’s intention hilde” enduring “Ride of the Valkyries” is from the second of these operas.) While the original of selling Thor to his readers as a super-hero, costumes begin to play with the visual notions of horned helmets and metallic his editorial note in the last panel of Thor’s first breastplates, it was seemingly cost-prohibitive at the time to become too elaborate. It story verifies those intentions by calling the new protagonist, “Thor the Mighty, the thus fell to turn-of-the-century illustrator Arthur Rackham to provide lush interpretations greatest super hero of all time…” (While beyond Jack’s direct control, it might be and stunning visuals to accompany Wagner’s story. And, indeed, we find what must (continued on page 19)

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Accolades (below) An example of the kind of help David gives to this publication: He discovered this obscure 1980s Kirby piece (inked

by Mike Thibodeaux) and immediately sent us a copy. Whatta guy! ©2005 Jack Kirby Estate

(next page, top) David and Jack in the ’80s. (next page, bottom) An ’80s Kirby animation piece, from around the time David worked for Ruby-Spears. ©2005 Jack Kirby Estate

David Meets Goliath David Schwartz Interview Interviewed and transcribed by John Morrow (Editor’s Note: In case you’re not familiar with the name David Schwartz, let me say he’s a great friend of the Kirby family, and of yours truly as well. While he’s never been in the public Kirby spotlight, he’s helped out innumerable times on this magazine, supplying just the right piece of art when a need arises, and acting as a liaison between us and an often overworked Mike Thibodeaux in getting us materials for the mag. As you read this interview—which was conducted September 19, 2005 by phone, and was copyedited by David—I think you’ll understand why David was chosen to receive a Jack Kirby Award at last year’s Comic-Con International: San Diego.)

THE JACK KIRBY COLLECTOR: David, can you give us some brief biographical information on yourself?

DAVID SCHWARTZ: I’m 47; I was born in 1958. I grew up in New York City, in Greenwich Village in the 1960s and I went to my first convention in 1971, which was Phil Seuling’s con; I was 13.

TJKC: Was Kirby there?

DAVID: Jack was there in 1972, I believe. I got a copy of Demon #1 signed. It was July of 1972, and I’ve still got that signature.

Demon #1 would’ve been out some time in May. That was the first time I met Jack. Neal [Kirby] was there selling Jack’s comics and art. The thing I remember most is waiting in line with everybody. There was a guy in front of me with Captain America #1, which was a big deal even at that time, and he had Jack sign it.

And there was another guy who had Spider-Man #42, and Jack looked at it and said, “I didn’t work on this,” and the kid said, “That’s okay, could you sign it anyway?”” (laughter) So Jack signed Spider-Man #42. If the fan was happy, Jack was happy.

TJKC: So you were steeped in the whole ’60s-era Marvel period?

DAVID: Yeah, the Marvel stuff ’s what grabbed me. I’d read the Archie and Harvey stuff when I was younger, but my first “real” comics were Fantastic Four and Spider-Man. The first things I bought off the stands were Spider-Man #44 and Fantastic Four #58 or #59. Then I started buying Marvel Tales and Marvel Collector’s Item Classics, and discovered Ditko’s Spider-Man and the real early issues of Fantastic Four in those reprints. But I was completely unaware Jack had been at DC prior to that, and didn’t know much about his comics in the 1940s.

TJKC: Was there anything really eventful about that first meeting?

DAVID: No, it was pretty much, “Here, will you sign my book?”

There was a line of people, and I said “hello” and shook his hand.

I was very shy, and went away; a quick meeting where I recognized who I was in the presence of, and there was a long line and I didn’t want to overstay.

TJKC: After that Demon #1 signing, when were your next encounters with Jack?

DAVID: The first was at a convention in the late 1970s. It was either at a Baycon in San Francisco or a San Diego convention. I had an opportunity, for whatever reason, to be talking to Jack, and I went to lunch with him and Roz. I wasn’t the only one; there were four or five fans, and I seem to remember just being in a position where they said, “We’re going to get something to eat; would you guys like to come?” And we went. That was the first time I actually got to sit down and meet them, and really know Jack on any level. I just remember being kind of in awe of being at a table with Jack Kirby, and speaking with him throughout the lunch. It was just a great thrill.

In 1980, I’d graduated from San Francisco State University, and moved down to Los Angeles to work in the television industry.

I met Mike Thibodeaux at a convention, and we got to know each other and became friends. He had just started inking Captain Victory, around 1981. He was so excited, and so secretive, because it hadn’t come out yet, and he didn’t want to say anything until it came out—partially because he couldn’t believe he was doing it. (laughter) He didn’t want to jinx it.

Mike invited me up to the Kirbys’. It was pretty amazing; their walls were adorned with all this bursting creativity of Jack’s, whether it was things he’d just done for the house, or his collages.

You were in this amazing, powerful space of Jack Kirby’s energy, and that was pretty phenomenal. Jack would go with you around the home, and give you a little story about each piece of artwork; a little guided tour around his home. Over the years, he did it so many times, that by the time Jack passed away, when fans would come up there with me or Mike, I was able to give that tour to some extent. (laughter) And because Mike and I were friends, I was invited up many more times during the years.

The next time I ran into Jack was at Ruby-Spears, when he was doing animation things. I started writing animated cartoons in 1982 for Hanna-Barbera, Ruby-Spears, Filmation, and Disney.

Over the years, I wrote 75-80 different episodes of cartoon shows as a freelance writer; things like Alvin and the Chipmunks, Jonny

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been a lot harder for me to get my foot in the door.

Quest, the Addams Family, and many others. The day I ran into Roz and Jack they were dropping off artwork, and because I had visited them in their home, they remembered me, so we said “Hi” as a passing thing. I remember it because it was always a big thrill whenever I got to see Jack.

TJKC: How’d you get started in animation?

DAVID: Mark [Evanier] got me started. Someone had given me his number, saying he was a comic book person who also worked in television. I was in college, and I’d written some speculative sitcom scripts, so I called him. Mark was willing to read them and give me advice.

