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NEW GODS #11 / Nov’72 – “DARKSEID AND SONS”

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In police headquarters, Commissioner Kiernan confronts the imprisoned Kalibak. He wants both sides in the fighting to leave Earth. “Do you HEAR me, whoever you are? Start talking peace, or do your fighting ELSEWHERE!” “I can do NEITHER –in HERE, Earthman!” Taking a huge gamble, Kiernan has Kalibak released—and he promptly goes on a rampage, smashes his way out of the building, while saying, “I’ll deliver your message, human! Kalibak is NOT without a sense of humor!”

Elsewhere, Orion grows impatient to tackle Darkseid, while Lightray and Dave Lincoln try to calm him down. “If my hands were to CLOSE on him thus, I’d SNAP that steel backbone of his as one would a REED from the swamp!” News of Kalibak’s escape arrives, and Lightray suggests they just wait for him to come to them.

Meanwhile, a melacholy Darkseid ponders how Orion and Darkseid have fought since childhood, but something has always kept one from killing the other. Desaad wonders why either’s death should bother him. “ORION AND KALIBAK! How those TWO names haunt my life and destiny! –give me NO rest! --DARKEN my future as surely as their MATERNAL forebears ruled my past-! My mother, Queen Heggra! --Orion’s mother, Tigra! --and the sorceress ---SULI-!” “Suli was KALIBAK’s mother!? Then before Tigra was chosen for you—there was Suli! It was rumored that you DEFIED the Queen’s wishes to court Suli!” “—to secretly WED her, you sly dog! Orion and Kalibak are HALF-BROTHERS! --BOTH are my sons!” “WAHOM!” “—and that little potent OMEGA BLAST is to remind you that I know who poisoned Suli! --at the Queen’s command!!” “I COULDN’T disobey, sire! The Queen mother disapproved of Suli! It was HER decision!” “The old TYRANT! She taught me well the importance of bending others to one’s will! In the end--- when I mastered this fine art---!"” "I-I don’t like to remember it, sire---! ---how I carried your plans---for her---!”

SO! Though it has been obvious to the readers since the 1st episode, at last, Darkseid has revealed the truth about Orion to his best friend and closest ally. And what a revelation, building and expanding on what was revealed in “THE PACT”. Desaad MURDERED Darkseid’s 1st wife on the orders of Darkseid’s mother—then, murdered Darkseid’s mother on Darkseid’s orders! And still he keeps Desaad around. That’s one horribly isolated absolute dictator, if Desaad if the closest thing in existence to what he can consider a friend. To think—the whole FUCKING WAR is a result of this one guy’s monstrously DISFUNCTIONAL FAMILY!!!

Kalibak arrives, and Lightray decides to face him first. A “nova burst” (shades of Johnny Storm) stuns Kalibak, but before he can deliver a follow-up, Lightray gets clobbered. Orion is forced by his code to stand aside and watch it happen, until Lightray’s out of it. Then, he goes in. “Let the silent shades of your COUNTLESS tortured victims stand by to witness the FINISH of their tomentor!” But Kalibak’s not out yet. As he did at the police station, he blasts the street with energy, more and more-- “...given Kalibak by an ALLY! –even as we battle!” (The dule between Dr. Strange and Baron Mordo in STRANGE TALES #132, when Mordo was being supplied with endless power by The Dread Dormammu, comes to mind.) Then he pulls down the side of a building on top of Orion (in a fashion reminiscent of when Hercules once took out THOR).

While this is going on, Willie Walker has once more become The Black Racer. “Death is on the wing this night! ---DEATH FOR AN ANGRY GOD!” Uh oh...

Meanwhile, Dave Lincoln is intent on helping Orion, but Commissioner Kiernan only wants to corral both fighters.

And elsewhere, Darkseid is informed of “STRANGE emanations being transmitted from this VERY location! ...zeroed in on KALIBAK himself!” Sure enough, he finds Desaad has been feeding Kalibak power, to increase the fierceness of the fight, both so that he might absorb their emotions in the heat of battle, and also to ensure Orion’s defeat. “I’ve tolerated you and your twisted mind too long! This time you’ve turned it against my OWN kin!” Darkseid uses the full force of his Omega Effect against Deaad, causing “the TOTAL WIPEOUT”! “And THIS is what you are now! A small, fading patch of light—soon to VANISH from sight! Farewell, Desaad!” I wonder how many readers over the years, who may have read later stories written by others (stories that, in some ways, DON’T really “count”) were surprised to see such a “major” character KILLED off this way—for good?

Orion pulls himself from the rubble to once more face Kalibak, who, to his shock, no longer has his power increased. “We MUST BE BROTHERS, you and I! ---Different sides of the SAME coin! TRUE sons of Darkseid--- the essence of his creed of total violence!” “”Were Darkseid MY father, he would have but ONE true son! KALIBAK! KALIBAK!” Amazing, how, after all these years, neither son knew who their father was. As things reach a climax, The Black Race arrives. “DEATH APPROACHES, ORION! BOTH of you have taken incredible punishment! But I’ve only come for ONE!” “If it be ME—then come and be SWIFT!” He’s surprised to find it was Kalibak whose time had come.

As Kiernan and the police arrive, Orion has an epiphany. “To think I sent that bull moose on a peace mission! How will we ever end this war?” “DESTINY shall end it! It is written that the father of Apokalips shall meet his banished son in the RED light of the fire-pits --- and THERE they shall decide the war! AND SO IT SHALL BE! I can deny it no longer--- to others or to MYSELF! I AM DARKSEID’S SON!! ---armed and ready with the heritage bequeathed me!--- The ultimate ferocity! When I clash with Darkseid--- THE WAR WILL END!”

WHOA!!! What a HELL of a place to cancel the book! For the 2nd episode in one month, “Destiny” is mentioned again and again. DESTINY MY ASS. “DC” editorial, more like it. Which may be what Jack was getting at when he wrote these. Once again, I say to thee—CURSE YOU, Carmine!!! You lured Kirby over to DC with a lot of promises, then repeatedly failed to live up to so many of them.

Many—mostly fans of Marvel Comics and their ubiquitous Editor-In-Chief Stan Lee, have, over the years, repeatedly knocked Jack Kirby’s writing, his sense of story structure, and especially, his dialogue, and backed it up, over and over and over, by saying that his books at DC “weren’t successful”. BULLSHIT. Very few things in comics were “successful” around this time. The truth is, the entire industry was on a long, slow downward plunge, losing ground and retail outlets every year. Very few new series lasted. Hell, many long-time series ended, as well (think AQUAMAN and GREEN LANTERN, both sabotaged by mis-guided and misbegotten attempts to badly try to imitate what Marvel was doing, instead of figuring out what DC did best, and imporve on it). DC was desperate to find something, anything, to be a “big overnight hit”—and it’s clear a complex epic spread over 4 books wasn’t what they were looking for. It may seem obvious in retrospect that, in the case of most successful, long-running series, you start with “small” stories, build your audience, THEN begin doing bigger and longer stories. That Jack tried to do the reverse may have been a misjudgement, but it certainly was a bold experiment, and it deserved more support from DC management than it got. (A single monthly would have been sure to sell more consistently than 2 or 3 bi-monthlies, at the very least.) It’s also become quite clear over the years that behind-the-scenes shenanigans involving distributors also led to false sales reports—something that also plagued CONAN THE BARBARIAN and other books. The industry was sinking, and a wide variety of facets were at work, simultaneously.

That Jack Kirby’s characters and concepts refused to die is both a tribute to his creativity, his actual success in crafting such wonderful, well-rounded, fascinating people on paper, as well as, cynically, corporate-owned publishers refusal to let ANYTHING they own go down quietly. The Fourth World has been revived REPEATEDLY over the years—beginning, perhaps most frustratingly, with the very month Jack went back to Marvel. But it’s also a testmanent to the faulty framework of the entire American comics biz, their utter lack of the relationship between creator and creations, that most of these revivals have FAILED on multiple levels (creatively, sales-wise, etc.). Some concepts, characters and series, are so “personal” in vision, they can ONLY be done “right” by the person who came up with them. OF COURSE Jack Kirby’s NEW GODS repeatedly fails to catch on with later readers. Jack Kirby WASN’T doing it!!!

But, so much for that. By my count, I still have 17 more Kirby DC books to go. And almost half of them feature one of my all-time favorite Kirby creations.
(6-1-2012)

Strangely enough, I don't actually have a single Jack Kirby issue of KAMANDI, but I just had to find a cover scan of the following to clean up and post here...

KAMANDI, THE LAST BOY ON EARTH #1 / Nov'72

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MISTER MIRACLE #11 / Dec’72 – “THE GREATEST SHOW OFF EARTH!”

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On the cover: “Can MISTER MIRACLE survive the death-defying leap into the VAT OF FIRE?”

Inside: “What happens when an idle young press agent meets the most incredible talent on Earth? --- Why, SHOW BUSINESS happens, that’s what! Although this SENSATIONAL act is in its early stages of production, its cast can make headlines at the first sign of trouble! And considering the kind of enemies they have, you’re advised to SIT BACK! GRIP YOUR CHAIR! --- And see --- THE GREATEST SHOW OFF EARTH!”

While Ted Brown films, Barda single-handed lifts a pole, atop which is a manacled Scott (what, again?). After lowering the end of the pole into a hole, the Female Furies go into motion. Bernadeth sets fire to a tank filled with gasolene, Lashina cracks the pole, and Stompa shatters it, causing Scott to plummet straight into the flames! “KEEP FILMING, Ted! DON’T STOP! --- No matter what you think is happening!” Although Barda never took her eyes off Scott, even she didn’t see him free himself and leap away to a nearby tree in time. “You’re FAST, Mister Miracle! The FASTEST thing alive!” I’m beginning to wonder if that isn’t Scott’s real “super power”, since up to this point, he doesn’t seem to actually have one. But what else can explain so many of his miraculous escapes we’ve seen, unless he’s been using teleportation?

All this has been to create a promotional film to advertise his upcoming tour. The scene on the cover has one inaccuracy—in the story, there was no crowd of spectators watching. Presumably, this would be when the act is repeated in the future.

The main part of this story, while somewhat exciting, I find quite a disappointment. Despite everything Scott went thru when he returned to Apokalips, apparently to “play by their rules” and “earn the right to live his own life”, Dr. Bedlam returns for personal revenge, to reverse his earlier defeat. What an A**H***!!! I mean—you’d think this guy walked in from some Marvel Comic or something, where the baddies have nothing better to do but to get “revenge!!!” for something bad that happened to them that they caused themselves.

First, he terrorizes Oberon, then he sends his “animates”, which the Furies destroy. Scott insists on confronting him on his own, and finds him inside what can only be described as a “UFO”. Trapped inside, the flying saucer zooms into space, is battered by meteors, skips along the Earth’s atmosphere generating intense heat, then heads straight for the moon and intense cold. Stupid enough to want to watch Scott’s demise in person, Bedlam winds up trapped within one of his own animates by a plastic sheathe Scott creates. The crash is seen all the way down on Earth, and Bedlam, presumably, is destroyed. Although Bedlam destroyed the Mother Box that Scott had hidden up his sleeve, Bedlam didn’t know that Scott had created a back-up, hidden in his mask. Among other things, it allowed him to escape the craft via “instantaneous descent”. (Isn’t that another way of saying “teleportation”???) It would seem Scott could have escaped at any time; he simply went through all that punishment, to make sure that Dr. Bedlam would be destroyed, so he wouldn’t have to play this game yet again.

I haven’t mentioned the art on the last several issues. It’s been good as always, though in some places, the linework has been a bit too thick, and the faces a bit too “stiff” or “cartoony”. I can only put this down to Jack once again doing 4 books instead of 3, or perhaps losing some interest after the abrupt cancellation of both NEW GODS and FOREVER PEOPLE. In this issue, Mike Royer’s inks suddenly become MUCH sharper and crisper from page 14-on. Did he change pens, or was this a result of someone adjusting a stat machine?

I love the fact that Barda goes thru this entire issue wearing a stylized bikini. WHAT A GAL!!! (She makes WONDER WOMAN look like a BOY!)

From the letters pages: “His character development never ceases to amaze me. I feel I know more about his characters now than I ever learned about his characters at Marvel all the years I read them. The characters love and hate and the reader knows that emotions will last beyind the end of the book.” –Paul Richardson “One quick request—I’d like to see more of Oberon.” –Lynn Holland “Sorry, Lynn... that’s all there is.” --editor “It’s amazing that the man who had been in the business the longest should “think youngest”.” –Salyrwyn Daley And, in answer to a question about Scott’s “bag of trick” in MM #1... “We never said Scott came directly to where he met Thaddues Brown and, therein another flashback lurks.” –editor. OOOH. I SO wish Jack had managed to tell that story. I’m sure it wouldn’t have involved 200 years spent wandering Earth as John Byrne suggested years later (IN ANOTHER CONTINUITY NOT RELATED TO THIS ONE).
(6-5-2012)

MISTER MIRACLE #12 / Feb’73 – “MYSTIVAC!”

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“A powerful, experimental torpedo is launched from a submarine and streaks toward QUICK detonation!! But this is far from a ROUTINE shot! Someone is tightly shackled to the torpedo’s shell! --- a SUPER-ESCAPE ARTIST – sharing it’s speedy journey to fiery oblivion! His plight is REAL! He will DIE, if he CAN’T free himself before the torpedo reaches its target! CAN HE DO IT?1 CAN HE CHEAT THE OPEN JAWS OF DEATH - !??”

Yep. Scott Free’s at it again. This time, setrting up an elaborate publicity stunt with the help of the U.S. Navy, “Bound to a torpedo—speeding toward a deadly mine” (as it says on the cover). Somehow that reminds me of Henry Corden’s line in the GET SMART episode, “Physician Impossible”, when he said, “I’ll drop him from a plane—in front of a train! No, that’s too GOOD for him. I know, I’ll... uhhh.”

Naturally, Scott escapes in time, and is pulled out of the water by a helicopter. “HANG ON! We’d hate to see you break your neck, AFTER you survived that blast!” The whole bit is observed from a distance by tycoon Colonel Darby and his butler Mudgett. Darby intends to bet heavily against Mr. Miracle surviving a fight with his champion, “Mystivac”, who appears to be a robotic-looking “idol” he purchased from some South Seas island types who worshipped it and did its every bidding.

Back at the Naval base, a news conference is interrupted by a ruckus on the beach. It turns out Barda and The Female Furies clobbered a bunch of sailors who got rude while they were trying to take a swim. Admiral Case’s reaction is similar to that of Chief Clifford after learning of Sam McCloud’s latest escapade. He turns, walks away and contemplates early retirement. (Funny stuff!)

Darby calls up Scott with a proposition, then puts “Mystivac” on the phone. “You want to DIE, Scott Free! You WANT to die! Do not turn death away! --- WELCOME him --- go to him --- death is your FRIEND---! LIVING IS FUTILE --- YOU WANT TO DIE --- YOU WANT TO DIE---!” (This is why I HATE tele-marketers.) In a daze, Scott agrees, yet when Barda arrives, he seems oblvious as to anything having happened. Yet while rehearsing their next death-trap-escape, Scott moves SO slowly, that Barda’s instincts kick in, tell her something’s TERRIBLY wrong, and she only manages to save his life in time. Yet even afterwards, he doesn’t grasp what just happened.

