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The #63 All characters TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.

$10.95 SUMMER 2014 THE

ISSUE #63, SUMMER 2014 C o l l e c t o r Contents

The !

OPENING SHOT ...... 2 (let’s put the Stan/Jack issue to rest in #66, shall we?) A UNIVERSE A’BORNING ...... 3 (the late Mark Alexander gives us an aerial view of Kirby’s Marvel Universe) GALLERY ...... 37 (mega Marvel Universe pencils) JACK KIRBY MUSEUM PAGE . . . .48 (visit & join www.kirbymuseum.org) JACK F.A.Q.s ...... 49 (in lieu of ’s regular column, here’s his 2008 Big Apple Kirby Panel, with , , and ) KIRBY OBSCURA ...... 64 (the horror! the horror! of S&K) KIRBY KINETICS ...... 67 (Norris Burroughs on Thing Kong) IF WHAT? ...... 70 (Shane Foley ponders how Jack’s bad guys could’ve been badder) RETROSPECTIVE ...... 74 (a look at moments in Kirby’s later life and career) INCIDENTAL ICONOGRAPHY . . . . .82 (we go “under the sea” with ) CUT ’N’ PASTE ...... 84 (the lost FF #110 collage) KIRBY AS A GENRE ...... 86 (the return of the return of Captain Victory) UNEARTHED ...... 89 (the last survivor of Kirby’s Marvel Universe?) COLLECTOR COMMENTS ...... 91 PARTING SHOT ...... 96

Cover inks: Cover color: TOM ZIUKO

If you’re viewing a Digital Edition of this publication, PLEASE READ THIS: This is copyrighted material, NOT intended Spider-Man is the one major Marvel character we don’t cover this issue, but here’s a great sketch of Spidey that Jack drew for for downloading anywhere except our website or Apps. If you downloaded it from granddaughter Tracy Kirby in 1975—one of the few good illos of the character Jack ever produced. another website or torrent, go ahead and read it, and if you decide to keep it, DO The Jack Kirby Collector, Vol. 21, No. 63, Summer 2014. COPYRIGHTS: 13, AIM, Alicia, , Ant-Man, , Baron Von Strucker, , , , Brik, , THE RIGHT THING and buy a legal down- Published most quarters by and © TwoMorrows Publishing, , , , , Dr. Droom, Dr. Strange, , Drom, Dum-Dum Dugan, Early , El , load, or a printed copy. Otherwise, DELETE Enchantress, , , Four, Fang Foom, , , , Galp, Giant-Man, Gorgilla, IT FROM YOUR DEVICE and DO NOT 10407 Bedfordtown Drive, Raleigh, NC 27614, USA. 919-449- 0344. John Morrow, Editor/Publisher. Single issues: $14 postpaid Herbie, Hulk, , , , Immortus, Infant Terrible, Invisible Girl, , , , Junior SHARE IT WITH FRIENDS OR POST IT Juniper, Ka-Zar, Kang, , , Marvel Girl, , , Mr. Fantastic, Nega-Man, , , , ANYWHERE. If you enjoy our publications ($18 elsewhere). Four-issue subscriptions: $45 US, $61 Canada, Plunderer, Princess Python, , Puppet Master, Quicksilver, Rama Tut, , , , , enough to download them, please pay for $66 elsewhere. Editorial package © TwoMorrows Publishing, a them so we can keep producing ones like Sentinels, Sgt. Fury, , , Space , Spider-Man, , Sub-Mariner, Tales of , Thing, Dr. Doom, this. Our digital editions should ONLY be division of TwoMorrows Inc. All characters are trademarks of , Titanium Man, , Triton, , , Wanderer, , , , , , , downloaded within our Apps and at their respective companies. All artwork is © Jack Kirby Estate X-Men, TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc. • , Demon, Desaad, , Guardian, , Kalibak, , www.twomorrows.com unless otherwise noted. All editorial matter is © the respective , , , , , Sandman TM & © DC Comics • Mr. Machine TM Ideal Toys • Black Hole TM authors. First printing. PRINTED IN CHINA. ISSN 1932-6912 & © Walt Disney Productions • Captain Victory, Jacob and the Angel, Beast Rider, Captain Glory, Satan's Six TM & ©Jack Kirby Estate • Thundarr TM & © Ruby-Spears Productions • Duck, Roxie's TM & © and Jack Kirby Prologue: Conflagration “I was a Scout in the infantry. If somebody wants to kill you, they make you a Scout. Once while I was on patrol, I entered a street and somebody from a window started calling me all kinds of names in German, and he was laughing. ‘I’ going to kill you,’ he said, ‘I’m going to shoot you right in the .’” Jack Kirby interviewed by Ray Wyman Jr., The Jack Kirby Collector #27

Conflagration: a huge, destructive [Webster’s New World Dictionary] fter the he was afraid of nothing. He trekked halfway around the world and stood face to face with evil men who wanted to slaughter him—just for his ethos—and he lived to tell about it. What could he possibly fear after that? A ? A Martin Goodman? A ? They were nothing—less than nothing. War had been hell— and conflagration. But Kirby, the advance Scout, had plunged directly into the without a fire mask. The heat was paralyzing—but he never once flinched. How could he ever fear anything again? Bigness Right from the start, Jack Kirby was the comic industry’s seminal - artist. His intuitive understanding of the action hero as iconography—as opposed to photorealism—brought an unprecedented and dynamism to his figures. He knew from the beginning the world depicted in comics was infi- nitely larger than life: as such, lifelike illustration couldn’t begin to do it . Kirby reduced the human body to its basic components: he deconstructed the human form, then reassembled it in completely new aesthetic proportions. As his sinewy supermen exploded across the page, their bodies defied all known laws of physics. Their powerful arms, legs, and torsos carved arabesques in space—they jackknifed, corkscrewed, twisted, turned, and danced magnificently, in impossible contortions. (above) Kirby during WWII. On his sleeve is Exactly, it was “bigness.” That’s it and that’s all. No other word applies. the 1942 Anti-Aircraft Immediately, every artist in the industry was copying his style—trying to capture his “bigness”—but Artillery patch. compared to Kirby, everyone else seemed pygmy. (below) in the 1940s. ©Joe Simon (next page, top right) Enter: Stanley Lieber in the Jack Kirby had fallen from great heights. Timely offices in the In the 1940s, Joe Simon and Jack Kirby were comics’ most successful duo. The team sold comics of all genres, to a mid-1950s. myriad of publishers. Their creations included , Marvel Boy, Newsboy , , Sandman, (next page, bottom right) Splash from , Stuntman, and the Boy Explorers. They did Westerns, crime books, and they invented the romance comic. Yellow Claw #2 (Dec. While working for Martin Goodman in 1940, Simon and Kirby spawned their most enduring character: Captain 1956), one of Kirby’s America, of justice, juvenilia, and jingoism. To meet the demands of Captain America’s monthly schedule, first Atlas jobs. Simon and Kirby needed a gofer—a flunky—so Goodman hired his wife’s teenage cousin, Stanley Lieber. (throughout) All pencil After the 1940s, comics suffered a near- experience. Plagued by the Wertham crusade, a new entertainment pin-ups are from the alternative called television, and a general lull in overall creativity, comic books were definitely in trouble. When the Valentine’s Day sketchbook Jack industry crashed in the mid-’50s, Jack and Joe—whose had folded—went their separate ways. drew for his wife Roz Darkening clouds of uncertainty began to gather as Kirby’s professional situation and finances began to dwindle. He got in the late 1970s. a trickle of work from Harvey and Atlas, but nothing substantial. In 1956, Kirby headed for the greener pastures of National, and began drawing Challengers of the Unknown under managing editor Jack Schiff. Meanwhile, trying to get out of comics before he went down with them, Kirby co-produced a newspaper strip called (along with Dave and Dick Wood, Jack Schiff, and ). A dispute over payments led Schiff to sue Kirby. After that, the artist felt unwelcome at National and pulled up stakes. Kirby drew The Double Life of Private Strong for , until National’s lawyers decided The ’s resemblance to Superman was close enough to prompt litigation. Result: cancellation—such was DC’s power in those days. Kirby also drew a couple of issues of The , but managing editor Richard Goldwater was put off by the bigness. He thought the artwork was “too creepy.” He wanted a slicker, more polished look: “Like the DC artists,” he said. As it happened, both Simon and Kirby had an axe to grind with Martin Goodman. They were piqued at not owning Captain America (Marvel had made a second attempt at matching its 1940s success in the mid-’50s), and Kirby despised 4 the company’s nepotism. But now, at age forty-one, Kirby’s prospects were bleak indeed. He was no longer king of the mountain. A landslide of misfortune had wrenched him down to where he could no longer even see the mountain’s peak. Compared to the new rising comic artists like (and DC’s slick, homogeneous “house” artists), Kirby’s big-action art suddenly seemed outmoded. Smallness was in now, as exemplified by ’s tiny-figured, miniaturist- approach to in World’s Finest. No one at National seemed to mind Kirby leaving, and to make matters worse, was canceling its action/adventure titles for more lucrative kiddie fare like Little Dot and Casper The Friendly . To Kirby, the entire industry must have seemed like a ghost—a ghoulish, rapidly vanishing medium that offered ever-diminishing options. By this time, it was 1958; his fortunes stood at low tide, and the industry had basically written him off. With few other prospects, he was forced to go back to work for Martin Goodman—whose comic company everyone knew was doomed. As for himself, Kirby wasn’t worried. He’d fought his way up from the ghettos of the Lower East Side, and the war-torn foxholes of Europe. As such, his present obscurity was just one more battle—and he still had plenty of fight left in him. It was comics themselves he feared for. Since the crash of the ’50s, it seemed the entire medium was burning out—going up in smoke. As if an unstoppable, all-consuming fire was blazing out of control, and the comics industry was

