Jack Kirby Collector #74 by TwoMorrows Publishing

Bullseye TM & © Joe Simon & Jack Kirby Estates.

JACK KIRBY COLLECTOR SEVENTY-FOUR

$10

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Contents

THE

The PAST! OPENING SHOT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 (the past is now, the future is then) KIRBY AS A GENRE . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 (to pulp returnest, with Tom Scioli) FOUNDATIONS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 (not our first Kirby romance story...)

C o l l e c t o r

ISSUE #74A, SPRING 2018

BROTHER BOYD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 ( Jerry’s bro shows us Wolf Waco’s two-shot appearances) STRIP CLUB . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 (Davy Crockett, hiding in plain sight) KIRBY OBSCURA . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21 (what did Jack do best?) RE-FOUND . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24 ( announcing the hardcover Jack Kirby Checklist: Centennial Edition) JACK KIRBY MUSEUM . . . . . . . . . 29 (visit & join www.kirbymuseum.org) INFLUENCEES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30 ( the terrific Roy Thomas remembers Jack Kirby) COLLECTOR COMMENTS . . . . . . . 44 INNER-VENTIONS . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46 (take a trip in Jack’s time machines) COLLAGE: “ABOUT TIME” . . . . . . 48 THE FUTURE! . . . . . . . FLIP US OVER!

Numerous images in this issue are courtesy of the Jack Kirby Museum and whatifkirby.com, which have our eternal(s) thanks! (right) This issue’s “Past” cover started life as a gorgeous late1960s Bullseye drawing. Bullseye cover inks & colors (Version A): BILL WRAY

Don’t miss our alternate TIGER 21 cover (Version B)! COPYRIGHTS: Alarming Tales, Boy Explorers, Bullseye, Stuntman, “You’re Not The First!” TM & © Joe Simon & Jack Kirby Estates • Big Jim’s P.A.C.K. TM & © Mattel • Thundarr the Barbarian TM & © Ruby-Spears Productions • Conan the Barbarian TM & © RE Howard Estate • “About Time”, Captain Victory, Egghead, Limousine Drawing, Moses, Tiger 21 TM & © Jack Kirby Estate • Davy Crockett TM & © the respective owner • Avengers, Black Panther, Bucky, Captain America, Colossus, Dr. Doom, Dr. Strange, Falcon, Fantastic Four, Giant-Man, Gunsmoke Western, Hawkeye, Howard the Duck, Hulk, Human Torch, Invaders, Iron Man, Jack Frost, Liberty Legion, Miss America, Nick Fury, Patriot, Power Man, Rawhide Kid, Red Raven, Scarlet Witch, SHIELD, SpiderMan, Sub-Mariner, Thing, Thor, Toro, Two-Gun Kid, Union Jack, Wasp, Watcher, Wolf Waco, X-Men TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc. • Funky Flashman, Houseroy, Lightray, My Greatest Adventure TM & © DC Comics

The Jack Kirby Collector, Vol. 25, No. 74, Spring 2018. Published quarterly by and © TwoMorrows Publishing, 10407 Bedfordtown Drive, Raleigh, NC 27614, USA. 919-449-0344. John Morrow, Editor/Publisher. Single issues: $12 postpaid US ($18 elsewhere). Four-issue subscriptions: $46 Economy US, $69 International, $20 Digital. 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

Opening Shot

...The Future Is Then. by editor John Morrow

[Focus on the image of Jack in the center, and move your head backward and forward.]

by editor John Morrow

Opening Shot

The Past Is Now...

Kirby As A Genre

To Pulp Returnest

A conversation with graphic biographer Tom Scioli, conducted by Adam McGovern

(This page) The myths both young Jacob Kurtzberg and the prototypical Jack Kirby were born from. All images by and © Tom Scioli.

ing Kierkegaard told us that life must be lived forward but it can only be understood backwards; in a life like Kirby’s, many things are seen far ahead of their time, and we can gain something new each time we look back. One of the artists best known and regarded for taking Kirby’s legacy forward is undertaking a voyage to its very beginning. Titled simply Kirby, in his signature, this new life story by Tom Scioli (8-Opus, Godland, Transformers vs. G.I. Joe) turns back every page on what we know about Jack and what we’ve seen of his achievements. Taking Kirby’s epic approach to the quieter realities of the artist’s own life, Scioli’s narrative collages the comics being produced at the time with the elusive essence of the decades and locales themselves, for a major work in the making. On February 12, 2018, I got on the phone with Scioli to go back to the most important drawing board in comics.

TJKC: The current, declarative form is also a medium for telling a historical account with as much objectivity and accuracy as possible. SCIOLI: I wanted to take a just-the-facts approach, no comicbook hoopla and salesmanship. TJKC: And yet there is a feast of period flavor in the way you render the story—the settings feel like we’ve walked into old photographs, machinery looks straight out of a vintage catalogue, etc. How did the way we see those times influence the way you show it? SCIOLI: When you’re telling Kirby’s story, you’re telling the story of the 20th century—he’s there at the outset of comics, he serves in WWII, he’s there for the ’60s cultural revolution. And as this story progresses, we’ll see it progress in those styles too. TJKC: Is this unintrusion of you as the storyteller a reason for the vérité use of untranslated languages at the beginning? SCIOLI: Yiddish is a super-interesting [hybrid] language; Kirby says that’s the first language he learned. That happens a lot with children of immigrants, and then they go to school, and it’s almost like the parents learn English from the kids. That’s how it was in the Kirby household. Language fascinates me so I have maybe way too much fun with those early episodes, where it’s almost a pantomime.