TJKC: At the time, did you realize this was Jack Kirby’s former assistant?

DAVID: No, I didn’t have a clue! (laughter) I didn’t associate the name at the time. I probably knew he’d worked with Jack in one portion of my brain, but it didn’t connect right away. Here was a guy who worked in television who could possibly give me some advice on my scripts.

When I moved to Los Angeles in 1980 to work in television, I didn’t know anybody except Mark, so I said, “I’m new in town, let’s have lunch.” So Mark and I established a friendship. He knew I was trying to write sitcoms, and I was working on different TV shows as an assistant, but wasn’t able to break in.

Mark was a story editor at Hanna-Barbera, and gave me the opportunity to write a Richie Rich cartoon in 1982; he bought it, liked it, and it actually aired.

And I thought, “I’m in! Mark’s the story editor, and I’m gonna be able to do more scripts, and everything’s great,” and Mark said to me, “Now I’ve gotten your foot in the door.

You need to go out and get work from other people, so it doesn’t look like you’re only being hired because we know each other.” It’s the best thing he could’ve done. He gave me an aired sample that I could bring to others, and say, “This was bought by Hanna-Barbera, and now I want to do one for you.” So I went out and worked for twelve years doing animated cartoons.

Mark gave me what he called a TenMinute Lesson On How To Write Animated Cartoons. For the next ten years, to anyone I met who wanted to get into writing cartoons, I considered it my duty to go to lunch with them, to be willing to read what they wrote, and to give them that Ten-Minute Lesson. It’s not ten minutes on how to be a writer; it’s ten minutes on how to write for this specific format. I really felt an obligation to help anyone who wanted to get into the industry, based on the kindness and helpfulness Mark had shown to me. Without Mark, it would’ve

TJKC: Were your other encounters with Jack visits with Mike Thibodeaux up to the Kirby house?

DAVID: Yes. Mike became kind of the unofficial greeter up there. If people wanted to go up there and meet Jack and Roz, Mike was the person Jack and Roz would refer them to. Mike was kind of the ambassador of bringing people up there. (laughter) I think there was also an added comfortability for Jack and Roz when Mike was there.

Mike also knew the values of the original artwork really well, so he could help with that if people wanted to buy art. Over the years, he became kind of an adopted son to them.

DAVID: All modesty aside, I was basically someone who backed Mike up. Mike would go up there, and he’d be with people he didn’t know; different collectors, or huge fans who’d be so thrilled to meet Jack.

Mike didn’t know a lot of these people, and wasn’t all that comfortable going up alone with these people he didn’t know, so he would invite me to come along, because he knew me, and we had a certain camaraderie, and an ability to be comfortable and include the new people in that comfort zone. Mike would call me and say, “Somebody wants to meet the Kirbys,” and I’d meet him over at his house, and we went up there. That was kind of the pattern.

TJKC: Being an art collector, were you helpful to Mike in suggesting whether he should negotiate up or down when he was pricing original artwork to sell to collectors?

DAVID: Oh yeah, I became very good at doing that.

TJKC: Mike became the de facto art DAVID SCHWARTZ He was really the liaison agent at some point. It just sort of to Roz, but when you’re evolved that way through this process? dealing with something as DAVID: Yeah. Since Roz wasn’t an fluid as art collecting, art collector, it was very hard for her sometimes things go up in value, or get more or less to be up on all the pricing. Plus, how do you negotiate popular; Mike and I having the ability to soundboard with Roz Kirby? You just want to say, “Here’s all my each other made a big difference, so we at least felt money, Roz, give me whatever you think it’s worth.”

Jack and Roz were getting a fair price. A lot of our (laughter) Mike could be that person, so you wouldn’t goal was to make sure we were able to satisfy both have to say, “Gee, Roz, can I have it for ten dollars the collector who didn’t want to feel they were overcheaper?” He became really invaluable to them, and paying, while at the same time wanting to make sure he did it all out of his love for them, for years and Roz and Jack got a very fair price for their artwork. years.

TJKC: Why do you think you received a Jack Kirby TJKC: How often did you see Jack after the RubyAward?

Spears meeting?

DAVID: After Jack passed away, Mike and I really DAVID: Mike and I went up there once or twice a became very instrumental in making sure Roz was month, for at least a couple of years in the mid-1980s. okay, and taking care of Roz. Mike, certainly much TJKC: So you got to be a regular fixture around the more than I was, made sure she was okay healthhouse? wise, or was able to get what she needed. We used DAVID: Yeah, but nowhere near what Mike was. It to take Roz to dinner a lot, and spend a lot of time got to the point where they were very familiar with with her, because she was a real joy to spend time me when I came up, and I was very friendly with them. with. But I want to emphasize that, while I was there and was always trying to do what I could, Mike did TJKC: All modesty aside, what was your involvement so much more, and put in so much more time. with Jack and Roz and the family?

That’s not to minimize what I did, but I don’t want it to look like I was up there with Mike every time, and I was as helpful as he was. Because truthfully, he was family with them, and I was basically his friend who was lucky enough, and in the right place at the right time, to be able to be supportive of him, and have all the wonderfulness of being part of that family. At some point, somebody needs to write something on how instrumental Mike was in the well-being of the Kirby family, especially after Jack passed away. If Roz needed groceries, if she needed to be driven somewhere, if she needed to go to the doctor, he was right there every time. Mike was probably at first so in awe of meeting them in the 1970s, but his love for who they were as people quickly transcended his love for who Jack was as an icon.

TJKC: My sense is that you helped Mike a lot.

DAVID: I’m very organized, and have a lot of clarity and a good memory about things. I remember if a piece of artwork was sold or not, or if it had some kind of defect that Mike might not remember. I would also remember what previous things sold for, and because 21

Etrigan’s Great Grandfather?

