$5.95 In The US
TWOMORROWS BULLETINS • TWOMORROWS BULLETINS • TWOMORROWS BULLETINS • TWOMORROWS BULLETINS
A SIZZLING SLUGFEST OF SALUTATIONS YOU’RE SURE TO SAVOR! ITeM! This July, look for the 176-page COLLECTED JACK KIRBY COLLECTOR, VOLUME 3 (our third TRADE PAPERBACK collection, reprinting TJKC #13-15 plus over 30 NEW pieces of Jack’s art)! So many of you have complained about not being able to find our sold-out issues that we’re continuing this annual tradition, so everyone can have access to our older issues. VOLUME 3 is only $16.95 ($19.95 Canada, $26.95 elsewhere)—and don’t forget the 160-page COLLECTED TJKC, VOLUME 2 (reprinting TJKC #10-12, plus 30 more new pieces of Kirby art), available for $14.95 postpaid ($16.95 Canada, $24.95 elsewhere). Also back in print is VOLUME 1 (240-pages, reprinting TJKC #1-9 plus 30 more new pieces of Jack’s art), just $21.95 ($24.95 Canada, $34.95 elsewhere). ITeM! The updated JACK KIRBY CHECKLIST is now shipping! It’s the most thorough listing of Kirby’s work ever published, and proceeds go to the Kirby Estate. This fullyupdated, definitive edition took over two years to complete, and lists in exacting detail EVERY PUBLISHED COMIC (we think!) featuring Jack’s work, including story titles, page counts, and inkers. It even cross-references reprints, to help collectors locate less-expensive versions of key Kirby issues, and includes an extensive bibliography listing BOOKS, PERIODICALS, PORTFOLIOS, FANzINES, POSTERS, and other obscure pieces with Kirby’s art, plus a detailed list of Jack’s UNPUBLISHED WORK as well. The updated version is 100 pages, and costs $5 postpaid ($5.50 Canada, $7.50 outside North America). It’s a must for the serious collector of Kirby’s work! ITeM! ALTER EGO GOES SOLO! Fans everywhere are buzzing about how Rascally ROY THOMAS’ classic comics ’zine ALTER EGO is spinning off from the back-up slot in COMIC BOOK ARTIST, into its own solo magazine! Fans and historians worldwide know no publication brings comics history to life like ALTER EGO, so don’t miss it! This June, look for ALTER EGO #1 (sporting a spectacular JERRY ORDWAY cover) at your local comics shop, or subscribe now for $20 for four quarterly issues ($27 Canada, $37 elsewhere). See the ad in this issue for a rundown of #1’s contents. ITeM! Speaking of COMIC BOOK ARTIST, issue #4 is now shipping, spotlighting WARREN PUBLISHING: EMPIRE OF HORROR! We had so much great art from top talents like BERNIE WRIGHTSON, RICHARD CORBEN, FRANK FRAzETTA, JACK DAVIS, AL WILLIAMSON, HARVEY KURTzMAN (plus a definitive interview with that master of the macabre, JIM WARREN), we increased it to 148 pages at no extra cost! CBA #1-4 are still available for $5.95 each, and you can subscribe for four issues for only $20 ($27 Canada, $37 elsewhere)!
If you want to get involved with CBA, submit copies of art from your collection and articles about your favorite comics artists to editor JON B. COOKE, PO Box 204, W. Kingston, RI 02892-0204. ITeM! Speaking of COMIC BOOK ARTIST (again!), we’re pleased as punch to announce that CBA was nominated for Diamond Distribution’s GEM AWARD for MAGAzINE OF THE YEAR! Plus, we just learned that CBA is also nominated for a HARVEY AWARD as “BEST BIOGRAPHICAL, HISTORICAL, OR JOURNALISTIC
JOHN’S JUKEBOX When I slipped in my idea for a “Kirby’s Greatest Battles” theme issue in our “Upcoming Issues” box, it was for purely selfish reasons: I absolutely love NEW GODS #6: “The Glory Boat”! Apparently I’m not the only one, because when I went seeking people to do a page-by-page write-up of that classic tale, I had no trouble finding folks who’d jump at the chance! (So many so that I had to present it “tag-team” style; kinda apropos for this issue, don’tcha think?) With all the wonderful battle stories Kirby created, you wouldn’t think it’d be easy to reach a consensus among fans on which was best, but to my surprise, I received multiple submissions on several stories that were favorites. For instance, I got THREE unsolicited articles on TALES OF SUSPENSE #83 (Subby vs. Iron Man), all proclaiming how it was their favorite. Likewise, TWO-GUN KID #62 was a big winner, with two writers sending in articles. It just goes to show you: Everybody loves a good fight (at least once in a while), and nobody could create better ones than Kirby. Whether on the pages of his comics, or fighting over the actual original art pages themselves, there was never a dull moment. So here’s an issue that’ll hopefully let us all relive some of our favorite rough and tumble memories of Jack. Long Live The King!
ITeM! Jack’s grandson JEREMY KIRBY was recently going through some of his grandad’s files and discovered yet another unused idea for a comics series (completely fleshed out by Jack). Jeremy’s an up-and-coming writer, and with some assistance from MARK EVANIER as cowriter, this Kirby concept is in the final stages of development. Negotiations with a major publisher for this new comics series are wrapping up, and we’ll have more details shortly! ITeM! Quick notice: TWOMORROWS PUBLISHING’s new Web Site (maintained by RANDY HOPPE) is at www.twomorrows.com (with sample art and articles from each issue of THE JACK KIRBY COLLECTOR, COMIC BOOK ARTIST, and soon, the new, solo ALTER EGO)! And if you love getting tons of e-mail from fellow Kirby fans, join the KIRBY MAILING LIST by sending an e-mail request to Randy Hoppe at kirby-l@fantasty.com ITeM! We’re back from a successful trip to MEGACON in Orlando, FL and gearing up for several more shows this year. Look for the TwoMorrows booth at WONDERCON (April 16-18 in San Francisco, CA), the NEW YORK COMIC SPECTACULAR (May 7-9 at Madison Square Garden), HEROES CON (June 18-20 in Charlotte, NC), WIzARD WORLD (July 16-18 in Chicago, IL), COMICCON INTERNATIONAL (August 12-15 in San Diego, CA), and SPX: The SMALL PRESS EXPO (September 17-19 in Bethesda, MD)!
