sign in sign up
<<
Home , Apokolips, Atlas (DC Comics), Bekka, Collector (character), Darkseid, Escapist (character)

84 PAGES $9.95 BIGGER AND BETTER AND BIGGER $9.95 PAGES 84 BETTER AND BIGGER $9.95 PAGES 84 TWOMORROWS KIRBY JACK TWOMORROWS

Mister Miracle TM & ©2002 DC Comics. SPRING NO. 35 2002 ESCAPES GREAT THE NEW Collector “BUST- U! ” OUT!! great Kirby It’s the DON’T TAKE LESS! BIG $ 84 9 ONLY pages 95 Contents OPENING SHOT ...... 2 THE NEW (why was Kirby always running from something or another?) UNDER THE COVERS ...... 4 ( and out- line their respective covers this issue) JACK F.A.Q.s ...... 6 (regular columnist answers a pair of Frequently Asked #35, SPRING 2002 Collector Questions about Kirby) BAD GUISE ...... 11 (just who was Kirby’s greatest villain?) WRITER’S BLOC ...... 12 (author Michael Chabon offers up a few words on Kirby) HOUDINI & KIRBY ...... 14 (a brief look at each man’s approach to the artistry of escape) KIRBY AS A GENRE ...... 16 (Adam McGovern finds the Kirby in a few of his favorite things) INNERVIEW ...... 18 (Marshall Rogers chats about Mister Miracle, Kirby, and ) GALLERY ...... 26 ( traps, dwarfs, and bathing Bardas, all shown in pencil) TRIBUTE ...... 44 (the 2001 Kirby Tribute Panel, featuring the late , John Romita, , , and some guy named Carson) DECONSTRUCTING HIMON ...... 58 (three different writers take apart one of Kirby’s finest tales: “Himon”) IN CLOSING ...... 72 (an examination of Kirby’s second Mister Miracle series) COLLECTOR COMMENTS ...... 76 (escape the humdrum letter columns of other mags by perusing these missives about our last issue) PARTING SHOT ...... 80 (on the way out, take a quick look at Jack’s final Mister Miracle page) Front cover inks: MARSHALL ROGERS Back cover pastel art: STEVE RUDE Front cover color: TOM ZIUKO Photocopies of Jack’s uninked pencils from published comics are reproduced here courtesy of the Kirby Estate, which has our thanks for their continued support.

COPYRIGHTS: Batman, , Ben Boxer, Bernadeth, Big Barda, Bruce Wayne, , , Forever People, Funky Flashman, Granny Goodness, Himon, Houseroy, In The Days of the Mob, , , , , Komodo, , Losers, Mad Harriet, Madame Evil Eye, , Mister Miracle, Morgan Edge, , , Renzi, Scott Free, Shilo Norman, Silver St. Cloud, , , The Lump, , Virmin Vundabar, Young Scott Free TM & ©2002 DC Comics. • Annihilus, Black Panther, , Daredevil, , , , , , , Invisible Girl, , Moonboy, Mr. Fantastic, , Dum-Dum Dugan, , Thing, , TM & © 2002 Marvel Characters, Inc. • Jacob & The Angel, Jupiter Plaque, Stereon, TM & ©2002 Jack Kirby Estate.

The Jack Kirby Collector, Vol. 10, No. 35, Spring 2002. Published quarterly by & ©2002 TwoMorrows Publishing, 1812 Park Drive, Raleigh, NC 27605, USA. 919-833-8092. 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 ©2002 Jack Kirby unless otherwise noted. All editorial matter is ©2002 the respec- (above) Uninked pencils from Mister Miracle #5, page 4. tive authors. First printing. PRINTED IN CANADA. Characters TM & ©2002 DC Comics.

1 heard a war story or two) can attest—and unlike a stage Opening Shot magician’s act, his death-defy- ing feats were the real thing. Escape from a dying industry (1950s). (inset) Convention sketches of After the end of his Barda and Mister Miracle Mainline company (and parting done for . ways with ) as the comics industry looked to be collapsing, Jack picked up what- ever work he could find. He The Great Kirby “Bustmay have seen the writing on

ack Kirby was running from something all his life. the wall much earlier, because from the late 1940s- (next page, bottom) The final Okay, I know that statement might sound strange to any onward, he was constantly pursuing his dream of land- J ing a coveted syndicated newspaper . The panels of several comics Jack J number of longtime Kirby fans, but bear with me a “ran from” (usually not of his minute, and I’ll explain what I mean. opportunity finally arose with , and its own choice): Eternals, Forever This issue is all about the theme of “escape” in promise of a better, more secure living and greater People, Jimmy Olsen, Our Jack’s work, and so it naturally will feature lots of prestige; but the strip waned after an impressive Fighting Forces, Captain Mister Miracle, Kirby’s super escape artist; but start, and Jack found himself trapped back America (in pencil), and Devil while the rest of the issue will deal with some of working for a comics page rate just to survive. Dinosaur. the “close calls” that character experienced on Arguably, the desperation of the situation led Celestials, Capt. America, Falcon, Devil to the development of the , Dinosaur, Moonboy TM & ©2002 the comics page, I want to delve into what may Marvel Characters, Inc. Forever People, have made Jack so inclined to submerge him- which in turn helped save a dying industry, Superman, Jimmy Olsen, TM & ©2002 DC Comics. self in this particular brand of escapism called but it also propelled Kirby squarely comic books—what I term “The Great Kirby back into it. So in some ways, his Bust-Out!” (to borrow a line from the cover of escape to newspaper syndication led Mister Miracle #9). him right back to a trap of Escape was a part of Jack’s life, from his own making. (background) A map of ’s East Village, highlight- beginning to end. To demonstrate my Escape from New York ing where celebrities grew up, point, I’ve compiled a list of what I consid- (1969). including Kirby (as shown er to be Kirby’s top ten biggest real-life After more than 50 years below). escapes, in chronological order: living in the city of his birth, Escape from the Lower East Side (1930s). Kirby uprooted his family (top) An artist’s representation As a son of Jewish immigrants, Kirby spent and moved to the of Kirby’s neighborhood (at the other side of the corner of Suffolk and Delancy his childhood in one of the poorest neighborhoods country. Jack streets) as it stands today; in New York. Daily gang fights were , as few Jack’s home would’ve been to kids on his block had much else to live for; but Kirby sur- claimed the the left, where a parking lot is reptitiously kept his imagination and artistic talent alive and California today. flourishing through reading, movies, and drawing, and instead clime was of following in his father’s blue collar footsteps, used his talents better to find a way out of the slum. for his daugh- Escaping anti-Semitism (1940s). ter Early in his career, Jack chose to legally Lisa’s change his name from Kurtzberg to Kirby (much asthma, to his parents’ dismay). Although he never but no turned his back on his faith and ancestry, he doubt the opted for the new name for commercial freedom of reasons, undoubtedly feeling it could being 3000 miles help him avoid any anti-Semitic back- away from an edi- lash in his search for work. tor made the Escape from death (World War II). decision all the After enlisting in the Army, easier. The PFC Jack Kirby was assigned to change in numerous life-threatening sit- scenery uations as an advance scout. appears to have started new ideas brewing in his mind, The experience would be great fodder for which would lead to some of his most mind-boggling future comics stories, but he barely lived to concepts making their way to the comics page. tell them. After scraping by alive in Patton’s Escape from Marvel and (1970). army, he was discharged with frozen feet, and Perhaps the biggest career move he ever made, the nearly had them amputated. WWII was a profound switch to DC Comics meant he was leaving behind the influence on his life—as anyone who met Jack in person (and success of 1960s , for a chance to prove 2 himself without a collaborator to share the credit with. From this point on, with rare exceptions, Jack wrote and edited his own stories (usually sending in completely lettered and inked work), and never again worked “Marvel method.” Escaping DC (1975). Although what waited for him back at Marvel ended up no better than what he was leaving behind, Jack chose not to renew his contract at DC Comics when it expired. The failed Fourth World experi- ment and a string of unsatisfying post- series left him looking for somewhere, anywhere else to ply his trade. For better or worse, Marvel Comics was the only other game in town, so he jumped ship yet again in hopes of a better situation. -Out!”