THE JACK KIRBY COLLECTOR: When did you start telling this story? TOM SCIOLI: A bit before Kirby’s 100th birthday. TJKC: The full pages at your own site are dynamically composed, but it also had a feel of completeness when I was first seeing it one panel at a time on Instagram… SCIOLI: I want this to be extremely accessible, so layouts are very no-nonsense. When it goes to print, I might throw in some splash pages, etc.—at that stage, you’re solving book-design problems.

TJKC: True, the unfamiliarity of many readers with the language(s) being spoken enables (and necessitates) pure visual storytelling; befitting for the comics medium.

Foundations

Here’s a never-reprinted romance story, from Young Romance #29 (V4 #5), January 1951. Restoration and color by Chris Fama.

Brother BOyd

The Western One-Shot W by Dwight Boyd

(above) Just for the record, this scenario wasn’t part of the Wolf Waco story, and this baddie wasn’t even Wolf! Still, the fusion of this back-up story scene and the main tale was another nice effort by Kirby and Ayers. (next page, bottom) Waco fights the Rawhide Kid in this page-anda-half action sequence from RK #18, Oct. 1960. (right) Another Wolf Waco met the original Two-Gun Kid in TGK #59, April 1961.

Watch Out For Wolf Waco! Wolf Waco (great moniker—it just screams cow-

he real Old West was full of bullies, raging sociopaths, and territorial no-goods who rode from town to town, alone or in small bands, hell-bent on robbing banks, stagecoaches, ranches, or trains. Some of their stories are quite ugly, and were certainly too ugly or warped for the Codeapproved western ten-and-twelve-centers that youngsters found enthralling during the Eisenhower years. So, the legends of the West got cleaned up considerably and made homogeneous for television and comics. Billy the Kid, for example, over at Charlton Comics, wasn’t such a bad guy, especially since this Billy was a relative of his more famous relative. And this Billy rode the trail to clear his family name by doing good deeds. Other legends “lost some of their shortcomings” at other publishers’ offices, also. With Lee and Kirby in the early 1960s (before the Fantastic Four), the western frontier was dominated by the Two-Gun Kid (a carryover from the post-WWII era) and the Rawhide Kid, a tall, buckskin-clad, blond straight-shooter with fists as quick as his draw. Two-Gun was blond also; the pair was practically interchangeable. In time, Jack and Stan would take the names and change everything else except their self-sacrificing heroics. The readers came to accept these changes, and the Kids, along with Kid Colt (who, like Batman following DC’s Crisis on Infinite Earths, needed no changes) continued to star in modest-selling series throughout the ’60s. But this article’s not about the Kids, really. It’s about a one-shot gunhawk they both faced on separate occasions. “Say what?” you may be asking. I’ll explain.

town villainy with two smoking pistols!) led a gang of outlaws, and it was young Johnny Bart’s misfortune to run afoul of them in Rawhide Kid #18 (Oct. 1960), in just his second Lee/Kirby/Ayers issue. After a narrow escape from the townsfolk who’ve just recognized the outlaw, the Kid spots a seemingly abandoned mine where he hopes to rest. Nope, Waco is there and the two get into a fistfight. The Kid’s smaller, lighter, but determined not to be bullied by the gruff, domineering Waco. (Bullied… I’ll get back to that later.) Wolf’s men show up and point their guns in the Kid’s direction, ending the pummeling their leader’s taking. Wolf’s temper subsides and he offers the Kid a chance to join his group. Rawhide thinks, “And why shouldn’t I join up with them? There’s no place for me anywhere else!” Aloud, he announces, “All right, Waco, yuh got yoreself a new man!” (Peer pressure, right? I’ll return to that later, as well.) Still, as gangs are wont to do, the Kid has to “prove” himself. He’s told to throw a bunch of lit dynamite sticks at the mail train a-comin’, a notion that quickly eats at his conscience. If he doesn’t do it, Wolf and his men tell him he’ll be shot down from behind... at their hands. But Johnny outwits them and tosses the explosive bundle back over his head at his bloodthirsty “friends.” The smoke and shock allows him some time to make it to the train. There, he “proves” himself to the train people. He blasts their guns out of their hands and then quickly returns them, explaining that he’s not going to rob them. He only wants another chance at Waco and his men. As most of the Wolf Waco Gang turn tail, Wolf and the Kid return to throwing the fisticuffs. The enraged young gunman and his foe move unwittingly toward a cliff and the treacherous owlhoot goes over. This marked the end of Wolf Waco… or did it?

Wolf Waco II: No Good, Just… BadWolfAnd Ugly! Waco became a

one-shot bad man again… in Two-Gun Kid #59 (April 1961). This new Wolf (no one without Marvelous super-powers could’ve survived that fall!) was just as much a bullying, lowlife cur as the other gunnie who shared his name.

