50 Years Ago Today...2001 Arrived!

No, I haven't gone senile...yet!

On this date in 1968, Arthur C Clarke and Stanley Kubrick's masterpiece 2001: a Space Odyssey, hit movie theatres like an atom bomb!

Eight years after that, a comic adaptation finally appeared...in the now-defunct, tabloid-sized "Treasury" format by none other than Jack (King) Kirby...

(You can read it at this amazing site!)

...followed by an ongoing series by Kirby that, to this day, generates controversy among comics aficionados!

Due to licensing limitations, neither the movie adaptation or the sequel series have been reprinted in the US, but we've re-presented the complete set of these otherwise lost tales on this blog!

Click on the titles below the covers to go to each story!

#1 "Beast Killer"

#2 "Vira, the She-Demon"

#3 "Marak"

#4 "Wheels of Death" ("Marak" Part 2)

#5 "Norton of New York: 2040 AD"

#6 "Inter-Galactica" ("Norton of New York: 2040 AD" Part 2)

#7 "New Seed"

#8 "Capture of X-51" (Mister Machine Part 1)

#9 "Mister Machine" (Mister Machine Part 2)

#10 "Hotline to Hades" (Mister Machine Conclusion)

Blow Your Mind, True Believer!

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Making of Stanley Kubrick's 2001: a Space Odyssey

Taschen

Reading Room ASTONISHING TALES "Doctor Doom: ...and if I be Called Traitor--!"

Witness a Clash of Kings...

...as the evil ruler of Latveria and the heroic monarch of Wakanda face off under a Herb Trimpe-rendered "split cover"...

In Marvel's Astonishing Tales #8 (1970), writer Gerry Conway and penciler Gene Colan step into the middle of a two-part story and while Colan (who's previously-drawn both Doctor Doom and the Black Panther) does an amazing job, Conway falls flat when it comes to his knowledge of both Wakanda and Vibranium!
Despite the flaws in continuity (and simple logic), Conway does convey the differences in T'Challa and Victor's attitudes towards their respective constituencies and abstract concepts like "honor" and "responsibility", as well as the fact Doom respects the Panther both as a strategist and a fellow ruler!

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Essential Super-Villain Team-Up

Volume 1

(which reprints this story...but in black-and-white!)

Reading Room 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY "New Seed" Conclusion

When Last We Left Our Beyond-Human Protaganist...

...once known as Gordon Pruett, he had been transformed by a Monolith into a "New Seed" who now wanders time and space the way you and I wander local streets...

The remaining three issues after this introduced X-51 aka "Mister Machine", renamed "Machine Man", and now an integral part of the mainstream Marvel Universe.

You can read them HERE, HERE, and HERE, and unless you have the actual issues of 2001 in your comics collection, this blog is the only place I know of where you can do so!

Though Marvel has reprinted the later ongoing Machine Man series, it can't reprint the three issues of 2001 introducing the character, nor can it reference the Monolith's participation in the character's origin due to licensing issues!

NOTE: This wasn't the first series set in the 2001: a Space Odyssey universe!

In 1971, Polystyle's comic weekly Countdown introduced an ongoing two-page strip set sometime after 2001...

It was much more in the Dan Dare/Buck Rogers action/adventure vein than the movie.

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Simon & Kirby Library

Science Fiction

Reading Room 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY "Wheels of Death" Conclusion

When Last We Left Our Protaganist in 2001...

...Space Station Liberty I, orbiting Mars, is facing destruction by a meteor swarm!

Commander Herb Marik, perhaps a distant descendant of the barbarian of the same name from pre-history, acts to save his crew...

For the first time, we see what happens when a human doesn't transform into a "New Seed"!

And, that he posesses many of the same characteristics and traits of his apparent ancestor, who also encountered a Monolith!

Note: We already ran "Norton of New York 2240 A.D." and its' sequel "Inter-Galactica" HERE and HERE, so next Friday we re-present the only never-reprinted 2001: a Space Odyssey tale that explores what happens when a human goes to the "next level"...

...the New Seed!

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Simon & Kirby Library

Science Fiction

Happy 100th, Jack Kirby!

To celebrate his centennial, here's a Kirby piece that's never been reprinted in color!

Appearing in the September, 1966 issue of Esquire magazine...this art was later reused, in pieces, as clip art for various projects including MarvelMania publications.

The Spider-Man was retouched by John Romita to keep him "on-model".

The art (probably photostats) was hand-colored with Dr Martins dyes used for decades by comics colorists for their color guides.

Inking on this spread looks like Joe Sinnott. (The Thing is a dead-giveaway. Nobody inked him like Sinnott!)

These two pages were b/w in the original publication, though the art was probably provided in color.

(In b/w publishing, blues and greens print as light gray, reds and oranges print as dark gray.)

Note the unusual, never-seen-again leg-webbing above on Spider-Man!

The inking on these two pages looks, to my eye, like Frank Giacoia.

Wonder who has the originals?

Are they in the Esquire art archives, or were they returned to Marvel?

On a side note: the best way to appreciate Jack Kirby the creative person is to read/hear his own words.
For those who want to understand Kirby the man, a fairly-complete list of interviews with The King thanks to the Kirby Museum...HERE!

LONG LIVE THE KING!

Reading Room TALES TO ASTONISH "Monstrom! The Dweller in the Black Swamp!"

Last week, a mini-series debuted...

Art by Francesco Francavilla

...featuring Marvel's heroes and heroines vs monsters from the company's pre-superhero "Atlas Comics" days in the 1950s!

So, what we're going to do over the next few Fridays for the run of the title is present the first appearance of the cover-featured monster!

Art Adams

(Yes, the first issue was last week, but we had a different bloated orange swamp monster to deal with that Friday!)

So let's play "catch up" with..."Monstrom!The Dweller in the Black Swamp!

This story from Atlas' Tales to Astonish #11 (1960) by writer Stan Lee, penciler Jack Kirby, and inker Dick Ayers has been reprinted a number of times, almost always as the cover feature...

Jack Kirby and Dick Ayers

Jack Kirby, Dick Ayers, and Marie Severin

Ron Wilson, Mike Esposito, and Frank Giacoia

Monsters Unleashed looks like a lot of fun, so get it at your local comic shop...NOW!

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Monsters Unleashed: Prelude