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JACK KIRBY COLLECTOR SEVENTY 95
All characters TM & © DC Comics.
$10
Contents
THE
KIRBY: ALPHA! OPENING SHOT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2 (first of a two-parter, as Jack takes us to Infinity and back again) FOUNDATIONS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3 (famous Kirby 1sts & The Black Owl)
C o l l e c t o r
ISSUE #70, WINTER 2017
INNERVIEW . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .14 (Jack muses to fans in 1971) TIKI ROOM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .16 (Kirby’s extraterrestrial moia art) GALLERY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .31 (starting points for Jack) JACK KIRBY MUSEUM PAGE . . . .41 (visit & join www.kirbymuseum.org) KIRBY OBSCURA . . . . . . . . . . . . .42 (prophesies and pilots) WELL TAYLORED . . . . . . . . . . . . .44 (the late Stan Taylor makes the case for Kirby on Spider-Man) INSPIRED . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .60 (Kamandi via the Secret City) KIRBY KINETICS . . . . . . . . . . . . . .61 (planting the cosmic seeds) INCIDENTAL ICONOGRAPHY . . . . .64 (Devil’s in the details) TEKNIQUE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .66 (a down-to-Earth look at just how Jack drew) JACK F.A.Q.s . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .76 (Mark Evanier moderates the 2016 WonderCon Tribute Panel, with Steve Sherman, Charles Hatfield, and Paul S. Levine) COLLECTOR COMMENTS . . . . . . .92 PARTING SHOT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .94 (one final trip to the Tiki Room) Cover inks: MIKE ROYER from Kirby Unleashed Cover color: TOM ZIUKO This issue dedicated to the memory of historian & researcher STAN TAYLOR
COPYRIGHTS: Beautiful Dreamer, Ben Boxer, Big Barda, Big Bear, Black Racer, Buzzard, Captain Marvel, Cyborg, Darkseid, Demon, Desaad, Dr. Canus, Dr. Fate, Esak, Forever People, Granny Goodness, Green Lantern, Guardian, Highfather, House of Mystery, House of Secrets, Infinity Man, Jimmy Olsen, Kalibak, Kamandi, Lightray, Losers, Manhunter, Mark Moonrider, Mister Miracle, Mother Box, New Gods, Newsboy Legion, OMAC, Orion, Sandman, Sandy, Scott Free, Serifan, Strange Adventures, Super Powers, Superman, Tuftan, Vykin, Wonder Woman, Young Romance TM & © DC Comics • Alicia Masters, AntMan, Avengers, Big Man, Black Bolt, Bucky, Captain America, Crystal, Devil Dinosaur, Dr. Octopus, Eternals, Fantastic Four, Galactus, Giant Man, Green Goblin, Heimdall, Human Torch, Ikaris, Invisible Girl, Iron Man, Kro, Living Eraser, Magno-Man, Molten Man, Moonboy, Mr. Fantastic, Odin, Peter Parker, Sentinels, Silver Surfer, Spider-Man, Strange Tales, Tales to Astonish, The Enforcers, Thing, Thor, Thorr, Tinkerer, Vision, Vulture, Wonderman, Young Allies TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc. • Bullwinkle TM & © Jay Ward Productions and Classic Media, Inc. • 2001: A Space Odyssey TM & © Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. • Mr. T, Roxie's Raiders and all associated characters TM & © Ruby-Spears Productions • Black Owl, Bullseye, Fighting American, My Date, Pvt. Strong, Silver Spider, Spider Spry, The Fly TM & © Joe Simon and Jack Kirby Estates • The Spider TM & © the respective owner • Bombast, Captain Glory, Chip Hardy, Kamandi of the Caves, Night Glider, Sky Masters, Surf Hunter TM & © Jack Kirby Estate
Man, Eternal, Deviant—the three species since the beginning of time, according to Kirby. Page 4 pencils from Eternals #2 (Aug. 1976). The Jack Kirby Collector, Vol. 24, No. 70, Winter 2017. Published quarterly by and © TwoMorrows Publishing, 10407 Bedfordtown Drive, Raleigh, NC 27614, USA. 919-449-0344. John Morrow, Editor/Publisher. Single issues: $14 postpaid US ($18 elsewhere). Four-issue subscriptions: $45 Economy US, $58 Expedited US, $67 International. Editorial package © TwoMorrows Publishing, a division of TwoMorrows Inc. All characters are trademarks of their respective companies. All Kirby artwork is © Jack Kirby Estate unless otherwise noted. All editorial matter is © the respective authors. Views expressed here are those of the respective authors, and not necessarily those of TwoMorrows Publishing or the Jack Kirby Estate. First printing. PRINTED IN CHINA. ISSN 1932-6912
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Little Humans &
Tiki Room
(below) Jack in the late 1960s, courtesy of Jeremy Kirby.