Sources

by Brian Eads was combing the Classics aisle of a local video store recently, looking for any interesting DVDs, when I stopped in my tracks. There on the rack, staring out at me amongst films from Hollywood’s by-gone era was... Etrigan? What in the world was this? Consumed with curiosity, I bought the DVD and headed home to see for myself.

It was Häxan (The Witch), a silent film by Swedish director Benjamin Christensen. The film is quite an oddity; it starts with a historical overview, presented in a documentary style, describing ancient views of both the physical and supernatural worlds, and the evolution of the belief in a personification of evil that eventually became the Medieval Devil. From this, it goes on to illustrate in re-enactments how the fear of the Devil and the resulting hysteria led to the persecution and executions of those believed to be witches in league with Satan. Christensen’s view is informed by modern (circa 1920) psychiatric theories of hysteria, both individual and collective. After the introduction, the story is told in a series of vignettes; some are literal depictions of the horrifying methods of torture used by the Inquisition to extract confessions from accused witches; some depict rather harmless forms of witchcraft, such as fortune-tellers or purveyors of love potions; but by far the most shocking are the wild, phantasmagoric scenes depicting the beliefs regarding witches and the Devil held by peasants and the Church in the Middle Ages.

These vignettes are full of powerful and disturbing imagery. Christensen himself plays the Devil, seen throughout the film luring women with evil temptations and presiding over his followers.

The depictions of a Black Sabbath, witches flying through the night to the Devil’s orgy, and making potions from the blood of unchristened babies are just some of the shocking scenes.

Christensen used these not to titillate, but rather to illustrate how rampant fear led people to unchecked flights of terrifying imaginings. But, as horrific as these are, the film is also leavened with humor, such as a procession of witches lined up to kiss the bent-over Devil’s buttocks or the shots, interspersed in an orgy scene, of demons frantically churning butter. Christensen used what for the time were cutting-edge techniques like multiple exposures, claymation, running film in reverse, and stunning makeup to achieve effects that I found impressive even today.

Now we all know that Jack “borrowed” the Demon from Hal Foster’s Prince Valiant. But I think it’s quite likely that Hal Foster saw Häxan and drew upon it when he created his “demon.” Of course, the evidence is only circumstantial, but I think it is fairly plausible. Foster’s demon was created in 1937; Häxan premiered in 1922, plenty of time for Foster to have seen it. Hal Foster traveled extensively throughout Europe, which would have presumably increased the likelihood of his encountering this film. And Foster obviously had a keen interest in Medieval Europe, the primary setting of Häxan, which would have made this film of particular interest to him.

There is a striking similarity between Häxan’s unnamed demon and the mask Foster devised for Val. Foster’s mask is

I (below) The cover art for the DVD of Häxan. (bottom) Hal Foster’s Prince Valiant dons a goose-flesh mask, to become at least one of Jack’s inspirations for the Demon.

more “realistic” than the face depicted in Häxan, but then Val is only wearing a mask, while the character in the film is actually supposed to be a fiend from the pit. Plus, Foster had to devise something that looked like it could be fashioned from a goose— an absolutely ingenious ploy—and he did. However, he may have based his design on publicity stills from the film because the demon mask he created resembles the cover image more than how this demon appears in the film itself. (Yes, I realize Hal Foster couldn’t possibly have seen this DVD cover. In the course of researching this, I found several images from Häxan that appear repeatedly, and this demon is one of them; this leads me to believe that these photos were originally publicity stills, or perhaps even lobby posters, from the film’s release. If so, then it’s entirely possible Foster could have seen a very similar, if not the exact, image.) This demon—all of the various demons in Häxan are individuals with unique makeup— appears on film only briefly during the orgy scene; he’s shown stirring some infernal brew, then offering it to a naked witch before an altar and, finally, debauching a witch during the orgy.

In the film, the demon has very long, serrated ears and prominent horns. In this photo, however, the angle he’s shown foreshortens the horns and ears considerably; the ears were also cropped to show just his face. This picture looks very much like the goose-mask fashioned by Val. Also, one of the more technically outstanding sequences from Häxan is Christensen’s depiction of witches flying through the night sky on broomsticks. In Prince Valiant, Foster has the demon-masked Val spook some castle raiders by “flying” through a window on a broomstick. While on the face of it this may not seem very telling, I have never heard any folk tale of demons using broomsticks—only witches. Maybe, if Foster did see Häxan, this imagery was compelling enough for him use it for his demon.

We know Jack in the late ’30s/early ’40s lifted several other images from this Prince Valiant sequence, such as the cover to Red Raven Comics #1. But it seems odd that, in 1972, Jack would, out of the blue, design a leading character based on an image from thirty-five years previous. By then, he was a steamroller of creativity; I can’t imagine him bothering to slow down enough to reference another artist’s work, even one as revered as Foster.

(I’m not aware of any other notable Kirby swipe from the dawn of the Silver Age-on.) Though this sequence in Prince Valiant obviously made a strong impression on him at the time, it’s hard to believe Jack would suddenly decide to lift that image all these years later. But what if something jogged his memory and reminded him of this favorite sequence from his youth?

Again, all I can offer is circumstantial evidence, but I think it’s possible Jack saw, or was at least aware of, the film Häxan.

Subtitled “Witchcraft Through the Ages,” it was re-released several times over the years, once in 1941 and again in 1968 (with narration by William S. Burroughs!). The 1968 re-release would have been only a few years before Jack created the Demon. Maybe he saw it—or at least publicity photos for it— and recalled Foster’s demon and the fantastic sequence from Prince Valiant. In fact, Jack’s Demon in some ways resembles Christensen’s more so than it does Foster’s: Häxan’s demon has what appears to be fur around his eyes, which radiates outward jaggedly; Kirby’s Demon has this same look, but the eyes of Foster’s mask are simply dark recesses under Val’s brow. I believe it is possible that not only was Foster’s demon inspired

by Häxan, but Kirby’s Demon may have been a synthesis of both Foster’s and Christensen’s visions.

