Fully Authorized By The Kirby Estate
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CELEBRATING THE LIFE & CAREER OF THE KING!
A “King”-Size 68-page ISSUE on JAck’s work at DC CO MICS!!
Issue #17, Nov. 1997
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A Rare 1971
Kirby Interview Neal Adams Greg Theakston D. Bruce Berry 1997 Kirby Tribute Panel, Featuring
Mark Evanier Steve Sherman Mike Royer Marie Severin Al Williamson Special Features:
Fourth World, Kamandi, Manhunter, Challengers, Green Arrow, Sandman & More Unpublished Art including Pencil pages Befo re They Were Inked, And Much Mo re!!
1996 & 1997 Eisner Awards Nominee Best Comics-Related Publication
1997 Harve y Awards Nominee Best Biographical, Historical or Journalistic Presentation
Kamandi and Mr. Sacker © DC Comics, Inc.
Interviews With
KIRBY
COLLECTOR
BULLETINS
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COLLECTOR
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A DIVERSE DIARY DOCUMENTING DETAILS ABOUT A DYNAMIC DRAWER! ITEM! Don’t forget that TJKC has a new address: TwoMorrows Advertising, 1812 Park Drive, Raleigh, NC 27605. Same phone number and fax number. Phew! ITEM! Our colossal, 240-page COLLECTED JACK KIRBY COLLECTOR, VOLUME 1 (our new TRADE PAPERBACK COLLECTION reprinting TJKC #1-9 plus over thirty NEW pieces of Jack’s pencils from THE PRISONER, THOR, JIMMY OLSEN, HUNGER DOGS, CAPTAIN AMERICA, FANTASTIC FOUR, NEW GODS, & CAPTAIN VICTORY) is a hit! It’s shipping now, and is only $21.95 postpaid in the US ($24.95 Canada, $34.95 elsewhere). Then there’s Pure Imagination’s COMPLETE KIRBY (mentioned elsewhere on this page), plus a b&w DC NEW GODS reprint volume (with gray tones lovingly added by Kirby friend and inker supreme JIM AMASH) scheduled for December. All in all, it’s shaping up to be a very Kirby Fall!
ITEM! TJKC’s new Associate Editor, Jovial JON B. COOKE, is hard at work on our new publication COMIC BOOK ARTIST! Each issue will be in the vein of TJKC, but devoted to different comics greats! We hope to have the first issue out in the beginning of 1998, so stay tuned next issue for ordering details. If you want to get involved, submit copies of art from your collection and articles about your favorite comics artists to Jon at PO Box 204, West Kingston, RI 02892-0204. ITEM! Get connected! The TJKC Web Site (maintained by Rascally RANDY HOPPE) is at www.fantasty.com/kirby while the official Web Site of the Kirby Estate is at www.heavypen.com\theking And be sure to join the KIRBY MAILING LIST by sending an e-mail request to kirby-l@fantasty.com. Start typing, Kirbyheads! ITEM! We hate to report this, but a Frenchman named CHRIS LAMIE ordered a bunch of TJKC back issues from us to sell in France, but he never paid us for them (and he won’t return our calls). So we ask our French readers NOT to purchase TJKC from him, since his notso-nice business practices really make it difficult to keep a not-for-profit fanzine afloat. ITEM! At comic cons this summer, TJKC managed to gather another 832 signatures on a petition to get Marvel Comics to put “Created by Stan Lee & Jack Kirby” on books they co-created. We’re forwarding the petition to Marvel, but you can still participate yourself by sending letters to: Mr. Terry Stewart, Marvel Comics, 387 Park Avenue South, New York, NY 10016. (This is in conjunction with MARK MILLER’s ongoing letter-writing campaign.) Keep writing, Kirbyheads! ITEM! At this year’s CHICAGO COMICON, we spent a wonderful evening chatting with some of the pioneers of 1960s comic fandom, including Jazzy JERRY BAILS, RICHARD “GRASS” GREEN, and Hilarious HOWARD KELTNER! In addition to hearing their great stories about the fanzines they published, Howard told us about the Golden Age index he’s been working on for years. He needs to know details about the contents of ALL-NEW #15, SPARKLING STARS #32, and SUPER MYSTERY COMICS Vol. 6, #1. If you have access to any of these rare books, drop Howard a line at 1602 Cherry St., Gainesville, TX 76240 or e-mail him at howardkeltner@cooke.net so he can wrap-up this worthwhile project. ITEM! At this year’s COMIC CON INTERNATIONAL – SAN DIEGO, we talked to Fabulous FIONA RUSSELL of the WORDS & PICTURES MUSEUM about their current financial crisis. They’ve been kind enough to share their unpublished Kirby art with TJKC, so why don’t you make a tax-deductible donation to help them
JOHN’S JUKEBOX At the risk of striking a sour note, I’ve decided to comment on something that’s been bugging me for awhile. It seems there’s quite a few Kirby fans out there who get each issue of TJKC, love seeing all the unpublished art that’s reproduced in it, but don’t submit copies of the unpublished art that’s in their own collections. While it’s certainly their prerogative to do so, I hope they’ll reconsider. The only reason they’re enjoying TJKC is because of the generosity of all those Kirby fans who HAVE sent stuff in! Hoarding it all to themselves is not only contrary to the spirit of this magazine, it’s not in keeping with Jack’s generous nature either. Throughout his career, Jack continually gave us his best work, never waiting for a more lucrative offer to come along. only kept his FOURTH WORLD He concepts under wraps in the 1960s because he didn’t want to lose control over them at Marvel. When the right time came along in 1970, he unleashed them at DC, and we’re all the richer for it. Isn’t now the right time to send in that piece of art in your collection? TJKC can’t continue indefinitely without a steady stream of submissions – in fact, our backlog is getting rapidly depleted. If everyone waits for others to send theirs, there may not be a TJKC to send it to. Long Live The King!
KIRBY COLLECTOR CHECKLIST These Issues Of TJKC Are Available – See Page 66 TJKC TRADE PAPERBACK: (NEW!) This colossal 240page volume reprints issues #1-9 of TJKC, including the low-distribution first issues, the FOURTH WORLD issue (#6), the KID GANG issue (#7), and the out-of-print CONVENTION and FANTASTIC FOUR issues (#8 and #9)! It also includes a NEW special section with over 30 pieces of Kirby art never before published in TJKC, including Jack’s uninked pencils from THE PRISONER, THOR, NEW GODS, FANTASTIC FOUR, CAPTAIN AMERICA, HUNGER DOGS, JIMMY OLSEN, SHIELD, CAPTAIN VICTORY, and more! Art from the early issues has been re-scanned for better reproduction! Learn the secrets behind Jack’s work through interviews with KIRBY, JOE SIMON, MIKE ROYER, MARK EVANIER, STEVE SHERMAN, JOE SINNOTT, and other Kirby collaborators. Features an essay by JIM STERANKO, a new introduction by MARK EVANIER, and page after page of RARE KIRBY ART! $21.95 postpaid ($24.95 Canada, $34.95 elsewhere) TJKC #1-5: 16-page issues! $2.50 each ($2.70 Canada, $3.70 elsewhere) TJKC #6: 36-page FOURTH WORLD theme issue! $4.95 ($5.40 Canada, $7.40 elsewhere) TJKC #7: 36-page KID GANG theme issue! $4.95 ($5.40 Canada, $7.40 elsewhere) TJKC #8 & 9 ARE SOLD OUT!! But they’re reprinted in the new TJKC TRADE PAPERBACK! (see above) TJKC #10: SORRY, THIS ISSUE IS SOLD OUT!!
John Morrow, Editor • 1812 Park Dr. • Raleigh, NC 27605 • (919) 833-8092 • FAX (919) 833-8023 E-mail: twomorrow@aol.com P.S. TJKC #8-11 are sold out, and supplies of #1-7 and #12 are getting low, so don’t delay! (Don’t forget #1-9 are reprinted in our new Trade Paperback.) keep their doors open, and enlighten future generations about the importance of Jack and other comics greats? Send to: 140 Main St., Northampton, MA 01060. ITEM! While you’re at it, send a donation to the educational fund that was set up in Jack’s name, to benefit children in his community through his synagogue. The address is: The Jack Kirby Educational Fund, Temple Etz Chaim, 1080 Janss Rd., Thousand Oaks, CA 91360.
Order Volume Two Now!
Now accepting orders for The Complete Kirby Vol. 2, featuring Jack’s work on Mr. Scarlet, Captain Marvel, the Black Owl, the Vision, and more! Vol. 2 ships in late November, and Vol. 1 is still available. Send $25 per copy to their NEW ADDRESS: Pure Imagination, PO Box 5810, Atlanta, GA 31107. For info, e-mail Greg Theakston at teasemag@mindspring.com ITEM! FIGHTING AMERICAN is back in a new series from AWESOME ENTERTAINMENT! AWESOME licensed the character from JOE SIMON and ROZ KIRBY, and the strip’s been updated for the 1990s, with work by ROB LIEFELD, JEPH LOEB, STEPHEN PLATT, JONATHAN SIBAL and JOE WEEMS. The first issue shipped in September, so look for it now!