Meanwhile, Ted Brown is meeting with Darby to set up the fight, perfectly happy until Mytivac walks up and tells him NOT to warn or help Scott. Clearly some form of mind-control is going on with this character.

The next day, in a “reconstructed temple in a remote area”, Scott, Barda & Oberon confront Mystivac, who quickly gets the sidekicks out of the way with her persuasive personality. A brutal battle begins, at one point during a pair of long knives extend from Mystivac’s hand, accompanied with the sound effect “SNIK!” (Gee, doesn’t this seem awful familiar? Seems some character in an issue of THE INCREDIBLE HULK had the same gimmick, a few years later.) Scott is able to resist by using circuitry in his mask, and manages to unmask his foe, who turns out to be a diminuative alien in a life-sustaining capsule, who’s been marooned on Earth for centuries, used repeatedly by evil men to further their ambitions, and who has come to hate all humans passionately as a result.

Any possibility that Scott & co., might have been able to help the little guy return home is aborted when the butler opens fire, misses, and hits the alien’s glass bubble by mistake. After the baddies are routed, our heroes find the creature has disintegrated to dust in our atmosphere. As evil as he might have been (or become over time) they still show sympathy for such a tragedy, and decide not to collect any “winnings” from this event. “On to the next one! THE SHOW MUST GO ON!!” Overall, a nice return to form. I could see this book going on for quite a long stretch. If only!
(6-6-2012)

Here's another one I don't have...

THE DEMON #2 / Oct'72

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MISTER MIRACLE #13 / Apr’73 – “THE DICTATOR’S DUNGEON!”

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“A railroad yard seems like a most UNLIKELY place for high adventure to begin! But—MISTER MIRACLE transforms ANY atmosphere in which his work is done, into a place of spine-chilling thrills and excitement! And this starting point leads to a much larger and thrilling experience! ---from the shores of civilization--- to the distant region of--- THE DICTATOR’S DUNGEON!”

Scott’s at it again. THIS time, he’s chained up and tied down onto railroad tracks, while a steam locomotive speeds toward him. As he tells his promoter, “Don’t worry, Ted! There’ll still be an act when this is over-!” The engineer and conductor seem convinced he’s committing suicide, and even Oberon yells out, “He’s going to die!” Barda lifts him into the air, while telling him, “You sawed-off runt! SIMMER DOWN!” The train continues its approach—and ROARS right over the spot where Scott lay helpless! But when the last car finally rattles past, Scott’s standing on the other side of the tracks, smiling. How the hell does he do that?

Just then, a bizarre helicopter flies over, kidnaps Ted right off the ground, and is followed by Scott & Barda, who cling pecariously to its underside. “Keep your cool, Barda! We’re being HELD fast to this hull by some magnetic flow!” “This craft is beginning to climb fast! I DON’T plan on being pinned out here when it reaches HIGH altitude!” In an exciting scene, Barda smashes a hole in the bottom, climbs in and tackles the crew—who all seem to resemble Neanderthals. Scott follows her in, and soon the crew has been overpowered. But the craft is locked on remote, and they soon find themselves approaching a lamasary high in the Himalayas. (If this were the Marvel Universe, one might have expected a crossover with Dr. Strange—or maybe, Iron Fist!)

Inexplicably, a trap-door opens sending Scott & Barda to the snows below (his anti-grav boots saving them from hitting too hard). Some ways from the building, they find a tunnel. “Off-hand, I’d say that it would take a 50-TON TANK to open this door—BUT---“ “With a mighty heave that would startle fabled Hercules, Barda pulls the great door from its moorings!” “KRAAACK!” Wow. Racing thru the tunnel, they’re attacked by more of the natives. Hefting a sizable rock, Barda amazes her attackers. “The female is a witch!” “She’s a creature of sorcery!” “Wrong n BOTH counts!” She tosses the rock their way. “I’m just a darn good BOWLER!” (Whata great line—I wasn’t expecting something like that.)

As Barda focuses on finding Ted, Scott is confused by the mixture of Eastern design with those of the West, as the place is littered with Swastikas, and a very Oriental-looking statue’s pose is giving a Nazi salute, wears a Hitler moustache, and has an inscription that reads “Dafura”. Knocked out by a ray blast, they find themselves in the same cell with Ted, who informs them their host is Albert Von Killowitz, escaped Nazi war criminal! “One finds it DIFFICULT to disguise his past culture weith another! However, I rule this humble kingdom! I am KING KOMODO!” “DICTATOR Komodo is probably closer to the truth! I’ll bet you rule with an iron fist!” “It’s the ONLY way to train and control my aborigines! ---Why, only recently, they were STILL being called abominable snowmen!” “They’re NO more “abominable” than their MASTER --- you swine!” Considering where Scott & Barda came from, it’s only natural for them to have such open contempt for this issue’s baddie.

The cell is suddenly flooded with electricity, then fire, then acid, all of which our trio barely manages to survive. Killowitz suddenly learns that Scott is a super-escape-artist by trade, and decides a duel of their talents might prove interesting. Next thing, Scott finds himself in a corridor which becomes cylindrical, only to discover he’s in the barrel of a gigantic cannon. No sooner does he escape being blasted to atoms, than he has to sidestep a razor-sharp pendulum (shades of Poe). Scott then uses some circuitry in his mask to overcome Killowitz’ will at a distance, forcing him to order his underlings to free the prisoners and prepare the copter for launching. (Can it be Scott has devised his own personal Anti-Life Equation here???)

Heading home with their prisoner, Ted reveals how he first met Killowitz. While in Korea, his squad was ambushed, he was left for dead in the snow, but was picked up by a band of Mongols. Among them was Killowitz. Once Killowitz realized he’d been recognized, Ted knew he’d have to be killed. But he escape, and made it back to civilization. The experience left Ted deeply disturbed, and no doubt al he wanted to do was put it all behind him. Though not pointed out in the dialogue, the irony is clear, that Killowitz would have been pefectly safe, could have lived the rest of his miserable life a free man, except for his fear and paranoia and desire to kill someone he was afraid would tell others he was still alive. ASSHOLE!!!

This issue must have been important, because a number of readers wrote in to complain to Jack that Ted was reported as having been killed in Korea, yet later turned up alive with no explanantion. They got one now.

Scott & Barda console Ted. “There’s a whole new rodl lying ahead of you, Ted! ---a world without fear of Von Killowitz!” “A world of friends, Ted! We’ll all look after each other!” Again, knowing where Scott & barda came from, it really says a lot about how important what they’re talking about is to them, and how much they understand it.

The Kirby-Royer art is terrific as usual, even though some of the faces are beginning to be a bit “loose” of late. Also, there’s no way for me to be sure, but I’d SWEAR that page 22, panel 4—a close-up of Von Killowitz—was inked by Dave Stevens.
(6-7-2012)

MISTER MIRACLE #14 / Jul’73 – “THE QUICK AND THE DEAD!”

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“A walk in the woods can turn up anything. In the case of MISTER MIRACLE, it explodes with an incident so totally unexpected and bizarre that it defies the sense and talents of the world’s greatest escape artist! Mystery, villain and danger—he can’t resist their challenge—for these are the elements from which escape is possible, only for--- THE QUICK AND THE DEAD!”

Cutting to the chase for once (literally), Scott & Oberon happen across a man in a very peculiar “demon” type costume, being chased by a crew who look liked they stepped out of some Halloween-themed “B”-movie. Warned to stay out of it, they wind up knocked down (but not out), and soon follow the culprits back to “Satan’s Lair”, a large, run-down, spooky-looking house that might have been the focus of a SCOOBY-DOO episode. Strangely enough, the leader of the gang, Madame Evil Eyes, has Scott & Oberon (who really doesn’t want to be there) invited in, presumably so she can use her mesmerific power on them.

While this is going on, Ted, Barda & The Female Furies are clearing tree trunks out of a patch of ground in order to set up one of Scott’s escape traps. After Barda breaks up a fight between two of the others, Ted suddenly pops a question at her. “We’re NOT so great at keeping tabs on Mister Miracle and Oberon.” “I know who you’re REALLY worried about. Tell me—are you in LOVE with Mister Miracle, Barda?” “Until NOW—I-I NEVER gave it much thought!” Oooh.

Scott, meanwhile, escapes flaming death in the hands of a giant stone statue of a winged demon “Satan”, then clobbers some guards and escapes with Oberon—only for the pair of them to then fall thru a trap door into a cell below where the man they tried to rescue earlier is being held captive. After he’s unmasked, Oberon recognizes him as “Ears” Watson—“a top hood”. Suddenly a hole opens in one of the walls, a hand holding a weapon is shoved thru and Watson is shot in the back with a paralyzing “freeze-gun”. After some taunting from their host, the pair run a “devil’s obstacle” course, then confront Madame Evil Eyes in her lair.

As Oberon describes it, “This is a HIJACK RING! --only your followers steal TOP-SECRET inventions—and YOU sell them to thie highest bidders!” According to the villain, Watson didn’t like his share of the loot, and tried to betray them. Scott says, “We’ll be WITNESSES when you and your henchmen are TRIED for your crimes! And if you’ve sold any top-secret stuff to our government’s ENEMIES, they’ll throw the BOOK at you!” It’s interesting that Scott, who as far as we know is probably an “illegal alien”, seems to casually exhibit loyalty to the country he’s currently living in. Refusing to give up, Madame Evil Eyes informs them that while the Satan Club may be phony, her power isn’t—and she unleashes her “stare” at them, which “can KILL at full force!” Once again, circuitry in Scott’s mask saves the day, as he explains, “her eyes can emit strong beams of MICRO-ELECTRIC WAVES”. His circuits picked them up and sent them back via his own eyes.

As they depart, Oberon suggests, “Too bad we didn’t bring BIG BARDA and her GALS here! That WRECKING crew would’ve given the Satan Club a REAL fright!” “They’d be a tonic for me—especially Barda.” Awww!

With 9 issues of THE DEMON under the bridge already, I wonder if this wasn’t yet another attempt to squeeze “horror” elements into a story? This was the first time in awhile we didn’t see Scott practicing some new escape anywhere in the book, though escapes were well-integrated into the plot’s high-speed action. Interestingly, while Scott & Barda never appear together for once, both had their minds on the other. It’s nice to see a relationship develop naturally at its own pace, without exagerated histrionics.
(6-12-2012)

MISTER MIRACLE #15 / Sep’73 – “THE SECRET GUN!”


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“Although this incident contains the BIZARRE elements that characterize the exploits of our hero, this is essentially a DETECTIVE saga—the fast and thrilling attempt to stop a crime about to be committed in the wildest way with the wildest weapons. The key to the case is a HUMAN one--- a YOUNG one--- a TRAGIC product of adsversity--- who is soon to change the destiny and give new purpose to the life of--- MISTER MIRACLE Super Escape Artist”

The latest escape trap involves an oil drum and a giant pair of pliers, used like a nut-cracker to crush the person inside the drum. “SKONNG!” Barda tells Oberon, “Okay, WORRY-WART! Check and see if I FLATTENED the star of the show!” “You female GENGHIS KHAN!” But Scott appears unscathed, greeting his visitors. Lieutenant Driver and young Shilo Norman, a boy who witnessed his brother’s murder, knows who did it, and must be kept safe while the police try to track down the killer. They’re barely introduced when a masked thug hurls a hand grenade through a window! Without batting an eye, Shilo grabs for it and tosses it back outside. He and Driver are dumbfounded when there’s no explosion—as Scott explain, his circuitry put the “whammy” on it. As Driver leaves, Barda returns with the assassin in tow—but to no avail, as he’s been electrocuted by a “tracer” built into his clothes.

It’s mid-1973, and it seems the “blaxploitation” fad begun by such films as SHAFT and SUPER FLY have caught up with the “white” media as well, as seen in the year’s 007 film LIVE AND LET DIE. Here, Shilo, Driver, and all the baddies are also black, although all seem to come from some upper strata of society, as there’s not a hint of “jive” heard among the dialogue.

Scott, Barda & Oberon are all covinced that Shilo intends to “bolt” as soon as they think he’s asleep—and sure enough, he does. “He’s going after his brother’s murderer –ALONE! At least that’s what HE thinks!” Scott & Barda follow on aero-discs, which we haven’t seen in use in quite a few issues—and I think this is the first time I can remember seeing Barda using them. Inside a warehouse in a bad neighborhood, Shilo is surrounded by a pack of masked thugs—and decides to take them all on single-handedly, because he’s a black belt judo expert. He’s good, but he’s also bitten off more than he can chew. Lucky for him Barda arrives and clobbers the ones he wasn’t able to. But then the boss, Mister Fez, and his tech genius, Jammer, arrive, and use a “brain-wave” weapon to knock out the heroes.

We learn that Shilo’s brother was a truck driver, who discovered he was shipping armaments. Fez has a big weapon (that looks like something Reed Richards or Dr. Doom might have dreamed up) aimed at a hotel across the street, and intends to disable everyone in the place at once, then rob them blind. As for Shilo, they tie him to the muzzle of the huge gun, to permanently take care of him in the process. But Scott & Barda turn out to not be so out of it, thanks once again to the circuitry in his costume (is there nothing advanced technology can’t do?), and they wreck the weapon as easily as they knock out Jammer. The cops arrive then and haul Fez and his gang away. “I’ll get you for this, Mister Miracle! Just you wait!” Decades later, we’re still waiting. No, not really.

Scott & Barda have a suggestion for Shilo. “We CAN’T let fast-action talent go to waste!” “With SPECIAL POWERS training, in addition to your judo—you might become a junior Miracle!” “You’ve got what it take, Shilo—coordination, courage, and standards of your own!” But he seems to have a self-image problem. “Have you taken a good LOOK at me?” “Yes---! I see ME--- as I once was--- trying to escape to anywhere!” “And I helped him do it! I COULDN’T fail him! I WON’T fail you, Shilo! You see--- I once lost a friend who couldn’t ---escape!” Driver adds, “Take the deal, kid. The police force can’t use you until you’ve reached the PROPER age!” “Lieutenant Driver—I think yu’ve BULLIED Shilo into a CAREER!” “I don’t know if I was so smart! Escape artists COULD give us police a lot of trouble!” “This one won’t!”

Some have dismissed Jack Kirby’s writing as being old-fashioned or out-of-date. I say, good writing is good writing. Yet here, in 1973, he did something that possibly no other comics-writer would have done—introduced a KID SIDEKICK! It’s the “Junior Tracy” or “Robin The Boy Wonder” story all over again, for a new generation. A boy who’s had tragedy and loss in his life, given a chance to find a new direction, to learn and grow into the next generation of heroes. I wonder how this was received by comics fans at the time, who seemed brainwashed by one particular Marvel editor’s repeatedly outspoken negative attitude and comments about kid sidekicks? (Remember how Rick Jones was repeatedly put off in CAPTAIN AMERICA, and then, when Cap finally did take him on as a partner, Rick was kicked out the door the instant Jim Steranko left the book?) Here, in MISTER MIRACLE, there’s no problems with secret identities. And Jack even manages to brush aside concerns about RACE so casually as to show just how little such a thing should ever matter. (The fact that Shilo has a thick head of smooth, wavy hair—kinda like Little Richard—almost made him look more Indian than African to me. But what the hey.)

