Fantastic Four #100 (Jack Kirby), July 1970, Re-creation by Fred Hembeck, 2010
50 years Ago, Marvel Comics celebrated its first ever milestone issue, with Fantastic Four #100, redrawn here 10 years ago by the very talented and affable Mr. Hembeck.
But the milestone proved bittersweet — because 50 years ago, one of the biggest stories in comic book history shook the industry: Jack Kirby was leaving Stan Lee and Marvel Comics to head to DC.
In March of that year, Jack turned in the pages for FF #102 and told Stan he was out. The most accomplished creative team in comics history was done. In comic book fan circles, it was as if the Beatles had broken up.
Which, actually, they had, with Paul making the announcement official just a few weeks later.
A dramatic beginning to a new decade of pop culture.
More on Jack and the move to DC later on; In the meantime, Happy New Year, and welcome to 2020!
The ironic final panel of Fantastic Four #100. The Lee / Kirby team may have been the greatest ever, but they were a team no longer. Plus, pop culture’s other superteam calls it quits, too.
Classic Jack Kirby action highlights this dynamic page from the extremely short-lived Double Life of Private Strong in 1959.
Here though, “Classic” suggests a Kirby Golden Age look and feel. (As an example, The Shield is jumping out of a panel — very similar to earlier Simon and Kirby techniques.) Definitely a time warp, since we were theoretically a few years into the Silver Age at this point.
When did the Golden Age end, exactly? I devoured all the comics’ history books I could get my hands on as a youngster. (Steranko, Feiffer, Daniels, Lupoff / Thompson, et al.) I’m not sure they all agreed on, or even in some cases, identified, the exact point of the “end.”
So my youthful brain filled in the blanks: If the first appearance of Silver-Age Flash (Showcase #4, 1956) launches the Silver Age, then Flash #104, the final issue of the original Flash Comics (1949) obviously ends the Golden Age. (Let’s just call the in-between period the “EC Age.”)
Very neat and tidy, but it only took a short while before I realized it was much more complex than that.
If not Flash, then, how about when All-Star Comics kicks out the Justice Society and switches to All-Star Western (1951)? Perhaps the last issue of the Spirit newspaper supplement (1952)? Or maybe when Captain Marvel and Whiz Comics ceased publication (1953)? And what about the brief return (1954) of Marvel’s “Big Three” (Sub-Mariner, Torch and Captain America). Are those Golden Age Comics?
EBay defines Golden Age Comics as any published through 1955. The well-known back-issue retailer Sparkle City Comics says the era ends in 1956, leading directly into the Silver Age.
See, it gets complicated.
But, if we consider Golden Age as a style of superhero storytelling rather than a timeframe, my vote goes here: The final Simon and Kirby team-up.
Archie Comics, seeing DC’s success at re-introducing superheroes, hired Joe Simon, who in turn hired Jack Kirby (they were no longer partners at this point) to help create some new super suits for themselves.
Two titles came as an immediate result of that ideation: The Fly, and The Double of Life of Private Strong, featuring an updated version of their original patriotic superhero, The Shield. Both characters were Simon and Kirby superheroes. And both looked and felt like Simon and Kirby superheroes. (Even if Simon himself didn’t ink the page.) The page and the story don’t in any way capture the modern feel of DC’s sleeker and slicker Flash, Adam Strange, et al — or especially Kirby’s own Challengers of the Unknown.
The Fly buzzed around for a few years, although Simon and Kirby left after a few issues. Private Strong? A mess from the start, with a terrible title, retro trade dress that appears borrowed from Simon and Kirby’s Golden Age Speed Comics, some obvious knock-offs from Captain America, and a background story that seemed so similar to Superman, DC sent a cease and desist letter to Archie.
After two issues, The Shield was done. Shortly thereafter, the temporary reunion of the Simon and Kirby team was also finished.
A few months later, Kirby and Stan Lee, already churning out monster stories at Marvel, would collaborate for the first time on an ongoing character with Rawhide Kid #17. Although no one knew it at the time, the “Marvel Age” had begun, and the Silver Age was about to rev into high gear.