A Universe a’Borning PiN-UPPiN-UP standing directly in its path. To save comics, Jack Kirby would have to plunge—once more—-back into the CAPTAIN AMERICA inferno.

Return To Babylon A fetidness hung over the Marvel offices. It was a stench and an abomina- tion. It was a smell that had permeated the ex-Scout’s lungs before—years ago, on a beach in Normandy awash in human wreckage. Unmistakably, it was the smell of rigor mortis setting in: “Marvel was on its ass, literally, when I came around, they were moving out the furni- ture, they were taking desks out. I says, (sic) go in to Martin and tell him to stop moving the furniture out, and I’ll see that the books make money.” Jack Kirby, amalgamated from his 1990 Comics Journal #134 interview 5 Johnny , a radically modernized version of the 1940s Human Torch, was possibly the first teenager in comics who wasn’t merely a sexually-ambivalent “kid ”—whose main function was to keep the adult hero from talking to himself throughout the narrative. Johnny’s sister—Sue Storm—could dematerialize at will, and was the integrator. Her relationship to the Torch (as sibling) and to Reed (as future bride) was the unifying cord that tied the group together—and this is quite important—as a family. Aside from that, Sue was peripheral, and would pretty much stay that way. Meanwhile, The Thing was anything but peripheral. He looked like nothing on Earth: he had craggy orange flesh, and was cast as a bitter malcontent. The deep self-loathing his deformity had wrought would often turn itself outward, and seek surrogate victims like The Torch. Right from the start, was the one who counted most. Quite simply, he epitomized—and catalyzed—everything that would change in comic books after him. Or more to the point, because of him. After The Thing, the idea of what constituted a comic hero would expand and complexify—not fractionally, as it had been, but radically and rapidly. The monster was also Kirby’s first metaphoric self-portrait (the cigar was a dead giveaway). Other Kirby metaphors would follow. Over time, Ben acquired a blunt sense of humor to counterbalance his angst. But it was clear his Brooklynesque wisecracks masked a deep-rooted embitterment. His anguish and pathos evoked the reader’s sympathies, and Lee understated the emotionality just enough that Ben’s poignancy never degenerated into bathos. If any one character holds the key to Marvel’s success, it’s surely The Thing (sorry Spidey-fans). Simply, he’s the seminal-figure and cornerstone of their entire universe. He’s as important as that. Ironically, despite Lee’s later boasts that he developed The Thing to be “a new breed of hero, so phantasmagoric he would re-mold the entire comics industry,” the truth—as usual—is probably more mundane. The writers (and Martin Goodman) were most likely hedging their bets on a full-fledged 1960s superhero revival, and—cautiously— wanted to keep a “monster element” in the storyline, just in case. have been Verdant, violent and vengeful, The Incredible Hulk was a ferocious combustion of indefatigable energy. from humbler stuff. He personified Jack Kirby’s , terror, and power. A Behemoth Berserk (THE INCREDIBLE HULK, PREMIERE DATE: MAY 1962) He was the Jack Kirby bigness personified in green. What do you do for an encore after launching The World’s Greatest Comic Magazine? Kirby’s response was a -star who, if anything, pushed the envelope even further than The . Verdant, violent, and vital, the Hulk’s adventures had a raw intensity that had been missing from comics for years. The plots weren’t much: mostly, they were full-blown excuses for the monster to perform acts of magnificent destruction and splendid . Stone walls were toppled, tanks were demolished, and entire army battalions were scattered like bowling pins. No about it, Kirby was drawing big again. So big in fact, the crowded boroughs of —home of the FF— weren’t nearly spacious enough for all this grand-scale devastation. Benjamin J. Grimm, the heart and soul of Kirby’s universe, was the veritable Subsequently, Kirby settled his emerald enormity in the vast painted deserts between the Atlas Monsters and the Marvel superheroes. Had the FF never materialized, The Thing might possibly have ended up as of New Mexico: and even they were barely big enough to hold him. just another early ’60s monstrosity. The monster’s alter ego—Bruce Banner–-seemed ; and given 8 the circumstances, it suited him. A bespectacled, neurotic variation of , Banner came across as nervous wreckage. A nuclear physicist with a penchant for wearing purple pants, Banner seemed enigmatic and full of dark complexities. Indeed, within his frail frame two beings coexisted—intertwined but incompatible. Obviously, the writers were riffing on R.L. Stevenson’s Dr. Jekyl and Mr. Hyde. Banner’s love interest—Betty Ross—was totally bland, and her importance to the story- line was marginal at best. She epitomized vapid, white-bready characterization. Even her name was unoriginal, having been purloined from a 1940s Simon/Kirby character. Simply put, she didn’t count. Rick Jones definitely counted. Intriguingly mysterious from the onset, Jones would soon break the bonds of this series to play a larger, more complex role in the Marvel Galaxy— The . (More on him later.) As for the Hulk himself, to call him “a different kind of superhero”—besides sounding like a Lee cover blurb—would be a vast understatement. What kind of comics star was feared and vilified by every segment of society? What kind hated his own alter ego? Obviously with Although Thor possessed the ability to control weather, in seven initial issues ( #83-89), Kirby didn’t do much else with this bona fide god. That quickly changed after his A Universe a’Borning PiN-UPPiN-UP return to the book in #101.

