Issuu

$ 50

$2.70 Canada $3.70 Foreign

Issue #1, Sept. 1994

Characters © MCG, Artwork © Jack Kirby

Fully Authorized By The Kirby Estate

Kirby artwork! I feel certain we fans have the ability to submit the editorial material to make a lively, entertaining, and informative publication. So use your Kirby knowledge and submit an article, art, or idea! Send your submissions to: TwoMorrows • 502 St. Mary’s St. • Raleigh, NC 27605 • USA 919/833-8092 • Fax 919/833-8023 or E-mail via the Internet to: twomorrow@aol.com Don’t forget: this publication is for FANS! Use your imagination and let’s have some fun! In the process, hopefully we’ll introduce some new people to Jack’s magic. Now here are the ground rules: • If you like this free issue, tell a friend about it and subscribe! If not, pass it along to another Kirby fan - the idea is to get as many people involved as possible. • Here’s where your $2.00 subscription cost goes with 100 subscribers: Postage (1st Class): 57.00 Xeroxing: 84.80 CBG Advertising Expenses: 43.48 Misc. Postage & Expenses: 15.00 $200.28 ($2.00 per issue)

Jack Kirby telling war stories at the 1991 San Diego Con (Photo by John Morrow)

Welcome to The Jack Kirby Collector!

To reach as many fans as possible, we’re producing this thing at-cost, only charging enough for expenses. When we reach 300 subscribers, we can print for the same price as xeroxing. At around 400-500, we’ll can add more pages! So tell someone about us: more subscriptions means more submissions and better quality for everyone.

his is the first issue of a new publication for and by collectors of Jack Kirby’s work. You received this issue free because you’re a fan of Jack Kirby, and you may have written a tribute letter to Comics Buyer’s Guide or on one of the many online computer services when Jack died last February. My name is John Morrow, and I’m not some hotshot comics professional, just one of the many loyal Kirby fans throughout the world. I first got hooked on Jack’s work in the early 1970s, and I’ve been a hardcore fan ever since. I only met him briefly on one occasion, but like all of you, his recent passing really affected me. In corresponding with other Kirby fans I’ve discovered that there’s a lot of his work out there that I wasn’t aware of. I also discovered a great many people willing to share their knowledge to help others find, experience and appreciate Jack’s talent. And it occurred to me that there’s no regular outlet for Kirby fans to express their respect and appreciation for Jack’s contributions to our lives. So I came up with this publication. I worked up a rough version of this issue and sent it to Roz Kirby for her approval. She graciously gave her consent, and put me in touch with Kirby historian Greg Theakston. Greg offered some much appreciated advice and volunteered the use of his immense archive of Kirby artwork for future issues, so rest assured great things are ahead. This publication is my effort to keep Kirby fandom alive, active, and unified. But I need your help! Out of necessity, most of this issue’s submissions are by me. But it’s meant to be full of articles, reviews, letters, and personal recollections of Jack’s life and work submitted by YOU! And of course, plenty of great

• Since we’re producing this thing at-cost, we can’t pay for submissions. But if your submission is used, you’ll receive that issue FREE! (We’ll extend your paid subscription by one issue.) The success of this publication depends on YOU! We need your comments, ideas and submissions to make this the best publication it can be. I look forward to hearing from you. Long live the King!

John Morrow, Editor (This issue’s cover is a self-portrait Jack drew in the late 1960s, and it’s the first Kirby art Mike Royer ever inked. According to Mark Evanier, Mike came to Jack’s studio to talk about inking his work, so Jack handed him this drawing and told him to give it a try. While Jack took a walk for an hour or so, Mike sat there and inked this drawing as a sort of test. Talk about pressure! Jack must have liked the results, because Mike went on to do a great job inking much of Jack’s 1970s work.)

The Jack Kirby Collector, Vol. 1, No. 1, Sept. 1994. Published bi-monthly by TwoMorrows Advertising, 502 Saint Mary’s St., Raleigh, NC 27605, USA. 919-833-8092. John Morrow, Editor. Pamela Morrow, Asst. Editor. Single issues and back issues: $2.50 each U.S., $2.70 Canada, $3.70 outside N. America. 6-issue subscriptions: $12.00 US, $13.20 Canada, and $19.20 outside North America. Sixth printing (Dated 4/26/95). The initial printing of this issue was mailed the week of Sept. 5, 1994. All characters are © their respective companies. All artwork is © Jack Kirby unless otherwise noted. All editorial matter is © the respective authors.

Kirby News Update espite Jack’s passing, he’s still a dominant force in the comic marketplace. Besides his characters at Topps Comics and Genesis West, there’s a few new Kirby items on the horizon. A new series of collector’s cards features characters, concepts, and machinery created by Jack while he was working at Ruby-Spears Productions during the 1980s. Called Jack Kirby, The Unpublished Archives, these cards promise to show many characters that Kirby fans haven’t been privy to. Published by Comic Images (201/794-9877), it’s a 90-card set of unseen, unpublished work done as proposals for animated television shows. Included will be a number of bonus cards, and production values should be great. Look for these cards in October. Another set of Kirby collector’s cards is being published by 21st Century Archives. It’s a sort of retrospective set of cards highlighting famous Kirby covers and characters from throughout Jack’s career, with biographical information provided by Greg Theakston. This 50-card set contains some never-before published artwork, and should be available this Fall. Some unusual collectibles will be available soon: Kirby telephone cards. These cards come with various amounts of long distance phone credit. Once you’ve used up the credit, you keep the card as a collectible. Each features either a photo of Jack or some of his unpublished artwork. Check with your local comics dealer for details. Another Kirby product that should be out by the time you read this is the Black Magic edition of Jack Kirby’s Heroes and Villains. If you missed the hardcover edition of this sketchbook that Jack drew for his wife Roz in the 1970s, you’re missing a real treat. The original was all in pencils, while this new soft-

