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pages, sketches, layouts, and Silver and Bronze Ages, when unused inks by P. CRAIG RUSSELL, kryptonite came in multiple colors MIKE ALLRED, YANICK PAQUETTE, and super-pets flew the skies! and LEE WEEKS, who contribute Features all-new interviews with commentaries on the art, plus a ADAMS, ANDERSON, CARDY, retrospective art gallery on the late GARCÍA-LÓPEZ, GIFFEN, , JOHN BUSCEMA, a new, profusely MOONEY, O’NEIL, OKSNER, illustrated interview with JOHN PASKO, ROZAKIS, SHOOTER, ROMITA JR., a new ROMITA JR. WEIN, WOLFMAN, and others, cover, and more! Edited by BOB plus tons of rare and unseen art! McLEOD. By BACK ISSUE’S Michael Eury! (100-page magazine) $9 US (240-page trade paperback) $29 US

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Contents

THE NEW

Kirby’s SUPER TEAMS! OPENING SHOT/ UNDER THE COVERS . . . . . . . . . . . . .2 (let’s give the editor a break) UNCOVERED . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3 (a never-seen DC team-up plot)

ISSUE #47, FALL 2006

INNERVIEW . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4 (Kirby in Cleveland) UPSTARTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .6 (the evolution of Kirby’s teams) GALLERY 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .10 (super-team pencils!) JACK F.A.Q.s . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .18 (Mark Evanier may have laid to rest the mystery of FF #1’s inker) REIMAGINEERS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .22 (the Eternal John Romita Jr. speaks) KIRBY OBSCURA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .24 (Barry Forshaw claws his way through a monstrously funny look at obscure Kirby work) FOUNDATIONS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .26 (a complete reprint of the first Boy Explorers story from 1946!) NOVEL APPROACHES . . . . . . . . . . .33 (author Jonathan Lethem has a lot to say about Kirby) MUSEUM PAGE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .41 (visit & join www.kirbymuseum.org) KIRBY AS A GENRE . . . . . . . . . . . . .42 (Adam McGovern gets dramatic...) ORIGINS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .44 (secrets of the Fantastic Four) ACCOLADES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .46 (Kirby Award winner Marty Lasick on knowing Jack and Roz) INCIDENTAL ICONOGRAPHY . . . . . .49 (Charlie? Herbie? Z-Z-1-2-3? We’re so confused...) GALLERY 2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .50 (gorgeous storyboards from the 1978 FF animated series) FOURGROUND . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .74 (a very family-friendly look at the FF) COLLECTOR COMMENTS . . . . . . . . .78 PARTING SHOT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .80 (the fabulous Fifties live again!) Front cover inks: JACK KIRBY Back cover inks: MIKE ROYER Cover colors: TOM ZIUKO COPYRIGHTS: 3-D Man, Avengers, Captain America, Crystal, Dr. Doom, Eternals, Fantastic Four, Galactus, Giant-Man, Gorilla Man, Hawkeye, Herbie, Hogun, Human Robot, Human Torch, Invisible Girl, Iron Man, Janus, Machine Man, Marvel Boy, Mr. Fantastic, Recorder, Silver Surfer, Skrulls, Spider-Man, Thing, Thor, Vandral, Venus, Wasp, Watcher, X-Men, Yellow Claw TM & ©2006 Marvel Characters, Inc. • Aquaman, Batman, Black Racer, Boy Commandos, Clark Kent, Darkseid, Demon, Devilance, Dingbats, Dr. Fate, Flash, Forever People, Green Lantern, Guardian, Hawkman, Infinity Man, Joker, Lightray, Luthor, Mark Moonrider, Morgan Edge, New Gods, Newsboy Legion, Orion, Penguin, Red Tornado, Robin, San Diego FiveString Mob, Super Powers, Superman, Wonder Woman TM & ©2006 DC Comics • 2001: A Space Odyssey is a TM of Turner Entertainment, Inc. • Boy Explorers TM & ©2006 Joe Simon and Jack Kirby Estate • Roxie's Raiders TM & ©2006 RubySpears Productions • The Avenger TM & ©2006 Condé Nast • Captain Glory TM & ©2006 Jack Kirby Estate

The Jack Kirby Collector, Vol. 13, No. 47, Fall 2006. Published quarterly by & ©2006 TwoMorrows Publishing, 10407 Bedfordtown Drive, Raleigh, NC 27614, USA. 919-449-0344. John Morrow, Editor/Publisher. Pamela Morrow, Asst. Editor. Christopher Irving, Production Assistant. Single issues: $13 postpaid ($15 elsewhere). Four-issue subscriptions: $40.00 US, $64.00 Canada, $68.00 elsewhere. All characters are trademarks of their respective companies. All artwork is ©2006 Jack Kirby Estate unless otherwise noted. All editorial matter is ©2006 the respective authors. First printing. PRINTED IN CANADA. ISSN 1932-6912

UPSTARTS (below) Simon & Kirby splash page from the Boy Commandos story in Detective Comics #79 (Sept. 1943). Art restoration by Chris Fama. (next page, top) X-Men #17 panel (Nov. 1965). (next page, bottom) Presentation art for the Dingbats of Danger Street; this was originally part of a concept called “Death Fingers.” Boy Commandos, Dingbats TM & ©2006 DC Comics. X-Men TM & ©2006 Marvel Characters, Inc.