he most cutting edge artists are experienced archaeologists, digging beneath the loam of mainstream society and uncovering the unique symbols of the collective unconscious that remain buried perpetually from century to century. Over the passage of time, these symbols can morph into startling new forms. Jack Kirby, as a cutting edge artist himself, was no exception to this rule. Indeed, Kirby could very well have been one of the most accomplished archaeologists of the 20th Century. Jack Kirby uncovered the greatest pantheon of modern day gods since the poets of ancient Greece. Even people who have never heard of Kirby know the names of the mythological beings that erupted from his imagination: Captain America, The Fantastic Four, The Incredible Hulk, The Mighty Thor, Iron Man, The Avengers, The Silver Surfer, The X-Men. All of these characters have recently been transformed into blockbuster Hollywood films, solidifying their hold on the collective unconscious of not just the United States, but
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a fair share of the rest of the world as well. With the exception of Captain America (created by Jack Kirby and his long-time partner, Joe Simon, during the 1940s), all the characters mentioned above were born while Kirby worked for Marvel Comics in the 1960s. After parting ways with Marvel at the dawn of the 1970s, Kirby moved to Marvel’s rival, DC Comics, where he created characters who are far more obscure but nonetheless represent the pinnacle of his prolific career: The New Gods, Mister Miracle, The Forever People, The Demon, Kamandi, and OMAC. There were other characters that Kirby produced in that time period as well, but the titles mentioned above are the ones in which Kirby amped up his fascination with the mythological and analyzed the meaning of gods and demons in a deeper way than he’d ever attempted before. The purpose of this particular article is not to analyze Kirby’s epic sagas, however, but to shine a light on five of his more obscure short stories, plus a single chapter from one of his later super-hero titles produced in the 1980s, and by doing so highlight Kirby’s little known status as a “Tiki artist”—an “extraterrestrial Tiki artist,” to be more specific—as well as his significant contribution to America’s fascination with moia and/or extraterrestrial imagery. “Tiki Culture,” a microtrend on the ascendency today, is a revivified American subculture that draws heavily upon Polynesian mythology and Tiki art objects in a freewheeling, highly stylized manner that owes more to the imagination of American kitsch than the Polynesian art forms that spawned it. Tiki Art, and what’s now known as “Tiki Culture” in general, originally emerged from the Hawaiiana craze that became so popular in midcentury America. This trend was reflected not only in the Tiki-themed bars and restaurants such as Don the Beachcomber and Trader Vic’s that sprouted up all over America as early as the 1930s, but also in popular music (e.g., the 1950s “Exotica” albums of such
Giant Gods musicians as Les Baxter, Martin Denny, and Arthur Lyman) as well as in television shows such as Adventures in Paradise (1959-1962) and Hawaiian Eye (1959-63). Though this trend began to wane in the late ’60s, and was almost completely dead within twenty years, by the mid-’90s various pop culture magazines like Juxtapoz and Tiki News—and affiliated “lowbrow” artists such as Shag and Doug Horne—began to revive the discarded Tiki obsession in their pop surrealist paintings, the style of which owe an obvious debt to comic book imagery of the 1950s and ’60s (a period during which, inarguably, Jack Kirby was the reigning king of comic books). One can’t help but notice, after studying many of the paintings that have recently sprung from this resurrected form of American kitsch, that the most common recurring image is that of the moia statues of Easter Island. The moia statues have held a hypnotic fascination for Americans for a very long time, mainly due to the mystery surrounding their construction. Although speculations and theories are rampant, no one—not even the self-proclaimed experts—know for certain how such monoliths were created by the primitive people who ostensibly lived on the island at the time of their construction. In this sense, the fascination that surrounds the moia statues is similar to the perennial enigmas surrounding Stonehenge in England, the Great Pyramid in Egypt, and UFOs.