And the Golden Age of Comic Books was definitively over.
With some pretty great old-school art by Jack to usher it out.
Archie’s original version of the Shield predates Simon and Kirby’s Captain America. Not to ever give the patriotic superhero concept a rest, the two star creators develop Captain Freedom (below) for Harvey, and Fighting American, an early creator-owned series in the 50s.
Apparently Joe and Jack couldn’t decide on Captain Freedom’s costume from issue to issue. Notice the star on the mask that disappears and reappears, not to mention the proportions of the stars on the chest, and the belt too.
Meanwhile… Across town at DC, Kirby’s Silver Age Challengers of The Unknown look like… Jack Kirby in the Silver Age! Giant robots, futuristic cities, et al, are a sign of things to come.
Crazy uncles… are crazy 365 days a year. So why is it on Thanksgiving especially we argue with them over domestic politics, international relations, trade wars, e-mail server locations, or any number of myriad topics bound to interfere with all that good food? (Ok, maybe we actually don’t see them the other 364.)
Here’s my suggestion. Let’s keep politics out of the Thanksgiving holiday, and if you must argue/debate/parry over something, keep it to pressing and nerdy comic book questions, like —
Which super villain is smarter (Luthor), which one is crazier (Joker), which one causes more trouble (tie). Essential topics like that. (And be thankful that while your uncle might be yelling at the TV all day, he’s probably not scheming to take over the city/nation/planet etc.)
And please, be polite. The only time you should be Rude is when discussing Steve. (No debate here — that was a bad pun.)
Also, if you look around the table and can’t find the crazy uncle, it might actually be you.
Have a Happy Thanksgiving!
Back soon with our continuing celebration of Marvel’s 80thanniversary.
Redo of Tales of Suspense #59, undated (approx. 2008)
The late, great Darwyn Cooke
produced a number of these reinterpretations and homages of classics during his
all too short lifetime.
I asked him about this one
time and he told me he did them to “relax.” Relax? Wow. Think Albert Pujols
walking into the batting cage prior to a game. Bam. Home Run. Bam. Another.
Bam. Another…
Chic Stone originally inked this milestone splash, one of Jack Kirby’s best known from his Captain America run. Darwyn’s version makes some tweaks — for the better. Most notable are the subtle changes to the face. Cap’s eyes now engage the reader more directly, and overall, his facial expression is clearer and more confident and feels more accurate to Kirby’s vision.
Once upon a time, Darwyn and
Marvel talked about an origins series, sort of the Marvel version of his
amazing New Frontier series at DC. That is definitely a project I’m certain would
have been a classic as well.
For more about Darwyn and the New Frontier, click here.
For more about this classic Captain America tale, click here.
Key appearances of Captain America during the Silver Age revival: Strange Tales 114 — the “first” one — is a cheat. (It’s an imposter, not Cap); The actual first appearance is Avengers #4, quickly followed by his own series in Tales of Suspense. His first solo cover is TOS #70, and he finally breaks into his own series — continuing the numbering from Tales of Suspense — with Captain America #100.Darwyn’s brilliant New Frontier at DC. Now imagine the Marvel version too.
2019 is somehow the 20th anniversary of Alan Moore’s ABC line of comics at Wildstorm / DC, which included Tom Strong and company.
Seems like only a few years ago that Wildstorm published the first issue of the cool retro-modern Strong, Moore’s obvious love letter to Doc Savage and other pulp heroes. Sprouse’s art was of course perfect for the character designs and storytelling. As noted previously, I’m a big fan of the Sprouse and Story team. (Al Gordon also did a nice job on inks of the earlier issues, but Karl gets my vote anytime Chris is penciling.)
Moore left the regular series shortly before this issue appeared, and in fact, it is “guest-written” by Mark Schultz, and “guest-drawn” by Pascual Ferry. The only Sprouse / Story art in this issue is this terrific cover. (To see it at full-size, check out the amazing and somewhat overlooked America’s Best Comics Artist’s Edition from IDW.)