Jack’s fertile imagination fathered the Demon, and there’s no doubt that Hal Foster can be regarded as the Demon’s Grandfather. And, now, I think it’s time to recognize the man who may well have been the Demon’s Great Grandfather, Benjamin Christensen. ★ 23

Retrospective

Jack Kirby’s Midnight Ma

An uncanny look at a demon named Etrigan, by Brian Cremins

(below) Creepy cover to Demon #15 (Dec. 1973). (next page) Demon #5 (Jan. 1973) let us see Etrigan and Merlin working together.

Demon, Merlin, Witchboy TM & ©2005 DC Comics.

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“There’s still a black, shivery outside, you know––a weird realm from which men shrink in terror. Science hasn’t done away with it. Nothing will ever do away with it.”

––Fritz Leiber, from Weird Tales, Sept. 1946 “As a needed change of pace in Kirby’s experimentation, the occult character emerges as an identifiable individual who lives on the premise that the strange world of black magic and potent spells is real and horribly alive with potential dangers for us normals.”

––Mark Evanier and Steve Sherman, “Demonology as Heroics,” The Demon #2 (Oct. 1972) “AAAARRR!” ––Etrigan the Demon, from “My Tomb in Castle Branek!,” The Demon #2 (Oct. 1972)

or most comic book fans, the word “uncanny” evokes images of teenage mutants wearing skin-tight costumes and doing battle against a white-haired, middle-aged man with a redand-purple tin can on his head. Many of us, in fact, gained an extra point or two after stumbling across this word on the SATs (raise your hands if you know what I’m talking about, class!).

While I could spend this entire essay talking about Jack Kirby’s invaluable contributions to the mythology of the X-Men, truth be told, they didn’t have that glorious adjective added to their name until issue #114 in 1978 and they weren’t officially The Uncanny X-Men until issue #142 in February, 1982, at which point Jack was busy at Pacific Comics writing and drawing Captain Victory and the Galactic Rangers. So this essay isn’t about Jack and the X-Men, but it is about Jack and the Uncanny, specifically all of the strange characters and worlds Jack created for us during his sixteen-issue run of The Demon in the early 1970s. If you like your weird tales mixed with humor and just a hint of the absurd, you owe it to yourself to read “The Reincarnators” from The Demon #3 (Nov. 1972) or, better yet, the stories featuring Klarion the Witchboy and his evil cat Teekl (issues #7, 14, and 15). Just be sure not to read these stories too late at night, or you may find yourself murmuring, “Gone!

Gone!––The form of man––! Rise, the Demon Etrigan!!” and suddenly be transformed into a stunted creature with webbed ears, pale yellow skin, and fiery red eyes.

This sounds like a classic case of split-identity. Calling Dr. Freud, please! Dr. Freud?!

In 1919, Sigmund Freud published a paper in the journal Imago entitled “The ‘Uncanny,’” one of the many short essays in which Freud writes more about literature than he does about his patients. He admits as much in the first paragraph of the essay, saying, “It is only rarely that a psycho-analyst feels impelled to investigate the subject of aesthetics even when aesthetics is understood to mean not merely the theory of beauty, but the theory of feeling,” (Freud 368). As the essay progresses, it becomes clear that Dr. Freud loved a good horror story just like everyone else and was especially frightened by E.T.A. Hoffman’s “Der Sandmann” (first published in 1816-1817 and translated into English as “The SandMan”), the chilling tale of an obsessive young man slowly destroyed by the memory of a traumatic event from his childhood. I won’t tell you whether or not the young man is destroyed by the villain of the story, the shadowy Coppelius––you’ll just have to find out for yourself.

However, I can tell you about Freud’s reaction to the story, which inspired him to invent a definition of “the uncanny” which will help explain why Jack’s Demon stories, for example, are so ghoulishly entertaining.

The good Dr. Freud informs us that the uncanny “undoubtedly belongs to all that is terrible––to all that arouses dread and creeping horror; it is equally certain, too, that the word is not always used in the clearly definable sense, so that it tends to coincide with whatever excites dread” (Freud 368). “Creeping horror,” “dread”––has this sentence been translated from the German by H.P. Lovecraft or Fritz Leiber? Perhaps my American Heritage Dictionary will help to clear things up a little. “Exciting wonder and fear; inexplicable; strange: an uncanny laugh.” My faithful red dictionary also informs me that, in case I want to do some exploring, I should “see synonyms at weird.” So we’re right back where we started: the kind of feeling you get from reading the weird tales and experiencing the creeping horror of a pulp magazine of the 1930s. Not so fast! Dr. Freud isn’t quite finished with us just yet.

F

sterpiece “[T]he ‘uncanny,’” Freud writes, “is that class of the terrifying which leads back to something long known to us, once very familiar” (Freud 369-370). Later in the essay Freud refers to another great German thinker and philosopher, Friedrich Schelling, and elaborates on this earlier definition: “According to [Schelling] everything is uncanny that ought to have remained hidden and secret, yet comes to light,” (Freud 375-376). This is the part of Freud’s essay which is so intriguing, especially when applied to Jason Blood and his link to Merlin’s Demon, Etrigan. Jason’s great curse, explored not only by Kirby but also by Matt Wagner in his underrated 1987 Demon mini-series, is his sense of alienation from his own body. After he discovers his violent, vengeful other half, Jason Blood no longer feels at home in his own skin. You can’t blame Jason from feeling estranged from himself; after all, how would you feel if at any moment a simple rhyming couplet could turn you into a creature from the deepest pits of Dante’s––and Jack’s––fiery imagination?

The first issue of The Demon, “Unleash the One Who Waits” (Aug.-Sept. 1972), is filled with several uncanny moments in which Jason, a demonologist by trade, slowly uncovers his true identity as the human vessel for Etrigan. As Blood tells Mr. Warly in the opening scenes of issue #1, “A demon haunts my dreams! A demon haunts my life!” Jason’s mysterious past is slowly coming to light, and he’s beginning to feel a little crowded by that other creature who shares his skin.