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TJKC #11: SORRY, THIS ISSUE IS SOLD OUT!! TJKC #12: 44-page INTERNATIONAL theme issue! Two KIRBY interviews, JOHN BYRNE interview, Kirby around the world, SAN DIEGO CON ’96 Kirby Panel (with EVANIER, WOLFMAN, & STERN), CAPT. AMERICA pencils before inking, and more! New Kirby/Windsor-Smith cover. $4.95 ($5.40 Canada, $7.40 elsewhere) TJKC #13: 52-page SUPERNATURAL theme issue! An interview with Jack and Walter Gibson (creator of The Shadow), unpublished 7-page mystery story, DICK AYERS interview, THE DEMON, BLACK MAGIC, SPIRIT WORLD, ATLAS MONSTERS, published pages before inking, and more! New Kirby/Ayers and Kirby/Bissette covers. $4.95 ($5.40 Canada, $7.40 elsewhere) TJKC #14: 52-page THOR theme issue! Everything you wanted to know about Jack’s THOR work, plus interviews with CHIC STONE and WALT SIMONSON! Also, Jack’s uninked pencils to JOURNEY INTO MYSTERY #101 and others, unused THOR #169 art, pros and cons of Vince Colletta, and more! New Kirby/Stone and Kirby/Simonson covers. $4.95 ($5.40 Canada, $7.40 elsewhere) TJKC #15: 52-page SCI-FI theme issue! A rare interview with Jack by SHEL DORF, interviews with AL WILLIAMSON and MIKE THIBODEAUX, the story behind SKY MASTERS, features on THE ETERNALS, MACHINE MAN, CAPTAIN VICTORY, 2001, STARMAN ZERO, the SILVER SURFER GRAPHIC NOVEL, Jack’s uninked pencils from these books and others, and more! New Kirby/Williamson and Kirby/Austin covers. $4.95 ($5.40 Canada, $7.40 elsewhere) TJKC #16: 52-page TOUGH GUYS theme issue! A rare interview with Jack, interviews with WILL EISNER and FRANK MILLER, a look at Jack’s tough childhood, features on IN THE DAYS OF THE MOB, BULLSEYE, THE FLYING FOOL, WAR AND WESTERN BOOKS, 1950s COMIC STRIP IDEAS, ROCK ’N ROLL connections, details on Jack’s novel THE HORDE, a KID GANG update, unpublished art, Jack’s uninked pencils and more! New Kirby/Miller and Kirby/Kesel covers. $4.95 ($5.40 Canada, $7.40 elsewhere) TJKC POSTER: See pg. 66. $7 ($8 Canada, $10 elsewhere)
Issue #17 Contents: Kirby Was Here . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4 (Jack left his mark at DC in the 1970s) From The Words & Pictures Museum . .7 (art from their permanent collection) Simon & Kirby’s Sandman . . . . . . . . .8 (a pair of Sandmen by Joe & Jack) The “Marvel”-ous Challengers . . . . .12 (forerunners to the Fantastic Four?) Challengers Checklist . . . . . . . . . . . . .13 (easy-to-find reprints abound) Challenging The Unknown . . . . . . . .14 (an in-depth analysis of the Challs) Jack Kirby’s Train of Thought . . . . . .17 (a rare 1971 interview with Jack, done just after launching the Fourth World)
Handwritten on the back of this Kamandi drawing were the words “The Real Mr. Sacker.” Our thanks to Mike Royer for taking time to ink this issue’s cover.
Mike’s selling his inked art to this issue’s cover for $700; contact TJKC if you’re interested.
Inking Contest! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .21 (the deadline’s January 1st, so enter now!) The Fourth World & Beyond . . . . . .22 (some minority opinions on Jack’s epic) Favorite Fourth World Stories . . . . .24 (you’ll love these very unique choices!) A King For A Queen . . . . . . . . . . . . . .26 (Jack’s Green Arrow was on-target) Greg Theakston Interview . . . . . . . .27 (a candid conversation) Centerfold: New Gods #10 cover . . . .34 D. Bruce Berry Speaks . . . . . . . . . . . .36 (a talk with the ’70s Kirby inker) Kamandi’s Origins . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .38 (he dates back to the 1950s) 1997 Kirby Tribute Panel . . . . . . . . .40 (with Marie Severin, Al Williamson, Mike Royer, Mark Evanier, and Steve Sherman) Jack Kirby’s X-Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .48 (tracking Jack’s production numbers at DC can be very revealing) On The Trail of Manhunter . . . . . . .53 (he’s not that hard to find in reprints) Neal Adams Interview . . . . . . . . . . . .54 (a realistic account of 1970s DC) Collector Comments . . . . . . . . . . . . .64 Late Breaking News! . . . . . . . . . . . . . .65 Front cover inks: Mike Royer Back cover inks: Steve Rude Cover color: Tom Ziuko COPYRIGHTS: Atlas, Batman, Ben Boxer, Big Barda, Brute, Challengers of the Unknown, Darkseid, Deadman, Demon, Desaad, Dingbats of Danger Street, Dr. Canus, Female Furies, Forager, Forever People, General Electric, Glob, Golden Age Sandman, Green Arrow, Guardian, Hunger Dogs, In The Days Of The Mob, Jed, Jimmy Olsen, Justice League, Justice Society, Kalibak, Kamandi, Kanto, Lightray, Losers, Manhunter, Mantis, Mountain of Judgment, Mr. Miracle, Mr. Sacker, Newsboy Legion, Oberon, OMAC, Orion, Sandman, Sandy, Scrapper, Soul Love, Speedy, Sultin, Superman, Tiko, Ultivac, Witchboy, Wonder Woman © DC Comics, Inc. • Captain America, Ikaris, Iron Man, Silver Surfer, Thing, Thor, Vision © Marvel Entertainment, Inc. • Kamandi of the Caves and Surf Hunter © Jack Kirby • The Last Enemy © Harvey Publications.
The Jack Kirby Collector, Vol. 4, No. 17, Nov. 1997. Published bi-monthly by & © TwoMorrows Advertising & Design, 1812 Park Drive, Raleigh, NC 27605, USA. 919-833-8092. John Morrow, Editor. Pamela Morrow, Asst. Editor. Jon B. Cooke, Assoc. Editor. Single issues: $4.95 ($5.40 Canada, $7.40 elsewhere). Six-issue subscriptions: $24.00 US, $32.00 Canada and Mexico, $44.00 outside North America. First printing. All characters are © their respective companies. All artwork is © Jack Kirby unless otherwise noted. All editorial matter is © the respective authors. PRINTED IN CANADA.
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Golden Age Adventure With S&K’s Sandman by R. J. Vitone efore Jack Kirby had even met Joe Simon, The Sandman was a star in the comics. An early entry in DC’s attempts to duplicate the success of Superman and Batman, he arrived full-blown as the cover feature of Adventure Comics #40 (July 1939). The original concept was trite even then: A bored, wealthy playboy seeks anonymous thrills disguised as the dashing Sandman. The trappings are familiar as well: A baggy business suit, slouch hat, cape, gas gun, and scuba-style mask made up the working clothes of the first Sandman. Credited to writer Gardner Fox and drawn by Bert Christman, the strip lived up to the comic’s name: Adventure, as the Sandman ranged the world as a mysterious troubleshooter. Although competent and entertaining for its time, the strip must not have generated much response from the readers. Christman left the series (reportedly to join the Air Force in search of his own excitement) and DC artists such as Craig Flessel, Gill Fox, and Paul Norris took over. Although Sandman rated highly enough to appear in World’s Fair/World’s Finest and to sit at the fabled Justice Society table starting in All-Star #1, clearly he was falling, not rising in rank. The Hourman debuted in Adventure #48, bumping Sandman off the cover. The Manhunter jumped on with issue #58. Starman was added in #61 and finally the Shining Knight rounded out the cast in #66. Adventure became crowded with heroes fighting for space, and Sandman moved to the back of the book. Something had to be done! Joe Simon must have had the same thought, but over a different matter. Working at Timely Comics with his partner Jack Kirby on the immensely-popular Captain America had become a losing proposition. Money poured into the publisher’s coffers, who in turn squeezed just a trickle into S&K’s hands. Using the clout of Cap’s popularity, Jack and Joe met with the “big men” at DC. As recounted in Simon’s memoirs, The Comic Book Makers, a deal was quickly struck and ironed out. The team would work at the most successful publisher of the Golden Age. They would continue to produce work at Timely while developing new concepts. This stressful situation ended when a furious Martin Goodman (Timely’s publisher) found out about the deal, and fired them. Just as they had left Blue Bolt to work on Captain America, S&K were faced with a fresh start at a new home base. Sandman would be their first assignment. In a 1983 interview, Jack was asked if revamping the established hero
was his idea. “Yes,” Kirby replied. “I felt that each man has a right to innovate and to guess at what the A Kirby fan drawing character really represents, and done during WWII. the Sandman would repre(below) A Simon drawing sent something entirely done around the same time. different to me than he would to another guy. To me he represented something entirely different, and I’d get him into dreams and nightmares, and to me that’s what he meant.” So the stage was set. Sandman was ready for his new creative team – but first some changes were in order. Adventure #69 (Dec. ’41) pits Wes Dodds (wearing a new “superhero” costume) against giant insects. He also gains a new partner, Sandy, who “likes to pretend he’s Sandman.” The boy is drawn in a 1941 Bob Kane/Jerry Robinson style (Batman #8 is advertised in this issue). A story has grown among collectors that Kane had something to do with the “new look” and sidekick. While Sandy sports the “look” of Robin in some panels, in others he and the rest of the art bear little of the Batman look. It seems unlikely that Kane, riding the crest of his comics popularity at the time, would write (or draw) a 3-issue unsigned series of stories. Kane himself (never timid about accepting credit) makes no mention of the Sandman strip in his autobiographical book Batman and Me (Eclipse Books, 1989). Even when commenting on the flood of imitators that followed the introduction of Robin, Kane fails to mention Sandy, but does bring up Bucky (and the Young Allies), Toro, Speedy (from Green Arrow), Dusty (from The Shield), and even Roy, the sidekick of the Wizard. That alone does not mean that he didn’t contribute some of the changes, but it does appear highly unlikely. Adventure #70 and #71 continue in the same vein; standard super-hero hijinks, interchangeable with most other strips of the day. But that day was over! Adventure #72 still cover-featured Starman, but above the title, bold lettering called out “NEW SANDMAN!” What an understatement! A new legend headlined the strip, one that would appear frequently through the S&K run:
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“There is no land beyond the law, Where tyrants rule with unshakable power. It is a dream from which the evil wake, To face their fate—their terrifying hour...” The Sandman! “The Riddle of the Slave Market” is an unsigned epic that may as well have been in Captain America #11! (In fact, it looks like Timely staffer Syd Shores did some “under-the-table” inks on the story.)