The art in this issue is just gorgeous from start to finish. I also wanted to makle note of the cover—which reminds me a bit of THE AVENGERS #24 (Jan’66). Of course—Jack did THAT one, too.
(6-16-2012)

MISTER MIRACLE #16 / Nov’73 – “SHILO NORMAN, SUPER TROUBLE!”


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“Take any ordinary youngster from the inner city and toss him among an extra-ordinary super-group --- to live with them --- to work with them and become one of them --- is a heady experience that may cause the boy some disquieting and hair-raising moments he may not soon forget! Let’s look in on our super-trainee --- SHILO NORMAN.”

While Scott is getting Shilo to break out of a “simple test-trap” (some complex wrist-shackles), he sees a humanoid insect creature which no one else notices. Everyone seems to think he’s making it up! He manages to get out of the shackles, then Barda takes him aside for some other work. “Lifting this two hundred pound weight --- or a two-ton truck is part of a SIMPLE basic principle – “ You know, this kinda baffles me. Time and again Barda has referred to “Special Powers” training, which suggests someone like her, from Apokalips, was not born super-strong, but somehow acquired the ability. But “training” just doesn’t seem to cut it as a possible description for how this may have happened. Surely no amount of physical or psychological “training” can explain her phenomenal super-strength! It would have been nice if at some point, somewhere, Jack had explained this further.

Barda & Oberon joke with Shilo about seeing a creature, but then it reappears and lassos both of them! Shilo dives in to help, but stumbles over some crates. When he gets up, everyone’s gone. Though still disbelieving, Scott discovers infinitely tiny footprints on the floor, suggesting instant size reduction. The creature appears again, and this time, Shilo shrinks with it. Finding himself facing death, Shilo admits to himself that escapes have their own special “kick”. He uses judo, patience and special circuitry to survive and free himself, before being confronted by “Professor Egg”, a scientist (whose head is unusually egg-shaped) who has been conducting some very strange genetic experiments. Just as some genetic material taken from Shilo has caused an insect to hatch in the form of a monster, Shilo suddenly finds himself full-size and surrounded by his friends, who all tell him he struck his head on some crates.

All of this could be annoyingly dismissed as a “Nightmare” (the title of the last chapter), except when Ted introduces a visiting celebrity—“Professor Exe”—a dead ringer for the scientist Shilo saw—who specialty is illusions—making people “see things that AREN’T there”. The 2nd half of this story may have been a dream, but the ending suggests something else was definitely going on in the 1st half. But no further explanations are forthcoming!

Jack’s art & storytelling are top-notch as always, but something is “off” with the linework in this issue. I know that Jack could alter his drawing style to suit different material, and that Mike Royer had the ability to follow along with precision. But I don’t think that’s what happened here. This entire issue looks to me like it was inked by SOMEONE ELSE, and, in fact, it reminds me more than anything of the art from the “Giffbaum” era of LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES, when Keith Giffen & Al Gordon were doing a BAD imitation of 2nd-rate Kirby. Was Mike overloaded and this issue was done as a rush-job? Did he have an assistant to the whole thing? Did DC get someone else entirely to fill in at the last minute? Parts of it also reminds me a bit of Frank McLaughlin, who I suspected worked on some of the earlier “Vince Colletta” issues. Very odd.

And what’s up with the half-mask on the Mister Miracle face on the cover? He doesn’t look like that anywhere on the inside (in fact, he isn’t wearing his mask anywhere on the inside, either).
(6-17-2012)

MISTER MIRACLE #17 / Jan’74 – “MURDER LODGE!”


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“Heroes can make fatal mistakes! Especially, when they check into a MURDER LODGE!”

Needing a place to stay until their car is repaired, Scott, Barda & Shilo are surprised to find a motor lodge in the middle of nowhere. The manager, who bears somewhat of a resemblance to the old FF villain Diablo, welcomes them. “We’re always at the service of such DISTINGUISHED guests!” Shilo wonders, “How do you KNOW that, man? We’ve NEVER been on any jobs here!” Shilo thinks the guy looks like an old movie villain. He might have been suspicious even earlier, as the front door of the place has a sliding “peep-hole” common of many prohibition-era speak-easys.

Sure enough, no sooner does Barda hit the bed, then she’s jolted by high voltage electricity, before the bed tilts up to drop her body into a hole in the floor. The same fate, also accompanied by “freeze gas”, befalls Scott, while the manager decides to “take care” of Shilo himself—with a sledge-hammer! Shilo smashes the handle thanks to Barda’s “special powers training” (which once again leaves me wondering exactly what that description entails).

Shilo clobbers the manager, then sets off to find his friends, but the manager soon recovers and tries to use a guillotine built into a doorway to dispatch Shilo. When that fails, the manager, named Peppi, gets help from his over-muscled assistant, Mungo, who clobbers Shilo before tossing him into their “Inferno Room”. As Jack asks us, “Has justice flown and evil triumphed? Let’s find out!” This particular death-trap does bring to mind the scariest one they ever had on the 1966 BATMAN tv series, when The Penguin tried to stick Bruce Wayne into a furnace—without actually knowing who he was!

The plot thickens as the baddies talk. “If we CAN’T show his body, we WON’T get paid for it!” “We’ve STILL got the corpses of his friends. The Syndicate will pay PLENTY for them!” “HAHAHAH! They come here to hide out—and we turn ‘em in to whoever they’re RUNNING from!” Very interesting. And since they didn’t mention anyone we already know, it looks like this murder spree may also involve a case of mistaken identity!

Shilo escapes death with help from his jet-boots, then smashes out, once more exhibiting super-strength. He uses his “hidden circuitry” first to locate his friends, then to warm them up and counteract the freeze gas. As Barda tears some very heavy bars out, the baddies are calling The Syndicate about “The Tricky Trio”—who just happen to arrive at that moment and overhear the conversation. Suffice to say, “Della The Dinosaur”, “Mad Merkin” and “Little Bullets” aren’t pleased (and it’s easy to see how the others were mistaken for them! –I mean, what are the odds??). A free-for-all erupts, with the motel baddies being taken out, followed by the “Trio”, though not until Scott once more exhibits what can only be lightning-speed in escaping being shot at point blank range. If Scott indeed has a genuine super-power, I’d say that must be what it is!

After each of our heroes takes out their lookalike counterparts, the cops are called. No sooner do they recognize the Trio, then they realize the ones who called them have gone. I guess they’d had enough of their evening ruined already.

On the letters page, Sue Scheve urges Jack not to ignore character development on the road to non-stop action, while Bob Rodi praises the “new direction” and notes Jack’s been packing the book with gangsters and the like, a step back toward his days of doing “Crime” comics. L.K.Y. notes the possible romantic developments, and hopes Jack will avoid giving his characters “tiresome problems” like too many comics series have, but instead, “a lasting romance”. We’re told “You can certainly expect some surprises to crop up in the next few months concerning Scott and Barda.” One gets the impression that the news of the books’ impending cancellation hadn’t come down yet.

The credits this issue list “Lettering by John Pound and Mike Royer”. And sure enough, on some of the pages, the lettering does look a bit odd, compared to what I’ve been seeing so much of since Royer got on Jack’s books. But it strangely doesn’t mention the INKS, and while I do feel most of the book obvious IS Royer (unlike the previous issue, where I strongly suspect Mike didn’t even touch the pages), here, SEVERAL pages once again look like someone else’s work. Notably, pages 2 (excessively stiff), 13 (unbelievably SLOPPY), 16 & 20 (just—“different”, in the extreme). Considering that for the last year or so, both THE DEMON and KAMANDI have been monthly, it’s pretty obvious that Jack’s schedule has been heavier than usual, and this probably made it more difficult for Royer to keep up the incredible pace.
(6-18-2012)

We reach another milestone today...



MISTER MIRACLE #18 / Mar’74 – “WILD WILD WEDDING GUESTS!”


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“On location in a large barren area, the members of a most UNUSUAL company experiment with volatile and deadly material to supplement the most incredible practice of the escape arts--- but here the climax to a great adventure will suddenly confront the participants with the ULTIMATE SHOWDOWN! --- A clash between those beyond the realm of man!! --- a conflict of forces that formed the early lives of --- MISTER MIRACLE and BIG BARDA!”

At it again, Scott has climbed into a glass cylinder sitting at the bottom of a concrete pit in the middle of the desert, as Barda sets up a container of nitro-glycerine. Things go astray when, climbing out of the pit, Oberon and Shilo are grabbed by soldiers from Apokalips, under the command of Vermin Vundabar. Grenades launched into the pit set off a tremendous explosion, but he insists his men keep searching to find the bodies among the rubble. “We’ve been tricked before by this wily foe! He is a SUPER ESCAPE ARTIST! We must be SUPER DESTROYERS!”

Sure enough, in a quickly-dug tunnel, Scott & Barda have survived. At such a moment, they both realize they feel the same way about each other. “We’ve BOTH been fools, Barda--- we’ve WASTED precious time---” “Yes, we’ve spent our time on all the things that DON’T count!” “Then, let’s do something that DOES count! LET’S GET MARRIED! Right away!” ”There’s STILL a little matter of our enemy—“ It’s hilarious that under the circumstances, she almost seems to consider them a trivial afterthought. Exploding out of their hiding place, they clobber Vundabar and his men, only to face Granny Goodness, who’s grabbed Barda and uses a “mass gravity beam” to force Scott into the ground.

With Kanto The Master Assasin helping, Scott is hauled over to a “bomb-clock”, whose magnetic face already holds Oberon, Barda and Shilo in its grip. Granny reveals that Scott’s circuitry was destroyed by Doctor Bedlam, who materializes in one of his animates. The clock is launched into the upper atmosphere, and a massive flash is seen. But Granny’s triumph is interrupted by the arrival of Orion and Lightray. In defiance, she says, “Injure us—and draw the wrath of ALL Apokalips!” Oh, isn’t that just like evil scum? Thinking they can do bad with impunity, yet warning the good guys what will happen if they respond in kind?

But as it turns out, the flash they saw was Lightray—and our heroes are safe, having been rescued by no less than Highfather and Metron. Orion says, “Here, in a gathering of our enemies, the SOURCE has decreed that a WEDDING take place!” Scott tells Oberon than he and Shilo must leave. “I’ll MISS you, old friend! In the face of peril, I’ll ALWAYS remember that you CARED!” Barda tells Shilo, “Remember—good guys finish last—because they’re ON their feet when the bad guy’s DOWN!”

Orion notes how fear drives his enemies. “MAGGOTS! You CRINGE at your master’s name!” “Darkseid rules us!” ”We are NOT your match! As YOU are total destruction—DARKSEID IS TOTAL POWER - ! He can strike us down or TOY with us at will!” A moment after Highfather performs a brief marriage ceremony, a tornado appears, accompanied by lightning bolts. The villains scatter, and Metron “phases” everyone else out. Oberon & Shilo pick themselves up from hiding, only to face Darkseid—who appears in the present-day of this series for the very first time (on the very last page!).

“The face they saw was granite-HARD – and the eyes in it were FIXED on the limitless!” “WOW! Look at THAT dude! Have you been OUT in the storm ALL this time, mister?” “I AM the storm!” “In THIS face was the challenge to gods and men. He was the ULTIMATE TEST for anything that lived!” “”L-let’s go, Shilo. No use in PRESSIN’ our luck—“ “That dude’s got eyes that could stop a clock!” “”But NOT a wedding. I DID spoil it, though --! It had deep sentiment – yet little joy. BUT—LIFE AT BEST IS BITTERSWEET! HAHAHAHAHAHA!!” Knowing what I now know about Darkseid, his words clearly reflect his philsophy. His life was ruined and made miserable by others. So, his entire purpose in life, is to do the same—to EVERYBODY else. Sad, sick bastard.

Well, that was a shock. As with THE FOREVER PEOPLE, MISTER MIRACLE, on suddenly reaching its final issue, saw Darkseid’s forces return for no apparent reason, except to give the series some kind of climax, if not actual closure. I can’t help but think that this was not what Jack had in mind at all. At least, part of it. Re-reading all these stories in sequence again after so many years, I’ve been able to pick up on a lot of things I never noticed before, when I was younger, and less experienced. A few things about this issue really stick out—like sore thumbs. Mainly, the art and writing in the first half of the book-- and on the final page—are as good as ever. In fact, after the 2 previous issue, I’d say the Kirby-Royer art was back on track. EXCEPT... all the panels featuring Granny Goodness looked very rushed, as though she was added to the pages after-the-fact. Just for an example, on page 11, panel 3, Vundabar is very finely drawn and rendered, yet right next to him, Granny looks like a hastily-scribbled sketch.

Further, pages 12-19 ALL look different from the rest of the book. Can it be that Jack only found out the book was being cancelled between pages 11 & 12? Or can it be Jack actually finished the book, then found out it was ending, and went back and REPLACED all those pages very quickly, in order to give the book some kind of “closure” that was not meant to be there when he initially conceived it? (If so, could there be a batch of unpublished pages sitting around somewherre?) Adding weight to this possibility is the dialogue. Much of it is AWFUL. I’ve read so many comments from so-called “fans” who complain about Jack’s dialogue, yet in reading the entire “Fourth World” series from start to finish, this is the ONLY instance that really sticks out in my mind where the dialogue just does not seem “right”. And not just by the so-called standards of other comics—but by Jack’s. The whole sequence feels like it was either done by someone who was very upset and distressed when he did it, or in a terrible rush—or BOTH.

Among other things, I find it hard to believe that somethign as important an momentous as Scott & Barda getting married should go by this fast. But perhaps more important, this marks the first time, EVER, that Scott was reunited with his father—and NO MENTION of it was made at all!!! That just ain’t right.

Of interest is the following from the letters page: “Lately, a lot of mail has been coming in from readers with all kinds of theories as to why NEW GODS and FOREVER PEOPLE were cancelled, ranging from those who thought we were censored due to excessive violence to those who said we were too literate. Naturally, these are not the reasons. The trilogy was an experiment—a new approach to comic-book story-telling—and while the magazine are no longer around, we don’t consider them failures nor do we hold the opinion that they died due to a lack of a following. Your letters have assured us of that. It becomes a matter of the way in which comics are sold plus a variety of intangibles that are peculiar to comic-books. All comic-books—not just the Kirby ones. Books are not cancelled just by a whim on Jack’s part, or on Carmine’s, because they both think too highly of you, the reader, and of the books, as creations.”

So there you have it. Right there, when it happened, the suggestion that something “not right” was going on regarding comics sales, and the fact that it affected comics (and DC Comics) in general.

It’s taken me just a little over a YEAR (including breaks) to plow thru the Fourth World books. It’s been a hell of a ride. I intend to continue all the way through to the end of Jack’s time at DC, before moving on to his 3rd Marvel period. It’s sure to be a blast!
(6-19-2012)

THE BRAVE & THE BOLD #112 / May’74 – “THE IMPOSSIBLE ESCAPE”

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Although early-on, there was a strong effort to tie-in Jack Kirby’s new series with the DC Universe in both JIMMY OLSEN and LOIS LANE, that dropped off almost completely until THE BRAVE & THE BOLD #109 (Sep’73), when Batman first crossed paths with The Demon. Now, for the first time, he runs into one of the actual “Fourth World” characters.

