#26 • November 1999 Spotlighting Kirby’s Gods
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Galactus TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc., Mantis TM & © DC Comics, Inc.
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Issue #26 Contents Jack Kirby On: ....................................6 (storytelling, man, God, and Nazis) Judaism.............................................11 (how did Jack’s faith affect his stories?) Jack Kirby’s Hercules ........................15 (this god was the ultimate hedonist) A Failure To Communicate: Part 5....17 (a look at Journey Into Mystery #111) Kirby’s Golden Age Gods ..................20 (“It’s in the bag, All-Wisest!”) Myth-ing Pieces ................................22 (examining Kirby’s use of mythology) Theology of the New Gods ...............24 (the spiritual side of Jack’s opus) Fountain of Youth.............................30 (Kirby means never growing up) Jack Kirby: Mythmaker ....................31 (from Thor to the Eternals) Stan Lee Presents: The Fourth World...34 (pondering the ultimate “What If?”) Centerfold: Thor #144 pencils...........36 Walt Simonson Interview.................39 (doing his damnedest on New Gods) The Church of Stan & Jack ...............45 (the Bible & brotherhood, Marvel-style) Speak of the Devil.............................49 (how many times did Jack use him?) Kirby’s Ockhamistic Twist: Galactus...50 (did the FF really fight God?) The Wisdom of the Watcher ............54 (putting on some weight, Watcher?) Kirby’s Trinity...................................56 The Inheritance of Highfather..........57 (Kirby & the Judeo-Christian doctrine) Forever Questioning .........................60 (comments on the Forever People) Life As Heroism................................62 (is victory really sacrifice?) Classifieds.........................................66 Collector Comments.........................67
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ISSUE #26, NOV. 1999
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THE ONLY ’ ZINE AUTHORIZED BY THE KIRBY ESTATE
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• Front cover inks: Vince Colletta (Thor #134) • New Gods Concept Drawings (circa 1967): Pg. 2: Orion, Pg. 3: Lightray, Pg. 4: Mr. Miracle, Pg. 69: Robot Defender, Pg. 70: Ramses, Pg. 71: Space Guardian, Pg. 72: Mantis Inks: Frank Giacoia (except Ramses, inked by Don Heck, 1966) • Colors: Jack Kirby Photocopies of Jack’s uninked pencils from published comics are reproduced here courtesy of the Kirby Estate, which has our thanks for its continued support. COPYRIGHTS: Annihilus, Arishem, Balder, Black Bolt, Captain America, Cobra, Crystal, Cylla, Devil Dinosaur, Don Blake, Ego, Eternals, Fantastic Four, Fiery Mask, Galactus, Gorgon, Hela, Hercules, High Evolutionary, Human Torch, Inhumans, Invisible Girl, Jane Foster, Juggernaut, Karnak, Kro, Living Talisman, Lockjaw, Loki, Machine Man, Magnir, Makkarri, Mangog, Margo Damian, Medusa, Men in Black splash, Mercury, Mr. Fantastic, Mr. Hyde, Odin, Pluto, Red Ghost, Sersi, Sif, Silver Surfer, Spragg panel, Surtur, Thing, Thor, Triton, Typhon, Watcher, Woodgod © Marvel Characters, Inc. • Atlas, Avia, Beautiful Dreamer, Big Bear, Darkseid, Desaad, Esak, Forever People, Glorious Godfrey, Granny Goodness, Highfather, Himon, Infinity Man, Izaya, Kalibak, Lightray, Losers, Lump, Mantis, Mark Moonrider, Metron, Mother Box, Mr. Miracle, New Gods, Orion, Serifan, Slig, Sonny Sumo, Super-Cycle, Terrible Turpin, The Source, Vykin, Warden Frye, Demon, Young Scott Free © DC Comics, Inc. • Iako © Fox Features Syndicate • Captain Victory, Devil, Heroism drawing, Inspector, Klavus, Mr. Mind, Portraits of God, Ramses, Robot Defender, Space Guardian © Jack Kirby.