The Extraterrestrial Tiki Art of Jack Kirby, by Robert Guffey
is not interested in science unless it comes wrapped in a rousing good story. While not skimping on the rigors of scientific research, Heyerdahl manages to combine a tale of romance and intrigue with prose that’s both graceful and literate. This was a unique approach at the time, perhaps even more so today. Most scientists are not able to arouse wonder while also following the rigors of pure research. It was this combination of the rational and the imaginative that aligned perfectly with the schizophrenic attitudes of postwar America. Heyerdahl’s first success was Kon-Tiki, his 1948 bestseller chronicling his journey to Polynesia in a makeshift raft in order to demonstrate that pre-Columbian South Americans were indeed capable of long sea voyages. Aku-Aku was his follow-up success. The evocative title, Aku-Aku, is a Polynesian word meaning “guardian spirit.” Though he begins the book by stating that he has no “aku-aku,” by the end of the book Heyerdahl is having a chapterlong conversation with his aku-aku while bathing beneath a waterfall on the island of Rapa Iti. Heyerdahl succeeds in maintaining his scientific skepticism in the face of the natives’ many superstitions; however, one can tell from the final chapter that Heyerdahl is now a little more willing to consider the possibilities of the native viewpoint with regard to the intersection of reality and legend. It’s this intersection that most fascinated Jack Kirby. If any single motif recurs throughout Kirby’s oeuvre it is the connection between the mundane and the divine. It’s this unique juxtaposition that defined the success of Marvel Comics in the 1960s. At the beginning of the 1960s DC Comics was still the most successful comic book company in the world. Their heroes, such as Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman, were much larger than life. They were one-dimensional characters who lived in fictional cities several levels removed from the real world. Kirby’s early Marvel super-hero stories placed his modern gods in a recognizably authentic world—mostly New York City, where Kirby had lived and worked for much of his life, except for a minor interlude called World War II during which he served under General Patton’s Third Army, Fifth Division—and invested in them genuine human qualities and weaknesses. His gods all had Achilles’ heels, most of them of an emotional nature. The Silver Surfer (as he first appeared in The Fantastic Four, not as he was
“Let us imagine ourselves taking a ten-ton boxcar and turning it upside down, for the wheel was unknown in Polynesia. Next we capsize another boxcar alongside the first one, and tie the two firmly together. Then we drive twelve full-grown horses into the cars, and after them five large elephants. Now we have got our fifty tons and can begin to pull. We have not merely to move this weight, but drag it for two and a half miles over stony ground without the slightest injury being done to it. Is this impossible without machinery? If so, the oldest inhabitants of Easter Island mastered the impossible […]. Thor Heyerdahl, Aku-Aku, 1958
America’s relationship with the moia statues deepened considerably in 1958 with the publication of Thor Heyerdahl’s bestseller, Aku-Aku. Chapter One, entitled “Detective Off to the End of the World,” begins with the sentence, “I had no aku-aku,” which successfully establishes the sense of exotic mystery that permeates the entire book. Heyerdahl chronicles his real life expedition to Easter Island to uncover the enigmas surrounding not only the statues, but also the long lost people who built them. Newsweek called the book a “fascinating scientific whodunit.” Just from the title of Chapter One alone it is obvious that Heyerdahl is very aware of the pulp conventions of popular entertainment, and frames his story with these conventions in mind. His tale is one half detective story, à la Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes stories, and one half H. Rider Haggard lost civilization adventure story, à la King Solomon’s Mines or She. At some point or another Heyerdahl must have realized that the general population 17
In the final panel of the comic book, we see Captain America looking up at the sky (or he could just as easily be staring at the reader) as he finishes his thought: “Because we’re not alone in the teeming firmament… look to the stars, Earth. Look to the stars!!!” It seems evident, when putting the above dialogue in context of Kirby’s entire oeuvre, that these passionate sentiments spoken by both the General and Captain America might very well represent Kirby’s own point of view. Here Captain America is asking the question that Kirby has been asking throughout his career: When will human beings evolve to the point of being able to accept their link to the transcendent, the numinous, the otherworldly? This theme is made explicit as well in the concluding panel of the last issue of The Eternals. As The Celestial (a member of a giant extraterrestrial race responsible for the creation of many different types of life on Earth) strides away across a barren, mountainous landscape, the final caption reads, “Thus […] The Celestial moves on—perhaps dwelling on a distant time when men have gained the stature to face them eye to eye—and know all!” Though at first glance Kirby’s moia stories may seem to be a minor footnote in his career, the fact is that (as in many of Kirby’s stories) the truth about the macrocosm can be found in the microcosm; the truth about the transcendent can be found in the mundane. As Thor Heyerdahl wrote in Aku-Aku: “And among a multitude of giant gods I sat, a solitary little human being.” Not only do the moia stories reveal secrets about Kirby’s private cosmology, what one might call a secular form of postmodern metaphysics, but they also contain certain telltale signs and evidentiary clues pointing in the direction of a very definite conclusion regarding the true authorship of Kirby’s most famous characters and stories, a pantheon of modern day myths that have come to be known worldwide as the “Marvel Universe,” a universe generated almost entirely by the promethean imagination of a single man. In the aforementioned essay entitled “Gods, Myths, and UFOs” (from The Eternals #2), Kirby writes:
