Mister Miracle TM & ©2002 DC Comics
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GREAT ESCAPES 84 THE NEW BIG pages DON’T TAKE LESS! ONLY $995 Collector 84 PAGES $9.95 BIGGER AND BETTER 84 PAGES NO. 35 SPRING 2002 TWOMORROWS JACK KIRBY COLLECTOR TWOMORROWS JACK It’s the great Kirby “BUST- OUT!! ” 84 PAGES $9.95 BIGGER AND BETTER 84 PAGES Mister Miracle TM & ©2002 DC Comics. & ©2002 DC Mister Miracle TM Contents OPENING SHOT . .2 THE NEW (why was Kirby always running from something or another?) UNDER THE COVERS . .4 (Steve Rude and Marshall Rogers out- line their respective covers this issue) JACK F.A.Q.s . .6 (regular columnist Mark Evanier 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 Batman) GALLERY . .26 (death traps, dwarfs, and bathing Bardas, all shown in pencil) TRIBUTE . .44 (the 2001 Kirby Tribute Panel, featuring the late John Buscema, John Romita, Mike Royer, Will Eisner, 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, Bekka, Ben Boxer, Bernadeth, Big Barda, Bruce Wayne, Darkseid, Female Furies, Forever People, Funky Flashman, Granny Goodness, Himon, Houseroy, In The Days of the Mob, Jimmy Olsen, Joker, Kamandi, Kanto, Komodo, Lashina, Losers, Mad Harriet, Madame Evil Eye, Metron, Mister Miracle, Morgan Edge, Oberon, Orion, Renzi, Scott Free, Shilo Norman, Silver St. Cloud, Stompa, Superman, The Lump, Tigra, Virmin Vundabar, Young Scott Free TM & ©2002 DC Comics. • Annihilus, Black Panther, Captain America, Daredevil, Devil Dinosaur, Eternals, Falcon, Fantastic Four, Galactus, Human Torch, Invisible Girl, Jasper Sitwell, Moonboy, Mr. Fantastic, Nick Fury, Dum-Dum Dugan, Silver Surfer, Thing, Thor, Ultron TM & © 2002 Marvel Characters, Inc. • Jacob & The Angel, Jupiter Plaque, Stereon, Street Code 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 Al Milgrom. ways with Joe Simon) 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 comic strip. 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 Sky Masters, 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 Marvel Universe, 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, the Losers 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 New York’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 the norm, 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 Stan Lee (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 Marvel Comics, 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-New Gods 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 Popeye 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 Thundarr the Barbarian. Escaping the “Big Two” (1980s).