Group Dynamics, Kirby Style

The Evolution of Kirby’s Team Concept, by Bruce Younger n 1941, Joe Simon & Jack Kirby introduced the Newsboy Legion in the pages of Star Spangled Comics. The formula was a simple one: A beneficent and experienced mentor takes charge of a group of plucky youngsters, and together they get involved in all sorts of adventures. Each member has a distinct personality— Tommy, the shy, sensitive, reasonable one (read “normal”); Scrapper, the tough guy; Gabby, the hot-head; and Big Words, the smart one. The Newsboy Legion was the first book in an evolutionary creative process for Kirby that yielded no fewer than eight more team concepts between 1942 and 1972. (For the purpose of this article, I am only including teams that had no independent affiliation, such as Young Allies or Avengers, or concepts that involved a loosely affiliated group that all appear in one book, such as New Gods or the Eternals.) Simon & Kirby were obviously on a roll with the success of their Newsboy Legion, and just a couple of months later produced Boy Commandos, which not only played off of the popularity of

the Kid Gang concept, but also the growing nationalism with the US’s entry into World War II. Joe & Jack kept the same basic pattern they used for Newsboy Legion: Rip Carter, the beneficent and experienced mentor, takes charge of a group of plucky youngsters orphaned by war—the shy, sensitive one, the tough guy, the hothead and the brain. Four seems to have been the magic number, giving Kirby the diversity and dynamics within the group without confusing the reader. Although he sometimes expanded that number to five to avoid too much similarity, he continued to use this as a template for most of his team concepts. After the war, Joe & Jack took their talents to Harvey, coming up with two Kid Gangs: Boys’ Ranch and what turned out to be their last kid concept, Boy Explorers. By now, their formula was well established, and in each of the series (even the short-lived Explorers), it’s easy to see how the template was filled in for each of the character types. But the times, they were a’changin’. After the European and Korean wars, America had grown up. We all know what happened to cause the comic glut of the early ’50s and the subsequent collapse and self-censorship of the industry. Along with many other genres, Kid Gangs went by the wayside, as did the creative team of Simon & Kirby. It’s important to note that, within the pages of their Kid Gang stories, Joe & Jack created something unique that still goes largely unrecognized: The dedicated team. By that, I mean a team that is formed out of some shared experience and has no affiliation with any other group and whose members do not appear in solo adventures. With the demise of the popularity of the kid team, however, Kirby took what he had learned about team structure, roles and group dynamics, and applied it to a new concept developed for DC: The first adult dedicated team, and the first dedicated team of the Silver Age, Challengers of the Unknown. Basically, the Challengers were a grown-up version of the Kid Gangs of the ’40s and ’50s, without the mentor figure. The concept, however, had one additional and unique aspect to it: The group was brought together by a near-death experience. In this way, the Challengers were the direct antecedents of the Fantastic Four. Kirby’s magic formula of four distinct characters once again proved to work well. We get Professor Hale as the brain, Red Ryan as the hot-head, Ace as the cool, sensitive one, and the tough guy played by ex-boxer Rocky. The formula worked so well that, after being featured four times in Showcase, they were given their own book. The Challengers of the Unknown set the stage for what was to come. While most comic historians agree on the Flash’s appearance in Showcase #4 being the official start of the Silver Age, I believe the Challengers were actually the transition between the Golden and Silver Ages, as well as the differentiation point between the DC House Style and the Marvel. If you look at the early Challengers stories, you can see a reflection of the same style that Kirby had used in the ’40s on titles like Captain America and Newsboy Legion. There’s a sketchiness, a roughness in the finishing that was common to Golden Age art, but was also a hallmark of much of Simon & Kirby’s art through the ’50s. In addition, the way Kirby used unusual panel shapes and page layouts is very reminiscent of the way S&K designed pages for many of their Golden Age books, with

interlocking panels that look almost like puzzle pieces, and shapes such as circles. By the end of his run on Challs, however, panels have fallen into a uniform pattern of rectangles, either 4- or 6-to-apage, and the inking of Wally Wood gives Kirby’s work a slick, refined look, all of which established the standard for his subsequent work at Marvel. The success of Challengers at DC must have been proof to Kirby that the tried-and-true formula he and Simon developed for the Kid Gangs could still work for a more sophisticated audience, especially with influence from science-fiction and the fantasy. It’s no surprise, then, that after his return to Marvel Jack helped Stan Lee develop what was probably the greatest creation of the Silver Age—the Fantastic Four, the first ever super-powered dedicated team, and the embodiment of the pattern established with the Newsboy Legion. For the first time, Kirby’s magic formula comes into play in a literal sense: Reed Richards is a brilliant scientist, who, as Mr. Fantastic, brings both mental