Inside an Egyptian tomb, Mister Miracle and Batman look inside a sarcophagus. MM says, “We FOUND it—the SECRET of IMMORTALITY!” From the open doorway, a shadowy figure holding a long curved sword says, “Yes, but now you two will remain trapped HERE... FOREVER!” (Seems to me Parafino said something like that to Betty Brant once...) This is squeezed into a very cramped, over-crowded cover which has no less than 3 banners across the top: “DC 100 Super Spectacular PAGES 100 Only 60c”, “Brave And Bold” THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD”, and “BATMAN and MISTER MIRACLE”. In addition, down the right side of the cover, we have 3 small panels, each illustrating a different reprint contained within-- “Aquaman & Hawkman”, “The Silent Knight”, and “Batman & Green Lantern”. To finish it off, at the bottom, there’s a 4th banner: “Extra: A Gallery of Batman’s Famous Co-Stars!” To hell with “art” or “design”—this is “advertising”.

Just as, for the Nov’72 cover dates, BOTH Marvel & DC changed their formats from 15 to 25 cent books, both with extra-long stories up-front and reprints in the back, so again, for the May’74 cover dates, BOTH Marvel & DC have once again instituted bigger formats, and this time, BOTH companies are doing it with ADDITIONAL books, rather than across-the-board with all their regular ones. Easier to manage, I guess. Marvel’s new packages began with GIANT-SIZE SUPER-STARS #1 (which was renamed GIANT-SIZE FANTASTIC FOUR with its 2nd issue). B&B #112 was the 1st issue of Batman’s regular team-up series to do this. Mind you, I sense DC was being more cynical about it. The lead story was only 20 pages as usual, not 35 as Marvel was doing, and they have a LOT more reprints, which is an “easy” (“cheap”) way of trying to SQUEEZE more money out of fans if they want to read that NEW story. And DC’s covers on these seem less like comic-book covers than they do “product catalogs”. The mid-70’s were a terrible time for “design” for both companies, but between the two, I’d say DC had a much worse problem, and one that continued to get worse and worse until Carmine Infantino was finally booted out of his job as Publisher. (I wonder what he might have done had he remained “art director”, as the late-60’s covers were many of DC’s best.)

Jim Aparo’s art always reminds me a bit of “Neal Adams lite” (which may be where he took his inspiration from). The actual rendering is a bit on the “rough” or “loose” side, and over the years has reminded me a bit of Dan Spiegle, Frank Thorne, or even Steve Ditko (all, virtually the antithesis of DC’s clean, slick “house style”). But then, the 70’s were much more favorable to “dark, rough, crude, spooky” art styles than the 60’s had been.

A shoot-out at the Gotham Art Museum ends when the thieves set off explosives and blow themselves up rather than be arrested. Batman, on the scene, pulls Gordon out of the way in time. “Luckily, my BAT-SENSE warned me!” Is this anything like Prince Namor’s ability to channel electricity thru his body? You know, one of those amazing abilities that never appeared before or after the story it was featured in? I’m only on page 2, and already I can see why many over the years have joked about Bob Haney’s B&B stories taking place on “Earth-B”.

Inspector Sayid of the Egyptian National Police turns up and informs Carleton French, the curator, that the entire Tomb of Hotep, which was brought to Gotham stone by stone and reconstructed here, was removed from his country illegally, despite having been purchased for the price of one million dollars from a “respectable” dealer, Ali Faroosh. (Do “dealers” actually “deal” in entire tomb buildings? This almost sounds like the work of “The Scavengers” from MISTER MIRACLE #10.)

It seems the thieves were after something of extreme value—the secret of immortality, as it’s explained that Hotep, the 1st of the Pharaohs, promised his people the gift of actual physical immortality, before he disappeared without a trace. The entire tradition of burying people with food and belongings in anticipation of being reborn stemmed from this (in this corner of the DCU, anyway). The curator asks Batman, while he’s in Egypt looking into the illegal sale, to also look into “the world’s greatest secret”. You know, this is a HELL of a lot of set-up for just the first 4 pages of the story. (I’ve clearly been getting spoiled. Isn’t it obvious the editor is Murray Boltinoff—and not Jack Kirby? Jack would have probably used the 100 page format to tell 100 pages of STORY!)

In a scene lasting a mere 2 panels, we find that somewhere in the Alps, in a futuristic building perched on the side of a mountain, someone is dying, and his servants (apparently) are the ones behind what they call “Operation Hotep”. Since one planned failed, they decide to institute a follow-up.

In Paris, Scott Free has been strapped to the very top of the Eiffel Tower in the middle of a violent electrical thunderstorm. Sure enough, the Tower acts as a lightning-rod, and Scott gets ZAPPED. Except, instead of being charred to ashes, he’s floating down to safety, having freed himself just in the nick of time. One thing’s painfully obvious from this scene, and it’s seeing Barda & Oberon watch from below. Bob Haney isn’t even trying to write the characters properly. Barda’s on the verge of panic, both before and after the lightning strikes, while Oberon’s speech pattern is just... “stiff”. I find it very difficult to believe that these are the SAME characters Jack Kirby’s been writing about for 18 issues of Scott’s mag. (Incidentally, we’re told offhand that this story takes place shortly before MM #18, when Scott & Barda got married, and left Earth to go live on New Genesis. Which seems to strengthen my feeling that their departure was a last-minute thing not planned in advance.)

Before Scott gets back to ground-level, he’s confronted with Dr. Ingrid Borg, an archeologist who has a proposition for him involving “the greatest escape of all time!”

In Egypt, Batman finds Faroosh has been murdered, the follows the trail into the desert where he winds up trapped inside an ancient tomb. Meanwhile, Scott & Ingrid arrive at the same location by helicopter, and find themselves facing one underground death-trap after another! After facing what appears to be a still-alive Hotep, Ingrid double-crosses Scott and tries to shoot him, only to miss, again and again. While Jack Kirby kept playing up the mystery, Haney & Aparo leave no question that Scott can move at speeds rivaling The Flash! Ingrid gets killed by a ricochetting bullet, before Scott discovers that “Hotep” is really a hypnotized Batman. Making no mention of the fact that he’s seen Batman unmasked, Scott and his new acquaintaince join forces and use high-tech equipment left behind long ago to escape the tomb moments before the entire place collapses.

Though never spelled out explicitly, it seems the pair were helped by Hotep himself, a member of an alien race from a distant planet, who believes Earth is not ready for their secrets, and vows never to return there. Meanwhile, it seems plain to me that the “Master” who hired Ingrid and the other thieves was probably Ra’s Al Ghul (even though we never see his face or learn his name).

I suppose for fans of mid-70’s BATMAN (post-Adams and pre-Rogers), this was probably a lot of fun. Coming in from Jack Kirby’s comics, however, I’m afraid it was painfully disappointing. The storytelling was cramped, the dialogue “awkward and stilted” (I swear, that’s the description that came to me while I was reading this), and Jim Aparo’s panels rarely ever seem to feature close-ups, and the linework is on the “fuzzy” side. A lot more pages would have allowed room to make this meeting of characters a memorable thing, instead of just "Oh well, one more team-up (YAWN)". I really can't see Scott going off to Egypt without Barda or Oberon, but this is a Boltinoff & Haney comic, after all. Although it seems the entire comics biz was collapsing as the 70’s went on, it seems pretty clear to me why Marvel was ahead of DC at this point. Changing the format to 60c and just slotting one new 20-pager in there is just the latest example of DC's apparent contempt for their own material, and their audience.

Marvel’s GIANT-SIZE comics were about 40% reprints for your money. DC’s SUPER SPECTACULAR comics were about 75% reprints. You know, I NEVER like mixing new and reprint material in the same package. One way or the other, it ALWAYS feels like a rip-off. And it makes it hard to file or find the reprints. That’s why, from the beginning, I always thought Marvel’s MASTERWORKS and DC’s ARCHIVES were long overdue.

Anyway, the reprints this time are from THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD #51 (Jan’64), #15 (Jan’58) and #59 (May’65).
(6-22-2012)

OMAC #1 / Oct’74 – “THE WORLD THAT’S COMING!!”

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While at DC in the early 70’s, Jack Kirby’s NEW GODS and THE FOREVER PEOPLE were both cut short with their Nov’72 issues. One of the replacement series, a concept suggested by Carmine Infantino, THE DEMON, ended with its Jan’74 issue. 2 months later, MISTER MIRACLE ended abruptly with its Mar’74 issue. For the next 6 months, the only new Jack Kirby comics from DC was KAMANDI, THE LAST BOY ON EARTH (issues #15-21). Presumably, during this time, Jack was working frantically developing new concepts, and possibly also getting ahead on KAMANDI. Finally, with the Oct’74 cover dates, the first of Jack’s next wave of ideas hit the newsstands.

On a mostly-blank white cover, a tiny muscled figure hurls a a box, from which protrudes, insanely, the face, legs and hands of a woman. WHAT THE F***??? The copy reads, “Are you ready for OMAC ONE MAN ARMY? A Startling look into... THE WORLD THAT’S COMING!”

Inside, we open with a close-up of that same box. No, your eyes didn’t deceive you. A label on the box reads, “Build-A-Friend”. “OMAC One-Man Army Corps... is the story of a young man in THE WORLD THAT’S COMING!! In that strange place, common objects of today... may become the terrors that we never bargained for... like the one below!”

In one of Jack’s patented double-page splashes, OMAC, who with his tall mohawk looks like a futuristic sci-fi “god of war”, breaks into a heavily-armed factory warehouse, where the product is artificial people. I’m reminded of the “androids” featured in a couple episodes of LOST IN SPACE. “I’m OMAC! Evacuate this section! I’m going to destroy it!” “HE DID IT! The One-man army broke in here against IMPOSSIBLE odds!” “There are still ENOUGH of us here to take him!” “By the powers granted me by The Global Peace Agency... I DECLARE THIS PLANT ILLEGAL AND DANGEROUS!” “CONFOUND the peace Agency! They’ve RUINED our racket!”

Despite one guard’s confidence, they all run. OMAC calmly gets down and speaks to one of the androids, who he clearly knows. “Where does humanity STOP and technology BEGIN? We no longer know, Lila... I’m NO longer who I was... and YOU... Lila... you... you and all these other... THINGS... must be... DESTROYED!” Touching a computer bank, energy from OMAC’s own body transmits explosive power to start a chain-reaction. As the camera pulls back further and further, we see OMAC walking away from the building, as a series of violent explosions totally destroy it. I’m reminded a bit of the finale of the DOCTOR WHO story, “The Greatest Show In The Galaxy”. Only this is a lot more serious.

It’s unusual for Kirby to jump right into the action, and THEN have a flashback explaining how we got here, but it works. (John Byrne did this countless times later on, and it became one of his more annoying and over-used schticks.) After such a powerful 5-page intro, we cut to a “one-man operation, a unit of many small sub-divisions, growing out of what was once called NASA”. Two masked members of the GPA (Global Peace Agency) visit Professor Myron Forest. They hand him the file on “Buddy Blank”, their choice to receive “FANTASTIC powers”—“for keeping the peace in a world that CAN’T afford violence.” After they leave, he makes contact with “Brother Eye”, an orbiting satellite he describes as “the most ADVANCED and complex piece of metal in this dangerous age”. Brother Eye speaks of Buddy, saying “He and I shall become as BROTHERS.”

In the offices of “Psuedo People, Inc.” we meet mild-mannered Buddy, who’s brushed aside, insulted, then ASSAULTED by an unnamed red-haired co-worker who tells him, “DON’T block the pretty SCENERY.” The violent attack catches the attention of their supervisor, “Fox”, who tells the attacker to “Get back to work”, then, incredibly, berates Buddy! “Someone’s always lying when YOU’RE involved, Blank! You’re overloaded with grudges and resentments! I suggest you take steps to RID yourself of them!” As he walks away, his attacker deliberately trips Buddy as he passes his desk. Fox yells after him, “DON’T say it, Blank! Before you blame that on someone, go to ‘Psychology” section and lose those frustrations!”

Something else else I never noticed the first time I read this was how much in this scene Buddy and his attacker resemble Peter Parker and Flash Thompson. I guess that makes Fox like their high school (or college) teacher. Yes, Jack Kirby is “doing” Steve Ditko here! And the tragic thing is, I know from painful, personal experience, that there ARE people exactly that STUPID in the real world—in school, and in the workplace. A reasonable, intelligent, considerate person might hope that once they get out of school into the “real world” that people might grow up so they can leave that sort of childish nonsense behind them. BUT, NO. Some people STAY that stupid all their lives. I guess it’s obvious from this scene that Jack Kirby knows it, too.

We briefly see a scene of organized violence that might be part of SPECTRE Island’s training facility. But, instead, it’s the “Psychology” section, where people work ot their frustrations by tearing apart phone books, stabbing, beating or kicking human-looking dummies, or even setting fire to automobiles. The “Destruct Room” is only one of several options, others include the “Silent Room” and the “Crying Room”.

Not really in the mood for any of it, Buddy’s suddenly met by Lila, a co-worker from another section that works on “super-secret” projects, who reminds him they’re friends. She says she misses him and think of him often, but they’ve got her working so much she hasn’t had much time for him lately. But as they part, two tough-looking characters observe, “She’s perfect... perfect.” “HUH! She’s MORE of a person than that dummy, Blank!” “These field tests are getting too RISKY... let’s END this one.” This revelation would be more of a shock if we hadn’t already found out the truth in the prologue. One of them asks, “Say, you don’t think that Buddy Blank would get the notion to FOLLOW, us, do you?” “No. The TIMID type NEVER bucks company rules.”

Sure enough, Buddy goes down into “Section D” and is immediately grabbed by armed guards. He’s shown a film of a “field test” that goes beyond anything built for “amusement and business markets”. A man “assembles” one of the artificial women, then, when she kisses him, she explodes, destroying both of them. “Y-you sent that man an EXPLODING model! Y-you sell “MURDER!” You could send those automatons to kill WORLD LEADERS!!... Y-you might START an atomic war...” But money’s all that matters to the man, as he reveals Lila is one of them... But just then, fiery energy engulfs Buddy, a blazing eye appears on his chest, and his body begins to grow before his captors eyes. “I’ve heard some talk about it! ...ELECTRONIC SURGERY...! ...a computer hormone operation... done by REMOTE CONTROL!!”

A moment later, the guards discover he’s become bulletproof. He has become OMAC! “I’m being FED strength and knowledge by some UNKNOWN source. My job is to stop your evil activity.” Bullets, machinery, fire, an entire squad of men, a gun that shoots “a hundred rounds a second”—NOTHING can stop him!!!

The scene returns to OMAC’s confrontation of Lila. “They’ll PAY for this, Lila... They’ve done MORE than trifle with human life... They’ve made a MOCKERY of the spirit...” “In a TERRIBLE flash of insight, OMAC realizes why he exists... what his mission is... and that his enemy is man’s OWN capacity for self-destruction.” “OMAC LIVES... SO THAT MAN MAY LIVE...” Sheer poetry!

The story then jumps ahead again to after the factory’s destruction. Brother Eye contacts OMAC and transmits a “complete orientation course” of his situation. With great sadness on his face, he knows his next moves will be to see Professor Forest, and then—“Mister Big”.