Jack’s uninked pencils from the Gorgon pin-up in Fantastic Four Annual #5 (Nov. 1967). The Jack Kirby Collector, Vol. 6, No. 26, Nov. 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 ($7.00 Canada, $9.00 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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on: Storytelling, Man, God, & Nazis Excerpts from interviews with Jack Kirby from 1989 to 1992 by Ray Wyman, Jr. • Edited by Ray Wyman, Jr. and Margaret Hohlfeld he people of my neighborhood were immigrants from Europe. And, of course, in Europe, it is a common thing among peasants to pass stories down, to sit around the farm house and tell stories they collected. People were honored for the number of stories they had
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learned from their mothers and fathers. It was an important part of family tradition. Fairy tales, the stories we tell our children now, are part of that legacy. Some of them originate from our ancient history. There were stories about creatures that flew, creatures that menaced them, and some creatures that were very good. Some of the stories came from our instinctual fear of the night; there were menacing and unknown dangers there, things that they couldn’t see. For instance, if you were a Norseman, there were stories about demons of the sea. The Celts told stories about trolls and fairies that haunted the forests. Some of the stories are foundations of our notions of good and evil; right and wrong. There were also stories about gods. Now, back then, as we do now, they had God, but they also had different gods. They had the one that we believe in, but before that they had ones for nature, for trees, the sea, the sky, and even ones that governed our feelings. They believed in each of them in every way that we now believe in one God and for the same reasons. They saw their gods in everything they did, everything that they could imagine. They created stories that they passed through the generations, legends of every imaginable kind. And since it was humans who were telling the stories, their gods were imbued with human qualities. Who was Odin but a father figure? Show me any legendary story that doesn’t have a father figure. Hercules had to bow down to Zeus, or lat east talk politely to him. Zeus ran the whole universe. The Germans had Wotan; he ran the universe. The Norsemen had Odin run the universe. Then there were other sons and daughters of gods. They had so many gods that it was of their conditioning, their way of life. They saw their gods in everything—you and I, we’re no different. I can tell you, I thought I saw God when I was standing there on Omaha Beach ten days after D-Day. It was only ten days after but I still could feel all the horror that you can imagine. Why? Because that is the nature of things, the nature of God and the spirit of people. The feeling doesn’t vanish because we stop thinking about it or even when we try to destroy it, which is our nature to try. When I stepped off that boat, even though they had cleaned things up by the time we got there, I could still see the bodies lying on that beach—and I’m not talking about a few guys or a few bodies here and there. I’m talking about a huge beach littered with... well, an unimaginable sight, thousands of bodies. We were rushed off those boats and they tried not to give us time to think about this, but we did. I did. All the horror of those memories live with me to this day. They are a part of me, and part of them is imbued in you and everybody else. Why? Because it is the nature of God to make us feel every soul, every spirit that has ever walked the Earth. That’s what we believe, that’s what I believe. It’s part of my conditioning, part of yours. There is nothing Page four pencils from Thor #144 (Aug. 1967), featuring Odin, the “All-Highest.” you can do to change it. 6
Now, you had your evil gods and your good gods and, of course from time to time they would fight among themselves or against each other. They formed the mythology that later formed the backbone of civilization; and because of that they tended to be very simple, very easy to understand—they had to be because these were simple folk. It is those stories that I used when I was doing comics because comics are mythology of the modern society; tales of good versus evil done in a simplified form. Now, all good stories are based on some aspect of reality. They are simpler to write that way because you can use elements of your own life to create a fascinating tale. Like good against evil; like the story about Darkseid against Highfather, the gods of Apokolips versus New Genesis. The first thing I did was to go back into history for ideas on how to start the story. There was a custom among the European kings to trade babies, so the French king would give his baby to the English king and the English king would give his baby to the French king, and then they couldn’t go to war with each other because in battle they might kill their own sons. It was a custom bound in self-preservation—a very real aspect to life no matter where you live, no matter who you are. Even kings think about selfpreservation. It makes good story; it is good copy. I used it in the New Gods. Highfather and Darkseid would exchange sons in the same manner; Darkseid’s son Orion was to live on New Genesis; Highfather’s son Scott Free (who later became Mr. Miracle) would live on Apokolips. “The Pact” is one of my favorite stories that I wrote for New Gods because it is based on the fact that good and evil men can make a pact; in fact mortal enemies can make pacts—like the English and French did. Of course it never really worked, but they tried. I was impressed by the record of history, that men would try such a thing because, remember, although they didn’t have any huge cannons or the atom bomb, they still felt threatened just as we do. They lived with broadswords and shields, Pencils from “Himon” in Mister Miracle #9 (July 1972)—a sequel of sorts to “The Pact.” but they were the super powers. It was do not see in a comic book; one of them is the complicated struggles more difficult to win a war back then. It was all hand-to-hand, one and forces working against each character. So I started by describing man’s hand against another, and it was personal. It was the pillaging the relationships between two sides, each very powerful, each very of cities; it