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Larger panels with explosive fights or important action became more frequent. Kirby’s fabled sense of exaggerated motion almost began to look confined! Other inkers’ (supposedly DC staffers) styles showed up, signaling a decrease in S&K input in the months to come. “Dreams of Doom” in Adventure #77 added little of merit to the series, but a classic cover team-up of Sandman, Sandy, and Manhunter on Adventure #78 promised a great story. (this page and previous page) Some slam-bang action panels from World’s Finest #6. “The Strange Riddle of the Miracle Included in the package are stylistic flourishes that Jack and Joe had Maker” comes close. The Captain America-style splash takes us to begun to fully develop at Timely: Bold inking to express power; exagfamiliar Kirby territory: A carnival, where Magno the Mystic works his gerated figures bursting out of panels to emphasize speed and motion; wonder, aided by a gang of well-known felons. Sandman cracks the receding backgrounds that thrust the figures in the foreground into the riddle, and Magno, too. reader’s face; dramatic, filmic “under-lighting” of characters to portray Included in Adventure #78 was an ad for World’s Finest #7 evil, greed, or villainy; and of course, round panels spotted on pages, (Fall ’42), featuring the second and final S&K Sandman story in that large 1/4-page panels for wider action, tilted angles, jagged borders, quarterly title (the Boy Commandos would start a run in #8). “A symbolic splashes, and good old knock-down, drag-out fights as only Modern Arabian Nightmare” follows the trail of a priceless, cursed Kirby could visualize. Armed with his “Wire-poon” gun, Sandman is statue of Gori, the Protector of Thieves. Rich collectors die trying to presented as the scourge of evil-doers, so powerful that he haunts their obtain it, and Sandman has to unravel another mystery. (At one point very dreams! Sure enough, nightmares haunt the Slave-Master, and we’re treated to a “cut-away” view of Sandman’s wire-poon gun, comSandman puts his operation to sleep. plete with detailed descriptions. This diagram style would become a A classic Manhunter cover, signed by the team, adorns Adventure recurring Kirby device.) The statue of Gori winds up in a museum #73. The Sandman story, “Bells of Madness,” looks just a bit rushed showcase, and Wes Dodds speaks its epitaph: “Protection for criminals (the inking varies from page to page), but it’s a good melodrama as is a dream that never comes true...” Sandman foils a plot to swindle a girl out of her inheritance (Sandman’s “Footprints in the Sands of Time” (Adventure #79) opens with a new costume finally appears in All-Star #10, advertised in this issue). great splash of Sandman trying to free Sandy from the inside of a Adventure #74 (May ’42) would begin a string of Sandman covers, giant hourglass. (Jack must have liked the idea. The hourglass shows reflecting his “star” status. He would be featured on every cover (but up on issue #81’s cover.) Also shown in the splash is a green-skinned one) through the end of the actual Sandman series in #102. The only exception would be another classic Manhunter cover on #79! “The Man Who Knew All The Answers” is another fine entry in the run. Adventure #75, however, is a cornerstone in the Kirby saga. “The Villain from Valhalla” is indeed Thor, the mythical Norse God of Thunder. When he sails into New York harbor aboard an ancient Viking ship loaded with warriors, quite a stir results; but when he cracks a cop’s skull with his magic hammer Mjolnir and proceeds to loot banks, only Sandman and Sandy can save the day! Rallying the dispirited police into a raiding party a near-riot ensues. The “Vikings” turn out to be well-equipped thugs, and a wild free-for-all erupts. An electrifying full-page battle scene is the climax, and the wrap-up shows “Thor” battered and bandaged in the hospital. World’s Finest #6 (Summer ’42) went on sale about the same time as Adventure #75. In it was a great S&K Sandman story, “The Adventure of the Magic Forest,” featuring a vaguely Visionesque green-skinned foe called The Nightshade. His magic forest is crawling with some favorite S&K vegetation: Deadly living weeds! A burst of flame takes care of the threat. “Mr. Noah Raids The Town” (Adventure #76) opens with another nightmare, causing a man to imitate the biblical Noah and to preach destruction to skeptical masses. He seems a harmless crank until a car full of talking animals shows up in town. An ape, a vulture, and a tiger rob the bank, then battle Sandman and Sandy to a standstill. Like the Vikings, the “animals” turn out to be costumed crooks, and Mr. Noah a con man. In an odd twist of fate, the villains are killed by the real animals gathered for the “ark.” The story closes with a blurb for Boy Commandos. By this time, S&K were turning out Sandman and Manhunter for Adventure, Newsboy Legion for Star-Spangled, Boy Commandos for Detective and World’s Finest, and even Sandman chapters for All-Star #1417 and #19. Despite the workload, Jack’s art maintained a high level of quality. Slowly, from this point on, some “shortcuts” crept into the mix. Backgrounds were simplified or eliminated. Seven and eight panels per page became the norm, with more “decorative” round panels included. 9
can attest to.) Because the typical reader of the day had no idea who created that first appearance of the Challengers, that same reader would also be unaware of the fact that this issue shows us the birth-pangs of Kirby maturing from the style many readers were familiar with during the so-called Golden Age, to the style many readers would become familiar with during his period at Marvel. If anything, even today, debate rages over who did what in regards to Challengers, especially over that first Showcase appearance. Recently, Joe Simon has gone on record stating he had a hand in the initial development of the COTU, and he may very well have, along with writer Dave Wood. What may have happened is that COTU was probably one of the last, if not the last, concepts being developed at Mainline, the publishing house Simon & Kirby ran, and when the assets were divvied up, Jack ended up with the Challengers. In researching the years 1954 through 1956, one can see those were hard years for both men, as well as the comics industry as a whole. Most accounts seem to shy away from talking in detail about a period of time they’d rather forget about. In his book The Comic Book Makers, Joe talks of maintaining ownership of copyrights when discussing another publisher putting out books he and Kirby prepared for Mainline, but even Simon admits he wasn’t above accepting a check that didn’t
Challenging The Unknown by Ken Penders suspect that when people back in 1956 picked up a copy of Showcase #6, few if any realized what a landmark issue they held in their hands. Even today, very few comics historians are quick to acknowledge the seeds of Marvel Comics and much of writer-artist Jack Kirby’s later work are sown here. To understand why this issue – indeed, the creation of this particular series – is of importance, it is necessary to start with the man himself. If we examine Jack Kirby at this point in time, circa 1956, we find a man who will later come to be recognized as a creative genius – and one of the driving forces of an entire industry – barely able to support his family. After years of being one-half of a team recognized throughout the comics industry as among the premier creators, Kirby is now on his own, forced to act on his own behalf, without any guidance or supervision from his former partner, Joe Simon. Whereas Simon had previously handled all matters regarding contracts – spelling out details such as credits, royalties, and other pertinent matters while his partner concentrated on the primary task of creating comics – Kirby now found himself handling matters he had demonstrated neither the interest nor the ability to do so. Clearly, all Kirby wanted to do was work in a field he excelled at in order to provide a living for his wife and children. The record shows that prior to going solo, a Joe Simon/Jack Kirby byline would be prominently featured on every Simon & Kirby story, whether it was Timely’s Captain America, DC’s Newsboy Legion or Boy Commandos, Headline’s Fighting American or any other series they worked on. Afterwards, Jack’s lack of negotiating skills would prove his downfall numerous times, resulting in not only a loss of rights, but – for years – of recognition as well. Looking back through the benefit of hindsight, one can see Kirby’s work leap through the pages of Challengers of the Unknown, but at the time, a young boy sitting back to read Showcase #6 would be hard-pressed to say who wrote and illustrated that issue, for there are no credits to be found anywhere, save that of the Editor in the indicia. Not only that, but that same boy would not be able to find any Kirby credit or acknowledgement in any issue throughout Kirby’s entire run, nor was there a letters page of any kind to provide that information. (Regarding the Editor credit in the indicia, apparently it was about this time that DC started listing individual editors on whichever books they handled, but this was not implemented on all the books at the same time, which is why Editor-In-Chief Whitney Ellsworth’s name appears on books he didn’t edit. Jack Schiff was listed in the indicias of the Batman books published in the late fifties, but not everything he handled was so indicated, as Challengers issues
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Splash page from Showcase #7. 14