cover version is inked by a variety of industry professionals, and should be interesting. It’s being published by Greg Theakston’s company, Pure Imagination (212/682-0025). Mark Evanier (Jack’s assistant in the early 70s and a highly respected professional in his own right) is working with Frank Miller on a HUGE tribute book call Jack Kirby: A Celebration. Tentative plans call for it to be in three parts: 1) an expanded version (about 4x the size) of Mark’s touching tribute to Jack in Comics Buyer’s Guide; 2) a section of tributes, quotes, articles, etc... from industry professionals; and 3) a gallery of color drawings by around 200 top comics artists, each doing a different Kirby character. With Mark involved, you can bet this book will come straight from the heart, and won’t pull any punches about some of the lousy things the industry did to Jack. Mark was responsible for both the Kirby Unleashed and Masterworks portfolios of Jack’s work done in the 1970s, and he’s currently writing Groo at Image Comics. Kirby fans everywhere owe him a debt of gratitude for the many ways he’s helped Jack over the years, and the many unseen pieces of Kirby artwork he’s helped get published. Thanks, Mark! Also according to Mark Evanier, Jack’s old drawing table (the one used since the beginning of his career) will be getting a new home; at the Smithsonian Institute in Washington DC! An exhibition of Jack’s work was displayed at the Words & Pictures Museum of Fine Sequential Art in Northampton, MA last April. We hope to have a report on the exhibit next issue. Don’t forget about the educational fund that was set up in Jack’s name shortly after his death. Send your contributions to: The Jack Kirby Educational Fund Temple Etz Chaim, 1080 Janss Rd., Thousand Oaks, CA 91360

Letters

Send to: TwoMorrows 502 St. Mary’s St. • Raleigh, NC 27605, USA or E-mail to: twomorrow@aol.com

“Wow! A Kirby fanzine would be GREATLY appreciated. You mentioned the fanzine will include articles from all over the U.S. - I hope you don’t mean to exclude us Canadian Kirby fans!” Jamie Lauchlan, 2512 Windsor St., Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, B3K 5C1

(Here’s what a few fans had to say about us starting this fanzine.) “Thanks for including me in your new venture. Although I normally don’t follow fanzines, I would be interested in seeing your new Kirby publication. No one has had a bigger impact on the modern comic book than the King. “ Scott Tacktill, 3009 SW Archer Rd. Apt C2, Gainesville, FL 32608

(Wouldn’t dream of it, Jamie! Tell all your fellow Canadians about us, and send some submissions, eh?!) “What a great idea. Maybe an idea for an article would be an examination of how Kirby invented & improved the “language” of comics. Having read McCloud’s Understanding Comics, I was struck by how much of comic’s vocabulary was invented/improved upon by the King.” Michael Rhodes, 430 North Civic Drive #106, Walnut Creek, CA 94596-3306

“It’s a great idea!! It seems that (comics) more than ten years old are totally forgotten! By the way, I’ve also been publishing a magazine about comics (but in French!) for a few years now, and in our last issue, we published a long paper about the King, his work and his career and a second one about some forgotten Kirby works. More, there is also a Belgian magazine (quarterly I think) named Kirby, and which is of course publishing papers only about the King along with old artwork (there are already 15-20 issues).” Olivier Toublan, Beaulieu 9, 1004 Lausanne, SWITZERLAND

(How about it? Is there anyone out there willing to take this on? Or does Scott McCloud owe anyone a favor...) Special thanks to Chris Kemp and Paul Doolittle for their last minute submissions to this issue, and to Paul for all the names of Kirby fans to send this issue to. And thanks to everyone who wrote with words of encouragement and advice. Now we want to hear from YOU! Let us know what you think, and send those submissions!

(When I first contacted Roz Kirby about this ‘zine, she mentioned there was a British fan club doing a similar publication. Jack’s appeal is truly international! We’ll try to translate Oliver’s papers and reprint them here in a future issue.)

Kirby On Tour by John Morrow n 1978 I attended a traveling art show at the Museum of Fine Arts in my hometown of Montgomery, Alabama. But this wasn’t just any art show - it was devoted exclusively to COMICS! After seeing the notice in the Sunday paper, I begged and pleaded with my mother to take me (being only 15, I couldn’t drive myself ). Knowing my love of comics, she quickly gave in. I arrived an hour before closing and rushed to the exhibit hall. Much to my chagrin, most of what I found was original newspaper strip art by men with names like Capp, Caniff, Foster, Frazetta, Gould, Herriman, Hogarth, Raymond, and Segar. Who were these guys? And where were all the super heroes? “Boy, what a lousy show,” I thought. Then suddenly, there it was. The most amazing thing I’d ever seen; an actual Jack Kirby original! And of the Forever People, too (my favorites)! Unlike the reproduction I’d seen in my Kirby Unleashed portfolio, on this one you could see the brush strokes! I stood there staring until closing time when the staff person ran me out. As I walked away, I saw a sign saying “Tour Books Available For Purchase.” I ran back and begged the staffer to sell me a copy. With much reluctance he unstacked several boxes, and a moment later I was $5 poorer. And so much richer. When I look back through the Tour Book, I kick myself for not taking the time to appreciate the work of all the great mas-

ters on display there. But I know if that show were held today, I’d still spend the majority of my time standing in front of that Kirby original, memorizing every line and brush stroke. And I’d leave there thinking the same thing I thought 16 years ago. “Boy, what a great show!”