This passage is fascinating, as Kirby demonstrates enough awareness of his themes that he cleverly places his own creations on the same level as the moia statues, and himself as the unknown creator of those legendary icons. He puts himself in the position of a secular god whose true name has been lost by the future world of 2540 A.D. It’s appropriate, therefore, that Kirby’s own version of the moia should contain clues about the convoluted genesis of a modern day pantheon of mythic figures. Though the recent Hollywood adaptations of the 1960s Marvel comic books have introduced Jack Kirby’s work to a whole new generation of potential readers, at the same time they threaten to overshadow his legacy and unfairly transfer to others the credit to which he’s due. In light of this possibility, it’s important to set the record straight as often as possible. And given the fact that Tiki was known in Polynesia as the God of the artists, it’s appropriate that—in Tiki’s infinite wisdom—he would now come to the aid of Kirby, one of the most prolific and influential artists of the Twentieth Century, to help establish the true pedigree of the work Kirby left behind. Let’s not allow Kirby’s name to fade into the mists of antiquity, as the names of the true creators of the moia have been lost to the vicissitudes of time. After all, from the perspective of potential eternals like us, 2540 A.D. is really only a few moments away. ★ Works Cited Evanier, Mark. “Introduction.” The Jack Kirby Omnibus Volume One. New York: DC Comics, 2011. Evanier, Mark. Kirby: King of Comics. New York: Abrams, 2008. Gutenberghus Group. “The Mystery of Easter Island.” Walt Disney’s Uncle $crooge Adventures #3 (January 1988): 1-18. Heyerdahl, Thor. Aku-Aku. New York: Pocket Books, 1958. Joshi, S.T. Lovecraft: A Life. West Warwick: Necronomicon Press, 1996. Kirby, Jack. “Back from the Dead!” Marvel Masterworks: Atlas Era Tales of Suspense Vol. 3. New York: Marvel Comics, 2010. Kirby, Jack. The Eternals Omnibus. New York: Marvel Comics, 2006. Kirby, Jack. “The Face on Mars.” The Simon and Kirby Library: Science-Fiction. London: Titan Books, 2013. Kirby, Jack. “The Great Stone Face.” The Simon and Kirby Library: Science-Fiction. London: Titan Books, 2013. Kirby, Jack. “Here Comes… Thorr the Unbelievable.” Marvel Masterworks: Atlas Era Tales to Astonish Vol. 2. New York: Marvel Comics, 2008. Kirby, Jack. “I Was Trapped by the Things on Easter Island!” Marvel Masterworks: Atlas Era Tales to Astonish Vol. 1. New York: Marvel Comics, 2006. Kirby, Jack. “The Stone Men from Saturn!” Essential Thor Vol. 1. New York: Marvel Comics, 2005. Kirby, Jack. “The Stone Sentinels of Giant Island.” The Jack Kirby Omnibus Volume One. New York: DC Comics, 2011. Kirby, Jack. Straczynski Interview. Hour 25. Pacifica Radio. KPFK, Los Angeles. 13 April 1990. Kirby, Jack. “The Thing from the Black Hole Star!” Captain America and The Falcon: The Swine. New York: Marvel Comics, 2006. Kirby, Jack and Paul Kupperberg. “Time Upon Time Upon Time.” Super Powers Vol. 2 No. 3 (November 1985). Kirby, Jack and Stan Lee. The Silver Surfer. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1978. Kirsten, Sven A. The Book of Tiki. Los Angeles: Taschen, 2003. Kirsten, Sven A. Tiki Style. Los Angeles: Taschen, 2004. Lovecraft, H.P. The Lurking Fear and Other Stories. New York: Del Rey, 1971.
Despite the numerous “saucer flaps,” and the intriguing speculations concerning artifacts of dead civilizations, it is the opinion of this writer that the true revelations which will lay bare our beginnings are still matters for the distant future. Our capabilities for achieving the truth are unfortunately too limited in this age. The hope lies with the evolution of instruments forged in the technical tinker shops of today. When they’ve reached the proper stage, they will guide our hands to the truth. Of course, that will be an important time for our descendants. What this simple truth may promise for mankind will be their affair. We shall be phantoms of the past, perhaps adding to the complex and mysterious collage that man leaves behind him in his passage through the years. How ironic it would be to witness the somber rituals of a Spider-Man cult in 2540 A.D.—or to be present at the “strength Olympics” held in honor of the Hulk. New myths created in the Twentieth Century, and scattered by the printing press throughout the world, may well enlarge the giant puzzle that is humanity and make things much more difficult to decipher. (above) One final instance of Kirby moia statues: from Forever People #11 (Oct. 1972). See page 94! 30
Gallery Beginnings and starting points for Kirby, as chosen by John Morrow
(left) The version of this art that ran on the cover of TJKC #8 in 1996 was inked by Steve Rude and colored by Tom Ziuko. Here’s Jack’s original hand-colored version (inked by Mike Royer), showing his idea of a futuristic football stadium (for NFL Pro magazine). I like to think of it as cosmic fans heading to the pre-game show at New Genesis’ Supertown Stadium, where Orion’s playing quarterback. (page 32) 2001: A Space Odyssey #1, page 17 (Dec. 1976). In Kubrick’s film, the “New Seed” was a nebulous concept, and Jack does his best to flesh-out the idea, while staying true to the movie. It’s nicely dialogued, but after a Treasury Edition and seven issues all ending with this new beginning, it’s easy to see why Jack gave the series a reboot with Mr. Machine, and let it transform into Machine Man. (page 33) Here we see, in pencils from OMAC #1 (Sept. 1974), the lead-in to the birth of the title character. Nebbish Buddy Blank is a throwback to characters like Peter Parker and Chip Hardy (as detailed in Stan Taylor’s article elsewhere this issue)—he’s ignored by girls and picked on by bullies. But fans likely missed a subtle in-joke referencing Jack’s own beginnings in comics, as Kirby channels his days working for “Mr. Fox” at Fox Features in the late 1930s, where Victor Fox (below) would pace around saying, “I’m the King of the comics!”—a moniker eventually given to Kirby himself.