With Two Six Guns! Stan and Jack might have liked that name, I think. The team had a knack for impressive “handles”, as Stan called them. Dakota Dawson, Sundance Slade, Dead-Eye Dawson, Blackjack Borden, Crow Mallon, Don Drago, Moose Morgan, and Bassett the Badman—all rode the hard, dusty trails in the west where Kid Colt, the (masked) Two-Gun Kid, and the Rawhide Kid ruled with faster draws. The original TGK (the non-masked Clay Harder, blond and draped in the type of allblack outfit that Hopalong Cassidy favored), rides into the typical wide open frontier town, and some townspeople implore him to do something about Wolf Waco, who’s running roughshod over the occupants of a nearby saloon. Being the self-sacrificing heroic type, Harder immediately takes up their cause and confronts the swaggering Waco. Hey, it wouldn’t be a “mighty Marvel western” if things had gone peaceably after that, so the two gunslingers clash. Things get worse when the cowardly Waco hurls a lantern at the Kid, and fire breaks out. Harder leaves the saloon last—a young boy is trapped and the Kid drags him out, but at a huge cost. His hands are badly burned. That’s the news a doctor gives him—news overheard by Waco. Wolf’s got a new deal going now. He’s going to have the Kid escort him around town. Waco will steal from, bully, and cheat anyone he wants and the Kid will seem to be his back-up and friend, all animosity forgotten. The unknowing townsfolk are bewildered. Why does a mostly silent TGK now travel with the despised Waco? Wolf’s not telling. He plans to kill the Kid before his fast-drawing hands heal and he gets the doc to look at them every day to make sure the process isn’t going too fast. Cruel deeds, including bank robbery, aren’t enough; Wolf adds laughter to it all. He can’t lose. (All together now: “That’s what he thinks.”) One day, the two men chase down a stagecoach outside of town. It isn’t enough for Wolf to rob it; he doesn’t want witnesses. The Kid’s had enough and after a brief argument, he dismounts and moves into his famed fighting stance. Fine with Wolf, he was ready to end his “arrangement” with Harder anyway, and again—he can’t lose! Clay’s hands are still no good according to the town doctor. Wrong. The Kid blasts Waco’s gun out of his hands in the best Code-approved fashion. (Real gunslingers always shot to kill, but on TV and most funnybooks…) He follows up with a pummeling of the brute with those “useless gun hands.” Humiliated in defeat, Wolf wails, “The doc wouldn’t have lied to me!” O. Henry ending time: The Kid tells him that the doc risked his life by lying because the boy Two-Gun saved from the saloon fire… was the doctor’s son! 17

Announcing The Release Of The Hardcover

Re-Found

Jack Kirby Checklist: Centennial Edition

by Richard Kolkman

“Comic book fans are pussy cats compared to the insatiable collectors who roam this world like predators in search of priceless and forbidden artifacts.”

(above) The new Jack Kirby Checklist: Centennial Edition is now shipping from TwoMorrows. It’s been dramatically expanded from the previous 2008 paperback version, up to a whopping 272 pages. It’s available only as a hardcover edition (limited to 1000 copies), and is crammed full of details about Jack’s life and work. (next page, top) An example of the rarities you’ll find detailed in the new Centennial Edition: This 1930s drawing is the earliest known comics art by Kirby. It appeared on the television program Antiques Roadshow in February 2011. (next page, bottom) One of the rare “Beta” versions of the Kirby Checklist we produced in November 1997— an interim edition for the purpose of getting preliminary feedback, and receiving numerous additions and corrections before going to press with a “final” edition in 1998.

— Jack Kirby (March 1977, Black Panther #2, below)

nknown in Kirby’s time, a third evolution has emerged: The super-fusion of comic book fan and collector. The kind of creature who claws their way through dealers’ long-boxes at conventions—and virtual long-boxes online. In 2017 we celebrated the August 28, 1917 birth of Jacob Kurtzberg. On July 14, Disney threw a party in honor of Disney Legends at D23 Expo—to the delight of comic book and movie fans. Hollywood and fandom meet every year at Comic-Con International, a celebration that began in Jack and Roz’s living room in 1969. We owe the Kirbys much. Priceless old comic books, long considered junk culture, are now germinating billion-dollar movie universes that promise to electrocute you in the mind! These flickering franchises rest upon the shoulders of giants. We are watching the twin worlds of culture and commodity collide. Crack open those slabbed comics! The real treasure is within—not without. Comic book collectors exist in a duality: Spiritualism (collector fans) and materialism (collector $peculators). The Kirby Checklist: Centennial Edition is for them all! The purpose of the Centennial Edition is best described by plagiarizing the Jack Kirby Museum mission statement: The Checklist is organized for educational purposes; more specifically, to promote and encourage the study, understanding, preservation and appreciation of the work of Jack Kirby. We share the same mission. The new 272-page Checklist is a trusty road map that navigates all the way back to the streets of the Lower East Side in New York City. (See Argosy V3#2, “Street Code”.) To the purist, comic books are a fun, ridiculous, authentically collectible art form. After 18 successful Marvel films—comic books are now all the (panther’s) 24