Characters © DC

Artwork © Jack Kirby

s, Inc. erprise t n E p © Cap

In case you’re not familiar with this rare Kirby collectible, it’s a 32-page black-&-white booklet with L’il Abner on the cover. The tour was called “The Cartoon Show” and it featured the work of 100 American cartoonists. Ray Bradbury wrote the introduction to the book, and all work was selected from the collection of Jerome K. Muller. The Forever People plate (reproduced above) was the only Kirby art in the book and the show. And while there’s no specific mention of Jack other than the listing of his work, this book is a nice momento of a time when Jack’s (and other’s) work toured the country and brought a little credibility to an often maligned medium. I’d be interested to hear if anyone else has this item, and what you thought of the show.

Characters © MCG, Artwork © Jack Kirby

9 These two posters each measure 19”x 26” and were printed in black-&-white. I bought these at a convention in 1977 for 50¢ each. What a bargain! Does anybody know if these were authorized by Jack, or are they a “bootleg” product? Let us know if you have any information on these great pencil sketches.

Classifieds FOR SALE: One pair of skis, slightly used. Asking $60.00. Contact Willie Walker, Apt. B, Metropolis, USA ____________________________ FOR SALE: Like-new Pogo Plane. Seats 4. Asking $9,900,000.99. B. Grimm, Baxter Building, New York NY 10019 ____________________________ WANTED: Argosy Magazine Vol. 3, #2 (“Street Code” story), Comics Interview #121, 132, Comixscene #5, Marvelmania Portfolio. Contact John Morrow, 502 Saint Mary’s Street, Raleigh, NC 27605, 919-833-8092.

WANTED: New or Used Anti-Life Equation - Must be complete. D. Seid, Armaghetto, Apokolips (No Collect Calls, Please). ____________________________ WANTED: Submissions for new publication entitled The Jack Kirby Collector. Especially need pre1960s experts. Send articles, art, or criticism to: 502 Saint Mary’s St., Raleigh, NC 27605. ____________________________ AIM is looking for a few good recruits. Do you have what it takes to make it in this challenging, rewarding career? Call today!

Well gang, that’s it for this issue. Write and let us know what you think. And get to work on those submissions! Let’s celebrate the life and career of Jack Kirby, the King of comics!

Classifieds cost 10¢ per word (cheap!), with a 10 word minimum. And all proceeds from classified ads go to add more pages to this publication! THANKS: Greg Theakston, Mark Evanier, Paul Doolittle, and everyone else for the help on this issue. ____________________________ WANTED: Rebuilt engine for 1971 Super Cycle. Must have working Mother Box. Contact B. Bear, Supertown, New Genesis. ____________________________ HULK SMASH! Or at least I think I do. Perhaps I should examine the situation further... ____________________________ ASSORTED Boom Tubes for sale. Various lengths available. Contact Metron, c/o the Source.

I’M THOR because I thmacked my thumb with this thilly hammer! ____________________________ OMAC, please come home. All is forgiven. Love, Brother Eye. ____________________________ WANTED: Kirby sketches, original art pages, etc... of Fourth World characters. John Morrow, 502 Saint Mary’s St., Raleigh, NC 27605, 919-833-8092. ____________________________ READ PHANTOM FORCE from Genesis West. This Kirby inspired book has great potential. So what are you waiting for?

Submission deadline for Issue #2 is Oct. 10 Issue #2 will be mailed Nov. 1

Characters © MCG, Artwork © Jack Kirby

his is a feature we hope will be a big benefit to everyone. You can list personal messages, Kirby items you’re buying and selling, etc... in our classified section.

$ 50

$2.70 Canada $3.70 Foreign

Issue #2, Nov. 1994

Characters © Marvel Comics, Artwork © Jack Kirby

Fully Authorized By The Kirby Estate

The Spinner Rack by Timothy M. Walters he year was 1966 and I was nine years old. My father had music for eight years, while Kirby produced art for half a taken me into Purity Drug Store, where I contemplated the century! Yet consider the numerous similarities. Jack Kirby was tall spinner rack like a hungry man studying an apple tree. I acclaimed by his peers while simultaneously attaining commerfinally chose my “apple” from the potpourri of four-color cial success. Kirby’s effect on the field was not merely influential, treasures. It was the first comic book I ever bought, Fantastic it was innovative – he virtually revolutionized the process. He Four #50. created formidable art in an arena not then considered an art I was a little young in 1966 to comprehend the Lee-Kirby form (comics were at best viewed as fodder for children; at plot nuances, but even my innocent eyes appreciated the art. I worst they were labeled as vile trash). Pubescent lads who have read this classic issue countless times over the decades. I hyperventilate over the current “hot”’ artists might be unfamiliar have equally powerful memories of FF #51 (“This Man, This with Kirby’s work, but the pioneering King paved the way for Monster”) and FF #52 (“The Black Panther”). I will forever view the contemporary creators. these three issues through a rose colored haze. I eventually Kirby’s artwork is frequently imitated, mirrored, copied digested the earlier Fantastic Four books, which was a joyous and parodied, but never surpassed. Regardless of the passing experience. years, his art remains the industry measuring scale. Comic At a tiny drugstore in a small Oklahoma town, a new door book art is gauged by, compared to, and contrasted with the was opened to me via comic books. I walked through and work of the King. encountered worlds, universes, and unlimited imagination I am fortunate to have been introduced to comics during courtesy of Jack Kirby and other purveyors of comic book such a fertile period and by such a seminal artist. Stan Lee and artistry. By 1971 I was a full-fledged collector and self-professed Jack Kirby were responsible for the finest superhero material of comic “expert.” the Silver Age. The era’s only creative team of comparable When my father died in 1993, one of my many thoughts quality was the Stan Lee/Steve Ditko duo, whose sensational was of that initial sojourn to the drugstore spinner rack. When stint on Spider-Man is legend. Jack Kirby died one year later I remembered my father again. There may have been a touch of serendipity in my long ago Jack Kirby is to comics what the Beatles are to rock music. discovery, but I suspect that an appealing Kirby cover was desThis might seem a tenuous comparison; the Beatles produced tined to capture the eye of a certain small boy in the heartland.

