Tag: Jack Kirby

#861 Jack Kirby’s Captain America: Cap vs Magneto!

Cap Annual 4

While it seems a bit odd to see Captain America fighting Magneto, they do have something in common: Jack Kirby had a hand in creating both! The battle takes place in Captain America Annual #4, from 1977; the story is titled “The Great Mutant Massacre” — but no, not that one. It’s an X-men – adjacent story with some very Kirbyesque bizarre concepts. Tim and Emmet discuss, and also look back at the experience of reading all this 1970s Jack Kirby-penned Cap.

Brought to you by:

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: RSS | More

#855 Jack Kirby’s “Captain America” 214 & Annual 3: Cap vs the Space Vampire!

Cap Annual 3 1976

Jack Kirby wraps up his run on Captain America and the Falcon with issue 214, the rather underwhelming conclusion of the Night Flyer story. But wait! Kirby also did a couple of annuals, so we dig into annual #3 from 1976. Yeaahhhh, that’s the stuff! If you haven’t been getting enough PULSE-POUNDING ACTION in your comics, this is the issue for you!

Brought to you by:

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: RSS | More

#410 Marvel Comics: Telling the Untold Story

FLASHBACK! If you’re into American comics at all, you undoubtedly know how Stan Lee, Jack Kirby, Steve Ditko and others changed the industry with their work in the 1960s, and set the template for kinds of stories Marvel still publishes today.

That’s just part of the story that Sean Howe researched for his 2012 book Marvel Comics: The Untold Story. Through interviews, research of media reports, and of course tons of comics reading, Howe uncovered the backgrounds of many comics stories and rumors that longtime readers may have wondered about. There’s plenty of intra-creator acrimony to be found in its pages, yet Howe found that the book helped some of those involved to move on from decades-old wounds.

This week Tim talks to Sean Howe about the research, the reaction, and what this book has to say to aspiring creators. (Originally published July 7, 2014.)

Brought to you by:

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: RSS | More

#851 Jack Kirby’s “Cap and Falcon” 212-213: “I love you, baby!”

Captain America and the Falcon #212 concludes the Arnim Zola/Red Skull storyline in somewhat perfunctory fashion, and gives a living castle with big teeth much less P.R. than it deserved! In #213 we meet the strange and underutilized assassin the Night Flyer! (Underwhelming name? Must’ve been named by Jack Kirby!) Tim and Emmet discuss both issues in this episode.

Brought to you by:

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: RSS | More

#850 “Fantastic Four: First Steps” (2025): Did it live up to the hype?

FF First Steps

We’ve been building up to it for months with our reviews of previous Fantastic Four movies. Now it’s here, the FF’s debut in the MCU, Fantastic Four: First Steps. How well did it scratch that FF itch? Kumar and Jordan once again join Tim to review the film, and discuss how it stacks up against the others (including the unreleased 1994 version).

One idea about what “Subzero Intel” might mean

Brought to you by:

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: RSS | More

#846 Pow! Crack! Breaking down comics sound effects

Art by Don Martin
Art by Don Martin

POW! ZAP! Comics may not be for kids anymore, but they still have sound effects! Our own Patrick Ijima-Washburn noticed that Japanese editions of American comics left the sound effects untranslated, and decided to put together a book on how common English sound effects should be translated. Life being what it is, it took well over a decade, but the book is finally out digitally, in both Japanese and English! This time Patrick joins Tim to talk about the genesis of the book, some sound effects trivia (what comic strip first used “ZZZZ” for snoring? Who originated adding “ker-“ to the beginning of a sound effect?), and take a quiz from Tim: if quoted a sound effect from an actual Marvel comic, can he guess what action it’s supposed to represent?

Brought to you by:

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: RSS | More

#843 The Fantastic Four on Film: “Fant4stic” (2015) pt 1

Fant4stic

Should a director re-interpret a property when nobody wanted it re-interpreted? 2015’s Fant4stic, directed by Josh Trank, turns getting superpowers into an exercise in body horror. Much of its inspiration comes from Bendis and Millar’s very straightfaced Ultimate Fantastic Four comics, Trank threw in a liberal helping of The Fly and Scanners. Tim, Kumar, and Jordan (in another crossover with the Comic Book Movie Oblivion podcast) look at the first appearance of the Negative Zone in Fantastic Four #51 by Lee and Kirby, and at Ultimate Fantastic Four v. 1, before beginning a look at the film itself.

Brought to you by:

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: RSS | More

#839 The Fantastic Four on Film: “Rise of the Silver Surfer” (2007)

Rise of the Silver Surfer

This week we look at the movie that was based on the “Galactus Trilogy” of Fantastic Four #48-50, Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer. How does it stand up against the comics, and against the 2005 film? How do we feel about Galactus being a cloud of smoke? Does Doom finally have a real plan in this one? Once again, Tim is joined by Kumar and Jordan of the Comic Book Movie Oblivion podcast to dig into this film, as we count down to the upcoming MCU debut of the FF.

Brought to you by:

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: RSS | More

#838 The Fantastic Four on Film: The Galactus Trilogy

FF 50 cover

One of the most famous Fantastic Four stories is the “Galactus Trilogy” from Fantastic Four 48-50 in 1966. This story has been adopted more than once, including in the 1990s FF cartoon, and in 2007’s Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer. Leading into our discussion of that movie next week, this week Tim, Kumar, and Jordan, in another crossover with the Comic Book Movie Oblivion podcast, look at the original comics story. While it’s been quite lauded, and very influential, why can it also be considered flawed?

Brought to you by:

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: RSS | More

#837 Jack Kirby’s Captain America 206-208: The Tiger, the Swine…and the Fish

The Tiger and the Swine

When Steve and Sam foil an attempt by police from south of the border to arrest their friendly waiter, the cops decide to arrest Steve instead! Hey, beats heading home empty handed! What looks like it’s going to be a story about Cap (and maybe Falcon?) locked up in a Central American prison takes several odd turns: Cap is never locked up, Sam never even arrives there, and then a fish monster shows up! These three issues conclude with the coming of a then-new Cap villain who we all know and loathe. Tim and Emmet try to avoid saying “Ay caramba!”

Brought to you by:

 

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: RSS | More