rage. The seeds that sparked this 21st century mythology (ie: modern legendary) sprouted from the rich soil of a sea of colorful, wonderfully odoriferous off-white newsprint treasures. When stepping back and looking at the big picture, the Centennial Edition tempts us to explore the connections of Jack Kirby’s story-art in all directions. Through time and travail, the Hand of Fire writ quite a trail. For most of his working life, Jack Kirby seemed to be at the junction of everywhere. The Checklist connects the road signs that reveal “Kirby was Here.” From the Lower East Side—to Brooklyn—to Long Island (take the train to Manhattan)—to California, what a long, historic trip it’s been. Even though now it’s more important than ever to document Kirby’s work, it has not always been easy. For many years, the flame of Kirby’s legacy dimmed as his final Marvel books hit the newsstand on September 17, 1978 (Devil Dinosaur #9 and Machine Man #9). I was a disciple of 1972 Kirby [who was] a serious cartoonist, culturalist and thinker. I held on through the end of 1978 due to awed interest, but Kirby’s later wonky-weird comics didn’t hold a candle to Spirit World and New Gods. From July 1972 to September 1978, I didn’t miss a single issue. (Captain America’s Bicentennial Battles was the greatest!) Then, Kirby was gone—a day I never remembered. I was a senior in high school, and cars and girls were far more interesting than Moon Boy’s fever dreams.

Kirby research was a fun hobby. In 1990, while wandering the byways of Kirby’s vintage comic books, I saw an information gap and submitted Superman’s Pal Jimmy Olsen #134 to Overstreet (Vol. 21, 1991) as the first appearance of Darkseid. That’s when the price on that issue started to rise. The only Kirby interview I had ever read was in FOOM #11— fifteen years prior. When I read Jack and Roz Kirby’s interview in Comics Journal #134 (Feb. 1990), it was as if a pile of Origins of Marvel Comics had gone up in flames. I was now a galvanized “Type A” Kirby nut. I was fired-up, and on the march—because history had turned a page. In 1992, The Art of Jack Kirby by Ray Wyman, Jr. and Catherine Hohlfeld contained a complete Jack Kirby Booklist (A-Z)! Robert Crane’s Publication Timeline (1938-1991) of Kirby’s published comics added immensely to our collective knowledge of Kirby’s work. I fearlessly marked my corrections in pencil. I was an avid Comics Buyer’s Guide reader (and back issue dealer) when Topps unveiled their Kirbyverse titles in 1993: Bombast, Captain Glory, Night Glider, and Satan’s Six were derived from Kirby’s Secret City concept art (1968). I went along for the ride—I “asked” and still bought them all! Image’s Phantom Force was also fun. Then Jack Kirby died on February 6, 1994: A day we’ll never forget. In April 1994, I wrote a consolation letter to Rosalind Kirby. I wanted to convince her that Jack would never be forgotten. Amid the fan gushing, I volunteered to curate a future Kirby Checklist. Roz Kirby was a gracious lady who had written to me once before (on the gold and white Sapra Street letterhead). I had previously written to her—curious about Jack in retirement. Apparently, the fake Kirby comic book covers I created and sent amused them. (Those covers were printed on TJKC #14’s “April Fools” insert and later in Collected Jack Kirby Collector Vol. 3.) Life goes on... but little did I know what was ahead. When the first issue of The Jack Kirby Collector was published by John Morrow (September 5, 1994), the sample copy that arrived in my mailbox was a complete surprise. The first TJKC was a 16-page hand-signed photocopied ’zine. It was a delight to read—fannish and real. I won the sound-effect panels contest in the first issue. Having a photographic memory for Kirby earned me a year’s subscription. Taaru! The long-time subscribers to TJKC fondly remember the customized Kirby illustrated envelopes that issues #1-22 were mailed in. Those are now known as the “old days.” Mr. Morrow’s iconic ’zine had an exuberant sense of community mixed with the serious study of a favorite, long-neglected subject. Jack Kirby Quarterly (UK) was off my radar, but it also was a fine read (which I finally achieved in 2017; more on that later).

The Checklist Habit (1981–1995)

One summer day, Kirby was back! Captain Victory and the Galactic Rangers #1 leaped out at me while I was scanning for Robert Crumb’s Arcade and Weirdo at 25th Century Comics in Bloomington, Indiana. In my dorm room over the next two years, I hallucinated to Captain Victory #1-13 and Special #1, Destroyer Duck #1-5, Silver Star #1-6, New Gods #6 (1984), and The Hunger Dogs (1985). In Jack Kirby Treasury Vol. 1 (1917-1947), a Jack Kirby Checklist (A-J) was printed. It revealed much about Kirby’s pre-1961 work— and I wanted to know more. A curiosity from that list: House of Mystery #92 (Nov. 1959) turned out to be House of Secrets #92 (July 1971). “After I Die” by Mark Evanier and Bill Draut (based on a Black Magic #1 story) certainly wasn’t published in 1959 (when Mark was seven). I also improved the list’s legibility by highlighting the entry title heads. Jack Kirby Treasury Vol. 2 (1948-1960) included a Jack Kirby Checklist (K-S). The 1950s material reproduced in Vol. 2 was breathtaking. Long before Fantastic Four, Kirby stories had the same fire and vitality recognized by his fans. Through JKT V2’s checklist I discovered (and purchased) Super Powers (both series, 1984-1986). The less said about them the better. With greater awareness (but without the JKT V3 checklist T-Z), I stumbled onto Who’s Who (1985-1987) for nuggets of clunky Kirby. How many Kirby collectors have explored DC’s Who’s Who? (You’ll have to consult the Checklist to find out what issues are key.)

