Issuu

JACK KIRBY COLLECTOR FORTY-THREE

IN THE US

$995

COMING SOON FROM TWOMORROWS!

Number 14, Summer 2005 • Hype and hullabaloo from the publisher determined to bring new life to comics fandom • Edited by John Morrow

A Good Cause, Is It In The Water? Pros@Cons! A Great Guy! Award-winning artist/writer WM. MESSNER-LOEBS (JOURNEY, THE FLASH, WONDER WOMAN) has fallen into financial ruin, landing the beloved comics creator in a Salvation Army shelter. To make matters worse, his wife is chronically ill and there’s no medical insurance and no work or funds coming in. In response, TwoMorrows has joined forces with leading comics creators to produce HEROES AND VILLAINS (96 pages, $29 US), a gorgeous sketchbook and tribute shipping in July, the proceeds of which will directly benefit Messner-Loebs. Edited by CLIFFORD METH, the book will include art from MIKE ALLRED, BRENT ANDERSON, CHRIS BACHALO, MARK BAGLEY, JOHN CASSADAY, TRAVIS CHAREST, DAVE & PATY COCKRUM, GENE COLAN, ALAN DAVIS, MIKE DEODATO, CULLY HAMNER, DEAN HASPIEL, GREG HORN, RAFAEL KAYANAN, ANDY KUBERT, STEVE LIEBER, STEVE MCNIVEN, TOM PALMER, JOE QUESADA, DARICK ROBERTSON, WALT SIMONSON, HERB TRIMPE, BILLY TUCCI, SAL VELLUTO and a host of other top pros! PLUS: Written contributions from NEIL GAIMAN, PETER DAVID, and BEAU SMITH, and a new cover by NEAL ADAMS! Don’t miss your chance to help a worthy comics veteran; with more names being added daily, this powerhouse collection of talent will be unparalleled!

WAKE UP AND SMELL THE MOLD Don’t be caught seeping when SWAMPMEN: MUCK MONSTERS OF THE COMICS finally oozes your way in August! Behind an allnew FRANK CHO cover, editors JON B. COOKE and GEORGE KHOURY have assembled the ultimate look at SWAMP THING, MAN-THING, IT, THE BOG BEAST, MARVIN THE DEAD THING, THE SWAMP LURKER, and THE HEAP, through interviews with and rare and unseen art by BERNIE WRIGHTSON, LEN WEIN, ALAN MOORE, STEVE BISSETTE, STEVE GERBER, MIKE PLOOG, RICK VEITCH, JOHN TOTLEBEN, VAL MAYERIK, and a host of others! (200 pages, $29 US)

Good Things In Store! The new, improved www.twomorrows.com is now up and running, with easier navigation and simpler ordering, plus occasional specials and items not available to the general public. Check us out!

First HANNAH-ROSE MORROW debuted in Jan. to TwoMorrows honchos JOHN & PAM MORROW. Now we find out that our trusty assistant ERIC NOLEN-WEATHINGTON’s wife DONNA is expecting their second child in October! Who’s next? Roy? Mike?

PÉREZ CAUGHT IN THE ACT! For our second DVD release (following our über-successful HOW TO DRAW COMICS FROM SCRIPT TO PRINT, still available), ERIC NOLEN-WEATHINGTON invaded the Florida studio of fan-favorite GEORGE PÉREZ for an unprecedented look at how he works his artistic magic! The perfect companion to our MODERN MASTERS book series, MODERN MASTERS: IN THE STUDIO WITH GEORGE PÉREZ gives you a personal tour of George’s studio, and lets you watch stepby-step as he illustrates a special issue of Top Cow’s WITCHBLADE! Also,you’ll see George as he sketches for fans at conventions, and hear his peers and colleagues—including MARV WOLFMAN and RON MARZ—share their anecdotes and personal insights along the way! This 120minute Standard Format DVD is only $34 US, and ships in limited release in July, so order now!

AE Hits 50! Rascally ROY THOMAS celebrates his 50th issue of ALTER EGO ($8 US) in July with a retrospective covering his 40-year career from MODELING WITH MILLIE #44 (1965) to STOKER’S DRACULA (2005)—with AVENGERS, X-MEN, ALL-STAR SQUADRON, CONAN, INFINITY INC., et. al., in between! He talks & writes about working with NEAL ADAMS, DICK AYERS, RICH BUCKLER, THE BROTHERS BUSCEMA, ERNIE CHAN, GENE COLAN, ERNIE COLÓN, STEVE DITKO, BILL EVERETT, DICK GIORDANO, STAN GOLDBERG, DON HECK, GIL KANE, JACK KIRBY, STAN LEE, MIKE MACHLAN, TODD McFARLANE, JERRY ORDWAY, GEORGE PÉREZ, STEVEN PUGH, FRANK ROBBINS, JOHN ROMITA, WERNER ROTH, JULIE SCHWARTZ, THE SEVERIN SIBLINGS, SCOTT SHAW!, BARRY SMITH, HERB TRIMPE, GEORGE TUSKA, MORT WEISINGER, and many others! Let us also mention that, in 50 issues, ROY (and designer CHRIS DAY, plus associate editors JIM AMASH, BILL SCHELLY, MICHAEL T. GILBERT, MARC SWAYZE, and P.C. HAMERLINCK) NEVER missed a deadline, and the mag has never shipped late! When you consider AE’S amazing level of quality and the vast amounts of comics history the mag has documented, that’s a remarkable achievement for anyone. Congrats, guys!

