Showing posts with label Fantastic Four. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Fantastic Four. Show all posts

20 August 2017

The King And More (King Kirby 077)


I promised more of our Kirby In Comics feature today, and we've got some good ones to fill that promise.
Going back to late 1968 and early '69 in Not Brand Echh #s 11, 12, & 13, let's start with a trinity of parodies of The King -




Of course, there was that time Alan Moore had Supreme meet Jack Kirby...


Just gotta love that tribute to one of Jack Kirby's greatest covers:


 Of course, how does Moore treat The King inside? Let's look and see...


Whole Lotta Love there. Almost called Jack Kirby God or something.
Of course, there's that time the Fantastic Four actually met God...


...and from a meta standpoint, it's an inarguable truth.

Jack Kirby stars in Not Brand Echh #s 11, 12, & 13 (1968-9), Supreme: The Return #6 (2000), and Fantastic Four #511 (2004)

19 August 2017

How Bad Did It Suck? (King Kirby 072)


Almost 40 years ago Marvel found itself in a similar position to their current media ownership issues. When making a Fantastic Four cartoon, they couldn't use the Human Torch because he had been licensed to another studio (Universal? Columbia?) for a possible movie. So they replaced Johnny with H.E.R.B.I.E., which was an acronym for Who Gives A Crap? We hated the cartoon before it ever hit the air because of that stupid looking robot taking Johnny Storm's place. Animation as a whole was at a low point, and pretty much everything sucked, it was only a question of how hard.
Memories of the cartoon are so vague now, i truly cannot recall the quality at all. I'm not even certain i watched them. I was starting a family at the time and working multiple jobs back in those days. I missed a lot of shows - we didn't even have VCRs yet.
But, y'know - look at some of Jack Kirby's storyboards for one of those old toons (episode 9 - The Frightful Four, for the curious among you):


I look at those, and now i want to see those old cartoons. If only to see how badly they screwed up Jack's storyboards, but hopefully to see how much of his original work carried through to the final cartoons.
And i absolutely Love that shot of Ben running in that next to last row of panels. I want to see how that looked animated!

storyboards by Jack Kirby for Fantastic Four Season 01 Episode 09 (1978)

18 August 2017

Friday Fun & Games 005 (King Kirby 069)


It's Friday, so it's once again time (in case the title hadn't clued you in already) for -


This week, it's time to test your editorial skills, or something like that. Whatever cheap excuse we need to play Spot The Difference. Below are two images, the first is Jack Kirby's cover for Fantastic Four Annual #3. I've done terrible things to the second image. You know how this game is played, right?
Spot the 27* Differences between the two images:



You're probably going to want to click & enlarge for easier spotting. Join us tomorrow for Saturday Solutions to see the answers if  you haven't found them already.

glorious cover by Jack Kirby and Mike Esposito for Fantastic Four Annual #3 (1965)


===

*(Because 27 is 3 to the 3rd power, of course)

15 August 2017

Reality Comics (King Kirby 057)


I talked a bit last month about some of the reality hopping/bending adventures at DC comics where-in the creators of the comics in Earth Prime would
cross over to interact with their characters on Earth One (or Two or ... well, it used to be infinite). It was all strange world-bending fun.

Over at Marvel comics, they didn't have the same constraints. Superman lived in Metropolis. Batman in Gotham City. Flash in Central City. And so it goes with their roster of heroes.

But the Fantastic Four - Spider-Man - Doctor Strange - DareDevil - The Avengers ...  they all operated out of New York City, right here in the 'real' world. Marvel comics, of course, are published in New York City. Which can lead to that weird little blurb on the cover of Fantastic Four #10. And, inside the comic, after a few pages of character interaction with the First Family of Marvel Comics...


The FF need that licensing fee, so Reed changes to some civvies and heads over to the Marvel offices...


Last we had seen the bad Doctor, he was flying off uncontrollably into deep space. He explains that he encountered technologically advanced beings, learning much from them, even body transference that they use to forestall death. Now he has returned to Earth, augmented by greater-than-ever technology...


Reed tries to explain to the others, but Victor is ready for that...


The team each share their fantasies of how to deal with "Doom," but Victor's got his own plans, of course.


Now that he's secured the real Mr. Fantastic - how to deal with the rest of the team?  As always, he's got a plan. A whacky plan, but a plan. Let's let him explain it:


The team flips for this news, and they head off to chill while "Reed" gets things ready.
However, the real Reed manages to escape and tries to reach Alicia Masters hoping she can perceive the truth about his situation. Alicia isn't alone, however...


They take "Doom" back to the Baxter Building to get "Reed's" advice...


...which leads to a solution heavily steeped in that crazy Silver Age comic book science:


 Yup. Right through walls and everything.


And so, once again, Doctor Doom is lost to his seeming... Doom?
Until the next time he walks into the Marvel offices, likely to demand a cut of the money generated by his appearances in their books.

our comics is real comics from Fantastic Four #10 (1963)