The Beta Checklists (1996–1998)

By February 1996, I had convinced John that I was the “Man for the Job” by sending him corrections and new data when the call for a volunteer went out in TJKC #3 (January 1995). I collected serious information from the newly connected legion of committed Kirby researchers. There were more of them than I expected. Maybe interest in Jack Kirby wasn’t moribund after all. Jim Long and Ray Owens both contributed long, complete lists of their own that clarified many entries. I duly catalogued the contents of TJKC #1-22. The 25

Influencees

The Terrific Roy Thomas A comic book legend reflects on the King of Comics

(below) In 1946, material was prepared for Stuntman #3 and Boy Explorers #2, but the post-War newsstand glut caused those titles to be cancelled prematurely. So Harvey Comics produced a black-&-white edition of each, which contain this ominous notice at the top of the first page: “PUBLISHER’S NOTE: For the present emergency, newsstand sales will be temporarily discontinued and subscribers alone will receive copies of these issues. Hope you like them.”

[The following panel was held August 18, 2017 at TerrifiCon, at the Mohegan Sun Expo Center in Uncasville, Connecticut. It was moderated by Matt Herring of the Secret Identity podcast, transcribed by Steven Tice, and copyedited by Roy Thomas and John Morrow.] MATT HERRING: Welcome to Celebrating Jack Kirby. This would have been his 100th year if he were still with us today. And I’m pleased and excited to have Mr. Roy Thomas here, so let’s hear it for Roy Thomas. [applause] Roy will be able to give us some insight into the world of Jack Kirby, whereas myself, my name’s Matt Herring. I am the co-host of the Secret Identity podcast, which we’ve been doing for twelve years, almost 800 episodes. [one person claps] Thank you to the guy who was in Episode #8! We are winding down on Episode #800 and doing a music podcast, because talking about comic books is great, but twelve years of it has been a little much. But when I was asked to moderate this panel about Jack Kirby, I was ecstatic. My introduction to Jack Kirby goes back to 1975. I was probably seven, eight years old, and my parents used to bribe me with comic books to be good in church, to do good in school, and to do stuff around the house. I was a big war comics guy, so the first time I ever saw Jack Kirby’s work was in Our Fighting Forces #154, which was “Bushido!” And it was when the

Losers ended up getting dropped onto a Pacific island, and they had to go kill a guy, or they had to go take out an officer. And they assaulted him, all sorts of crazy things happened. But that was my first introduction to Jack Kirby, and what I loved about it was—as a young kid not having any frame of reference because there was no Web, there was no nothing—I remember thinking, “Wow, this Jack Kirby guy is pretty good. I think he’s going to have a good career.” [laughter] Not realizing that he was already thirty, forty years into his career. It was his second stint at DC, which had a lot of just amazing stuff. But, Roy, I will ask you, since—has anybody here met Jack Kirby before? [silence, Roy raises hand] All right, so we’re going to go to Roy. What was it like when you first met Jack Kirby? ROY THOMAS: Well, the funny thing is, I remember the day I met a number of people—Stan Lee, sort of Steve Ditko, John Romita, Bill Everett, and a lot of different people, but I don’t remember the exact day I met Jack Kirby. The only thing I can be sure about is it was on a Friday, because Friday was the day that Jack, who lived out on Long Island, would come into Manhattan, usually delivering some work, and he and Stan would often go out to lunch. Sometimes they even drove home together. They would drive, and John Romita might also be in the car. And sometimes [Jack] would go out to lunch with some of the rest of us: Stan Goldberg, Sol Brodsky, John Romita, and myself. One or two other people might be around. I was the little kid of the group. The rest of them were all seasoned pros. Once in a while Stan would join us. But I don’t remember the exact day [I met Jack]. I just remember I was really impressed, because, since the age of about five, or six, or seven, somewhere back in there, one of my— right after Joe Kubert, my favorite artists in comics were whoever “Simon & Kirby” was. I didn’t know if that was one guy, or two guys, or twelve guys, or whatever. I just knew that, whenever their names were on a story, it was pretty