Escaping the comics industry entirely (1978). Just when things seemed hopeless in the comics field he helped pioneer four decades earlier, the animation industry came calling. With higher pay, more respect, and much-needed health benefits as he entered his declining years, Jack ironically ended his career where it began; only instead of doing in-betweening for cartoons, he was a much sought-after concept man (creating thousands of ideas that will likely never be seen by the public), and scoring a major hit with . Escaping the “Big Two” (1980s). Jack’s final major foray into comics, rather than for DC and Marvel, wound up being for independent publishers. Freed of the constraints of company-wide continuity and editorial dictates (which he experienced one last time on DC’s 1984 Hunger Dogs ), Kirby produced wild, frenetic work like never before. Some loved it, some hated it, but no one could deny his unchained imagination was working at full speed on such projects as Captain Victory and . Escape from obscurity (1990s). After years of no new Kirby work on the stands, and a gradual lessening of attention being paid to Jack (including smaller crowds at conventions, where younger readers flocked to the Image creators), Jack experienced a resurgence of popularity in the 1990s. The debut of Force (with Kirby concepts combined with Image ) and the Topps City Saga books, as well as the release of The Art of Jack Kirby (and not one, but two fanzines devoted to Kirby) helped bring him back to the forefront of fans’ minds (although his place in comics history was undoubtedly assured anyway). Is it any wonder then, that Jack was destined to make his mark in a field of escapist entertainment? While he may never have mastered the intricate escape techniques of a prestidigitator like Houdini, he certainly worked his own brand of magic in comics; and the personal chains that encumbered him throughout his life and career were every bit as difficult to surmount as anything David Copperfield and co. have ever dreamed up for their acts. ★

3 Under The Covers

4 teve Rude didn’t waste a second when we asked him if SShe’d ever done a Mister Miracle #1 cover recreation that we could run on this issue’s back cover. Although he hadn’t, he immediately offered to give it a shot. (We thought Steve was a particularly appropriate choice since, on the the original cover of #1, Mister Miracle is saying the villains “are in for a RUDE shock.”) We assumed “The Dude” would do a traditional pen-&-ink version, and were totally stunned when a gorgeous pastel drawing (left) Kirby cover for arrived less than a week later. Mister Miracle #1, inked Steve had this to say about the by , and a creation of the piece: detail of the word balloon “Some of you may be that provoked us to get familiar with a magazine Steve Rude to recreate it. called Step-by-Step. Though Mr. Miracle TM & ©2002 DC I collected it solely for Comics. “Methods of the Masters,” a (below) For those who section devoted to vintage didn’t get enough “Rude” illustrators, I have yet to in Steve’s pastel interpre- learn a thing from any of the tation, here are a couple Step-by-Step articles. Maybe of fan commissions he I’d have to be there watching did in the 1990s. over the artist’s shoulder, or Mr. Miracle, Big Barda TM & ©2002 DC Comics. Artwork © physically work alongside them, Steve Rude. but for me these articles just don’t seem to work. “With that in mind, I’ll describe the process of the Mister Miracle #1 recreation. It was rendered in Nupastel, a hard, - like chalk, and done on orange Canson paper. I began by enlarging a copy of the actual Kirby cover and transferring it onto the pastel paper. I juggled some elements around since there were no logo or word balloons to worry about, and began to apply the main colors throughout. “Pastel is a new medium for me and is best suited to painting large images where you can use broad, suggestive strokes. Eventually, you hone-in on details with smaller and smaller strokes. This is more difficult than it sounds. Pastel smears easily. Like all mediums, its drawbacks work side-by-side with its charms. At one point I dragged my sleeve along an area I’d spent an hour on and smeared the whole thing. I finally realized the baggy sleeves I was wearing were the culprit. Instant wipeout. Pastelists have a thing against fixative for some reason, but it’s the only sane way to work with the stuff. (I rolled up my sleeve after that incident.) “For the budding illustrators out there, know that mediums don’t make an artist. Practice and accumulated knowledge do. As Andrew Loomis once said, the principles apply to all art regardless of the medium used; be it oil, acrylic, watercolor, or a stick dipped in mud. “Problems arise in all mediums as an artist struggles to improve. This situation usually applies throughout our entire lives. Our job is to become smarter than the medium, and not let technical things interfere with the fundamentals that make a good picture.”

Marshall Rogers took the more conventional route for this issue’s front cover, inking a xerox of the Kirby pencils shown on the previous page. He had this to say about the experience: “How does one approach a legend’s work? Jack is so definitive in his linework that there is little room for interpretation, and yet I consider his style to be representative of form rather than absolute. “I also feel an artist should bring something of himself to his work. With this in mind, and a personal preference to an “organic” rather than “plastic” look to inks (as I talked about during this book’s interview), I inked the cover you see on this issue.” We originally toyed with the idea of adding one of Jack’s photo-collages to the front cover’s background, but after seeing the color work Tom Ziuko added to it (not to mention the spiffy “planet” detailing by Tom’s pal Scott Lemien), we thought the white background aided our goal of making it look like the cover of one of those 25¢ 1970s DC 52-pagers (think Jimmy Olsen #148, among others). ★