TWOMORROWS CHECKLIST For full descriptions of each issue, see page 67 John Morrow, Editor TwoMorrows Publishing 1812 Park Dr. • Raleigh, NC 27605 • (919) 833-8092 FAX (919) 833-8023 • E-mail: twomorrow@aol.com
In MeMorIuM: Bruce Lowry We were terribly saddened to hear of the recent passing of Kirby fan BRUCE LOWRY. Bruce was a regular contributor to TJKC, and one of our charter subscribers way back in 1994. His influence was felt throughout fandom, from his dealings as a collector of original art, to his posts on various comics-related lists on the Internet. We’ll miss Bruce, and our heart goes out to his family and friends for their loss. We respectfully dedicate this issue to Bruce’s memory. PRESENTATION”! Since each issue seems to sell out as soon as it hits the stands (and the mag isn’t even a year old yet!), we’re thinking these are pretty good signs that it’ll be around a long, long time! (Let’s just hope ol’ JON B. COOKE doesn’t let all these accolades go to his head!) ITeM! Fourth World fans! DC’s had such success with their NEW GODS and MISTER MIRACLE paperbacks, they’ve scheduled a FOREVER PEOPLE volume for August! It reprints issues #1-11, plus Lonar and Young Gods back-ups, and features a new introduction by Manic MARK EVANIER. You’ve nagged DC for years to reprint this classic Kirby work, and you’ve put your money where your mouth is; let’s keep it going, and maybe we’ll see some JIMMY OLSEN, DEMON, KAMANDI, or DINGBATS OF DANGER STREET volumes one day! (Okay, we’re just kidding about that last one!)
THe coLLecTeD TJKc, VoLuMe one: 240-page trade paperback reprinting TJKC #1-9, plus new art! $21.95 ($24.95 Canada, $34.95 elsewhere) THe coLLecTeD TJKc, VoLuMe Two: 160-page trade paperback, reprinting TJKC #10-12, plus new Kirby art! $14.95 ($16.95 Canada, $24.95 elsewhere) THe coLLecTeD TJKc, VoLuMe THree: (new!) 176-page trade paperback, reprinting TJKC #13-15, plus new Kirby art! $16.95 ($19.95 Canada, $26.95 elsewhere) THe JAcK KIrBy cHecKLIST: (new!) 100 pages! $5.00 ($5.50 Canada, $7.50 elsewhere) BAcK ISSueS: $4.95 ($5.40 canada, $7.40 elsewhere) TJKc #7: 36-page KID GANGS theme issue! Few left! TJKc #13: 52-page SUPERNATURAL issue! Few left! TJKc #16: 52-page TOUGH GUYS theme issue! BAcK ISSueS: $5.95 ($6.40 canada, $8.40 elsewhere) TJKc #17: 68-page DC theme issue! TJKc #18: 68-page MARVEL theme issue! TJKc #19: 56-page ART theme issue! TJKc #20: 68-page WOMEN theme issue! TJKc #21: 68-page issue on Jack’s WACKIEST WORK! TJKc #22: 68-page issue on Jack’s VILLAINS! TJKc #23: 68-page issue where ANYTHING GOES! coMIc BooK ArTIST #1: (100-pages) DC Comics: 1967-74! ADAMS, INFANTINO, KIRBY, KUBERT, SEKOWSKY, CARDY, new ADAMS cover, and more! (Plus ALTER EGO!) $5.95 ($6.40 Canada, $8.40 elsewhere) coMIc BooK ArTIST #2: (100-pages) Marvel Comics: 1970-77! STAN LEE, KANE, STERANKO, WINDSORSMITH, STARLIN, PLOOG, new KANE cover, more! (Plus ALTER EGO!) $5.95 ($6.40 Canada, $8.40 elsewhere) coMIc BooK ArTIST #3: (100-pages) NEAL ADAMS: THE MARVEL YEARS! New ADAMS INTERVIEW, thumbnails, unused X-Men Graphic Novel pages, and more! (Plus ALTER EGO!) $5.95 ($6.40 Canada, $8.40 elsewhere) And Don’t Forget These new Items: coMIc BooK ArTIST #4: (148-pages) Warren Publishing! ALTer eGo #1: (80-pages) Ships in June! Subscribe now!