exciting, just like with Joe Kubert’s name. It had a certain dramatic look. The Simon & Kirby stuff was very exciting, and it was always of interest, no matter what the subject matter was, it seemed to me. And so it was fascinating to me to actually meet this person, because by now I even had much greater appreciation for him than I had back in the late ’40s, when he was doing stuff like Stuntman and things that were not—they were good comics, but they weren’t going to add to his luster the way Captain America had, or the way that the Marvel Silver Age stuff would later on. But he was a nice, amiable person. Kind of friendly and outgoing. You very quickly figured he wasn’t giving away too much. He was a little guarded. But he was friendly, and very unpretentious. He’d been around a long time. He’d been up, and he’d been down, and he was sort of up, then. Being up was better. HERRING: About what year was this? THOMAS: This would have been 1965, because I went to work there in the Summer of ’65, and somewhere in that first two or three weeks I would have met Jack. HERRING: So that was in the time when he and Stan still had the good working relationship. He was still kind of “the guy” at Marvel. THOMAS: When I came in there—of course, other things were on the stands, but some of the first stuff that I was seeing [in terms of original artwork around the office] was those stories that were slowly introducing the Inhumans. And it was right before, two or three months before the Galactus Trilogy started, and even more before Black Panther. So things were really beginning to build to a real high. Not that I, necessarily, or anybody knew that at the time, but it was really coming close to the peak of their work. Obviously, there were strains, and within a very few months, I saw those strains, especially when this article came out at the turn of 1966 in the New York Herald Tribune, where the reporter made it look as if Stan was everything, and made Jack look like just some clown—mostly because Jack didn’t say that much, the reporter somehow assumed that Jack wasn’t contributing that much to Marvel, and he was just some guy who did whatever Stan told him to do. And, unfortunately, Stan kind of took the rap for [the tone of the article] from Jack and Roz, who somehow felt that Stan was trying to grab credit away from him, and though Stan could do that, he wasn’t doing that in this instance. HERRING: When you look back at that—. THOMAS: I was in part of that conference. I was a firsthand witness to some of it, and the way the guy described it was just his interpretation. I don’t think it had any objective reality to the situation. HERRING: And, obviously, you were there, we weren’t. And when we read about it years later, you know, Stan Lee, as we all know—and I’m a marketing major, and Stan Lee is one of those guys—you look at, like, Gene Simmons of KISS. They know how to market what they’re doing. It could be garbage, and you know what? Gene Simmons is going to put such a

Posted by Sean Howe online, is likely the earliest known recording of Stan Lee speaking in public, recorded at Princeton University in March 1966. In it, Lee announces that Steve Ditko has left Marvel, and gives props to Kirby for his creativity. STAN LEE: Now we just lost the artist that does “Doc Strange,” Steve Ditko, who also does Spider-Man. [audience gasps and hisses] I feel as badly about it as you do. He’s a very... peculiar guy. [audience laughs] He’s a great talent, but he’s a little eccentric. Anyway, I haven’t spoken to this guy for over a year. He mails in the work, and I write the stories, and that’s the way he liked to work it. One day he just phoned and he said “That’ll be it.” So that was it. This is the acid test now, because he was such a popular artist. I think that we’ve managed to find people to replace him, where those “boos” will change to a chorus of cheers. I know how it is; you get sentimental about an artist, especially one as good as he, and I feel the same way. But at any rate, we’re so tight, and we’re so limited with men, that if we lose one artist, it’s a major crisis. STAN LEE (discussing the Marvel Method): Now I give an artist the synopsis, and he draws this for himself, and I have no idea what I’m going to get. Sometimes it comes out so far removed from what I expect. Now a guy like Kirby who’s every bit as imaginative as I am—I love to say this for public consumption: Probably a lot more—we discuss a plot, he throws in an idea, and I do, and a few days later I get the drawings back, and by God they... for instance, we have this new thing, the Silver Surfer. [audience laughs, applauds] I’ll have to tell Jack about [your applause], because it was as much of a surprise to me as it was to you. He brought the strip in, and all we had discussed was Galactus! And I said, ‘Who’s this naked nut running around...?’ [sustained laughter] He says, “That’s the Silver Surfer!” [more laughter] ‘Jack, you’ve gotta be kidding!’ He says, “No, Stan, he rides the air currents of space!” [laughter, applause] To hear the full 20-minute audio, go to: https://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=A73KehrmpOU This is just one example from the wealth of interviews we’ve gathered and excerpted for next issue’s double-size book edition, Kirby & Lee: Stuf’ Said! In it, we examine the creation of the Marvel Universe, through the chronological recollections of both Stan and Jack, and others including Steve Ditko, Wallace Wood, John Romita, and Roy Thomas. It’s our attempt to paint an accurate picture of how it evolved, and how perceptions changed over time. The 160-page Trade Paperback serves as TJKC #75 and ships in September! 31

Mark Evanier

Jack F.A.Q.s

A column answering Frequently Asked Questions about Kirby [This has to be the largest Kirby Tribute Panel ever conducted, in terms of number of panelists. Since Comic-Con 2017 commemorated Jack’s 100th birthday, it’s only fitting that the stage ended up fully packed, with not enough chairs for everyone. So rather than give a full list of the panelists—some who never got to speak due to the all-star crowding—we’ll just let readers be surprised as they read the responses, and see the special guests in the photos. Enjoy!]

2017 Comic-Con International Kirby Tribute Panel

Photos by Chris Ng

MARK EVANIER: Good morning everyone. This is the Jack Kirby Tribute Panel. I’m Mark Evanier. This is the Centennial Jack Kirby Tribute Panel... [applause] As I’ve been telling people, if Jack had been as immortal as his creations, we’d be celebrating his 100th birthday with him on August 28th of this year. But, you know, while I miss this guy every day, when I come to a convention like this, I look around and I see Jack everywhere. Not only do I see characters he designed; not only do I see Kirby artwork; I see people who were inspired by Jack or people who were inspired by people who were inspired by Jack. And it’s not just comic books. It’s movies, it’s television, it’s sciencefiction, it’s video games... I haven’t seen a video game yet that didn’t have some Kirby element in it someplace.