Characters © Marvel Comics, Artwork © Jack Kirby

Presented here are two panels of Jack’s unused pencils from Fantastic Four #108, including his margin notes for Stan Lee to dialog by. Submitted by David Hamilton.

Here is page one of a three-page story Jack did for Esquire Magazine (May 1967), detailing the events leading up to Jack Ruby shooting Lee Harvey Oswald. Jack’s art was also featured in the Sept. 1966 issue, in an article about the comics craze on college campuses. Artwork submitted by Greg Theakston. 13

Let’s give something back to someone who has given us so much. Let’s give Jack Kirby something as simple as a little credit! Please join me in signing your name to the letter below, or write your own letter to Terry Stewart, President of Marvel Comics.

Characters © Marvel Comics, Artwork © Jack Kirby

Terry Stewart, President Marvel Comics Company 387 Park Avenue South New York, NY 10016 USA Dear Terry, Count me among the fans of Marvel Comics who feel that Jack Kirby deserves a little credit for helping to create the Marvel Universe. Without the creative teamwork of Stan Lee and Jack Kirby I might never have known a world filled with the Fantastic Four, The Silver Surfer, The X-Men, The Avengers, Thor, Sgt. Fury, or the Hulk. On these titles and with other characters developed by Stan and Jack, I ask that you place the by-line “Created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby.” This would serve as a long overdue tribute to the genius of their teamwork. Just as Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster will always be formally identified as the creators of Superman, I would like to see Jack Kirby and Stan Lee afforded a similar tribute for their many contributions to the Marvel Universe. Sincerely,

Note: This ad copy was prepared prior to Jack’s death. For more information regarding this letter writing campaign, please contact: Dr. Mark Miller 6466 S.W. Barnes Rd. Portland, OR 97221 USA

Fully Authorized By The Kirby Estate

$ 50

$2.70 Canada $3.70 Foreign

Characters © Marvel Comics, Artwork © Jack Kirby

Issue #3, Jan. 1995

The Christie’s Auction O

Fantastic Four

35 1 $5750.00 43 19 $920.00 46 8 $1265.00 46 9 $2530.00 46 10 $4830.00 46 11 $2530.00 59 6 $10,350.00 61 17 $805.00 90 14 $805.00 94 18 $748.00 96 15 $748.00 97 3 $460.00 102 9 $1955.00 Fantastic Four Annual 1 10 $1093.00 Forever People 9 4 No sale. Hulk 4 4 $1495.00 Journey Into Mystery 101 3 $978.00 112 1 $2530.00 112 6 $1955.00 116 15 $518.00 119 15 $805.00 120 5 $518.00 121 5 $460.00 Machine Man 5 2-3 No sale. Marvel Treasury Special 1 (CA’s Battles) 37 No sale. New Gods 9 Cover No sale. 9 2-3 $2070.00 9 6 No sale. 9 19 $978.00 10 2-3 $1380.00 10 16 $1265.00 11 4 $1380.00 11 7 No sale. Phantom Force 1 Entire book No sale. Silver Surfer Graphic Novel 42 & 86 $1380.00 Super Powers (pencils) 5 Cover No sale. (pencils) 5 1,11,13,14,15 $1380.00 Strange Tales 102 5 No sale. Strange Tales Annual 2 9 $2530.00 2 17 $2300.00 Thor 130 1 $1725.00 131 2 $575.00 140 13 $575.00 144 16 $518.00 153 8 $552.00 X-Men 26 Entire book No sale.

n Oct. 29, 1994, Christie’s Auction House in New York held an auction of comic collectibles. Besides the numerous comics by Jack, there was an extensive collection of Kirby original art up for bid. Here are the results, with prices in US dollars. Keep in mind that: • Prices include a 15% premium paid to Christie’s by buyers. • Sellers pay Christie’s a fee of 10%-20% of the winning bid.

Mark Moonrider © DC Comics, Artwork © Jack Kirby

by John Morrow

This Mark Moonrider pencil sketch sold for $920.00.

• Each item has a minimum bid, which may be rather high to make up for the auction costs. Combined sales of these Kirby originals total $97,847.00. This doesn’t include the many comic books sold with Jack’s art in them. Christie’s next sale of comic collectibles will be in March 1995. Call 212-606-0543 for details or to order a catalog.

Original Art Pages: Title Avengers

Captain America Demon Eternals Fantastic Four

Issue # 2 2 3 6 102 211 2 2 14 15 5 5 11 15 16 17 17 34

Page # Final Price 8 19 16 7&8 16 2-3 2-3 6 1 Cover 17 23 2 2 6 9 15 5

$2300.00 No sale. $2990.00 $4140.00 $920.00 $1610.00 $2645.00 $2070.00 $805.00 No sale. $5520.00 $5750.00 $1610.00 $978.00 $1265.00 $805.00 $863.00 No sale. 4

of the first things Kirby did was to invite Rosalind to his room (which happened to be at his parent’s place) to see his drawings!

Kirby Quiz #2:

2. Adolph Hitler. Interestingly, Kirby was drafted on June 7, 1943 and was himself fighting the Nazis at Normandy by August of the following year.