Moore would team-up one more time with the art duo to wrap up the storyline in the final regular issue (#36), but fortunately for us, Sprouse and Story came back for both mini-series that followed, written by Peter Hogan. (Strong also ultimately appeared in a separate anthology series, Tom Strong’s Terrific Tales, featuring different creative combos.)
Now, of course, the ABC line is dormant and I’m pretty sure the Wildstorm imprint is as well. But Strong and his crew live on for now in the greater DCU, as part of the Terrifics, a quirky multi-verse title. Still, it is definitely worth revisiting the original 36 issues and the spin-off appearances.
Here’s an original to help us celebrate the 80th anniversary of Batman (I know, we said we were finished with that series… but this time we mean it!) and the 35th anniversary of the Teenage Mutant Turtles, launched in 1984.
Kevin Eastman was inspired to create this Frank Miller Dark Knight Returns homage during the first DC / IDW crossover between Batman and the Teenage Mutant Turtles. No surprise, as Kevin cites Miller and Jack Kirby as inspirations for his and Peter Laird’s original TMNT. The piece wonderfully captures the grittiness and weariness of Miller’s Batman; and Michelangelo as Robin? Mad genius. Everyone at both companies loved it.
But the art was formally submitted for approval a bit late in the game — after all the retailer variants and exclusive covers for that series had been determined and solicited, so it missed series one.
Flash forward to series two and three (2017 and 2019) — and now the DC retailer variant program has been virtually eliminated, and there is no logical place for the piece to appear as a cover. Sigh.
That third series is wrapping up now, and I’m assuming there will be collection of all three in a deluxe format at some point. Maybe this piece will appear as a bonus; I think fans would love to see it, and selfishly, I would love to see a color version.
As for how TMNT came to crossover with Batman in the first place? That’s a great tale, but one for another day.
The iconic Miller image from Dark Knight Returns and… An original art gift from Frank Miller To DC EditorJulie Schwartz in honor of his 75th birthday, 1990. I love it, but not as much as Kevin’s take on his own Dynamic Duo.
Today concludes our special series celebrating Batman’s 80th birthday.
I’m not a child of the ’50s. Didn’t make the cut.
But… I was a little kid in the ’60s when DC published many great 25-cent annuals (80 pages!) and specials reprinting classic tales of classic characters.
Like Batman, for instance.
It was in these annuals that I learned abut Giant Batman, Rip Van Batman, Rainbow Batman and more. I had no idea when these stories first appeared, and I didn’t care. It also didn’t matter that they didn’t quite fit in with the “new-look” Batman. They were goofy fun, and I was a kid, and goofy fun was a job requirement.
I hadn’t thought much about those iterations of Batman in recent years. Many of those stories have yet to be reprinted in the current DC omnibus collections because of, well, pesky chronology.
Then at SDCC, Preview Night, Michael Cho’s art representative put this original of Detective #1000 on display while I was chatting with him.
It floored me.
Michael captured so many of those wondrous Batman moments in one stunning and giant (Its drawn on a double-size board) original. And as noted previously, I’m a passionate admirer of his art.
I asked the price. The dealer answered. I gulped. My art budget would be shredded.
But I understood the pricing — it’s obviously a one-of-a-kind piece. A classic cover for a milestone comic book.
I hesitated for one millisecond. And then I was smart enough to say: “Yes, I want it.”
Good thing too. Turned out there was another buyer literally right behind me. (Typically, I’m the collector who just misses out, so this was unusual.)
I confess that I didn’t recognize ALL the Batmen on the cover at first. (Some of course are covered by the final trade-dress.) But fortunately, with Michael’s help, it’s now sorted out:
17 visible front-facing Batmen surrounding “Conventional” (Regular? Traditional?) Batman and Robin, and seven additional Batmen with a back view to the reader. Below is the complete list, with the original appearances noted as well. The art gallery features the original covers, as wells Michael’s preliminary art, created digitally.