was setting cities afire. If you lost it meant that you could dangerous, and each with their own unique way of looking at the world. lose your entire family. Darkseid is a different kind of character. He is the ultimate Now, the story involves more than aspects of God; there are expression of darkness. He is the guy that you and I will never get to aspects of ourselves, the condition of mankind as a whole—these are see. You would never want to see him. Darkseid is the guy who runs all part of the real picture that I try to describe to the reader. So, every the world. He isn’t anyone that anyone knows but he runs things just part of the story is important and every character has his own story the same. He is pretty well armed. He has an army behind him to to tell. When I started New Gods, I never thought about it the same control the intricate details of his empire. He is the type of guy that way as we do when we write a story about Superman or Spider-Man. I says when the dollar goes up and when the dollar goes down; he is the visualized it as being a novel, a complete story, the first comics novel. guy that says when we have a job or when we’re on the street with our There are various qualities that you will find in novels that you usually 7
In “The Verdict of Zeus” (Thor #129, June 1966), we see Kirby’s fullpage depiction of a regal Olympian celebration presided over by Zeus, and we’re privy to this exchange between Zeus and Dionysius:
the limitation of what many considered a second-rate and somewhat juvenile medium (the comic book) and produced a veritable masterpiece of modern-day mythology. This was pop culture at its best. In the final analysis, the story of Kirby’s Hercules proved to be a morality tale; the point being, if one chooses to squander their life in the pursuit of hedonistic indulgence, then they (like Hercules) will probably end up in Hell; there’s no other way to interpret this Kirbyparable that I can see. Luckily for Hercules, someone far nobler than he unselfishly risked all to save him. That was pretty much it; one Annual and half-a-dozen issues of Thor, and after that Kirby would never revive this great character again. Granted, a Kirby-Lee Hercules series would have been too much like Thor; still, Hercules’ adventures could have been featured as a secondary storyline in the Thor series, just as the Inhumans were presented in the mid-1960s FF. Instead, like every other non-mutant Marvel super-hero, the Prince of Power eventually joined the Avengers, then in October 1975 he became part of an oddball aggregate called The Champions which lasted 17 issues (some say 16 issues too long). He then had a one-shot episode in Marvel Premiere #26 (Nov. 1975) which featured an outstanding Kirby/Colletta cover. Beginning in Sept. 1982, the son of Zeus was featured in a four-issue limited series called (what else?) Hercules, Prince of Power and an additional four issues (Vol. 2) ran from March 1984 to Jan. 1985. Since his 1965 debut, numerous artists and writers have had varying degrees of success with Jack Kirby’s Hercules (Bob Layton’s spin on the character was particularly noteworthy). Roz Kirby used to point out (quite correctly) that “Jack keeps everyone working,” and he still does; but only through the Herculean effort which he put into his work. ★
Dionysius: Ahhh, my lord Zeus, how merry is thy celebration! Where but in eternal Olympus can such revels continue without end?!! Zeus: In truth, my merry Dionysius, where there are no battles left to fight, no enemies to overcome, there ’tis time to partake of frolic and gambols in this halcyon clime! Now we know where Hercules gets his love of revelry; like father, like son. By contrast, it’s hard to imagine Odin ever The ultimate egotist, Hercules, from Thor #126. being depicted in such a frivolous mood as this. It must be noted that the last three panels of Thor #129—and #130—represent some of the finest-ever pairing of Kirby art and Lee dialogue. There’s definitely no “failure to communicate” at the end of these two Silver Age classics. Here we find the Thunder God unleashing all his fury to rescue the one who defeated him in battle and humiliated him in the eyes of his beloved. Could Hercules have been granted a more noble savior than this? Thor smashes the life out of everything Pluto throws at him, until finally Pluto himself appears: Pluto: Enough! Let the combat cease! Within a matter of minutes you have torn down what it has taken me ages to create! I can witness no further destruction to the realm I have ruled since the dawn of time! Thor: Thy place is here, Pluto! Thou wouldst not have found contentment in the world above! Pluto: You are right, Thunder God! I know that now! At this point, the story ends with more top-notch dialogue: Hercules: Thy words have wisdom Thor—even as thy limbs have power enow to make Hercules pause! Henceforth, I call thee friend! Thor: And I thee. Hercules: What riotous revels we shall enjoy together! What battles we shall share at each other’s side! Thor: Alas, Olympian—revels are not for such as me. And my hammer swings only for justice— never for the thrill of battle alone! Hercules: But what good then to be a god? Thor: Thy careless query, Hercules, is far more profound than thou suspect!
Kirby/Colletta cover from Marvel Premiere #26.
Thus ended one of the greatest epic sagas of our time. Once again, Kirby and Lee rose above 16
A Failure To Communicate: Part 5 by Mike Gartland
Submitted For Your Approval... here’s been some response during the course of my writing the “Failure to Communicate” articles that I was being unfair to Stan Lee. Several people have written to TJKC expressing their disappointment in our trying to take credit away from Stan, reminding us of Lee’s contributions, his superior writing skills (comparing it with Jack’s solo work yet again) etc., and citing that, just because Jack left a few border notes, it doesn’t necessarily mean he had anything to do with writing the stories—he was in on the plotting, but Lee was the writer. And of course there’s the old favorite critique of every research writer: “You don’t know
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Pg. 4, panel 2; one of many panels that were used in the limited animation Gantray-Lawrence Marvel cartoons of the ’60s.
Splash page from Journey Into Mystery #111 (Dec. 1964); Cobra’s lower arm was erased and repositioned.