The Origin of Cap, by Merrill Singer

3. In considering how to counter German spies, President Roosevelt wonders aloud if someone like the Human Torch of Golden Age comic book fame is available for the job. This was an interesting technique to make Captain America seem real by contrasting him with a mere comic book figure in the company of real people.

ack Kirby was catapulted to the frontlines of comicdom with the first appearance of Captain America (or just plain “Cap” to his fans). In the spirit of this issue, I offer this Captain America trivia quiz (if you are sitting there puzzled about the numbering, you can find my first Kirby trivia challenge nicely preserved in the Oh, So? section of a back issue of the Comic Buyer’s Guide from October). This brief poetic romp focuses on the early years of Captain America, a hero that was Marvel’s biggest success of the Golden Age and one of the best selling comics ever.

4. Professor Reinstein, a take on Albert Einstein, and portrayed wearing a mustache like the latter. 5. He was the spy, in the pay of Hitler’s gestapo, who killed Professor Reinstein while stealing the formula that gave Cap his strength.

Questions:

6. Steve Rogers, drawn as a sickly army reject until he received Professor Reinstein’s magic potion and was transformed immediately into “the first of a corps of super-agents whose mental and physical ability will make them a terror to spies and saboteurs”. It was also the good professor who dubbed Rogers as Captain America.

1. It now is far but once was near, exactly when did Cap first appear? 2. And on Cap’s premier so long ago, who did his smashing right cross lay low? 3. The “Human Torch” (namesake of the one Kirby drew), how did he figure in Cap’s debut?

7. Bucky Barnes was the teenage “mascot of the regiment” at Camp Leigh where Captain America was sent for basic training. Where did Kirby receive his basic army training? Camp Stewart, Georgia.

4. Science treads where fools won’t go, name the professor behind our star spangled hero.

8. Sgt. Duffy.

5. Dirty deeds and malice do abound, state the mission of the first spy Cap laid down.

9. The corrupt industrialist George Maxon, otherwise known as the Red Skull.

6. Being a super hero is a daunting task, who was the mortal behind Cap’s mask?

10. The full list is very long, given the enormous and rapid success of Captain America, but includes figures like: Captain Flag, Major Liberty, the Fighting Yank, Captain Valiant, the Liberator, and the American Crusader.

7. A hero without a sidekick just won’t do, how did Bucky become Cap’s number two? 8. Basic training under this drill sergeant was very tough, who was the non-com who made Cap’s army life so rough?

11. Lee’s first published work in comics, a prose piece entitled “Captain America Foils the Traitor’s Revenge.”

9. No hero can be great without a well-matched rival, name the fiend that most threatened Cap’s survival. 10. Like Superman before him there were many imitators, name 3 early Cap wannabes drawn by rival comic creators. Extra Credit: 11. Captain America #3, included what from Stan Lee?

Capt. America © Marvel Comics, Artwork © Jack Kirby

Answers: 1. The comic showed up on newsstands in late 1940 with a cover date of March 1941; about a year before Pearl Harbor and the Axis declaration of war on the U.S., and about a year before Kirby and partner Joe Simon left Timely/ Marvel for National Periodical/ DC. Kirby left the title after issue 10, but helped to revive the character at Marvel twenty years later. It was during the late summer of 1940, while Kirby and Simon were first developing Captain America, that Kirby met Rosalind Goldstein who was later to be his wife. One

Captain America, submitted by Jeff Gelb. 5

Characters © Marvel Comics, Artwork © Jack Kirby

Jack’s original pencils to page 10 of Captain America #101, submitted by David Hamilton.

A pencil sketch of Cap and Bucky battling the Red Skull, submitted by Richard Martines.

Fully Authorized By The Kirby Estate

$ 50

$2.70 Canada $3.70 Foreign

Characters © DC Comics, Artwork © Jack Kirby

Issue #4, Mar. 1995

A Brush With Mike Royer - Part 1 Interviewed by John Morrow (Mike Royer is the current leader in our poll of favorite Kirby inkers, and no wonder! He inked the bulk of Jack’s output from 1970-1980, a peak Kirby period. At age 53, Mike is temporarily living in an apartment in Moorpark, CA while his house in Simi Valley is being repaired from last year’s massive earthquake damage. After fourteen years as a staff artist for the Disney Studios, Mike is now a Disney freelance Product Designer/ Character Artist, with most of his work being on Winnie The Pooh. I spoke with Mike on February 6, 1995 - the one year anniversary of Jack’s death.)

loved as a kid. The real “adventure” now seemed to be in comic books, and I wanted to be part of it.

THE JACK KIRBY COLLECTOR: How well did you get to know the Kirbys? MIKE ROYER: The relationship I always had with Jack and Roz was that, when I was working with Jack it felt like extended family. And when I wasn’t working with Jack, things were in a state of limbo. Then when we did something together again, it was as if the period inbetween had never existed. I spoke with Roz the other day and told her this interview was coming up, and I said I’d try to behave myself and not insult anyone. (laughter) I think the world of Roz. I think she was the strength and the reality ground in Jack Kirby’s life. I sometimes joke to my wife when we drive places, because I’m constantly thinking about the work I’m doing for Disney... I’m always creating ideas... and I sometimes miss where I’m supposed to turn off the freeway, etc. She’s constantly reminding me of my speed, and I turn and look at her and say, “I’m gonna have to make you my Roz Kirby.” Because as long as I’ve known the Kirbys, Roz always did the driving. Now I understand why. I’m not trying to say what I do with Winnie the Pooh is the same as Jack’s Captain America and Forever People, etc., but the creative process does go on all the time. Roz took care of the things that insured they got from point A to point B safely, while Jack’s mind was completely involved with creating. I remember meeting with them at a restaurant in Burbank for lunch, and Jack asked me if I wanted to ink Silver Star. We sat there and Jack was explaining the story of Silver Star and I’m thinking, “How the hell is he gonna get all this information into one comic?” I subsequently found out that he had told me about all six issues - he had it totally worked out! Talk about the genius of Kirby... he had it all worked out before he’d drawn even one page of the first book.