and physical flexibility into play; Benjamin Grimm stars as the toughest tough guy ever in his guise as the toughskinned Thing; shy, sensitive Sue Storm adds the voice of reason and heart to the team; and as the epitome of hot-headedness, Johnny Storm becomes the Human Torch. Just as he had in the Challengers, Kirby brings his cast together for a common cause, and bonds them together forever as survivors of an aircraft tragedy. However, the affects of the cosmic radiation make them outcasts of a sort, and create more tension within the group as they each try to deal with their powers in different ways. Also, for the first time one of the key players is a woman, giving the FF a group dynamic with more potential than any group of heroes before, which I believe to be a large part of the group’s success. (Despite the inclusion of Wonder Woman in the Justice Society, there was no male-female tensions or romantic entanglements.) That success paved the way for another successful dedicated team concept in 1963: the X-Men. X-Men used the same basic formula established with Newsboy Legion, even going back to the idea of a mentor who guides the team. Just to mix things up, or possibly to make it look less like a copy of the FF, Jack and Stan added a fifth character to the mix, and also switched around some of the personality traits with the characters. So the role of shy/sensitive

is shared between Cyclops and Marvel Girl; the toughguy Beast also shares the role of brain with Cyclops, and Angel and Iceman share the role of hot-head. The basic premise of a dedicated team had a lasting effect on the comic book industry, as evidenced by the other dedicated teams that appeared shortly after the first issue of the Fantastic Four. DC produced Metal Men, Doom Patrol and Sea Devils (essentially an underwater version of Challengers, and probably influenced to an extent by the popularity of the television show Sea Hunt). Two years after the X-Men appeared, Wally Wood created T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents for Tower. Jack himself revisited the concept when he worked on the Inhumans series in Astonishing Tales during his short return to Marvel in the ’70s. Even though the Inhumans featured a much larger supporting cast, the stories all center on the key five characters of Black Bolt, Medusa, Karnak, Triton and Gorgon. One could even argue that Black Bolt is more of a mentor figure, and that Medusa, as his “voice,” took on the role of brain. Over the years, dedicated teams have been produced by many publishers and in many forms, but probably the most notable example of a team concept based on Jack’s formula is Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. It fits the basic criteria: a common origin, and no other affiliations. In addition, TMNT is based on the magic number of four, and each of the team members is given a defining character trait. Some of the other teams that have followed the S&K formula include Wally Wood’s Misfits, Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy, Harbinger from Valiant, and The Atomics from Mike Allred’s AAA Pop Comics, to name a few. Of course, Jack returned to the form to create The Forever People for his Fourth World at DC, still

Gallery 1

KIRBY’S Super Teams

by Shane Foley

When it comes to Super Teams, Kirby was the godfather of the genre. From his first work on Young Allies to his final on Super Powers, here’s a few memorable ones. (page 20) New Gods #8, page 6 (April 1972): Within an entire pantheon of New Gods was this super-team of Orion and Lightray. What a great pair, so different and so complimentary to each other: Orion, the seasoned warrior, filled with barely controlled rage and torment; Lightray, younger and new to the battlefield, the strategist. Yet Kirby never stooped to the ploy of portraying Orion as a mindless idiot, nor did he simply use Lightray as a foolish foil for Orion. Some of Kirby’s strongest characterization slowly played itself out between these two. (page 21) Forever People #11, page 18 (Oct. 1972): In the ’70s, this book always felt like the strangest of the New Gods trilogy to me. Is it because there was no real ‘super-hero’ focus (especially after the characterless Infinity Man disappeared after #3)? Mark Moonrider and Vykin the Black didn’t even have their own super powers until #8 (and then Vykin’s ended up on the cutting room floor, as shown in TJKC #6). Yet it was here that Darkseid’s personal presence was felt most strongly. It was here that the Anti-Life Equation reared its head in some fabulous stories. I can’t help but feel that in many ways this super-team book was too mature for my young teenage taste.

Mark evanier

Jack F.A.Q.s

A column answering Frequently Asked Questions about Kirby by Mark Evanier kay, I promised this issue I’d discuss this first matter and I always keep my promises except when I don’t. It’s a question I’ve received it from any number of people over the years and I’ve stalled giving a firm answer ’til now. Most of the time, it’s asked roughly as follows:

O (below) Who inked the first issue of Fantastic Four in 1961? Mark thinks he knows...

(next page, top) Compare the background inks on these panels from FF #2 (Jan. 1962) and Thor #168 (Sept. 1969). Since George Klein inked both, it’s a pretty compelling argument. (next page, bottom) So, Mark, who inked this unused cover to Fantastic Four #3, circa 1962? Inquiring minds want to know! Characters TM & ©2006 Marvel Characters Inc.