reads very much in the style closely associated with Kirby that he used on all his books upon returning to DC in 1970. “WHAT”S OUT THERE? Places we cannot see! Things we fear to touch! Sounds that do not belong to this world! Riddles of the ages lurking beyond the bridge without a name! Only men living on borrowed time would dare cross that bridge! Here are such men and the incredible adventure of... The Secrets of the Sorcerer’s Box!” Surely, this is copy that could just as easily have been found at the (left) Showcase #7, page 6, inked by Stein. (right) Showcase #7, page 15, inked by Jack. beginning of a Demon story, amount to much more than a pittance for the material he was supplying or any book Kirby worked on in the ’70s, for that matter. The rest of the publisher with. As for Kirby, a record of his workload indicates he the story continues in a very similar fashion. must have spent many a sleepless night wondering how he was going (In fact, all the Challengers stories up to Kirby’s last (COTU #8) read to put food on the table for his family. Of the comics with a cover date as though written by the same writer, with one notable exception. marked May of 1956, only one book released featured his work, while “The Man Who Tampered With Infinity” in the first issue of COTU only two books with a June cover date could boast the same. Considerreads as though written by a different person. Either Editor Schiff was ing his productivity, unless he had non-comics work available, the incredibly heavy-handed with the editing pen, or he used a story comlack of work would very much motivate his priorities. Credit and missioned by someone else, which makes absolutely no sense at this copyrights be damned. A steady paycheck was more important. point, unless one takes into account difficulties Kirby appeared to be The gestation of the Challengers most likely occurred during this having with Schiff around this time in late ’57-early ’58.) period, as Kirby scrounged around for whatever work he could find, As for the art, the opening pages appear to be rendered in ink by accepting anything and everything that came his way, with little regard Marvin Stein over Kirby’s pencils, but then Kirby steps in to handle a for the future. In those days, not many creators gave consideration to page here, some panels there, with Stein evidently completing whatcredits, copyrights, ownership of original art, or other matters that ever Kirby didn’t. (As for Roz Kirby’s credited involvement, most have since become important issues to today’s creators. To Kirby, sources seem to indicate she spent time helping out filling in the large Challengers represented a project he could market to a prospective black areas and assisting with minor line work; thus her contribution publisher as a means of simply creating employment for himself. could be described as minimal at best.) When he approached Editor Jack Schiff with COTU, chances are Once you begin to examine the Showcase issues more closely, the Kirby had thrown out Wood’s script and submitted his version along interesting aspect of Kirby’s style, storytelling, and panel arrangewith his art. Most accounts credit Kirby as the solo creator, whereas ment comes through, representing a gradual departure from a look it’s only been in later years any mention of Dave Wood or Joe Simon’s and style many readers had been familiar with in his earlier work. involvement surfaces. Kirby in later years was quick to downplay Stan Comparisons with early issues of the Fantastic Four become unavoidLee’s contributions in creating Marvel’s line of characters, but he hadn’t able, due not only to content of the story and the series’ concepts, but been so quick to dismiss Joe Simon’s involvement in their collaboraalso because of the look presented. Kirby’s art appears cleaner, less tions. Since Simon doesn’t present any evidence regarding his cluttered, and the finished art looks more like early Marvel than an contributions, nor has he been linked through any records in DC’s issue of Stuntman or Boys’ Ranch. (Because no one inker has been possession, I think it fairly safe to say his input was minimal at best. (Referring back to The Comic Book Makers, there isn’t one mention of Challengers. Considering Simon didn’t hesitate to point out who created what, especially his own contributions to any particular creation, this tends to lend further credence to Kirby being the primary, if not sole creator of COTU.) In examining the script for the premiere A question of inking: (left) Challengers #3, page 4, supposedly inked by Wood; (right) Challengers #7, page 4, definitely by Wood. adventure, the text 15
full advantage of the extra space to bring Green Arrow and Speedy into a dimension where people were “a mile high” (dramatic exaggeration; they couldn’t have been more than 80 feet high), and even toy arrows sent across a dimensional barrier could cause havoc on Earth. by Rich Morrissey With the aid of yet another counterpart archer – the giant dimension’s Xeen Arrow – Green Arrow and Speedy were sent back through the ack Kirby’s involvement with one of DC’s oldest characters came passageway – silent but otherwise identical to the “Boom Tube” of unexpectedly, but briefly, in 1958. Green Arrow had been around Kirby’s later Fourth World series – arriving on Earth just before it for seventeen years, having first appeared in More Fun Comics #73 closed. Ed Herron scripted this and most of the rest of Kirby’s Green (November 1941) in a story by Writer/Editor Mort Weisinger and Arrow stories (although Dave Wood, his brother Dick, and Robert artist George Papp. Many other writers had handled the series since Bernstein may have written one or two each), but in all probability then, most notably Ed Herron and Dave Wood, both frequent Kirby Kirby continued to have a hand in the plotting. collaborators over the years. But Papp, except while in the Army during Perhaps the Editors (Mort Weisinger, Jack Schiff, and reportedly World War II, had remained the sole artist until Weisinger decided to George Kashdan) considered these stories switch him to Superboy, on whose stories a bit too far-out for the character. The four he would remain until 1968. stories in World’s Finest #96-99 were more Green Arrow and Speedy showed the in the strip’s traditional direction, involving definite influence of DC’s most successful a kidnapped man’s clues to his location non-powered crimefighters, Batman and (“Five Clues to Danger” in #96) and a ruse Robin. Oliver Queen was a millionaire to preserve Oliver Queen’s identity (“The playboy like Bruce Wayne, and also the Unmasked Archers” in #98). #97’s “The guardian of a young teenager, Roy Harper, Menace of the Mechanical Octopus” did who doubled as his partner. As Batman feature a very memorable crime machine had his Batmobile, Batplane, Batcave, and which sadly was destroyed in a mere six Bat-Signal, so did Green Arrow have his pages, and #99’s “Crimes Under Glass” feaArrowcar, Arrowplane, Arrowcave and tured a battle in a Kirbyesque futuristic Arrow-Signal. Weisinger himself always location, but neither was quite as unique maintained Green Arrow was inspired by as the early Adventure stories. Kirby’s Robin Hood (who had also been cited as remaining run in Adventure #254-256 also the inspiration for the name and costume focused on other facets of Kirby’s skill as of Batman’s boy sidekick) and the source of the archers faced Western bandits in the name was never given. (Still, another #254’s “The Green Arrow’s Last Stand” successful DC hero of the time, Green and Japanese sailors unaware of the end of Lantern, was said by creator Martin Nodell Panels from Adventure #255 (above) and #256 (below). World War II in #255 (“The War That to have been inspired by a colored subway Never Ended”). lantern. Could Green Arrow have owed his Kirby ended his run on the character name to a traffic light?) with, literally, a new beginning—”The At that time, Green Arrow’s feature Green Arrow’s First Case” in Adventure was unusual in appearing in two different DC #256. Asked by the Editor to write an orititles. Kirby took over the strip from Papp gin for Green Arrow, Kirby and writer Ed as of Adventure Comics #250 (July 1958) Herron came up with the version that has and World’s Finest Comics #96 (Sept. 1958). been followed ever since (superseding the According to stylistic analyst Martin original, Golden Age version), in which O’Hearn, Kirby not only drew but wrote playboy Oliver Queen, marooned on a (or at least rewrote existing scripts for) his desert island, first made a costume of first two Adventure stories, both of which leaves, and developed some rudimentary displayed particular Kirby touches. “The trick arrows he anonymously put into use Green Arrows of the World” in #250 feaagainst pirates. Fittingly, although quickly tured the crime-fighting archers of many gone from both Green Arrow and DC different countries. Possibly inspired by a itself, it was Jack Kirby who established the similar Batman story a few years before, it definitive background for one of comics’ seemed rather limited in its theme, but oldest heroes. Kirby’s imagination enabled him to create Green Arrow’s art was turned over to Lee Elias, a talented artist several fascinating variations on a theme – none of which, regrettably, but hardly in the King’s league, and within a year he had lost his feature ever made a comeback. in Adventure Comics. His World’s Finest feature was relegated to alterWith #251, Kirby began to delve much farther into science fiction nating issues with #134 and dropped entirely after #140, leaving only than Green Arrow’s adventures normally did. In “The Case of the his status as a Justice League member to keep him in DC’s lineup at all. Super-Arrows,” Green Arrow and Speedy acquired a quiver of trick Yet it was his JLA membership that led to his renewed success, as arrows from the future – enhancing their crimefighting skills until the former Marvel writer Denny O’Neil – taking over the JLA in 1968 – arrows fell into the hands of criminals. Needless to say, the battling was inspired by Kirby’s character development in Marvel’s team bowmen ultimately prevailed with their traditional arrows combined books to develop the one character in the book not hampered by a with their superior skill. solo series. Green Arrow quickly became one of the most interesting Probably the most famous of the Kirby Green Arrow stories characters in the book, soon becoming a co-star in Green Lantern in appeared in Adventure #252 and #253: “The Mystery of the Giant an acclaimed series by O’Neil and artist Neal Adams that renewed his Arrows” and “Prisoners of Dimension Zero.” The use of a two-part story popularity. In that way, the King’s influence on the Emerald Archer was itself a departure for DC at the time, but Kirby seemed to be frusproved far more enduring than his actual work on the series itself. ★ trated by the 6- and 7-page length of Green Arrow’s stories, and took 26
A King For A Queen
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Greg Theakston Interview Interviewed by John Morrow (Greg Theakston was born November 21, 1953 in Detroit, Michigan. Besides inking a number of Jack’s final comics stories, Greg founded Pure Imagination, publishing a numerous books on Jack and other comics artists. He also developed his Theakstonizing process, which bleaches color from published comics pages, leaving only the black line art for use in reprinting classic strip art. Pure Imagination has recently released the first volume of The Complete Jack Kirby, an ongoing project that will ultimately reprint thousands of pages of Jack’s work. This interview was conducted by phone on August 28, 1997 – Jack’s birthday.)