Held July 23, 2017 at Comic-Con International: San Diego. Transcribed by Sean Dulaney, and copy-edited by Mark Evanier and John Morrow.

(right) Sunday, January 6, 1980 Black Hole strip. Jack penciled it, working from the supplied rough layout (next page, top right), then Mike Royer inked it, making minor adjustments when needed to keep the characters on-model. (next page, bottom) January 25, 1987 Sunday Los Angeles Times article on Jack, which delved into his original art battle with Marvel Comics.

I am a very happy person this year, because I see Jack’s fame expanding. Last weekend at D23, which is what this convention would look like if Disney owned it, they made Jack a Disney Legend. Now some of you will say, “Wait a minute. Jack Kirby didn’t really work for Disney.” He only did one real job for them, The Black Hole newspaper strip, and Mike [Royer] got him the job. [laughter] Isn’t it nice how it turns around and Mike Royer is getting Jack Kirby work? [applause] So, watch that video. If you think it’s odd that Jack was made a Disney Legend, watch that video on YouTube of the film 18

package they did and listen to the lovely acceptance speech Jack’s son Neal gave, which was just perfect and touching and on-target and on-point, and you’ll see Jack Kirby credited—as he always should have been—as the full-fledged co-creator of all those characters. [applause] As many of you know, this came about because of a lawsuit: A legal situation. I wish that I could stand here and tell you Marvel put Jack’s name on that stuff out of decency and a sense of rightness and justice... [laughter from audience] but I made that argument for thirty-some years and individuals at Marvel always said, “You’re right. You’re absolutely right,” and someplace, some corporate type would stop it. And finally, they did it. I actually think Disney may be bending over backwards a little bit to try and right the record, because they recognized how long Jack’s role was not acknowledged. [applause] But, I’ll tell you one little thing here. When the lawsuit came up, as many of you know, I spent way too many hours of my life testifying and working with [Kirby attorney] Marc Toberoff, and getting depositions. This fellow sitting up here, Jamie Coville, who’s been to most all these panels and he audiotapes—well, it’s not tape anymore, but you know what I’m saying. He records these things and he puts them online. This is where you listen to panels you didn’t get to attend, or hear them again, and the people at Marvel found his website and hired someone to listen to every single one, listening for me. [laughter] Any word I said. And we improvise up here. I’m not giving a prepared speech and I say things wrong sometimes and get the words out of order and screw up and sound like the President of the United States every so often. [laughter] So, meanwhile, some of the people supporting the Kirby side come to me saying, “This guy, Jamie. He works for Marvel, right? He’s going to panels and recording everybody.” It got very paranoid and very obsessive—but I spent, at least, a good hour in deposition explaining things I said on the 1997 Kirby Tribute Panel. “What did you mean by this?” And I go, “No, no. You got the words wrong...” And all that’s in the past. All these guilt feelings and upsets and things are in the past. I think all we as Kirby fans need to do is let it propagate. Let it spread to all the people around the world. It may take a year or two or three. There’s no books in print that say otherwise. But eventually the whole world is going to accept that these characters were created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby. End of argument. [applause] You know, there’s always that saying from during the Vietnam War, which is “say we won and go home.” I think Kirby fans should say we won and go home. I’m so happy with all of this. Anyway, with this panel we’re going to have an awful lot to

cover here, so I’m not going to talk much. Folks, you all know Mr. Mike Royer. [applause] You know Mr. Paul Levitz. [applause] You may not know as well, but you should really know one of the best editors I’ve ever worked for, Mr. Jim Chadwick. [applause] The attorney for the Rosalind Kirby Trust, Mr. Paul Levine. [applause] And I—please be brief—I would like to have anybody in the room tell us, briefly, about any Kirby-related projects they have going. You get one minute, folks. This is Barry Geller. [applause] BARRY GELLER: Thank you. One of the most interesting things that has happened this past year is the recognition that the work that Jack and I did is now in [The International] Spy Museum [in Washington, D.C.], showing Jack’s pictures and my script. And it shows, more important than anything else, that Jack’s work affected our culture and—it changed everything. So that’s always there. It’s something phenomenally in my heart. The Jack Kirby Museum President, Tom Kraft, and I have completed a set of museum-quality prints of those, and they are at the museum and online. And it shows, again, that part of history that was shared. And we’ll have a film of Mike Royer, myself, and Tom going over all the details of what Jack wanted and why

Space-Out

Star Children & New Seeds Jack Kirby’s Interpretation of Arthur C. Clarke’s 2001: A Space Odyssey, by John Misselhorn

(below) Page 7 pencils from Jack’s 2001: A Space Odyssey Treasury Edition (1976). Throughout the 1970s, you can find echoes of Arthur C. Clarke’s novels in Jack’s work, from OMAC (consciousness transferred into new, healthy bodies) to Eternals (the UniMind hearkens back to Clarke’s Overmind). (next page, top) Dave Bowman prepares for the (final) ride of his life. (next page, bottom) The final page of the 2001 Treasury Edition originally had a blurb alluding to the new ongoing series, but it was jettisoned for a typeset alternative.