By the way, I neglected to mention another interesting bit of linguistic trivia, courtesy once again of Dr. Freud, who informs us, “In Arabic and Hebrew ‘uncanny’ means the same as ‘daemonic,’ ‘gruesome,’” (Freud 371). No wonder we’re told in the credits of The Demon #1 that we’re about to read “A MIDNIGHT CLASSIC by JACK KIRBY with inks of darkness by MIKE ROYER”!

Jack’s Demon first arrives on earth at a time when, as we learn in “Unleash the One Who Waits,” “men still [live] in the shadow of the old gods!––and [fear] them!” As the walls of Camelot fall before Morgaine Le Fey’s ruthless, bloodthirsty hordes, Merlin formulates a plan to defend himself and his “Eternity Book.”

What better way to fight evil than by summoning a creature from the depths of Hell itself? “I will soon vanish with Camelot, faithful guardian,” Merlin tells Etrigan as the battle for Camelot subsides. “I’ve given you a torn part of this fabled book! It is to be your destiny––on earth!!” But why cast a fierce Demon as a hero? Can he be trusted? Merlin then reveals that Etrigan will again be summoned to defend humanity from Morgaine Le Fey’s evil plans.

“That may be many centuries hence––after time has done its work on Morgaine Le Fey,” Merlin reveals.

“Her evil beauty shall fade and die, as Camelot does this night––never to be renewed!––unless she finds me––and this ancient book!” And, sure enough, in the early 1970s a rapidly-decaying Morgaine Le Fey

returns to claim the Eternity Book but soon faces Jason Blood, who appears to have forgotten all about his powerful alter-ego... except for those curious dreams, of course.

The often tense relationship which exists between Jason Blood and Etrigan throughout the original series––on the cover of issue #3, for example, they are shown chained together and trying with all their might to pull away from each other––calls to mind other uncanny relationships in the realm of imaginative fiction. Dr. Jekyll, Bruce Banner, and Bruce Wayne are all respected men of the world who constantly struggle with inner demons who threaten to overwhelm them. Walter Gibson’s The Shadow, another creature of the night, is often more terrifying than the criminals he claims as his victims, but he spends most of his time as playboy Lamont

Cranston waltzing arm-in-arm with Margot Lane at the Cobalt Club (I don’t have the room here to explore The Shadow’s other secret identity, Kent Allard!). What they all share in common is a dual, conflicted identity, a life spent sharing their space in the universe with another being more strange and powerful than one man can ever be. As Etrigan tells Jason in the dream sequence which opens The Demon #3 (Nov. 1972), “HA HA HAH!! We’re linked together, you and I! Bound as brothers, Jason Blood!” To underscore the tense relationship between these two brothers, Jack and Mike Royer produced some of the most grotesque creatures and dreamscapes ever seen in American comic books.

The word “uncanny” applies not only to Jason Blood’s relationship with Etrigan, but also to Kirby’s explosive, often expressionistic drawing style.

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Gallery 1

ExorcisE the Demon!

A look at Kirby’s pencils from his 16-issue run on DC’s The Demon (1972-74). (page 28) Simply one of the coolest (and creepiest) images Kirby created for his Demon series. (page 29) While others have always drawn werewolves as sleek, sinewy creatures, leave it to Jack to envision one as a hairy, hulking behemoth. Demon #6, page 19 pencils.

All characters TM & ©2005 DC Comics

All characters TM & ©2005 DC Comics.

(this page) Demon #2 cover pencils. We originally tried to get Bernie Wrightson to ink this piece for this issue’s cover, thinking it was tailor-made for him, but were unable to work it out. But just imagine...

27

Old Friends

Witchboy, All Grown Up

An interview with Barry Alfonso, by John Morrow (below) Shel Dorf, Barry Alfonso, and Jack Kirby, circa 1971, and Barri-Boy makes the scene in this pencil panel from Jimmy Olsen #144 (Dec. 1971). (next page, top) Witchboy, based on Barry’s visage, debuts in this pencil page from Demon #7 (March 1973). The photo at the bottom is of Barry in 1973 with Carmine Infantino and Kirby. Both photos courtesy of Shel Dorf.

[Editor’s Note: A lot of Kirby fans are likely familiar with Barry Alfonso without even knowing it. Born September 6, 1957 in Springfield, MA, he moved to San Diego, CA in 1965, where he got involved in the local comics fan community, leading to a visit with Shel Dorf and other fans to the Kirby house in 1969. That group of fans wound up being immortalized as the San Diego Five-String Mob in Jimmy Olsen, with young Barry serving as the visual inspiration for Barri-Boy, the group’s “sixth string.” Jack later based the look of Witchboy from The Demon on Barry as well. Currently living in Pittsburgh, Barry was nominated for a Grammy Award for his liner notes to a Peter, Paul and Mary collection, and also co-wrote a Number One country song with Craig Bickhardt called “In Between Dances” (performed by Pam Tillis in 1995). Barry graciously agreed to this e-mail interview, which was conducted in September 2005.]

All characters ©2005 DC Comics.

THE JACK KIRBY COLLECTOR: How’d you first meet Jack Kirby?

BARRY ALFONSO: It happened more of less this way: in the late summer or early fall of 1969, I’d looked up a local comic book dealer named Richard Alf. Around that time, I’d also been in contact with Shel Dorf, who (I think) was trying to sell some comics through an ad in the local paper. I recall putting Richard and Shel in contact with one another, and that led to the first meeting of what became the founding group of the San Diego Comic-Con. (Others attending were, I believe, Bob Sourk, Dan Stewart, and Mike Towry).

Shel knew Jack Kirby and proposed that we take a trip up to his townhouse in Irvine, CA (where he was living before he moved to Thousand Oaks). Being a 12-year-old Jack Kirby fanatic, I was thrilled, of course.