Be sure to track down the TwoMorrows gang at one of these summer conventions! HEROES CON (Charlotte, NC, June 24-26) COMICON: INTERNATIONAL (San Diego, CA, July 13-17) WIZARD WORLD (Chicago, IL, August 4-7) BALTIMORE COMICON (Baltimore, MD, September 17-18)

DIAMOND’S “2004 BEST PUBLICATION ital version ig d a g ABOUT COMICS!” in w E read S If you’re vie ation, ALTER A E L P DRAW! #11 (JULY) EGO #51 (AUG.) BACK ISSUE #11 (JULY) WRITE NOW! #10 (JULY) c her!Kane ghost THOMAS, BUSIEK, and JUSKO on CONAN STEVE RUDE demonstrates his approach to “HOW-TO” TIPS and interviews on lisartist/Bob of this publi m the b u Golden Age Batman p LEW SAYRE SCHWARTZ interviewed, the (with art by BUSCEMA, WINDSOR-SMITH, comics & drawing! ROQUE BALLESTEROS writing for comics, animation, and sci-fi, this plea fro Golden & Silver Ages of AUSTRALIAN FREE ADAMS, JUSKO, & others), ARAGONÉS & on Flash animation! Political cartoonist JIM with Justice League Unlimited’s DWAYNE COPYRIGHTS: Justice League, Swamp Thing TM & ©2005 DC Comics. Heroes & Villains cover art ED FOR ©2005 Neal Adams. Conan, Red Sonja TM & ©2005 is NOT INTEND Madr,artist DAVE id u paBERG L, whichSUPER-HEROES, or yo IA TM & REH Estate. Vision, Thor, Sub-Mariner, Thing ER be cri AT bs M su D a print FCA, MICHAEL interviewed, ©2005 Marvel Characters, Inc.TE Pérez DVD charac-RE. If you’re cere PYRIGH r T.sinGILBERT is CO ou his ve HE ha W u yo NY , ters TM & ©2005 CrossGen. bsite on WILL EISNER, ALEX TOTH and more! DING A r we

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EVANIER on GROO, DC’s never-published KING ARTHUR, art gallery by KIRBY, PÉREZ, MOEBIUS, GARCIA-LOPEZ, BOLLAND, and others! Edited by MICHAEL EURY.

Edited by ROY THOMAS. s me other magazine)CO support allow (100-page magazine) $8 US US ENT, r free from so (100-page R $8 NS fo it thanks—your d de loa ITHOUT OU down 0% DONE W GHTED MATERIAL. If If instead you 10 ely lut so s ab RI wa PY it CO at R th OU ow please kn STING OF ILLEGAL PO ld do: and it was an what you shou ’s re he u think. , se ca d see what yo that’s the ea Get a little JLC (that’s JUSTICE LEAGUEIS DIGITAL ISSUE, an G and purchas IN TH TH D T A GH RE d r d anTwoMorrows COMPANION) in July,ep it, DO THE RI 1) Go aheafrom int edition at ou ke pr e to th gh e ou as en rch it presents an pu as author MICHAEL EURY al 2) If you enjoy our website, or ition for free) or at your loc m fro it of d exhaustive the loaSilver Age JLA, with the Digital Ed wn doat legallook u to id reader. yoUS) titles$29 a BRUCE TIMM cover! (224 h enpgs, as a regular pa DO NOT SHARE website (whic e to have you d lov an R e’d TE W . And look forictheboTITANS COMPANION this PU op M CO ok sh m FROM YOUR Fall (by co the LEGION COMPANION’s DELETE IT GLEN LLY, WHERE. , NY ise A erw IT th O ST IAL ILLEGA 3) OR PO CADIGAN) OUR MATER r free downloadNG H FRIENDS DI IT W OA IT NL fo W s spotlighting N’T KEEP DO te issue of all our magazine cide if you want to 4) Finally, DO de the history mple e offer one co ould be sufficient for you to W loading e. fre r fo of the TEEN to keep down bsite, which sh tions enough ca bli e. pu uc r od ou TITANS! ing at our we pr rs. If you enjoy paying for the material we Who sayspurchase othe by e our company n absorb thes this isn’t the them, support pockets, and ca with dozens ion with deep — at or op TwoMorrows rp sh co p” nt po and me gia and on weekAge of cool We’re not so literally a “mom all company— slaving away day and night . We love historylosses. We’re a sm rk s, or wo at is cre th e all nc r ome foJACK KIRBY g freela ly on JUSTICE LEAGUE books about ount of incTHE of hard-workin shop owner, re ty minimal am anCOLLECTOR al comic #43 et loc pr a ur e yo ak (JULY) d DC Comics’ m of the smallCOMPANION (JULY) s, us or b th ro ends, to t au n’ rs, do ito e as t our ed superteams? siness. Ple n’t be anyTraces the JLA’s history, imitators, and early what we do, bu publication to stay in bu ere wowinners, Spotlights 2004 sure thAWARD ll enKIRBY is ing so wi assistant STEVE SHERMAN and fandom through interviews and never-seen income from th nsation we receive. Doincluding mpe ONTACTS d. others sharing memories and never-seen artwork by DENNY O’NEIL, JOE GIELLA, amount of co is to downloa like th John Morrow, KIRBY productsJACK ded at MURPHY ANDERSON, MIKE FRIEDRICH, art from JACK and ROZ, a never-published future publisher, be downloa ly on COLLECTOR editor, & for subscriptions: ld ou NEAL ADAMS, ALEX ROSS, CARMINE ns sh 1966 interview with KIRBY, MARK s publicatio EVANIER’S regular column, a Kirby pencils- INFANTINO, NICK CARDY, and others, twomorrow@aol.com TwoMorrow to-Sinnott inks comparison of TALES OF plus STAN LEE on the JLA’s inspiration of Roy Thomas, ALTER EGO editor: SUSPENSE #93, new covers featuring the Fantastic Four, index of the 1960–72 roydann@ntinet.com unseen Kirby art (SILVER SURFER inked by adventures, new cover by BRUCE TIMM, Michael Eury, BACK ISSUE editor: JOE SINNOTT, & Jack’s original ’70s & more! Written by MICHAEL EURY. euryman@msn.com SILVER STAR concept art), & more! Edited (224-page trade paperback) $29 US Mike Manley, DRAW! editor: by JOHN MORROW.

You Need A Companion!

orrows.com www.twom

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(84-page Tabloid) $13 US

BORGMAN on his daily comic strip Zits! Plus DRAW!’S regular instructors BRET BLEVINS, ALEBERTO RUIZ and more! Edited by MIKE MANLEY.

McDUFFIE, ”Hate’s” PETER BAGGE, legendary comics writer GERRY CONWAY, writer/editor PAUL BENJAMIN, and more! Edited by DANNY FINGEROTH.

(96-page magazine with color) $8 US

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MODERN MASTERS VOLUME FIVE: GARCIA-LOPEZ (NOW!)