VISIT THE NEW TWOMORROWS WEB SITE: www.twomorrows.com 2
Issue #24 Featuring Kirby’s Greatest Battles! Contents: Our Gods At War ...............................4 (how experiences in WWII shaped Jack’s super-hero battles) Kirby On The New Gods ....................6 (Jack discusses the Fourth World) Battle Royal ........................................9 (Marvel’s greatest crossover battles) A Failure To Communicate...............12 (Part Four of our series comparing Jack’s margin notes to Stan’s dialogue, featuring “Him”) And In This Corner... .......................18 (superior slugfests with the King) Wah-Hoo!!........................................20 (a look at Sgt. Fury & His Howling Commandos) Shellhead, Subby, & Me ...................24 (why Tales To Astonish #82-83 may be Kirby’s finest hour) Two-Fisted Tales ...............................26 (a pair of hard-hitting remembrances of Two-Gun Kid #62) A Tank Knows No Mercy .................27 (a look at Battle #70) Art vs. Commerce.............................28 (Jim Shooter helps us examine Kirby’s art fight with Marvel Comics) Kirby’s Greatest Battle? ....................32 (what does a momento of Jack say about him?) Centerfold: Odyssey Pencils! .............34 Glory Be! ..........................................36 (three readers examine the editor’s favorite Kirby battle story in detail) Classifieds.........................................64 Collector Comments.........................65 Kirby Contest Answers.....................66
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Wrap-around cover inks: Mike Mignola Cover color: Tom Ziuko Photocopies of Jack’s uninked pencils from published comics are reproduced here courtesy of the Kirby Estate, which has our thanks for their continued support. COPYRIGHTS: Circe, Odyssey Art, The Cyclops, Ulyses © Jack Kirby • Destroyer Duck © Steve Gerber and Jack Kirby • Alicia Masters, Android, Angel, Ant-Man, Balder, Baron Von Strucker, Beast, Bucky, Captain America, Cyclops, Dino Manelli, Dr. Doom, Dum-Dum Dugan, Fandral, Fantastic Four, Gabriel Jones, George Stonewell, Giant-Man, Hercules, Him, Hogun, Hulk, Human Torch, Iceman, Ikaris, Invisible Girl, Iron Man, Izzy Cohen, Junior Juniper, Karnak, Loki, Mad Thinker, Mangog, Marvel Girl, Medusa, Moose Morgan, Mr. Fantastic, Pamela Hawley, Percival Pinkerton, Professor X, Rawhide Kid, Rebel Ralston, Reed Richards, Sandman, Sgt. Fury and His Howling Commandos, Silver Surfer, Sub-Mariner, Thing, Thor, Trapster, Two-Gun Kid, Volstagg, Wasp, Wizard, X-Men TM & © Marvel Entertainment, Inc. • Bat Lash, Batman, Brainiac, Bruno Borman, Creeper, Darkseid, Deadman, Demon, Enemy Ace, Farley Sheridan, Flash, Gole, Green Lantern, Hawkman, Henry Jones, Jaffar, Joker, Kid Flash, Lex Luthor, Lightray, Lynn Sheridan, Metamorpho, Metron, Mister Miracle, Orion, Parademons, Penguin, Richard Sheridan, Robin, Scott Free, Shaligo, Slig, Supergirl, Superman, The Deep Six, The Glory Boat, The Losers, The New Gods, Trok, Wonder Woman TM & © DC Comics, Inc.
Karnak pin-up pencils from FF Annual #5. These margin notes suggest this may have been an unused story page. The Jack Kirby Collector, Vol. 6, No. 24, April 1999. Published bi-monthly by & © TwoMorrows Publishing, 1812 Park Drive, Raleigh, NC 27605, USA. 919-833-8092. John Morrow, Editor. Pamela Morrow, Asst. Editor. Jon B. Cooke, Assoc. Editor. Single issues: $5.95 ($6.40 Canada, $8.40 elsewhere). Six-issue subscriptions: $24.00 US, $32.00 Canada and Mexico, $44.00 outside North America. First printing. All characters are trademarks of 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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Apokolips—an evil name in itself. Orion went in search of his true origins; Orion went to the place he thought he belonged, and he tried to find the people to whom he really meant something. He tried to find Lightray; he tried to find Highfather, the ruler of New Genesis, a planet as good as Darkseid’s planet Apokolips was evil. There on New Genesis were Orion’s roots, and friends, and family. He could sense it, and he went in search of them. Engendered in all this is a social pattern, and social thought, and the ever-present contention between good and evil. Good and evil are forever in contention, and each will forever try to cancel out the other. This lies behind the path we all tread. We live our lives out making the decisions that will clear up the dividing line between good and evil. Of course, an epic tale can’t be based solely on two characters; there’s got to be a variety of characters in order to make clear and evaluate your own social values. So I had my own cast; I had Metron, who was an observer of all these activities that took place. We have such people; we have people that are unemotionally involved with any kind of situation. I had Lightray; Lightray, of course, is a lighthearted character, and enjoyed life; and we see people like that every day. They cause no harm, and they devise and make use of all the
Kirby On The New Gods (This transcription is of a taped recitation by Jack, apparently in answer to some questions he received from a fan—as near as we can tell—sometime in the mid-to-late 1980s. What follows is Jack in the twilight of his career, recounting his thought processes behind the New Gods series.)
y mother and father were immigrants from Austria, and they came to the US during that period of mass migration from Europe. There were people of many origins here, and my parents were among the many who came to New York. My mother, of course, told me many of the old European folk tales, which she brought with her. From these tales I learned to appreciate the art of storytelling, and you’ll find that many of my stories have both mythological and historical elements of truth in their makeup. I’ve noticed that throughout the years, each civilization had its own historical facts, its own historical legends, and its own historical ways of storytelling. I began to ask myself the question of, “What were the ingredients of our own storytelling—of the storytelling we see today all about us, in the various material that we read?” With comics as my vehicle for telling a story, I began to set down the kind of thoughts that were common to the period in which I was raised. You’ll find that the elements are mixed, but they have validity and they have the potency of truth. The main characters of the Fourth World series are comprised of people who occupy the various positions in two different families. My conjecture—which is part of good storytelling, I think—still had to do with good and evil, and therefore I contrived an evil world with an evil family, and a good world with a good family. The key element of my story was Orion, who left his evil world to find his true roots, which were embedded in the planet of Highfather. Orion was essentially traded at birth by the evil Darkseid to Highfather, in exchange for a young child who later became Mister Miracle. Despite the fact he had broken the law of Darkseid, Darkseid still considered him his son. And of course, that became an element in the story which was frustrating to the villain, because the villain considered the fact that no father would try to destroy his own son. Considering Orion his own son, Darkseid could not destroy him. But still he had to find ways of stopping him and punishing him for the deeds that he considered objectionable to the evil planet that he ruled. The evil world Darkseid came from was called Late Kirby pencils from the cover of Super Powers #5 (first series), featuring one of Jack’s last great battle stories.