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Well Taylored
(right) Rough Spidey by Jack, from unused Marvelmania art.
(next page) Jack inexplicably drew this Marvelmania poster with the X-Men’s Sentinels going after Spidey. Marvel had regular Spider-Man artist John Romita redraw it, using Jack’s basic layout and main figure pose, but adding more Spideycentric villains (above).
Spider-Man:
ho created Spider-Man? One of the great comic book fanboy debate topics—utterly fascinating because of the three distinct and passionate personalities involved, each having rabid fans ready to lay waste to any who would deny that their favorite was the true creative genius behind this pivotal character. Ultimately, of course, it’s a futile exercise of mental masturbation because we are powerless to do anything about it, even if we could prove it one way or the other. However, not being averse to masturbation, I am going to weigh in with my opinion.
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A Little History Jack Kirby has stated
by Stan Taylor
The Case for Kirby
clearly time and again that he created Spider-Man, never more adamantly than in a 1982 interview conducted by Will Eisner, and printed in issue #39 of Will Eisner’s Spirit Magazine (Kitchen Sink Press, 1983). Kirby maintained his claim even when close friends and assistants advised him not to pursue it. Can he be believed? Well, his memory was spotty, and he has made other claims that have clearly been shown to be wrong. So as a witness, he leaves room for doubt. Stan Lee says, “All the concepts were mine” (Village Voice, Vol. 32 #49, Dec. 1987). It is his contention that he singly came up with the idea, produced a script, offered it to Jack Kirby for illustration, and when he didn’t like the look of Kirby’s rendition, he then offered it to Steve Ditko. Can he be believed? Not really. Stan would go so far (or stoop so low!) as to claim that a minor character named The Living Eraser from Tales to Astonish #49 (Nov. 1963) was his creation. This character had the dubious distinction of being able to wave people out of existence with a swipe of his hand. “I got a big kick out of it when I dreamed up that idea,” Lee is quoted. (Marvel: Five Fabulous Decades of the World’s Greatest Comics, page 97.) He further embellished this tale by stating how hard it was to come up with an explanation for this power. The fact is, this ignoble power and explanation first appear in a Jack Kirby story from Black Cat Mystic #59 (Harvey Publications, Sept. 1957). If Lee will take credit for an obvious minor Kirby concept, which nobody cares about, then he certainly would take credit for another’s creation that has become the company’s cash cow. The third person involved with the Spider-Man origin is Steve Ditko, and unfortunately, the little he has said about the creation of 44
Spider-Man doesn’t help. His earliest mention simply states “Stan Lee thought the name up. I did costume, web gimmick on wrist & spider signal.” (“Steve Ditko: A Portrait Of The Master,” Comic Fan #2, 1965) 25 years later, when Ditko finally expanded on his role, he made it clear that he had no knowledge of who did what prior to his receiving the script from Stan Lee, and then he offered up a weird scenario where, in Stan Lee’s script, there was a teenager with a magic ring, which transformed him into an adult hero (Robin Snyder’s History of Comics), and it was Ditko who noticed the resemblance to Joe Simon’s The Fly, and thus it was changed into the now familiar spider bite origin. Three stories, offering three variations that don’t quite connect. Kirby says it was all his, Lee claims it was all his, and Ditko says Stan Lee gave him a script based on an earlier Kirby character, that was then changed. Oh, what a tangled web we weave. (Sorry, couldn’t resist.) Another point of interest that may account for some of the story changes has to do with how the copyright laws changed in 1976. As a result, all the artists working for Marvel in the 1960s were classified as freelancers, and since they were freelancers, they could possibly make future claims for termination of copyrights for any characters they created. (This is the same law that has allowed the Siegel family to claim partial rights to Superman, and Joe Simon to make a claim for Captain America.) One way the companies might protect their claim is by showing that the characters and concepts were created by employees, and supplied to the artists. Since Stan Lee was technically the only employee of the three men involved, suddenly all characters in Marveldom were “his” sole creation and the artists merely illustrators of his tales. Yet Spider-Man provided a unique problem, because Stan, in a speech at Vanderbilt College in 1972, related how Kirby had first provided a proposal for Spider-Man. Stan stated that after he looked it over, he had a different idea for the “look” of Spidey, and decided that he would offer it to Steve Ditko to draw. He didn’t mention any problem with Kirby’s concepts and plot. It is in later retellings—post-copyright law change—that Stan would stress that Kirby’s proposal, though
rejected, was still based on his (Stan’s) original ideas. Which brings us to the heart of the debate: Just what did Kirby propose, what was used or rejected, and from whom did these ideas emanate? That first proposal has never surfaced, though Jim Shooter has mentioned seeing it at Marvel in the late ’70s. So what we are left with is the personal recollections of two men whose memories are hopeless, one of whom is now dead, and a third who won’t talk. The problem here is not that we don’t have eyewitness testimony; it’s that we have conflicting eyewitness testimony. The people involved disagree.