SECRETS IN THE SHADOWS:

The latest volume in our series devoted to the best artists working in comics today spotlights José Luis García-López, arguably the best draftsman in the business, and a favorite of fans and fellow pros alike. Features an extensive, career-spanning interview lavishly illustrated with rare and unpublished art, as well as a large sketchbook section! (128-page trade paperback) $19 US

GENE COLAN (JULY)

The ultimate look at COLAN’S life & art! WOLFMAN, MCGREGOR & other writers share scripts from their Colan collaborations, while TOM PALMER & other artists show how they inked Colan’s pencils! Plus never-seen collaborations between Gene and BYRNE, KALUTA and PÉREZ, and allnew Colan art created specifically for this book! DELUXE HARDCOVER is limited to 1000 copies, with 16 extra black-andwhite pages and 8 extra color pages.

SUBSCRIPTIONS:

(168-page softcover) $26 US (192-page hardcover) $49 US

THE JACK KIRBY COLLECTOR: Four tabloid issues in the US: $36 Standard, $52 First Class (Canada: $60, Elsewhere: $64 Surface, $80 Airmail).

Read excerpts from back issues and order from our secure online store at:

BACK ISSUE!: Six issues in the US: $30 Standard, $48 First Class (Canada: $60, Elsewhere: $66 Surface, $90 Airmail).

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ALTER EGO: Twelve issues in the US: $60 Standard, $96 First Class (Canada: $120, Elsewhere: $132 Surface, $180 Airmail). NOTE: IF YOU PREFER A SIX-ISSUE ALTER EGO SUBSCRIPTION, JUST CUT THE PRICE IN HALF!

Outside the US, Add $2 Per Item Canada, $3 Per Item Surface, $7 Per Item Airmail.

TwoMorrows. Bringing New Life To Comics Fandom. TwoMorrows Publishing • 10407 Bedfordtown Dr. • Raleigh, NC 27614 • 919/449-0344 • FAX 919/449-0327 • e-mail: twomorrow@aol.com • www.twomorrows.com

Contents

THE NEW

OPENING SHOT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2 (the big announcement!) UNDER THE COVERS . . . . . . . . . . . . .4 (some sterling art) INNERVIEW . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5 (Jack’s 1966 keynote speech) JACK F.A.Q.s . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .10 (Mark Evanier on Vinnie Colletta) INCIDENTAL ICONOGRAPHY . . . . . . . .15 (outta this world Kirby designs) KIRBY AS A GENRE . . . . . . . . . . . . .16 (Adam McGovern goes to Godland) GALLERY 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .18 (suspenseful inking by Joe Sinnott) ACCOLADES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .26 (Kirby Award winners Scott Fresina, the brothers Sherman, and an “oops!” from TJKC’s editor)

ISSUE #43, SUMMER 2005 KIRBY OBSCURA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .64 (more rare Kirby uncovered) KIRBY AS A GENRE: EXTRA! . . . . . .66 (love Italian style) GALLERY 2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .68 (can you ink by twilight?) COLLECTOR COMMENTS . . . . . . . . .78 PARTING SHOT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .80 (the flip-side of the illo below)

Front cover inks: JOE SINNOTT Back cover inks & colors: JACK KIRBY Front cover colors: TOM ZIUKO Photocopies of Jack’s uninked pencils from published comics are reproduced courtesy of the Kirby Estate, which has our thanks for their support.

COPYRIGHTS: A.I.M., Batroc, Black Bolt, Captain America, Devil Dinosaur, Dr. Doom, Eternals, Fantastic Four, Galactus, Giant-Man, Hulk, Iron Man, Leader, Lo-Karr, Magneto, Mole Man, Nick Fury, Odin, Prof. X, Sif, Silver Surfer, SpiderMan, Thing, Thor, Wrecker TM & ©2005 Marvel Characters, Inc. • Batman, Big Barda, Blue Beetle, Clark Kent, Darkseid, Demon, Forever People, Funky Flashman, Goody Rickels, Granny Goodness, Guardian, In The Days Of The Mob, Jimmy Olsen, Joker, Lashina, Lightray, Losers, Luthor, Manhunter, Metron, Mr. Miracle, Oberon, Orion, Scrapper, Spirit World, Stompa, Superman, Toxl, Wonder Woman TM & ©2005 DC Comics. • Beast Rider, Bruce Lee page, Captain Victory, Mighty Magon, Satan's Six, Silver Star, Sky Masters, Starbaby, Superworld, True Divorce Cases TM & ©2005 Jack Kirby Estate. • “Best Friend’s Sweetheart”, Boys’ Ranch, Fighting American TM & ©2005 Joe Simon & Jack Kirby. • Silver Spider TM & ©2005 Joe Simon. • Destroyer Duck TM & ©2005 Steve Gerber and Jack Kirby.

The Jack Kirby Collector, Vol. 12, No. 43, Summer 2005. Published quarterly by & ©2005 TwoMorrows Publishing, 10407 Bedfordtown Drive, Raleigh, NC 27614, USA. 919-449-0344. John Morrow, Editor. Pamela Morrow, Asst. Editor. Eric Nolen-Weathington, Production Assistant. Single issues: $13 postpaid ($15 Canada, $16 elsewhere). Four-issue subscriptions: $36.00 US, $60.00 Canada, $64.00 elsewhere. All characters are trademarks of their respective companies. All artwork is ©2005 Jack Kirby unless otherwise noted. All editorial matter is ©2005 the respective authors. First printing. PRINTED IN CANADA.

PUBLIC DOMAIN THEATRE . . . . . . .58 (an S&K romance story)

Under The Covers

ur front cover this issue is a 1980s drawing by Jack of the Silver Surfer; the original pencils are shown below. This is a private drawing owned by Jack’s daughter Lisa, and she commissioned inker extraordinaire Joe Sinnott to work his magic on it a couple of years ago. As usual, Joe made it look effortless, turned in an outstanding job, and he was even thoughtful enough to send us a good copy of the inks for publication. Thanks, Joe; it’s good to have you back for a third cover! (Who better to hold the record for most TJKC cover inks?) And be sure to check out this issue’s Suspenseful Inking gallery, for a Kirby pencils-to-Sinnott inks comparison of some newly discovered stats from Tales of Suspense #93. Our galleries this issue are devoted to Kirby inkers, and this is a great chance to see both Joe and Jack in their prime. Our back cover is a piece that’s referenced in the Sherman Brothers interview this issue: Jack’s original character study for Silver Star, from January 1975. Mike Thibodeaux had this piece for sale at his booth at last year’s Comicon International: San Diego, and graciously allowed us to copy it before it was snatched up by an eager Kirby collector. This piece was inked, lettered, and watercolored by Jack himself, and many of the stars had fallen off, leaving brown rubber cement stains on the yellowed paper. We undertook some computer

restoration on the piece, adding the missing stars back in, and returned the hues to as close to its original brilliance as possible. With this issue’s focus on the winners of the Jack Kirby Award, we felt spotlighting Jack’s two “silver” characters on the covers was appropriate; we hope you agree that it was a sterling decision! ★

INNERVIEW (right) Jack speaking at either the 1966 or 1967 New York Comicon (we’re not sure which year); from the collection of the late Mark Hanerfeld. (below) The second of two pencils pieces (the first was shown last issue) that Jack did for Don Heck in 1966, in exchange for Don inking his “Gods” posters. See Don’s 1990s comments to Will Murray below.