5 Mark evanier Jack F.A.Q.s

A column answering Frequently Asked Questions about Kirby does he by Mark Evanier relate to any inter- Once again, we attempt the seemingly-impossible: We shall pretation of endeavor to answer not one but two Kirby-related queries in one God that has long, rambling reply. The first comes from Kirk Groeneveld, who ever been writes: enshrined in any “I’m not Jewish, but I wonder how Jack Kirby’s faith interfaced with book, any teaching, his continuing theme of hidden races being genetically manipulated. any religion? Last I How did he feel about the assignment to “Have the FF meet God” in heard—and I doubt this has (below) A 1980s fan Fantastic Four #48-50?” changed—God was supposed to foster life, not destroy it for his own enrichment. commission drawing, And the second comes from someone who signs their e-mail Yes, I know a few “scholarly” essays have sought to read featuring Galactus. “Washing2000lb,” which I guess means their name or their locale between the panels and make the case, but I remain uncon- Galactus, Silver Surfer, Fantastic Four is Washington. Anyway, he, she or it writes: TM & ©2002 Marvel Characters, Inc. vinced. My suspicion is that Stan said to Jack—or maybe Jack “What’s the deal with Mister Miracle? Everyone says it was based on said to Stan—“Let’s have the FF fight someone who’s supremely Steranko but that Big Barda was based on Roz taking care of Kirby. powerful” and somehow, that suggestion was later recalled as, Wouldn’t that make Jack Mister Miracle?” “Let’s have them meet God.” Obviously, just because a character has awesome might, it does not mean that he in irst, to Kirk: I’ve always been skeptical about that “meet any way corresponds to his authors’ of you-know-who. God” anecdote, as I see absolutely nothing in those issues to FF Just what was on Stan’s mind, I can’t say. He does not recall suggest that Galactus represented a view of the Almighty on individual issues well and the one time he and I discussed that the part of either Mr. Lee or Mr. Kirby. Think about it: Galactus story arc, he didn’t have much to say about it. Neither did Jack, was an intergalactic force who created nothing, gave life to no one but I did come up with a theory as to what he was thinking at the and left each world he visited a barren, lifeless wasteland. How time he worked on that little epic. To explain it, I need to detour and answer the from Washing2000lb.... Almost every- thing Jack wrote (or plotted) had autobiographical elements. In some cases, they were so obscure and dis- guised that even he didn’t recognize (next page, top) Photo of them in the final mix. and Flo But just as an actor Steinberg, circa 1965, utilizes personal shortly after Roy started sense memories in working at the House of acting, Jack used his Ideas. The similarities between the Rascally own emotional expe- One and Jasper Sitwell riences throughout (see inset) are pretty his work. When he evident. Photo courtesy drew a scene that of Flo Steinberg. involved anger, he Jasper Sitwell, Nick Fury, Dum- was usually thinking Dum Dugan TM & ©2002 about something that Marvel Characters, Inc. had once angered (next page, bottom) him, and so forth. In Jack did a later, less some cases, the ref- flattering parody of Roy erence points are as Houseroy, flunky to even slightly visible. Funky (Stan Lee) Here’s one example Flashman. of many: Last issue Funky Flashman, Houseroy in this magazine, TM & ©2002 DC Comics. there was a mention of Jasper Sitwell, the young, college- educated S.H.I.E.L.D. agent, as clearly being based on Dudley Do-Right. 6 Writer’s Bloc A Few Words From

(Acclaimed author Michael Chabon was born in 1963, and grew up THE JACK KIRBY COLLECTOR: What were the first Kirby comics reading comic books. He’s penned several books, but the one of most you read? Did you read Mister Miracle when Kirby was working interest to Kirby fans is undoubtedly The of on it in the 1970s? Kavalier & Clay, the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel dealing with the MICHAEL CHABON: Absolutely. Mister Miracle was my favorite (next page, left) Photo of Golden Age of Comics and escape artistry as its themes. In the midst of the Fourth World books. I was a devoted reader of DC books Michael Chabon by Patricia of his extremely hectic schedule these days, Michael took time out to in the very early ’70s, as a seven- or eight-year-old. I really didn’t Williams. conduct the following interview in March 2002, via e-mail.) © Patricia Williams. care for the Marvel books. I suppose they went over my head.

(this page) Mister Miracle battles the Lump from Mister Miracle #8, the issue that made Chabon a lifelong Kirby fan. Mister Miracle, The Lump TM & ©2002 DC Comics.

(next page, top) Dust jack- et for the hardback version of Michael Chabon’s The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay, featuring his character The Escapist—a character who, according to pub- lished reports, is getting his own series from DC Comics soon (gee, maybe they’ll team him up with Mister Miracle!). ©2002 Michael Chabon.

(next page, bottom) Panel from Kirby’s autobiograph- ical story “Street Code,” done in pencil. Kirby fans who’ve never experienced this remarkable 10-page story can read it as part of TwoMorrows’ trade paper- back Streetwise, available elsewhere in this issue. ©2002 Jack Kirby Estate.

12 Michael Chabon

They had a frenetic, sweaty quality to them. The DC MICHAEL: Well, books were cool and mannered and the values I guess I just sort were easy to comprehend. Little kids really of felt as if this do believe in truth and and the book was, in a American way. way, for Jack So I didn’t know from Kirby. Then Kirby, or of all of a sudden those banners started him—as much appearing in the DC books: “Kirby Is as, in a very Coming!” and then, finally, “Kirby Is different way, it Here!” I had no idea who Kirby was. I was for and of thought it might be a character—some my dad (to whom vague association chiming in my mind I dedicated it). with the Rip Kirby newspaper strip. Then Having him also my dad brought me home the first few appear in it Kirby Jimmy Olsen books. That was always a might have book prone to bizarre flights of fancy, but— seemed like too much, somehow. whoa. I don’t think I knew quite what to make of TJKC: On page 100 of the hardcover edition, it’s revealed that Sammy Clay’s Kirby at first. mother fell in love with Sammy’s father in “Kurtzburg’s Saloon” on New York’s The book that really, truly, permanently blew my mind was the issue of Mister Lower East Side in 1919. In what other ways was the novel inspired by Kirby’s Miracle in which he fights the creature from the Id [#8]; a big, pink, comatose but own escape from his Lower East Side upbringing? sentient wad of bubblegum. There’s this incredible double-page spread of the Female Furies killing time in their barracks. That panel just completely unhinged MICHAEL: There was no direct inspiration from Kirby’s life; not really, except me. The dynamic layout, the wealth of figures and the variety of their costumes, insofar as Kirby’s history mirrored so closely the history of my own grandparents the air of violence and sexuality, the bizarrely stilted dialogue. From that point on and great-grandparents, many of whom settled in the Lower East Side, too. I was a confirmed Kirbyite. TJKC: An underlying theme of Kavalier & Clay seems to be “Comics are escapism, TJKC: Did any characters or scenes from Mister Miracle influence your novel? For but there’s no getting away from real life.” Is that an accurate assessment, and is instance, could a parallel be drawn between Joe Kavalier’s Bernard there a message there for comics fans? Kornblum, and Himon from Mister Miracle? How about between Joe Kavalier’s MICHAEL: I don’t see it that way. I might restate it thus: “Comics are escapism, own escape from Nazi-occupied Prague, and Scott Free’s escape from ? and thank God, because without escapist art there really would be no getting MICHAEL: There may very well be underpinnings of Mister Miracle in my book. away from real life.” By the way, I believe that all great literature is, in part, I’m sure there are; but if so, I was totally unaware of them at the time. You could escapist. When you inhabit the life of a fictional character or characters, you are toss in that the ‘fictional’ character of Mayflower who trains the Escapist is a given a taste of what it might feel like to be somebody else—to escape, if only for bit like Thaddeus Brown, the original Mister Miracle. And I guess that makes a moment, the prison of your own consciousness. Sammy Oberon! TJKC: Can you elaborate on the theme of “escape” in the novel? An example that The surest connection, and the one that I really was conscious of, was between seems to fall under the theme is Joe Kavalier’s journey to Antarctica during the my guy and . It was reading about Steranko’s first career as an escape war to escape his past and his brother’s death. artist that encouraged me to develop the motif of Houdini and escape artistry that was very lightly emphasized in the first few drafts. And Steranko also underlies MICHAEL: I read this sequence as more in the nature of an escape in itself; that Mister Miracle. So that’s the strongest link, I think, between my book and JK’s. is, Joe is locked away in this great frozen box of death, a trap that kills everyone but him, and he alone escapes; and yet, at the same time, learns that the trap of TJKC: Your novel features a who’s who of Golden Age comics creators making memory, of guilt and remorse and shame, is one that he cannot escape, not even cameo appearances, from Stan Lee, Joe Simon, and Kane to Will Eisner and by taking revenge. others; but Kirby seems conspicuous by his absence, not actually appearing as a character in the novel. Was this intentional, and if so, why? TJKC: Another is the Escapist’s secret identity of Tom Mayflower; of course, the Pilgrims escaped persecution on their ship, the Mayflower. MICHAEL: Interesting. I just wanted something that sounded super-WASPy. TJKC: Help us get into your mind as a writer. Are those types of occurrences coincidental or planned? Do you con- sciously set out to develop these ideas from the start, or do they evolve, and come to you as you write? What are some other areas in the novel that tie into the “escape” theme? MICHAEL: Theme is absolutely the very last thing I consider. I start with a character, a setting, or a story idea; an interesting event or episode or sequence of events. Then I start writing, and I try to use my ability to manipulate language to the utmost, hoping to make these characters, this setting, this story, come