Hey, Evanier! So, like, what’s the deal with the inking on the first issue of Fantastic Four? I’ve read that Jack inked it. I’ve read that Dick Ayers inked it. A lot of people have said it was someone named Christopher Rule. In the Kirby Collector, you said it could have been Rule but might have been George Klein. What more can you tell us? For whatever it’s worth—and my opinion and eight dollars will just about buy you a latte at Starbuck’s— I’ve decided that the first issue of Fantastic Four— the first two, actually—were inked by George Klein. In the past, I hedged this identification by saying that perhaps his friend Christopher Rule assisted or that the two men double-teamed the assignment. After taking a harder look at the evidence, I’ve changed my mind. I think it’s just plain George Klein. It’s kind of interesting how this identification has evolved for me and for others. In the late Sixties and early Seventies, when I first got involved with this kind of comic scholarship, no one gave the matter much thought. I think Dick Ayers was generally identified as the inker of all those early issues of FF that lacked credits, except for #5 by Joe Sinnott. (If you want to get really fussy about this, Sinnott inked a little bit of #6 before he had to turn the job back. Ayers finished it and then became the book’s regular inker... with occasional exceptions.) I knew the identification of Ayers as the inker of #1 was wrong because I’d examined the issues. The first two were obviously by one guy. The second two were obviously by another... and neither work matched the inking that was credited to or signed by Dick Ayers. With a little more sleuthing, I matched up the inking on #3 and #4 with inking that was credited to Sol Brodsky (left) on the Ant-Man strip in Tales to Astonish. I think I was the first person to make the Brodsky connection. Around 1975, my pal Tony Isabella was working at Marvel

on a project that needed some information. He called to ask who’d inked FF #3 and I told him it was Sol, and that he’d inked the issue after, as well. Tony marched down the hall and asked Brodsky, who was then working in some sort of production managerial post for the company. Sol confirmed it. Unfortunately, though Sol was there at the time Fantastic Four #1 was done—he even did art touch-ups on it and designed the title logo—he didn’t remember who’d inked the first two issues. And when Tony asked me, I had to admit I wasn’t sure. On another occasion, someone else at Marvel needed to know about #1. They checked with Stan Lee but Stan didn’t remember. So they called Kirby and asked him... and Jack, for some reason, said it was Artie Simek. No, it wasn’t. I almost don’t blame Jack for this bit of false info entering the annals of comic book history. I blame whoever asked Jack and thought he might know. Mr. Kirby never paid much attention to who inked his work. On the rare instances when he did know, his memory for that kind of thing was worse than Stan’s, Stan’s being about as bad as your average amnesia patient. Simek (right) did letter the first issue but he was not an inker. I’m told he got some sort of artist credit on a few old Timely/Atlas teen publications but I see no reason to presume those weren’t a matter of someone lumping his lettering handiwork into the list of those who actually drew. Also, Simek didn’t letter the second Fantastic Four, which was inked by whoever inked the first one. Why wouldn’t he letter the book if he was also inking it? Why wouldn’t he ever ink anything else? So if it wasn’t Simek, who was it? Others suggested Bill Everett, Marvin Stein, Carl Hubbell and Kirby himself. I was never convinced of any of those and many of us found it a maddening riddle. It had to be someone who’d done something else in comics. I mean, you don’t just enter the business, ink the first two issues of what would soon be called “The World’s Greatest Comic Magazine” and a few concurrent monster stories for Marvel, then disappear forever. Then one day, well into the Eighties, the name of Christopher Rule entered the picture. I believe John Romita identified him in an interview as a guy who’d embellished some of Jack’s sciencefiction stories for Atlas in the late Fifties. Kirby scholars pounced on this revelation of a hithertounidentified Kirby inker. It was true that Rule, who did most of his work on Marvel’s teen comics, had sometimes been called on to ink Kirby stories. Many then vaulted to the conclusion that he must have been the mystery inker of Fantastic Four #1. But was he? A comparison of inking styles—laying those late Fifties’ Tales to Astonish jobs alongside FF #1 didn’t convince me. Just not a close enough match. Then there was also the following to consider, as I explained in my first column for this publication: “…there’s some circumstantial evidence that argues against Rule. At the time of Fantastic Four #1, almost half the Marvel line consisted of books in the teen or romance genres— Millie the Model, Love Romances, Teenage Romances, Linda Carter, Student Nurse; Kathy, Life With Millie, Patsy Walker and Patsy & Hedy. One might assume that if he even set foot in Stan Lee’s offices around then, we’d also see his handiwork in