of the Simon & Kirby house style than any of Jack’s later inkers. GREG: Joe Simon once looked over my inking and said, “Where were you in 1948?” (laughter) I was very flatGreg with Jack at the San Diego Comic Con. tered. If I tend to emulate the Simon & Kirby period, it’s because I’m really trying to ink the way Kirby inks his own stuff. By studying his old comics, I’ve kind of figured out how Jack likes to ink his own stuff, and I use that as my touchstone. But there’s a huge chunk of Wally Wood in there, as well as Joe Sinnott and Frank Giacoia.
THE JACK KIRBY COLLECTOR: Did you grow up on Jack’s work? GREG THEAKSTON: Yes, my older brother Pat would scout down great stuff and introduce me to it – including Jack Kirby comics, among other things. He brought home the Green Arrow appearances in World’s Finest and Adventure, Harvey’s Amazing Adventures, Black Cat Mystery, Double Life of Private Strong and the first couple of issues of The Fly as well. TJKC: So you grew up on Jack’s solo work more than on Simon & Kirby? GREG: Yes, basically it was after they’d separated. Challengers of the Unknown was another good one. Jack’s style was so potent that you could tell his work from company to company, even though you didn’t know who the artist was. It wasn’t long before my brother started bringing home the Marvel monster books, which cleared up the mystery.
TJKC: What’s the Kirby work you were most impressed with? GREG: As a kid, the Fantastic Four was my favorite. It was a really good time to read comics. There was just no doubt that Kirby was the king. TJKC: How do you think the 1960s Marvel books hold up now, with a little hindsight? GREG: I still find them terrifically entertaining; very, very formulaic. One of the reasons they went over so well was the colorful villains and the bizarre set-ups. Lots of that’s due to the Ditko and Kirby influence in the work.
TJKC: I’ve always felt your inking style was more reminiscent
TJKC: When did you first meet Jack? GREG: I’d been interviewing Kirby since around 1970 and finally got to meet him in 1971 in New York at one of the Seuling comic conventions. Roz, Jack, the kids and I went across the street to Howard Johnson’s and had some chocolate sundaes, which Kirby always dug. (laughter) I was in awe! I was 16 or 17, and it was pretty mind-boggling.
Greg’s inks on this unused Kamandi #1 cover; the pencils are reproduced elsewhere in this issue. 27
TJKC: How did you first get into comics? GREG: My history goes back to 1969. There was an organized fandom in Detroit where I lived. It was a terrific place to be interested in comics, because Jerry Bails was there, and Shel Dorf was living in the city at the time. Shel did the first Detroit Triple Fan Fair comics con, and I worked on them for years; ultimately I ended up owning the show. In 1969 I published my own fanzine, the Aardvark Annual #1, which had an interview with Stan Lee – it was hot stuff for that period. (laughter) I printed it in the laundry room of our house on a mimeograph. There were probably 25 copies of this six-page fanzine. But it brought me to the attention of the founders of FFCG (Fantasy Fans and Comic Collectors Group) in Detroit. The FFCG had planned to do a book on Jack Kirby, and I had been accumulating a checklist of his material. I’d spoken to Kirby, so it became my project for the club. I spoke to Steranko at a 1970 convention, and invited him to write something for our book. Jim was thinking about doing his own book on Kirby, and he said, “Work with me, and I’ll absorb what-
The 1997 Kirby Tribute Panel featuring (from left to right) Mark Evanier, Mike Royer, Steve Sherman, Marie Severin, and Al Williamson Held at Comic Con International – San Diego on July 19, 1997 Transcribed by John Morrow (Editor’s Note: Due to bad acoustics and problems with the PA system in the hall, large parts of my tape of this panel were inaudible. I’ve transcribed it as close to verbatim as possible, but in some instances I had to fill in stray words that didn’t pick up, while trying not to alter the speaker’s intent. My apologies to our speakers for the sections I had to omit entirely, and particularly to Marie Severin and Al Williamson; most of their comments didn’t pick up on tape.)
That’s all the Kirby news for now, so I want to take this moment to introduce Roz Kirby to you all. (applause)
MARK EVANIER: In the way of announcements, DC is putting out a ROZ KIRBY: Mark, this is my grandson Jeremy. (applause) collected edition of the New Gods. It was supposed to be out next month; MARK: Also, there’s a few other people in the audience. One of my they decided that stark black-&-white looks too unfinished, so they’re favorite things Jack did was a story called “Street Code” for a magazine adding some gray tones to it. That should be out in a couple of months. called Argosy. The publisher who commissioned that work is here; (Editor’s note: It’s rescheduled for December release.) They’re poised and Richard Kyle. (applause) ready if that thing sells at all to do The person I think whose the other Fourth World books A Demon drawing from a 1975 NY convention. association with Jack dates back in that format. That day, Jack would draw any character you the most is Al’s. You had the I’m currently working requested for $20! experience of inking Jack at on a biography of Jack a time when you weren’t which I hope will an inker. approach the word ‘definitive.’ It’s now at AL WILLIAMSON: That’s 120,000 words and still correct. I went up to Harvey growing. I keep finding Publications around 1957, give or things in my files and notes. I take a couple of years. The Editor, came across notations for a Joe Simon, didn’t have any Jimmy Olsen story that was work for me, but he had a never finished. There was a Jack Kirby five-page science sequence of Jimmy Olsen fiction story, and asked if I where Morgan Edge was would like to ink them. They plotting to blow up the inked themselves; I had no Daily Planet building, but problem. I took them in, it never paid off, because they liked them, they gave DC vetoed what Jack origime three or four more, and nally planned to do with it. that was it. I don’t think they So I found this plot, and I were printed right away, because called up Steve Rude and I never saw them until the 1960s. said, “Do you want to draw MARK: You were familiar with it?” He said yes, so we’re Jack’s work already? doing it as a Jimmy Olsen Special next year. A big credit AL: Oh, sure. I lived in South line will go to Jack, and a lot of America, in Bogota, Colombia. the money will go to Roz. (applause) They didn’t do any comic books, Jack’s still got more new comics but they imported a lot of comics from coming out than a lot of people in Argentina and Mexico. The very first Jack Kirby comics. (laughter) DC is hoping to work I ever saw was a black-&-white reprint of release a reprint volume of Jimmy a character called Cosmic Carson, and I Olsen material to coincide with that, thought it was just great, just wonderful. It was so we could have a very Kirbyish year. translated into Spanish. Then I discovered In the meantime, I think we finally American comics, which didn’t get down there have solved the legal problems on the too often, maybe one or two a month. I picked up my first Kirby Tribute Book which has been looming American comic book, which was Famous Funnies, which had a out there for some time. Frank Miller is one-pager called “The Lone Rider.” That was the second strip; I knew now... I’ve done my end of it. From now on, it was the same artist. I discovered two friends who loved comics, and you nag Frank! (laughter) 40
they were visiting from Panama, where they could get American comics much easier. They sent me two comic books: One was an issue of Young Allies. It was just incredible. All I remember about it was a double-page spread of the most exciting, exquisite fight scene I’ve ever seen. I’ve never seen that comic book since; I don’t know if it exists, or if it’s my imagination. If anybody has it, I’d love to see it. Y’know, he just grabs you, right from the beginning. I think he and Wally Wood are probably two of the finest comic book artists that ever lived. Inking his work was quite a thrill for me, because first of all, he was the first artist I ever inked. He did all the work for me; I had no problem at all. I’ve been credited with inking a couple of covers and some jobs that I didn’t ink. The only jobs I ever inked of Jack Kirby’s were those science fiction stories: “The Three Rocketeers.” So my apologies to whoever inked those panels or those covers; they should’ve gotten credit.