1966 Kirby Keynote Speech [Editor’s Note: What you’re about to read, as transcribed by Brian Morris, is Jack Kirby’s Keynote Speech from the 1966 New York Comicon on July 23, 1966. Roy Thomas was responsible for the introductions of a stellar guest list that included Al Williamson, Gray Morrow, Archie Goodwin, Wally Wood, Jim Steranko, Russ Jones, Dan Adkins, Gary Friedrich, Flo Steinberg, Otto Binder, Frank McLaughlin, Dick Giordano, Gil Kane, and many others. Finally, Roy introduced the Guest of Honor, Jack Kirby. Our thanks to Bill Schelly for unearthing this treasure!] ROY THOMAS: It gives me a particular pleasure at this time, without any further adieu, to introduce probably as fine a person as I know. He’s an enjoyable person to share a hamburger with, as I happen to know. And also—and this is a little more important, perhaps for you—is probably as fine an action super-hero comic book artist that has ever picked up a pencil and not been able to put it down again. Ladies and gentlemen, Mr. Jack Kirby. [applause and whistles] JACK KIRBY: Roy has asked me to announce that there’ll be a refreshment period. ROY: No, a question period. [audience laughs] JACK: [laughs] Well, if there’s a refreshment period, it’s on me. To allay my own fears of facing an audience, I was originally going to get up and say, “I can lick any fan in the house.” But after listening to this Ivan fellow who defended EC, I’d like to say that I’m really a laudable coward [audience laughs], and my monsters are lovable and my characters are lovable, and I don’t think they’ve ever been treated to anything worse than a dull story. [audience chuckles] After seeing the fans here today, and being questioned by one young man who asked me my opinion on the effect of comic books on young people—I personally have never met a comic fan who has given any sign of planting a bomb in Grand Central Station. [laughs] They all seem to be very well behaved. I’ve met a lot of intelligent young people and intelligent old people [laughs] and I’ve had a fine time with all of them, and I respect all of them, and I respect their interest in comics because I share it with them mutually. I’ve enjoyed the work for a long time, ever since I began comic magazine work. I’m glad this occasion has arrived because it gave me the opportunity to see Mr. Binder again and a lot of the faces I haven’t seen in a long time among the professionals, because my wife won’t let me out of the basement. [audience laughs] I have a studio in the basement of the house and my family will lock me in there [laughs] and they disappear and I stay there until they let me out, and the process is done with reservations. AUDIENCE MEMBER: Does Stan Lee ever let you out?

JACK: Well, he won’t let me in [laughs] because when I do come to the office, being a lonely sort of guy, I kind of WILL MURRAY: Did you know Jack very well? DON HECK: Yeah, I used to go over to his house. He did some characters that were printed up. His wife was complaining because he didn’t have any artwork around the house, so he penciled it up and he asked me if I’d ink it. He was going to give me some money for it. I said, “Naw, that’s all right.” I talked him into doing me a couple of pages, which I still have. I told him, “The money, I’ll go through.” (laughs) But I have these two original pages that Jack did just for me that were never printed. One was a big city whatchamacallit, and the other was a big robot type character. It turned out pretty good. Like I say, it was done in 1966. They were originally supposed to be up on the wall and then later on, I saw them when they were sold. There were four of them—they were colored and sold that way. [There was] a Norse-type character with a big spear, which was fun to do. 5

Mark evanier (below) A nice Collettainked page from Thor #163 (April 1969). (next page, top) Some of Vinnie’s weakest work, from FF Annual #3 (1965), undoubtedly a rush job. (next page, center) Fabulous Bill Everett inks on the splash from Thor #175 (April 1970). (next page, bottom) Bob Powell was never one of Marvel’s top artists, but in Tales To Astonish #68 (June 1965), Colletta’s inks at least gave his pencils the “Marvel” look. Thor, Giant-Man, Mole Man, Prof. X, Thing TM and ©2005 Marvel Characters, Inc.

Jack F.A.Q.s

A column answering Frequently Asked Questions about Kirby by Mark Evanier et the record show that if this issue of The Jack Kirby Collector is tardy getting to press, it’s mostly my fault. I’m behind on everything in what I laughingly call my life and career, and this is getting in way late. I learned a great many things from Mr. Kirby, but not how to always produce work at a superhuman pace. I’m told a key topic of this issue is inkers. As has been noted, Jack was usually not too fussy about who inked his work—less so than any artist these days would be, less so than I thought he should have been. But he came out of that Depression Era mindset that held that few things are more important in life than bringing home a weekly paycheck to provide for one’s family. If somebody had the job of inking Kirby

pencils or needed it, Jack recoiled from the notion of denying them that paycheck. He also sometimes didn’t see what the inkers were doing. After the Simon-Kirby studio dissolved and Jack was no longer an editor/packager, he was in no position to view the finished art before publication. Only now and then during his infrequent office visits to Marvel in the Sixties would he catch a peek at some inked issue of Fantastic Four as it moved through the production process. When Jack went to DC in 1970, he was officially the editor of what he did, but his first inker there, Vince Colletta, was based in New York and so, of course, was DC Comics. After Colletta was done with an issue, only rarely did someone go to the trouble of sending stats of it out to the book’s editor in Thousand Oaks, California. It wasn’t until Mike Royer replaced Colletta that the inked pages passed by Jack en route to publication. Mike was then living in Whittier, and when he finished a story, he delivered it—by mail or in person—to Kirby. Jack also rarely looked at the printed comics. When he finished a job, it was outta sight/outta mind. On Wednesday, he sometimes couldn’t tell you a thing about the story he’d finished on Tuesday... and by the time it came out, several months later, it was Ancient History to him. Only now and then did it occur to him to check and see what the inkers had done to his pencils. (I do think, however, he absorbed enough of what Joe Sinnott was doing with them to incorporate Sinnott-style touches into the penciling.) In any case, when Jack did look at a finished story of his, what he generally studied was the storytelling, not the fine line details. The storytelling was what was important to Jack, and it usually endured even with a poor inker. This segues to our first question this time, and maybe the only one I’ll get around to answering. It was sent in by someone who signs his e-mails “Smokin Feckler,” without even an apostrophe in there... I’ve enjoyed the panels you’ve hosted with great comic artists at the San Diego Con but I have to wonder about a topic that keeps coming up. Everyone is always dumping on Vince Colletta. Bob Oksner said he hated his inking. John Buscema called him “the most untalented person in the business.” John Romita said he inked with a whiskbroom. Gene Colan, Herb Trimpe, Marie Severin and everyone else who ever worked for Marvel seems to have hated his work. How did this man get work? Did anyone like him? Well, yes, a lot of readers liked him. More than you’d imagine.