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because you weren’t there.” (By the way, there was a much larger percentage of letters approving of the articles, for which we say “thanks.”) Rather than going into a lengthy explanation concerning my opinions of the Kirby/Lee creative process, I thought it would be far more enlightening and entertaining to let the stories try and speak for themselves; thereby giving the reader an example of how a typical Kirby/Lee plot was finalized before printing. In the next few articles I will be showcasing Kirby/Lee stories from various books that they have worked on, the stories to be determined by what original complete stories I can find; I will document whatever is on the original art and print it verbatim for the reader to see. It should not only give us a glimpse into the creative process of a Marvel comic, but reveal the seldom-seen editorial changes made by Stan (and of course, whatever notes Jack left for assist). In keeping with the theme of this issue, I decided to start with a Thor story from 1964. Whereas some will attest that the Thor stories from 1966-on were pretty much Kirby directing the storylines, this story comes from a time when many believe that Jack and Stan were plotting together, or Stan was creating the plots solo. The story is from Journey into Mystery #111, the second half of a two-parter. The synopsis is: In the previous issue, Loki had increased the power of two of Thor’s arch-enemies, The Cobra and Mr. Hyde. Loki also reveals to them that, in abducting the nurse Jane Foster, they will gain the advantage over Thor. They kidnap her and take her to a specially-prepared house of traps; when Thor arrives and begins battling, Jane becomes mortally wounded. Thor suspends time around the house in order to keep her from dying; with her safe for the time being, he turns to confront his adversaries.... Below are the border notes left by Jack, broken down panel-by-panel; some have been cropped off by the printer, some have been rubbed off from handling. Also, any changes made by Stan will be revealed. Notes followed by a “X” mean that the rest was cut off or not legible. Where no panels are mentioned, no notes exist or were legible. Grab your copy of JIM #111 and enjoy!
The Theology Of The New Gods Excerpted from “The Fourth World Of Jack Kirby: Revisited” by Donald D. Ensign (originally published in Valiant, a 1984 small-press newsletter) hile the Fourth World series can be seen in terms of high adventure and colorful action, it also possesses meaning on a deeper level. Kirby injected a strong amount of philosophical and theological thinking into these comics. He was making statements about the nature of man, good and evil, and transcendent realities.
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Orion More than any other character in the series, Kirby fully developed the personality of Orion. Orion is the supreme warrior. He is always on the offensive. He does not willingly run from a fight. But while Orion is portrayed as a single-minded soldier on one hand, we are shown that he has a driven, haunted, and tragic side as well. By the end of the New Gods series we see a rather frightening and obsessed Orion. He is not only the “eternal warrior” but even of love he says, “... as for love, madam—I find love in battle hotly fought!—in vengeance fulfilled!” Also in New Gods #9, after hearing Orion scream his challenge to Darkseid, Lightray remarks that Orion is “the presence of pure and total destruction!”
Panel from Forever People #3.
In each of the main trilogy books Kirby lays forth a study in contrasts. Orion and Lightray, Mister Miracle and Big Barda, and the Forever People and Infinity Man show different sides of the same coin. Note the similarity in dialogue; Orion in New Gods #1 says “You summon me, Highfather—and I am here!” Highfather: “They (the young) must remain free, Orion! Life flowers in freedom!” Orion: “In this cause I live as well!” In Forever People #3 Infinity Man likewise says: “I am called! I am here! I am primed to act! Whatever the Forever People know—I know! Their objective is mine!” Big Barda in her initial appearance in Mister Miracle #4 comments, “We serve only Darkseid—and Darkseid serves conflict!” Big Barda, while from Apokolips (like Orion), holds a greater loyalty to Scott Free, the son of Highfather than to Apokolips (also like Orion). In early issues of New Gods, Orion was presented as a man of mystery with a murky and unknown past. Throughout the series Kirby sets down rather broad hints as to Orion’s origin. In New Gods #1 we are given a hint of Orion’s parentage during a discussion between Metron and Highfather. Metron knows of Orion’s origin, but is commanded by Highfather to keep silent about it. Metron gives the hint in his comment, “Who is more ready to fight the father—than the son!” This scene takes place after Orion has been commanded to seek out Darkseid on Apokolips. In the second issue we have the initial confrontation between Darkseid and Orion. Orion begins to advance on Darkseid but stops short. Darkseid says, “You hesitate, Orion! You sense why— but you don’t know—do you...?” Also in that issue we see Darkseid’s anger at Desaad. Darkseid’s comment that “Orion is an enemy to be respected... was Orion my own son—he would mean nothing to the purpose of our mission!” is meant to quell Desaad’s curious probings. In #3 we see the true face of Orion, a grim, hard and sinister face. “Can this be the face of one Splash page pencils from the new story in New Gods reprint #6 (1984). 24
