Showing posts with label Jack Kirby. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Jack Kirby. Show all posts

Tuesday, October 29, 2024

Reading Room / Halloween Horror MONSTER OF FRANKENSTEIN COMICS "Premonition of Death!"

Some things just can't be explained by current science...
...but that doesn't make them any less real!
Is this a lost "Kirby Klassic" from the 1950s?
When Prize Comics' Monster of Frankenstein title was revived during the horror comic boom of the early 1950s, besides a wonderfully-gruesome version of Dick Briefer's previously-humorous Monster, it featured a number of two to four page "fillers".
Most of these tales appear to be, at the very least, laid-out by Jack Kirby.
This never-reprinted story from V3N3 (1954) is a prime example.
The Grand Comics Database lists the story's illustrator as Marvin Stein, who worked primarily for the Simon & Kirby studio, so this most likely was an S&K "inventory" story laid-out by Kirby and meant for insertion wherever editorial page count came up short.
Sadly, the writer of the story is, as in so many cases, unknown...
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Thursday, October 17, 2024

Reading Room BLACK MAGIC "Man Who Captured a Ghost!"

Most people wouldn't consider our judicial system a source of horror...
...at least not the non-corporeal type of terror!
Since Kirby (and Joe Simon) were the editors/art directors for the book, it's not unreasonable to think one or the other was also the story's writer.
While Kirby is clearly the cover artist...
...the interior art for the never-reprinted, cover-featured, tale from Prize's Black Magic V2N1 (1951) seems to be a combination of his layouts, pencils by Mort Meskin, and inks by Meskin and George Roussos!
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Tuesday, October 15, 2024

Reading Room BLACK CAT MYSTIC "A Weemer is the Best of All!"

"Whimsical" is not a word you usually associate with Jack (King) Kirby...
...but in this case, it's perfectly appropriate!
Though Jack Kirby both penciled and inked (a rare occurrence) this tale from Harvey's Black Cat Mystic #59 (1957), the identity of who wrote it is unknown, but it's probably Kirby himself or ex-partner Joe Simon who was the editor of the book at Harvey Comics!
BTW, Black Cat Mystic, despite the title, was a science-fiction, not horror, comic!
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Sunday, October 13, 2024

BLACK CAT MYSTIC "Woman Who Discovered America 67 Years Before Columbus!"

From Harvey's Black Cat Mystic #60 (1957)...
...comes a Joe Simon/Jack Kirby tale that may have been created for Simon & Kirby's Strange World of Your Dreams, but not used until years later!
Prize's Strange World of your Dreams only ran for four issues.
Several stories planned for the fifth issue ran in Prize's Black Magic after SWoYD was cancelled.
But S&K left Prize and took any unused material with them, so this could be another tale meant for SWoYD #5!
BTW, I was unable to find any record of an actual Marina Dorotea De Vargas, so it's safe to presume this is an entirely-fictional tale.
And, yes, Columbus Day is tomorrow.
But, we have an ongoing Monday feature we couldn't interrupt 
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Saturday, September 21, 2024

Space Hero Saturdays COSMIC CARSON "Iako's Attack!"

This totally-inaccurate cover from Fox's Science Comics #4 (1940) by Joe Simon...

...featuring characters who never appear in the strip (except for the hero) marks Cosmic Carson's only cover appearance ever!
Ah, but it's who's on the inside that counts...and for this issue, it's Jack (King) Kirby, who penciled and inked this story!
("Michel Griffith" was a Fox Comics pen-name that anybody who wrote or drew this strip used!)








Though this Cosmic Carson tale from Fox's Science Comics #4 (1940) ends on a cliffhanger, the story in the next issue neither resolves nor even mentions it, or the current plotline and characters!
Not surprising, since Kirby had been moved to other strips in the next month's production cycle.
Cosmic Carson, in and of itself, was one of the worst, most inconsistent, poorly-plotted and illustrated strips (with this one exception) in the history of comic books.
(And that's saying a lot!)
So enjoy this appearance, since it's the only one Cosmic Carson will make in any RetroBlog!

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Friday, June 28, 2024

Friday Fun FROM HERE TO INSANITY "Build It Yourself"

In the pre-Ikea era, assembling/building your own furniture successfully was a rarity...

...as writer/artist Jack Kirby points out!
This never-reprinted tale from Charlton's From Here to Insanity V1N11 (1955) spoofs the do-it-yourself mania that spread across post-war America thanks to magazines like Popular Mechanics and Mechanix Illustrated.
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Sunday, June 2, 2024

Red China has Landed a Robot Craft on the Far Side of the Moon!

Pencils by Jack Kirby, inks by Marvin Stein

We thought we'd be dealing with the Russkies on the lunar surface, but at this point, Putin has to buy rockets from North Korea!

Thursday, May 30, 2024

Reading Room TALES OF THE UNEXPECTED "Who is Mr Ashtar?"

We usually don't run stories that have already been reprinted...
...but this one is so kool, we just couldn't resist!
(And after reading, I'm dure you'll agree!)
Penciled and inked by Jack Kirby, shortly before his return to Atlas (which shortly thereafter became Marvel), the writer of this story from DC's Tales of the Unexpected #17 (1957) is unknown...but could be Kirby himself!
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...which includes this story!

Saturday, May 18, 2024

Space Force Saturdays THREE ROCKETEERS "Long Long Years"

Introduced in Harvey's Race for the Moon #3 (1958)...

This team of intrepid explorers survived the book's cancellation to appear in other Harvey titles over the next decade!

Penciled (and possibly written) by Jack Kirby and inked by Al Williamson, the team's debut exemplifies the 1950's optimism that science and humanity's desire to explore the unknown would enable us to set up space stations and moonbases within a few decades!
Sadly, as of the end of the first quarter of the 21st Century, over half a century later, we ain't there yet!
Yeah, we have one small space station, but nothing like what we envisioned...
Now that's a space station!
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