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wonderful diversions that lighten our lives. What they can’t find for amusement, they will create for amusement. They will not live their lives in vain; they will try to enjoy life. And of course, Lightray is such a character. Highfather is our conception of a being who gives us our total goodness, and of course, that being comes with many names, in many languages on our own Earth. In the world that I created, I called him Highfather. Highfather—the opposite of Darkseid—receives Orion, who is his own true son. Of course, that heightens the situation, and makes it ready for more adventure. Big Barda is the female star of the story, and a girl who is both vital and brave, and has everything we might want to find in the perfect female. I tried to create a female vision of this sort, and I think I found it in Big Barda. Mister Miracle, the magician, became his own magic. He was the one Orion was traded for, and he would never be the kind of character Darkseid would ever consider as an ally. Mister Miracle would have to join Orion in his battle to forever rid themselves of Darkseid in some way. The New Gods was my own attempt to create a comic book epic, and this I did. I used four books in which to do it, including an episode in Jimmy Olsen, which was part of the DC line at the time. I filled it with a cast and creations that were highly innovative for the period, and I tried to be as creative as I could. I had a Black man, Vykin the Black, and he was part of the epic. I filled it with the people of the Sixties, and I called them the Forever People, because they seemed like Forever People to me. They were a new step, a new social event in the epic of Darkseid meets an “everyman” comic book artist in Super Powers #5. America, so I called them the reader could identify with the characters. The book itself blossomed Forever People. The Forever People were the young people of their into many others, and became an epic in itself for years. time; beautiful, active, highly intelligent, and wonderful material for Good guys usually triumph over bad guys. Bad guys, no matter stories. I used the young people of the times; the times themselves how clever they are, operate outside our law. Sooner or later, they became the backdrop of my stories. I had a wonderful experience in must make a mistake that will bring them in contention with that creating new characters. law, and then they will fail. Oddly enough, it was Darkseid, the most evil of the characters, I don’t believe I lessened the use of violence, as I did in any of my that brought the others all together. It was Darkseid’s dealings with stories in the past. What I did was broaden the social content of the all of them that became the manner in which I could demonstrate environment in which my characters operated. I began to bring a little how we all deal with evil. I made it as realistic as possible, and the 7
A Failure To Communicate: Part Four by Mike Gartland
The Last Straw? t’s the Summer of 1967, arguably the height of the ’60s. Among some of the things occurring (or “happening” as it was referred to then): Expo ’67 was in full swing, Sgt. Pepper was the album to ingest and discuss, the Arabs & Israelis experienced a bloody six-day war, there were race riots in Detroit that were just as bloody, and Vietnam kept rolling along, with Summer protests and young people dying. Definitely a time of turmoil for many, which brings us to... Marvel Comics?? Well, some will say turmoil is turmoil; and facts are facts; and A is A; and what has this to do with Kirby & Lee? Well... During that Summer of ’67, on the stands was the latest new adventure of Marvel’s then flagship title: The Fantastic Four. In June and July issues #66 and 67 premiered “The Mystery of The Human Beehive.” By this time, readers were so used to seeing new and inventive creations and situations in the pages of FF every month, they were almost becoming jaded. What no one realized at that time was, with this story, readers were taking in what would be the virtual end of an incredibly productive run. As we have seen in previous articles, during this time at Marvel Jack Kirby was becoming more and more disenchanted with his position with the Company and his working relationship with Stan Lee. Over the previous twelve months Jack witnessed Marvel receive a great deal of publicity; articles in newspapers and magazines hailing Lee for his new and innovative style, and how the readership wondered how Lee “came up” with characters like the Hulk, Thor, and Spider-Man, among others. Jack was also having his share of (above) A new Kirby character about to be born in FF #67. (next page) “Him” returns to do battle in Thor #166. business battles with Goodman, be following his margin notations when he dialogued those stories). a man who never understood Kirby’s value to the Company (Lee, to This latest installment in FF #66 and 67 would become yet another his credit, did), concerning his contract and his wanting to earn the dispute that would eventually help contribute to the end of Kirby’s most he could—and Jack was tired of submitting stories with his margin creative generosity. notes for direction, being either changed or ignored by Lee (by this Readers familiar with the storyline will remember that Alicia time Kirby felt in control of the storylines, and felt that Stan should
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squad was not an entirely unique concept; DC’s Sgt. Rock, which originated in 1959, featured a Black soldier named Jackie Johnson.) In any event, Gabe’s inclusion in the Howlers was a bold move, and when Jones appeared colored pink in the first issue, Lee was obliged to send the color separation company a detailed memo to make it clear that Gabe Jones was a Black man. This motley melange of misfits whose ferocious battle cry of “WAH-HOO!!” earned them the title “Howling Commandos” was led by Nicholas Joseph Fury, a cigar-chomping, tough-talking Sergeant whose trademarks were a five-o’clock shadow and a perpetually-ripped shirt. A product of the Great Depression, Fury was raised on the Lower East Side of Manhattan known as Hell’s Kitchen by his widowed mother, his father (World War I pilot Jack Fury) having died in combat. Fury was a classic Dead-End Kid. He frequented pool halls, got into scrapes, and worked as infrequently as possible. His life turned around