MARK: Did you find that anything in Jack’s work applied directly to your own work? AL: He, from what I understand, credits Foster and Raymond as two of the influences he had. The funny thing is, I can see in the early work of Jack’s a little bit of the Alex Raymond; just a little bit, especially the legs. But I have to confess something. Nobody can draw a fight scene like Jack Kirby, and I was stuck for a fight scene one time, and I (whispering) swiped Jack Kirby. (laughter) I did it a little differently, but Jack came to my rescue. I have a feeling about Jack that he never looked back; he always went forward. I’ve found every real, true artist does that: Wally Wood, Alex Raymond, Foster, on to the next one. And Jack just kept going; I don’t think he looked back. He just wanted to do the next drawing. I don’t know how he did it. And prolific; if I lived to be 300, I don’t think I could turn out the work he did in ten years. And it’s all good. The proof of being so good is that, the more you look at it, the better it gets. You don’t see mistakes. It looks better every time. He’s up there with the greats, there’s no question about it. MARK: Marie, when did you first meet Jack? At Marvel? MARIE SEVERIN: Yeah. I’d heard of him, and I’d seen some of his work; wow, this guy was powerful! I’d say it was in 1964. I was in the Bullpen – well, I was the Bullpen – and I came tearing around the corner and I almost banged into him, and Sol Brodsky said, “This is Jack Kirby.” And I said, “Oh, hi!” And he looked at me and said, “Judy Garland!” (laughter) And I was so upset because I always wanted to look like Mary Astor. (laughter) And that’s a far cry from Judy Garland! MARK: That’s the same thing he said to me! (laughter) I was wearing red shoes at the time. MARIE: When I first came there, Stan didn’t even look at my portfolio; he threw me into the Bullpen to do paste-ups. When I started drawing, Stan said, “Get the feel of Kirby.” And maybe, maybe, maybe I could get the feel, but I’ll never draw like that; he’s so powerful! And as a woman, I recognized this tremendous strength – and talk about fight scenes! It was great to color it; I loved coloring the stuff. It brought out emotion. It was like you were part of it. So I finally tried to figure out why he drew it that way, and it came together. I was never skilled enough to draw the anatomy the way he did. People tried to copy him, and it looks awkward to me. He did it and it worked. When he left Marvel, Stan nearly had a heart attack. (laughter) It was supposed to be a big secret. And there was some sort of a convention the day Jack came back, and it was supposed to be an even bigger secret. I came up to the office and I saw Jack, and Stan put a page in front of my face and said, “You did not see any of this!” (laughter) And I said, “Okay, I did not see any of this” and I went out in the hall and yelled, “Kirby’s back!” (laughter) MARK: Mike was reminding us that you had one of Jack’s cigar butts. MARIE: When he left, I put it on my wall. (laughter) I should’ve had it bronzed.
Dingbats #3, page 17. 41
should be paid for.” The list itself includes some surprises, such as Jack’s first work for ’70s DC (Forever People #1), the completion of Mister Miracle #10 before #9 (featuring possibly his greatest story, “Himon”), the lag time between Kamandi #1 and #2 – giving weight to Evanier’s statements that Jack had intended the subsequent issues be drawn by another artist – and the delay in the release of the OMAC series. While the list answers numerous questions, it also raises interesting speculation. For instance, could the blank entries subsequent to the First Issue Special listings hint at the possibility that – like Dingbats – unknown Atlas or Manhunter issues might exist? Without a proper list (which would have been kept separately by Infantino and Kirby), a number of these mysteries will remain, but the value of what we now know gives us a keen idea as to the chronology of output during what may well have been the most imaginative and creative period of Jack’s life. In some instances, we made our best guess of where an item would fall, and shaded it gray, indicating it’s questionable. If any readers have DC originals by Jack with a X-number not in this listing, or can verify the shaded listings, please contact TJKC as soon as possible. Hopefully a full and complete listing solving the mysteries behind Jack Kirby’s X-Files will show us, once and for all, all the cool ’70s DC material he completed. The truth is out there. ★
Jack Kirby’s X-Files by Jon B. Cooke n 1968, National Periodical Publications (a.k.a. DC Comics) was acquired from the Donenfeld family and Jack Leibowitz by the aggressive Kinney National Services during the merger frenzy of that era. Led by legendary business mogul Steve Ross, the corporation was actively seeking a foothold in the entertainment industry in an attempt to grow from its funeral home/parking lot empire roots; by 1990, it eventually became Time Warner, the world’s largest media and entertainment company. In an effort to bring modern accounting practices to the sometimes fast and loose methods of invoicing in the DC editorial department, the new management implemented checks and balances in 1969 which required editors to number all billable jobs, each with his own discernible code. Because Joe Kubert received the “K” prefix (his editorial position predating Jack’s arrival in 1970), Kirby was given the “X” prefix. Current DC Comics Publisher Paul Levitz was Assistant Editor to Joe Orlando and Murray Boltinoff during Jack’s ’70s tenure, and he explained the necessity of the new procedure: “Basically, the codes were used for accounting and audit – they went on the voucher (request for payment), the check, the job itself, and then the printed book... all to allow the accountants to ensure jobs weren’t paid for twice.” “In Jack’s case,” Levitz continued, “the X-numbers were assigned by Carol Fein, who was (then-publisher) Carmine Infantino’s secretary, and they were used in the order the jobs were received in (the NY office) to be paid for. For most editors, (payment) would be when the script was received, but in Jack’s case he sent in script and pencils together, or later script, pencils, inks and lettering complete.” Thus by examining a listing of Jack’s X-Numbers (which follows), a researcher can ascertain the chronology of his completed work for DC. “It’s possible Jack did some pieces in a somewhat different order, working ahead of what was officially given the go-ahead,” Levitz said, “but that would have been very rare.” But, as you will see, many missing entries remain in the list because, as Levitz points out,“Unfortunately, the early ledger numbers were kept manually, and unless the Editor kept his ledger, no permanent records were held.” Blank entries could “also be texts that weren’t published,” Levitz said, “or jobs that weren’t completed, or the like.” Steve Sherman, former Kirby assistant, touched upon what may have happened to some numbers: “DC sent us a stack of black-&white photostats of old mystery comics (on which) we were to re-draw the faces and clothing to look more contemporary. I recall that the job fell to Mike Royer. I don’t know how many of those were published, but some were slated for Joe Orlando’s books... Jack also did a few cover layouts now and then for other books at Carmine’s request. Whether they were ever used or not is anyone’s guess, but they probably were paid for against the X invoices.” Jack’s other assistant Mark Evanier said, “Some of the gaping holes in Jack’s last year at DC are probably covered by the material listed under ‘Kirby Material by Other Editors.’ That is, another Editor’s job number was assigned to the material when it was started, but when Jack did his end of it, he was paid under an X-number which did not appear on the artwork. At least, that would be my guess.” “The other numbers,” Evanier said, “would probably include rejected covers, promotional art, presentations for some comics that weren’t accepted, etc. Also, Jack did a cover for a reprint collection of Challengers of the Unknown in Super DC Giant #S-25, and that probably used up an X-number.” Kirby’s “DC Comics West” office had nothing to do with the preparation of the reprint material given production numbers, Evanier said. “They were basically selected by E. Nelson Bridwell, done with Jack’s consent.” Jack received no royalties from the reprints, Evanier continued, and “He always complained that reprints
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Unpublished Kirby Material With Unknown Numbers Soul Love & True Divorce Cases (probably falling between X-128 and X-136) • Galaxy Green • Stories to In The Days Of The Mob #2 • Atlas or Manhunter #2-3 (if they exist) • Cover sketch to Big Barda #1 • Sandman #7 cover (if it exists) • proposed New Gods Tabloid cover • Jack’s covers to Jimmy Olsen #134, 135, 136,148 (if they exist) • “Virginia Graham” drawings for Carmine Infantino • Spirit World #2 cover (if it exists) • drawings for the top left corner of the covers of Jimmy Olsen, New Gods, Forever People, and Mister Miracle • Tarzan try-out art
Kirby Material By Other Editors CODE JOB DESCRIPTION TITLE & ISSUE COVER DATE B-792 Cover (Neal Adams) Jimmy Olsen #134 12/70 B-857 Cover (Neal Adams) Jimmy Olsen #135 1/71 B-994 Cover Super DC Giant #S-25 8/71 B-1006 “The Kirby That Jack Built” Text (rep. JO #133) 3 third pgs. Super DC Giant #S-25 8/71 C-110 “Pyra Revealed” 18 pgs. Kamandi #38 2/76 C-111 “The Airquarium” 18 pgs. Kamandi #39 3/76 C-116 “The Lizard Lords of Los Lorraine” 18 pgs. Kamandi #40 4/76 J-3848 “Panic in the Dream Stream” 18 pgs. The Sandman #4 9/75 J-3879 Cover The Sandman #2 5/75 J-3888 “The Invasion of the Frog Men” 18 pgs. The Sandman #5 11/75 J-3947 Cover The Sandman #3 7/75 J-4003 Cover The Sandman #4 7/75 J-4015 “The Plot to Destroy Washington D.C.” 18 pgs. The Sandman #6 1/76 J-4074 Cover The Sandman #5 11/75 J-4080 “Seal-Men’s War On Santa” 18 pgs. (meant for Sandman #7) Best of DC Digest #22 3/82 J-4115 Cover The Sandman #6 1/76 N-661 ”Adventure of the Magic Forest” (rep WF #6) 10 pgs. Wanted #9 9/73 SK-1 “The Sandman” 20 pgs. The Sandman #1 Win/74 SK-2 Cover The Sandman #1 Win/74 Z-270 “The Skywalker” 18 pgs. Justice, Inc. #2 8/75 Z-274 Cover Justice, Inc. #2 8/75 Z-279 “The Monster Bug” 18 pgs. Justice, Inc. #3 10/75 Z-288 “Claws of the Dragon” 18 pgs. Richard Dragon, Kung-Fu Fighter #3 9/75 Z-291 Cover Justice, Inc. #3 10/75 Z-295 “Slay Ride in the Sky” 18 pgs. Justice, Inc. #4 12/75
NOTE: Kirby took over as Editor of Superman’s Pal Jimmy Olsen with #136, though numbering bounces back and forth in #133-135 between Editor Murray Boltinoff and Kirby. Letter columns in JO #133-135 were designated Boltinoff, JO #136-148 designated E. Nelson Bridwell (Assistant Editor). Letter columns in Kamandi #33-40 are designated with Gerry Conway numbering. Final OMAC and last Our Fighting Forces are designated with Paul Levitz numbering.