those titles, for Rule was mainly thought of as an artist for teen comics. In fact, when I asked Stan about Rule, he recalled him enthusiastically for drawing great “girl” comics and did not recall him ever working in adventure-type comics, let alone inking Kirby. “From what I can ascertain—and, admittedly, I have not studied every teen comic of the period— Rule does not appear to be in any of them. In fact, I have yet to see a verified appearance of his handiwork in any comic published after around the middle of 1959.” I asked a number of folks besides Stan about Chris Rule, among them Mike Sekowsky, Al Jaffee, Chic Stone, Don Heck, Dan DeCarlo, and Stan Goldberg. Almost every one of them said the same thing: “He looked like Santa Claus.” He was apparently an older man who, unlike most artists who worked in comics in the Forties and Fifties, actually had a career in art before he began drawing comic books. He had worked in book and advertising illustration and on some obscure newspaper strips before getting into comic books around 1943, laboring initially for the Binder shop and inking for Fawcett and Timely. Almost everyone I interviewed said, “He and George Klein were best friends. They were always working on each other’s jobs.” I think that’s how the name of George Klein eventually came up in connection with Fantastic Four #1. In 1961, Klein was a veteran comic artist—not as old as Rule but he’d started in comic books about the same time. There are several inking jobs in Timely comics as early as 1940 that may have been by Klein and he was definitely working for them by ’43. He worked off and on for the company into the midFifties and also for Lev Gleason, Ace, Classics Illustrated, ACG and any other company that would have him. Around 1944, he took advantage of a wartime artist shortage and scored some inking work for DC, mainly on Boy Commandos stories penciled by Kirby or Curt Swan. Thereafter, his work popped up intermittently in their books, often as an inker of Mr. Swan. Some people think—and I’m still deciding on this one—that he’s the guy who inked Kirby on Challengers of the Unknown, just before Wally Wood came aboard. (In between, there’s an issue or two which would appear to be Bruno Premiani inking Jack.)

The DC editors seem to have treated Klein as one of their second-string freelancers, meaning he was a guy who got work only if all the regulars had enough to do. Around 1955, he began getting work on the Superman books that were edited by Mort Weisinger but he never got enough of it to keep him busy full-time. He filled in his schedule primarily with work for the American Comics Group on their mystery stories. The editors at DC often frowned on their people working for other companies... but ACG had a business connection to DC so that was not the same act of disloyalty as working for, say, Marvel. Weisinger reportedly referred to ACG as his “farm team” and when he had openings in his stable, he often looked in that direction. Usually, Klein inked for ACG but there were a handful of stories that were ostensibly penciled by him, though he doesn’t seem to have ever put his name on any of them. When the company began running credits on their books, Klein’s were listed as having been drawn by “Mark Midnight.” I don’t know if he actually drew these stories or, as was the custom with many inkers who occasionally got penciling assignments, he farmed out the job of penciling to someone else. Given how few comics he penciled during his long career in comics, I would suspect the latter. Work at ACG was sporadic as the company was notorious for its buying freezes. Editor Richard E. Hughes would be authorized to buy ahead a certain number of months, often in anticipation of the company adding some new ghost/mystery books. Then plans would change or the publisher would decide they had too much money tied up in inventory artwork and they’d stop or limit the commissioning of new work for a few months. One of these cutbacks occurred in 1961. That year, ACG launched a new mystery book called Midnight Mystery to join its existing titles, Adventures Into the Unknown, Forbidden Worlds and Unknown Worlds. They also started a new book called John Force, Magic Agent about a spy who dabbled in the occult. Both new books were cancelled almost immediately—John Force after three issues, Midnight Mystery after seven. Hughes was left with a lot of material for those two books so he had to curtail his buying for a time. I’m theorizing here that Klein was suddenly not getting enough work there so he called Stan Lee and wound up inking a couple of jobs for him, including the

first two issues of Fantastic Four. But around that same period, DC suddenly lost the services of one of their main inkers, Stan Kaye. I’m not sure exactly when Kaye died but his work pretty much disappears from the pages of DC comics as of issues dated January of 1962. (One last Kayeinked story—apparently an inventoried one— appeared later that year.) Immediately, George Klein picked up almost all the assignments that Kaye had been doing for Mort Weisinger. And guess what: The issue of Fantastic Four cover-dated January of 1962 was #2, the second and final issue inked by the guy who inked #1. The timeline is perfect. Klein inks the first two issues of Fantastic Four, then suddenly begins getting enough work from DC that he no longer has time for Marvel—or the desire to antagonize Weisinger by trying to work for both. At the time, DC paid considerably better than Marvel and was a much more stable company. There were still rumors that Stan Lee’s outfit wasn’t long for the newsstands. If you were an inker then, finishing the work of Curt Swan on the Superman books was about the best assignment you could hope to land. You sure weren’t about to turn it down in order to keep doing lowerpaying work for Stan Lee, whose company was teetering on the brink of insolvency. However, I’m not basing my identification of Klein as the mystery inker of FF #1 on any of the above. This is just additional info. What convinced me was comparing the inking of the first two issues with known Klein work... and by the way, if you make this comparison, it helps to look at a real Fantastic Four #1 and not a reprint. I suspect one of the reasons this i.d. has been made by so few is that not very many comic scholars have an original FF #1 to look at. Some of the reprints are so washed-out and retouched that almost anyone could have inked them. (A colleague of mine believes—and I’m agnostic on this topic—that there was one reprint of Fantastic Four #1 in the late Sixties where the bad stats Marvel printed from were retouched at the time by Bill Everett. That might explain why so many people thought Everett inked FF #1.) Elsewhere on this page, the incomparable John Morrow should have dropped in samples of two panels that were sent to me by the equally-incomparable Dr. Michael Vassallo. Michael is a noted scholar of Atlas comics and he has spotted numerous examples of the Mystery Inker of FF #1 and #2 doing certain techniques that pop up in Klein’s DC inking as well as 19

Foundations

Art restoration by Christopher Fama

his magazine’s editor makes no secret of his fondness for Kirby’s Kid Gangs, so you know no team-theme issue would be complete without at least one such example! And though we managed to run an unpublished Boy Explorers story back in TJKC #25, as Chris Fama and I were digging around for something to run in this issue’s “Foundations” section, Chris realized that their origin story had never seen print since it was first published (and apparently not widely distributed) back in May 1946! So with Joe Simon’s kind permission, we proudly present the inaugural outing of Gashouse, Gadget, Smiley, Mister Zero, and Commodore Sindbad, as they show off their “Talent for Trouble.”