The Hulk, Kirby had gone even further down the line he’d drawn with The Thing. The HULK This time, perhaps, he’d gone too far. Asgard Discovered (“THE MIGHTY THOR,” PREMIERE DATE: AUG. 1962) With one blow from his hammer, all the monsters in Journey Into Mystery’s first eighty-two issues were smashed to nothing. If the Hulk had been grotesque and looked on with revulsion by all society, Marvel’s next “blitz” would be a hero who was his diametrical opposite. The Hulk’s antithesis would have to be a perfect specimen of humanity—or better yet, a veritable god. Kirby’s early run on Thor (JIM #83- 89) never quite lived up to its real poten- tial. As you might expect, Kirby was too pressured, too overworked to sustain the dynamics and intensity the series deserved. On the whole, the book was plagued by the same type of boring, ludicrous that proliferated in nearly all the 1962 Lee/Kirby (FF excluded). Swimming the untested waters of a new superhero revival, Kirby displayed a cautious unwillingness to drop monster themes. For all he knew, there might be a core audience who still wanted beings like “the Stone-Men from Saturn” in every issue (see JIM #83). Almost as a matter of course, Lee’s contributions to the book were ceaseless variations of hackneyed hoods like “Thug Thacher,” and banal battalions of godless Commies. Mostly, they were downright dire. Readers who’d waited seven issues to see what Kirby could do with a superhero who was also a god, finally got their 9 answer: exactly nothing. At the point of JIM #89 (Feb. ’63), Kirby moved on, and the series degenerated into total stagnation. From These Small Beginnings (“THE ANT-MAN,” PREMIERE DATE: SEPT. 1962) Kirby even used “bigness” to create the illusion of smallness. Contrast of course, was the key to The Astonishing Ant-Man, who premiered in #35 (or arguably TTA #27). When seen from Henry Pym’s “ant’s-eye” view, his foes seemed to tower over him like skyscrapers. To induce this optical illusion, Kirby employed nauseatingly tilted perspectives, and wildly exaggerated foreshorten- ing. It made Ant-Man’s foes appear gargantuan as he gazed up at them, and made Pym seem microscopic when they looked down on him. This skillful exploitation of unusual angles rendered the action from a viewpoint that seemed , surrealistic, and near-hallucina- tory. When those giant, godless commies lifted their colossal, boot-clad feet to squash the tiny hero, it almost gave you . If you were a kid, the effect was mesmeric. Approximately, Kirby’s Ant-Man was a re-fried version of DC’s The . Likewise, Pym’s adventures were endless variations on the theme of smallness. Smallness however, wasn’t in Kirby’s vocabulary. In due course, despite the weird-angle inventiveness of the art- work, the novelty soon wore off. So did the reader’s patience for the book’s ceaseless parade of one lame villain after another. In Tales To Astonish #39 for example, Pym battled a giant, talking, radioactive beetle. It was monumentally moronic. Kirby packed it in after only six issues (TTA #35-40), leaving the series in less capable hands. As it turned out, Kirby’s departure would diminish The Ant-Man’s prospects infinitely more than any amount of reducing serum. Fire In The Sky (“THE HUMAN TORCH,” PREMIERE DATE: OCT. 1962) He flew in on a blaze of glory. The Human Torch’s solo excursion in (ST #101) seemed the logical encore to Fantastic Four. In theory, the spin-off series sounded like a winning idea. Judging by reader response, The Amazing Spider-Man was already shaping up to be a hit, and Johnny Storm would undoubtedly appeal to Spidey’s core audience: young adolescent males. It’s hard to argue with demographics. Perhaps to make Johnny even more swingin’ (in the vernacular of the times), they transplanted him and his sister in Glendale—a “” type (i.e., fictional) local town. With that done, the premise was set: Johnny was your average kid with super powers, living on his own with no nagging parents to answer to—only a blonde-bombshell sister, who was every delectable inch the perfect 1960s deb. Moreover, he drove a . What kid wouldn’t relate to that? There was one hitch: It invalidated all the FF’s past history. Disconnected from Reed, Ben, and New York—then given a secret identity to boot—the new series flew in the face of all existing Fantastic Four story-structure. Continuity? Lost. Along with the storyline paradoxes, The Torch’s villains were relentless in their mediocrity: Colorless, one-dimensional losers like The Destroyer, The Sorcerer, and The Barracuda. They were human flotsam and jetsam—dire enough to make even the most bored kid go back to his homework. [Note: One in particular stands out, for all the wrong reasons: “Paste-Pot Pete ,” who carried a huge, sloppy glue bucket everywhere, In 1962, Kirby and Lee were on a winning streak in comics. was perhaps the most mindless figure in all comics. Kirby’s later transformation of Pete (to Their “flawed hero” formula was producing miracles, but there was one “” in the system—Ant-Man. Even Kirby’s innovative the Trapster) may have been prompted—more than anything—by a desire to rid his comic “bug’s-eye-view” effects didn’t help. 10 MARVEL UNIVERSE CONTINUITY BYTE #1 (THE INEVITABLE RICK JONES) He was, in a word, unavoidable. He single-handedly took the concept of cross-character continuity to a whole new level—through the roof, that is. Rick Jones, the teen- enigma who appeared out of nowhere in The Incredible Hulk #1, was one of the most intriguing characters in Kirby’s universe, if for no other reason than his ubiquity. He first appeared as a mysterious orphan who was responsible for the Hulk’s inception. As stated, Jones was a (possi- bly subconscious) reanimation of the Golden Age . In Hulk #6, Jones formed The Teen Brigade—a group of ham radio buffs who used their telecommunications talents to aid the Marvel superheroes. Ironically, Marvel’s only Silver Age “kid gang”—the type which Kirby was noted for—appears to have been a Lee/Ditko concept. In March 1963, Jones made his first of countless crossovers, appearing with The Hulk in FF #12. Next, he hopscotched to The Avengers (Avengers #1) where he would infix himself for the next seven- teen consecutive issues. In December 1964, R.J. pulled double-duty appearing in Tales To Astonish #62 and #60 simulta- neously, marking the fourth and fifth Marvel titles he’d been featured in. At the point of Avengers #17 (6/65), Jones got piqued at not being considered for the group’s new line-up. Subsequently, that same month, he moved out of The Avengers directly into Tales To Astonish #68, and once again became a regular Incredible Hulk supporting cast member. The kid never saw an unemployment check in his life. In the late ’60s, Roy Thomas recognized the ubiquitous, series- hopping Jones as the undisputable Nexus of the Marvel Universe, and duly employed him as ’s ticket out of The . Later, Roy gave Rick a major role in the early ’70s “/Skull War.” It was amazing how much mileage Marvel was getting from this suppos- edly minor Kirby character. But all that came later: going back to the 1960s, when Steranko took over Captain America, he had Rick warily don Bucky’s old uniform once again. This time, Cap didn’t go psycho on him like he’d done in Avengers #7. Instead, he finally made Rick his partner. (But probably not for sheer loyalty—remember, by this point, Jones had sworn allegiance to The Hulk, then to The Avengers, then to Cap, then back to The Hulk, and now back to CA again. “Opportunist” may be the word that applies.) However you choose to label him, Rick Jones played one of the most contrasting and complex roles in The Silver Age—his numerous cross-title appearances were crucial links in Marvel’s vast chain of continuity. Ironically, in an entirely fitting twist of fate, once Rick began fight- ing side-by-side with Cap in Bucky’s old uniform, he became the living reincarnation of the Golden Age character who probably spawned him to begin with. In a strange sense, it was another completing of the circle.