n 1976 Jack Kirby did a comic book adaptation of 2001: A Space Odyssey in a Marvel Treasury Edition format [right]. Then he continued with a comic book series expounding further on the ideas presented in the movie and novel. The opinion of extant scholarship on these works has been mixed. Indeed, the series has been described as weird (see the bibliography at the end of this article)! Kirby’s adaptation of the movie/ book, although very psychedelic like the movie, is fairly straightforward. But his real interpretations of the story and his own creativity are revealed in his ongoing series that followed. This article does not intend to review the past opinions, but rather present a fresh understanding of Jack Kirby’s 2001: A Space Odyssey comic book series as it relates to Arthur C. Clarke’s original novel. First, it is necessary to present the most important themes of Arthur C. Clarke’s novel. Clarke was obsessed with the evolution of Homo sapiens into higher beings. It was this aspect of Clarke’s themes that Kirby was most interested in. In his previous novels, Clarke had

speculated about human evolution and the possibility of immortality. In Childhood’s End (1953), the children of the last generation merged with a great cosmic being known as the Overmind. In The City and the Stars (1956), the consciousness of each of the inhabitants of the city Diaspar was stored in a giant computer to be retrieved and placed into a physical body. Clarke would continue his musings on this theme in his novel, 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968). In Chapter 32 of 2001: A Space Odyssey, titled “Concerning ETs”, astronaut Bowman speculated how the aliens had created the Monoliths and were guiding human evolution—and by extension, how humans might be able to travel massive distances throughout the galaxy, and how they might evolve to accomplish this. Human bodies are so fragile, wear out, and have a short life span. Perhaps initially organic human brains could be transplanted into machines. Eventually the consciousness of the individual would be transferred into these machines, and the organic parts could be completely discarded. Finally all physicality could be abandoned, and we could become beings of pure energy, indestructible and immortal. Clarke even speculated how this is really no different from spirituality or even God: “There were other thinkers, Bowman also found, who held even more exotic views. They did not believe that really advanced beings would possess organic bodies at all. Sooner or later, as their scientific knowledge progressed, they would get rid of the fragile, disease-and-accident prone homes that Nature had given them, and which doomed them to inevitable death. They would replace their natural bodies as they wore out—or perhaps even before that—by constructions of metal and plastic, and would thus achieve immortality. The brain might linger for a little while as the last remnant of the organic body, directing its mechanical limbs and observing the universe through its electronic senses—senses far finer and subtler than those that blind evolution could ever develop. “Even on Earth, the first steps in this direction had been taken. There were millions of men, doomed in earlier ages, who now lived active and happy lives thanks to artificial limbs, kidneys, lungs, and hearts. To this process there could be only one conclusion—however far off it might be. And eventually even the brain might go. As the seat of consciousness, it was not essential; the development of electronic intelligence had proved that. The conflict between mind and machine might be resolved at last in the eternal truce of complete symbiosis... But was even this the end? A few mystically inclined biologists went still further. They speculated, taking their cues 32

from the beliefs of many religions, that mind would eventually free itself from matter. The robot body, like the flesh-and-blood one, would be no more than a stepping-stone to something which, long ago, men had called “spirit.” “And if there was anything beyond that, its name could only be God.” (Clarke 173–174) In Chapter 37—“Experiment”—from a universal perspective, Clarke finally describes how the ETs, who have been assisting in humanity’s evolution through the Monoliths, achieved their own immortality: “And now, out among the stars, evolution was driving toward new goals. The first explorers of Earth had long since come to the limits of flesh and blood; as soon as their machines were better than their bodies, it was time to move. First their brains, and then their thoughts alone, they transferred into shining new homes of metal and of plastic. “In these, they roamed among the stars. They no longer built spaceships. They were spaceships. But the age of the Machine-entities swiftly passed. In their ceaseless experimenting, they had learned to store knowledge in the structure of space itself, and to preserve their thoughts for eternity in frozen lattices of light. They could become creatures of radiation, free at last from the tyranny of matter. Into pure energy, therefore, they presently transformed themselves; and on a thousand worlds, the empty shells they had discarded twitched for a while in a mindless dance of death, then crumbled into rust. Now they were lords of the galaxy, and beyond the reach of time. They could rove at will among the stars, and sink like a subtle mist through the very interstices of space. But despite their godlike powers, they had not wholly forgotten their origin, in the warm slime of a vanished sea. And they still watched over the experiments their ancestors had started, so long ago.” (Clarke 186) Just as Moon-Watcher’s evolution had heralded the evolution of pre-humans into Homo sapiens, it is logical to think that so would Bowman’s evolution from Homo sapiens into the Star Child herald humanity’s evolution to the next stage. In Chapter 5, “Encounter in the Dawn,” of Part One,

“Primeval Night,” Moon-Watcher becomes fully cognizant of his newly evolved power: “For a few seconds Moon-Watcher stood uncertainly above his new victim, trying to grasp the strange and wonderful fact that the dead leopard could kill again. Now he was master of the world, and he was not quite sure what to do next. But he would think of something.” (Clarke 32) Clarke next describes the “ascent of man” in Chapter 6, as all humans follow Moon-Watcher. (Clarke 35-37) Finally at the end of the novel, after Bowman’s transformation into the Star Child: “Then he waited, marshaling his thoughts and