of New Genesis?” In #5, during Orion’s battle with Slig of the Deep Six, Orion drops his handsome New Genesis face and lets the full fury of his wrath explode. Orion actually kills Slig. As in his later battles with Kalibak, Orion fulfills the prediction he made at the end of the second issue, “Though I be of peaceful New Genesis, I shall strike with more ferocity than can be mustered in all Apokolips!” In #6 Orion again kills one of the Deep Six and battles furiously the remaining undersea demons. By the pivotal seventh issue, wary readers must Orion shows his true face have sensed that Orion was the son of in New Gods #8. Darkseid. In New Gods #11, Darkseid acknowledges his parentage of Orion and Kalibak. Darkseid also shows his preference for Orion in his destruction of Desaad, who was helping Kalibak in his battle with Orion. Orion also fully realized that Darkseid was his father and that the war will only be settled when father and son confront each other. But what does distinguish the fanatic ferocity of Orion from the bestial savagery of the minions of Apokolips? There were at least two factors that Kirby developed into the personality of Orion in this area. First, was the fact that Orion was totally committed to the cause and positive spirituality of New Genesis. At the end of “The Pact” in New Gods #7, we have the first meeting between Orion and Highfather. Highfather says to the young and hostile Orion, “We have need of each other, Orion. This is a place of friends! Here is my hand!!” Orion, who had never known friendship on Apokolips, is attracted to Highfather and places his trust in him. This trust is not betrayed, but strengthened and Panel from “The Pact” in New Gods #7. Orion’s loyalties attached themselves completely to Highfather and New Genesis. This scene is pregnant with theological concepts and insights. Highfather in this case can be seen as a benevolent God reaching down to undeserving man to offer His love and care. The center of Orion’s conversion was his personal relationship with Highfather as seen in the above vignette. In Greg Potter’s otherwise excellent article “The Gods and Heroes of Jack Kirby” (The Comics Journal #59), he makes the mistake of stating that the Judeo-Christian God is one who “has always been there” and is “waiting for man to make the first move” (p. 91). This is not the Judeo-Christian God, the God of Orthodox Judaism and Christianity, the God of the Bible. It is God, as represented in the Bible, that makes the first move and not man. In Psalms 14:2-3 we have the condition of man examined: “The Lord looked down from heaven upon the sons of men, to see if there are any who understand, who seek after God. They have all turned aside; together they have become corrupt; There is no one who does good, not even one.” The Bible is a record of God’s intervention within the history and individual lives of mankind. In the New Testament God reaches down to man in the form of His Son, Jesus Christ. Romans 5:8 says, “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were
yet sinners, Christ died for us.” Again like the God of the Bible, Highfather was the one to initiate a reconciled relationship with the estranged, young Orion. Second, we do not see the sadistic cruelty in Orion that we see in the warriors of Apokolips. Darkseid chooses the Earth as a battleground for his war with New Genesis without regard to the casualties it will bring to innocents. Darkseid’s depraved assistant, the aptly named Desaad, takes his sustenance and pleasure from the strong anguish and pain of his victims. Kalibak treats earthmen as “worms,” “ants” and “flies” that are almost beneath his notice in his savage search for Orion. Orion is respectful of the earthmen. He tries to rescue and protect them from the battle whenever possible and even enlists their aid against the enemy. Orion’s furious wrath is directed against evil, and even when he exacts terrible judgment on his Apokolips enemies, it is done swiftly and without pleasure. Orion, while steadfast in his objective, is not just a hate-filled, unthinking, fighting machine.
Orion and Kalibak The relationship between Orion and Kalibak could have Biblical connotations. The story of Cain’s murder of his brother Abel comes to
Back cover pencils from the 1984 New Gods reprint series.
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answering the question of Orion’s parentage, since he did have an answer in mind—but it made a great starting point for me, so he left it up in the air. I was very gratified and pleased; it was really sweet. I’ve got a couple of things to work with right off the bat, such as Kalibak being in prison on Apokolips. At the end of Jack’s last issue of New Gods, Orion looks up and says that “the time has come for the father of Apokolips to meet his banished son by the red light of the fire pits.” If Orion’s not really the son, that means that Kalibak could be the danger, so Darkseid has him thrown in prison. Which means: What is the score with Orion’s parentage? We’ll find out as we go along.
