In 1970, after a mostly cryptic ad campaign heralding his arrival, Jack Kirby quietly appeared in one little corner of the DC universe. It would be almost half a year before The Forever People and New Gods would kick off the new Kirby titles, with Mr. Miracle, The Demon and Kamandi: The Last Boy On Earth following in their wake.
The DC execs wanted to have Jack do a pre-existing book, both to integrate him into the company and to give him an immediate paycheck while developing his own books. Jack, being Jack, didn't want to take work from another artist, so he chose a minor book without a regular creative team assigned - Superman's Pal, Jimmy Olsen. Jimmy Olsen was a title that had run on inertia for quite a while, primarily selling simply by virtue of being a member of the Superman family. (Younger readers may be interested to know there was a time when DC viewed Superman as their flagship character, featuring him at every opportunity)
Then Jack kicked the door down and walked into the place like he owned it...
...and he did. KIRBY IS HERE! we're warned at the top of the cover - Jimmy presiding over a buttkicking for Superman, and you just knew it wasn't one of those old Silver Age tales that would have a full page of exposition to explain the convoluted circumstances that made their confrontation a twisted necessity. And what the hell are those bikers riding down off of...?
Olsen walks in on the first page, as confused as the readers in his new situation...
...and when we turn the page, Jack hits us with our first 2-page splash in his new reign at DC, and the techno beast that is the Whiz Wagon. (That's what happens when it gets named by a group of kids (Reed's just a big kid)) ...
In half a dozen panels (some rather big) Kirby has already changed the dynamic of nearly everything. He's introduced a new science fiction flavor that will build exponentially over the next few issues. He re-introduced the Kid Gang genre to modern comics. Perhaps the most dramatic new element - Olsen's new boss, Morgan Edge - a change that would affect all the Superman titles for years to come. Morgan Edge and Galaxy Broadcasting instead of Perry White and the Daily Planet was so jarring to many readers, that a few months later this page ran in some titles just to say 'Change Happens, Relax.' (Also - Buy Our Comics!)
Meanwhile, back in Jimmy Olsen 133... Morgan Edge has decided that Clark Kent's connection to Superman makes him a potential liablity his plans with Olsen and ordered someone/thing called Intergang to get rid of him. Somehow Clark survives being run down, and decides to take some sick time, allowing Superman to follow after Jimmy to protect him from the secrets of the Wild Area. But with the Whiz Wagon, the boys have already arrived...
In short order, the gang finds themselves under attack and pinned down - mostly...
The Newsboys charge during the confusion, and a full on rumble breaks out...
Of course, now that Jimmy has defeated their leader in combat, he is their new leader.
A short while later, Superman finds the hidden entrance to the Wild Area...
Superman in Weird Wonderland continues for a short bit, until ...
Of course, Jimmy Olsen is now leading the Outsiders (sorry, Batman - he got here first), and so...
The King serves up warning - yeah, it's nice to be Kryptonian, but that'll only get you so far. Technology has a habit of moving beyond the old 'gods'. Eventually, Kal El wakes up in the Habitat...
...and is soon reunited with Olsen...
Kirby exploded onto the scene and nothing about Jimmy Olsen's book was the same as before. Almost nothing. Just a moment on that...
In the next issue, Jack continued to shake things up and introduce the new readers to KIRBY, with his bold splashes and dynamic layouts...
...his two-page splash panels...
...he took his trademark collages to new level...
...ladled in plenty of Kirbytech eye candy...
...and in the last panels, gave the first indications of the war to come...
(Unfortunately, the colourist had no idea about Darkseid)
Jack Kirby was making huge changes, rapidly building a new mythology hiding behind the scenes, and making Jimmy Olsen the most exciting Superman book of the day to read. He was working as a Master Creator and Storyteller, and through it all we got one consistent message from the editors at DC -
Jack's not really good enough to be here.
In a slavish devotion to house style, Superman & Jimmy Olsen were routinely redrawn to look nothing like Jack Kirby's work. It was jarring and constant, and it continually sent that subliminal message to the readers - Kirby's just not good enough for DC. I can't help but think that it hurt the perception of Kirby's work and titles during his time at DC - i know very well that some of my friends at the time were affected by it, and pointed it out in arguments/debates. And worse - that desperate lock on house style was slowly killing DC in the market. Of course, it was hardly the first nor the last time that corporate stupidity would make the world less than it might have been.
Okay, i'm getting downbeat here. Let's let The King end things on a more optimistic note:
all pages by Jack Kirby & Vince Colletta from Jimmy Olsen #s 133 & 134 (1970)
I think the redrawing of Supes and Olsen in the initial issues of JO and Forever People was clumsily executed, but when Murphy Anderson handled the job (where he didn't redraw the figures, just inked and 'corrected' the faces), then it wasn't at all bad. I seem to remember that the same thing happened on Werner Roth's art over on the Lois Lane books. And it routinely happened at Marvel, where his Spidey, Peter Parker, and Mary Jane drawings were inked by John Romita to bring them 'on-model'. Then there's at least one instance in FF Anual #3, where a Ditko Spider-Man was pasted over Jack's own. I don't think he had cause to complain though, because he often redrew figures or panels by other artists on other strips, so it was a fairly common occurrence at the time.
ReplyDeleteHaving seen stats of Jack's original Superman faces, I prefer the Anderson-inked versions. Jack often drew Supes with his parting on the wrong side, even making it look like a bad toupee or comb-over on occasion. Also, it seems he didn't even try to do Superman's 'S' in the accepted manner, so if he'd been more open to direction, DC perhaps wouldn't have felt the need to 'fix' his work. After all, was it really beyond Jack's ability to draw one particular hairstyle? More than likely he simply didn't try to.
Incidentally, I think that Jimmy Olsen was the best title that Jack worked on at DC - superb stuff.
I can understand the call (and i liked your side-by-side comparison of Kirby's pencils and Anderson's inks), but i do think it was jarring enough to send a subtle message.
ReplyDeleteAs you might guess, i loved Kirby's work on Jimmy Olsen quite a bit. The only DC book of his i dug even more was Kamandi.
On Jimmy Olsen, i loved how Kirby's weird world collided with the DC universe, and on Kamandi how he had free reign to let his mind run loose.
I think perhaps because I was equally familiar with both Kirby's and Anderson's art, I didn't find the 'amalgam' quite so jarring. I think if Jack's Superman and Olsen faces hadn't been brought in line, fans of the characters would've found his versions even more jarring than Kirby fans. Still a great series though.
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