13 Adam McGovern

Know of some Kirby-inspired work that should be covered here? Send to: Adam McGovern PO Box 257 AsA regular feature examiningA Kirby-inspired work,Genre by Adam McGovern Mt. Tabor, NJ 07878

GREAT EVASIONS

(right) Simonson splash hose keeping score will remember that an all-humor column page from Orion #5. Ahh, was promised for this space; the amount of material to go Walter, how we’ll miss ye. T through, and the small avalanche of other verbiage I have Characters TM & ©2002 DC unloaded on this issue (check out my Simon/Cap summation Comics. and my Mister Miracle discourse, plug, plug), have pushed that (below) Chapter splash for theme to next time. So this issue we’ll revisit some favorite Modern Myths. types of comics, and particularly-admired specific series, ©2002 Juan Gonzalez. covered in our run to date. The timing was right as these books came to my attention, came to a sad close, or ran very (next page, top) Example of pertinent current story arcs—and if my previously-announced recent Black Panther art by timing was off, well, it’s a poorly-kept secret that I aspire to Jorge Lucas. professional comics scripting, and if I’m really serious about Characters TM & ©2002 Marvel Characters, Inc. pursuing that career I gotta start missing some deadlines. (next page, bottom) Lucas Wonders Never Cease pays homage to Kirby’s As we did in our inaugural column examining Tom Annihilus (right) in this Scioli’s 8-Opus, we begin our return to roots by spotlighting panel from The Ultron some of the indie newcomers whose emulation of the King Imperative (inked by Mike shows how fundamental his style is to the vocabulary of Royer). comics, and how spontaneous is the positive reaction to it Characters TM & ©2002 Marvel not only in the halls of entertainment giants mindful of its Characters, Inc. salability, but the hearts and home studios from which the next generation of creators will come. A fan counterpart to the professional cast-of-thousands Kirby tribute Fantastic Four: World’s Greatest Comics Magazine, Modern Myths is an exuberant and enjoyable homage to the Lee/Kirby hey- day masterminded by California-based writer and artist Juan Gonzalez. As Erik Larsen did with the WGCM project, Gonzalez laid out the entire first issue for himself and other artists to complete; like Larsen (like the Thing-esque enforcer “David and then some, he plot- ”). Some of the artists are more ready-for--time than ted and wrote the whole others, but the design is inspired throughout, with many a close thing himself, without a approximation of Kirby’s great sense of psychedelic tech and space- collaborator. The result operatic costumery. Gonzalez chooses the exhilarating, joined-in- is an introductory tale progress narrative structure of a Lee or Kirby tale—we feel as if of the “Wonder we’re coming in on issue #15 of a classic series—and while this Warders,” an FF-like sometimes makes the smoothness of the exposition slip out of his team of super- hands, it necessitates a brevity which is usually executed well. scientists protecting Gonzalez’s storytelling instincts, while action-packed, tend more humble human toward dramatic reconciliation than bombastic fisticuffs, and this is lives in struggles one of many refreshing approaches that make him and most of his of cosmic scale. cohorts talents to watch. (For a copy, please send $2.50 [$3.70 in Characters walk Canada] to: Juan Gonzalez Publishing, 1112 Orchard St. #1, Santa a line between Rosa, CA 95404 [email: [email protected]].) postmodern archetype and Goodnight, Bitter Prince too-recogniz- Welcomed in our very first column, we must now bid a fond able pastiche, farewell to Walter Simonson’s take on Kirby’s Fourth World saga, but all are done with love and Orion. Fourth World continuations seem to be as short-lived as they some hit the heights of Kirby’s own wordplay are frequent, and that’s too bad in the case of this elegant and 16 INNERVIEW Marshall Rogers Inte

Conducted by Jon B. Cooke, transcribed by LongBox.com Staff on a chess board or something—but there was always rubble and junk coming out of Jack’s buildings whenever they were lifted up. (Marshall Rogers burst on the otherwise dull comic book scene of the mid- to late 1970s, and caused a sensation TJKC: Were you into his Atlas monster work? Did you look at with his work on Batman in , Dr. those—like , , you know—the pre- Strange for Marvel Comics, and others; but it was his Marvel hero stuff? 4-issue revival of Mister Miracle that impressed Kirby MARSHALL: A little bit, but I don’t honestly remember seeing it fans, and is still fondly remembered. This interview straight off the shelves. I was collecting comic books as a young- took place by telephone in March 2002, and was copy- ster, but I didn’t get right in on the very beginning of Marvel. I edited by the artist.) ended up running around the neighborhood trading to get back THE JACK KIRBY COLLECTOR: How far back do issues, so I don’t remember exactly if I started out with some of you recall Jack Kirby’s work? the monster books and had seen them, or had picked them up during trades, etc. MARSHALL ROGERS: I grew up with Kirby’s work. He’s probably the reason I wanted to get into comic TJKC: Have you looked at the monster stuff since? Did you find books. anything of interest in there to this day? TJKC: What work specifically? MARSHALL: Everything, but it wasn’t until he started working with Marvel that I knew what the man’s name was. Then, once I real- ized who the guy was drawing that work, I realized I had probably first read him when he had done either the (above) Photo of Marshall Rogers from or the . I don’t the late 1970s. remember exactly which of the two, but Jack’s (right) Rogers pencils work was so distinctive and inks that even as a young kid, on a page from I recognized it: “Hey, Detective Comics this is the same guy that #468, featuring Bruce did the Fly.” I went back Wayne’s encounter and I checked it out and with an old Kirby looked at the art and character, Morgan realized, yeah, this was Edge. the same guy. Morgan Edge, Batman, Bruce Wayne TM & ©2002 TJKC: DC Comics. What was it about Jack’s work that was (next page) Kirby compelling? pencils from Mister MARSHALL: The Miracle #6, featuring dynamics, I guess, would Jack’s thinly veiled parodies of Stan Lee be the best way to say it. and Roy Thomas. Jack brought the work to life for me. It made it All characters TM & ©2002 DC Comics. seem more than two- dimensional to me. One thing that I remember noticing was when some villain would uproot a building from a New York City block, the pipes and the guts of the building underneath were dangling down, as compared to Superman; when he lifted a building up, it had this nice clean flat surface, you know— as if it was a toy placed 18 rview