WOW. I’ll say it again. WOW. I first encountered OMAC in the back pages of KAMANDI #59 (Oct’78). To this day, that’s the only issue of that book I have in my collection. I picked it up because I was a big fan of Jim Starlin, who revived OMAC as a back-up series. With the art “finished” by Joe Rubinstein (in my view, one of the best and most consistent inkers the biz has ever seen), it was glorious. Too bad I had to wait a couple years to read the next one, thanks to the infamous “DC Implosion”. As a result of the mass cancellations, Starlin left after only doing 4 short episodes. When the series was brought back again as a back-up in WARLORD, Dan Mishkin & Gary Cohn (along with Greg LaRocque & Vince Colletta) had come aboard to continue. It seemed 3rd-rate after the insane intensity of Starlin’s brief run. It wasn’t until I got ahold of all 8 of Jack Kirby’s issues that I realized that, first, Starlin’s new direction had been completely wrong-headed and ill-advised, and, second, that Mishkin & Cohn had tried to drag the series back toward Kirby’s original direction, by force, but just didn’t have the skills to succeed at it.

So anyway, I first read this issue about 30 YEARS ago. Around that time, I also got my hands on most of the “Fourth World” books, as well as SANDMAN. And of all of these, OMAC became my favorite of all of Jack’s early-70’s DC work.

As it turns out, while both THE DEMON and KAMANDI were concepts suggested by Carmine Infantion, OMAC, like NEW GODS, was an idea Jack had on his own as far back as 1967. The idea, simply, was, “CAPTAIN AMERICA—in the future!” As soon as I found that out, I instantly recognized Prof. Forest as a modern-day Prof. Reinstein. But unlike Steve Rogers, Buddy was not a volunteer. What happened to him was a total shock, without warning. And while it’s been argued whether or not CAP actually had super-strength back in WW2, it’s pretty obvious OMAC is at least as powerful as the original Siegel-Shuster SUPERMAN. (As an aside, it's funny that there was also a "Lila" in CAP's book in the 70's.)

Jack’s essay at the end of the issue is quite compelling. Unlike the vague ramblings when NEW GODS was cancelled, this is completely coherent, thought-provoking, and gripping. Anyone who would even suggest that “Jack Kirby couldn’t write” is totally FULL OF IT. It’s very clear from reading this entire issue that Jack Kirby was probably, by a wide margin, the BEST writer working at DC at the time—if not in all of comics.

I’d like to make a brief comment about the art. Of all of Jack’s DC books, this is the one I really wish someone like Joe Sinnott had inked. Sinnott’s sharp, slick lines would have been a perfect match for the science-fiction theme of this series. And unfortunately, for whatever reason, Mike Royer wound up only inking 2 of the 8 issues (the 1st and the last).

What boggles my mind is trying to figure out what the HELL Carmine and co. were thinking. Both THE DEMON and KAMANDI very quickly became monthlies. OMAC stayed bi-monthly for its entire run. In fact, only one month after it debuted, Jack’s run of The Losers in OUR FIGHTING FORCES began, and that was a monthly. In addition, over the next year or so, Jack would also work on THE SANDMAN, JUSTICE INC., KUNG FU FIGHTER, and 3 issues of 1ST ISSUE SPECIAL (all concepts he came up with which DC decided NOT to go ahead with). Apart from really wishing NEW GODS had been able to be brought to a proper conclusion, and that MISTER MIRACLE could have continued as a bi-monthly indefinitely, I really wish that Jack had done OMAC instead of THE DEMON. I feel that, if it started earlier and gone monthly, we might have gotten several dozen issues of it, instead of a few of all these lesser things.

In short, OMAC is an overlooked MASTERPIECE. I can’t wait to re-read the rest of the run!
(6-28-2012)

At last, another comic I actually have in my collection...


OMAC #2 / Dec’74 – “RENT A CITY!”

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2 miles outside the limits of Electric City, OMAC is met by an armed blockade. The city has been “rented for the night by a private citizen”, and he’s told by one of the uniformed mercenaries, “Produce an invitation card of TAKE OFF!!” He chooses a 3rd alternative—and crashes through the entire squadron of men. Even a pair on motorcycles fail to stop him. But then he gets picked up by a pair of party-goers, who ask, “WHY did the guards try to stop you? That costume’s a DANDY!” As they drive, they explain the city consented to the deal because, “Citizens won’t have to pay taxes for a year!” “The streets are empty. Only Mister Big’s guests are permitted on them tonight.” But after they drop him off, it’s clear they’re part of a sinister plot, as they follow him.


OMAC arrives at the office of Professor Myron Forest, who designed both the Brother Eye satellite and OMAC himself. “I- I have FAINT memories of being--- someone ELSE---“ “Forget who you were. The world needs you as you ARE--- a force for PEACE! The nations dare not use large armies. Large armies lead to large wars - ! THAT’s why you exist, OMAC. TO CONTAIN CONFLICT BEFORE IT GROWS...” Forest continues, “Mister Big runs the world RACKET COMBINE, but it’s got to be proved.” Just then the two “party-goers” burst in and gun down the Professor, in a shocking replay of what happened to Professor Reinstein moments after Steve Rogers became CAPTAIN AMERICA. Thanks to their costumes being electrically-charged, the killers escape. “No wonder Mister Big RENTED this town--- his party was just a cover for his REAL purpose--- to DESTROY Project OMAC---!”


As Forest dies, OMAC thinks, “H-he’s GONE--- poor old man--- he used his genius in mankind’s SERVICE!” He knows he must find and stop Big before Big stops him. As he leaves, Brother Eye declares, “Nothing here must fall into evil hands--- GOODBYE, Professor—“ “SZZOSH!” “There is a flash of solar heat that is so intense and FINE—that it instantly wipes the room CLEAN of all objects---“


The scene switches to the villain’s location. “THE WORLD THAT’S COMING is a place of BIG POPULATIONS! BIG CITIES! BIG MONEY! And, for those very reasons, it falls prey to BIG CRIME!!! Technology has enlarged society until its scattered evils have merged into one giant target for OMAC--- MISTER BIG!” Looking quite a bit like Marc Lawrence (an actor who specialized in gangster roles), Big and his mercenary soldier sidekick, Major Domo, oversee the party. “Keep trouble to a MINIMUM--- we want to return this city to its residents the way we FOUND it!” “There’ll be ONE thing missing--- “PROJECT OMAC!”” When the pair of hit men make their report, Big tells them “OMAC MUST be dead by dawn—OR YOU TWO SHALL DIE IN HIS PLACE!”


Out on the streets, the party rages. Balloons carry some overhead, including some more killers who try to pick OMAC off. Overwhelmed by a murderous mob, one of the Professor’s killers scores a direct hit, apparently killing OMAC. But after his body is taken to Big as proof of the kill, Big worries about the rumor that OMAC was only half of his problem. And sure enough, just them, several masked Global Peace Agents appear, who announce that Big’s actions have been filmed and recorded—“an airtight case”. Although the GPA are unarmed, the killers are knocked out by electric charges. The GPA explain that although Big’s doctor proved OMAC had no heartbeat or brain activity, the bullet that was fired at him was actually disolved by a laser beam. Further, the beam created a simulated wound, and reduced OMAC’s life functions to simulate death! All this so the GPA could track Big to his lair and get the goods on him.


As he sits up, OMAC says, “It’s great to be alive again---“. As they haul Big and his cronies away, one of the GPA says, “It’s a ROUGH job—keeping the peace in a world stacked with atom bombs—“ As it turns out, Jack Kirby would use a much more downbeat variation on this idea a decade later when he did THE HUNGER DOGS. Thinking on his mission, OMAC gazes skyward. “I’ve got the most FANTASTIC helper man ever had!” High above in orbit, Brother Eye responds, “My beams are READY, when you need me—I shall ACT!”


A really cool follow-up to the 1st issue. I have only one real criticism, and that’s D. Bruce Berry taking over as inker from Mike Royer. For the last few years, Royer has been the most authentic, accurate inker Jack Kirby ever had in his career. Although he started out a bit rough in his first issue or two, he quickly developed into one of the slickest, as well, albeit hewing closer to Jack’s tight pencils than anyone had ever done before. I’m wondering what exactly was going on here? Was Jack’s heavy, hectic schedule finally too much for Royer to handle all of it? Did he need a break? Did other, perhaps better-paying work come up and interfere with his schedule?


I first saw Berry’s inks over Kirby during the latter part of Jack’s 3rd (and final) run at Marvel, and was never quite sure what to make of them. In the long run, Berry inked Jack at DC, Marvel, Pacific and again at DC. His inks have been described alternately as “faithful to Jack’s lines” or “taking all the life and excitement out of the art”. I think it’s a bit of both. Some of the pages in OMAC #2 don’t look bad, but some of them seem very amatuerish compared to just about anything I’ve seen over Jack since the 50’s. I used to think Berry was some young guy, like Mike Thibodeaux, who perhaps hadn’t quite developed his skills yet. But then I found out he was born in 1924 (only 6 years after my Dad—and 7 years after Jack). After being a sign painter in the army during WW2, Berry got involved with science-fiction fandom, and contributed to various fanzines as well as pulp magazines. I’m not sure how he got involved, but considering the finished output, it seems to me he inked far more Kirby comics than I would have preferred. Considering that OMAC may well still be my favorite of all of Jack’s early-70’s work for DC, it’s a shame that 75% of it DIDN’T look nearly as good as it should have.
(7-1-2012)


This cover was in excellent shape. I only had to add in a tiny bit of art on the top, left & bottom edges, and a lot more down the right edge, but that was mostly a consistent pattern, so it didn't take long. The one thing that needed adjustment was the skin tones, which were too "pink" on the actual cover (and even more so in the scan). Now, it looks BETTER than the real thing!!


Henry

Allen Smith wrote:
"Kirby must have been interested just a bit in dystopian science fiction, as he dealt with futuristic stories in both Kamandi and OMAC."


It's funny, OMAC doesn't seem (at least, it didn't to me) like a "dystopian" future. It seems like the kind of future we had in LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES. Except, there was much greater emphasis on advances in technology being a bigger DANGER to manking than a boon, and OMAC being a necessity to save mankind from its own worst tendencies.

You know how DC & Marvel always seemed to be trying to hit the same markets, and each company responding to the other with their own "variations on themes"??? I wonder how many people ever considered the following "parallels"...


OMAC: One Man Army Corps / DEATHLOK The Demolisher

KAMANDI: The Last Boy On Earth / KILLRAVEN: Warrior of the Worlds


Note that both OMAC and DEATHLOK had ongoing one-on-one conversations with intelligent computers, while both KAMANDI and KILLRAVEN (both "K" names) struggled to survive in futures where Earth had been over-ridden by other species.

THE SANDMAN #1 / Winter’74 – “GENERAL ELECTRIC”


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I guess anybody who’s a Jack Kirby fan knows about Joe Simon. Simon & Kirby were a team from the late 30’s to the early 50’s, created a slew of series and characters, and had tremendous success with the genre of romance comics. But they split up after the industry collapse of the mid-50’s took their own company, Mainline, down. They worked together on a few things after that, but nothing long-term. In the late 60’s-mid 70’s, Simon, teamed with Jerry Grandenetti (a longtime assistant of Will Eisner), created several series for DC, none of which were very successful. In 1974, one of these was intended to be an entirely new version of THE SANDMAN, Apparently Simon came up with the concept, and Grandenetti designed the costume, and drew the cover. But then, someone at DC apparently decided, hey, why not re-team Simon & Kirby for a one-shot? Jack wasn’t too happy about it, as he’d been used to creating and writing his own series for decades by then. But he did it, including 2 new versions of the cover (one inked by Simon, and the published one inked by Mike Royer).


Sometime in the early 80’s (probably) I managed to get ahold of 5 out of the 6 issues of this book. But I never did find a copy of the 1st one. Lucky for me someone on the internet, Joe Bloke, scanned in and posted the entire issue at his blog, for which I’m grateful. It saved me having to pay to read the thing.


The 1st issue introuced old fisherman Ezra Paulsen and his young grandson, Jed, who live alone together on Dolphin Island, not far off the coast of Cape Kennedy. Jed has a nightmare about a man drowning, but on awakening, the two discover it’s really happening on the beach. Just before dying, the man hands them a particularly ugly green doll he calls a “Werblink” and warns them “Don’t let it fall into THEIR hands!” Ezra urges Jed to get rid of the ugly thing, especially as “boys don’t play with dolls”, but Jed, lonely, insists he’s never had a “friend” before. Already this is several ways too creepy.


Jed has a nightmare in which the “Werblink” is chasing his grandfather. The Sandman—who wears what must be the most ridiculous-looking superhero costume since the original Green Lantern—and who operates out of a technological HQ known as the “Dream Dome”—had earlier tuned into Jed’s dream and urged him to wake up to rescue the man on the beach. Now, seeing Jed falling off a cliff in his dream, he races to rescue him, even though his sidekicks—a pair of beings he refers to as “nightmares” named “Brute” (a large bald muscle-man) and “Glob” (a short, squat ball-shaped creature with spindly arms and legs) urge him not to. Ezra is attracted to the sound of Jed’s screams, and when the boy awakes, he decides to get rid of the “Werblink”. In a rage, he smashes it, but after he calms down, he buries it outside so Jed won’t see what he did to it.


I find I have a great deal of patience for a lot of things, a lot of different types of stories, ideas, styles, what have you. But something about this series is just rubbing me completely the wrong way. The concept doesn’t make any sense, the characters aren’t likeable, the costume design is downright ugly, and the tone of the writing reminds me of a REALLY BAD Saturday morning cartoon series—like something Filmation did in the late 70’s or so. I must be spoiled, having spent the last year re-reading almost nothing but Jack Kirby comics. Jack is one of the best writers the comics biz ever saw, and his ideas were always inspired, no matter how “out there” they might seem on the surface. But this is clearly, apart from the art, not his work, but that of Joe Simon. Joe seems to be deliberately aiming at a young audience, but I have a feeling if I was 5 or 6 years old, I wouldn’t like it even then.


The story gets even stranger when we cut to somewhere in southeast Asia. 2 surgeons, Drs. Masugi & Kaufman, are discussing “General Electric”, a man who led a kamikazi squadron in WW2, who somehow survived when he crashed his plane. His head, almost destroyed, was reconstructed, and over the 3 decades since, more and more electronic elements have been added to it. Electric is the designer of the “Werblinks”, miniature robots he plans to use for his own evil schemes. Electric escapes from the hospital he’s been living in for many years. The next thing, the defense installation at Cape Kennedy has been sabotaged, and Sandman leaves his HQ to enter the “real world” to try and help. Between his costume and his odd habit of sprinkling sand in people’s faces to make them sleep, the cops are naturaly suspicious. As he runs off, he comes across Jed, who’s found his broken Werblink, and says, “My poor little friend! What have they done to you?” I hate to say it this way... but this kid strikes me as downright pathetic.


Just then, a squad of armed men wearing both Nazi and WW2-era Japanese army uniforms arrive, overpower and capture both Jed and Sandman. Turns out they’re working for General Electric, who wants to destroy Washington D.C. in revenge for what happened to his country 30 years ago. One of the German soldiers finds Sandman’s “hypnosonic whistle” and for no damn reason, blows it, which frees Brute & Glob from their glass prisons. The pair come to Sandman’s rescue, unleashing a bag full of “vile things” to terrorize the now-unconscious baddies. Glob retrieves the whistle and blows it, causing Electric’s head to explode. As they bid Jed farewell, Sandman tells him, “This will soon fade away—like any other dream.”