As I think I’ve mentioned here, when Kirby replaced him with Royer, there was a brief avalanche of negative mail. The Ronin Ro biography of Kirby, Tales to Astonish, says something about how when the initial reaction came in, Jack was furious with me for forcing Royer on him. That’s a gross exaggeration, and what reaction did occur—from Jack and from New Gods readers—was only momentary. As anyone who ever heard Jack mention Mike’s work knows, he was very fond of Mike’s inking and always tried to engage his services. Much of the early, negative mail complained that Royer was “changing Kirby” too much, which I thought was a wrongheaded but completely understandable assumption. Most of these fans were used to Kirby/ Colletta and that, to them, was Kirby artwork. For that matter, I really loved the art in Thor until I got a couple of good looks at Jack’s penciling and realized that the end-product was good in spite of Mr. Colletta, not because of him. It genuinely hurt my enjoyment of those comics to realize how much of the work was being lost or flattened. And obviously, a lot of editors liked Vince. He certainly got a lot of work during his many years in the industry. I thought what he did to great pencil art was generally inexcusable, but I also think it’s wrong to dump all the blame on him. Some of his detractors act like he forced his way into the Marvel offices each month, grabbed Jack’s Thor pages when no one was looking, and ran home and inked them. In point of fact, just about every ink job Colletta did in his life was assigned to him because someone in power thought he was good—or at least, good enough. What’s more, when he handed in one issue,

they usually handed him another to ink. And another and another... There were certainly editors who genuinely liked what he did, at least on some assignments. Stan Lee thought Colletta was a disaster on some jobs, including inking Kirby on Fantastic Four, and he turned down Vince’s repeated offers to ink a half-

dozen Marvels a month... but he did feel that the inker’s style was important on Thor. At one point, Bill Everett replaced Colletta on that strip for what I thought was some of the best inking ever done on Jack Kirby artwork. When sales took the slightest downturn—for reasons that may have had nothing to do with the inking—Everett was gone and Vinnie was back. Stan sometimes found other places to use him, as well. Roy Thomas has said that The Invaders sold better when Colletta was inking Frank Robbins’ pencils than later, after he’d yielded to the nagging of others to put someone more appropriate on the job. There are many other examples. From what I could tell, Carmine Infantino did not assign Colletta to ink all of Kirby’s DC work because Vinnie was fast or cheap or even Italian. He just plain thought Colletta was the man for the job. Jim Shooter was later said to be a big champion of Colletta. Which is not to say some editors didn’t hire the man because of his speed. Colletta could turn a 20-page book around in three days, or less than a third of the time of many “good” inkers. If he had a couple of decent assistants at the time, it could go even faster than that. Editors are often faulted by their superiors for a book shipping late, so Vinnie was a handy guy to know. The man was also usually willing to work for whatever the minimum page rate was at the time. Editors are also faulted when the cost of producing their comics goes up... so again, Vinnie was a handy guy to know. He was also valuable as a “saver” of bad pencil art. This brings us to a comment that others have made, but I think there’s something to it. They said that Colletta was a “C-minus” inker. Everything he inked was a “C-minus” in quality when he was done with it. If you gave him “A-plus” pencils by Kirby or Colan or Buscema or any of those guys, they came back a “C-minus.” But if you gave him “D” grade pencils—and even good editors occasionally hire the wrong guy and wind up with them—Vince could turn them into a “C-minus.” Beyond that, he had inertia working for him. Colletta could be a charming guy, and he was already well-established in the business. If I’d suddenly been hired as an editor at DC or Marvel back then, I think I’d have had a hard time telling him, “Sorry, Vinnie. I know you need the work. I know everyone else thinks what you’ve been doing for us is good enough, but I don’t.” I probably would have said it but it wouldn’t have been easy. I might have been worried that next week, I’d be desperate to have an issue of something inked overnight for the bottom rate. But yes, most artists I’ve heard mention his name disliked what Colletta did. The only exception that comes to mind at the moment is George Tuska. In 1970 when Steve Sherman and I met Steve Ditko, he asked us 11

Accolades

And Now... The Kirby (Editor’s Note: At last year’s Comicon International: San Diego, I—and several hundred other people—were delighted to attend the annual Kirby Tribute Panel, only to find Lisa Kirby has surreptitiously put together a Jack Kirby Award to be handed out to people who, as the plaques stated, were being honored for “dedication to the Kirby legacy.” To say I was humbled to have Jack’s daughter give me an award is an understatement. But as I sat in the audience hearing stories of the incredible dedication numerous people had to keeping Jack in the public consciousness, it occurred to me that we had a theme issue on our hands! So without further ado, here’s a transcript of the ceremony. The rest of this issue is devoted to spotlighting Kirby Award recipients, especially the ones who haven’t received feature interviews in past issues; more will be featured in future issues. Some you’ve heard of, some you haven’t, but rest assured all of them are worthy of this recognition, as you’ll soon learn.)

(above) Lisa Kirby at the 2004 Comicon International: San Diego. (next page, top right) Mike Royer’s sentiments echo our interviewee’s in this ’92 San Diego Con program tribute to the King. (next page, top left) Scott Fresina presenting the Kirby Awards. (next page, bottom) Dr. Doom was the coolest villain in comicdom in the ’60s, warranting a one-shot story in Marvel Super-Heroes as well as appearances in The Avengers, Daredevil, SpiderMan, and more. Here’s Kirby’s killer poster of the Lord of Latveria from 1969.