(left column) Hulk #1, Hulk #6 (by ), Fantastic Four #12, Avengers #1. (right column) Tales To Astonish #62 (by Ditko), Tales of Suspense #60, Avengers #17 (by ), Tales To Astonish #68, Avengers #7.

21 Gallery

Commentary by Shane Foley

(right) Shown here is a rough photocopy of Jack’s pencils from Strange Tales #141. Though he was generally doing layouts on the series, for this issue, he produced much tighter pencils for .

(page 38) A Strange Tales #146 discovery—go read it! Thanks to Pete Von Sholly for alerting us.

Sean Howe, in the course of researching his recent book : The Untold Story, unearthed a nice batch of Fantastic Four #61 pencil stats, so let’s dig in:

(page 39) Fantastic Four #61 pencils, from page 17: Sandman, visually created by Ditko, had no real need of a visual upgrade—and indeed some readers objected to it—but it seems that during this period in his career, Kirby simply couldn’t help himself. (Although who knows— maybe Stan asked for the redesign?) But one of the practical reasons given for the costume was to give Sandman extra abilities, courtesy of the Wizard—and this stunningly drawn page puts that idea into action.

(page 40) Fantastic Four #61, page 10: Panel one is inspired design. Amidst the chaos, all four characters are easily identified by the reader, as his eye is directed through and around the oval-shaped action. Then, when the reader is ready to move to the next panel, Reed’s arm near Sue leads the eye directly to Sandman in the second panel. Then Sandman’s blast takes the eye directly to Sue’s head in panel three. Superbly clear storytelling. And, amazingly, Jack draws Sue with broken lines, rather than leaving that to the inker.

(page 41) Fantastic Four #61, page 13: For years, Kirby enthusiasts thought that John Romita added his Peter Parker and Mary Jane heads to panel two—now we have proof! Looking at panel three, and seeing the amazing detail there, who would guess that Kirby produced at least three pages per day? No corners cut here!

(pages 42-43) Fantastic Four #61, page 14, before and after inking. This page shows how closely Stan followed Jack’s border notes, often using almost the exact phrasing, while deliberately avoiding others. In panel two, ‘strange beams of unearthly spectrum’ become ‘spectrum beams’ (to me, Stan’s revision makes less sense than Jack’s original), while Jack’s ‘something is really cooking’ is much improved by Stan and kept in spirit only.

37 39 Mark Evanier Jack F.A.Q.s A column of Frequently Asked Questions about Kirby