TJKC: Walt, you’ve had runs on books like “Manhunter,” Fantastic Four, and of course, your critically acclaimed run on Thor. Have you ever looked at your older work and realized that you’ve set a precedent for yourself, or is your best work whatever you’re working on at the time? WALTER: I have work that reflects peaks at different times in my career. The idea is that you try to get better as you go along. Whether that’s true or not, I’ll let future generations decide. I like to think it’s true. For example, I did three stories for The Twilight Zone for Gold Key in the early ’70s. The third of the three stories is a fairy tale all inked in Rapidograph, in a Howard Pyle style. Howard Pyle was an illustrator who wrote a couple of Arthurian books that he illustrated back in the 1800s or early 1900s with these very archaic drawings. I didn’t try to draw like that, but I tried to use some of the textures and invoke the sense of what Pyle was doing. I thought that was one of the best jobs I’d ever done. I did a samurai job with Archie in ’75 for Atlas Comics in Thrilling Adventure Stories called “The Temple of the Spider”, and I think that’s one of the best jobs I’ve done. Ten years later, I liked the Thor stuff. I look back and see that I’ve thought about my work in two ways over the years: One is that originally, working very hard on every picture, I saw my stuff piecemeal, panel by panel, drawing by drawing. Time has gone by and I’ve changed paradigms. My career now seems to me like one big drawing, from start to the finish (whenever that comes). There’s not one job where I feel I sloughed it off; every job I’ve done I’ve done the best I could do under the circumstances. So it’s like working on one, really really long drawing. I did a job once for Warren when my wife was the editor there. I inked a Carmine Infantino job in 45 seconds, because Weezie had an issue due out, an artist pooped out on her on a really big job, and she was left with a forty-five page hole in the magazine right before it was published. She pulled out every fill-in job that was sitting in the office and called every inker that owed her a favor, including me, her boyfriend at the time! We got them all done as quickly as possible and she got the magazine out on time. I wouldn’t say it was the best job I’d done, but it was the best I could do under the circumstances. There are things like “Manhunter,” Alien, Thor, Fantastic Four, Robocop vs. The Terminator, and The Star Slammers where I do see things I’ve done as particular high points. I’m pretty proud in general of all my work.★
(left) Kirby’s splash page from Thor #144, still in pencil stage.
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The Church of Stan & Jack or “The Bible and Brotherhood, Marvel-Style” by Jerry Boyd n the last few hours of his life, Adolph Hitler’s uncanny political acumen returned to him as he composed his last political testament. He accurately predicted the emergence of “the stronger eastern power (Russia) and England’s heir (America)” as the states that would inherit the future. This future would include the discovery and uses of atomic power, ushering in an age the mad fuhrer could not envision. With the Atomic Age as a part of life, all states, large and small, wisely decided to retreat (somewhat) from saber-rattling, and readdress the problems that had brought on WWII (and other wars); a lack of brotherhood. Real brotherhood could, of course, never happen but the attempts had to be made. The Holy Bible’s last book, Revelation, talks of the conditions that will surround the end of man’s time on Earth. “Wars... and rumors of war” will be part of it. The savior, Jesus Christ, knew this years before when He said this to His disciples. Yet He still demanded, “Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.” (Matthew 23:39) It’s easy for many people to honor their mothers and fathers, to not steal or kill, to acknowledge God as the only god, etc. Loving one another as God wants us to is the tough one. Ethnic, religious, racial, and cultural divisions remain a gulf not easy to transcend (and understandably so) for millions. Want proof? Just look around you.
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Pre-Heroes In the relative comfort of the Eisenhower years, EC comics made some of the first (and best) stabs at man’s intolerance this side of the Iron Curtain. They were published within the pages of Shock Suspenstories, an anthology title which concentrated on criminal doings. The stories stunned their readers. Some said they recognized a little of themselves in the bigots the great Wally Wood illustrated while (thankfully) only a few others angrily denounced the whole proceedings and the staff who produced them. Jack Kirby was putting together Fighting American and other books
The scientist-hero, victorious over Spragg, cites the “Divine Master of Destiny” as the real hero in Journey Into Mystery #68.
In this story from Menace #3, Stan’s blurb labels bigotry as a sin.
during the early ’50s but Stan Lee, over at Atlas, apparently had his eye on this “new trend” in social relevance. In Menace #3, Stan, with art by John Romita, Sr., did a take on hooded bigotry. In a story called “Men in Black,” the main character, Jim Horton, angrily decries the number of foreigners coming to America and taking jobs from “real Americans.” Typical of Lee villains, Horton’s bad qualities are repellent to even his friends and spouse. In short order, Jim organizes some similarly disgruntled men into a blackhooded group bent on violent disapproval of foreigners. After beating one man up, they disperse to avoid a police pursuit. Horton returns to his ramshackle home to remove his disguise only to find out hood after hood shows up to frustrate his efforts. (Symbolically, his bigotry cannot be removed.) When the police finally arrive, they stare down at Horton’s bloodstained face. One officer mentions that one hood is laying on the floor. (Well, Horton was sick, right?) It’s an interesting yarn, not as good as the EC stuff, but the type of thing Rod Serling would make a trademark of in his later anthology TV series The Twilight Zone. EC shut down sometime later, but their themes of brotherly tolerance, man’s inhumanity, and being one’s own worst enemy found their way into some of Stan’s writing for the Atlas titles. A lot of them weren’t bad at all, either. By the end of the ’50s, Jack and Stan’s scientist-heroes in the monster books would be like philosophical Frankensteins fortunately released from their living nightmares. Their monstrous creations or alien adversaries having been defeated, these forerunners of Reed Richards, Tony Stark, etc. could sometimes be found under a starry sky delivering summations like “Mankind doesn’t realize how close it came to utter destruction” or “Never again will I attempt to meddle in things man wasn’t meant to...”, etc. You can almost hear the mad doctors of Hollywood’s classic sci-fi/horror films as you read them. Sometimes the simplest things confounded or destroyed Kirby’s 45