when he joined the parish of Chaplain Lewis Hargrove. Fury became best friends with Hargrove’s younger brother who was subsequently killed at Pearl Harbor. To avenge his friend’s death at the hands of the Axis powers, Fury enlisted in 1941, endured basic training at Fort Dix, and served as a Sergeant in the European Theater of Operations leading the Howlers. The supporting characters in SFAHHC include: Captain “Happy Sam” Sawyer, a bellowing, no-nonsense C.O.; Pam Hawley, Fury’s love interest; Baron Strucker, Nick’s nefarious Nazi-nemesis; and Sgt. “Bull” McGiveney, Fury’s loud-mouthed rival whose squad would tangle with the Howlers (and always lose) at the drop of a hat. In a mere eight issues, Jack and Stan had established a cast potent enough to keep the book rolling for almost two decades. All the bad guys in SFAHHC were (what else?) Nazis; all were named Hans, Fritz, or Otto, and all were ruthless, cold-blooded Teutonic killers. This one-dimensional stereotyping (by Lee) was pointedly at odds with the rich characterization in the rest of the book. Amazingly, Flo Steinberg (Marvel’s Gal Friday) recalls that one reader was so incensed by the magazine’s anti-Nazi slant that he wrote a letter threatening to kill the entire Bullpen. The FBI was called in, but nothing came of the scare. Clearly, Marvel’s progressive attitude didn’t delight everyone. As for the plots, it was mostly Fury leading his men on one
Wah-Hoo!! Sgt. Fury and his Howling Commandos examined by Mark Alexander
Enter The Howling Commandos “There was reality in the stories because of my own war experiences. Sgt. Fury had the essence of military life in it.”—Jack Kirby he story goes like this: One day in late 1962 Stan Lee was trying to convince his skeptical uncle (publisher Martin Goodman) that Marvel’s new-found success was due to the fact that he and Jack Kirby had developed a new comic-style which Lee claimed would work in any genre. To prove his point, Stan bet that they could make a hit even with an outdated war-theme and a “horrible title.” The result was Sgt. Fury and His Howling Commandos, a Kirbyesque trek through the battlefields of World War II that was dubbed “The War Mag for People Who Hate War Mags.” Jack Kirby was the obvious choice to illustrate the series. Having tackled combat themes before (see Boy Commandos, Foxhole, Warfront, and Battle), he was able to handle the job with ease and enthusiasm. The commandos that Jack created for Sgt. Fury were colorful characters, startling for their brazen acknowledgement of ethnicity, whose diverse backgrounds formed a microcosm of America itself. Among their ranks were: Timothy “Dum-Dum” Dugan, a huge, derby-domed Irish-American; Isadore “Izzy” Cohen, a master-mechanic from Brooklyn and the first-ever Jewish comics hero; Dino Manelli, a handsome Italian-American who was also a Hollywood star back in the states (clearly based on Dean Martin); “Rebel” Ralston, an ex-jockey from Kentucky with a pronounced southern accent; “Junior” Juniper, the Ivy Leaguer and eager beaver of the group; and Gabriel Jones, a trumpet-playing jazzman who was Jack and Stan’s first (pre-Panther) Black hero. At a time when civil rights was a hotly-contested issue, Kirby and Lee (without concern for sales in the South) showed exactly where they stood on segregation by including a Black soldier in Fury’s squad. They were, of course, taking artistic license with this concept; having both served during World War II they knew that the US Army had been segregated at the time. (Fury’s anachronistically-integrated
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“Bell”) takes over on inks, and his admittedly rushed delineation looks (in my opinion) just right for this magazine, whereas it generally failed in Kirby’s super-hero books. In this issue, Fury meets Lady Pamela Hawley, a young Red Cross volunteer born to English nobility and their fourteen-issue romance begins. The chemistry between these two was by far the most interesting that Lee had developed to date. Stan’s usual spin on romance (e.g. Blake/Foster, Summers/Grey, and Murdock/Page) had both protagonists secretly longing for each other while neither dared to tell the other. It got to be a drag very quickly. By contrast, Fury and Hawley were up front about their feelings for each other, and the fact that their personalities were totally opposite (he, rough and from the wrong side of the tracks; she, sophisticated and high-born) gave their coupling a unique slant. With Pam’s death (SF #18, May 1965), Fury acquired the same type of scarred psyche that Steve (Captain America) Rogers had, both having lost a dear friend to the war. Another major event takes place at the end of Sgt. Fury #4. “Junior” Juniper, the Howler with the least potential in terms of character development, became the first-ever Marvel Universe hero to be killed. Today that’s no big deal but in 1963, comics heroes simply didn’t die; not permanently, anyway. Suddenly, with the death of “Junior” Juniper, the series acquired some real cachet. It now played like a true-life war drama where people got killed and never came back. You wondered who would be next. (Unfortunately, in 1965 Stan wrote a SFAHHC story set in the Korean War which ended the suspense. Obviously, no more Howlers would die in World War II.) In between Sgt. Fury #4 and 5, a modern-day Nick Fury appeared in the pages of Marvel’s flagship magazine (Fantastic Four #21, Dec. 1963). Fury is now a Colonel in the C.I.A. (he was promoted from Sergeant to (above) The Howlers react to Junior’s death in Sgt. Fury #4. (below) Nazi-bashing! Second Lieutenant in Korea, then after spying for France in Vietnam during the 1950s, he was booted up to Colonel). In this issue he teams up with the FF to defeat a villain called The Hate Monger who (implausibly) turns out to be Adolf Hitler. The story doesn’t amount to much; it was mainly a stepping-stone that the writers used to move Fury into a surprising
Two-page spread from Sgt. Fury #1. impossible raid after another (the title of SF #9, “Mission: Capture Hitler” says it all). Sometimes the book seemed like a Marvel superhero comic, sometimes like a war movie, and sometimes like Kirby’s own up-close and personal war experiences. Whatever the mood, the Kirby-Lee issues, particularly #4-7 and 13, were generally outstanding, even by today’s standards. Quite an accomplishment, considering Jack’s workload at the time.