MARSHALL: I guess, really, the mon- ster genre was not my favorite genre, but I looked at everything and any- thing that Jack did at one point, that I could lay my hands on. TJKC: You were born in 1950, right? MARSHALL: That’s right. TJKC: So, generally speaking, you started picking them up around ’62? Were you about 11 or 12 years old? MARSHALL: No, I was reading comic books earlier than that. TJKC: I meant the Marvel stuff specifi- cally. You said you didn’t get in on the ground floor necessarily. MARSHALL: I just missed it because a friend of mine had Amazing #15 that Spider-Man first appeared in. Then I ended up buying the second issue of Spider-Man, but it wasn’t like I was hitting the newsstand every week to get them, so it was hit and miss in the beginning. TJKC: Did you find Fantastic Four compelling the minute you encoun- tered it? MARSHALL: Yeah, and actually X-Men was one of my favorite titles. That was the one I think I really glommed onto because I always felt I had large feet and I really related to the . (laughter) I wanted to be able to walk up the sides of a building. That was one of the things about Jack’s work, particularly in the beginning, that I think was the most attractive thing to me. The situations were more down- to-earth. They weren’t as fantastic as the DC stuff. It was Jack creating characters that would walk up the side of a building or shrink to the size of an ant. It was more basic fantasy elements rather than the fantastical type of elements. The Fantastic Four was certainly a departure from that, but his other stuff was even more compelling to me, TJKC: The X-Men was a title on which he later did MARSHALL: I always went back to Batman, hoping and Thor would not necessarily be included in that. quite loose breakdowns. Could you still see the to see that “something” that I’d always wanted to I think the work of his I found most compelling Kirby through the guys who inked and finished the see, but—. penciled stuff? were the simple fantasy elements, like shrinking TJKC: You didn’t see it. down to a real small size or being able to swing MARSHALL: I could, and I was able to quickly tell MARSHALL: No, I never did, you’re right. around a building as if you were on a jungle vine. as soon as Jack stopped contributing to it as a TJKC: Did you also clue into Stan Lee’s contributions , because the layout and dynamics just took a TJKC: So did you remain with Marvel pretty much to it? vast turn, and became very different. throughout your teen years? MARSHALL: In the beginning I was attracted to the TJKC: Prior to Marvel, did you collect comics? Did MARSHALL: Well, I don’t know; about 15 or 16 I artwork. I realized Stan’s name from the signatures. you save them or were you a reader? started getting interested in girls and losing interest in comics. Then once I got into college, I started to When I got a comic book, I would basically flip MARSHALL: I was a reader. though the pages just to see the artwork and then take up the interest again. It coincided with a serious go back and read the story later on. Particularly TJKC: And once you got bit by the Marvel , did interest in getting into the business. you continue to read DC comics or did you pass with Jack’s work, you could tell what the story was TJKC: Were you losing interest in the comics just as them by? without having to read the captions. Jack was getting into the Galactus trilogy, for 19 On the following pages are a plethora of pencils from various Mister Miracle issues, as follows: Issue #5 (pages 26-28), #6 (pages 29-33), #7 (pages 34-37, including a “Young Scott Free” story), and #8 (pages 38-39 and 42-43). Gallery Our centerfold (pages 40-41) features the two-page spread from Mister Miracle #11, inked by Mike Royer. All characters TM & ©2002 DC Comics.

26 27 TRIBUTE 2001 Kirby Tribute Panel

Held at Comicon International: San Diego on July 22, 2001 so far. I just did a panel and we brought (Featuring Will Eisner, John Buscema, John Romita, and him up in there, too. Jack was an amazing gentleman. Mike Royer, moderated by Mark Evanier, transcribed by You all know that, and many of you had the pleasure of Brian K. Morris) knowing him and meeting him. Let me introduce the dais of people we have assembled and I’ll talk to them MARK EVANIER: Good afternoon. Welcome to the about Jack for a while, then we’re going to show a video- Eighth Jack Kirby Tribute Panel, and my eleventh panel tape that is not one of the happier moments of Jack’s life, of this convention. (applause) I’m probably Mark Evanier unfortunately, but which is part of the historical record. and I’ve made a rule that I do not go to any convention It is a two-part tape, the first part of which is Johnny that will not let me host a Jack Kirby Tribute Panel. Carson libeling Jack Kirby, and the second half is Johnny Actually, in some cases, that’s superfluous because we’ve Carson apologizing to Jack Kirby. (applause) been talking about Jack on half the panels I’ve done here Jack liked pretty much everybody in comics. I don’t

(top to bottom) The panelists: the late John Buscema, John Romita, Mike Royer, and (next page) Will Eisner.

(right) Pencil page from Mister Miracle #6. All characters TM & ©2002 DC Comics.