In lieu of Mark’s regular made enormous sense. To column this issue, we 2008 Jack Kirby Tribute Panel this day I am amazed how proudly present his Held November 1, 2008 at the Big Apple Comic-Con in New many times I’d be walking 2008 Kirby Tribute Panel, featuring three York City. Moderated by Mark Evanier, and featuring Roy down the street and sud- key players in the early Thomas, Joe Sinnott and Stan Goldberg. denly something Jack said Marvel Universe: Roy Transcribed by Steven Tice, edited by John Morrow and to me in 1973 pops into my head, and I just suddenly Thomas, Joe Sinnott, copyedited Mark Evanier. go, “Oh, yeah, I get it now. It applies now.” and Stan Goldberg. Roy, come on up! You all know Roy Thomas, every- The full video of this panel can be found at: body. [audience applauds as Roy joins panel] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0xIyH3rwdCQ&feature=related Around 1972 or ’73 Jack said when we were at the (right) On the back of a San Diego convention, “Someday the San Diego con- stat of his art from MARK EVANIER: I’m always surprised by the number vention, it’s going to take up the entire city of San Strange Tales #138 (Nov. 1965—sent to of people whose lives Jack touched, including people in Diego, and it’s going to be huge. And it’ll be where him by Marvel to help other lines of work. Right after he died, I got this letter Hollywood comes every year to sell the movies they him keep up with from a kid, going on and on about how Jack influenced made last year, and to find all the movies they’ll make issue-to-issue continu- his work. The guy was a welder. And he actually next year.” And that’s what’s happened. ity), Jack scribbled said that Jack Kirby had encouraged him to be the best these cryptic words in ROY THOMAS: Literally? pencil (apparently dur- damned spot welder in the world. I think Jack would ing a bout of research). have liked that. He would have been proud, probably EVANIER: He said that. Yes, he did. And you all know After a bit of detective much more proud than if the kid had gotten into Joe Sinnott, ladies and gentlemen, work, we discovered comics. As many times as I am made aware of Jack’s [applause as Joe and Stan that these are the names of four gods of impact, I still continue to be surprised by who I hear Goldberg join panel] and Norse mythology, which from, and how many people, and how intense their feel- Mr. Stan Goldberg. Jack used in Thor ings still are towards this man. [audience applauds] Can Annual #2 (1966). We’re now at the point, at the stage, where Jack has somebody another now been gone for fourteen years, so there are a lot of chair up here in case Dick people who are very heavy into comics who’ve never Ayers shows up? (below) Kirby poses had the chance to meet Jack. How many people here poolside at the 1973 met Jack? [About a tenth of the room raises its hands] San Diego Comic-Con. There was a period of time, if you went to a San Diego Photo by . convention, and cared enough to wait twenty minutes, you could meet Jack. He was the most accessible guy in the world. All these people got to meet him and shake his hand, and say how much they loved his work, and hear some com- pletely incoherent comment from him that they would pretend was normal. [audience laughter] And then, three years later, they figure it out. “Oh, that’s what he meant.” But we’re now to the point where people are coming up to me and saying, “I never had a chance to meet Jack.” They want to shake my hand because my hand shook Jack’s. You know, I met , and I felt privileged that way. I met a lot of very important All right, good afternoon. I’m Mark Evanier. That people who are no longer with us, people who makes this officially a Jack Kirby panel. [applause] affected others’ lives, and it’s the same way with People in the back, if you can’t hear someone, would Jack. It’s something that we will always carry you wave to me and tell me that you can’t hear? around. It doesn’t make us any better. It just Otherwise, I’m going to presume you hear. I keep doing makes people envious. [laughs] And they all say, these panels at conventions about Jack because—I go to “What was he like?” He was like Jack. He was conventions and people talk to me about Jack all the this sharp little tough guy with a New York time. So it’s nice to get everyone together, and all the accent whose mind raced from—I tell people, Kirby fans in the building, because we are, after all, the most people’s brains, they start with A, they go classiest, smartest ones at the convention. It’s great to to B, and they go to C. Jack would start with C, talk with some of the people who had the pleasure of then he’d do A, then he’d do R, then he’d do W, working with Jack, contributing to his life and his then he’d be On Beyond Zebra. He would have career, and being a part of all that. I think you all know all new letters to get to. And at some point it all what all of these gentlemen have done over the years. Roy’s going to have to leave early, so I’m going to talk to 49 few times he deviated from that, he wasn’t very happy. It didn’t work for him creatively. Joe, I think you’ve answered this question many times: would you take us through the process— again, because people are interested in this. You go to your mailbox, the man hands you a package. You open it up and there’s the new Fantastic Four. What’s the first thing you do? It’s all penciled, it’s all lettered. What do you do? SINNOTT: Well, the first thing, every page I ever got from Jack I was in awe of, especially when I did Fantastic Four #5. I couldn’t believe it. I had never seen the book. I didn’t even know they existed. And I said, “Gee, there’s something special here.” See, back in those days Stan was always trying something new, and we never expected anything. Spider-Man, we never expected things to materialize like they did, and even the Fantastic Four, I’m sure—when I saw those characters, I said, “Gee, this is really something special.” At that time we were so used to doing the monster books and whatever, that Stan, as you know, was always looking for a new trend to make some money for Marvel. But when I saw Fantastic Four #5, especially Jack’s—I had done a few little things with Jack previous to that, a couple of monster books, I think. But, in any case, the characters were so great, I just couldn’t wait to get into inking the story in #5. It had , of course, and it was just . But, Mark, every time that I got Jack’s pages, even right up to the time he left the Fantastic Four, I was always in awe, and you couldn’t wait to open up his packages. And once in a great while there were little things that I had to change, but that was only nor- mal. And Stan expected it. Stan called me one time. He said, “Joe, whatever you’re doing, keep doing it,” Above is Stan Lee’s plot synopsis for what became late 1966 Marvel releases. First is Thor #134-135 (Nov.- Dec. 1966), followed by Fantastic Four #57-60 (Dec. 1966-March 1967), and finally the Captain America he said. “We like what you’re doing on the Fantastic feature in Tales of Suspense #82-84 (Oct.-Dec. 1966). You have to assume this was given to Jack, prior to Four.” So I would add a little bit here and there, but him beginning work on any of these stories, and it’s fascinating to see how he took these basic ideas, and that was early on. Then it got to the point where I built multi-issue arcs out of them—great stories, but they aren’t regarded as his most pivotal work. said to myself, “You know, that’s not being fair to Interestingly, these immediately follow Jack’s most epic creative bursts on each series: FF #44-52 (ending Jack.” So I started inking Jack more like Jack had pen- July 1966) with all the new character introductions; Thor #125-130 (ending July 1966) with Thor and ciled. You know, originally I’d say to myself, “Gee, battling in ; and TOS #79-81 (starting July 1966), with Cap vs. the Red Skull over the . So July 1966 issues would seem to point to some kind of a creative turning point here. Jack doesn’t know how to draw ears. I’ll give them Jack was a “pack rat” who saved everything, but very few of these synopses have surfaced. What does the ears, you know, how ears should really lack of ones for earlier issues indicate about Lee and Kirby’s working relationship, both before and after look.” But, of course, then it wasn’t Kirby. Kirby had these late 1966 issues? We’ll have a greater examination of this theme in TJKC #66 next summer. a way as we know, with his muscles, they didn’t exist the way he drew them, but it certainly told the story. And everything only problem was that—if Frank had been able to more, a little Jack did was so dynamic that you didn’t have to change a bit, actually. bit, he could have done the books that Joe didn’t do. But, unfortu- Although we couldn’t help but change a little bit here, a little bit nately, he was just never organized enough to do that. So we were there. Add a little bit here and a little bit there. And I think, all those really lucky in having such wonderful . But even Vinnie Colletta things that I did with Jack, if I did anything, I enhanced Jack’s work a that everybody dumps on, the readers just loved it. Of course, it was little bit, made it a little slicker. And a lot of people liked the period Jack, but somehow or other that had a different approach and that that I was working with Jack, [Fantastic Four issues in] the 40s, 50s, looked great. But Joe and Frank were the guys. 60s, 70s. But, then again, they were great characters. I mean, the EVANIER: I think there was one other guy. . Silver Surfer, the . That was a great period that Stan was writing and creating these great characters. So it was a great period THOMAS: Yeah. Gil always thought he was one of the best. He did a to be working with Jack, and I’m glad I was part of it, really. couple of , Bill Everett, yeah. THOMAS: I just want to say one other thing before I leave. I don’t EVANIER: Would you thank Roy Thomas for spending this time with think that many people, at least, that went through that period, us? [applause, Roy leaves] thought that anybody except Joe Sinnott was the best inker that Jack I’m going to go to questions from the audience in a moment, had for almost anything. There was only one other person, I think, but first, Joe, I want you to tell me now, you get a package of Jack’s in who could have perhaps wrangled him, and whose work I liked the mail. You open it up. It’s an issue of Fantastic Four. What is the about as much whenever I saw it, but there was very little of it. That very first thing you do? Do you read the story first? was Giacoia, who when he would do those few Captain Americas SINNOTT: Never. I never read a Fantastic Four story. Can you believe they did, it was different. It was probably a little closer to Jack. The 58 Barry Forshaw Obscura

