Tag: Marvel Comics

#820 Jack Kirby’s “Eternals,” #14-16: The Coming of…. The Editor!

Eternals 15

Jack Kirby‘s The Eternals was not a conventional superhero book. It didn’t even seem to take place in the Marvel Universe. By issue 14, it appears that Marvel editorial must have been pressuring him to make it more Marvel Universe-y, which would account for the appearance of the Hulk in issues 14-16… except it’s not really the Hulk, leaving plausible deniability to the fact that this is really happening in the MU. But, along with New York City, the Pseudo-Hulk also smashed the direction of the series. Tim and Emmet sift through the damage.

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#817 Jack Kirby’s “Eternals”, 1977 Annual + #13: Fun “Eternals” stories with few Eternals

Eternals Annual

We left the Eternals joined together in the Unimind. The 1977 Annual doesn’t clearly fit into continuity, but features only one Eternal, Thena, together with Deviants Karkas and the Reject against a time-traveling threat! Back in the regular series, issue 13 gives us exactly two Eternals, trying to stop a Deviant attack on the Celestials. In spite of the lack of Eternals, these are two of the most fun issues Tim and Emmet have read yet!

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#815 Jack Kirby’s “Eternals”, #9-12: Judging books by their covers

Eternals 9-12

Eternals are only human, I guess! In Eternals issues 9-12, many of the Eternals exhibit a segregationist attitude toward the Deviants, and just about everybody assumes Karkas is going to kick the Reject‘s butt in a fight based solely on how they look. Meanwhile, are the Celestials kind, or sadistic? Tim and Emmet discuss Jack Kirby‘s statements on prejudice, as well as a shocking turn of events for a group of Soviet generals, pioneering the concept of dozens of superpowered beings in costumes all hanging out together, and… exclamation points!

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#814 Jack Kirby’s “Eternals” 5-8: As wacky as they wanna be

Eternals

Reading the original Jack Kirby iteration of The Eternals shows that the MCU movie based on the title was rather dour, where Kirby’s version veers into wackiness! Sersi shows quite the sense of humor. SHIELD agents appear who just can’t seem to accept that they can’t get the upper hand on giant space gods! People are broken into atoms, and then reconstituted, alive! Tim and Emmet continue their look at Kirby’s 1970s work with Eternals 5-8!

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#812 Jonah Lobe on character anatomy and “Quiet: Level One”

Quiet: Level One

Jonah Lobe, after many years designing characters for video games, has recently turned his attention to comics. He’s the illustrator of Marvel Anatomy: A Scientific Study of the Superhuman, in which we can finally learn just what’s going on inside characters like Wolverine, Venom, and Modok. He’s also on the verge of his first Kickstarter campaign, for Quiet: Level One, about a skeleton named Quiet who’s up against an evil Conan the Barbarian-type called Galahorn. He talks with Tim about his inspiration for Quiet, the difference between making video games and making comics, whether anatomy is important in cartoony drawing styles, and more.

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#808 Jack Kirby’s “The Eternals” 1-4: Chariots of the Superheroes?

Eternals 1So many Jack Kirby creations focus on gods, from The Mighty Thor to New Gods; he picked up concepts from myth or elsewhere and made them his. Kirby’s The Eternals makes no bones about where its inspiration came from: Erich von Däniken’s 1968 book Chariots of the Gods?. This week Tim and Emmet discuss the first four issues, from 1976. And play along with Emmet in the ongoing game “Did someone lift this idea from Kirby?”

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#803 Jack Kirby’s “2001” #6-10: Machine Man Begins

Machine Man

What did Marvel expect Jack Kirby to do with a 2001: A Space Odyssey series? Especially when they told him not to create any ongoing characters? What we got included the Monolith and the Star Child, but with unmistakable Kirby bombast. After concluding his story of superhero-obsessed Harvey Norton in issue 6, and a one-shot exploration of what happens after becoming a star child in issue 7, for the final three issues Kirby seems to have abandoned not only his instructions to create no ongoing characters, but also nearly any references to the 2001 world of Arthur C. Clarke and Stanley Kubrick! The story went all-the-way Kirby with the introduction of a new superhero, Mister Machine, later known as Machine Man! Tim and Emmet look at 2001‘s concluding five issues.

“The Crazy Legacy of Jack Kirby’s Forgotten 2001: A Space Odyssey“ (Wired.com)

Read the 2001 series on Archive.org

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#802 Jack Kirby’s “2001” #1-5: An Interesting Failure

2001 issue 1

As Jack Kirby’s adaptation of the movie/novel 2001: A Space Odyssey sold well, Marvel asked him to turn it into a series — but then tied one hand behind his back by asking that he not create ongoing characters for fear they’d become property of MGM rather than Marvel. As Tim and Emmet see in the first half of the series, it starts out as theme and variations on Dave Bowman’s transformation into a Star Child, but the variations become more elaborate and interesting as he goes.

“The Crazy Legacy of Jack Kirby’s Forgotten 2001: A Space Odyssey“ (Wired.com)

Read the 2001 series on Archive.org

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#797 Jack Kirby’s “2001: A Space Odyssey”

2001: A Space Odyssey

Jack Kirby’s 1976 adaptation of 2001: A Space Odyssey is an odd combination of the Stanley Kubrick movie, the Arthur C. Clarke novel, and Kirby’s own research and dramatic inclinations, which sometimes were pretty out-of-step with the tone of the film! This week, Tim and Emmet discuss this out-of-print treasury edition comic, where it borrows from one or both of the other versions, and where Kirby goes off on his own tangents!

“The Crazy Legacy of Jack Kirby’s Forgotten 2001: A Space Odyssey“ (Wired.com)

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#792 Jack Kirby’s “Capt. America and the Falcon” #195-197: “Kill-Derby”

Cap and Falcon 196

Cap and Falcon are trapped in an underground bunker where elites plot to destroy the Bicentennial celebrations and take away Americans’ freedoms. In Captain America and the Falcon 195-197, they participate in the “Kill-Derby” to retrieve Cap’s stolen shield break up the bad guys’ underground civilization. Tim and Emmet continue their look at Jack Kirby‘s 1970s work at Marvel!

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