44 remember ever hearing of a writer or artist he didn’t like, the lowest being those people whose books he felt were highly derivative or who he felt were A French Kirby Exhibition (or nearly)! just imitating or tracing other people’s works. by Jean Depelley and Philippe Jecker That certainly did not apply to any of these gentlemen. He could not mention Johnny The 2002 Angoulême International Comics Festival (which took place Romita without the phrase, “the guy who last January 24th-27th) was a nice opportunity for European comics fans to saved Spider-Man.” When Jack went over to admire a wonderful display of originals from the greatest US comics artists, DC, one of the things he very much wanted to and the King was not forgotten! do was a very sophisticated romance comic. The CNBDI (standing for National Center for International Comics) is a Eventually, the idea got dumbed down into that one-of-a-kind museum in France, since it presents original comics art only True Divorce Cases/Soul Love thing which we did and has been doing so these past twelve that Jack never really understood. Through it all, he years, as well as orga- kept mentioning how much he wanted to get this man nizing important the- to work with him. He truly admired his work; Mr. Johnny matic exhibitions Romita, ladies and gentlemen. (applause) focused on the nomi- Another artist for whom Jack never had anything but the highest regard was nated artists once every the gentleman who followed him on the Fantastic Four and Thor. My first ques- year during the Festival. tion, when we get to him, will be, “Just what’s it like to follow Jack Kirby on Although it usually dis- Fantastic Four and Thor?” (laughs) Those of us who felt a certain loss when Jack plays a wonderful col- left those books were more than delighted to see the expert handiwork of lection of classic French Marvel’s supreme penciler, Mr. John Buscema. (applause) And if you said to Jack, Belgium “bande dess- “Who do you really admire in comics?”, the first two names heard would be Bill inée” (including art from Everett or this gentleman, whom he especially admired, not only as an artist but Hergé, Jijé, Franquin, and Moebius), US comics are also well-represented, with samples from of comic strips, EC, underground, and as a role model. I think Will was almost a father figure, in a way. He was in the mainstream super-hero comics. The 2002 (laughs) business about an hour before Jack. And we’re going to talk about that a edition celebrated nominated artist Martin little bit. But actually, this man finally achieved something the other night when Veyron’s sophisticated, Parisian humor, but it he actually won an . (laughs, applause) Is that your first Eisner? I’ve was the US artists’ exhibition that definitely got three of them, and that’s your first? caught the public interest. The museum authorities (around WILL EISNER: I hate to tell you what it took to get one. (laughs) Jean-Pierre Mercier and Thierry Groensteen) JOHN ROMITA: You didn’t know the right people. (laughs) decided to open their holdings, and dis- played a fantastic selection of art “made in EVANIER: So you’ve finally done work that lives up to the standards of Will the USA,” with a very original scenography Eisner. (laughs) created by Marie-Annick Beauvery which EISNER: I lied about my age. (laughs) occupied two floors of the CNBDI. First, the visitor was introduced to American comics EVANIER: And here to my left is a gentleman that Jack handpicked as his favorite by a comic book store reconstruction (much for the last twenty years of his life. I don’t think people realize how hard this different than our French shops!), before man worked. To ink everything Jack Kirby did, alone... well, a lot of people could admiring samples of modern independent not have done that, even badly. To ink it and letter it so well under those time artists (featuring art by Jill Thomson, , , and others). constraints for that rotten money was an amazing achievement. We owe an awful Then, upstairs began a real feast for the eyes: a wonderful Kirby Torch poster (statted from a Kirby original) lot of thanks to Mr. Mike Royer. (applause) Let me also introduce in the audience welcomed the fan! The tone was a couple of people very briefly. When I was working for Jack, I had the pleasure of set; pages of the greatest artists having as my friend and colleague and partner and co-conspirator, a gentleman were showcased under the who did an awful lot of work for Jack personally and professionally, and was a moody lights of the museum, lifelong friend of the family, Mr. Steve Sherman. (applause) And Jack’s other including George Herriman, favorite inker in the last decade or two of his life, and a very close member of the Charles M. Schulz, George Kirby family—I mean “family” in the very best sense of the word because he was McManus, , Hal practically almost blood over there, Mr. Mike Thibodeaux. (applause) I also do Foster, , Burne see one other person here. Jack had an amazing ability to get into trouble, usually Hogarth, , , not of his own making, and he had two attorneys throughout most of the Eighties Barry Smith, Jeff Jones, as well and Nineties who were dealing with these problems. One was a man by the name as a special exhibition of Will of Steve Rohde who is now a high muck-a-muck in the ACLU. He spends one hour Eisner’s Spirit! (Will was attend- ing the Festival as guest of a week making money as a lawyer and fifty hours a week protecting civil rights. honor and, by the way, he likes His former collaborator and partner is now in his own practice and I knew him TJKC!) In the middle of these mostly as a voice on the phone, dealing with all of Jack’s problems, calling me in treasures, three wonderful Kirby exasperation at whatever stupid thing Marvel was claiming this week. This is Mr. pages, intelligently chosen to Paul Levine over here. (applause) I’m going to start with Mr. Eisner—and, by the show different inkers on Jack’s way, you all bought this, right? (holds up Eisner’s book Shop Talk to wild applause) I work, were presented: Inc. Marvel Characters, ©2002 & TM All characters in these images know you’ve told this story before but you never told it at one of these panels, • Fantastic Four Annual #1, page 28 from the “Sub-Mariner Vs. The Human about hiring Jack Kirby and his coming to work for your studio—and at some Race” story, inked by (from which the Torch art had been (laughs) point, you’ve got to tell the towel story. Tell us about the operation that swiped for the poster) Jack came into. • Thor #130 page 5, (not too badly) inked by Colletta EISNER: Well, the company was Eisner and Iger. I former a company with Jerry Iger who’d been formerly the editor of Wow, What A Magazine that collapsed after • Fantastic Four #97, page 4, inked by two issues. We owned a shop producing, or packaging, comics. In those days, the One complaint: the frames made it impossible to read Jack’s margin notes pulp magazines were dying and the publishers who were still trying to survive, and give a clear shot on the Marvel method, but the art spoke for itself: bril- were looking for other things to publish. They were publishing comic magazines, liant, energetic and inspiring! If consideration was proportional to the amount as we called them in those days. They weren’t called “comic books.” Then, as it of art displayed, Kirby was really honored in Angoulême as he had as many came to pass, into my shop comes this kid named Jacob Kurtzberg. Whatever pages displayed as Foster or Hogarth, and actually more than anyone else! happened to him, I don’t know. (laughs) He kind of looked like John Garfield to 45 me at the time. I think he thought he was John Garfield, and he got to working in the shop. He was one of the hardest-working guys in the shop, very serious, and... the towel story. (laughs) EVANIER: The story that Jack told me was that he saw Wow and he wanted to be part of it. He went to the address in the magazine and it was out of business. Someone there told him about Eisner and Iger and sent him up there. EISNER: And actually, the shop resembled an Egyptian slave galley. We were out in the Nile, guys are sitting all around and I’m sitting at the head, beating the drums, (laughs) but it was such a new field that, really, anything you did was innovative. Jack sat on the right-hand side of the wall and drew in some miniature room. The pen- ciling guys were sitting alongside the wall—, Chuck Mazoujian, and . At my big desk, I would sit down and rough out the initial characters and pass them down the line and back up, almost like an animation studio. We were trying very hard to make it profitable because we were getting five dollars a page for the work. I was being very innovative from a production point of view because, in those days, people were working on salary. They were not working freelance because I reasoned that if I was going to get any quality work out of them, I had to have them on salary. It’s very difficult to tell a freelancer to change panel three and move it over to panel five because it’s going to cost money. The guy who’s getting salary, he’d be very happy to change it. Jack was very accommodating, very easy to work with. A lot was going on and the shop grew. It started out with, maybe, five people. We were up to about ten or fifteen people at the time. We got to move to a larger office on 42nd Street, right across the street from the News Building, and we had two offices, two rooms; one great, wide one where all the artists worked and a little front room. For the artists, it was a big office building. Therefore, we decided we needed a towel service. So we subscribed to a company that would bring in towels every two or three days, changing them. Of course, we didn’t ask questions. Well, one day, I was in the office and Iger, who was my partner at the time, came in to me and he said, “Hey, there’s this guy out there who wants to come in and talk about the happy with your company because the towels me “boss.” He said, “Both of you, just a minute. I’ll towel service.” He said, “You’re in charge of are not coming out white,” and so forth. “Well, take care of this,” and he looks at this guy and said, production,” meaning I you know,” he said, “we got the franchise “What do you want, you big ?” The guy looks with was the partner here.” (laughs) So I said, “Well, I know you terror at this little guy. Jack says, “Look, we don’t in charge of pro- have but I called a couple of other companies want any of your crap from you. We don’t like your ducing. Iger was and none of them wanted to take on our damn towel service. Now, get the hell out of here.” the businessman. account. They said, ‘It’s not our territory.’” (laughs) Now I figure I’m going to be mopping up He was maybe So he said, “Look, we don’t want to have the blood off the floor. (laughs) To my amazement, thirteen years older no trouble with you. We want everything to my astonishment, this big guy turned around than me. Therefore, to go nice, see?” (laughs) So he says, and walked out. (laughs) Jack says to me, “He comes he was the business- “You tell me what your problem is, I’ll back again, call me. I’ll take care of him.” (laughs) man. So I went out try to fix it.” So I said, “Well, I want That was Jack. He changed his name very shortly and there stands this more towels.” He said, “I can’t get you from Jacob Kurtzberg, or whatever it was, to “Jack guy, straight out of a more towels. Only four towels.” By Curtiss.” He was doing the Count of Monte Cristo Mickey Spillane movie, the way, his voice is getting a little story at the time. Then he changed it later on to with a black hat and a stronger and I’m getting a little another one and became “Jack Kirby,” but it was white tie and a black worked up. I was getting a little angry always a joy to work with this guy. I always enjoyed shirt, looking like he broke and suddenly, out of the back, working with him. I didn’t see him after he left and a nose, speaking “like dis.” comes Jack. This guy is about 6' 2" joined up with Joe Simon, I didn’t see him until He said, “I’m in charge of and Jack’s about 4' 3". (laughs) many years later, here at this convention, where we the towel service,” and I Jack says to me, “Hey, boss.” He were really going to talk to each other; and this said, “Well, we want to change always called me “boss.” Even interview that I tried to do with him [for Spirit the towel service. We’re not through all of his life he always called Magazine #39, conducted circa 1982], more than any- 46 Himontary Thanks to Adrian Day for the logo treatment! Thanks to How Do You Kill The Man Who’s Died A Thousand Deaths? Surely he couldn’t be dispatched as easily as only appeared in one Fourth World issue—and Darkseid did in the Hunger Dogs graphic novel nearly two years after the epic began—could be (and with as pedestrian a means as a gun; talk such an important part of the tapestry. So for this about a scene that rang hollow. Himon would issue, we resurrect the “lovable old rascal” who certainly have utilized a “follower” to stand in taught Scott Free his craft by having three writers for him, as he did so many times before). give their take on one of Kirby’s most personal (and Regardless, it’s amazing that a character who fan favorite) sagas: Mister Miracle #9’s “Himon.”