Eight Two-Fisted War Stories (Sgt. Fury #1-7 & #13) Lee and Kirby sought to infuse their new war comic with the unique characterization (Stan’s) and the sheer kinetic energy (Jack’s) which had worked so well in the Fantastic Four. As a result, the early issues of SFAHHC (inked by Dick Ayers) read like Marvel super-hero stories, a premise which would be abandoned by the fourth issue. Realism went out the window in scenes where a parachuting DumDum blasts a Nazi plane out of the sky with a grenade (SF #1, May 1963) and holds off an entire enemy squad by hurling rocks at them (SF #2, July 1963). Worth noting, though, are the harrowing concentration camp scenes in the second issue. Jack and Stan, both Jewish, weren’t about to shy away from the subject of genocide. In one chilling panel Kirby depicts emaciated P.O.W.s, and in another we see what is clearly a gas chamber. The next issue, “Midnight At Massacre Mountain”(SF #3, Sept. 1963), is notable for a cameo appearance by major Reed Richards of the O.S.S.. From this point on, the writing would take a quantum leap. With “Lord Ha-Ha’s Last Laugh” (SF #4, Nov. 1963) the series really takes off. The first surprise is Fury meets Reed Richards in Sgt. Fury #3. that George Roussos (as 21
Shellhead, Subby, & Me! How the flu caused my greatest Kirby battle, by R.J. Vitone o many battles! So many pages of memorable power! How do you boil them all down to a precious few— even a single favorite? For me... easy. Jack’s two-issue fill-in on the Sub-Mariner strip in Tales To Astonish #82-83 stands as my personal top Kirby battle. Let me tell you why: First, it was unexpected. At that particular time, Jack was not the regular artist for the Subby strip. He was thrown the assignment in true last-minute fashion (“Hey! We’re stuck! Shoot Jack the plot, fast!!”). Also, the story was unusual for the time—Iron Man comes over from Tales of Suspense to clash with Subby in his own strip. Believe it or not, it WAS unusual for heroes to “cross-over” from one book to another in those days! That Jack would come on board just as the battle climaxed was an amazing twist of fate—and another bonus was that Dick Ayers, my own favorite Kirby inker, handled the inks. In order for you to fully understand just why this is my favorite battle, try to follow this sequence of events. Remember, back then, there were no comic book stores, no Comic Shop News to say what was coming. There was no truly organized fandom dissecting every book on the Internet. All there was was just me, the corner drug store, and a handful of 12¢ Marvels each week. This is what lead up to it.
Prince Namor.
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Tales of Suspense #80: Namor, angered that Iron Man has driven off Krang just as he was about to catch up with the Warlord, attacks the weakened hero. Iron Man tricks the Atlantean into sealing him into a secured lab, where he recharges his transistors. Namor heads for water, to regain his own power. The two prepare to collide in:
Tales To Astonish #82: The Main Event Enter Jack “King” Kirby—the artist Marvel didn’t want to load down with too much work took on more work! The credits to TTA #82 list: “Begun by Gallant Gene (Colan), who caught the flu bug
The Lead-In Tales of Suspense #78: Drawn by Gene Colan, Iron Man defeats the Mandarin and his giant creation Ultimo in China. Upon returning to the US, Tony Stark finds himself in contempt of Congress, and all Stark Industries facilities closed down. Tales of Suspense #79: Stark agonizes over his troubles, his lack of money, his estrangement from Happy and Pepper, and his drained strength due to the Ultimo fight. Suddenly, evil Warlord Krang launches an electric bolt right out of TTA #81’s Subby story (also drawn by Colan). Although he manages to fend off the attack, Iron Man is confronted by the fighting-mad
after drawing the first two pages! Finished by King Kirby (who drew the last 10 pages, then asked who the Sub-Mariner was!)” The story is simple. The water-recharged Namor battles the fullstrength Iron Man in a 12-page epic. (In time-honored comic tradition, there is no “winner,” as the story splits off in different directions.) But the Kirby involvement is much more interesting! Called on apparently at the last moment, Jack produced a professional, top-notch 10-page mini-masterpiece. First, Iron Man opens with full-power repulsor rays, rendered in striking Kirby perspective and power. Namor uses his ankle-wings to fly back to attack. His first blow, a great half-page punch, floors Iron Man, who decides that his best course of action is to keep Namor away from water, to drain his strength. Four panels of furious evasion, then... a shattering half-page collision, followed by a sly judo toss. The effort has drained Iron Man, but he’s conveniently near a handy “energo-grip” that can provide fast, highly-concentrated recharging. A 24
chores on the Subby strip, because Jack Kirby did this one as well—in the same frenzied style that he illustrated the previous issue with to boot! EVERY PAGE features strong, dramatic action. Namor dives to the attack, tearing metal, smashing barriers, and enduring powerful counter-attacks (all emphasized by Artie Simek sound-effects: PSAP! SPLEEEUNNGG! SKRAK! FTOOM!). It takes Krang’s dreaded fleet-destroyer to finally stop the mighty Prince. The story ends with Namor’s memory wiped away, Krang escaping, and Kirby moving on to other things. The two strips are classic examples of Kirby style. Done in wide-open panels, three and four to a page, the battles are presented close-up in a fast-paced ballet of see-sawing action. Both were inked by Dick Ayers, my alltime favorite Kirby inker. I had grown up with Ayers. He took me through just about every Kirby/Marvel phase: Pre-hero “monsters” (Gorgilla, Taboo, Manoo, etc.), westerns (“Trapped by Dead-Eye Dawson!”), war (“Meet the Howling Commandos!”), and virtually each new early Marvel effort as it came (FF, the Hulk, Thor, Ant-Man, Avengers, etc.)! I grew up wondering how Kirby could produce so much great art, and how Dick Ayers could keep up with him! As it was, shortly after Jack had done these fill-ins, Ayers, too, moved off to other assignments, and these stories stand as just about the last work the two men would collaborate on. So there you have it —a tremendous crossover battle between two top Marvel heroes, enough action to fill a giant-sized Annual, drawn by Jack Kirby and inked by Dick Ayers: For me, comic book heaven! Even now, I look at these issues with a lot of fondness. If you’ve never seen ’em, search out these two books!