among S&K enthusiasts. Ever since we announced the library, people have A regular Titan’s S&K “Horror” been clamouring for it. And this will be volume is out now, with column focusing stories from Black on Kirby’s least the only place fans can get all of Joe Magic and Strange known work, and Jack’s material from , due in large part to World of Your Dreams by Barry Forshaw Joe Simon’s ability to think ahead. Because Joe copyrighted published from 1950 several issues of Black Magic in the Simon and Kirby name, to 1954—320 pages, with more great art THE SIMON & meaning that no one can release it without formal authoriza- reconstruction by KIRBY LIBRARY: tion. These are key issues, too—some of the most influential Harry Mendryk. HORROR! stories they produced. All together, this volume includes all of I don’t care if your roof has the stories Joe and Jack themselves illustrated. In the inter- collapsed or that the ground floor of est of being complete, we even included stories where Jack your house is devastated by floods. I only contributed part of the artwork, then handed it off to “Prison 2000 A.D.” other guys in the studio. This is the best of the best. was only reprinted in don’t care if your younger brother needs Strange Tales Annual money spending to help cure his drug “Black Magic and Strange World of Your Dreams were unique #2. “The Hole In The habit. I don’t care that there is an expensive on the horror scene of the 1950s, when lurid gore was capturing Sky” has not been new restaurant you want to try. Here’s what you all of the headlines. Joe and Jack—along with Mort Meskin, reprinted—so there, Bill Draut, (), , Barry Forshaw, should spend your money on: the latest, amazing , and the rest of the S&K Studio—favored a there’s still a need addition to the Simon & Kirby library (following the for this column! deluxe edition of the science-fiction stories), Simon subtler, more sophisticated approach. No less frightening, it and Kirby: Horror! Put together by the same elite team as didn’t rely on cheap tricks to the degree other comics might. that volume (Steve Saffel and Harry Mendryk), it is not only “That’s likely what causes such loyalty among the fans— a relatively inexpensive way to acquire a conflation of several the sense that they’re not just reading examples of ’50s hor- pricey books, but the restoration (in larger format and with ror. They’re reading the best of ’50s horror. I’ve long claimed perfect color placings by Mendryk) has the artwork looking that, with stories about the beautiful young woman among better than it ever did on the stories in the original issues. the freaks, the thing outside of the plane, and the evil living What’s more, once again matte paper has been used so doll, Black Magic must have been read by someone who that the feel of the original books is sensitively reproduced went on to produce The Twilight Zone—perhaps , rather than the glossy stock used in many reprint volumes, perhaps someone on his staff. And even if that’s not the which makes the colours look garish. The contents? Well if case, the fact that we can compare Black Magic to The you’re reading this magazine, you don’t need me to extol the Twilight Zone shows how high the bar was set. virtues of such Jack Kirby masterpieces as Black Magic and “This was material that struck dread into the hearts of Joe its ilk. Not that such considerations have stopped me in the and Jack, though not in the way you might think. past—several times in this column you might remember that “Like everyone in the industry, they were glued I’ve praised this memorable title, to the television in 1954, watching the Kefauver hearings into which unlike many American horror the relationship between comics and juvenile delinquency. comics of the 1950s enjoyed a rea- They watched as, in Joe’s eyes, fell apart sonable run in Great Britain in 68- under cross-examination. But that was nothing compared to page black-and-white editions. And the moment when a copy of Black Magic #29 was held up— just as in the States, it was cited in the famous “Beautiful ” cover. Though there were no various attempts at comic censor- dripping hatchets, or severed heads, or bloodthirsty zom- ship—and who needs a better bies—even though the horror was largely psychological— reason to read it than that? Rather their work was being condemned on national television. than tell you just how good these “Black Magic only lasted four more issues in its original stories are again, I decided to ask incarnation. It was revived a couple of times, but never with senior acquisitions editor Steve the quality presentation it deserved. Until now. Thanks to Saffel again (who I’d spoken to Harry Mendryk and, of course, Joe Simon himself, fans will about the Simon & Kirby Science- be able to pore over some of the finest comics in the history Fiction Library) and art restoration of the industry. And wherever he is, Joe will be able to watch Harry Mendryk to tell me as, one more time, he and Jack scare the crap out of us.” just what working on this book meant to them. So... Steve? Harry? Harry Mendryk: “I originally started doing restorations of the line art of Simon and Kirby covers. This was sometime in the mid-to-late ’90s, and even at that date, using bleach to Steve Saffel: “The Simon & Kirby Library: Horror! may be the most remove the colors from old comic books was financially out anticipated volume in the series— of the question. I already had some experience with for some reason, the material from Photoshop and so I devised a procedure to digitally bleach Black Magic inspires some of the scans of the covers. It was by no means perfect and would most intensely fervent interest require some touching up, again using Photoshop. I finished 64 An ongoing examination of Kirby’s art and compositional skills

tell, but he certainly channeled it Thing Kong into his vital and energetic artwork, particularly with combative characters irby has said on several occasions that he identifies like the Thing. (below) Gorgilla, from with the Thing, the grumpy orange-skinned monster In 1933, a film appeared that Tales To Astonish #12 K he co-created with Stan Lee in the first issue of the must have exploded like a rush of (Oct. 1960). Fantastic Four. The son of Austrian Jewish immigrants, primordial energy in the impression- Kirby grew up on the mean streets of New York’s Lower able brain of the then sixteen-year- East Side. The area was teeming with rival street gangs, old Kirby. The impact of King Kong is and as the artist details in his “” story, he difficult to appreciate today, but suffice it to say that often fought to assert himself or just to survive. Just nothing like it had ever been seen before. The cutting how much anger Kirby carried inside him is difficult to edge technology of stop-motion allowed the filmmakers to create the illusion of a gargantuan creature in a primeval lost world, and then see him transported to 20th century . King Kong has been analyzed extensively, yielding interpretations running the gamut from a metaphor for the subjugation of man’s primitive instincts, to that of the enslavement of African-Americans. What is certain is that Kong’s treatment at the hands of a callous humanity makes him an extremely sympathetic and tragic figure, and it is easy to identify with his plight. Since over the years, Kirby has based several stories on the King Kong template, one can easily imagine that the film had a profound impact on him. When Kirby returned to Martin Goodman’s Atlas line in 1959, he and Stan Lee embarked on a series of monster stories. One of these, appearing in Tales To Astonish #12, bears a striking resemblance to King Kong. In this story, Gorgilla, a giant jungle dwelling primate, is discovered in a remote location in Borneo. After the requisite battle with a T-Rex, Gorgilla stows away on a ship and comes to New York. Here (left) in the first panel on the third page of the story, is a powerful image of the creature moving towards the vessel that will carry him to America. Unlike Kong, Gorgilla was a willing immi- grant who went seeking some sort of bond with his dis- tant fellow primates, as emphasized in Stan Lee’s text. Of course, Gorgilla’s intent is completely misun- derstood and he is instead seen as a threat, until the very end of the story. Of particular interest is that in the story’s climax, Gorgilla climbs the Statue of Liberty, the symbol of America’s willingness to embrace the immigrant, in order to apprehend a villainous saboteur. There is great poignancy in the wide panel (shown on next page) where the creature is shot while clinging to his perch that is the crown of the statue. The visual impression is that he is impaled on the spikes of the crown. As he, like Kong, tragically falls to his death, one can see in panel two that he mimics the statue’s pose by raising aloft holding the spy. What is even more tragic here is that the humans harassing Gorgilla have been unaware 67 Isn’t it sometimes hard to believe that people can be so passionate about the same subject, yet have such diametrically opposite views on that same material? Such was obvious as I read Mark Alexander’s “Lee and Kirby: The Wonder Years” If What? in TJKC #58. I think I disagreed with his views almost as often as I agreed with them; entertaining and perplexing at the same time. One statement of his in particular immediately got my little brain ticking over. Hence, these fannish By Theirramblings, Enemies which I’ve entitled: Shall Ye Know Them