Honestly—this entire issue strikes me as one big “WTF???” moment. It’s not like it’s lacking in imagination... it’s just that it feels as though nothing here was thought-through properly. I suppose the best way to describe this, and this may be quite fitting, is that the whole thing feels like someone had a bad dream, and wrote down what they remembered, without even trying to make sense out of any of it.


And to think—we got THIS, but not more issues of NEW GODS, or FOREVER PEOPLE, or MISTER MIRACLE, or a monthly OMAC, or even ATLAS (which was probably already done by this, but not published until later). How did DC even manage to stay in business in the 70’s, anyway???
(7-24-2012)


For more, see the blog page!

http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2012/06/fourth-world-part-11.html

OUR FIGHTING FORCES #152 / Jan'75 – “ A SMALL PLACE IN HELL!” / “GANG-UP!”

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On the outskirts of a small French town, an Army division waits for tanks to arrive before moving in. But just entering the town are THE LOSERS, who, on seeing the place is occupied by German soldiers, believe they may have been dropped off in the wrong location for their supposed 3-day furlough. Sure enough, some Germans hiding in a building open fire, and a moment later, they find not one but both ends of the street they’re on have German tanks—heading their way! Ducking into one of the nearly-destroyed buildings that line the streets to hide, they see the Germans begin opening up onto the buildings on both sides of the street, one by one, to find and destroy the opposition.

Before long, they hear Germans on the roof, and some of them begin to come down the stairs looking for them. A firefight breaks out inside the building, which spills into lobbing grenades at the Germans outside, who open fire on their position. The only way out is up, and sure enough, another gun-battle breaks out as they climb onto the roof. With the building now on fire, they scramble over the side and manage to make their way safely to street level. They see a squad of Germans around a motorcycle, but while trying to decide their next move, mortar fire hits, taking out the Germans, the buildings, and the tanks.

Sure enough, the U.S. tanks have arrived. And that’s not all. By his twin pearl-handled revolvers, they recognize who the General commanding the tank brigade is! In his typical brash, abusive manner, he tells them, “You’re ‘losers’! I KNOW ‘em when I SEE ‘em, soldier! But you’re FINE boys. Kept some enemy off OUR backs, too.” Told to find the medics and get themselves cleaned up, they watch as the General’s jeep takes off.

I bet my Dad would have liked this. He used to watch the TV show COMBAT when I was a kid, and what little I remember of that, it was a very tough, no-nonsense, hard-hitting, sometimes BRUTAL series.

The use of sound effects is really powerful in this story, particularly on pages 4, 10, and 15, especially the latter, where they almost overwhelm the page. In my own crime comics, I’ve done similar things, and it amazes me that this aspect of this comic reminds me of my own work, even though I never saw this before. The same goes for the feature in the back showcasing authentic weapons used during the war. I’d done the same thing in the 70’s when I was in high school!

One of Jack Kirby’s well-known stories about his time in WW2 involved he and the soldiers he was with making it thru some heavy fighting, and then running into none other than General George S. Patton, who, apparently, was very accurately portrayed by George C. Scott in the film PATTON—as well as in this comic. In Jack’s real-life encounter, Patton got very angry on finding out Jack’s platoon was where they were, and alive, as his intelligence reports had them listed elsewhere, and dead. He seemed less concerned that a group of soldiers were standing in front of him alive than he did with the that fact screwing up his “intelligence”. I’d say Jack “toned it down” a bit when he did this story for the comic.

This is some very POWERFUL, hard-hitting storytelling and art. D. Bruce Berry doesn’t do a bad job on the inks, but I can’t help but wish Mike Royer had done it instead.

This is actually the very first LOSERS story I’ve ever read. War stories are not really my “thing”, although some of the violence is very similar to stuff I’ve done in my own crime comics.
(7-27-2012)

OMAC #3 / Feb’75 – “A HUNDRED THOUSAND FOES!”

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“What will MOVIES be like in THE WORLD THAT’S COMING? Story plots, transmitted electronically and fed into the human brain, will make the viewer a PARTICIPANT in the movie action.... Every viewer will be his own movie star.... Every movie will be a PERSONAL experience.... Technology will breed wonders.... BUT IT WILL ALSO PRODUCE EARTH-SHAKING PERILS!!”

Lying in a special couch and wearing a technological mask, OMAC sees himself on an alien landscape battling a huge monster. But he’s interrupted by a Peace Agent. Following a recapping of their mutual responsibilities, they hand him a document which gives him the rank of a Five-Star General! “Your orders will be obeyed ANYWHERE on this globe!” After they leave, he thinks... “I’ve got an AWESOME responsibility... that’s for sure. Like the Peace Agents, MY life must be one of dedication... They say I was once someone else... someone who was CHANGED by electronic surgery... into a sort of... GOD OF WAR!! Now... even the memories of that FORMER life... are gone...”

“In THE WORLD THAT’S COMING, even lost memories can be replaced by all the necessities for a new life... What began as “COMPUTER DATING” will flower into complete “PACKAGED LIVING”! Computers will pick IDEAL families and backgrounds for those who LACK the total human relationship... The Peace Agency will do this for OMAC....”

OMAC is introduced to Mr. And Mrs. Barker, an elderly couple who have been chose to be his new “parents”. “To serve humanity ...you must KNOW humanity.” Their lives, like his, have been empty, but no more. Another Peace Agent enters. “How’s OMAC responding, Agent 251?” “Amazingly WELL. He’s a person of compassion and WARMTH...” “The Global Peace Agency has supplied him with a HOME and the beginnings of a FAMILY life... now...” “Yes. I know. Now he must keep this world from BLOWING UP!!!!”

The GPA show OMAC a file on his next target, “KAFKA! --- the Bandit Marshall and his army of HIRED mercenaries!” “He wants it ALL ...IF he can get it... Every age has known his kind. They start small... and dream of becoming a Caesar.” Kaftka plans to invade his neighboring country. “How large a force does he have?” “Big enough and highly MOBILE. Kafka’s equipment is combat-ready ...his troops number a HUNDRED THOUSAND.” “The Peace Agency will get you to Kafka... but only YOU can stop him...”

Next thing, at a missile field, he’s launched into orbit, and soon, halfway around the world, his tiny “Capsule-Plane” (with a design rather predicting the Acrostar Jet seen in the 1983 film OCTOPUSSY) enters Kafka’s airspace, where it’s immediately targetted by ground-to-air missiles. First he ejects his rocket engine, which is destroyed by the incoming fire. Next, the plane itself is wiped out by tank fire. Seconds before, its very special ejector seat, loaded to the max with high-powered weaponry of its own, is launched. From his highly-manoeuverable “Assault Chair”, OMAC orders Kafka’s men to stand down. Predictably, they don’t, and after dodging multiple attacks, he unleashes a nitrogen spray which freezes all the tanks.

Following the battle from his personal “bunker”, Kafka orders another attack. From a huge “Mobile Airport” (a gigantic truck that looks like it stepped out of a Gerry Anderson TV series), a squad of Vertical Take Off and Landing (VTOL) jets are launched, and in a scene straight out of YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE, fail utterly to bring down their target. (Once again Kirby is years ahead of the curve. VTOL jets, as far as I know, first appeared about the time of THE NEW AVENGERS episode “Obsession”, around 1977.) Following this, OMAC’s assault chair causes a sonic shock with destroys the roadway below, trapping Kafka’s artillery.

Things get more personal when a “Multi-Shot” cannon manages to take out the Assault Chair, leaving OMAC on foot. He crashes into the weapon, destroying it, then takes out an entire squad of men with ONE punch! Grabbing a heavily-armed “Golf-Cart”, he scatters Kafka’s remaining forces, finally confronting the dictator, who’s poked his head out of his huge mobile “Bunker”. “You’re a WAR CRIMINAL, Kafka! Surrender to me... and I’ll promise you a FAIR trial...” “THIS is my answer ...FOOL!” He blasts the tiny vehicle to atoms as OMAC dives for safety. Then... “With a FANTASTIC display of superhuman strength, OMAC lifts the HUGE bunker off the road...” “The world has had ENOUGH little Hitlers! I’M TAKING YOU IN, KAFKA!”

WOW. This continues to be possibly the most mind-blowing and exciting book Kirby has come up with in years. And that’s really saying something. It’s amazing how in a measly 20 pages Jack Kirby can pack in more ideas, more plot, more wild designs, and more ACTION than any 10 other comics combined. D. Bruce Berry’s inks are better this issue than the previous one, so I have fewer complaints, though part of me still wishes Mike Royer were on the book instead.
(7-9-2012)

OMAC #4 / Apr’75 – “THE BUSTING OF A CONQUEROR!”

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“SUPER-HUMANS WILL BE REAL IN THE WORLD THAT’S COMING!! This one is attemptng to lift 70 TONS of death-dealing steel off the ground... he represents the incredible goals that are forecast for tomorrow’s technology. In a world of waiting atomic bombs, we will HAVE to create him...”

High in orbit, Brother Eye broadcasts power to OMAC, far below, as the One-Man Army struggles to lift a GIANT armored bunker OFF the ground. As this happens, Marshall Kafka orders a bomb released, with a 3-second fuse. “WE can survive it... CAN YOU?” “DON’T take any bets on my death!! No matter what happens, I’M TAKING YOU IN!!! Do you hear that? YOU’LL PAY FOR YOUR CRIMES!” Incredibly, OMAC succeeds in turning over the mobile bunker, just as the explosion goes off. Only the power channeled by Brother Eye saves OMAC from being crushed by boulders. As he recovers, he surveys for signs of life. “It would be a pity if my PRIME pidgeon is BEYOND the reach of justice!”

Some time later, Kafka is being arraigned “IN SUPER-COURT”. “I warn you AGAIN! If I’m not released, ALL OF YOU WILL DIE!!!” “Before all this happens, you’ll be “COMPUTER BOOKED” and held for TRIAL!” Kafka warns that his “Avenger” is on its way. “He’ll DESTROY this place!” “If he does, Kafka, YOU’LL die with US!” “I’m PREPARED to die... as long as I can TAKE you and the peace agents with me!” One of the Agents tells OMAC, “This place is NOT immune to ATTACK.” “It’s certainly TOUGH to reach... and well PROTECTED... a court of justice ON TOP of MOUNT EVEREST! It’s a concept as wild as BROTHER EYE...” The agent believes that, according to reports, Kafka’s Avenger may be something “biological”. OMAC feels it may be “BRED to DEFY all known attack”—and so, he requisitions an aircraft, and goes after it before it reaches the Court.

“THE BEAST AS A TERROR-WEAPON! It’s not a new military concept. Hannibal used elephants... the Nazis bred savage dogs... but, in the world that’s coming, with biological research geared to war, a ruthless despot produces a LIVING, BREATHING MULTI-KILLER!!”

As OMAC spies the approaching monstrosity, which looks like some sort of semi-mechanical flying octopus, he comments, “Animal, mineral, or vegetable? IT COULD BE ALL THREE!” OMAC hits it with cannon fire, sure that missiles couldn’t penetrate its skin. The creature generates sound waves which shakes his craft to pieces. While falling, Brother Eye affects his atoms so he weighs almost nothing when he hits the snow. Trying to keep its attention on him results in the monster shooting flames which tear off the top of a mountain. Only Brother Eye charging him up so he can leap great distances (in a manner rather similar to The HULK!) allows him to escape being crushed, then leap up to grab hold of his adversary. Sensing that its “eyes” are cyclotrons, and that it’s programmed to self-destruct when it reaches the Court building, he tears off one of its “horns”, hoping he’s guessed right. Sure enough, its flight path becomes erratic, and it zooms into the upper atmosphere, before exploding, “...in the bright searing burst of atomic flame!!”

Safely below, OMAC confers with a Peace Agent. “This experience has TRULY shown me the importance of keeping POWER-MAD bandits like Kafka in check...” “His kind are capable of ANYTHING... we CAN’T let them run loose! THANKS to Project Omac and Brother Eye, our PRISONER will stand trial...” “”It’s a RUGGED job to keep the peace in an age of ADVANCED technology!” “Man HASN’T changed, Omac. But the odds AGAINST his survival have RISEN considerably.” “That WON’T make our job any EASIER...”

WOW. This book continues to be one of the most exciting, thrilling, imaginative, and thought-provoking things Jack Kirby ever did. What on Earth kept DC from making this a monthly???

Reader Tom Nester puts out as plea to speculators to visit multiple newsstands and only take a few from each, so actual readers can have a chance to buy the book, without having to pay higher prices shortly after they come out. Clearly, this was a growing problem over which DC had no control. Cham Holmes, meanwhile, feels the series is “the worst you have ever made. Why don’t you bring back BOYS RANCH? But put them in space.” Uh huh.
(8-17-2012)

1st ISSUE SPECIAL #1 / Apr’75 – “ATLAS THE GREAT!”

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“There was a time when man was rising OUT of barbarism. There were cities of great wealth and power... like HYSSA, the place of the winged lizard...”

In an ancient marketplace, a greatly-muscled figure known as Atlas demonstrated his strength by crushing a pair of stone blocks under his arms, while an older man yells to a crowd like a sideshow barker. But some scoff, claiming the display is some kind of trick. One named Kargin declares himself the “strongest here”, and is invited to challenge Atlas on stage. But Atlas puts him down with a single blow, after which those watching eagerly part with their money. “T’was truly WORTH seeing.” But Kargin’s friends object, claiming he was “the VICTIM of some foul treachery”. But before this challenge can be answered, Atlas and his companion run afoul of some local noble, who’s offended that they’re blocking his way. He and his servants also fall prey to Atlas’ strength, as he tells them, “I care little for POMPOUS worms who travel on the BACKS of slaves!”

His companion urges him to flee, but before they can, a squad of archers appear. Atlas holds the noble in front of him as a target, when suddenly a voice cuts the air. “WHAT KIND OF KNAVE’S WORK IS THIS?” Atlas recognizes it, and his mind flashes back to when he was but a young boy. His village was in flames, every man woman and child being captured to be sold into slavery. Seeing his father struck down, the boy ran to him, only to be grabbed by the leader of the slavers...

“Suddenly staring down at a frightened child, was THE FACE that would CHANGES its destiny... it was the face of a human lizard... a cruel replica of the crest upon its helmet... the child, Atlas, would NEVER forget it... that face would make him an eternal AVENGER!”

To his own shock, the boy struck at his captor, with a strength beyond his years. He ran into the tall grass, only to be grabbed by someone else who was hiding there. After the slavers departed, the boy, who seems to have the strength of a full-grown man, returned to the village. Finding his father dead, he searched the remains of their home until he found a glowing crystal. Although the boy wants nothing to do with his savior, the man bows down and speaks. “Forgive this POOR traveler, boy.... little did I realize who your PEOPLE were. Your people came from the CRYSTAL MOUNTAIN... I know this now for TRUTH! ...and it is said that the LEADER of your people bears a piece of that mountain... and must pass it on... when he DIES.” “I am leader... NOW!!” “...RIGHTLY so, boy. I am CHAGRA, your humble witness and loyal subject.... Where you lead... I shall follow.”