LISA KIRBY: I am Jack’s youngest daughter, and I am really nervous, so bear with me. I just want to thank all of you for attending this special tribute, and our distinguished panel, thank you very much. You’re all family, and as you know, this marks the tenth anniversary of my father’s passing, and even though the years have passed, there’s not a day that goes by that I don’t think of both of my parents. This year I would like to honor their memory through an awards presentation. This will be a little bit different. My family and I would like to thank a few people who have helped us over the years. They’ve gone beyond the call of duty in their support and dedication to my family. We just appreciated all that, and it’s kept my father’s legacy alive, and in particular, his contribution to the comics industry. I know he would be very pleased and very humbled that we still honor him today. He must be smiling down at all of us right now, smokin’ a cigar [some laughter]—that’s what he loved to do—and he’s wishing he could be here. He’d be cracking his corny jokes and telling us all his crazy stories. Again, I appreciate everybody for being here. And I would like to introduce Scott Fresina, aka Scott Free; and that’s his name! He’s just an all-around nice guy and a family friend, and he’s going to present these awards for me today, because he’s better at public speaking. [laughter and applause]

SCOTT FRESINA: Thanks. When Lisa asked me to present this award to these great folks here, these keepers of the flame, there was no way I could say no to this. In fact, it’s funny, years ago, back in the 1980s, I was a professional musician. People used to mess up my last name, being Fresina. All the time I used to get “Frazetta,” Orion TM & ©2005 DC Comics. Dr. Doom TM “Frazutta.” I didn’t like “Frazetta” too much. They used to mess it & ©2005 Marvel Characters, Inc. up and misspell it, put a “z” in there. So I just shortened it to Scott Free. I was a great comic book fan, and of course a Jack fan in particular. Jack had a lot of people come out to that house, and he had a lot of extended family, so he used to mix up the names sometimes. Sometimes he’d call me [Kirby voice:] “Steve. Say, Steve how ya doin’?” Sometimes it was “Scott,” sometimes it was “Steve,” sometimes it was “Stan.” Well, it wasn’t “Stan” too often. [laughter] Actually, I told him, “No, no, Jack. Remember, I shortened it from ‘Fresina’ to ‘Free.’ ‘Scott Free.’” [Kirby voice:] “Oh, Scott Free! That’s a good name for a guy like you!” [laughter] And he never forgot my name after that. Anyway, these awards we’re presenting are for the people that have kept the spirit of Jack Kirby alive. A lot of us here have had the opportunity to meet him at conventions like this one, and go up to the house. I’m forever grateful to Mike SCOTT FRESINA [Thibodeaux} for bringing me up there in ’81. We started going up there a lot, which was fantastic. These people have 26

kept his work, his name in print, and with the Internet, people all over the world can see Jack’s stuff and experience it. I’m going to take it right from the top here and mention our first recipient of the Jack Kirby Award, for dedication to the Jack Kirby legacy. Since the early Seventies, of course, he assisted Jack and the family. Still does it today. I don’t know if this is the time to mention that Marvelmania still owes me twelve bucks. [laughter] Mark Evanier, everybody! [applause] Talking about mispronouncing names, back when I used to read it, I thought I was a smart kid, I thought, “He must be ‘ee-von-YAY.’” [scattered laughter] Another individual who worked for Jack closely, is a close family friend, a supporter of the Kirby family, he’s getting an award today. It’s Steve Sherman. Steve? [applause] Along with his brother Steve, he’s been a longtime friend, and his claim to fame is he introduced Jack and the family to Paul and Linda McCartney at a Wings concert: Gary Sherman. [applause] The author of the book The Art of Jack Kirby is also a close family friend—everybody that knows Jack becomes a close family friend; it’s a given, almost—and a great supporter, Ray Wyman. [applause] Accepting the award for Ray tonight will be Mark Evanier once again. [scattered laughter] Somebody whose book I always look forward to, and all of us, as Jack fans, support, too—a thoroughly top-notch publication, well done, great stuff in there—John Morrow, editor and publisher of The Jack Kirby Collector. [applause] The next one goes to the publisher and owner of Dark Horse Comics. He’s been a great supporter over the years of Jack and Roz. He’s been there for the Kirby family on a personal and professional level. Do we have Mike Richardson in the room? Mike Richardson of Dark Horse. [applause, then laughter] On behalf of... MARK EVANIER: Give me another one. SCOTT FRESINA: You want another one? Oh, that one. Okay. A personal family friend was instrumental in helping Roz obtain a pension in her later years. He’s a great friend of the Kirby family here. This goes to Mark Miller, ladies and gentlemen. [applause] Mmmm, I think I know this next guy over here. He’s a great Kirby fan, a longtime family friend of the Kirbys, and he even named his child Kirby. Scott Shaw gets this next one. [applause] Another individual who’s come through with his inking talent to help Jack with many tight deadlines, give it up for Marty Lasick. [applause] Always there with a kind word and a helping hand, I’ve known this guy for years, too: Dave Schwartz. [applause] I want to say this personally; you talk about family, and I owe him a great debt also, because in ’81 he took me up to meet Jack, and it was the first of many, many, many meetings—to the point where Roz would say, “Okay, boys, come on!” [claps hands] “Time to go home!” We had to remember that we were in our thirties, not thirteen. We were having that much fun. A true family friend of the Kirby family for the past thirty years, worked closely with Jack as his inker, has been the family’s art agent, who was always there for Jack and Roz and whatever they might need. Give it up for Mike Thibodeaux. [applause] One of Jack’s favorite inkers, faithfully preserving Jack’s pencils, crisp Kirby art, always willing to help out with the Kirby estate: Mike Royer. [applause] And one of Jack’s famous rock and roll fans and a longtime supporter of the Kirby family, a good friend. I don’t think he’s here today, but Mark, you think you can take one more? Glenn Danzig. [applause] Thanks to everybody who received awards, and thanks to the Kirby family. [applause] ★

Awards!