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TJKC: Are there any specific memories of that first meeting? Did you see Jack drawing?

BARRY: Jack and his wife Roz were extremely welcoming and gracious to all of us. Roz made us hamburgers and Jack took us around his house. I remember being amazed to see an original Jack Kirby collage, as well as large prototype illustrations (colored) of new or redesigned characters, including a more elaborately-costumed Balder and a hero/villain named the Black Sphinx. Jack also showed us samples of a project he hoped to undertake: a comic book retelling of the Napoleonic Wars. He was willing to answer any and all questions, and even cheerfully accepted my comment that I didn’t like his version of Iron Man so well because he let Tony Stark’s eyes show through the helmet.

(The impertinence!)

This first get-together (in Fall 1969) must’ve taken place right around the time Jack left Marvel for DC. I recall asking him about the “Inhumans” and “Ka-Zar” series he had been working on. He said he had left them without any further ideas about where they might’ve gone.

TJKC: How’d it feel when you saw you got a “solo” as Barri-Boy in Jimmy Olsen? Did you know what to expect from that issue (having seen the art pre-publication), or was it a total surprise? What led Jack to single you out of the Five String Mob, and make you the “sixth string”?

BARRY: I’m not sure exactly how I felt about it. Thrilled and honored, obviously. But it also seemed to grow out of this relationship all of us had forged with Jack—he really seemed to have taken a shine to us. I don’t believe any of us saw the artwork from that Jimmy Olsen issue before it appeared, but we did know about it. Why did Jack single me out? Maybe because I was the youngest of the group and the most starry-eyed in my fanhood, or something.

TJKC: Did you have any subsequent meetings with Jack, and if so, how often?

BARRY: The gang from the San Diego Comic-Con—in various combinations, with new people among us—must’ve visited Jack at least five times total between 1969 and 1974. One of these visits was arranged by me (through Shel?) so I could interview him for my ’zine, Mysticogryfil. Jack was always happy to see us and the get-togethers were very jolly and inspiring. (I recall one time that he mentioned a desire to use Ramon De La Flores as a pen name—has that appeared anywhere before?)

TJKC: How did your Witchboy appearance in The Demon come about? Did you know about Witchboy being based on you, before the comic was released?

BARRY: Again, I’m not sure how it came about. I will say this—in those days, when I was 13 or 14, my hair was growing longer and I didn’t wash it as often as I might have. Consequently, it curled into little horns around my ears. I think that—along with my skinny appearance—inspired Jack to create this little witchboy character with the horns at his temples. I guess I knew Witchboy was going to appear in the Demon, but I don’t think I saw him until the issue came out. I identified with Witchboy much more than with Barri-Boy; there did seem to be some of me in there.

TJKC: Witchboy appeared twice; did you know he would be returning, and did you ever discuss with Jack why he brought him back?

BARRY: I wasn’t kept apprised of Witchboy’s whereabouts—Jack probably felt it was best to let me know where he was when the rest of the world did. I think Jack found Witchboy to be a likeably wicked foil for the Demon, as well as a way of keeping an injoke alive among his Comic-Con acolytes.

Near myths

In Name InInName Only InName InName Name Only Only Only Only

A look at Kirby’s use of legend and myth, by Shane Foley

(below) Kirby took a second shot at Prester John for Marvel Two-In-One #12 (Nov. 1975), if only on the cover. (next page) Merlin debuts on the first page of Demon #1 (Aug. 1972), shown here in pencil.

Demon ©2005 DC Comics. Iron Man, Thing ©2005 Marvel Characters, Inc.

“If there’s been one theme running through the comics career of Jack Kirby, it has been legend.”

(First Issue Special #1, text page) et how well did Jack know and use the great themes of legend? On the one hand, readers of Thor know well that he had good knowledge of the Norse myths, using what he wanted and ignoring what he didn’t. On the other, readers of Black Panther #1 smiled at Jack’s reference to the story of “Ali Baba and the Genie.”

Like most, my knowledge of actual legends is slim. I know a few names and a few generally accepted, but often wrong, ideas of some of the stories. So searching for some background on the legends used in a few favorite Kirby stories would not only enlighten me but reveal a bit about Kirby’s usage of them as well.

Y

Pandora’s Box

(House of Mystery #61, 1957) Kirby’s story involves a strange “talking” chest being dumped at sea, then the attempt of a witness on the ship to uncover the mystery of the box. He is stopped just in time before he unleashes the horrors of the chest, revealed to be “Pandora’s Box.” Pandora was, in classical myth, the Greek equivalent of Eve and was the bringer of sorrows to mankind. When she went to live amongst men, she was given a gift from the gods—a sealed jar with all the misfortunes of existence inside. But her great curiosity got the better of her caution and she broke the seal, releasing sorrow, disease and conflict into the world.

Thus, according to the legend, there is now no mystical box or any other container to be found as in Kirby’s story.

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Prester John (Fantastic Four #54, 1966) In this story, Johnny Storm and Wyatt Wingfoot meet a character called Prester John. He is dressed in “Medieval garb” and is in suspended animation, courtesy of the “Chair of Survival.” When he wakes, he states he has been there for 700 years. He had been in the service of good King Richard and then travelled the world as the Wanderer, ending up on the fabled Isle of Avalon.

So who was “Prester John”? In Medieval times there existed a legend of a great King and Priest of God living in “the Far East, beyond Persia and Armenia” known by the simple and humble title of Presbyter or Prester John. (“Presbyter” means “Elder” in Greek). In the 12th Century, letters supposedly by him circulated in Europe, wherein he writes that his land which included “the Three Indies” boasted rich natural resources, was “streaming with honey, and overflowing with milk,” and was a place of peace and justice. One traveller wrote, “In one region grows no poisonous herb, nor does the querulous frog ever quack in it, no scorpion exist, nor does the serpent glide amongst the grass.” Some records speak of the fountain of youth freely available to all and of John himself being 562 years old. He was said to be the guardian of the shrine of St. Thomas, the apostle to India, at Mylapore. Some sources said his worldly possessions included the Holy Grail, inherited from his Uncle, the Round-Table Knight Sir Percival.