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Inspired
Kamandi & the Secret City by Shane Foley as anyone noticed before that Jack Kirby’s set-up for the “Secret City Saga” (or, as Roy Thomas named it, “The Ninth Men,” or, as possibly Jack was also going to name it, “The Midnight Men”) is nearly the same as he’d used before for Kamandi? His notes for the Secret City state: “… mankind, when it reaches a high point of technology every fifteen thousand years, produces a weapon that destroys his civilization on a planetary scale and forces itself to climb painfully and slowly once more to a highly civilized state.” In Kamandi, he was adamant that it was not a war that changed the world, but a natural event, which is certainly different than the Secret City set-up. But he then continues, in the letter’s page for Kamandi #2: “Does the Earth flip its lid every ten thousand years or thereabouts? Is planetary cataclysm part of some kind of continual adjustment Earth must make in its endless swing around the sun? (snip) ...We could be due for another upheaval, the latest of a great cycle of upheavals which, it is speculated, our world is prone to. (snip) How many New Yorks and Chicagos have gone down the drain in the remote and unrecorded past? How many times has man been “downed” by some great jolt, made his comeback—and been “put down” again? [If so, man may] try to pinpoint the “moment.” And perhaps, sections of humanity would prepare for it in ways unique to their own regional lifestyle and environment.” And so on. So in Kamandi, the cataclysm was a natural event. It probably occurred in our near future, with the last one being about 10,000 years ago. There were some people who prepared well for it—Kamandi’s grandfather being one, and, perhaps, the Mutants like Ben Boxer being others. The outcome for the rest, of course, reversed the roles of many animals and men. In the Secret City Saga, while the event is not a natural one, but one caused by the weaponry of advanced mankind, it was still a regular occurrence, occurring every 15,000 years or so. Again, there were those that prepared for it—this time though, the story is about heroic survivors of the previous cataclysm rising in our time, rather than stories set after the next catastrophe. And this time, of course, there is no reversal of animal and human roles. Differences for sure, but a very similar premise at the core. Apart from the letter’s page in Kamandi #2, I can’t recall Jack doing much with the idea—even maybe departing from it in Kamandi #16— and so he probably felt like revisiting it years later from a different perspective, to make sure such a good idea wasn’t wasted. ★
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(top) A 1975 postmarked Kamandi envelope illustration by Jack, on correspondence sent to a fan. (above) Jack’s original Captain Glory illo, and the character’s comics debut in the Secret City Saga by Steve Ditko (above) and John Severin (below).
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An ongoing examination of Kirby’s art and compositional skills
Kirby’s Cosmic Seeds
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n the beginning, was “The Source.” All life and ideas flow from it. Kirby conceives a new idea and must decide on an origin, on how it came into being. An origin connects the concept to the passage of relative time, which is life, as we know it. As origins go, Kirby has always been fascinated by the idea of a cosmic seed. In this 1960 story from Journey Into Mystery #56 (left), we see a dinosaur grow from an intergalactic seed. This is one of Kirby’s pre-hero monster stories, but it’s a great concept and as a bonus, has classic Kirby dinosaurs. This splash page, inked by one of my personal favorite Kirby inkers Chris Rule, shows an Earth scientist/astronaut on planet X-41, fleeing some intergalactic saurians. The splash is a wonderful wedge-shaped composition with a great sense of propulsion, as we see these creatures chase the protagonist out of the panel. The stage is full of great local planetary scenery, and Rule’s ink line is strong and sure, with sharp precise black spotting. Kirby always grounds his story-scape with believable details. In the case of the splash panel, he gives us a solid background of volcanic rock, and the foreground’s perilously thorny branches also frame the action while counterbalancing the motion of the figures. As the narrative develops, the scientist brings home some lush red blossoms native to X-41 and extracts some of its seeds. He plants and nurtures them carefully, and the seeds germinate
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Coming Down To Earth
Teknique
(just a little)
by Shane Foley he artists amongst Kirby fans—and probably a lot of not-so-artistic ones as well—are often amazed and a bit daunted by the reports of how Kirby just drew his images directly onto the page with little obvious planning. “He started top left and worked down,” many eyewitnesses have said. “There are no preparation pages to be published,” Mark Evanier has stated. Another said something to the tune of “He’d put a rough head shape here, a foot there—then go for it.” How could he do that? While it’s true that there are many other artists
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who worked quickly and directly onto the art board— sometimes with lots of sketchy preparation guide lines, sometimes without—few did it with the creativity and dynamism that Kirby achieved. Other masters, like the great John Buscema, would first scribble out a rough layout on light paper, then tighten it a little (often with arrows meaning ‘move this figure up more,’ etc.), then lightbox that onto the art board. This way the action and flow of the page was right before being committed to the art board. But, apparently, not Kirby. It sounds like he attacked the board and got it right from the very start. So what preparation did Jack do? Was it all entirely in his head before being committed to paper? Now, in no way do I doubt the sincerity of commentators paraphrased above, or that they watched gob-smacked as images appeared almost miraculously before them as Jack drew. But I believe we can infer from them a little too much of the miraculous. I believe there were a little more of the usual artistic basics going on in Kirby’s drawing than is often credited. Following are a few clues found in scans of his pencil work.