TJKC: How’d you start inking Jack’s work? MR: One night in the late 1960s, about 8:00 in the evening, the phone’s ringing in the kitchen. I pick it up, and the voice says (in Kirby accent), “Hello, Mike Royer? This is Jack Kirby. Alex Toth says you’re a good inker.” (laughter) And Jack says there’s a bunch of stuff he’s doing for Marvelmania, and he wanted to know if I’d be interested in inking it. So it was Alex Toth that mentioned me to Jack Kirby. I had seen reproductions of his pencils in fanzines and I thought, “Why doesn’t anyone ever ink Jack’s pencils? Why are they interpreting and changing them?” So I drove to Jack’s and he showed me what he’d like me to ink, and I said, “Well, do you want me to bring this to you tomorrow?” And he says, “Why don’t you sit here and do it now?” So I sat there at Jack Kirby’s drawing board and I inked this page of him sitting at his drawing board with all his Marvel characters flying off the board, which became the artwork that accompanied his biography in the Marvelmania membership kits.

TJKC: Did you grow up reading Jack’s stuff? MR: Yeah, but I really wasn’t aware it was Jack Kirby. I have fond memories as a kid enjoying books like Boys’ Ranch, Stuntman, Boy Commandos. Once I decided I wanted to draw, I set my sights on newspaper adventure comic strips. But sometime around 1964 I was exposed to comic books again and got a real kick out of the chutzpah of Marvel Comics. I was familiar with Kirby, but I had never made the connection that this was the Kirby from my youth until I started getting involved with comic fanzines, and the light bulb went off and I realized this was the guy whose stuff I’d

One of the Marvelmania pieces Mike inked for Jack.

TJKC: From that, how did you get started in comics? MR: I moved to California in 1965. Six months before that I sent some sample comic book pages to Russ Manning, whose work on the Magnus comics I really, really liked. He wrote back and said, “If I ever needed an assistant, you would work.” So I packed my bags and moved to California and metaphorically moved into his backyard and said, “Well, I’m here!” (laughter) Out of the kindness of his heart, he gave me work.

TJKC: Which other Marvelmania stuff did you ink? MR: I just inked a lot of the stuff that went into the magazines and brochures. None of those big posters. It was through Marvelmania that I met Mark Evanier and Steve Sherman.

MR: No, Jack made the production copies. The machine that Jack had for years is like the old thermafax copy machines. If you were to tack one of those copies on the wall, in a couple of years it’s turning brown. The ones I’ve got are stuck in a box somewhere. I’ve got a couple of pages from my very first Mister Miracle with copies of how Barda looked when I made her look pretty, before Jack said, “Don’t ever change the faces!” and changed them back himself.

TJKC: Tell me about the transition from Marvel to DC. MR: I remember one evening getting a phone call from Don and Maggie Thompson saying, “It’s just been announced that Jack has left Marvel and he’s gone to DC. What do you know about it?” And I said, “I don’t know anything!” A few hours later I got a call from Jack saying he’d just landed at LAX and he wanted me to know that he had switched to DC, and that he wanted me to ink the books but they had to control them back east. So he couldn’t designate who he wanted to ink for him.

TJKC: Did you ever consider inking on an overlay, leaving the pencils untouched? MR: That method started on the West Coast. The comics based on animated subjects were drawn by animation artists, so it was very easy for them to pencil on layout paper, and for inkers to work on a lightbox. With funny animals it may not make a difference. But when you’re taking somebody like a Jack Kirby or a Russ Manning or a Gil Kane and you’re inking their pencils, to put another piece of paper between their pencils and your brush, what you’re then doing is just an “impression” of their pencils. To me, if that brush is not dragging through carbon, you’re not being true to the penciler’s statement.

TJKC: Let’s talk about your work habits. Before you ink a page, do you read the entire story first? How fast did it go? MR: From Jack I’d get a complete book. I’d read the book, then sit down and letter the whole thing. My goal was to letter a 20-page book in one day. I never made it because Jack would allow more room for the lettering than was necessary because he wasn’t working the Marvel method anymore. He was putting in balloons and dialogue. I tried to break up the long paragraphs into separate balloons that would occupy the same design area in the panel. By the time of Hunger Dogs, I felt comfortable enough to put in backgrounds and machinery and blacks. On average I inked three pages a day. There was something about what Jack had on the paper... all I had to do was finish the statement he made. The only part of me that went into it was making sure the eyes were on the same level, etc., because Jack worked so fast that sometimes things like that might be askew. On one of the Black Panthers I actually did five pages a day because the deadlines were piling up. My wife (at the time) assisted me; she filled in the blacks. Jack’s paper was perfect to pencil on, but incredibly difficult to ink on. I don’t know if he got a good deal on the paper, and I’m not being critical, but there was a period of about a year where before I would ink the pages, I literally stood at the ironing board and ironed the pages. In putting all the detail on the paper, the fiber was so worn out that every stroke I put down would bleed. I ruined a couple of irons that way with carbon clog. But it was something I did willingly, because I always felt that the original should be perfect.

TJKC: Let’s talk about Jack’s experimental black-&-white magazines -

TJKC: Other than your wife filling in blacks, did you use assistants to help meet deadlines? MR: There was a comics fan who used to come by all the time. I let him fill in the blacks on a Jimmy Olsen. And Bill Stout worked on an issue of Demon with me. TJKC: Did you get involved in the storylines as you inked them? MR: I loved them! I really got into it. TJKC: Did you xerox the pencils before you inked them, in case they got destroyed?