Kirby’s Ockhamistic Twist: Galactus by Javier Lerin ake them fight God!” What a shocking statement this is—but tradition (or legend—you decide) has it that this was precisely what Lee gave Kirby as a plot guideline for Fantastic Four #48, after the quartet had already stood their ground against an astounding array of ever-amazing menaces. Of course there is a, say, “official” and also less extreme version, provided by Lee, according to which he and
Kirby agreed that the FF would face a “seemingly omnipotent being who could destroy planets at will.”1 However, it does not matter in the end whether it was actually one way or the other, as the cause is not as important as the effect: Galactus came to be in Kirby’s mind— and to more than a few of us, Galactus is no ordinary character, standing among Kirby’s “gods” and “god”-like creations as something apart from (or above) them all, as though he seemed to mean more to Kirby than the rest of them—which is not to say the others lacked any kind of background—for just like almost all of his creations, Kirby’s “gods” were always a reflection of something, be it a value, an idea, or a concept; but this seems to be especially true in the case of Galactus. So one cannot but wonder what was in Kirby’s creation of Galactus that would offer this character such a status. In some way it might seem to be the ever-recurrent question fed upon and reflected by the aforementioned tradition: Was Galactus God in Kirby’s eyes? However, things may not be that simple.
“M
A Simple Answer?
Our cover is from page 3 of Thor #134. Jack took a stat of the original, altered the art somewhat, and hand-colored it.
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If we were to answer such a question the way it is posed, it would be quite clear Galactus was not God for: God in a mainstream super-hero comic of the mid-Sixties, and as a villain? If not directly blasphemous to any believer like Kirby was, it may sound pretentious at least. On the other hand, it would have completely failed to meet the CCA’s requirements of the time, had Lee ever consented to publish such a thing in the first place— and if all this is not enough, the very end of the so-called “Galactus Trilogy” speaks quite clearly to this respect with independence of one’s being a believer or not: No one may expect that something (not even a device called “the Ultimate Nullifier”2) can pose any threat to God, as omnipotence (all-powerfulness) is one of the essential traits of our cultural notion of godhood. Moreover, a being dependent on something (no matter if it is nothing other than whole planets to feed upon) would equally fail to meet another essential component of this same notion: Self-sufficiency. On the other hand, Kirby himself stated that he resorted at a definite moment to the Bible and came up with Galactus, whom he identified as “being” a Biblical figure that he had
always known, and also explicitly admitted that the Silver Surfer—having sprung from the same source that Galactus did—was no other than the figure of the fallen angel.3 From this and also according to the relationship between Galactus and the Surfer—marked by the latter’s treason to the former—one might conclude that Galactus should be understood as being God, which would be clearly contradictory to our first conclusion. So the answer may not be so simple. However, all of the previous (even those things that seem to contradict each other) can prove that Galactus involved a rather intricate structure, able to set him apart from the rest of Kirby’s “gods,” and it is my point that Kirby’s devisal of this character comprised or implied an implicit reflection on our cultural notion of godhood.
Perfection & Logical Links It is clear that, together with uniqueness, omnipotence is one of the core traits of our cultural concept of godhood. Formed upon the Jewish-Christian religious tradition, this concept is thus monotheistic, unlike the ancient, classical notions of many pre-Christianic Western cultures (Greek, Roman, Iberian, Celtic, Norse, etc.) or those of many Eastern ones. Of course, we may know and understand these (and Kirby himself resorted to them in order to shape some of his “gods”), but they are not what can be called now our cultural notion of godhood. So there has existed for centuries now a, say, common cultural consensus in present Western cultures: Besides being rather (if not totally) different from the inhabitants of the pantheons of old, God is (or would be, from the non-believer’s point of view) a unique being, and this uniqueness is closely related to the fact of being conceived as omnipotent. From this point, many of the remaining elements that shape this notion follow, as—for instance—it is reasonable to think that an omnipotent being should be self-sufficient, have omniscience (the quality of being all-knowing) and omnipresence (the capability of being any and everywhere at any and every time, even at the same moment) as well as many other traits; which leads to the idea of God as a creator of everything and as a perfect being—in fact, the only perfect being in the full sense of the word— Fantastic Four #74, page 15. Notice how Stan Lee expounded upon Kirby’s simple margin notes on this page. and on the ethical side of things, absolute perbeen traditionally named as divine wrath was the “figure” behind Kirby’s fectness is seen as necessarily implying absolute goodness; for once conception of Galactus. For being a believer does not keep one from agreed that a perfect being would be omniscient, it seems logical to wondering what could happen, were we at a definite time to find ourclaim that he must know with absolute certitude what is good, and so selves forced to judge—from our human standards—divine acts that, our cultural image of godhood also includes absolute goodness as one say, do not fully or easily meet our cultural notion of godhood (as of its essential traits, which meets the religious notion of God as an believers and non-believers alike may find the idea of an ever-good, ever-good, ever-forgiving being. However, at a strictly (or merely) logical all-forgiving deity to be not so easily congruent—maybe even inconlevel, knowing what is right or good does not necessarily imply acting sistent—with the presence in the sacred texts of divine acts that accordingly, for one can choose to do otherwise. True, one can be might illustrate this wrath). In a similar way to that in which one can forced to if he is not willing to, but who or what could force an read of the extermination of whole cities at God’s hand—of the omnipotent being if he did not want to? Universal Flood, or of St. John’s advice in the book of Revelation to fear God in the hour of His judgment—Kirby made Galactus come to Earth with the intention of devastating it, and in doing so he put into From this, it could prove not so venturous to say that what has comics images a reflection on the possibility that our cultural notion 51
Power & Goodness
Forever Questioning by Bill Meisel
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n my opinion, the best of the Fourth World series was Forever People #3-8. Here are some annotated comments on each of those issues.