by Shane Foley n page 44, Mark writes that “Jack and Stan’s strong Universe, except in Ditko’s books, was filled with villains suit was creating noble, dignified heroes....” with some Kirby DNA. DC couldn’t compare. I liked O How true! But then a sentence later, he writes, Batman as a hero, but, to me, his gallery of riddling, (below) It’s tough to fear “Likewise, the duo’s greatest failing was their inability to giggling, party-dressed buffoons didn’t hold a candle to a man in a skirt, but easier than a guy in a concoct the antithesis of these heroes—menacing villains, Kirby’s power-charged, thundering super-villains. The toga. Good job, Jack! evildoers and bad guys.” fact that these early Marvel villains have kept being Failing? I couldn’t disagree more. rehashed and returned to, over and over for the last 40 To my mind, that line should read, years, surely means there are many others who think as “Likewise, the duo’s similar success was their highly of them as I do. (And yes, I know many think just ability to concoct the greatest villains and evil as highly of Batman’s Rogues Gallery—but not me.) doers and bad guys ever assembled in one I’m not only thinking Dr. Doom or Galactus. Their comic, anywhere.” place as two of the best villainous creations in comic Certainly, a huge chunk of the Kirby FF’s book history is certain. It’s the rest of the FF’s baddies status in comic book history comes from that that concern me. supporting cast of ‘dignified heroes’ which no Why do I love them? A couple of reasons. other strip came close to matching. And more Many were, by today’s standards, undeveloped often than not, these, rather than true ‘baddies’, character-wise. Back in the ’60s, who was? But during were the antagonists. And why not? Time and that time, these colorful characters bounced off the page again, Marvel showcased conflicts that weren’t with a life that other companies’ baddies didn’t have, always about ‘good vs evil’, but about misunder- and made the Marvel world alive! These were comics standing, differing perspectives and the like. that made no apology for being comics—yet added just That’s why the FF fought Sub-Mariner and the enough humor and characterization to stand out from Thing fought the others. And we loved it! the Surfer and Lee and Kirby together were dynamite. so on. Stan Lee provided the glib and witty dialogue that But even stood head and shoulders above others. if we remove But more often than not, it was Kirby who did it for all these won- me! Why? His baddies looked terrific! And they came derful charac- from or lived in an environment that looked terrific! ters—Sub- It was, and still is, the unique and powerful designs Mariner, that Kirby gave each of them that screams ‘potential’ to a Watcher, superhero reader. Combine this with the evocative places Inhumans, Kirby put many of them in (and sometimes the character Silver Surfer, that arose from the interplay with the FF during their Black Panther, conflict) and that potential just oozed out! and perhaps the Wanderer (A side thought for a moment about Galactus: I wonder and Him—we if he would have the status he has today if he looked different. still see what I that wonderful page 2 shot in FF #49 had Galactus think is the looking very similar to the Watcher—both giants in togas, as greatest baddie shown at left? Would he have returned as often as he has? Or line-up ever. would someone have tried to create a better character? After As a all, it’s not like the name is anything special—‘Galactus’ is as young reader corny as ‘Dr. Doom’ or ‘Mr. Fantastic’.) in the ’60s, Most of the best known and most used Kirby FF that’s certainly villains are those that were featured in his ‘cosmic’ era how I felt. And (from about the FF mid-40s up)—either villains that I still do. were created then, or older villains that Kirby returned Right and revamped. from the word Doom is the greatest example, of course, of an older “go,” when I becoming ‘upgraded’. But as the ‘cosmic age’ dawned, was a young others, like the Frightful Four, were right there too. reader, it Suddenly, after Galactus, the Surfer, the Wanderer, seemed the and the Panther had all been introduced, and when whole Marvel 70 Retrospective Key Late Career Moments by John Morrow, with Richard Kolkman and friends

ontinuing our look at key moments in Jack’s life • Mighty Marvel Con (March 22–24). spots and career from TJKC #59 (which covered Marvel Kirby going into Stan’s office, and yells down the Marvel C in the 1960s) and #62 (which covered 1970-1975), halls, “Kirby’s back!” we present this timeline of key moments that affected • March 24: Kirby signs a three-year contract with Marvel Kirby’s tenure after he left DC Comics in 1975. Of (valid through April 30, 1978), and appears at the Mighty invaluable help were Richard Kolkman (who sent me an Marvel Con held at the Hotel Commodore in New York City. extensive list to begin work from), Eric Nolen-Weathington, Kirby stuns MMC attendees with the announcement of his Ray Wyman, Tom Kraft, Glen Gold, and Rand Hoppe, return, and in regards to what he will be doing for Marvel, as well as Mark Evanier’s book KIRBY: King of Comics Kirby says, “It’ll electrocute you in the mind!” and Sean Howe’s Marvel Comics: The Untold Story. • May: Barry Alfonso’s fanzine Mysticogryfil #2 features an This isn’t a complete list of every important date in interview with Kirby. Kirby’s later career history, but should hit most of the main ones. Please send us additions and corrections. Next issue, I’ll work on pivotal moments in Jack’s 1940s- 1950s career with Joe Simon. My rule of thumb: Cover dates were generally two-three months later than the date the book appeared on the stands, and six months ahead of when Kirby was work- ing on the stories, so I’ve assembled the timeline according to those adjusted dates— not the cover dates—to set it as close as possible to real-time. Early 1970s • May 30, 1972: Kirby signs an agreement with Marvel, effectively relinquishing any claim he might have to the copyright on Captain America. This document is used against Joe Simon’s efforts to secure the copyright on Captain America Comics #1-10. • May 25: Wings’ album and Mars featuring the song “Magneto and Titanium Man,” is released (the cover of the • Late 1972: Rocket’s Blast Comic Collector #94 45 rpm single is shown above, which featured repurposed features an erroneous newsflash titled “Kirby non-Kirby art from Marvel). Leaves DC,” which speculates what might happen if Kirby returned to Marvel. The article • June 2: Menomonee Falls Gazette V4, #181 features an creates quite a stir in fandom. interview with Kirby. • Summer 1974: Neal Kirby • July: Mediascene #15 features a preview article entitled asks Roy Thomas to meet the “The King Returns.” Kirbys for coffee at the San • August (October cover date): The Marvel Comics Bullpen Diego Comic-Con, to deter- page announces, “The King is Back! ’Nuff said!” and lists mine Marvel’s possible inter- his future projects as 2001, Captain America, and a giant est in having Jack return. Roy Silver Surfer book. tells Jack he and Stan would be glad to have him back. • September (November cover date): New Kirby covers hit the stands: Fantastic Four #164, #3, Iron Man #80, Ka-Zar #12, #26 (featuring Hercules), 1975 Marvel Super-Heroes #54 (featuring Hulk), Marvel Two-in- • Early 1975: It is presumed One #12 (guest-starring Iron Man), and Thor #241. that Kirby talks with Stan Lee regarding the possibility of • September: Captain America #192 features a next issue Kirby returning to Marvel. promo with art by Kirby and Frank Giacoia (next page, top). • February 20: Longtime Marvel • September: FOOM #11 features a preview of 2001: A Arthur “Artie” Simek Space Odyssey, cover art for Captain America #193 and dies. #194, and “Kirby Speaks,” an interview with Kirby. • March 18: Kirby visits the • September: Kirby ignores editorial pleas to integrate the Marvel offices for the first rest of the Marvel Universe into his Captain America series. time since his departure in • November (January 1976 cover date): Captain America 1970. The visit takes place on #193 is published, beginning the “Madbomb” storyline, the Monday before the 1975 which is timed to end on America’s bicentennial. 74 It’s not ...being easy... green! Incidental Iconography