Hangin’ With The Boys!

(above) Original art boards for the “Next Issue” ad from Boy Explorers #1 and (right) the ad planned for Boy Explorers #2. Due to the post-war comics glut, the second issue saw print as a 51⁄2" x 81⁄2" black-&-white 32-page pamphlet, sent only to subscribers, but we reprinted “The Edge of the World” in TJKC #25. Issue #3’s “The Isle Where Women Rule” was serialized across Terry And The Pirates #3 and #4 (April-June 1947), while “Demons of the Deep” appears to have been reworked and sold to DC Comics as “City at the Center of the Earth” in Boy Commandos #29 (Sept. 1948). See TJKC #25 for an unused page from that story, as well as nine pages of the final, unfinished Boy Explorers story planned for #4. Images courtesy of Heritage Auctions.

Jonathan Lethem Interview

Novel ApproachES

Interviewed by Chris Knowles, and transcribed by Steven Tice (below) A stat of Jack’s pencils from page 19 of Jimmy Olsen #139 (July 1971). Clark Kent’s face looks pretty good to us, just the way Kirby drew him. All characters TM & ©2006 DC Comics. The Disappointment Artist ©2006 Jonathan Lethem.

(Jonathan Lethem is one of today’s top novelists, with such titles as Motherless Brooklyn, his take on the hard-boiled detective novel, and Fortress of Solitude, a story of the racial tensions that take place on a Brooklyn street. His recent collection, The Disappointment Artist, contains an essay that spotlights Kirby’s influence on him, and he graciously took time out to participate in this interview in 2006.) THE JACK KIRBY COLLECTOR: This is for The Jack Kirby Collector. I don’t know if you’re familiar with the magazine. JONATHAN LETHEM: Yeah, I like the magazine a lot. I see it sporadically. I always come across it when I’m in comic shops, which isn’t often enough anymore, but I always pick one up when I see it. It’s incredible what emerges. Well, there’s the vitality of the response to it, too, the way that people are still thinking about him and arguing about him, and the magnetism of his life and career—an extraordinary thing. TJKC: Let’s talk about The Disappointment Artist. I had actually listened to The Disappointment Artist on audio, which you had read yourself. That’s why it caught my notice—the Kirby in the Seventies chapter, which really is quite remarkable for an author of your standing to take time in a book of essays to talk about something that’s really obscure. LETHEM: Well, you flatter me. I took a lot of inspiration from 1970s Marvel comic books, and Kirby in particular, and it’s a big part of what I do, in a weird way. It resonates for me with those images, those authors. TJKC: What kind of themes do you try and visit in your own work that came specifically from Kirby? LETHEM: Well, y’know, I mean, Kirby was always really mysterious to me, because of the way a reader of my age encountered him. When you first encounter Marvel in 1974, I guess, he’s sort of the great, unspoken missing piece. There was always this nostalgia or kind of hyper-inflated sense of history in Marvel, and, as a young reader, you’re confused by this sort of “It was always greater before.” There were always these, “Once, giants walked the Earth.” And you’ve got to look back, you’ve got to buy the back issues, you’ve got to figure it all out, because everyone’s always making reference to everything. TJKC: Well, that’s endemic for any kid in the Seventies. LETHEM: Yeah, exactly. Right. It’s not the different love of things you’re experiencing, where you’re listening to Paul McCartney and Wings, and everyone’s telling you how good the Beatles were. So there’s a sense at that moment that Jack Kirby’s a sort of great exiled figure. You can’t figure out why he’s not around, or what it means that he’s over at DC. TJKC: Did you read any DC comics? LETHEM: I would glance at them, but I never figured them out. It was like I didn’t have an entrée into that world. I knew who Superman and Batman were, but the DC comics at that moment, of course, weren’t that way. Some of them were very interesting and strange. I’d come across something like a socially conscious Green Lantern comic book, or a really muddled-up issue of Jimmy Olsen and the Newsboy Legion with this Jack Kirby art and these weird Superman heads drawn over the top. And I could sort of tell that there was something going on that I couldn’t translate. But, because of the kids I knew who were a little older and had better comic collections, I just understood and identified with the Marvel mythology much more easily. TJKC: It’s much more resonant at that point, too. LETHEM: Yeah, yeah. I immediately identified with all those young, alienated loner characters. I was a born customer for 33

Accolades

Marty Lasick Interview Interviewed by John Morrow (Kirby Award recipient Marty Lasick was born, raised and continues to reside in Northern California. Happily married to his wife Rita for 25 years, he’s a self-taught freelance and commercial artist who began his work in comics during the Black & White independent era as an inker on such titles as Beast Warriors, Rust, Phigments, and Wild Knights. His circle of friends at the local Comics & Comix shop included Kelley Jones, Sam Keith, and Ron Lim, who encouraged and helped one another hone their skills. He first met Mike Thibodeaux and Rick French at the San Diego Comic Con, beginning a friendship and collaboration with Mike on Kirby-related projects like Last of the Viking Heroes and Phantom Force. This interview was conducted by e-mail in September 2006.)