These are not all the odd versions of Batman. Michael himself laments that he couldn’t fit in Batman Jones (Batman #108) or Batman Creature (Batman #162), and a few others, but hey, there’s only so much room.
As for Invisible Batman? (Detective #199.) Who’s to say he’s not also on the cover somewhere? I’m certainly not ruling it out.
Detective 1000 by Michael Cho:
Front view (17):
Jungle Batman – Batman 72
Rainbow Batman (full) – Detective 241
Mummy Batman – Detective 320
Giant Batman (leg) – Detective 243
“First” Batman (Thomas Wayne costume) – Detective 235
Alien Batman (weird face & body) – Batman 140
Alien Batman (orange ears) – Detective 251
Bat-Baby – Batman 147
Genie Batman – Detective 322
Swindle Batman – Detective 222
Captive Planet Batman (weird helmet) – Detective 256
Rip Van Batman – Batman 119
Scuba Batman – Detective 253
Robot Batman – Detective 239
Dragon Society Batman (tunic with #1) – Detective 273
Scottish Batman (kilt bottom) – Detective 198
“Original” Batman (cape open like wings) – Detective 195
Back View (7):
Bronze Batman – Detective 302
Clayface Batman – Detective 312
Zebra Batman – Detective 275
Interplanetary (space helmet) Batman – Detective 165
White Snow Suit Batman – Detective 165
Luminous (radiation) Batman – Detective 165
Rainbow Batman (pink) — Detective 241
Young brains explode — at a bargain price of a quarter!
Michael’s cover jarred my memory into recalling this 1994 cover by Jon Bogdanove which features many different versions of “traditional” Batman in one place, and the matching “reverse” version featuring Batman surrounded by Supermen. I think that one appeared as a poster only. Not as cool, certainly, but fun in their own right.
DC’s war comic books, taking inspiration from EC’s titles years prior, featured some of the best stories published in any genre. They often dealt directly with the human toll and sacrifice of war, and rarely emphasized a false “glory of battle.” In the 1970s, Editor Joe Kubert quietly added in the widget “Make War No More” at the end of many of those stories. (Seen in the published page below as the paste-up in the original is missing.)
The brilliant John Severin (1922-2012), who drew some of the best of those original EC masterpieces, returns here to illustrate Robert Kanigher’s haunting Sgt. Rock tale “The Bloody Flag.” Rock’s dialogue, and his expression in panel three, sum up much more than just the story itself.
Today we honor John, and millions of other veterans of the armed forces, past and present. Thank you for your service!
Part five of a multi-part series celebrating Batman’s 80th birthday.
Booster Gold goes back in time to save Barbara Gordon (Batgirl) from being crippled as depicted in Alan Moore’s classic Killing Joke. Of course it doesn’t work, and of course, this being a Booster Gold comic, things go from bad to worse. Batman (at this point in the timeline, Dick Grayson) is none too happy.
Jurgens wrote much of this Booster Gold series, and he plays to his own specific artistic skills and interests. I enjoy the storytelling here, as well as the expression on Booster’s face, a combination of dismay and disappointment as he explains his failure to Batman. And extending Batman’s “ears” into the upper panel is a clever and splashy touch.
The New 52 reboot ended this series a few years later, which was unfortunate. It combined action and wit (and mind-bending time paradoxes) avoiding outright camp or satire while providing a joyful and thoughtful ride through the DC time stream.
Batman Animated remains a timeless version of the character more than 25 years after its debut. That’s a well-known fact. Lesser well known perhaps is that the comic books published to support the award-winning TV series are pretty terrific in their own right.
Similar to the series itself, DC assembled an all-star group of creators to support these tie-ins including Burchett, Templeton, Joe Staton, and the late Mike Parobeck among many others.
Stories were typically self- contained, and the writing style was “all-ages,” sophisticated enough for adults, but not too complex for kids.
On this absolutely great opening splash page by the Templeton/Burchett team, the artists dramatically illustrate how Batman can get very, very animated indeed. Cartoon or not, this version of Batman is a deadly serious guy.
