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)

Friday Fun & Games #003 - WHOZIT? (King Kirby 014)

Yes, it's the King Kirby 100, but it is also Friday! That means it's time for a special edition of :

 

Today's game:

WHOZIT?

Identify by name, if you can, these Jack Kirby drawn creatures and fiends

Whozit #1:

This poor guy just wanted to be human. Probably so he could have a 'real' name, instead of ___________.

Whozit #2:

 This guy shouldn't exist, but he does! He was called _______________.

Whozit #3:

This ugly crawling creature was known as _______________________.

Whozit #4:

Everybody talks about giant monkeys, but only Kirby draws 'em. This big monkey's name was _________.

Whozit #5:

This ugly dude was known more by a title than a name. That title was _________________.

Whozit #6:

This guy got himself into some hairy trouble in the high mountains. He was ____________________.

Okay - that's it for now. Work out your answers and you can check them on tomorrow's Saturday Solutions.

nope. no credits today - too easy. credits tomorrow

The King gets Odd (King Kirby 013)

For this outing, we've got a strange little tale from Alarming Tales #1. Black Cat Mystic was seemingly selling well, and Harvey decided on a second title for the genre, utilizing the Simon & Kirby team. (Good call there)

The first issue was fairly jam-packed with Kirby goodness, and we'll be getting another taste in a bit. Best not to bite off too much at one time.
Trust me. Your Granny knows best what's good for you...

So, for today we're just going to run an entire story - it's only 5 pages. The King gets to play and get odd with the art (inking his own pencils) in this reality bending tale, delightfully entitled The Fourth Dimension Is A Many Splattered Thing.

The Fourth Dimension Is A Many Splattered Thing from Alarming Adventures #1 (1957)

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)

Extraordinary Gents (King Kirby 011)

Okay, you've got a great idea. But what are you going to call it?
Sometimes first thoughts aren't the way to go...



WTF? I don't think you'll see me rushing out to buy that first issue of League Of Death-Cheaters! I'm not sure how to carry something that clunky home all by myself.

Wait -what?
Oh. OH!
Well, that's different then:

 

At least they had a better name by the time they reached the cover.

I'll really enjoyed King Kirby's the-industry-isn't-doing-superheroes?-fine!-i'll-give'em-non-superheroes!-HA! title, Challengers Of The Unknown. But,damn... LeagueOf Death-Cheaters is a bad name, no matter how descriptive of the concept it may be.

League of Death-Cheaters ad from My Greatest Adventure #13 (1957)

Joe & Jack aka The King & I (King Kirby 010)

In 1990, Gary Groth ran an interview with Jack Kirby in The Comics Journal #134. We'll be taking a look at the interview, but not yet. It's pretty amazing, at over 40 pages(!) it's a lot to break down. But in that same issue, he also interviewed Jack's long-time partner, Joe Simon. Much of the interview is given to the business of comics and to Joe's new book, The Comic Book Makers. A fair chunk is, quite naturally, dedicated to his relationship and work with Jack. The rest is well worth reading for those interested in comics history, but this is King Kirby month, so let's just excerpt those bits of the conversation, eh?
(Yeah, i know the text images below are presented rather large, but if i scale them down the system here scales by height, not width, so they keep shifting sizes making reading even more awkward. I'll take that into account when prepping the next scanned text piece.)

Bonus Pic: Here's the 1941 photo of Joe Simon and Jack Kirby they used for the introductory image on the article:

Joe Simon interviewed by Gary Groth for The Comics Journal #134