An unpublished splash page from In The Days Of The Mob #2. 11

Some beautiful examples of Jack’s uninked pencils to Thor #147, page 6 and #152, page 15 - from xeroxes Marvel Comics made after lettering but before inking, and sent to Jack to help him maintain continuity.

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CELEBRATING THE LIFE & CAREER OF THE KING!

LICATIO

IN THIS ISSUE:

Issue #5, May 1995

Jack Goes To College! Transcripts from Kirby’s 1972 Speech at Vanderbilt University

Unpublished Fantastic Four Pencils! Essential Kirby Collectibles Do You Have Them All?

Jack Meets The Beatles! Well, Sort Of...

How Kirby Used

Real people In His Comics

A Look At Jack’s Art For

Fan Memories And Much Mo re!!

Marvelmania

But it’s a language tool. I think comics is a form of speech, and each individual that uses it speaks in his own way. And everybody who uses it is performing in some way, whether he’s an editor, a writer, an artist – he’s really a performer. He makes his own individualistic stamp on the plot he’s working on; whatever magazine you’re reading has got the stamp of everybody who has worked on it. It’s the product of everybody through whose hands it’s passed. So comics to me is a language, and I feel that some day, if we have to speak to people from another planet, I think we’re going to talk to them in comics. I think they’ll understand us. I can talk to – well certainly I’m not a linguist and I’m not fluent or versed in any other language except – in fact, I’m not quite sure about English. But I can communicate well in comics; I can talk to people in comics, and from what they see in the comics they know what’s wrong with me. If I feel great they can see that in comics, or if I feel very passionate they’ll get a slam-bang fight like they never saw before.

Kirby At College © 1972, 1995 Harold May, 5050 Poplar, Suite 2414, Memphis, TN 38157. pril 28, 1972 was the day I met Jack Kirby. I had cut classes to help set up a hospitality tent on the athletic field between the freshman dorms and the law school. The event was a comic art symposium sponsored by the Vanderbilt University speakers program. I hadn’t believed they could pull it off. The whole weekend was put together in less than six weeks. Stan Lee and Jack Kirby both would attend. So would Dave Berg, Garry Trudeau, Gahan Wilson, and five or six other notable artists and writers. I didn’t want to miss a minute of it. But I wasn’t prepared for what was to happen next. A phone call came in from our program chairman. Jack Kirby’s plane was due at the Nashville airport in 10 minutes, and there was no one to meet him. “Does anybody have a car? Anyone willing to go?” I seized the moment. “Yes!” I shouted, and began racing across campus to my car. Another student came with me. We leapt into my ’69 Mustang and vroooomed down West End Avenue toward the expressway, and onward to the airport. Fifteen minutes later. Nashville airport. A short, wizened figure, looking lost in the nearly empty corridor. I recognized The Man from recent photographs I had seen. We introduced ourselves, and I became Jack Kirby’s unofficial host for the remainder of the weekend. After checking Jack into his hotel (and after he had dinner on his own), I picked him up later to attend the evening’s events. Jack wasn’t scheduled to speak until Saturday morning, but wanted to hear the other speeches that would precede his. Garry Trudeau was just beginning his keynote speech when we entered the auditorium. Seats had been held for us in the center of the room. As we entered, a hush fell on the crowd. The speeches stopped. Every head in the room turned and watched as we walked down the aisle and took our seats. The King was seated... now the program could really begin. It was a ball being with Jack that weekend. He was so casual and relaxed with his fans. Rather than go with the other artists to a night club, he preferred to go on a night-walking tour of the campus with a group of students, ending up at a coffee shop where we shot the bull about comics until 2 a.m. Jack was scheduled to speak at 8:30 the next morning. What follows is the text of the speech that Jack made that morning at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee. In addition, I’m including some comments that Jack made during a panel discussion, the only contribution he made in that particular session. The program chairman introduced Jack as a man who needed no introduction, other than by a list of the characters he had created. He named a dozen or so of those characters, and Jack got up to speak.

The Transcript Of Jack’s Speech April 29, 1972, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tennessee The way he rattled off all those characters – why, I feel like the father of a hundred acrobats. And possibly I am, because that’s been my stock in trade, really – creating people with wonderful reflexes. Perhaps in doing these comics I’m doing an analysis of myself – of things I’d like to be and things I’d like to do. You know, while I’ve been here, we’ve discussed the situation in which I – well, after doing so much of the action in Captain America, I was looking forward to being attacked by eight or nine guys and fight ’em and see how things worked out. I thought I could really do it! But that’s an ego trip, and I know I’d get my lumps. But somehow you get into that sort of thing and you begin to enjoy the action. And you begin to surprise yourself.

(Jack brought with him that day an unpublished Fantastic Four page from the 1st Black Panther story. Harold May comments, “ I could have studied that page for hours... but actually only got a glimpse of it. Jack was very protective of the page, and wouldn’t let me touch it!” Here are two panels, showing a beautiful example of Jack’s “choreographed, violent ballets.”) 6