Example #1 (left) Did Jack draw panel 1, complete it, then move to panel 2? The legend would seem to suggest so. But sometimes, Jack did indeed roughly lay out the whole page before completing panels. An incomplete page from Fantastic Four #80 shows this. Clearly, Jack was planning the action before completing anything.
Example #2 (right) Again, did Jack complete panel 1, then move on to panel 2? In a different way to the point above, the answer is no. Jack often completed the action and figurework on a whole page before completing backgrounds. A great example of this is Forever People #6, pages 12, 13 and 14 (shown on the next three pages). For some reason, Jack copied these pages before he had completed them. Compare page 12 pencils of panels 1 and 2 to what was published. The pencil copies have empty backgrounds, while the published inks have well designed blacks.
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Mark Evanier
Jack F.A.Q.s A column of Frequently Asked Questions about Kirby
(next page, top) In June 1974, the Kirbys received a letter from the University of California, Davis, asking Jack to loan materials for a comic art exhibit that would run from January 8February 5, 1975—making it one of the first museum exhibits of Jack’s work. Based on the note Roz sent with the loaned art on November 18, 1974, we’re taking our best shot at reassembling those pieces to illustrate this issue’s WonderCon panel: “Two hand-colored proofs of ‘Sky Masters’ Sunday strips intended as color guides for printer to follow.” (see page 82) “Penciled page from ‘Thor’ issue, Galactus segment. Characters: Thor, Galactus, and Odin.” (see page 78) “Penciled page for Losers third Kirby issue.” (see page 79) “Daily strip presentation done for syndication in 1959—pencils done by J. Kirby inks by Wally Wood.” (Surf Hunter, see page 81) “Substitute page 9 of ‘Forever People’ Million [sic] Dollar Bates episode. Inks done by John Pound. Characters: Moonrider, Beautiful Dreamer, Vykin the Black.” (see page 89) “Bulls Eye title splash, 1957. Penciled and inked by J. Kirby.” (see page 84) “Original collage used in FF Comics.” (see page 85) (right) Steve Sherman with Jack, mid-1970s.
We have announcements. Let me point out to you that the year 2017 is the 100th anniversary of the birth of Jack Kirby. The Comic-Con in San Diego is going to do a lot of stuff timed with this. The convention people, the same people who run Comic-Con run WonderCon, and a couple of the people from the convention have been asking me how they can maximize their Kirby content, so there’s been some interesting planning going on. But if you are a Jack Kirby fan of any sort, if you go to no other San Diego Comic-Con, you must go to 2017.
2016 Kirby WonderCon Panel Held Sunday, March 27, 2016 at 3:30pm at WonderCon in Los Angeles, California. Featuring Steve Sherman, Charles Hatfield, and Paul S. Levine, and moderated by Mark Evanier. Transcribed by Steven Tice, edited by John Morrow, and copyedited by Mark Evanier and Charles Hatfield.
Be a part of the Comic-Con Program Book! Submit short snippets of your encounters with Kirby at San Diego (500 words or less), and we’ll share them with Comic-Con for possible inclusion this July! Send to: twomorrow@aol.com with subject line “Kirby Encounter.”
MARK EVANIER: Good afternoon. This is a Jack Kirby panel so I guess that means I’m Mark Evanier. This is my friend Steve Sherman, folks. (applause) This is Professor Charles Hatfield. (applause) This is attorney The Honorable Paul S. Levine. (applause) We have no real agenda here. We spend so much time at these conventions talking about Jack so we’re going to just talk about Jack for a while. If you have questions about Jack, somebody up here will know the answer.
