Page Turners: Jack Kirby

Even some 29 years after his death Jack Kirby’s imagination, creativity and influence still looms over the world of comics more than any other creator in the medium. And it is no wonder, the man was responsible (partly or wholly) in the creation of some of comics most enduring and popular characters including the Fantastic Four, Hulk, Ant-Man, the X-Men, Silver Surfer, New Gods, Mr Miracle, Kamandi and Captain America to name but a few.

My own personal introduction to Kirby’s work was in 1966 in the pages of the UK weekly comic Wham! issue 112 (above) where the Fantastic Four strip was reprinted with little ceremony.To be honest I wasn’t impressed, not because it was a poor strip but the layout of the strip was to my eyes too busy with a page and a half (or around that) being printed on each UK sized comic page, plus I wasn’t that big a fan of superheroes at 6 years old. That all changed not long after when my mum bought me a copy of the Alan Class comic “Creepy Worlds” featuring the Avengers against the “Zemo and his Masters of Evil” (from Avengers issue 6 from 1964) illustrated by Jack Kirby. Below as some of my favourite Kirby splash pages to accompany the splash page above from "Silver Surfer" issue 18.

Above "Captain America" issue 106. My favourite Kirby Captain America issue.

"New Gods" issue 1 (Illo taken from the collected edition)

"Avengers" issue 5 - "The Invasion of the Lava Men!" (illo from the Collected edition).

Fantastic Four Annual #6

"The Eternals" issue 2 - Although he never reached the creative heights he had in the 1960's I really enjoyed Kirby's "Eternals" series (and Black Panther and 2001).

The Demon Issue 10 - This image really horrified me when I first saw it as a 13 year old in 1973, it stll retains an element of shock when I see it now.

"Kamandi" issue 29 - Kamandi was my favourite of Kirby's comics at DC.

"Monsters on the Prowl" - issue 26.

Fantastic Four issues 72 - (illo from the Epic collection) .

Gone but not forgotten - Portman Magazines - a horrific story of a Marvel broken licensing deal

Back in the late 1970’s it wasn’t just Marvel UK that were producing reprints of US Marvel material, there was one other company doing this, for a short time at least Portman Distribution. Portman was originally part of the Top Sellers company but was later sold to Gold Star a publishing company based in Croydon and run by Ralph and David Gold. In 1978, they hired Alan McKenzie (who had previously worked at Top Sellers and would later work for Marvel UK) to create a line of horror comic magazines using American Marvel reprints which were very popular at this time. After securing a contract with Marvel US to reprint under licence, material from Marvels American black & white horror magazines, including Tales of the Zombie, Haunt of Horror, Vampire Tales etc. Portman Distribution produced 4 titles which featured characters like Blade, Morbius, Satana ,Simon Garth - Zombie, Gideon the Demon Hunter , Blade, and Brother Voodoo. These magazines, “Tales of Terror” “Castle of Horror”, “Demon!” and “Journey into Nightmare” were nicely produced advert free magazines that I mistook for actual Marvel US black and white titles at the time. Below are some of the Portman magazines that I picked up in 1978/79 to accompany the first issue of "Tales of Terror" (above):

"Tales of Terror" - issue 2 by Earl Norem - originally the cover to "Tales of the Zombie Annual" # 1 - "Tales of Terror" issue 1 (above) was origianlly the cover to "Tales of the Zombie" # 9.

"Tales of Terror" - issue 3 by Boris Vallejo - originally the cover to "Tales of the Zombie" # 1.

"Tales of Terror "- issues 4 by Earl Norem - originally the cover to "Tales of the Zombie" # 10.

"Tales of Terror" - issues 5 by Earl Norem - originally the cover to "Tales of the Zombie" # 7.

"Castle of Horror" issue 1 by Jose Antonio Domingo - originally the cover to "Haunt of Horror" # 3.

"Castle of Horror" issue 3 by Louis Domingues - originally the cover to "Vampire Tales" # 3.

"Castle of Horror" issue 4 by Boris Vallejo - originally the cover to "Monsters Unleashed" # 6 and "Demon!" issue 1 (below) cover by Earl Norem - originally the cover to "Haunt of Horror" # 2.

Marvel UK noticed these titles and understandably felt that they should have exclusive rights to reprint Marvel material in the UK and made an official complaint to the Marvel US licensing department, who had not informed Marvel UK of this deal. This resulted in the deal with Portman being terminated and the cancelation of all their titles: Tales of Terror and Castle of Horror after five issues and Journey into Nightmare and Demon! after three issues. Below is the cover to "Journey into Nightmare" issue 1 by Gray Morrow - originally the cover to "Monsters Unleashed" # 1

Once Portman lost their licensing deal with Marvel they produced a series of magazines reprinting 1950’s horror tales from Stanley (Morse) Publications in titles like Ghoul Tales, Chilling Tales of Terror and Stark Terror. These were truly awful looking magazines with poorly drawn covers and content. Not surprisingly these failed, and by late 1979 Portman ceased publication.

