Favourite comics: Jimmy Olsen # 135: Jack Kirby, Neal Adams

Jack Kirby came to DC in 1970 with a deal that allowed him to create and edit three brand-new interconnected titles based on concepts that had been working on during his last few years at Marvel. Seemingly his deal at DC also called for him to work on one of their existing titles which turned out to be “Superman’s pal, Jimmy Olsen” , on the face of it a strange choice for someone like Kirby to work on with his galaxy spanning concepts. However, in November 1970 with Jimmy Olsen #133, Kirby began work on what would become known as the “Fourth World” series. The first issue of Kirby’s Jimmy Olsen that I picked up was actually issue 139 and over the next couple of years I managed to pick up most of Kirbys 15 issue run on Jimmy Olsen (#133-#139 and #141 -#148) except for the above #135 (with an excellent cover by Neal Adams) which I tracked down a few years ago. Of all Kirby’s DC output at this time Jimmy Olsen and Kamandi were by far my favourites and despite the 11 -12 year old me from 1971/72, not always understanding what was going on (and who the heck Don Rickles was!!!??) I loved this series which introduced me to golden age characters like the Newsboy Legion and (my favourite) the Golden Guardian. Below are a few pages for this excellent comic with some of Kirby's best art as DC.

Page Turners: The double page splash page - Buscema, Adams , Steranko, Kirby and others

One of the many things that made US comics so special back in the day was when they featured a double page spread. Below are a selection of some of my favourites to go along with the above classic from John Buscema from "Avengers Annual" #2 (September 1968) sadly I do not own that issue but the above page is taken from the Avengers Epic collection - enjoy:

Above: "Captain America Special Edition" #1 by Jim Steranko - This was originally published in "Captain America" # 113 and reprinted in the 1980's in the excellent two issue "Captain America Special Edition".

Above: "Conan the Barbarian" #16 (July 1972) by Barry Smith

Above: Jack Kirby - Originally published in "Fantastic Four Annual" # 6

Above: "Our Army at War" #253 by Russ Heath.

Above: "Avengers" #93 by Neal Adams - Probably my all time favourite double page spread.

Above: Detective Comics #526 by Don Newton and Alfredo Alcala

Above: "Not Brand Echh" #13 (May 1969)by Marie Severin.

Marvel Monsters - Part 2

As can be seen from my previous post, Atlas comics (pre-Marvel) published a staggering amount of science fiction /horror-based monster characters. Some, like Groot (image above from the "True Believers" facsimile) would be revised in the late 1970’s as an adversary for the Hulk, Avengers etc while others would disappear into comic book oblivion. In the case of Groot he (it?) was of course later revamped as a member of the "Guardians of the Galaxy” and became a major film character before returning to his roots (so to speak) as a comic book hero. Who knows perhaps one day one of the other Marvel/Atlas Monsters below may join Groot as a box office sensation:

"Where Monsters Dwell" #16 (1972) - Featuring Googam son of Goom! - Both Googam and "his old man" Goom have appeared in recent Marvel monster books, and both would be my favourite to be the next Marvel/Disney monster superstar.

"Where Monsters Dwell" #7 (1970) featuring Rommbu.

"Where Monsters Dwell" #5 (1970) featuring Taboo.

"Monsters on the Prowl" #29 (1974) - Featuing the "Monster at my Window"

"Where Monsters Dwell" #27 (1974) - featuring Groog

"Monsters on the Prowl" #15 (1972) - Featuing It!

"Monsters on the Prowl" #11 (1971) - Featuring the living Titan - this monster was originally called the Hulk when he first appeared in "Journey into Mystery" #62 (below).

Above the original splash page from ""Journey into Mystery" #62 (1960) - Image from Marvel Wiki. In later years (the mid-1970s) the character was renamed (again) as "Xemnu the living Titan".

Any finally, from "Where Monsters Dwell" #2 (1970) Sporr!

Marvel Monsters - Part 1

Before Marvel/Atlas comics entered into the superhero arena they produced a plethora of giant monster stories in titles like "Journey into Mystery", "Strange Tales", and "Tales of Suspense". These stories were later reprinted during the early/mid 1970's comic book horror revival in iconic titles including "Monsters on the Prowl, "Where Monsters Dwell" and "Creatures on the Loose". Each of these comics featured formulated but fun tales of amazing monsters like Fing Fang Foom (above from "Monsters on the Prowl" #21) the Chinese Dragon who wakes from his centuries long slumber to rampage through the world. As a 10-13 year old I loved these monsters and stories which still retain a special place in my "comic book world". Below are some of my favourite of these fun Marvel/Atlas monsters, most by team of Stan Lee and Jack Kirby.

"Fear" #3 featuring Zuttak (1971). This was one of the first Marvel monster reprint comics that I purchased as a 10/11 year old. Sadly I lost my original copy but managed to track down a replacement a few years ago.

"Monsters on the Prowl" # 28 (1974) featuring Monsteroso - One thing that confused me when I revisited these comics was that some were from 1974/5 as my memory of reading these tales seemed to come from a few years previous. This was probably due to the fact that many of these tales were first reprinted in the UK in various Alan Class titles and in the Odhams POW!, Smash!,and Wham! comics of the the mid/late 1960's.

"Monsters on the Prowl" # 17 (1972) featuring Colossus - Similar to Fing Fang Foom, Colossus was not restricted to a single tale and appeared in several other stories.

"Where Creatures Roam" #4 (1971)- Featuring Vandoom

Where Creatures Roam" #7 (1971)- Featuring Glop.

"Monsters on the Prowl" #19 (1972) Featuring "The creature from the Black Bog (the cutest looking monster ever ) art by Steve Ditko.

"Where Monsters Dwell #10 (1971) - Featuring Gigantus. Like so many monsters "they walk like a man!!"

Monsters on the Prowl" #20 (1972) Featuring Oog.

Fear # 8 Featuring "It crawls by Night"

Marvelmania: Posters - Part 2 -Kirby, Trimpe, Romita, Steranko, Purcell

Of all the Marvelmania adverts perhaps the most iconic were the ads for their Superhero posters. These were large 2ft x 3ft posters featuring some of Marvels top characters of the time that were released in two sets. My personal favourite, set B (advert above) featured three classic Jack Kirby posters of the FF, Silver Surfer, and Thor along with the rather strange addition of a Black Knight poster which was credited to artist Howard Purcell.

The Black Knight poster seemed to be a strange addition to this set as the character wasn't particularly popular (and was totally unknown to myself) at the time. However, I do remember thinking it was an excellent poster. Howard Purcell is not an artist I am aware of but his style looks a bit like John Buscema to me.

Set A (advert above) was also pretty impressive and featured the art of Kirby, Sternanko,Romita and Herb Trimpe.

The Hulk poster was pencilled by Kirby and redrawn by (then current) Hulk artist Herb Trimpe.

John Romita's Spider-Man poster was also based on a Kirby original (see below - coloured version of Kirbys original pencils from "The Kirby Collector" magazine) .

Dr Doom by Kirby. At this time Dr Doom had his own strip in Astonsihing Tales and was of course arguably Marvels main bad guy, so a poster was a good choice. This is one of my all time favourite Kirby pieces of comic art.

Set A was rounded of by the above Steranko Captain Americ poster - another belter.

Above: Kirbys origial Spider-Man poster.

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) .