quick energy-fix, and the revived Iron Man furiously pounds the reeling Namor. One punch, two, and then... “Desperately, determinedly, putting every ounce of armored force behind a single power-packed punch, the embattled Iron Man lashes out at his rash antagonist...” A half-page blast causes the stunned Sub-Mariner to marvel, “Never—on land or under the sea—have I been struck a mightier blow!” And up he springs to renew the attack. Meanwhile, gas-masked Stark security cops armed with a distinctive Kirby-designed tear gas launcher arrive, giving the raging Namor new targets. He tosses an “electro-magnetic stabilizer” that weighs tons right through a wall at the cops. Iron Man, realizing that the security men wouldn’t stand a chance against the Prince, grapples with his foe to protect the men. Both begin to weaken, but Namor breaks off the fight when he spots Krang’s warship. (The panel where he charges off is a classic, the pose used many times in ads and on promo items). The battle ends... ... BUT this story made a major impression on me back in 1966. I was a teenager, at the peak of my comic “fanboy” craze. Marvel books obsessed me, even though I hated the concept of the “split titles” (Astonish, Suspense, Strange Tales) that stretched stories out seemingly forever. Still, Kirby was my favorite artist, and this battle was a great capper to the Subby/Iron Man storylines—and my own story didn’t end there either! Tales To Astonish #83 was another part of the prize package. Gene Colan’s flu must have prevented him from picking up his art
The Wrap-Up Gene Colan returned to both the Iron Man and Sub-Mariner strips the next month. In a much quieter style, Iron Man continues to try to solve his Congressional problems, and runs right into a new, revamped Titanium Man—and that story would run for a while. Over in Astonish, Namor, his memory gone, is used by an evil agent of the Hidden Empire to hunt the Hulk. Needless to say, he gets his memory back, and continues his search for Krang. And Jack? He went right on turning out stacks of great pages. FF #55 (0ct. ’66) features another of the greatest Kirby battles of all time: The Silver Surfer vs. the fighting-mad Thing!— —but that’s another story. ’Nuff Said!★ 25
Glory Be! New Gods #6 tag-team examined by Charles Hatfield, Richard Kyle, and Adam McGovern (Editor’s Note: I vividly remember being eleven years old when my aunt came to visit with a paper grocery sack full of comics her boyfriend was getting rid of. Of the 50 or so books in it, one really stood out: New Gods #6. Something about that cover, with the mummified figure standing dead center, drew me in. I was totally blown away by the nonstop action in it, and even cut out Kirby figures to create my own collages (pages 13 and 18 feature my all-time favorite poses). So for this issue, I self-indulgently selected my favorite Kirby battle story—“The Glory Boat”—and asked three of TJKC’s most literate regular contributors to analyze it, without knowing what the other would write. Here are the results, assembled “tag-team” style, and accompanied by the Jack’s pencils, from photocopies he made before they were inked. Since all three analyses flow throughout this article, I suggest you read each straight through, one at a time, to avoid confusion.) ical, like much of Jack’s later work, and this sequence may be among the first.) The fifth issue begins with another prologue featuring Metron. He has gone beyond the stars, to (as Metron explains) “the Promethean Galaxy, the place of Giants! Alive, chained to the fragments of the devices they used in their attempts to smash the final barrier!” And Jack tells us, speaking of a colossal agonized figure floating in space before us, “There were others with Metron’s boldness and hunger. This one tried to engulf the barrier by enlarging his own atomic structure. What happened is not known. He failed. He drifts endlessly—larger than a star cluster—fused, living! Taking a billion Earth years to feel one heartbeat!” And Metron says of the Giants, “I can feel them invading my thoughts, crying out in eternal humiliation!” Loss of face was a theme of the whole Fourth World narrative. From Orion’s bestial “Apokolips face” in the beginning to Esak’s at the end, it motivated the series. The loss of face—the loss of the social mask, the exposure of the inner self, the humiliation of failure before others— was the entire story’s preoccupation. It may have been Jack’s, as well, for this was the first time in his career that he was wholly on his own, completely exposed, for good or ill. (The loss of face theme begins with Steel Hand, an Intergang boss, in Mister Miracle #1, who says somewhat artificially, “Soon it will be over—and I can forget Mister Miracle [the original, the Great Thaddeus]. Before I lose face, he’ll lose his life!” Then, in New Gods #3, there is the first revelation of Orion’s “Apokolips face”—and when Orion’s normal appearance is restored by the Mother Box, the device causes a gun to blow up in the face of the criminal Sugar-Man, seriously damaging his features. Soon, of course, Sonny Sumo and Funky Flashman—who hid his true face from the world—will come on the scene.) So now in the sixth issue of New Gods, in profoundly deep waters, Jack comes to the biggest test of his creative life. In the next issue he is going to attempt the most ambitious story he has ever written and drawn— that anyone in comic books to that moment has ever attempted—“The Pact.” Jack may have been speaking to himself as well as to us when he wrote and drew “Glory Boat.”