Mostly he was popularized as a hoped-for ally against the Muslims. He was believed to be a Nestorian—a member of the independent Eastern Christian Church, who did not accept the authority of the Patriarch of Constantinople (the equivalent of the Catholic Church’s Pope).

He was usually seen as a Christian priest-king, but Prester John also appears in Medieval Jewish legend. One Jewish traveller in the East between 1159 and 1173 wrote that Prester John was a Jewish King who ruled with great splendor over a Jewish realm. A later account recorded John as being a lineal descendant of Ogier the Dane, who reached the north of India with 15 of his barons. Marco Polo was one of many other Middle Age travellers who claimed John ruled a vast Central Asian Kingdom.

In his Travels, Marco Polo says Genghis Khan “fought against Prester John and after a desperate fight, overcame and slew him.”

Pope Alexander III sent a messenger to him in 1177 but the messenger never returned.

Later 14th Century reports from Portuguese explorers began to place John’s kingdom in Ethiopia. His legend continued, and a 15th Century woodcut depicts him as ruling in both India and Ethiopia.

No source that I looked up referred to Prester John as one who had been in the service of King Richard, as stated in FF #54. (These references could only refer to the later Prester John legends as King Richard—of Robin Hood fame—lived in the late 14th/early 15th Centuries.) Nor did they mention he had been known as a “Wanderer,” although for him to have set up a Kingdom in the East, it would have been required at one point. Jack’s Prester John has very little in common with the man of legend. Instead, though he is from ancient times, he is a cosmic-minded traveller who is at home with futuristic technology

Gallery 2

J

Myth-IllogicAl ARt

ack Kirby used established myths and legends as the basis for much of the work he did in comics, but he rarely was faithful in his adaptations. From those big circles on Thor’s chest, to his imagery of the Grim Reaper riding on a pair of airborne skis, nothing was terribly sacred in his interpretations of characters who, throughout time, have held a certain almost religious

by Shane Foley

significance to society. Take the following pieces for example; while you’ll get a hint of the source material they’re inspired by, chances are no one before (or after) Kirby ever envisioned these characters quite the same—or as dramatically. ★

(this page) Jimmy Olsen #144, page 20 (Dec. 1971) Kirby’s great wrap-up to the Evil Factory storyline included his Fourth World explanation for the Loch Ness beastie of legend. What a beautifully designed Nessie he did too! (page 49) Forever People #9, page 21 (June 1972) A séance, a liberal dose of New Genesis technology, and a controversial handling of Deadman combined with a powerfully updated version on the Frankenstein monster to give the young gods of Supertown an explosive Kirby struggle. If Kirby had any inkling that his beloved Fourth World series was fast coming to an end, one wouldn’t know it from the power in his penciling.

Jack would also use Frankenstein-like characters at DC in The Demon #11-13 and Jimmy Olsen #142-143. (page 50) Kamandi #7, page 19 (July 1973) As a change of pace after the death of Flower in #6, Jack drew a parody of King Kong for a fun-filled following issue. (This was Steve Sherman’s explanation from the letter’s page in #12 anyway.) The last line in the comic is great Kirby tongue-in-cheek humor.

(Look it up—it’s magic!) This shows how close in some ways (but not in others) Jack was to the movie! (page 51) Sandman #7, page 12 (1975) Even everyone’s favorite myth Santa Claus got his turn under Kirby, albeit in one of the handful of ’70s stories he didn’t plot. Kirby’s usual dynamism is often present, though by Kirby standards ol’ Santa is conservatively drawn. But isn’t the pencil work nice!

(page 53) Eternals #5, page 11 (Nov. 1976) Did Jack introduce this version of the Greco-Roman gods to replace those he’d introduced a decade earlier in Thor? Or did he just like ’em and in typical Kirby fashion, ignored the past so he could have fun with an alternative version? Either way, Olympus, Zeus, Athena and Mercury were great springboards for Kirby’s imagination!

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All characters TM & ©2005 DC Comics.

(page 52) Black Panther #6, cover (Nov. 1977) The Panther book was action from beginning to end. And again, he was in the thick of it from page 1 of his sixth issue. Involved in a plot to find the legendary Cup of Youth, you can bet what the Panther found was uniquely Kirby and had little to do with any ‘real’ myth.

All characters TM & Š2005 DC Comics.

49

Retrospective

Thor The Thunderer either Stan Lee nor Jack Kirby really created the Mighty Thor. They simply borrowed him from mythology.

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by Will Murray

“One of our established titles, Journey into Mystery, needed a shot in the arm,” Lee once wrote, “so I picked Thor, the Norse God of Thunder, to headline the book.

After writing an outline depicting the story and the characters I had in mind, I asked my brother, Larry, to write the script because I didn’t have time. Always dependable, Larry did a great job on it and it was only natural for me to assign

the penciling to Jack Kirby, who drew it as though he had spent his whole life in Asgard, the home of the gods.”

“Well, I knew the Thor legends very well,” Kirby allowed, “but I wanted to modernize them. I felt that might be a new thing for comics, talking the old legends and modernizing them.

I believe I accomplished that. Thor is an ancient myth—what I did was make him salable once again.”

The year was 1962. Lee and Kirby were busily converting fantasy anthology comic books like Strange Tales and Journey into Mystery into super-hero showcases to build a new line following the surprise success of their Fantastic Four. Lee had been Marvel’s editor since 1941, while Kirby had recently returned after long estrangement from the comics house for which he had co-created Captain America two decades before.

“I knew that they were lacking super-heroes,” Kirby recalled.

“Nobody had really done many in many a year. After the war the super-heroes kind of faded, but of course after a certain amount of time it was time to bring them back. So I brought back the super-heroes. And that’s where all your Fantastic Fours come from. That’s where Thor comes from. I took anything powerful that could sell a magazine—and I did.”