Above cover to "Ghoul Tales" issue 5 from 1979 - Cover taken from internet.

John Romita: Comic book legend R.I.P

As most of you will be aware John Romita Senior sadly passed away on Monday (12 June) at the age of 93. Romita was without doubt one of Marvels, and comics most influential artist working on various titles including Spider-Man, Daredevil, Captain America and the Fantastic Four amongst many others. Of course “Jazzy John” , as he was affectionately known did not restrict his artist endeavours to super-heroes, he also drew horror, war, and romance titles for Marvel and other publishers including DC where he worked from 1958 until the mid-1960’s. In 1965 Romita returned to Marvel inking Don Heck’s pencils on Avengers issue 23. In 1966 he drew Daredevil issue 12 to 19, a series that included a two-part guest appearance from Spider-Man (issues 16-17). Stan Lee was so impressed by Romita’s art on Spider-Man that he appointed him as Steve Ditko’s successor on the Amazing Spider-Man title with issue 39 a series he worked on from 1966 until 1973. The rest is of course the stuff of comic book legend.

My own introduction to John Romita’s wonderful work was on “Captain America and the Falcon” issue 144 (cover above) cover dated December 1971. My dad purchased this comic for me on a weekend family trip to Ayr around March 1972. The comic absolutely fascinated me featuring the Femme Force, Nick Fury (the coolest guy ever) , S.H.I.E.L.D , Hydra the Falcon and of course Captain America himself. Many of these characters I had been aware of before this, but it was Romita's art that "blew me away" it was action packed on every page, not a single panel was wasted. I loved this comic as an 11 year old, and even today it remains one of my most cherished comics. Just take a look at some of the stunning action packed pages from this issue:

It wouldn’t be until September 1973 when I would see my next John Romita artwork in the pages of “Spider-Man Comics Weekly” issue 33 which reprinted “Amazing Spider-Man” issue 39, “Jazzy Johns” first US issue of Spider-Man. In the coming years I would read so much of his work, every issue as good as the last. Mr Romita not only drew characters with aplomb he also helped create some of Marvels most important characters including Mary Jane Watson, the Kingpin, Punisher, Shocker, Hobgoblin, Luke Cage, Nova, and Wolverine.

Favourite Covers: The Mighty Thor - Back issue purchases - Adams, Kirby, Buscema

There are only a few comic from my childhood/teenage years that remain on my wants list of comic books that I either used to own or missed out on the first time around. Thor issue 180 from 1970 (cover and art by Neal Adams) was one of those comics that I always wanted but never managed to find. That all changed last week when I managed to find the above issue at a very reasonable price in Glasgow. I now only require to pick up a copy of Thor 181, the second part of this Neal Adams /Stan Lee Thor collaboration to complete my small but perfectly formed Thor wants list. Below as some of my favourite US Thor comics that I have managed to pick up from back issue shops, charity shops and jumble sales over the years:

My first US Thor comic was the above issue 205 ( Cover by Gil Kane & Frank Giacoia) cover dated November 1972, which I purchased around March 1973. I still have my original copy but it is badly ripped. I picked up this nice cents copy in a specialist shop in Edinburgh for £2.

Thor 204 (cover by John Buscema & Joe Sinnott) Cover dated October 1972. I purchased this issue in the same newsagents as number 205 around June 1973. It wasn’t uncommon at this time for US comics to appear on sale out of order and sometimes many months apart. I lost my copy many years ago and managed to find this replacement copy recently in Glasgow.

Thor 198 (cover by John Buscema & Joe Sinnott) - Cover dated April 1972 .

Thor 187 (cover by John Buscema, Joe Sinnott & Marie Severin) -Cover dated April 1971

Thor 184 (cover by John Buscema & Joe Sinnott) -Cover dated January 1971

Thor 177 (Jack Kirby & John Verpoorten) - June 1970.

Thor 157: (Jack Kirby and Vince Colletta) 1968 –

Thor 155 (Jack Kirby and Vince Colletta) 1968

Thor 140 (Jack Kirby and Vince Colletta) – 1967

Bring on the Back-Ups - The Origin of Terra-Man - Dick Dillin & Neal Adams

As far as I was aware the above issue of Superman issue 249 cover dated March 1972 (cover by Neal Adams) featured the very first appearance of Terra-Man, a then new adversary for the Man of Steel. However, it always struck me as strange that the first story in this comic entitled “The Challenge of Terra -Man" written by Cary Bates with art by Curt Swan and Murphy Anderson, superseded Terra-Man’s actual origin story. That story took place after Terra-Man’s first encounter with Superman in the tale “The Origin of Terra-Man". Although this wasn’t the greatest origin tale or character this story has always stuck in my memory as it featured the art of two of my favourite comic artists, Dick Dillon and the legendary Neal Adams. Enjoy the pictures below:

Above: The splash page to the first Terra-Man tale "The Challenge of Terra -Man" by Curt Swan and Murphy Anderson.