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X-161 Cover Jimmy Olsen #137 X-162 “O’Ryan Gang and the Deep Six” 22 pgs. New Gods #4 X-163 “The Guardian Fights Again” 22 pgs. Jimmy Olsen #139 X-164 “The Closing Jaws of Death” 22 pgs. Mister Miracle #4 X-165 Cover Mister Miracle #3 X-166 Cover (2 versions) Jimmy Olsen #138 X-167 Cover Forever People #3 X-168 Cover New Gods #3 X-169 “The Screaming Woman” 10 pgs. Spirit World #1 X-170 Letter column 1 pg. Forever People #3 X-171 “House of Horror” 12 pgs. Spirit World #1 X-172 “Will the Real Don Rickles Panic?” 22 pgs. Jimmy Olsen #141 X-173 Letter column 1 pg. New Gods #3 X-174 “Sonny Sumo” 22 pgs. Forever People #5 X-175 “Amazing Predictions” 10 pgs. Spirit World #1 X-176 “The Spirit of Vengeance!” Text 3 pgs. (No #) Spirit World #1 X-177 “Cancel His Trip!!! Or the President Must Die!” 10 pgs. Spirit World #1 X-178 Cover Jimmy Olsen #139 X-179 Cover New Gods #4 X-180 Cover Forever People #4 X-181 Cover Mister Miracle #4 X-182 “Souls” Poster (No #) Spirit World #1 X-183 “The Man from Transilvane” 22 pgs. Jimmy Olsen #142 X-184 Letter column 1 pg. Forever People #4 X-185 “Children of the Flaming Wheel” Text 3 pgs. (No #) Spirit World #1 X-186 Cover (unpublished) Spirit World #1 X-187 Table of contents 1 pg. Spirit World #1 X-188 Letter column 1 pg. New Gods #4 X-189 “Weird Humor” (Sergio Aragonés) (listed as #X-741) Spirit World #1 X-190 “Spawn” 22 pgs. New Gods #5 X-191 X-192 Cover (2 versions) Jimmy Olsen #141 X-193 “Murder Machine” 22 pgs. Mister Miracle #5 X-194 “Genocide Spray” 22 pgs. Jimmy Olsen #143 X-195 “Kirby’s the Name” 1 pg. JO #141, NG #5, FP #4 X-196 X-197 “The Big Thing in a Deep Scottish Lake” 22 pgs. Jimmy Olsen #144 X-198 Cover Forever People #5 X-199 Cover Mister Miracle #5 X-200 ”Dreams of Gentleman Jack” (rep AC#85) 10 pgs. + cover Forever People #4 X-201 “Secret of the Buzzard’s Revenge” (rep AC #73) 10 pgs. New Gods #4 X-202 “Coast Guard Reconnaissance” (rep ?) 3 pgs. New Gods #4 X-203 Cover reprint AC #73 New Gods #4 X-204 ”Newsboy Legion” (rep SSC #7) 13 pgs. + cover Jimmy Olsen #141 X-205 “The Romance of Rip Carter” (rep DC #82) 11 pgs. Mister Miracle #4 X-206 ”Crime Carnival” (rep AC #84) 10 pgs. + cover Forever People #5 X-207 “Pirate or Patriot?” (rep RFC #1) 4 pgs. Mister Miracle #4 X-208 “Scavenger Hunt” (rep AC #74) 9 pgs. New Gods #5 X-209 ”Last Mile Alley” (rep SSC #8) 13 pgs. + cover Jimmy Olsen #142 X-210 “The Invasion of America” (rep DC #76) 12 pgs. Mister Miracle #5 X-211 Cover New Gods #5 X-212 Cover Jimmy Olsen #142 X-213 Cover Jimmy Olsen #143 X-214 “A Room For Kid Twist” 8 pgs. (No #) In The Days Of The Mob #2 X-215 “The Ride” ? pgs. (No #) In The Days Of The Mob #2 X-216 Letter column 2 pgs. Forever People #5 X-217 “Murder, Inc.” 10 pgs. (No #) In The Days Of The Mob #2 X-218 “Hairie Secrets Revealed” 2 pgs. Jimmy Olsen #142 X-219 “The Alien Thing” 2 pgs. Jimmy Olsen #143 X-220 “The Torn Photograph” 2 pgs. Jimmy Olsen #144 X-221 ”Rookie Takes the Rap” (rep SSC #9) 13 pgs. + cover (No #) Jimmy Olsen #143 X-222 ”Kings for a Day” (rep SSC#10) 13 pgs. + cover Jimmy Olsen #144 X-223 “Beware of Mr. Meek” (rep AC #75) 9 pgs. New Gods #6 X-224 ”The Villain from Valhalla” (rep AC #75) 10 pgs. + cover Forever People #6
Kirby Material With Production Numbers 1970-1976 CODE X-100 X-101 X-102 X-103 X-104 X-105 X-106 X-107 X-108 X-109 X-110 X-111 X-112 X-113 X-114 X-115 X-116 X-117 X-118 X-119 X120 X-121 X-122 X-123 X-124 X-125 X-126 X-127 X-128 X-129 X-130 X-131 X-132 X-133 X-134 X-135 X-136 X-137 X-138 X-139 X-140 X-141 X-142 X-143 X-144 X-145 X-146 X-147 X-148 X-149 X-150 X-151 X-152 X-153 X-154 X-155 X-156 X-157 X-158 X-159 X-160
JOB DESCRIPTION “In Search of a Dream” 24 pgs. Cover Cover Cover “The Forever People” Pin-up 1 pg. “Beautiful Dreamer vs. Darkseid” Pin-up 1 pg. “The Infinity Man” Pin-up 1 pg. “Orion Fights for Earth” 23 pgs. “Lightray” Pin-up 1 pg. “Kalibak the Cruel” Pin-up 1 pg. “The Newsboy Legion” 22 pgs. (No #) Cover (2 versions) “Jack Kirby – Continued” Text 1 pg. “Murder Missile Trap” 22 pgs. “The Mountain of Judgement” 22 pgs. “Super War” 22 pgs. “The Whiz Wagons are Coming” Text 1 pg. “O Deadly Darkseid” 22 pgs. “X-Pit” 22 pgs. “A Visit with Jack Kirby” (Marvin Wolfman) Text 1 pg. “Welcome to Hell” 41 pgs. Table of Contents (Collage) 1 pg. (No #) “The Breeding Ground” (ME/SS) Text/collage 2 pgs. “Funeral for a Florist” (ME/SS) Text/1 illo 2 pgs. Dillinger poster (no #) “Kill Joy Was Here” (Sergio Aragonés) (no #) Cover (no #) Cover (B-793) Unknown Unknown Unknown Unknown (reused for Soul Love) “Diary of the Disappointed Doll” ? pgs. “Old Fires” 2 pgs. Unknown Text Text “Evil Factory” 22 pgs. (No #) “Hairies – Super-race or ...?” Text 1 pg. Cover (B-857) “Life vs. Anti-Life” 22 pgs. “Paranoid Pill” 22 pgs. (No #) “Death is the Black Racer” 23 pgs. Cover Cover Cover “The Saga of the D.N.Aliens” 22 pgs. “The Newsboy Legion Returns” (ME/SS) Text 1 pg. “Miracle Talk” (ME/SS) Text 1 pg.
TITLE & ISSUE Forever People #1 Forever People #1 New Gods #1 Mister Miracle #1 Forever People #4 Forever People #4 Forever People #4 New Gods #1 New Gods #4 New Gods #4 Jimmy Olsen #133 Jimmy Olsen #133 Jimmy Olsen #133 Mister Miracle #1 Jimmy Olsen #134 Forever People #2 Jimmy Olsen #134 New Gods #2 Mister Miracle #2 FP #1, NG #1, MM #1 In the Days of the Mob #1 In the Days of the Mob #1 In the Days of the Mob #1 In the Days of the Mob #1 In the Days of the Mob #1 In the Days of the Mob #1 In the Days of the Mob #1 Jimmy Olsen #134 True Divorce Cases True Divorce Cases True Divorce Cases True Divorce Cases Soul Love Soul Love Soul Love Soul Love Soul Love Jimmy Olsen #135 Jimmy Olsen #135 Jimmy Olsen #135 Forever People #3 Mister Miracle #3 New Gods #3 Mister Miracle #2 New Gods #2 Forever People #2 Jimmy Olsen #136 Jimmy Olsen #141 Mister Miracle #2
COVER DATE 3/71 3/71 3/71 4/71 9/71 9/71 9/71 3/71 8/71 8/71 10/70 10/70 10/70 4/71 12/70 5/71 12/70 5/71 6/71 3-4/71 Fall/71 Fall/71 Fall/71 Fall/71 Fall/71 Fall/71 Fall/71 12/70 n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a 1/71 1/71 1/71 7/71 8/71 7/71 6/71 5/71 5/71 3/71 9/71 6/71
“Virginia Graham” drawings Cover (No #) “To and From the Source” (ME/SS) Text 1 pg. “The Four-Armed Terror” 22 pgs. Cover (B-994) “Kingdom of the Damned” 22 pgs. “The Big Boom” 23 pgs.