THE JACK KIRBY COLLECTOR: Did you grow up reading comics? When did you first discover Jack Kirby’s work? MARTY LASICK: As far back as I remember I was reading comic books. My earliest recollection of my first comic books was reading “Green Arrow”, The Fly and Challengers of the Unknown. Next was the world Jack created at Marvel (X-Men, Fantastic Four, Avengers, The Hulk, Thor and so on.) I didn’t know who the artist was at first; I was just pulled in by these incredible images. I was hooked and I knew I needed to get more. When it turned

out that one man was responsible for all these books and stories I loved, they inspired me to draw and it was the beginning of my goal of becoming a comic book artist. Jack’s work transported me to extraordinary places and was the catalyst of everything I did from that moment on. His influence drove everything I did and how I saw the world with endless possibilities. Jack became my hero. I recall the highlight of my childhood was running to the local liquor store to purchase the latest Jack Kirby comic books that came out like clockwork every month. That is when I learned the value of a dollar. I saved my money to make those important purchases of comic books… Jack’s books. I would have to sneak and hide my books from my parents since they thought “funny books” were a bit of a waste of money. Now they are very supportive and proud. TJKC: When and how did you first meet Jack in person? MARTY: I first met Jack and Roz Kirby as a fan when they came up to the local Comic & Comix shop in Northern California; I believe it was 1985. My wife and I arrived early to ensure a great spot to see them. I was in complete and utter awe. I had played in my mind everything I wanted to say to him, but the reality overwhelmed me. I couldn’t mutter a word and luckily my wife held out some of the books I brought for him to sign. We stayed there the entire time and enjoyed watching Jack thoughtfully interact with everyone. Jack was never negative and encouraged everyone he spoke to. The remarkable thing about Jack was he was signing some books he didn’t even draw, for example Casper the Friendly Ghost. Roz would tell him that those weren’t his books and it didn’t faze him a bit. He continued signing while enlightening everyone with stories. Jack had brought a portfolio of original art and I kept going over and over it in amazement, and disappointed I couldn’t afford to purchase any of them. I was looking at The King’s masterpieces! The pages were beyond belief and that was my first encounter with original comic book art. During that time, Roz walked over and said something to me I still cannot believe. Roz was watching me and then told me to pick out my favorite piece and send her the money when I could. I was stunned. They didn’t know me at all. This was the first time she met me and still had the trust that I would pay her for such a treasure. As generous and tempting that may have been, I just couldn’t do it. However, this is when Roz also became my hero, and my first introduction to the legendary openness of The Kirby’s. TJKC: How did you meet Mike Thibodeaux? MARTY: At my first comic book convention in San Diego in 1987. I had created booklets of my portfolio to hand out and was going from one booth to another showing my work. It was my wonderful luck I came across Rick French at the Genesis West booth. Mike was not at the booth at the time, but Rick wanted me to stay and meet Mike. When Mike arrived, he looked over my samples and he was extremely enthusiastic and complimentary of my art, which by the way was mostly on Jack Kirby. I guess he could see exactly how I felt about Jack. We struck up a conversation and we’ve been immediate and great friends ever since. I consider the friendships I have with Mike and Rick to be one of the most special things to have happened to me. Mike and I are a solid artist/inker team. We come from the old school of comics, comic art and storytelling. We both share the same (artist) heroes: Jack, Frank Frazetta, Ditko, Steranko, Gene Colan, Bernie Wrightson, and many others. Most of all, our love of Jack formed an instant bond between us. TJKC: How did you end up getting to know the Kirbys so well over the years? MARTY: After meeting Mike at the convention, I later learned he was close friends of the Kirbys. On one of my visits to Los