CHARLES HATFIELD: Is there any videotape of interviews with him, or anything?
Join TwoMorrows Publisher & Jack Kirby Collector editor
EVANIER: There are some videos on YouTube of interviews with Jack. This is just my opinion, but I don’t think they’re very good, generally, not because of the interviewers. Jack was not good at being interviewed live. He stiffened up a lot. Steve and I used to hear the funniest damn stories, and then when we got a video camera in front of him and tried to get him to repeat those funny stories, he never could do it well. He just got very—.
at Comic-Con International
STEVE SHERMAN: He just thought he had to be somebody else in front of a camera. He just got worried.
John Morrow July July 20-23, 20-23, 2017, 2017, San San Diego Diego
HATFIELD: Those just might be good to gather together for 2017.
as TwoMorrows celebrates Jack Kirby’s 100th Birthday with the release of our new book
EVANIER: How many people here met Jack? (hands go up) Maybe a fourth of the audience. You know, and you’ll all nod your heads as I say this, that he was a very interesting
KIRBY100 KIRBY100 features an all-star line-up of 100 top comics pros who choose key images from Kirby’s career, and critique Jack’s page layouts, dramatics, and storytelling skills to honor his place in comics history, and prove Kirby is King! Celebrate Jack’s 100th birthday in style with this full-color, doublelength book edited by JOHN MORROW & JON B. COOKE, with a cover inked by MIKE ROYER. SHIPS AUGUST 2017. (224-page FULL-COLOR trade paperback and Limited Edition Hardcover) $34.95/$45.95
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man, perpetually interesting. You had to listen to every second because there would be some pearl of wisdom in there which you couldn’t always understand instantly. You’d replay it later in your mind and go, “Oh, I see what he was talking about.” He would just jump from thought to thought. Sometimes there would be part of one sentence finished in the next thought, and you’d come away feeling, no matter who you were, smarter and more creative, and better if he gave you any sort of approval. You’d feel complimented and enriched. At the same time you’d be aware that this man was in another league, that he was thinking on a different level than you could think, he was doing things on a different level than you could. And he had this amazing way of speaking that jumped from topic to topic, and you had to keep up with him. Sometimes he’d lose me, and I’d go, “Wait a minute, what’s he talking about now?” He’d jump forty years on me without the benefit of segue. And to this day, I’ll think of something he said to me and I go, “Oh, I get it now, I see what he was talking about there.” I have a pretty good memory, so I can recall things he said to me and get them years later, and understand them. And then, as I get older, I understand them even more. You know how, like if you watch Rocky and Bullwinkle cartoons now, you get jokes that you heard, that were there the first time, but you didn’t get them because you hadn’t lived long enough? You weren’t as smart then. I feel smarter thinking about things Jack said to me, now. He used a phrase, “looking at the Big Picture.” He was always talking about looking at the Big Picture. And he had a way of looking at the Big Picture, and you’d say something to Jack about some little thing, and you would not get the reaction you expected from him because he was thinking on a different level. He was thinking on kind of a cosmic level about what does this mean in the grand scheme of the universe. So if you said to Jack, “Hey, should we go to Roy Rogers for lunch,” he would say, “No, we must go to Du-par’s.” And the reason was cosmic. The reason had ramifications. Steve is nodding. (laughter)
SHERMAN: Except for the horse meat. (laughter) EVANIER: Except for the horse meat, yeah. And Jack liked that you could go to this Roy Rogers place and they would have ketchup in one dispenser, and they would have barbecue sauce in another dispenser, and Jack would get barbecue sauce for his french fries. And he’d be dipping his french fries in barbecue sauce, and Roz would say to him, “No, no, you’re supposed to put the ketchup on the french fries and barbecue sauce on the sandwich.” And he did it the other way around. They would argue about this—as much as they ever argued, they argued about this kind of stuff. And Jack goes, “I like barbecue sauce on my french fries, and I like ketchup on my roast beef.” We must have gone there a half-dozen times, and it was the exact same discussion every single time. And that was fun for Jack, because that was thinking on a different level. It was such a simple level, because the rest of the time he was thinking of gods, and creatures, and the future, and all sorts of things. I’ve got to read back over the New Gods, because I’m sure, I don’t know where he is, but I’m sure Donald Trump is in there someplace. (laughter)
SHERMAN: No, I just know, he’d go to Du-par’s because of cake. (laughter) EVANIER: There used to be these Roy Rogers roast beef sandwich places which had no relation to the current Roy Rogers chain.
PAUL S. LEVINE: Now, imagine you’re his lawyer and you’re trying to figure out what he wants. (laughter) EVANIER: Paul helped Jack through some very—I wish Jack had had Paul ten years before he did. LEVINE: Or twenty or thirty. EVANIER: Yes. There was a period where Jack did not have great legal representation, and to the extent he did, Marvel refused to talk
Steve Sherman
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