Well, I'M Astonished (King Kirby 022)

Jack Kirby's days cranking out creature tales for pre-Marvel comics may not have been the best of times for him, but he turned out a lot of terrific work during that period.
As we saw in later years in his depictions of Galactus, the Celestials, etc., nobody can do HUGE better than The King. So he was naturally suited to the giant monsters tales prevalent at the time. Of course, that was only one type of creation for those books. Kirby's imagination took him everywhere, and we were lucky enough to get dragged along on occasion.

Here's three of my favorite Tales To Astonish covers, one of which is arguably one of the most important Marvel covers of the day:

Tales To Astonish #08 - This was back in the days long after the last good, serious Universal Mummy flic, before the good reboot, way before the dren-eating reboot. Mummies were pretty much a joke - literally. Comedians routinely did bits about this guy stumbling along trailing toilet paper, and Abbott & Costello were doing movies with him.
Mummies weren't exactly scare factories (until D&D added a fear aura, actually making them scare factories ('Scare factory' because Kirby already did the Fear Factory)) But this guy would make me call the QM for new skivvies. Terrific cover design impressing the sense of scale.

Tales To Astonish #27 - Aside from its unique significance from a historic perspective, this one was fun for going the other way, making the small huge by scaling down the man. Richard Matheson's book turned movie, The Incredible Shrinking Man, was one of the coolest SciFi movies of the time, but Scott never got outnumbered the way Henry did here.

Tales To Astonish #29 - If pressed to pick one favorite of the bunch, this would be it. It's Raining Aliens! I love virtually everything about this cover. The visual depth of the image, the people fleeing the city invasion only to find the invasion is everywhere, the endless saucers filling the sky, the Rain Of Aliens! so starkly overwhelming every other aspect of the image, the muted color background to make them even more prominent... I can't even complain about how much space the logo takes up at the top of the page because it gives the image the nearest equivalent of a widescreen view for a vertical cover.

Tales To Astonish #s 8, 27, & 29 covers by Jack Kirby (1960, 1962)

Zero - He's Our Hero (King Kirby 015)

Jack Kirby, as most know, was incredibly prolific. With all the amazing thing he created, both alone and with partners, there's still the tantalizing appeal of the things almost created - those many gems left unpolished due to time and monetary constraints.
One of those potentially great looking projects was Starman Zero, created by the famous Simon & Kirby team back in 1947. The proposed series never went into production, but the concept sheets look terrific:

So cool looking. Check out that sleekly modern space suit design and then remember - this was 1947 when they were attempting to sell this strip! Great styling on the tech, plus time jumps, "atomic knights" and far out aliens. This two page concept art just begs the classic question - What If?

What If Jack & Joe had produced a Starman Zero comic? What would it be like?
Let's look and see, shall we?

For those of you WTFing at the monitor, wondering how this exists when there was no Starman Zero comic - it's a trick!

This tale actually comes from Fighting American #4. The story opens with him going to bed and he promptly drops into this "dream of the future" where we switch to an unused Starman Zero story, then come back to wake up on the next page following the above. I just cut out the first caption transitioning from dream to story in the presentation above and added the story credits to fill the space.

The story has a full page splash introduction, using mostly Starman Zero artwork, with the Fighting American overlooking:

It's nice to have those What If?s answered on occasion.

Starman Zero concept art by Simon & Kirby (1947), Homecoming by the same culprits in Fighting American #4 (1954)

Missed it by THAT much! (King Kirby 012)

Looking back through Jack Kirby's days telling monster stories before Marvel shifted gears, you'll start seeing some very familiar looking names. (Sometimes very familiar looking concepts, but - another day)

I mean, sure, Groot's famous for having roots in the monster comics:

I guess it really shouldn't be any surprise to see this name used again... 

...but, they were having a bit of trouble working out the spelling for another:

This guy was so close, but just a commoner:

Of course, if Van Doom is close, how about-

Sarring Doctor Droom?

Yep - he's our hero. A rather unconventional hero... almost like victor might have been on different path? Let's look at just the beginning and end of his first story:

It seems the got the arrogant attitude right, at the very least.
And, with this guy, they got a lot more than the name right. You can almost see him thinking, "I need a helmet."

I'm sure there were more, and please do fill in the gaps in my ignorance.
Meanwhile, Jack will help us all and cure our ignorance of how to stop Groot if he were to go rampaging here:

Note that all of these occurred within just a year or two of the Marvel reinvention with the launching of the Fantastic Four. No point to that, just note it.

Kirby covers & pages from Amazing Adventures #s 1,2,3&4, Strange Tales #s 79 & 84, Tales ToAstonish #s 13, 16, & 17 (1960-1961)

Dang thing stood on edge (King Kirby 004)

I couldn't make up my mind - Kirby Cover or Kirby Splash?
Let's do both!

From Tales To Astonish #10, a great old Kirby Splash from the Marvel Age of Monsters:

Now jump ahead a few years as we shift gears into the Marvel Age of Superheroes for a Fantastic Four cover not on the Fantastic Four, but on Strange Tales #108:

Ah, those golden days when Marvel still loved their first, best team and still published the World's Greatest Comic Magazine.

art by Jack Kirby from Tales To Astonish #10 (1959) and Strange Tales #108 (1963)