Which of the two men first had the inspiration that a Norse legend could be adapted to comic books is unknown. The popularity of Steve Reeves’ Hercules movies may have given either one the idea. Comments both Lee and Kirby later made seem to suggest that their thinking began with Hercules. Yet both Lee and Kirby claimed to have been struck by inspirational Nordic lightning first.

“Thor I got from the Germanic legends, the Norwegian myths,” claimed Kirby. “I would take a lot of the stories from the legends. So instead of doing Hercules I would use Thor because nobody used the Norwegian legends.”

“Nobody had ever done anything with the Norse legends,” Lee asserted. “We had the Hulk who was the strongest living human on Earth, and then we even had the Thing who was almost as strong. I wanted to do a new book and I said to Jack, ‘Who can we get that’s even more impressive? ...After a while it occurred to me that the only way to make something bigger and stronger than the strongest creature on Earth was to create someone who is outside of our little ol’ home planet.”

Kirby had a track record. The Nordic thunderer had been popping up in his stories since the 1940s, most often as a villain. His earliest mythological creation, Mercury, was renamed “Hurricane, Son of Thor” when the character switched from Red Raven Comics to Captain America in 1941. A year later, Simon and Kirby’s Sandman battled a wild-bearded foe calling himself Thor in “The Villain from Valhalla.” And there were others.

“I did a version of Thor for DC in the ’50s before I did him for Marvel,” Kirby pointed out. “He had a red beard but he was a legendary figure, which I liked. I liked the figure of Thor at DC and I created Thor at Marvel because I was forever enamored of legends. I knew all about these legends which is why I knew about Balder, Heimdall, and Odin. I tried to update Thor and put him in a super-hero costume.

He looked great in it and everybody loved him, but he was still Thor.”

That story, “The Magic Hammer,” appeared in Tales of the Unexpected #16, dated August, 1957—exactly five years before the Marvelized Thor debuted in Journey into Mystery #83, August 1962. The 1957 Thor was clad in the traditional bearskins and horned helmet.

Otherwise the only similarity lay in the hammer—Kirby carried the design over unchanged.

The way Lee told it, reviving Thor was a creative struggle in which Jack Kirby was uncharacteristically bereft of ideas.

“I figured the only thing to do is get a god,” Lee continued.

“There’s nothing more impressive than a god. So Jack said, ‘Yeah, that sounds good.’ So I started to think—the Roman gods, the Greek gods, a lot had been done with them... we’d all seen Hercules and the others, but people don’t know much about the Norse gods... including me. So I started looking them up and when I got to Thor I just thought, gee, a guy who is the god of thunder and lightning—that’s impressive.... So, when I re-read the saga of Thor, God of Thunder, and his mighty hammer, I knew I had found our next super-hero!

“I told Jack about it and when I saw the way he drew Thor it was just wonderful... the outfit he gave him... the hammer. I wanted him to have that hammer, and I came up with a plot so he could.”

Jack Kirby recalled it quite differently.

“I came up with Thor,” he said flatly. “I knew the Thor legends very well.... I came up with Thor because I’ve always been a history buff. I know all about Thor and Balder and Mjolnir, the hammer. Nobody ever bothered with that stuff except me. I loved it in high school and I loved it in my pre-high school days... that’s what kept me in school—it wasn’t the mathematics and it wasn’t the geography; it was history.”

“As far as I can remember,” insisted Lee on another occasion, “Norse mythology always turned me on. There was something about those mighty, horn-helmeted Vikings and their tales of Asgard, of Ragnarok, of the Aesir, the Fire Demons, and immortal, eternal Asgard, home of the gods. If ever there was a rich lode of material into which Marvel might dip, it was there— and we would mine it.”

Perhaps the absolute truth lay in the middle. After all, Thor had been around for centuries. But where Thor was concerned,

Yet Lee was no stranger to the swashbuckler either. His favorite actor, Errol Flynn, was renowned for his costume epics. A decade before Lee had scripted an Arthurian comic called The Black Knight, which he considered the high point of his pre-Marvel Age work.

“When I was a kid,” he pointed out, “I fantasized about Robin Hood, King Arthur, King Richard—even Charles Lindbergh. You imagine you’re going to do great things. I saw Errol Flynn movies and I wanted to be Errol Flynn. Every time I left the theater, I had a crooked little smile on my face and I swashbuckled down the street. Until I was ten years old, I wished that I had a sword by my side.”

Either way, neither man was about to do a direct adaptation of the Norse thunderer.

“Before staring the series,” Lee told one reader, “we stuffed ourselves to the gills with Norse mythology, as well as almost every

(above) Charlton’s Out of This World #11 (Feb. 1959) contained a Steve Ditko story featuring a young Viking named Thor who discovers a magic hammer in a cave—more than three years before Marvel’s Thor debut! (previous page) A simply spectacular Thor commission from 1975.

Thor TM & ©2005 Marvel Characters, Inc. Out of This World © Charlton Comics.

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Parting Shot

Demon #16 (Jan. 1974) wasn’t supposed to be the last issue, at least as far as Jack knew when he drew these pencils for its final page. Kirby clearly had in mind a theme for the next issue, as evidenced by the final panel. We can only wonder what new spin the Vampire myth would have received in that story from the delightfully unpredictable Kirby imagination.

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Characters TM & ©2005 DC Comics.

KIRBY COLLECTOR #44 KIRBY’S MYTHOLOGICAL CHARACTERS! Coverage of DEMON, THOR, & GALACTUS, interview with KIRBY, MARK EVANIER, pencil art galleries of the Demon and other mythological characters, two never-reprinted BLACK MAGIC stories, interview with Kirby Award winner DAVID SCHWARTZ and F4 screenwriter MIKE FRANCE, and more! Kirby cover inked by MATT WAGNER!

Galactus TM & Š2005 Marvel Characters, Inc.