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)

No Wonder that Deadline Doom was Dreaded (King Kirby 056)

An Artist In Contention With A Contentious Monster.
This is unarguably my favorite Jack Kirby drawing of Jack Kirby. I'm just going to leave it laying here and see if it doesn't become your favorite, too.

Jack Kirby by Jack Kirby (1978)

Double Kirby (King Kirby 055)

I believe that my enjoyment of Jack Kirby's 2-page spreads, both with & without Joe Simon. There's a distinct difference between those big spreads when he's working alone or with his old partner. That fact that both can be so gloriously good just makes me appreciate those differences even more. (And then i get all gooey Vulcan feelings inside for the IDIC, but let's move along) Those big double page spreads have a Kirby trademark at points in his career, but did you know that his very first job for Timely (Marvel) was a double page spread?
Yup. Way back in 1939 for the very short lived pulp magazine, ironically named Marvel Tales. Even before he was doing comics for them, he was already doing the doubles:

Okay, none of that is quite true. This is actually from Marvel Stories, which came out in 1940. But i bumped into this in The Jack Kirby Treasury, and they had mistaken Marvel Stories for Marvel Tales, published by Western Fiction Publishing Co., which alters the timeline just a few months. But in those few months Simon & Kirby worked on their first three issues for Timely - Red Raven #1, Daring Mystery #6, and Marvel Mystery Stories #13. In those first three issues, they brought a god down to Earth to be the hero (Mercury), introduced Marvel Boy, and introduced The Vision. So they were already off to a rocking start, foreshadowing the Marvel Age that followed a couple decades later.
Nonetheless, i do think that this is the first double pager done for Marvel-to-be. I haven't dug out that issue of Red Raven yet to be sure, but it seems likely this was the first.

Now that we've worked that out, let's enjoy 10 double-splash spreads from The King. Not a Top 10, just a Ten 10. I've still got massive piles of Kirby comics to read through and pull to the gallery piles. Can't evaluate from a partial selection, now can we? (Well, according the people at the Miss Universe pageant, my opinion is wrong, wrong, oh, so wrong.)

Please do take time to read the caption on this one:

I really loved what Jack (and Joe) did with all that space in which to play.

2-page glory by Jack Kirby & friends from 2001: A Space Odyssey, The Demon, Devil Dinosaur, Stuntman, Jimmy Olsen, New Gods, Headline Comics, and Forever People. Oh, and Marvel Stories. If you want to know the issue #, ask

Return of Mobster Monday (King Kirby 054)

The old crime comics from the 1940s on which Jack Kirby worked, usually with Joe Simon, had a cover style that was heavy in exposition and often seemed like they were trying to tell the whole story on the cover. Here's a gallery of 13 Simon & Kirby covers from the period, mostly from Justice Traps The Guilty because we already looked at a bunch from Headline Comics. You can get a pretty good idea of what i mean from these:

Hey! You made it past all those bad, nasty people- congratulations.
Here - have a nice little 6 page Simon & Kirby story from the first issue of Justice Traps The Guilty to reward yourself:

all art by Jack Kirby & Joe Simon for Justice Traps The Guilty and Real Clue Crime Comics (1947-1951)

Green - Not Just For Anger Anymore (King Kirby 053)

It's Monday once again, and usually we have our Blue Monday feature. But both Jack Kirby and the King Kirby 100 are generally Safe For Work. Next week, Blue Monday will return, but not as a part of the KK100. This week, we have another special edition of

One place Kirby played around with slightly more adult content was in a couple of his collages. Unfortunately, these are old and glue rippled, no longer in the best of shape. It almost makes me want to start an insane project of trying to identify all of the source images in order to recreate the collages anew.
Yeah... Insane.
Let's just take a look and push those thoughts away.

Goddesses by Jack Kirby (1960s)