Scott Free Meets The King

(Interviewer’s Note: I cleaned up, moneywise, as an artist-for-hire in my junior high school years in the early ’70s. Many of my fellow classmates, mostly guys, would slide me a nickel or two or three for a quick sketch of their favorite TV or movie stars, super-heroes, or dreamgirl in various states of undress. One of my sketchbooks got out of my binder one afternoon on a bus ride home and an older comics enthusiast (whom I would meet later) checked it out and nodded approvingly of my artwork, Kirby swipes and all. Scott Fresina was a big comics fan as well as a knowledgeable afficionado of horror and science-fiction films. He returned my book to me one afternoon at school and asked if I knew these other guys in various grades (people with which he was already familiar) who were into Kirby, Marvel and DC Comics, movie monsters, and other pop culture items that I’d doodled about in my sketchbook. I didn’t know them but I wanted to meet ’em—and a covert club was born. (Because as you all know, collecting comics was not conducive to meeting and dating girls). Years later, Scott would travel to the southern part of our state to Los Angeles, where he’d pursue a career in rock music. In the early ’80s, he performed under the name “Scott Free” and was lucky enough to meet and befriend Jack Kirby and his family. And that’s the short version of how Scott Free met his favorite comics artist (but not his creator!)—Jack Kirby. He’ll tell the whole story now in detail. This interview was conducted for this magazine on Feb. 12, 2005.) THE JACK KIRBY COLLECTOR: When did you first meet Jack? SCOTT FRESINA: I can say my first contact with Jack was in ’72. It was the BayCon that they used to have in the (San Francisco-Oakland) Bay Area. I’m thinking Oakland was the host at the time. I met a lot of guys there but Jack was the

one who really stuck out. It’s interesting because at the time, they hawked the “hot artists” there and everybody was making a big deal about Neal Adams. There was a huge crowd around him and I got in line to get Neal’s autograph. He seemed to be a little fatigued at the way fans were ganging up on him and he was sitting Indian-style on the floor signing books. Later, I was standing around looking for other artists and the buzz came around, “Hey, there’s Jack Kirby!” and I ran down there—and my heart quickened! Kirby was walking in a big crowd and he even looked like I imagined him to look! He looked like some of the characters he drew! [laughs] I remember a lot of the people just crowded around him and shoved their books in his face but he was exceptionally gracious about the whole thing—like, he was really enjoying himself while he was connecting to this mob of kids. Frank Brunner, Don McGregor, Jim Starlin, and some others were there, too, but Kirby’s behavior really struck me. He made eye contact with everyone, answered all the questions thrown his way, shook all the hands he could, and so on. There was something different about the way he carried himself. A lot of the fans were tongue-tied, but I was one of the older guys in the group so I had to say something! I made some compliment about his artwork or something, and to my surprise, he kinda challenged me. He answered, “Well, what did you get out of it?” [laughs] His voice had that cross between a Jimmy Cagney and a Humphrey Bogart. He definitely had the look and the sound of old New York to me, and it really fit his style and it made me feel immediately comfortable—maybe because I started out in New York. You’re standing there looking at him and you realize that this guy’s taken us to Asgard, back to the Negative Zone, and all parts in-between! He was absolutely my

Kirby family friend Scott Fresina interviewed by Jerry Boyd 27

were sending in their hard-earned cash and just saying, “I’d like to have some of your stuff on my wall!” They were never too specific and they’d request the characters they wanted drawn. And he’d draw... most of ’em! [laughs] [Interviewer’s note: This anecdote may explain the cover of TJKC #27, the illo on page 23 of #41, and the like.] And it’s true that he’d start from one corner to another as if the piece was on a light table and he was merely tracing it. It’d be all there in the finished product, the drop shadows and modulation—but all done from one side of the paper to the other side and in perfect proportion. The guy was amazing. TJKC: By the mid-to-late ’80s, he was slowly phasing himself out of the comics industry. Do you think he was happy with the transition? SCOTT: Yeah, he was thinking more and more about his concepts becoming television shows and movies. Captain Victory, he felt, would have been a great scifi movie like Star Wars. It’s ironic now, because the FF [movie] is going to be out soon, and the Hulk, Spider-Man, and the X-Men films—all characters he either created or nurtured somewhat in their opening phases—and well... it would’ve been nice if he’d lived to see to see them come to fruition. We kept going up. We loved Kirby and after his hands didn’t allow him to draw anymore, nothing changed. We were up there for Passover one time, and a guy with my background—I thought Passover was a game show; a Mark Goodson/Bill Todman production! [laughs] And Jack told me all about it. He explained this Jewish holiday in this Kirby fashion—the guy was a great storyteller! He put up his hands with his fingers splayed almost in that style that Odin and Thor would say something and you could see the montage behind them. It was great! I said, “Wow! I can even picture how you’d draw this!” TJKC: And he talked about Passover and explained it to you? SCOTT: He talked about Passover and the plight of the Jews. He gave us some matzoh crackers and it was just terrific, y’know. Jack was a real down-home sort of guy. If we showed up one afternoon and they had leftover Chinese food from last night, he’d say, “You want some?” He never put on airs. The worse thing I can say about Jack is that he spoiled me for any other childhood celebrity I would ever meet after that. 30

They all struck me as being less gracious than Jack, more pompous than Jack, and more filled with their own self-importance than Jack did. TJKC: You can’t help but like a person who was so tremendously talented at what he did, yet so casual about it, even humble, and able to keep it all in perspective. SCOTT: Exactly. Don’t get me wrong. Jack was always excited about his latest project, even up to the end. He was always interested in his work, but I never got the impression that he thought this was “high art” or anything. He always passed it off as,

and I can hear him saying this, “Well, it’s entertainment. It’s just entertainment.” And I’m talking about how the FF and all his books were important to me when I was young and how they still resonate with me. And he’d continue, “Good, but it’s just entertainment.” And I’d say, “But Jack, it was more than entertainment. There were little parables about courage, about sticking up for somebody, helping out the little guy, and more!” He’d stop, reflect quickly, grin, and say, “Okay, alright. So... it was a little more than entertainment.” ★