59 Charles Hatfield

imon—master of disguise, escape artist par excellence, and suffocating, totalitarian world order. H\ above all the “master of theories”—is Kirby’s embodiment On Apokolips the free exercise of the imagination carries H of imagination. A protean genius, Himon has a disconcerting terrible risks: Himon’s students often die for dreaming. When (throughout this article) Scenes from Mister Miracle tendency to “phase” in and out of everywhere, and the power to young Scott Free witnesses this firsthand, when he sees dreamers #9’s story “Himon” in pencil. shake off bodies like dry husks, thus to sidestep death again and tortured and destroyed, he cracks, and finally, fully, commits again. Kirby suggests a prosaic explanation for Himon’s impossible himself to breaking free. For him Himon becomes no longer All characters TM & ©2002 DC Comics. escapes (apparently he can create convincing replicas or stand- merely a of furtive escapism, but a genuine means of ins for his own body), but, finally, Himon is a metaphor; every escape. The story of “Himon,” then, is about the horrors that literal-minded explanation of his powers falls short. He is imagi- break Scott’s conformism and harden his resolve for imaginative nation personified—the inspiration for designers, craftsmen, freedom—as the cover says, the great “bust-out.” dancers, artists—and his visionary energy threatens Darkseid’s The tale is unpleasant, yet exhilarating. Its setting is a night- mare, and its pervasive violence is cold, appalling. After decades of reuse, Apokolips remains one of Kirby’s best and most fright- ening ideas: a blotted, smoking, industrialized hell that makes mythology out of the author’s formative experiences, fusing Lower East Side squalor with visions of a thumping, jackbooted technocracy. “Himon” depicts this worldscape without much grandeur but with an astringent, unsentimental, and brutal clarity. (There are few dark places in Kirby’s oeuvre that can it: the City of Toads, perhaps, from Eternals #8-10, or the chilly dystopia of OMAC #1.) The story metes out torment and death, indeed a surplus of outrageous violence, with steely matter-of-factness. When I look at the pages of “Himon,” these are some of the things I see: I see signs of Kirby’s overarching ambitions for the Fourth World saga. Page 1’s explanatory caption links this story with “The Pact” (New Gods #7) and assumes a knowing audience that is following Mister Miracle and New Gods at the same time. At several points, Kirby foreshadows how Scott’s escape from Apokolips will factor into, perhaps spark, a new war; the darkly prophetic dialogue of Himon and Metron hints that Scott’s moment of decision may also be a decisive turning point in the whole saga. These hints suggest just how much narrative and thematic material Kirby was holding in his head at the time, and how meaningful the larger tapestry of the Fourth World had become for him at this decisive point in his career. This was a new and complex undertaking for a yarn-spinner whose work had most often been driven by the tyranny of frequent deadlines, and whose degree of engagement (not his work ethic, which was tireless, but his artistic interest) would so often vary even within a single month, waxing and waning according to his imaginative sympathy with the material. Here his engage- ment was at its fiercest, and his maintenance of continuity (so often a trouble spot for Kirby) most deliberate. I also see effective scripting. Admittedly, Kirby’s pounding urgency is often hard to take—his scripting is prone to overkill—and even here there are times when his captions are momentarily confusing; but “Himon” boasts an elegance and compression that are rare in Kirby’s scriptwriting, and the cadences of the text are hypnotic (dig the incantatory rhythms of pages 1 through 3, or the relentless 60 Adam McGovern

concentration camp inmates, or the Darwinian to expect it. There is violence aplenty, but mostly strife of Kirby’s own childhood in the ethnic ghettos of the kind we turn to fiction to forget: guerrilla of early 20th-century America. war-style peasant slaughters; attempted political That last point is central in distinguishing this executions; senseless torture; petty assassinations; story from much of . The tale is so haggard fugitive flights. In an acute understanding riveting that the reader might not at first realize how of the essence of terror, we are given scares by much decisively it diverges from the conventions of its more than we actually : we don’t see the genre. It is stunning to note, for instance, how little shocks administered to Auralie; we don’t see Willik’s “action” the story contains—or at least how little in club connect with Kreetin; we see few of Himon’s the forms pop-culture consumers are conditioned sentences carried out to the end, and Willik’s fate here came a time when the Fourth TT World cycle, Jack Kirby’s symbolic war of cosmic forces, benefited from a much more mundane contest. A battle for newsstand supremacy between Kirby’s then-publisher DC and the other industry giant of those days, Marvel, led to an increased page-count for several issues of each series in Kirby’s trilogy. This gave his saga the space it seemed most suited for. “Himon” in Mister Miracle was one of the longest episodes of that title’s run (though it appeared in the first issue after the page- counts came back down, presumably pro- duced by Kirby before he saw this coming). However, this most momentous and moving story of his career is remarkable not for spectacular sprawl but expressive economy. Like “The Pact” in New Gods, “Himon” flashed back in Kirby’s modern-day mythos to give the nightmare-fairytale background of how the saga’s apocalyptic con- flict—which mirrored the real-life super- power struggle of the time—came to pass. The enlargement of the preceding few issues had serendipitously created the most favorable conditions for this tour de force, carving out pages for some establishing chapters in the life of “Young Scott Free” (though in a sure sign of Kirby’s concision, these three installments themselves totaled 10 pages). While lacking the poetry of the full-length conclusion, their mise en scène is thoroughly imagined, and they let Kirby dispense with all needed exposition before the psychodramatic main event. That reads as Kirby’s most poignant and personal tale, and it can scarcely be coincidental that it is his most distinctly Jewish. Himon is a sympathetic reinvention of a literary with infamous anti-Semitic overtones (Fagin), and his name is a phonetic equivalent of the Hebrew one most ridiculed in English (Hyman, a.k.a. Hymie), though it translates as “Life.” Scott’s story is clearly a Moses narrative, though in keeping with the corrupted times it reflects, the hero is not saved by his family, nurtured by their enemy, and destined to become a prophetic liberator, but is instead sacrificed by his own kind, brutalized by his foster society, and consumed with rebuilding his own life as a haunted refugee. The entire cast’s dog-eat-dog relations recall the dehumanized pecking order among WWII