Sure enough, Chagra travels with Atlas as he grows to manhood, journeying near and far, having adventures, saving people from wild beasts, from evil cults, winning victories in savage arenas, each act adding to his fame and legend. Then, one day, Chagra strikes a bargain with his younger friend. “I can lead YOU to YOUR goal... if you... lead ME to the CRYSTAL MOUNTAIN!” Atlas agrees, providing they first go to the Lizard Kingdom. En route, they pass thru a land full of illusions of fire and a an underground cavern haunted by huge beasts thought to be long dead. At last they reach their destination, and the story comes full circle. Sure enough, the ruler who confronts Atlas is Hyssa—the man who destroyed his entire village, sold all his people into slavery, and was responsible for his father’s death. “Have we not met before? SPEAK! WHO ARE YOU!!?” “YOUR CONQUEROR!”


Following the cancellation of MISTER MIRACLE and THE DEMON, Jack Kirby spent some months creating several new series for DC. But for unknown reasons, several of them were rejected outright. Apparently, the first thing he did in this period was DINGBATS OF DANGER STREET. 3 whole episodes are known to exist, and 2 more are rumored to as well. It seems clear Jack was under the impression the series would be published just as FOREVER PEOPLE, NEW GODS, MISTER MIRACLE, THE DEMON and KAMANDI were... otherwise, why would he get so far ahead? In the long run, only the 1st episode appeared in 1st ISSUE SPECIAL, perhaps a year after it was done. I have no doubt that, following this debacle, Kirby decided not to do more than one episode of anything unless it was given a definite go-ahead.

This, I believe, is why we only have one episode of ATLAS (although, online, I just read a rumor that a 2nd episode may have been done, but never published). Like most Jack Kirby comics from this period, which I picked up as back-issues sometime in the 80’s, I probably plowed thru this so fast, amidst a mountain of other comics, it didn’t make much of an impression on me the first time around. Now, some 2-1/2 decades later, I was totally blown away by this. This is classic Kirby material, here! As THE DEMON was Jack’s “answer” to the late-60’s/early-70’s horror boom, and KAMANDI was Jack’s “answer” to PLANET OF THE APES, and dystopian sci-fi futures in general, so ATLAS follows in the tradition of the Italian “sword and sandals” movies that were so prominent and popular in the 1960’s, and the “barbarian” and “sword and sorcery” series that began to flood the market in the 70’s, beginning with Marvel Comics’ version of CONAN THE BARBARIAN.

And yet, so typically of Kirby’s work, I find myself loving this, even thought it took me ages to get interested in CONAN at all (and that interest waned as soon as Roy Thomas stopped doing it). What’s really striking to me, on re-reading this, is how similar the origin of Atlas is to the origin of CONAN, as seen in the John Milius film with Arnold Schwarzenegger. Robert E. Howard never gave CONAN an origin, beyond that he was raised in the far north, and on reaching a certain age, headed south to seek adventure. What more was needed? It always bugged me that the Milius film insisted on following the Hollywood obsession with films “having” to have an origin story, and in that case, the origin being so horrifically downbeat and pointless. CONAN’s entire village is burned to the ground. Both his parents are killed. He’s taken into slavery, chained to a wheel for ten years to build muscles, then sold to a gladiator arena, where, eventually, he wins his freedom, before finding the man who slaughtered his people. A man who just happens to be the head of a SNAKE-worshipping cult. Gee, didn’t I just read this in a Jack Kirby comic????? It sure as hell wasn’t anything REH ever wrote!!

It seems pretty clear to me that that movie, which I NEVER liked, swiped the “origin” sequence from Kirby, but got it wrong, making changes to turn it dark and ugly. I like Jack’s version better. Atlas, as a boy, is about to be taken away to a life of slavery, when he’s rescued by someone who becomes his life-long companion. And THEN he meets up with the guy who destroyed his village. DAMN. This was NO place to end the story!!! I don’t know if Jack ever did a 2nd episode of this or not, but either way, DC should be ashamed of themselves for not publishing it. We got so many issues of THE DEMON, and OUR FIGHTING FORCES, and KAMANDI, but THIS we only ever got one episode of??? WTF!!!!!

Reading this now, I was also reminded of Jack’s work on Ruby-Spears’ THUNDARR THE BARBARIAN. Which makes me really wish we’d gotten to see Jack do a THUNDARR comic-book. That TV show only ran 21 episodes (over 2 years), and I once read about the circumstances behind its cancellation. All I remember was that it was a very twisted affair, just the sort of thing that makes me shake my head in dismay and disgust at ABC and TV networks in general.

Ironically, in this issue is a full-page ad for Joe Kubert’s TOR. “Barbarians” were “in” at the time. Too bad Jack’s wasn’t allowed to go the distance. I’d sure rather read more of ATLAS than ever read another CONAN comic.

Since re-reading the comic, I found Jack’s presentation page online. This is fascinating, as it mentions things not even mentioned in the published comic...

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“ATLAS lives at a time when man is rising from barbarism... Earth is crawling with strange peoples and living mysteries which have survived the ages... There are savage empires with sprawling cities... and hidden tribes like the Skull-Worshippers who live underground. Acting like driver ants, they swarm out to kill!”

“CHAGRA THE SEEKER! What he seeks is immortality and power... He seeks the Crystal Mountain!! That’s why he rescues the baby Atlas who’s farmer folks have been killed by raiders... He molds Atlas into a giant of almost invincible strength... He poses as a kindly old counsellor, but uses Atlas to gain his own ends.. They travel together—into all sorts of weird adventures relying on the strength of Atlas..”

Wow. Apart from the Skull-Worshippers, I somehow read the entire published story without getting a feel that Chagra may have had some sinister purpose for saving Atlas’ life and staying with him all those years. I know there was an over-abundance of “barbarian” comics in the 70’s, but I can’t help but feel it’s a shame we never got to see more of this one.

Perhaps the most mind-boggling thing I ran across in the last few weeks was that writer James Robinson decided to bring Jack’s Atlas back into current SUPERMAN comics, and make him a villain. That sort of creative blasphemy just makes me glad I’m not buying any current DC Comics these days.
(8-26-2012)

THE SANDMAN #2 / May’75 – “THE NIGHT OF THE SPIDER!”

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Two robed figures arriving by submarine kidnap Jed away from his grandfather on Dolphin Island, and take him to a secret base. “In total silence they berth the sea-vessel in a secret inlet in the bowels of the cliff and lead Jed through a series of labyrinthine passageways culminating in a weird subterranean chamber illuminated by the glare of blinding flourescent lights.” (I suppose this line was important, as what it describes was not shown in the artwork.) They take him before “Dr. Spider”, who looks like a far-less-human version of “Davros” from DOCTOR WHO. His bottom half is a round trolley on wheels, his top half is a horrible parody of humanity. Fat, naked, hairy, no arms, wild orange hair, big goggles, and eight mechanical arms.

They tell him, “We have brought the boy, DR. SPIDER! His reading is even HIGHER than we ANTICIPATED!” “Yes! The ANGST-METER places him at the TWLETH LEVEL!” “That’s probably because he was ORPHANED at an EARLY AGE! Quickly now! Install him in the DREAM ROOM!” In a scene rather similar to the one in MISTER MIRACLE #8 (“The Battle Of The Id”), Jed is drugged unconscious and then strapped into a machine which taps into his brain. Then, images from his nightmares are projected onto Spider’s large “Somnambo-Screen”. When one of his henchmen asks about it, Spider explains by trapping him inside a glass enclosure, and demonstrating how his equipment can bring Jed’s nightmares to life, by having one of them eat him alive!

In his Dream Dome, The Sandman wonders why kids all over the world are sleeping, yet their nightmare levels have been drastically reduced. He enters the Dream Stream, travels to the Fantasy Forest, and, after being attacked by several mobile plants, locates the Nightmare Wizard, an old, wretched-looking man who insists the Dream Stream is his domain, not The Sandman’s. Under duress, the Wizard tells Sandman about Dr. Spider, who’s removing nightmare demons from the Dream Stream so that he can use them to conquer the world. Quickly returning to his Dream Dome, Sandman exits again in the real world, where he finds an army division fighting to save a city from an attack by giant monsters!

Blowing his Hypnosonic Whistle makes the monsters vanish, but the next moment, Sandman is “zapped” and captured by one of Spider’s henchmen. Strapping him into the machine, Spider declares, “With the dream power of THE SANDMAN at my disposal, I will be INVINCIBLE! The entire world will be my PLAYTHING!” And so, saving the day is up to Brute & Glob, when Brute reveals he’s secretly made himself a spare whistle, which Sandman doesn’t know about. “Sometimes I like to get OUT of here even when that SPOIL-SPORT Sandman doesn’t WANT me to!” They free Sandman while he’s still asleep, so he won’t find out about the spare whistle.

Awake, Sandman uses his whistle to put the henchmen to sleep, but it won’t work on Spider, who sics the nightmare monsters on Sandman, who knows that if he uses the whistle to destroy them, that Jed will die. Struggling, he manages to use his sand-cartridges on them instead. He then destroys the machnery, frees Jed and send him home, then goes after Spider, who’s escaping by submarine—until something goes wrong, and it blows up all by itself. Back in the Dream Dome, Sandman tells brute & Glob he really could have used their help, but in all the excitement, he forgot to whistle for them.


Sales of THE SANDMAN one-shot were surprisingly good (at a point where almost everything was selling badly), so someone at DC decided to continue it. I wonder what editor Joe Orlando was smoking when he put this series together. Joe Simon & Jack Kirby were replaced by Michael Fleischer (Jonah Hex, The Spectre) & Ernie Chua (CONAN THE BARBARIAN), with Mike Royer apparently retained to try and maintain "the Kirby look". This must be one of the most patently ABSURD ideas I've ever seen espoused on an editorial page-- considering Kirby & Chua's styles have NOTHING whatsoever in common, and Royer's strongest skill was to reproduce with absolute accuracy the work of whoever's pencils he was inking!!. Jack did come back for the covers. Try as I might, this version of THE SANDMAN remains one of the worst and most unreadable things I've ever seen from the mid-70's... and that's really saying something! It’s like some sick, twisted version of a Saturday morning cartoon show from the 1970’s.
(8-31-2012)

OMAC #5 / Jun’75 – “NEW BODIES FOR OLD!!”


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“In the world that’s coming—the most evil racket ever created!! NEW bodies for OLD!!” The covers shows OMAC flying on his own power (what, is he Superman now?) toward a row of people stepping thru a complex technological machine. They go in old and shrivelled up, they step out young and beautiful. But the cover is misleading. It’s not some kind of “rejuvenation” machine the story is about...

“THE MOST HORRIBLE MENACE IN HUMAN HISTORY .....hatched by the vicious criminals of THE WORLD THAT’S COMING!!! To watch it grow is indescribable.... to let it spread is unthinkable..... to stop it cold.... will take.... OMAC THE ONE MAN ARMY CORPS”

In the HQ of the Global Peace Agency, OMAC is being shown a film of a computer brain transplant. “Stolen by the mob known as the CRIME CABAL, a surgical computer which performs brain transplants has spawned a NIGHTMARISH racket. A brave PEACE AGENT, having stumbled onto the facts, has returnbed with the first evidence of this evil project.” People are being kidnapped so that aging gangsters, paying a fortune, can take over their bodies. “This project MUST fail... there’s NO gauging the consequences if it’s permitted to spread.” ““The promise of IMMORTAILITY”... if we DON’T control it now... men will commit ANY crime to get it!” The undercover agent who risked his life to get the film assures OMAC that the Cabal’s “regional manager”, Fancy Freddy Sparga, is still lining up customers. But time is running out before their victims begin losing their lives.

Across the street, members of the Cabal aim a “missile-rifle” and fire it at the man they suspected might have been a cop. In the ruins following the blast, OMAC rescues the agent, trapped under debris. “You STILL alive?” “In THIS business, it gets HARDER all the time.” “That was a MISSILE-HIT! It means that Fancy Freddy meant to make CERTAIN you died.” “It means that I BLEW my cover. The Crime Cabal KNOWS I was an infiltrator.” “There’s STILL a lot of things they DON’T know. To begin with... their hit was a MISS!” “UGH...! DON’T bet on that, Omac. This thing is crushing me flat. Will you PLEASE get this weight off my back?” “Oh... OH! Sure...” “THANKS... my chances of survival have GREATLY improved.” I love the dialogue here. It makes both characters really come alive. Especially in OMAC’s case, where he realizes he’s so focused he hasn’t noticed his associate’s predicament. Tense drama, side-by-side with character humor. I love it!

Brother Eye creates 2 artificial “bodies” and then “solarizes” the room, to make it look like the hit was a success. OMAC then heads for a local arcade, where he finds Buck Blue, and arrests him “on suspicion of being a body snatcher”. He clobbers some of Buck’s friends who try to stop him, then hauls him to “the scene of the crime” in a “Magnetic Flyer” with “computer drive”. (“Push a button and it flies where it’s set to go.”) As he flies to a huge suburban residence, the Global Peace Agents prepare to follow in a troop carrier that looks like a larger-sized versio of the original “Fantasti-Car”. “Spawned by the energy crisis, MAGNETIC TRAVEL has replaced combustive fuel. New emissionless vehicles glide on WAVES of polarized force...” “Remember, men... in the course of ANY action... we are NEVER to harm a human being.”

Fighting past the guards, OMAC and Buck eavesdrop on Freddy showing “The Godmother” a 3D projection of her potential new body—which just happens to be Buck’s girlfriend! “Toad! You know my position in the Crime Cabal! I can have you HIT! I can have that body for NOTHING!” “Sure... if you can find out WHERE it’s at! ...if you can find the “TERMINAL”!” “Okay, creep! HERE’s your money...” “TWO MILLION DOLLARS! It’s a real buy!” Just then OMAC and Buck bust up the party. Buck is angry at Freddy for snatching his girl... until... “Would HALF A MILLION shut your gut? I can spare it... Think it over.” “FIVE HUNDRED THOUSAND DOLLARS!”

OMAC is really pissed. “You’ve CHANGED your attitude, Buck... You’re NOT angry anymore. How about your girl? HOW ABOUT THAT GIRL!!?” “But... f-five hundred grand...! ...that’s MONEY, man!!” “You’re a WORSE case than I ever imagined! Now, sit down and LISTEN!” “OWW! You’ve got no right to...!” “TRUE, Buck! Your rights are PRECIOUS... They’re your ASSURANCE of a fair deal! But how about that girl? The others held in the terminal? Soon they’ll be DEAD! Their bodies TAKEN OVER by vultures like The Godmother!” “DON’T lecture me! It’s a JUNGLE out there! It’s everyone for himself!!” Sounds like the mantra of Yuppie Scum, to me.

OMAC assures Buck he has no choice but to lead him to “The Terminal”. The GPA arrives to haul Freddy & The Godmother away. Buck is terrified. “Y-you don’t know what it’s like! N-not even an ARMY of Peace Agents could crack it!” “It WON’T take an army... just you and me, Buck. WE’LL crack the “terminal”... or DIE in the attempt!”


WOW. Another fabulous episode of my favorite early-70’s Kirby book. Although OMAC has been described as “Captain America in the future”, more than perhaps any other installment, this one reminds me of a futuristic sci-fi version of THE UNTOUCHABLES. I recently watched my entire collection of that show, and was stunned by some of the genuine MONSTERS inhabiting its stories. People—and I use that word loosely—gangsters, racketeers who were so horrifically cold-blooded, ruthless and murderous in their pursuit of wealth and power, that they let nothing stop them. The scene where The Godmother threatens Freddy reminds me of many such scenes on that show, as criminals eagerly double-crossed each other while putting the screws on everybody else.

