Recently Read: Kirby & Lee: Stuf' Said, by John Morrow

Publisher, editor and author John Morrow's chronological compendium of Stan Lee and Jack Kirby's publicly spoken words concerning their decade-long collaborations is a handy document. It's liberally illustrated with examples of the art processes discussed. It's also a good reference guide for what was said when, even when the later pronouncements become (very) repetitive as both comics creator's memories calcified. Especially insightful (and surprising to me in their depth) was the prodigious number of examples of Lee either passively/aggressively - or just aggressively - denigrating Kirby, Steve Ditko and Wally Wood in the letters pages of Marvel comics. One might believe Lee was, at heart, insecure in his writing skills.

I believe the book does come with some prejudices and presumptions. For example, Ditko is described by Morrow as a "talented artist", disregarding the fact that Ditko was a writer for most of the last fifty years (at least), personally authoring his most important published work during that time. When pages from the Disney Legends program book are reproduced, no mention is made of Kirby being a writer (before, during or after his work at Marvel) - an outrageous designation that gets no pushback from Morrow. Little to no mention is made in Stuf' Said of the plethora of comics Kirby wrote before the Marvel age. Likewise, the same Disney book states that Lee "dreamed up an endless number of new characters and worlds", a boast that is demonstrably untrue. The best evidence to decide the verdict Morrow could have presented (but didn't) is Dr. Michael J. Vassallo's definitive essay detailing everything Lee wrote before he teamed up with Kirby (and Ditko): "Stan Lee (1922-2018) - The Timely Years". It's a damning document that makes clear Lee did not create the cosmic concepts Kirby had already been creating since the early '40s (if not earlier). https://timely-atlas-comics.blogspot.com/2018/12/stan-lee-1922-2018-timely-years.html

Lastly, the book's cover, with psychedelic Captain Victory art blown up out of context and covered with large digital fonts, is ugly. While conveying some of the anger expressed by Kirby, the cover could have looked more welcoming and it's noteworthy that nowhere is the book's designer listed.

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Recently Read: The Simon and Kirby Library: Crime

 

Titan Books know how to do Kirby reprints right. Employing the formidable talents of Harry Mendryk for art restoration and colors, this whopping 319-page collection of crime stories looks great, printed on matte (not shiny) paper that's vibrant white, making the colors pop.

Collecting 34 prime comics stories, mostly from the '40s, the collection really delivers. Like his romance material from the same time period, these are prime Kirby written, penciled and likely inked tales, each one driven with drama and human interest, like mini, pre-code Warner Bros. films. (Kirby extracted his new last name from James Cagney, the premiere Warner Bros. embodiment of crime-entrenched hoodlum-hood at the time). Read one of these and you'll want to read them all; the staging, body language, dialogue, and artwork is second to none. If Kirby had passed away in 1950, before the Marvel universe and everything else he created, we'd still be reading these comics. 

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The Original Art for the Amazing Spider-Man No. 82, by Marie Severin and John Romita

 

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New February Pop Culture Paper Ephemera for Perusal and Purchase

Pop Culture Paper Ephemera (nenoworld.com)

 

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Let's Go Krogarring!

 

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Recently Read: Fantastic Four: Full Circle, by Alex Ross

 

Alex Ross finally gets the opportunity to write and draw classic Marvel characters in Fantastic Four: Full Circle, an oversized, hardbound production from Marvel and Abrams. A sequel to the classic "This Man, This Monster" published in 1966 in The Fantastic Four No. 51, Full Circle finds the FF journeying back into the Negative Zone, a dimension which allows Ross to indulge in trippy, psychedelic visuals. Using a more ink-based art style here, with experimental color palettes, the book has a unique and visionary feel.

Though it doesn't have the cohesiveness or poignancy of Kirby and Lee's original story, it does lay the groundwork for future story ideas to be exploited, and consistently pays heartfelt homage to a stupendous time in cartooning history.

Along with Barry Windsor-Smith's recent Monsters graphic novel (originally proposed as a Hulk story), Full Circle confirms (again) that there's much to be gained by mainstream publishers allowing top-notch cartoonists to create their own stories using the publisher's properties. Steve Rude, long left out in the cold, is another amazing talent Marvel could invite in for project or two.

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An Unused John Romita Sr. Cover for The Amazing Spider-Man No. 82

 

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Recently Read: Golden Age Captain America Vol. 4

Golden Age Captain America Comics Vol. 4, comprising C.A. issues 13-16, spotlights the work of penciler Al Avison. Continuing after the departure of Joe Simon and Jack Kirby, Avison has the thankless task of attempting to emulate Kirby's anatomy, body language, pacing and idiosyncratic panel border designs. He even tries a few double page spreads. Nothing, not the art or stories, captures the innovative fun of his predecessors, though Stan Lee does have The Red Skull learning Cap's secret identity in issue 16.

Speaking of Lee, his "whimsical" series The Imp, he who lives in an ear, is plain unreadable. The series is fleshed out with the stories of a kid superhero, the U.S. war bond and stamp-selling Secret Stamp. It's enjoyable as an example of rousing WWII propaganda.

Golden Age Captain America Comics Vol. 4 has little redeeming or incidental qualities in terms of storytelling, as Simon and Kirby's issues did. As such, it's mainly for completists or those interested in the day-to-day, average product of Timely at the time.
 