68 Adrian Day “Darkseid, and the rest of the cast have always been sincere Symbols of Duality in the Fourth World expressions of my feelings—reactions to all the things I knew were out there in the night, like the scrabbling of an unseen army of claws, or Of all the stories within Jack’s Fourth World series, “Himon” the beating of wings in nocturnal vigilance over sleepers in repose.” is the most mature and central to the greater theme concerning Jack Kirby the duality of God in the consciousness of man. “Himon” is a masterful allegory about making a choice of which God or power ’m a survivor,” Jack once said of we will attach ourselves to and the rewards and consequences himself, then thinking for a that come with either choice. These ideas, which are subtext “I“I throughout Jack’s other tales, are the focal point of the plot here. moment quickly revised his state- ment. “I’m a master survivor!” It was Himon and Darkseid represent the opposite sides of that a defining statement for a man who, in duality. Scott Free is in the middle, finally confronted with his the latter part of his career, saw survival moment of decision. This is the theme laid out for us since New as the theme of his most serious work. Gods #1 where the setting for the Fourth World conflict was It should be no surprise then that when established with and Apokolips on either side and Jack chose to align himself with one Earth (man) as their battleground at the center. The internal of his own creations, the character he struggle represented by this duality and the dark side of human chose was also a master survivor, or nature are very much at the heart of Jack’s story and a to in Jack’s words, “the master techni- understanding Darkseid and what he symbolizes. cian, the master of swiftness and tem- As Jack explains, “Darkseid never told a lie. He never deserted peratures, the ultimate escape artist.” his son. When he meets this old man with his grandson in To the best of my knowledge, Jack Happyland, he says, ‘When you’re asleep and you have a nightmare, never acknowledged any kinship I’m the guy you’re seeing—the other side of yourself.’ Because the between himself and the central figure other side of yourself is insecure. It’s villainous, it’s treacherous— of Mister Miracle #9, yet the similarities and don’t tell me that there may not come a time, in considering are striking. They are so striking, in your life against someone else’s, you would betray him.” fact, that not even a quote from Kirby Himon, in counterpoint to Darkseid, is all that is noble within to the contrary could convince me otherwise. Himon vacillates us. He is an indomitable spirit that, to the frustration of Darkseid’s between a caricature and a serious portrait of Jack, both physically minions, proves indestructible. He dares to have an imagination. and spiritually. Even within the context of the story, the references He dreams beyond Darkseid, an act that on Apokolips is made to Himon are equally fitting as epithets for Jack. unthinkable and perilous. The freedom that he shows Scott Free Our introduction to Himon has a wonderful mixture of the is in reality an internal one. Scott’s physical escape is merely that farcical and the dramatic. When an attempt is made to exterminate final act of commitment to a choice he has already made. him in the slums of Armagetto, he appears as a formidable shad- owy figure in a wall of flame. His humorous side is quickly The Source of Inspiration revealed when his escape attempt, via , lands him Many understand the New Gods books to be stories about (above) Next-issue blurb war and to be Jack’s statement on the nature of war. Certainly, from Mister Miracle #8. inside a wall due to faulty circuitry. Scott Free comes to his aid and saves him from being imbedded there permanently. Their relation- those elements are there. When the series was produced, the (below) The “master of ship in this scene is reminiscent of W.C. Fields and Freddie Vietnam War was still raging and much of the sentiment of the theories” meets the Bartholomew in Cukor’s David Copperfield, a story that also played times filtered through Jack’s stories. His views on the futility of “master of elements.” no small part in the inspiration for the Mister Miracle series. war can be found throughout the New Gods. Kirby, himself a Even Himon’s most serious moments are tempered by the veteran of World War II, had seen firsthand the worst in human (next page) Himon made mischievous pranks of the . His escapes are underscored nature. Apokolips, without question, is the logical extension of his final appearance in with a sense of humor, when Himon resurfaces in a crowd as a the Nazi Death Camp, encompassing an entire planet. Kirby was the Hunger Dogs spectator to his own execution. The elimination of Wonderful also well aware that Scott Free’s infraction of military guidelines graphic novel, to plague Willik by way of an exploding dinner tray, when Himon avenges for aero-troopers in growing his hair long would resonate within Darkseid one last time the deaths of his pupils, is something out of Looney Tunes. the culture of American youth who were in opposition to govern- before his eventual Through all this, it is an image of Jack that ment and war. These examples notwithstand- demise. we see in this unlikely hero. ing, Jack’s vision was much broader and the All characters TM & ©2002 DC Comics. The meeting between Himon and evils he was attempting to uncover were more Metron, near the story’s climax, reads subtle; indeed, more personal. like some imagined exchange between Kirby saw the fires that feed an Apokolips or Jack and a young Roy Thomas. Metron an Auschwitz burning in the normal situations greets Himon as the “master of theories,” of everyday life. He saw destroyers like Darkseid, an appropriate title for Kirby. Himon seeking an equivalent of the Anti-life Equation, calls Metron the “master of elements” operating at every level of our existence. These which Roy unquestionably was in his were the themes and convictions closest to heyday at Marvel, when the best of his Jack’s heart when he embarked on his Fourth efforts involved a masterful weaving of World series. Said Jack, “I felt there was a time storylines previously established by Jack. that a man has to tell a story in which he felt, When Metron declares, “the wonders I not anybody else, in which he felt there was build are born in your ! The roads no bullsh*t. There was absolute truth.” that I travel are opened by your massive In “Himon” and the like, Jack had an perception!”, he makes a statement to opportunity to tell that truth. It is the convic- which every writer and artist following tion that Jack didn’t pull any punches with Jack in the field of comics is heir. these tales that convinces me the inspiration

70 Kirby’s final Mister Miracle page (from #18), still in pencil form. Other than some statues, and the flashback scenes in issue #9’s Parting Shot “Himon” story, this was Darkseid’s only actual appearance in Mister Miracle—on the last page of the final issue of the series.

IF YOU ENJOYED THIS PREVIEW, CLICK THE LINK TO ORDER THIS ISSUE IN PRINT OR DIGITAL FORMAT!

KIRBY COLLECTOR #35 GREAT ESCAPES! MISTER MIRACLE pencil art gallery, MARK EVANIER, MARSHALL ROGERS & MICHAEL CHABON interviews, comparing Kirby and Houdini’s backgrounds, analysis of “Himon”, 2001 Kirby Tribute Panel (WILL EISNER, JOHN BUSCEMA, JOHN ROMITA, MIKE ROYER, & JOHNNY CARSON) & more! KIRBY/MARSHALL ROGERS and KIRBY/STEVE RUDE covers! (84-page tabloid magazine) $9.95 (Digital edition) $3.95 http://twomorrows.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=98_57&products_id=460

80