Accolades

The Sherman Bros. Speak! (Editor’s Note: I first met Steve Sherman by e-mail for his interview in TJKC #6. I was a bit surprised that so relatively little information came out of an exchange with Jack’s former assistant, but once I met him in person—with younger brother Gary at the San Diego Comicon—I realized that e-mail was not the way to interview Steve. Both natives of Santa Monica, California—Steve born in 1949, Gary in 1955—they regaled me with wonderful tales about Jack and Roz that I just had to get into print one day. So it was long past due for me to sit down with the Sherman brothers, in person, and do a proper interview, which we arranged on a gorgeous Sunday morning on the back deck of the San Diego Convention Center, overlooking the bay—that is, until a troupe of knights in armor showed up, whacking each other about with real swords and shields, creating such a ruckus with their medieval reenactment that we had to go back into the convention hall to complete our chat. This interview was conducted on June 25, 2004, copyedited by Steve and Gary, and transcribed by Steven Tice.) THE JACK KIRBY COLLECTOR: To give the readers a little perspective on the questions I’m about to ask you, tell me what you guys do now. STEVE SHERMAN: I have a company called Puppet Studio, and we design, build, and perform puppets in Los Angeles, for TV, film, and commercials. And I perform puppets, like the D.C. Follies. I was the puppeteer on Mighty Joe Young and two Men in Blacks. And I guess some people might remember Capt. O.G. Readmore from Saturday morning on ABC, that puppet. GARY SHERMAN: I work in the television business. I started out as a dolly grip on multi-camera shows like Perfect Strangers, Step by Step, and the Hogan Family. Then I moved up to camera coordinator, who helps the director block the camera shots, which a lot of Kirby stuff comes in handy there. As a coordinator, the last thing I did was Dharma and Greg. That was the longest. I’ve filled in. I’ve done shows that lasted six episodes, like Something So Right, and Partners with John Cryer, and some other things. TJKC: What comics did you grow up reading? STEVE: I didn’t read comics until I was about—whenever your dad takes you to your first haircut at a barbershop? That’s where I first saw comic books, I think, at a barbershop. GARY: Steven read a bunch of the ECs and stuff first, and then our father got a job for six months and we moved to Canada in 1960. Those got lost when we came back late in ’61. And then, when Steven started collecting in, like, ’62, I was six or seven, whenever I started to read. He had comics all over the place, and I just tore them apart and read every one of them. The first comic I read was a Jack Kirby comic book. It was an early FF. It had to have been. And I thought the guys that drew it were my brother’s age or a little bit older—except you saw these two guys in a coat and a shirt with the backs of their heads, going, “Hey Stan.” “Hey, Jack.” I had an idea what was going on, but I still thought, “These guys can’t be more than a couple of years older than Steven, because they’re drawing funnybooks, comics.” TJKC: Steve, your first exposure to Kirby’s work was—? STEVE: I think it was The Fly. TJKC: And were you aware that was Kirby, or did you even have any idea that somebody actually drew these things? STEVE: No, I knew people drew them because I had always been interested in the behindthe-scenes stuff even as a little kid, so I always wondered, “How do they do that?” I’d go to the library, check the books

(left) A Dr. Doom illo for Marvelmania. Pencils & inks by Kirby.

Public Domain Theatre

A Little Romance

e’re back with our new ongoing TJKC feature re-presenting never-before-reprinted, public domain Kirby stories. And since this issue is a real love-fest about Jack and Roz, what better to show than a classic Simon & Kirby romance story? This one’s from Young Romance #3 (Jan. 1948), presented here for the first time since it initially

saw print, lovingly bleached and restored for us by Chris Fama. And just for fun, take a minute to compare Jack’s dapper leading men and gorgeous women—and their interpersonal conflicts—between this 1940s tale, and the 1970 pencils presented here from Kirby’s neverpublished True Divorce Cases book. Don’t you just love it? ★

Gallery 2

Inking By Twilight

ifteen years or so after Joe Sinnott inked the “Captain America” episode for Tales of Suspense #93, Kirby’s art had undergone many changes. One commentator—I can’t remember whom—wrote that he saw Kirby’s art from the mid-’70s on as “a caricature of itself.” True? Perhaps at times; and perhaps this meant that as time went on, Kirby’s art became less and less “accessible” to non-Kirby enthusiasts. But for Kirby lovers, there was still lots of great art. In his twilight years, many different inkers got to embellish the King’s output. Here, in all

by Shane Foley

examples bar one, we get to compare the different approaches of some of them. Along with new material, Phantom Force #1 (Dec. 1993) included a previously drawn (apparently from the late ’70s) but unused sequence using Bruce Lee as the hero. Below is a Bruce Lee page that did not make it into the comic. The many inkers who tackled that issue of Phantom Force approached the pencils in different ways. Some were as faithful as possible while others made huge corrective and stylistic changes. How would you approach this piece?

(page 69) When master Filipino inker Alfredo Alcala took ink to Kirby’s work he seemed to take the same approach as Wally Wood had done 25 years earlier—preserving little more than the outline and imposing his own style on it. Notice how Alcala has totally ignored Kirby’s blacks and substituted his own, equally unique rendition of shadows and clothing. The result is a great hybrid of two masters. This is page 14 of Destroyer Duck #2 (Jan. 1983). (page 70) In stark contrast was the approach of Mike Royer, who was both criticized and hailed for his dedication to ink Kirby as faithfully as possible. Silver Star #4, page 14 (Aug. 1983) is a beauty—a page that showed the Kirby power of old was still burning. (page 71) Super Powers Vol. 1 #5 (Nov. 1984) saw Kirby depicting DCs regular heroes together with some of his New Gods stars. Kirby seemed to be enjoying revisiting his enigmatic Metron creation in this issue, as on this page (10) when we see Metron meeting Superman. As inker for this issue and Volume 2, Greg Theakston worked hard to be both faithful to Kirby’s intention on the one hand while correcting many of the weaknesses that increasingly appeared on the other. (page 72) Compare Kirby’s pencils on this pin-up page with Mike Thibodeaux’s faithful inks. Pages like these show that right to the end Kirby’s imagination was as powerful and wondrous as ever. From Captain Victory Special #1 (Oct. 1983). (page 73) Terry Austin didn’t get the chance to ink many Kirby pieces. This page from Satan’s Six #1 (April 1993) is one of the few. Here are Kirby’s (again, apparently late 1970s) pencils and Austin’s restrained yet enhancing inks for comparison. (page 74) Acting as a bridge between the original New Gods #11 and the Hunger Dogs Graphic Novel, ‘Even Gods Must Die’, was presented in the 1984 New Gods Baxter series #6. Convoluted circumstances with Hunger Dogs had meant that this episode was produced last and it contains some of Kirby’s poorest (and latest) work. Here though is one of the stronger pages from the story—page 15. Clear action— an attribute that Kirby never lost— combine with convincing figure work and great spotting of blacks. Minimal band-aid work was required from inker D.Bruce Berry on this page. ★ 68

Jack Kirby Collector #43