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Gene Colan Art for Tomb of Dracula Magazine No. 4

 

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Recently Read: Golden Age Captain America Vol. 2

 

As with Vol. 1, Golden Age Captain America Vol. 2, reprinting issues 5-8, pairs Jack Kirby penciled stories with various and lackluster backup series (the most ludicrous being the scythe-bearing Father Time, who stops crime in the nick of..you know). As the issues progress, Kirby's attention (or the time he had to devote to the stories) begins to diminish. He's most strong on the book's covers and especially the splash pages and story openings (including at least two double-page spreads) which are expansively cinematic in nature, and utilize more careful, elaborate inking. Though the stories are often rote, some single images powerful in their nascent form stand out. A full-page diorama drawing of a submarine shaped like a sea-dragon could be mistaken for a page from Nick Fury, Agent of Shield twenty-five years later. In the book's first tale, "Captain America and the Ringmaster of Death" (the Ringmaster being one of two Marvel villains of the same name and temperament), Cap is knocked unconscious, his head banging into a brick wall. The fury shown in his bruised and battered face when he awakens ("Captain America's eyes gleam with a strange light. His face muscles tighten as his words hiss from between his bared teeth") is a prototype of Kirby's 1970s Orion, when his Apokoliptean nature takes hold. Kirby was at his best when he tapped into his own real emotions and I'm feelin' it here.

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Comics I've Read Recently, October 20, 2021

 

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Recently Read: According to Jack Kirby, by Michael Hill

 

Michael Hill has done comics historians a service in compiling and publishing this collection of cartoonist Jack Kirby's memories and thoughts on his career. While the longer living and outgoing spokesman Stan Lee's interpretation of events has held sway in the general public's mind, in-depth comics readers and historians have long been able to differentiate the two creator's distinctive voices and contributions. Despite what any creator might say, the proof is in the published work (and the photocopied original art, with Kirby's story notes in the margins). What Kirby relates in the book's compiled quotes jibes with the historical evidence and shores up his contention that he wrote the stories in Marvel's seminal '60s work and created the initial characters. In short, Lee claiming he was the writer of the work insured more money for him and less money for Kirby (and other cartoonists who were also creating stories on the series they worked on, like Steve Ditko and John Romita, Sr.). This was an injustice perpetuated by later owners of Marvel.

Loaded with copious footnotes, the book covers decades of Kirby being outspoken on his contributions. Because the scope of the book mainly covers what Kirby said, some evidence which would help confirm his beliefs isn't covered: Dr. Michael Vassallo's extensively researched chronological analysis of Stan Lee scripts, for example, shows conclusively that Lee's "creativity" began when Kirby rejoined Marvel in the late '50s, and mysteriously left Lee when Kirby quit Marvel for DC in 1970. Conversely, the book deals little with Lee's distinctive 1960s voice which, whether one enjoys it or not, was highly instrumental in creating a new jovial and audience-connecting informality in comics (compared to DC's straight-laced and patronizing editorial voice), but which is, again, outside the scope of this book.

The incident of Lee rejecting a Kirby Hulk story and the resultant output of Kirby in the month of March, 1963, is a fascinating connection and a new avenue to explore in the complex story of these two creators.

There are ways According to Jack Kirby could be bettered. Some commentators are quoted with no context or explanation of who they are or why their opinion is of importance. Some reproduced art could be of higher resolution quality. And, the book uses some quotes too repetitively. I'm hoping a future edition can correct these attributes. Still, the book is an essential addition, and appreciators of Kirby's work have Michael Hill to thank for the hard work and initiative to put together what is, ultimately, a damning and important document.

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Available Now for Purchase: The Digest Enthusiast Vol. 14

 

The Digest Enthusiast Vol. 14 has now been published and is available in both color and b&w editions. My illustrations for John Kuharik's suspenseful short story, "Gnoll Attack", were drawn in color (see above). I'm especially looking forward to reading the overview of Marvel’s The Haunt of Horror digest. More info here: http://larquepress.com/the-digest-enthusiast/

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2002 Ad for Blade II: the Video Game

 

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Strange Tales No. 83 Original Art by Jack Kirby and Dick Ayers

 

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British Kid Colt Outlaw Ad

 

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Recently Read: House of X/Powers of X, by Jonathan Hickman

Jonathan Hickman's massive reboot of the X-Men universe is visionary and complex. Hickman's at heart a science fiction writer and this 12-part journey has so little to do with the immediately previous X-Men series (so poorly written as to be nearly unreadable) that it's as if Arthur C. Clarke had been hired to take over. In fact, House of X has the kind of cosmic scope and sense of import that Clarke's novel Childhood's End exemplified.

Originally released as twelve comic book chapters, the series jumps back and forth from storyline to storyline, giving glimpses of the evolution of mutants (and mankind) over many hundreds of years of time. In the "present", Professor X and Magneto have joined forces to congregate all mutants, regardless of their moral character, on the sentient island of Krakoa, and willing to make diplomatic deals, difficult to refuse, with world leaders. I won't spoil the story's surprises, but can say the series creates an entirely new and endlessly varied sandbox for current and future X-Men series writers to play in. Hickman has returned the series to its science fiction roots.

Aiding understanding and appreciation of this new world is a cohesive design for the packaging, by Tom Muller, incorporating logos, a new language/typography, charts and maps. The design has gone on to be used by subsequent X-Men series.

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Marvel's Pinwheel of Stars, 1941 Ad

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Original art by Jack Kirby for The Eternals No. 5

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A Double-Page Spread by Gene Day

The longer Gene Day penciled and inked Shang Chi, Master of Kung Fu, the more elaborate and detailed his work became. He was putting far more time and effort into the work than his pay warranted (Shang Chi was at this time Marvel's worst-selling title). This double-page spread was drawn by Day two months before he died at the age of 31 in September, 1982.

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