The horror of the brain-transplant angle reminds me of the film FRANKENSTEIN MUST BE DESTROYED, where the scientist whose work could somehow help The Baron (Peter Cushing) awoke to find himself a victim of his own research, and vowed revenge on the man he once considered collaborating with. The body-stealing plot was also reused by Bill Mantlo & Michael Golden in MICRONAUTS (much of which was a blatent tribute to Jack Kirby’s Fourth World concepts). Also, it turned up in the DOCTOR WHO story “Mindwarp”, the 2nd segment of “The Trial Of A Time Lord”. Of course, mind-swapping was a recurring sci-fi theme in various series over the years, but usually it didn’t involve actual brain transplants.

The “Missile Rifle” reminds me of the FIM-43 Redeye (referred to as a “Stinger”) in the film LICENSE TO KILL. The two million dollar price tag also reminds me of that film, as does the way the gangster so casually offers a huge bribe to someone. The GPA Communications Center reminds me of the one SHIELD used in STRANGE TALES #137 (Oct’65) only more futuristic. The Godmother’s residence brings to mind a similar house I saw in an episode of THE OUTER LIMITS, only much larger and spectacular. Jack Kirby never fails to amaze me. Writer, artist, storyteller, interior designer, architect, social commentator... was there nothing he couldn’t do better than anyone else in the biz?

As an aside... I ran across a rather long-long winded blog reviewing OMAC #1 which focused almost entirely on the immorality of the GPA and Professor Forrest and the manner in which they “murdered” Buddy Blank in order to create OMAC. Somehow, that sort of thing never really crossed my mind, not even on a 2nd or 3rd reading. On the letters page of OMAC #5, “Derwin Mak” poses the folowing question: “Does Omac ever change back to Buddy Blank? He could be one of the heroes with no secret identity.” The answer given is, “Buddy Blank is now Omac permanently. (Of course, that doesn’t mean there might not be a villain out there who finds a way to alter that.)” Knowing what I do about the remaining few issues, I find this a very interesting statement. (heh heh heh)
(9-2-2012)

OUR FIGHTING FORCES #156 / Jun’75 – “GOOD-BYE BROADWAY... HELLO DEATH!”

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“When The Losers take a furlough, it’s goodbye Broadway—hello DEATH!” “Against the “brown-out” of New York’s skyline, war comes to America---“ A Nazi submarine fires a torpedo at a cargo “liberty” ship and destroys it. But above, army planes circle. It was a trap! Coast Guard depth charges force the sub to the surface, where its crew abandons ship before it sinks. The “Special Missions Group” are there, accompanied by a hard-nosed man from Intelligence, but are unable to spot one “Helmut Steger”. Their hopes to enjoy a furlough are dashed as they’re reminded their orders are “subject to THIS DEPARTMENT’S AUTHORITY!!”

And so they find themselves staking out a movie theatre. Captain Storm explains he had a run-in with Steger when his PT boat put in at Portugal. On supplied info, they spot an old man who drops a newspaper which is picked up by someone else. Sure enough, the 2nd man is Steger, who turns at the sound of his name. Storm gives chase as Steger opens fire on a crowded street! This reminded me of my favorite scene in the 1981 film NIGHTHAWKS, when Sylvester Stallone spotted Rutler Hauer in a crowded disco, and at least one person wound up dead when the baddie turned and started shooting. The intelligence men manage to grab Steger before anyone’s hurt. “You see, Storm? This is a POOR time to FINISH our fight---“ “The authorities interfered the FIRST time, too! Maybe AFTER the war---“

Inside Steger’s hatband is a slip of paper which means the job isn’t over yet, to the utter frustration of our heroes. “This says that you STAY! We need your experience for ONE more little job---“ “What is it--? --WINNING THE WAR?” It seems a 2nd Nazi sub is off Long Island, this one armed with a Henshel HS 293 Glider Bomber. Our heroes arrive and board the sub. A shoot-out erupts. A smoke bomb is dropped down an open hatch. A group of sailors attack Storm and try to get his gun. More shooting. Someone launches the missile. Gunner takes control of the deck cannon, and destroys the missile before it picks up speed. With the job done, Gunner suggests, “SAY! Broadway is STILL on one piece! Now that this caper’s behind us--- why don’t we---“ “Ahhhhhh--- SHADDAPP!!” (I guess they’re too tired to go out to have “fun”.)

The finale, with an enemy sub off the American coast, reminded me a bit of the climax of the film “1941”, except, played straight, and the with sub being captured instead of escaping. Legend has it Steven Spielberg’s film was inspired by an actual event. I wonder if the same was true for Jack Kirby’s story here?

Mike Royer takes over the inks with this issue, and while Berry wasn’t bad, Royer is definitely an improvement. It seems to me Jack’s pencils vary at times depending on the subject matter, or the mood of certain scenes. Berry’s “ultra-clean / technical” lines may be a good fit for science-fiction, but seemed totally at odds with a gritty, violent WW2 book.

The 4 regulars on this series never seem to have too much in the way of personality, which is a common criticism of Jack’s work. Then again, in this case, he wasn’t the one who created these characters. It’s funny, but just looking at them, Captain Storm, Captain Johnny Cloud, Sarge and Gunner remind me of WW2-era versions of Colonel Nick Fury, Wyatt Wingfoot, Ben Grimm, and Jimmy Olsen!

Just thought I’d mention... I haven’t seen it, and hadn’t heard a single word about it online until I ran across it doing a Google search, but it seems there’s actually a movie—THE LOSERS (2010), based on the Vertigo version of the comic-book series. And just from reading some descriptions, although it’s set in the present day with different characters, it sounds like the tone of the film would be something like a lot of Jack Kirby’s stories. Might be worth checking out.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0480255/
(9-15-2012)

THE SANDMAN #3 / Jul’75 – “THE BRAIN THAT BLACKED-OUT THE BRONX!”

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I suppose someone at DC figured "Gorilla covers sell!" “Somewhere amidst the craggy mountains of Eastern Europe, local peasants descend on the castle stronghold of a tyrant who has long held them in a grip of icy fear...” “Burn the CASTLE! Kill the COUNT!” “Destroy his fearsome zombie GORILLAS!” “Put an end to the gruesome EXPERIMENTS that offend both GOD and MEN!” Did I read that right? A torch-wielding mob straight out of a 1930’s Universal horror movie attacks, while “The Count”—we never hear any other name for this guy—tells his underlings—a pair of gorillas whose skulls are outfitted with artificial brains encased in glass, JUST like “General Electric” from issue THE SANDMAN #1, “Hold them off as long as you CAN!” We never see them doing so—instead, the mob reaches The Count just after he’s drunk poison, “the COWARD’s way out!”

As if starting out the story in the stryle of SILVER SURFER #7 wasn’t whacked-out enough, it gets even stranger when 2 men wearing robes claiming to be The Count’s relatives claim the body, but turn out to be his gorillas in disguise. Putting the body in a “thermo-cylinder” to prevent deterioration, they ship The Count (and themselves) to a farmhouse in America housing the laboratory of a “Prof. Rundhaven”, who removes The Count’s brain and places it in a glass jar, from which The Count can communicate. Yep, it’s straight out of “THE BRAIN OF MORBIUS” on DOCTOR WHO.

“Only YOU could have... transplanted my BRAIN... into this TANK! Only YOU could have given me a VOICE... and provided me with OTHER, even more IMPRESSIVE powers! With them... I shall RULE the UNIVERSE!” To prevent Rundhaven from telling anyone what he’s done, The Count (or his brain, at any rate) kills him with a massive jolt of electricity. One might wonder, if The Count was not really dead (or was he?), WHY have his brain removed from his body, and put into a tank, if the next thing he / it wants is to “LEAVE my tank prison”??

To tie this already insane story in with The Sandman, the next thing we see is The Brain invading the dreams of young Susie, the daughter of Dr. Ralph Ervin, a scientist who’s working on his own offbeat experiments. As he says to his wife, “I think I’ll turn in myself, as soon as I finish looking over these latest notes of mine on PSYCHO-KINETIC brain-wave ABSTRACTIONS! Very exciting stuff!” “Oh, it sounds just FASCINATING, dear!” On WHAT planet??? Sandman, detecting someone trying to invade a nightmare, confronts The Brain as it tries to get Susie to steal her father’s notes, and saves her life before she wakes up. Later, The Brain sends his gorillas in person to finish the job. Next, he sends them to steal equipment from a warehouse. They’re spotted by a guard, who calls the cops, who follow to the lab, and can’t believe what they find there. (I’m reading this, and can’t believe it either.) Hearing their lives threatened, the cops’ reaction is, “Oh no you DON’T, Tarzan! Destroyin’ COPS in this town is strictly against the law! Feed ‘em some HOT LEAD, Clancy!” They shoot and kill the gorillas, only to be killed themselves in the same fashion that Rundhaven was.

The brain HOVERS free of the tank. “My FAITHFUL ape servants... DEAD! But they have fulfilled their BASIC purpose... to FREE me from my tank prison so that I may begin to GROW in size and accumulate UNLIMITED power!” Next thing, the now-giant brain hovers over a city’s power plant. Police plan to destroy it with an electrical charge (how is never explained—but at this point, why should anything in this story make any sense?). Sandman tries to interfere, saying it’ll only make The Brain more powerful, but nobody believes the “clown” and “hippie” who looks like he belongs in a “comic book”. They arrest him and throw him in jail. Sure enough, The Brain sucks up the power, sending the city into darkness. For the first time, Sandman deliberately uses his whistle to free Brute and Glob, so they can set him free, which they do so using a bag of “vile things” to cause the prison guard nightmares. Sending them back to HQ, Sandman confronts The Brain, and this time, the whistle causes it to EXPLODE-— “into nothingness with the fury of a hundred H-Bombs...” SAY WHAT?????

“There was no other way! Had he LIVED, he would have plunged all HUMANITY into abject SLAVERY!” (OH, so The Brain was a Republican, hmm?) I think it’s safe to say that Michael Fleisher has really strange, bizarre, downright perverted ideas about what kind of stories should be aimed at kids (this book’s apparent intended audience). I guess Ernie Chua & Mike Royer are doing relatively decent work illustrating the story—it’s just that what they’re bringing to life visually makes no sense on any level I can think of. How on Earth did Fleisher make it in the business as long as he did? At least the kid in this story was someone other than Jed for a change. I find it rather ironic that in recent months, the stories I’ve been re-reading have been by one of the best writers to ever work in comics—Jack Kirby—and one of the worst—Michael Fleisher. The contrast in style and quality is downright shocking.
(9-16-2012)

OMAC #6 / Aug’75 – “THE BODY BANK!”

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“MONSTERS in the subway! And a train that rides to DOOM!! FLESH and BLOOD MONSTERS in the world that’s coming! An evil phenomenon that arises in the shadows cast by the mysterious and powerful Crime Cabal!! ...but this menace that lurks and pounces ISN’T nearly as frightening as the objective sought by... OMAC ONE MAN ARMY CORPS”

“Buck Blue, a DEFECTOR from the Crime Cabal, has AGREED to help OMAC and the law.” Below the streets of Electric City... “OMAC and his guide are ATTACKED ... the old subway tunnels, abandoned for newer types of transit, now SWARM with terror...” “Since time began, man has battled monsters charged with guarding treasures and wonders beyond telling.... but the miracle at the end of this trail must be put out of action! The most vicious racket ever created must be stopped cold...! It feeds on human beings kept in... THE BODY BANK!”

Following a brief fight, Buck explains the monsters used to be humans, before radiation and hormone treatments, which they take or the Cabal won’t pay them. From space above, Brother Eye sends twin energy beams to recharge OMAC. “It’s like taking your VITAMINS, Buck... all of them... in one BIG barrel!” At an abandoned statio called a “mugger’s stop”, OMAC saves a young blonde woman from being the latest kidnap victim. Freed, she races into the arms of Peace Agents, who will mop up when OMAC is done, as they’re not allowed to fight themselves. The “Gang Train”, signalled by “pocket phone”, arrives, and it’s a fiercesome-looking thing. Buck wants to stay behind, but OMAC insists he continue. “Whatever happens... happens to BOTH of us!”

“DEATH RIDE” (Part 2) lives up to its name. Because the train car was programmed to accept 3 passengers (2 kidnappers & a victim) and there’s only 2, it tries to kill them with poison gas! OMAC finds the cannister, rips it out, and knocks a hole in the side of the car to let the gas out. Breaking into the lead car, a Cabal member comes on a videoscreen. OMAC tells him, “I’ll be seeing you SOON, mister.” “No, you won’t! I’m DESTRUCTING these cars... ONE by ONE!” Sure enough, the last car blows up. Then, each one in sequence... except the lead car, which inexplicably remains intact! Then, in a scene straight out of the Clint Eastwood film THE GAUNTLET (which would not come out for another 2 years yet), a squad of armed killers all open fire on the moving vehicle at once, determined to kill whoever is inside it. A laser rifle is then fired to finish the job. Despite this, a strange metallic object ejects itself from the car, landing on the platform. OMAC busts out of the “molecular coccon” (spun by Brother Eye) and clobbers the entire hit squad!!

In a scene rather similar to one in the DOCTOR WHO story “Mindwarp”, an old man awaits an operation to put his brain into a young body, not caring that it’s an unwilling doner who has been kidnapped and will be murdered in the process. The narrator describes it thus: “”MEDI-MIND”.... the stolen computer that performs medical miracles with the ease of a pin-ball machine....” “This means BILLIONS in bread for the Crime Cabal! And this thing is so SIMPLE, a KID could run it!” But OMAC arrives just in time to stop the operation. On seeing the would-be patient, he says, “There’s a familiar old face... Tough Tully Morgan... a LEADER n the Crime Cabal! You’ll live out your life in your OWN body... and in JAIL! As for “Medi-Mind”, the miracle computer... ALL mankind must claim it now... to destroy it... or find a way to use it WISELY!”

Buck Blue considers making a break for it, but the entire squad of Peace Agents arrives to mop up at that instant. “These young people are SAFE now.” “You “law and order” types are BIG heroes... but what does all this do for ME?” “This may be an answer, Buck. She’ll wake up soon... to sunlight and freedom... because YOU helped us, Buck.” “Yeah... I also did it to save my OWN skin. What will she think of THAT?” “I DON’T know... but SHE will... and YOU will.”

The ideas in this series just keep flying fast and furious; the storytelling and characterization is first-rate. And the art is some of the best-looking yet! D. Bruce Berry is KICKING ASS by here! On the letters page, Randy Jang asks, “Why doesn’t JACK ink much of his artwork?” The answer, in Jack’s words: “After a story is finished (written and pencilled), I’ve already got the next one in mind, and I’ve just got to see how it turns out. Inking would just slow me down.” Ken Meyer Jr. urges Kirby & DC not to “discard” OMAC as so many other series. The response talks about how comics are published in purely economic terms, and a big problem for publishers at the time this was being done was a steady loss of outlets, as more and more fans complain of having difficulty finding the comics to buy them. This was reaching epicdemic proportions in the late 70’s, and led to the formation of “The Direct Market” as an alternative. It was never really a fix, but it certainly did expand the life of the industry... while it continues to shrink smaller and smaller.
(9-17-2012)