n/a Jimmy Olsen #136 New Gods #2 Jimmy Olsen #137 Super DC Giant #S-25 Forever People #4 Jimmy Olsen #138
n/a 3/71 5/71 4/71 8/71 9/71 6/71
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4/71 9/71 7/71 10/71 8/71 6/71 7/71 7/71 Fall/71 7/71 Fall/71 9/71 7/71 11/71 Fall/71 Fall/71 Fall/71 7/71 9/71 9/71 10/71 Fall/71 10/71 9/71 Fall/71 Fall/71 Fall/71 9/71 Fall/71 11/71 9/71 12/71 11/71 9-11/71 12/71 11/71 12/71 9/71 9/71 9/71 9/71 9/71 10/71 11/71 10/71 11/71 10/71 12/71 11/71 10/71 11/71 n/a n/a 11/71 n/a 10/71 11/71 12/71 11/71 12/71 1/72 1/72
I didn’t know what was going on back in the states with Congress attacking comics and so forth. I just got incidental comics from the Army PX. By that time I had become a Joe Kubert fan. I was a big fan of Tor: 1,000,000 B.C., and 3-D comics. Then they died. When I came back to America I just started in again, and this time I realized that a lot of the guys had disappeared, just gone away. Somehow there weren’t that many comic books out. It started to dawn on me that this was a different time. It was as if only DC comics were available. So with Jack Kirby, what I did – along with all the other kids in America – I would notice that every once in a while Harvey Comics or Archie would come out with a series of super-hero characters that were spearheaded by Jack Kirby and Joe Simon. So I started to realize that this is a guy out there who was trying to make something happen, and I began to recognize this guy from before. I started to follow what Jack was doing – not so much as a fan, I must admit, but more as a person I recognized who was trying to crack the business back open again, though I didn’t quite know why it was closed down. Here was Simon & Kirby going to Harvey comics doing “Space Commandos” or whatever the heck it was called, and then going to this company doing a series of books for them, and then this company, disappearing and reappearing somewhere else. It was fun! Suddenly there would be Jack Kirby, Al Williamson, George Evans – all the old guys being pulled together and trying to make
Neal Adams Interview Interviewed by Jon B. Cooke (Neal Adams is one of the most highly acclaimed artists in the history of comics, inspiring nearly as many imitators as Jack Kirby. Since starting at DC as an artist for Robert Kanigher’s war books, Adams immediately rose to the top and became an instant fan favorite, drawing such classic series as The Spectre, Deadman, and the lauded Green Lantern/Green Arrow. His graphic redefinition of the campy Caped Crusader into The Batman, dark avenger of the night, remains the quintessential version that exists today. Between 1967 and ’72, Adams was the house cover artist, working on – among virtually every other title published by the company – Kirby’s Superman’s Pal, Jimmy Olsen and the occasional Fourth World title. This interview was conducted by phone on September 2 and 3, 1997. Special thanks to Arlen Schumer for facilitating the conversation.) THE JACK KIRBY COLLECTOR: Did you grow up reading Jack’s work? NEAL ADAMS: I guess everyone who read comic books more or less read Jack’s work. I must admit that I wasn’t a Jack Kirby fan as a kid. People seem to think there were the same number of Kirby fans in the ’50s before Marvel as after Marvel, but in general, Jack Kirby worked for the secondary companies. I mean, he did Fighting American and worked for DC at various times, but essentially Jack was put into the same category as guys like Bob Powell – not necessarily the mainstream of comic book guys like Alex Toth, Kubert, and the DC guys. He was sort of a “B” brand. When I grew up, as much as I bought comic books and recognized Kirby’s stuff once in awhile, I really wasn’t a fan. I got to be a fan later on – boy, a big fan when I realized what was under all that! In Jack’s early stuff – and even later on – Jack had a style that was just a little bit crude. He always had people with big teeth, screaming and yelling; drawings that you weren’t used to seeing in the other comic books which were much more sedate, much more heroic and much more pretty-boy. Jack’s stuff came off as a little bit odd. TJKC: Were you into the EC stuff? NEAL: Sure. TJKC: Would you say you were a big comics fan? NEAL: I don’t think so. In those days there were Fan Addicts for EC, but I was just a reader of comic books, a reader of comic strips, and went to the movies. My mother didn’t keep me from comic books, so I guess I was something of a collector, but not a big one. I certainly did read comics. Because of my early interest in art, I tended to keep some comics that were well drawn. I wasn’t looking for the artist necessarily, but I also had favorite comic books. I was a big fan of Supersnipe. And Captain Marvel, Superman, Batman. There’s hardly a comic book you can bring up that I don’t remember reading, because when we were kids we traded comic books. That’s how I got to read all the comic books. Powerhouse Pepper and all these oddball comics were traded back and forth. Even if it wasn’t the greatest comic, we read it. That’s pretty much the way things happened until I was ten or twelve years old. That’s when the sh*t hit the fan in the comic book business, and I went off to Germany as the son of a sergeant in the army.
Neal gives his rendition of some classic Kirby characters in these pencils from Avengers #93. 54
with Wally Wood’s delicate inking with the blacks just knocked me out, blew me away. I guess they just did three or four issues of Challengers, and then they did a comic strip called Sky Masters. It was in a New Jersey newspaper, and I would go down to an out-of-town newsstand and buy it every Sunday just to get that page. TJKC: How did you find out that it was in that paper? NEAL: I scouted around. You find stuff when you’re a teenager. I would haunt these secondhand book stores to buy science fiction books for 10¢. At this point, I was in high school and interested in art, so I was tracking this stuff and looking for what was going on. Mad Magazine was where Wally Wood found a home, and Mort Drucker went there after wasting his time being ignored by DC. Things were starting to happen, but it wasn’t happening very much. TJKC: At this time you were starting to get professional aspirations? NEAL: I was in the School of Industrial Art, now called the School of Art and Design, and I was certainly interested in drawing comic books. But in those days, people who drew comic books really were interested in drawing comic strips. In the ’50s you didn’t draw comics unless you wanted to draw comic strips. That included Jack, Joe Kubert, everybody. The idea was to get a comic strip. So you did comic books in the meantime. From 1953 on, comic books were considered toilet paper, and anyone who was producing them was considered less than human. It was not a good thing to do. This aspect was piled on you when you spoke to people in the business. The best example I can give you is the fact that there is no one in this business that is five years my junior or five years my senior. So really, what I heard was, “Oh, what a terrible place to be,” and people were getting crushed all around. And yet in the middle of it, there was Jack trying new experiments here and there, and then, by golly, he did land a syndicate strip – and thank goodness for the rest of us in comic books that it fell apart!
Another unused Kamandi #1 cover. The blurb in the top left corner would seem to indicate that Jack viewed the term “Fourth World” as a catch-all phrase for all of his new ideas, not just books related to the New Gods. something happen. When I was a later teenager, Joe and Jack did The Fly and the Shield for Archie Comics, which lasted for a certain period of time and then went down the tubes. They were down in the trenches. It would seem that Jack would go to Timely and do work, and later blast out to work with Joe again. At Marvel, Jack would work on the standard Stan Lee five plots: “Mogaam,” “Fin Fang Foom,”... (laughter) One really high point in the ’50s was when Jack went to DC and started to do Challengers of the Unknown. That was probably when Jack Kirby’s artwork really hit me right in the face, big, big, big time. Not so much in the first couple of issues inked by that guy…
TJKC: You actually drew a sample Sky Masters strip. NEAL: I did when I was in high school. I did a Sunday page. I became a fan of the Kirby/Wood combination so that even when I did it, I was doing Wally Wood lines and I was trying to do Kirby drawings. I realize now that I was failing at the Jack Kirby drawings more than the Wally Wood lines. There you go. It’s hard to see past that now. Yeah, I was a big fan of that strip. I don’t know what happened to my collection, but I had every Sunday page until I got out of school.
TJKC: You worked for a syndicate on Bat Masterson and Ben Casey. NEAL: I did backgrounds for a guy named Howard Nostrand on Bat Masterson. Later on, after I had done a whole bunch of stuff – it seemed like an eternity – I landed a comic strip with Jerry Capp, an adaptation of a TV series called Ben Casey, when I was 21. A lot of things happened in-between. I worked over at a place called Johnson & Cushing, a studio that did comics for advertising. Illustrations, comic booklets, all kinds of stuff. I worked 24 hours a day. TJKC: When I was a kid, one of my favorite magazines was Boy’s Life, and I remember a bunch of your half-pages. NEAL: There was a guy named Tom Schauer (who is now Tom Sawyer, head writer for Murder, She Wrote) and he did Chip Martin, College Reporter for Bell Telephone. In the middle of it, he decided to quit, and they looked around for someone else; and of course I was there, big
TJKC: Marvin Stein. NEAL: ...but suddenly his pages would hit me. Now I was a big Wally Wood fan, and Jack inked by Wally just blew everything away. Jack’s perspective, Jack’s attitude towards composition, Jack’s storytelling 55