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

ne of the many reasons why Jack’s run on the Fantastic Four is dives into considered by some to be his best work, is the ongoing the harbor. O inventiveness he put on display every month for nearly a Once decade. New characters and ideas were thrown out on a regular the Seeker basis and, captures considering how him, we’re much was put into able to see each issue, it’s a some more wonder Jack was able details, to keep track of any notably his of it! It’s in that light seaweed-like that I want to bring eyebrows up Triton of the and fins on Inhumans. his arms. Triton was, from (Although the start, something the cover of of an outcast of the the issue group, needing his does some- body to be almost what spoil constantly submersed the surprise in water in order to of his survive. As he was also able to breathe underwater, he was often appearance.) used as a scout, using local waterways to access areas others could The follow- not. So he was frequently at a physical distance from the rest of the ing issue Royal Family—almost as much as Crystal was. This provides an separation seems to have spurred an interesting series of design even closer changes by Jack that he didn’t apply to the other Inhumans. look on the Interestingly, Jack opening devised a solution to splash where Triton’s hydration we see his webbed fingers. This seems to be the design Jack intended problem before the from the outset, despite not providing a clear image of it until FF #47. character even debuted! When we see Triton again in FF #54 (left), has created When readers first see a circulation system to provide water to Triton’s body without the Triton in Fantastic Four cumbersome moisture bag. The system consists of cuffs on Triton’s #45 (top), he is shrouded ankles and wrists with a hose system running up his arms and in what looks like a large shoulders. Strangely, there’s no comparable hose running down his cloak. We do see a glimpse legs, nor is his new belt, which looks to be a small water pump, of his scaley arm, though, connected to anything. so I think it’s clear that But more tellingly, as far as Jack’s design sensibility goes, Triton Jack did not design this seems to have lost his dorsal and arm fins. Further, his webbed feet outfit without knowing are now drawn as scale-covered boots, complete with a distinct heel what the character looked and sole. This is a Triton now more streamlined for a superhero like underneath. In a fight story, one that does not have to be encumbered with awkward in the very next issue, in running poses or potentially tricky perspective down his back. I fact, Triton’s “sealed doubt Jack had those specific issues in mind when he was drawing moisture bag” gets torn those pages, but I think it falls more naturally within his oeuvre up, revealing him to be a when those concerns don’t need to be brought up. As I repeatedly merman of sorts as he try to point out in this column, Jack’s sense of iconography in his 82 Cut ’n’ Paste FF #110: The Lost Collage by Richard Kolkman

he (almost) complete list of Jack Kirby’s published collage art in TJKC #59 is of great help when exploring his innovative cut-and- T paste visions (only the cover of Fantastic Four #33—vs. Sub- Mariner—was overlooked). Which prompts the question: is there one more undocumented Kirby collage lurking in the Marvel universe? Take a careful look at Fantastic Four #110; is that an unused Kirby collage on the (un-numbered) page four? It’s known that a pile of (next page, top right) Kirby’s depiction of the “orphan” pages of unused art by Marvel artists was kept in the produc- Microverse is a dead tion department of the “House of Ideas.” It’s possible an unused Kirby for the collage in collage page intended for Fantastic Four #76 sneaked its way into this FF #110 (below). post-Kirby FF comic book. (Note: the FF #110 collage page could also have been intended for FF #75, page 12.) While the Fourth World was powering up and lifting off at National (DC), perhaps the half-story (intended for FF #102) remaindered for FF #108 wasn’t the final original Kirby art to be published in Fantastic Four’s first era. Who created the collage in FF #110 [shown at left] ? Stan Lee? John Romita? John Verpoorten? Joe Sinnott is on record as disliking the collage pages, and (to my knowledge) never created a collage page for comics. So it is likely FF #110 features an unused Kirby collage. It even looks like Kirby’s style of collage art. The large, symbolic (carbon molecule) structures and rocky planetoid surfaces the art in FF #76. When Reed (and his dialogue) are replaced with the Silver Surfer’s dialogue from FF #76 [page 6, shown on next page] and a tiny (specula- tive) Kirby Surfer figure is photoshopped in, an interesting page appears [as shown in the large graphic on next page]. Visually, a tiny Surfer in a limitless space (collage) page portrays freedom. That would have worked better than the claustrophobic, cluttered page that was published in FF #76. This was at a point where Kirby was discontented at Marvel and was losing control of his creation—the Silver Surfer. Suppose Stan Lee disliked the portrayal of a small Surfer on the intended collage page in FF #76—especially since the heralded roll-out was underway for Silver Surfer #1 (Aug. 1968). Maybe Stan asked for a re-draw of page six— requesting a large Surfer. Compare the full-page figure of the awkward, akimbo Silver Surfer in FF #76 (right) to the elegant portrait of the Surfer in FF #72 (page 6, above). It’s “” (FF #76) vs. “graceful” (FF #72). The clumsy and claustrophobic Surfer as published in FF #76 is practically saying, “I’m here—but I’m not graceful.” Here, Kirby is defi- nitely filling the page with Surfer (and space clutter) from corner to corner! The Surfer’s pose recalls “Silver Burper” from Not Brand Echh. Kirby’s anger was growing, resulting in disinterested Kirby—and disinterested Kirby always shows. Fantastic Four #76 falls squarely in the four-issue “Microverse” story arc that was incisively detailed by Glen Gold in TJKC #61 (“Where Kirby Stopped”). If it is an unused Kirby art page in FF #110—was Jack paid for it? And finally; it’s odd that no readers’ letters about FF #110 were ever printed on the

84 Unearthed The Lone Survivor by Glen Gold

(below) Glen Gold’s wenty years ago, when the first issues of the Kirby Collector came out, John Morrow printed all the obscure Kirby he stunning acquisition; could find, and asked if anyone could tell him what it was and where it came from. In issue #3, he printed some the last remaining T great images that turned out to be part of the Marvelmania Portfolio, which was printed up when Kirby left Marvel Kirby Galactus pencil in 1970. (This is not to be confused with the Gods Portfolio, which will figure in with this story soon enough.) I had splash. never seen these amazing images before, and I was hooked—it was my first glimpse of undiscovered Kirby hiding more or less in plain sight, meaning it was Out There somewhere, just not in the comic books I’d read as a kid. The Marvelmania Portfolio consisted of a handful of unpub- lished pencil Thor and FF pages, some of them part of the rejected Thermal Man storyline—you’ve seen these around, if you pay obsessive enough attention— uninked, showing the Warriors Three in (see next page). But there were also some other startlingly handsome splash pages: For instance, one of Odin, another of Loki and the Norn Queen. These weren’t rejected by Marvel, it turns out. In 1968, Roz told Jack to never give Marvel another Silver Surfer. Then she started pulling pages out of his finished books and saying “These IF YOU ENJOYEareD TtooHI Sgood PR EforVI EMarvel.W, Kirby, CLICK THE LINdrawK TO something ORDER T Helse.”IS So some ISSUE IN PRINT OofR theDIG MarvelmaniaITAL FORMAimagesT! were those he’d withheld from publica- tion. Now, about that Gods Portfolio. If you’ve seen it, it’s four Asgardian warriors, redesigned by Kirby in 1966 or so to have all the colors and costuming of Fourth World characters. The portfolio cover was the inked version of a pencil piece found in the Marvelmania Portfolio. It’s in original art dealer Albert Moy’s gallery. It’s an unpublished Thor KIRBY COLpageLEC fromTOR the#6 3 storyline where MARVEL UNIVERSE! Featuring MARK ALEXANDER ’s pivotal Lee/Kirby essay “A Universe ThorA’Bornin isg,” learning MARK EVAN Galactus’IER inter - . views ROY THOMAS, STAN GOLDBERG and JOE SINNOTT , a look at key late-1970s, ’80s, and ’90I’ves eve nbeents in Kir bresearchingy’s life and Kirby’s career, STAN LEE pages1968-69, unseen Kirb worky pencils atan dMarvel unused recently. art from THOR, NICK FURY AGENT OF SHIELD, and FANTAS - TIC FOUR, and more! My articles in the Kirby Collector (100-page FULLhave-COLO Rfocused mag) $10. 9on5 the weirdness of (Digital FFEditio#74-77n) $4.95 and Thor #158-169, two http://twomorrows.com/index.php?storylinesmain_page=product_in fthato&produc tseems_id=1146 to have had more stops and starts and detours than Beijing traffic. I think Jack turned in stuff that Stan turned down, Jack learned about the Surfer being co-opted, he tried to give Galactus an origin, Stan shut

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