This week we continue our look at Jack Kirby’s run on Kamandi, another of the DC properties he created. Tim and Emmet find that issues 11 through 18 include a giant insect, a violent horse race, another standout issue in the mode of issue 7’s King Kong story, a clue as to how the animals became intelligent, and more.
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If you can’t get the rights to Planet of the Apes, do the next best thing: get Jack Kirby to come up with a concept that’s Apes-adjacent! That was DC Comics’ strategy in the early ’70s. What resulted was Kamandi: The Last Boy on Earth, a series with multiple intelligent animals lording over caveman-level humans, and plenty of sci-fi elements and references to the Apollo program and other features of real life in that era. Join Tim and Emmet exploring the significance of the multiple intelligent mammals, the Kamandi drinking game, and more.
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John Morrow is co-founder of Two Morrows Publishing, a company that owes its start to John’s interest in Jack Kirby. His Kirby fan newsletter grew into the company that’s now publishing his history of Kirby’s Fourth World, much of it told in Jack’s own words: Old Gods and New. This time, Emmet talks with John about Marvel’s fear that DC would end them after Kirby switched sides, how distribution quirks may have led to the premature end of the Fourth World books, how myth runs through all of Kirby’s work dating back to the ’30s, and more.
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After leaving DC’s Jimmy Olsen book, Jack Kirby needed something else to keep his monthly page count up to the level he had contracted for. One of the books he came up with was The Demon, the result of his being asked to do a “monsters and mystery” book. But Kirby didn’t have a lot of interest in that genre; was that to the disadvantage of the book, or to its advantage? Tim and Emmet discuss this 16-issue series.
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Jack Kirby’s final Fourth World story is the 1984 graphic novel The Hunger Dogs, which continues some of the themes we saw in Even Gods Must Die, such as the encroachment of technology. Tim and Emmet complete their reading of the Fourth World and ponder how aware George Lucas may have been of the New Gods.
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In 1984, ten years after the last of Jack Kirby‘s Fourth World books was canceled, Kirby was brought back to do a brand new New Gods story in the final issue of a series that had been reprinting the original series. The story, Even Gods Must Die, is typical Kirby Fourth World: alternately horrifying and goofy, with sly commentary on the encroachment of computerized automation of life, and also, perhaps, on the very fact that DC was having him back. Tim and Emmet discuss the penultimate chapter in Kirby’s Fourth World.
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Jack Kirby‘s Mister Miracle continued on for a year or so after his other Fourth World books had been canceled. This may be why much of issues 13-18 seem disconnected from the typical Fourth World narrative of Apokolips, New Genesis, and the like, and arguably Kirby doesn’t have as strong a message in these issues, but they’re fun. Tim and Emmet discuss.
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Tim and Emmet continue their read through Jack Kirby’s Fourth World comics with Mister Miracle issues 7 through 12. Is there as much meaning in these books as there was in the first six, or is it becoming a formula? What is it about Kirby’s work here that’s reminding Tim of R. Crumb? What’s a Mystivac? What does the character of The Lump represent? And more.
Kickstarter for The BeBop #2: Bao
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Jack Kirby‘s big plans for his four Fourth World books were cut short when DC abruptly cancelled all but one of them. The Forever People and New Gods both ended with their 11th issues, dated April 1972. Along the way, the Forever People had an unplanned meetup with Deadman, and the New Gods got all their fighting in while they could, and still left us hanging at the end. Tim and Emmet discuss The Forever People 9-11 and New Gods 7-11.
Kirby’s Jewishness on display in “Fourth World” (Forward.com)
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Our journey through Jack Kirby’s “Fourth World” books now takes us to the first six issues of Mister Miracle, a change of pace from the other three books, giving us a more straightforward narrative. How will Tim and Emmet react to it?
Kirby’s Jewishness on display in “Fourth World” (Forward.com)
Jack & Roz Kirby
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