Angeles with my wife, Mike surprised us by insisting on taking us over to meet the Kirbys at their home. We didn’t want to impose, but Mike can be very persuasive, and deep down inside I wanted to make up for the time I first met Jack and couldn’t express what he meant to me. We met up with the Kirbys at a function put on by one of the large comic book distribution warehouses in Los Angeles. Jack was there to (as he thought) pose for a sculpture. Later, Jack comes walking around the corner wiping off white latex from his face since he was actually there to pose for a life mask (see above, and TJKC #43). Poor guy was picking out latex off his face all night long. Jack and Roz greeted us with open hearts as we rode with them to their house in Thousand Oaks. They shared all sorts of wonderful stories, from Jack’s inability to drive and talk at the same time, to New York stories and kidding with us about guessing which one was their home when we could see it from the freeway. We spent the day talking shop, enjoying their beautiful home and eating a memorable snack of cookies and milk with Jack and Roz. Jack had just gotten about 4-5 boxes of original artwork back from Marvel. Jack let me and Mike open them up and go through them. You couldn’t have seen two more delighted “little kids” in your life. There we were, Mike and I, on the floor poring over page after page, quizzing each other on our knowledge of Kirby history. Roz brought us dessert and you could hear a Carey Grant movie playing in the background as the Kirbys told stories. Heaven doesn’t get much better than that. We also took note of how badly some of these priceless gems were treated. I remember a page from FF #4 being ripped in half. A few were water damaged, but that did not take away from the magic that we were enjoying. We were left to tour the house with all the stunning artwork on the walls, go into the studio where Jack worked and see the pieces stored in their art room. It was such a wonderful blur that was over much too soon. One could easily be the guest that would not go away. During the years that followed that first visit, I was privileged to work on projects with Jack and get to know most of the Kirby family. My wife and I feel honored to have been welcomed into the Kirby family and are considered friends. From a fan’s childhood dream of just meeting my hero Jack Kirby to becoming a collaborator, and finally a friend, is truly priceless. I will always be indebted to Mike for being the catalyst of all these amazing experiences.

sent me more work. I was inking pieces Jack had prepared for Mike’s projects and toy and animation presentations Jack was working on, and commissions that needed to be finished. The work continued to be sent even after Jack passed away, with Roz’s requests, and now the Kirby family members and their projects. Anything I can do to contribute to the Kirby legacy, I will always be there for them. TJKC: How much were you involved with Jack and Roz and the family over the years? MARTY: On top of working on several projects with Mike and Jack, my wife and I were fortunate enough to be invited to several Kirby functions. We attended their anniversary celebration and several birthday parties. At the San Diego convention award functions we were invited to sit at their table on several occasions and just go out to dinner with them and their friends. During these times we got to know the family better, especially their daughter Lisa. Now I am fortunate enough to help Lisa with anything she needs to preserve and immortalize Jack forever. TJKC: All modesty aside, why do you think you received a Jack Kirby Award? MARTY: Loyalty to the Kirby family and doing my (small) part whenever possible to keep Jack’s name out there—not that he will ever be forgotten. Jack has passed on the torch to all of us, his students, to carry on and be the best we can be. We have to live up to the model he presented as a working professional artist and as a person in the way Jack and Roz treated everyone they met. Jack and Roz are such special people. We miss them deeply. TJKC: Are you still doing inking for Mike today? MARTY: Yes. I enjoy working with Mike. Our collaboration has always been fun and that has been the most important factor in choosing work. At our age, it is not worth it if it is not any fun. Our most recent work is on Jack’s Galactic Bounty Hunter project with his daughter, Lisa Kirby. TJKC: What’s the first piece of Kirby artwork you remember owning? MARTY: When I finished the Goozlebobber toy presentation projects for Jack,

TJKC: What was your most memorable encounter with Jack? MARTY: Again, I would have to say that first visit to the Kirby home. Selfishly, I didn’t want the day to end. Getting to sit at Jack’s drawing table (the throne) was another thrill. Really, every encounter with Jack and Roz was special and memorable—from the first time seeing him in person in our local comic book shop to when I got to hand out the birthday pamphlets for his 70th birthday party at the San Diego Comicon. To be unbelievably asked to work on his pencils, going up to the Kirby home all those times, to getting to know the family on so many different occasions—I am very blessed. There were times where it was just Jack and me talking outside. Jack did most of the talking anyways, but I loved the stories. It even made me appreciate the stories my dad tells me, and not to tune out. Mike taped Jack telling me what he thought about my work and how I handled him. Jack did that especially for me. That was a kind and big surprise! I still can’t believe he did that. I could go on and on about my memories of Jack and Roz. I know I am not alone in feeling this way toward Jack and Roz and the family. It is a wonderful circle of friends. TJKC: How did you get started inking for Jack? MARTY: Mike simply asked me if I wanted to work on something for Jack. He had this Justice League splash page that needed finishing up. It was so scary to even touch, let alone ink, but Jack and Mike said, “Just do it.” They were very encouraging and offered pointers, such as “Don’t be afraid to put down solid blacks.” It was an enormous testimony of the faith that I was ready for this and that Jack was willing to give me a chance. When the piece finally arrived, it was so awe-inspiring to be actually holding an original Kirby pencil, that it was so hard to put ink to paper. I had to show it to my fellow (comic book) buddies and I was so jazzed. I must have passed the audition because Jack 47

Gallery 2

FANTASTIC FOUR REDUX

ack didn’t entirely abandon the Fantastic Four when he left the book in 1970. In addition to some covers in the 1970s, and an issue of What If? with the Marvel Bullpen as Reed & Co., Kirby had an extended stay doing storyboards for the 1978 DePatie-Freleng Fantastic Four animated series. Presented here is a complete set of Kirby storyboards for one of the episodes. Of note is Jack’s calling H.E.R.B.I.E. “Charlie”; guess that’s better than Z-Z-1-2-3!

Jack Kirby Collector #47