Post-Groovy Heroes

...and then they came...

As the Groovy Age wound down, society turned an eye inward to reflect upon what we learned, if anything, during this time of turmoil and growth. With all the radical changes, what was the new "normal" in our world?

We've seen before that Esquire will gaze upon the comic world upon occasion, even tapping great talents like Jack Kirby to create for them. So it's not a great surprise to find them looking at comics and superheroes, and calling upon some great talents to do so. Their suggested new heroes for the new era in this month of 1972 featured creations by (in order of published pages) Berni Wrightson, Jeff Jones, Mike Ploog, Barry (no Windsor yet) Smith, Ralph Reese, and Alan Lee Weiss. Each was given one page to present their options to fill the void left

...and so it went...

pages by Berni Wrightson, Jeff Jones, Mike Ploog, Barry Windsor Smith, Ralph Reese, and Alan Lee Weiss for Esquire (1972 Mar)

46 Hours And 36 Minutes (King Kirby 078)

We saw previously some art Jack Kirby did for Esquire magazine's 1966 article about Comics On Campus. We didn't talk about how Kirby got screwed on that deal. Esquire acquired Jack's services through Marvel comics, who attracted Kirby's interest by offering magazine rates for the artwork, considerably higher than the rate paid for comic book work, making the deal very enticing. After the work was done, including an unpublished cover - the original art for which was lost - Jack learned that Marvel, not Esquire, was paying for the job, and they were only giving him comic book rates for it.
The contact at Esquire apologized for the whole mess upon learning the details, and promised Kirby more work to help make up for it. So it was that a few months later, Jack was contracted to illlustrate this short piece on the the last 46 Hours And 36 Minutes In The Life Of Jack Ruby appeared in that May's Esquire magazine. The original pages had documentary references to the Warren Commission Report and other sources at the bottom, dozens in total, showing the depth of research for the script:

46 Hours And 35 Minutes In The Life Of Jack Ruby by Jack Kirby with Chic Stone for Esquire #402 (1967)

Kirby On Campus (King Kirby 034)

In 1966 Esquire magazine ran a piece on the rise of comic books in campus culture. Through Marvel, they got Jack Kirby to illustrate the article and do a cover for the issue. Tragically, the cover was not only never used, it was lost and has remained unprinted to this day, and has only ever been seen by a very lucky few. So, no cover image for this post. I'm going with the lost Kirby cover.

 

 

Here's full page view so you can see how it all went together, even if you can't really read much in these images:

Okay, You Passed... illustrated by Jack Kirby for Esquire magazine (September, 1966)