They’ll know exactly how I feel. And that’s a form of communication which I feel is more explicit than the written language. The written language can be juggled around. A fellow can walk up to you and say, “I’m going to give you a hundred dollars,” but what he doesn’t say is that he’s going to pay it to you over a period of three hundred years. Words can be twisted, but I feel that a picture or a storyline can’t. Whatever a man is thinking, is concerned with, that’s what you’re going to find there. You’re either going to enjoy it, there’s something you’re going to get out of it, it’s going to have an impact on you, or it’s going to be very bland. It depends on the individual who does it. I was going to speak on the evolution of comics, today. It’s my only bag, really, but Mr. Trudeau actually gave you a pretty good insight of it and I’d only be redundant if I got into it. But I’d like to follow it by saying that the evolution of comics is the evolution of people. I can tell you with my own case, that my beginning work looked pretty rough, and certainly I wasn’t the type of person you might say was fully aware, but whatever I did then was very simplistic. There was a good guy, a bad guy, and a conflict, and the good guy always won, and everybody read about it. That’s all there was at first, for me. But somehow comics has given me the opportunity to sit down and study people and situations, to juggle life around and see myself in these conflicts. My characters are really myself, and the situations I get them into are really challenges for me. I’ve often told my wife that if I ever get put into San Quentin, I’ll be out in three weeks. Somehow I know that I’d figure out a way to get out of there. I do it in comics. I feel I’ve really created something. I’m fully aware that, in a sense, in doing this army of characters I’ve had the opportunity to make an army of people. I see them all as real people. And in doing that I believe I’ve achieved a depth of understanding of others. It’s given me a chance of trying to understand the entire motivation of everyone else. I feel my heroes can stand up as well as I can. And I can see them – heroes and villains – acting out of frustration and other emotions. I never used to see them that way. They had no dimension. They’d just slug it out over any differences they had. Now they’ll compromise; try to talk it out. If you find out what the villain’s like, he might not really be so bad. Most of my villains wore masks. And I think they wore masks because they were afraid of their own beings. They were afraid of themselves. So I always wanted to say to them, “Why don’t you take that mask off. Let’s see what you really look like. Maybe you’re not really so bad.” But I never did it. It would ruin sales. I never had the opportunity to do that, and someday I hope the conditions arise that I can. But at the bottom of all my scripts, I sincerely say that my characters are real, and if anybody does anything bad, especially if it’s real bad, I’m sorry he does it. But if my villain does something real bad, I think it’s a reflection of everything else in the world that’s bad. Someday, possibly, I can do a strip where that kind of condition doesn’t exist, and everybody can be a hero, and make all the action a form of exercise or maybe a ballet. That’s what I feel my fights are. They’re choreographed, violent ballets. There’s nothing objectionable in it; you don’t see any blood, or cuts and bruises. I just don’t think they’re necessary. Somehow, I just can’t bring myself to bring that kind of realism in. But I like to look at it as a kind of beautifully planned acrobatic act. And if you like the performance, then I’m genuinely gratified, and I hope I can keep giving you the same kind of show, with as much depth, and with as much ability to reach you, as I can. If I can generate some kind of action that can be constructive to you, then I’ve done my part. I thank you for giving me the opportunity to talk to you. It’s really been my pleasure.

Excerpt From The Panel Discussion QUESTION: What do you think of comic books like Green Lantern/ Green Arrow which use relevance as a theme? JACK KIRBY: I feel that doing any story on a very serious situation in a comic book is wrong. Because of the restrictive nature of its own format, a comic book cannot do a definitive analysis of a given issue. It can do it in a general way, it can probably gloss over it or mention it or maybe devote a segment of the story to it, but it cannot give a definitive opinion on the issue. If I thought Green Lantern had done anything constructive in that direction, it would be fine. But I thought they couldn’t have given the whole story, and possibly left out an important part of the issue. So I felt they were right by doing it, but they missed the point by not doing it in a different format. They should have done a bigger Green Lantern, a book of say 200 to 250 pages. That would tell a really good story on any given issue, and it would have meant something. Because those issues are not entertainment; they’re really problems. And I feel a problem should be extremely well-defined. A comic book, as it is now, really labors to put it across. Certainly those books did a good job, as far as they went. But I feel they should have been given more of a chance to really tell the story. Because that’s what you want, if you have a serious issue, you should get the story, every detail. And that’s my opinion of the Green Lantern book.

STAN LEE: I don’t agree with Jack about comic books not being a medium for serious messages. I’ve always felt that comics are a legitimate art form, really no different from movies, radio, television, novels, plays, what have you. I think that anything you can say in any other medium, you can say in a comic. Years ago, when I was in the army, one of the things I did was write comic books on very serious subjects for training. I taught people how to operate Sherman tanks and how to avoid venereal disease. Very important subjects, but they used the comics format. We were able to get a message across clearly, succinctly, and briefly, and very effectively we found, through the use of comics. As far as Green Lantern is concerned, basically I think the editors of National Comics and we at Marvel have basic, total disagreement in editorial policy on the way these things should be handled. I do agree when Jack said comics are entertainment; of course they are. Our purpose is to entertain our readers as best we can. I love trying to get messages into the stories. I love trying to moralize, sermonize, but it has to be done in a subtle way, in almost a subliminal way. On the other hand, at National they love the idea of their books being “relevant” now. And my own feeling is a personal feeling – they try to hit the reader over the head with their “relevance.” Their covers say, “Hey gang, this is a relevant issue. Look at the guy with the needle in his arm.” And they may be right, but it is totally in opposition to the way I feel about these things.

KIRBY: May I add just one point? I think that’s one thing they did right. And I think that’s one thing the other books did right, is the fact that they do show that. I felt that, as long as they did do it, showing the problem as it is, the needle in the arm is the only way to portray the drug, the only way to portray the issue. Because that’s essentially what it is. There’s no other way to do it. Green Lantern from that point of view I think was good. They didn’t take any other way around the issue. I felt that they didn’t say enough. I wanted to see a bigger Green Lantern in a more definitive way to tell the real story of drugs. When the real story is told and people can take a good look at it and see what it’s really like, then I think the people who are inclined to slip into that sort of thing will hesitate to do so. So the needle in the arm, I think, is a symbol of what the problem really is, and if it’s ugly, let’s face it, it’s ugly, and we have to show it. And I think they were very honest to do that, and very right to do that. 7