#3: This is the most Jewish of all of Jack’s comics that I have read. From the chilling Adolf Hitler quote on page one to the “S” painted on a storefront (similar to the yellow stars painted on Jewish businesses during the Holocaust), I have always thought this issue was Jack’s commentary on what happened to the Jews (and millions of other people) during WWII. Human beings are eager to be Justifiers. They are being told that they can act out their most horrid fantasies and they will not be responsible for their actions. Godfrey has given them permission. Is Glorious Godfrey from Apokolips or Earth? The evidence implies he’s from Apokolips, but the idea that he was from Earth and eagerly came to Darkseid’s side always appealed to me. “Live life for others—not against them. In that way, you will always be close to us.” #4: The whole idea of Happyland is brilliant. Desaad is one of the most three-dimensional of all of the Fourth World villains. All of his actions and schemes fit together (so much so that I found it out of character for Darkseid to use the Omega Effect Darkseid and Godfrey from Forever People #3. on him in New Gods #11). The one-page pin-up of Beautiful Dreamer [left] implies that she will have a battle with Darkseid—or that she is perhaps involved in the process that draws the Anti-Life Equation from a human mind and puts it into a form that Darkseid can use. The attempt to kill Mother Box emphasizes that New Genesis technology is alive. #5: It’s hard to believe Sonny Sumo isn’t the one with the Anti-Life Equation—that he can only manifest it with Mother Box’s help. I wonder if this was a changed premise. Was Billion Dollar Bates already in Jack’s mind at this point? It’s pointed out [above] that the Anti-Life Equation is only one of several that exist on New Genesis. What are the others? #6: Here it seems to be clarified that Sumo needs Mother Box’s help to “use” the Anti-Life Equation. Did Jack change premises between issues #5 and #6? The Super Cycle defending itself [right] is delightful. Even the machines on New Genesis cling to life. I thought the visuals of the Omega Effect finder beams were very cool when I first read this issue in the late ’70s, and I still do. 60
mind, or did Gerry Conway come up with this idea when he wrote the Return of the New Gods sequel in the late ’70s? Only after reading eight issues of Forever People do we learn that Mark Moonrider has a super-power of his own. He hasn’t needed to use it until now. (Vykin also has a power we have not seen yet; up to then we assume his power is his particularly strong connection to Mother Box.) ★
The closeness of Darkseid and Desaad (“old friend”) is played up here, again making me doubt that Darkseid would ever use the Omega Effect on him. #7: Throughout the Fourth World series, we see Esak, and are led to believe that he will have some future importance in the war between New Genesis and Apokolips. In the Hunger Dogs Graphic Novel, we see he has been led astray. Was this always the plan Jack had for him? I love the parallel “hand” panels on the bottom of page 17—one the hand of Glorious Godfrey, the man who erases responsibility; the other the hand of Highfather, the man who embraces responsibility. [see above] What is the “chamber of regeneration”? What is its purpose? Sonny Sumo being a sage in Ancient Japan is particularly good plotting on Jack’s part. #8: Is Billion Dollar Bates based on some obvious actual person that I haven’t thought of? Mark’s leadership of the Forever People is beautifully shown when he explains why they can’t just let Mother Box phase them out of the area. Are we supposed to assume that Darkseid’s forces had found Bates earlier and have been helping him complete his mastery of the Anti-Life Equation shortly before #8 begins? (He talks about the work he has done with the Sect.) Of all FP issues, this is the only one where I wish Jack had had a few more pages to fill in some missing details. The irony of the guard shooting Bates is great. A question about this panel from page 23:
Did Jack himself create the idea that once the Anti-Life Equation leaves Bates’ mind, it enters some other human being’s
A 1970s pencil recreation of the right half (!) of the two-page spread from Forever People #1.
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