Jacking Kirby

 It’s Jack Kirby’s birthday, and it’s commonly known as Jack Kirby Day. To celebrate, I’ve “inked” over some of his DC Comics work. I think I was introduced to his work when he was at DC, I only saw his Marvel work later.

I wasn’t really a fan when I was a kid, but I really liked OMAC and Sandman for some reason. I learned to appreciate his art more as I grew older.

Justified

 

J’onn J’onzz, the Martian Manhunter, became one of my favorite Justice League members during the Justice League International era. But the team that came before that had a tragic ending. Two of them ended up dead, Vibe and Steel.

The title was rebooted and became Justice League, then Justice League International, then finally split into Justice League America and Justice League Europe. But what if the original title kept on going? This might be what happened if that was the case.

Newsboys

It’s great that DC and Marvel have been doing crossovers again recently. I just wish that they would do full-length stories again like the Limited Collectors/Treasury editions back in the 1970s/80s, or even like the Prestige format ones in the 1990s.

Teenage Mutant Cub Reporter

 

Jack Kirby’s Fourth World saga began in the pages of Superman’s Pal Jimmy Olsen, so I decided to mashup a Silver Age Jimmy Olsen trope with a Bronze Age one. A mind-controlled Giant Turtle Man would be a pretty useful tool for Darkseid.

Bat-ten Down the Hatches

 

Captain Strong was a Popeye pastiche who was a recurring character in the Superman titles in the Bronze Age of comics, but I think he only had a total of four appearances.

While I was drawing this, I couldn’t help but think of his visual similarity to Bibbo Bibbowski, who became a much-loved supporting character during the Triangle Years of Superman. Was Bibbo inspired by Captain Strong?

When Doves Fly

 Two Doves together? With Monarch in the background, you can be sure that time travel shenanigans are involved.

I quite enjoyed the Armageddon 2001 event from way back, but they kind of dropped the ball with the ending. DC had to change Monarch’s secret identity to Hawk because of leaked info that it was gonna be Captain Atom. But the whole thing with Monarch forcing Hawk to kill him in order to take up the armor and become Monarch himself was a huge plothole for me. If it had worked the way he intended it to, then he would just have been trapped in a time loop of going back in time to get killed over and over again.

Suckers

 

I think Andrew Bennett (I…Vampire) was the first non-evil vampire that I’ve encountered in any form of fiction. I never really followed his exploits, but would see a story or two when I would purchase House of Mystery when it catches my fancy.

Gustav Decobra, on the other hand, stuck with me. Because his first (and only pre-Crisis) appearance in Detective Comics is one of the earliest comic books that I remember reading.

The Dynamic Do-over

 

Out with the old, in with the… old? Powerman and Owlman, as far as I know, made one appearance each. Well, Powerman made two if you count the time his story was reprinted in the Bronze Age. Powerman was a robot built by Superman to fool Batman and Robin into not helping him out on a case because he thought it was too dangerous for them. Owlman, on the other hand, was Robin who was artificially accelerated into adulthood by fumes from a box that Superman found in outer space. So, yeah, it’s your typical Silver Age shenanigans from the World’s Finest team.

Hawk Two… Ah!

 

No other DC character has been screwed up more post-Crisis than Hawkman. I have never been interested in the character until I gave the 2002 series (by Geoff Johns and Rags Morales) a shot. Johns successfully cleaned up the mess, in my opinion.

On another note, I find the Zuggernaut to be quite funny. It’s clearly a blatant rip-off of a Xenomorph in appearance, plus the name is just Juggernaut with a Z, which makes no sense.

With Sword and Lance

 

It’s amusing in comics how wearing a blonde wig alters your appearance so much that people can’t tell it’s you when you remove it, like in the case of Black Canary who’s a natural brunette.

But I guess it’s the same conceit that lets Superman hide behind a pair of glasses, or Oliver Queen with his distinctive facial hair hide behind a tiny domino mask.

Action Figures

 

This one’s an homage to the cover of DC’s Captain Action no. 3, but with Lady Action instead of Action Boy. Lady Action was introduced in the revived series from Moonstone Books, and I’ve drawn quite a nunber of her adventures for them. I don’t think she’s turned up anywhere else. Here’s hoping that the Captain Action family returns someday.

Crazy Ex-Girlfriend

 

What is it with Batman and his attraction to women with criminal backgrounds? Catwoman, Talia, Nocturna… were there any more? It’s a wonder he didn’t fall for Poison Ivy or Harley Quinn, but maybe he draws the line at women who’ve been admitted to Arkham Asylum.

Eye Bros

 

OMAC was my favorite among the Kirby Kreations at DC Comics when Jack Kirby decided to jump ship from Marvel. Too bad it only lasted a short while, and had an abrupt cliffhanger ending. I didn’t read the Jim Starlin stories that served as backup on Warlord, but I did read and liked the John Byrne miniseries that came years later.

The New 52 version was meh.

Dream Boy

 

 The ultimate fate of the Simon and Kirby 1970s version of The Sandman ended tragically, with him taking his own life due to loneliness of being semi-trapped in the Dream Dimension. Hector "Silver Scarab" Hall then became the next Sandman in another tragic turn of events.

 If DC didn't fold all their versions of Sandman into the Vertigo line, I would have liked to think that Jed Walker/Paulsen would have been a good idea to be the successor, since he was a more-or-less prominent supporting character in the short-lived 1970s series. 

Hare Today, Gone Tomorrow

 

Would Captain Carrot and the Zoo Crew have been more successful if they had an animated series? Could they be revived nowadays as an animated feature? League of Super Pets was a bit of a success. Maybe the world is ready for anthropomorphic superheroes.

 Apologies to Neal Adams for the Green Lantern no. 85 parody.

The Boys in Blue

I wasn't too keen on the idea of Superman having adventures in his teen years as Superboy. How long does that last in real time? Seven years? Yet his teen adventures seem endless, not to mention his time with the Legion of Super-Heroes. Heck, even the Legion had to grow up, and when DC wanted to keep them young, they just kept rebooting them.

Hare vs. Hare Match

My first issue of Captain Carrot and his Amazing Zoo Crew! was the title's last. The Changeling  (from the Teen Titans) was a guest star, and that made me pick up the book. I enjoyed it a lot, so I went scouring for back issues. A TPB collection would be most welcome, DC.

Oh, and Happy Easter to all!

Arak in a Hard Place

 

I was maybe 8 or 9 years old when I bought Arak no. 4 on a whim at a small general merchandise store. I don't know why it caught my eye, the cover was Arak about to attack a monstrous tree with some people struggling to free themselves from its grasp. I liked it well enough, but it didn't compel me to buy any more Arak comics. I guess I was too much into superheroes back then (although I would buy DC's horror/mystery books whenever I'd see them. Go figure). I was already an adult when I bought a few more from back issue bins.

Risky Business

 

John Byrne's take on Lex Luthor as a ruthless businessman (based on Marv Wolfman's idea, I believe) was very different from the mad scientist of the Pre-Crisis universe, but it worked. He became much more dangerous in my eyes, and it became difficult for Superman to bring him to justice since he could just employ an army of lawyers to avoid being imprisoned.

I think this clash would be something Ted Kord would lose, since during those days Ted was not too keen on running a company. Indeed, by the end of the Blue Beetle series his father had wrested control of the business from him.

Black Magic (Cat)Woman

 

This is my favorite Catwoman outfit. I know it's very impractical for running across rooftops, but during the time she wore this I don't remember her sprinting across Gotham's buildings. I think that version of Catwoman happened post-Crisis, specifically during Frank Miller and David Mazzuchelli's Batman: Year One.