Kirby Is HERE! (King Kirby 084)

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)

Mobster Monday (King Kirby 051)

Just over 45 years ago, when The King was building the Fourth World and reshaping the DC universe and giving them their greatest villain, (see upcoming Justice League debacle as a for-instance) these strange ads for not-quite-a-comic magazines started to appear:

Oh, these were so cruel. We knew right away that both the Handy Andy and the Rose's 5 & Dime where we bought our comics from a spinner rack were NEVER going to see these, so neither would we. (Somehow long distance purchases via mail never seemed to work out - a condition that plagues me on the web to this day) In The Days Of The Mob and Spirit World became Holy Grails for our little group of  geeks. And, like the Grail, they remained unobtainable for long years. Not until questing across the country to California did i finally see this cover in color:

Spirit World eluded me for a few years more, but that was okay. Jack Kirby and The Mob was bigger appeal for me, by far. I may have frequently dwelt on the edges of the spirit worlds, but that generally left me less interested in the genre as a rule. Kirby and gangsters? Oh, hell yeah. I tracked down a bunch of old Simon & Kirby gangster tales by then - Real Clue Crime Stories, Justice Traps The Guilty, Police Trap, Headline Comics... I was hooked on his crime tales every bit as much as his superhero epics. And here we've got Big Al Capone! Ma's Boys - that's gotta be Ma Barker, right? John Dillinger!
As crime comics go, this was the biggest cross-over event ever, even if they were all separate stories, linked only by Jack Kirby telling them. Could you get a better link? This was the All-Stars!

That inside front cover was pure joy, confirmation of Ma Barker, a reminder that the Kansas City Massacre involved Pretty Boy Floyd, feature & article... and at the bottom - "Written, drawn & editted by Jack Kirby" - framed by a Kirby Collage. And Vince Colletta backing him up. Well, hot burning damn! And on the first page - what's this? This isn't even on the table of contents. Bonus!

Which leads to the first story in the book...

Okay - this one was weird, and it had nothing to do with the contents of the magazine. By the time In The Days Of The Mob was finally in my hands, we were watching Big Bad Mama with Angie Dickenson standing in for Ma Barker, and William Shatner & Tom Skerritt subbing for The Boys. And while it wasn't Ma Barker's story (cough *daughters* cough), it paralleled enough that Dickenson & Shatner's naked love scenes just completely skewed anything vaguely related. I pretty much just skimmed this one on the first read through.
After Ma's tale, the warden heads over to the Dispensary to stop in on a group playing cards while healing 'old wounds' - Owney Madden, Arnold Rothstein, Dutch Shultz, Bo Weinberg, Casbah Holstein, and Jack "Legs" Diamond. But a fight breaks out and the guards have to pull out a flame thrower to keep the peace, so we head over to meet-

Not surprisingly, Big Al gets the longest story in the book, including another Kirby spread:

After the main act, we get a Featurette...

...an Article...

...and then back for one more big story...

...with another great Kirby splash...

...before wrapping up with a 2-page info piece reminiscent of some of the old 1940s crime features Kirby & Simon had done...

I find it interesting that he avoided the typical need to use the Latin Modus Operandi as well as the English Method of Operation, keeping a more street-level feel to things. That's quite rare in my experience.

Wait? What's this...?

Sergio Aragones? What? How?
Yep - His name was there in the table of contents. I just somehow missed it. After the slap in the brain from his cartoons popping up unexpectedly, it was a terrific bonus. How did this come about?
The most delightfully unexpected people turn up with Jack Kirby at times.

And inside the back cover, a teaser of a magazine that never was...

Ah - if only there had been a distribution system in place for these magazines at the time. So many wanted them, so few could get them...

There was even a fold out poster in the center:

Now, if you'll excuse me, it's time to go put on the record and read along...

Everything except Sergio Aragones by Jack Kirby for In The Days Of The Mob #1 (1971)

Sergio Aragones by Sergio Aragones
Lying record mock-up by Tyrone Biljan

What The Haney?

Do you remember Prez!, the "Imaginary" DC series about the USA's first 18 year old president?
Groovy surrealist fantasy & social satire in a private little world?

so....       Nope. Just - Nope.

Snell, over at Slay, Monstrobot...!, pointed out the existence of this book a few years back. It's just wrong. What sort of reality bending/dimension hopping/rift breaching could bring about this situation?
Let's look, shall we?

Wait -what? So many things wrong on this page that we can't even go into all of them here!
Prez Rickard is now president on Earth One? And no one thinks this is odd? Is that Geraldo Rivera? Those Pants!
Who's responsible for this? This kind of IDC reality bending - it's Bob Haney, right?

NOPE. Supergirl goes ape courtesy of Cary Bates (a known breacher!), aided & abetted by Art Saaf & Vince Colletta. Not a Haney hiney in sight. And yet, still we have this kind of wtf science happening:

...um, what?

Either televisions on Earth One are vastly more sophisticated than any technology we can as yet begin to imagine, or NO! It Doesn't Work That Way! X-ray vision shows you a photon cannon shooting back at you! (Inside the cathode ray tube that forms the tv screen. I miss CRTs just because we don't have photon cannons in the house any more.)
Supergirl and Prez greet each other with familiarity, both seeming to be quite at home in this odd universe...

... and Prez, being Prez, fixes a time piece...

...before they split up and go on with their lives...

Right On. But this was not an isolated attempt on Pres. Prez's life. Along his travel route they find an antique clock auction, and Prez finds the only broken clock in the place...

They quickly realize that not only is this part of an ongoing plot, but the plotters also have access to restricted information, like Prez's route. In short order, it's decided to abandon plans, and Supergirl will fly him to the White House instead.
Of course, that's exactly what our baddies expected:

 

But mere magic isn't enough. It's augmented by...

Is that a Photon Cannon? You mock me, sirs. Mock me!
ahem...
Reinforced by science, the curse is fired at Supergirl, leading to her King Kong moment:

So.... to top things off - science dilutes sorcery, making it ineffective on Kryptonians?
Are we sure Bob Haney wasn't involved? Mentoring Cary or something?

Well, obviously the thing to do is to jump ahead a few issues and see how the responded to the barrage of questions from the readers.
Oh. That was the last issue of the series. Clever bastards.
But fine. I can roll with this.

Bring On the epic Batman Vs. Boss Smiley mega-series!

true madness by Cary Bates, Art Saaf & Vince Colletta from Supergirl #10 (1974)