Introduction by Richard Kyle hen Jack began the story of the Fourth World, he began without a plan. The first three issues of Forever People, New Gods, and Mister Miracle show him finding his way—he had an idea of the story he wanted to tell, but not of the actual narrative and characters that would tell it. Those early stories were frequently forced and artificial. Then, as he moved into the fourth issues, the dialogue sharpened, the stock characters and situations began to drop away. Intergang was phased out, “O’Ryan” effectively disappeared, the stereotypical supporting characters vanished, Infinity Man faded away—and Big Barda and Sonny Sumo appeared, Orion found himself in deep waters, and the Fourth World began to take real shape. “The Pact” was just over the horizon. Why didn’t Jack simply start here in the first place? Well, he may have written about that... In Mister Miracle #5, Oberon, the dwarf assistant of Scott Free— Jack’s surrogate and the voice of caution in the strip—says to Scott while they are preparing a new escape test, “You may call this a rehearsal, but I call it ‘constant jeopardy’ when I fire this cannon. Why must you wait until I ignite the charge? Why can’t you start working before that and give yourself more of a chance?!” But Scott Free couldn’t do it any other way—and I suspect neither could Jack’s creative mind. That’s the way it worked at its best: In real time and in front of an audience, letting the story emerge from his unconscious while you and I and Jack sat watching. The storyline that culminates in “Glory Boat” in New Gods #6 has its beginnings in the fourth issue, in one of the most telling sequences in the series. In the prologue, Metron of New Genesis, a manifestation of science and intellect, has taken young Esak in the Mobius Chair to a primitive world of savages. He says to Esak, “One day, when their bellies are full, they will look up and see us. Then they will think and dream!” Esak says, “Tell me, Metron! Are we truly beyond time? Are we beyond death?” And Metron replies, “My sensors indicate there is an answer in New Genesis.” There, Highfather tells them, “The war to keep Apokolips from Earth goes badly. One of us has fallen!” It is Seagrin, an oceanic god, who has died. Orion says of him, “He was a gentle warrior. He loved the deeps and all life in it. It was his element. Within it, he found harmony in living. And this is the end of it. Somewhere in these waters he fought and died!”—slain by the Deep Six. (Curiously, Bill Everett, creator of the Sub-Mariner and identified with water and the sea in so many stories, died unexpectedly at the very time Jack must have been conceiving this story. It would be interesting to know if it was before or after Everett’s death, for Everett was the first among the Immortals of comic books to die and he was someone whose work Jack respected. The New Gods stories are frequently autobiograph-
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The Glory Boat “Glory Boat” can be seen as a parable of the Vietnam War. It is also more: The creature may be called Leviathan, but it’s the Great White Whale as well. Jack created many of his strongest stories by dividing a psychological conflict into opposing physical forces, then dramatizing its resolution in those same concrete terms. Although Melville’s Moby Dick has been given countless interpretations, its symbolic structure quite remarkably anticipates Freud’s theories, and much of the Fourth World (which was synthesized from many sources) is based on Jack’s interpretation of these ideas, and—rightly or wrongly—I believe they are especially visible in “Glory Boat.” In it, Jack also carries his method one step further—for what happens to the (see KYLE on page 39) 36
Charles Hatfield
Adam McGovern
Page 1: “The Glory Boat” deals with the artificial manipulation of life forms. The antagonists, the Deep Six, possess “mutative” powers which allow them to adapt other living beings, as well as their own bodies, to suit specific purposes. These “mutations” are immediate and often radical, distorting the creatures beyond recognition. The “Leviathan” which approaches here (page 1) is such a mutation. It is not a whale, but a monstrous parody of one, sporting enormous curved spikes on its back. The creature’s impossible shape contributes to the dramatic composition of this page, which reverses Kirby’s trademark use of what I call the Looming Effect: Rather than coming at us, the monster is moving away, toward a small and vulnerable-looking target. The looming flukes in the foreground, hinting at the monster’s gigantic mass, sweep the reader’s eye forward, through the curving spikes, toward the helpless ship. (In the published version, Royer’s felicitous inks perfectly capture the sinuous sweep of the tail.) Against the Deep Six and their Leviathan, Kirby will pose the regenerative powers of Lightray, who also has the ability to shape life. Tellingly, these contrasting forces are played out against the backdrop of the sea, which both science and myth recognize as the wellspring of all living things. Refinements in the script between penciling and publishing suggest one possible inspiration for this setting: Whereas the penciled version speaks simply of the creature being “spawned” by the Deep Six, the published version calls the monster a “resurrection” of an ancient symbol, alluding to the Leviathan of the Old Testament. (The ending of the previous issue’s story, “Spawn,” also strikes this note, promising to “revive the dreaded myths” of ages past.) The penciled version shown here may be more strictly accurate—the beast has been created, not brought back to life—but lacks the Biblical resonance. The final version, invoking religion and myth, adds symbolic heft to the script and alerts us to ancient mysteries of the sea as the source of life.
For me, Kirby’s Greatest Battle was not confined to the spectacular clash recounted in this story — it was the conflict he perceived between our longing for peace and our tendency toward battle itself. That conflict was central to Kirby’s quest as a modern myth-maker. His childhood on the mean streets of early-20th century ghetto New York and his adolescence in WWII had schooled him only too well in it, and the divided, Cold War America in which he produced his best work gave him a passion to see it resolved. Here’s how he attempted it in this great battle story — at once his most realistic and most fantastic treatment of the theme. Page 1: A marvelously cinematic establishing shot as subtle as it is tense — this starts a four-page (see McGOVERN on page 39)
Pages 2-3: Look at the battering ram smashing through the ship: It seems to be made of stone. Despite the fluid sweep of the creature’s tail on page 1, the Leviathan appears more inorganic than organic. (Check out pages 4 and 24: The beast is like a machine with tusks, replete with (see HATFIELD on page 38) 37