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Post by berkley on Dec 29, 2016 6:21:36 GMT -5
Great to see this in-depth commentary on Kirby's magnum opus. So much to comment on and I've fallen behind with the thread, so I'll just mention a couple things that I think don't get talked about enough and go sadly un-noticed by the later writers and artists who use these characters.
Darkseid:
Thematically, that scene at the Fun-Fair is another key one that later writers don't seem to pay attention to. When Darkseid says "How can he cope with me by shunning me - his other face!" and then laughs, that should be a pretty broad clue to what the hell Kirby was getting at with the character, and I think it's sad comment on the state of mainstream comics that it's been mostly ignored.
And that laugh shifts us from the content of Darkseid's speech to its tone: I always notice things like how Darkseid sarcastically calls the guy "Friend", echoing his own use of the term. Similarly, I recall when he called the little girls grandfather "Pop", or "Grandpa" or something like that; or other occasions when he people by their first name. Most later writers, in their effort to make him a pompous, Thanos-style figure, often have him address people by their last names - ooh, so evil! Or they have him call Superman "Kryptonian", etc. Basically, I think they forget or never noticed that Darkseid is more the insidious kind of evil that gets under your skin rather than the posturing, aristocratic evil that looks down on lesser beings. One of the points of the monologue about Orion's Viking-style funeral for Seagrim is that he's someone with few or no illusions - unless it's the single one of the Anti-Life Equation.
To my recollection it was only the brief 70s revival of Mister Miracle that took note of some of this stuff, when Englehart (I think, unless it was Gerber in the next issue) had Darkseid refer to the "Cosmic Comedy". That, to me, showed some insight into the underlying concept of the character, as opposed to the surface detail most later writers weent for - and they don't even get that right.
Barda:
As with Darkseid, I think later writers and artists habitually miss something about this character that should be evident from her very first appearance: though military through-and-through by lifelong training she isn't the stiff, hidebound, uptight personality that is sometimes associated with this idea.
If you look at the body-language in that comic, she's often leaning against doorways, slouched in a chair, etc. You can see it even in the casual way she walks along with the huge cannon on her shoulder, above. Later on in the series, when you see her with the Furies on Apokolips, it's hard to imagine anything more rough and ready while still being an army unit. To put it in comic book terms, she's much more like Nick Fury than the prim and proper officer I've seen in too many later comics.
I think Kirby added some nice visual touches with the broad face and wide, level eyes, the helmet down over the eyes, etc. I don't think this has been emulated by many of the artists who've drawn the character after Kirby. The armour itself is one of my favourite costumes - I think I picked it one Classic Christmas when that was the subject.
I think Barda is one of the greatest creations in comics. It's hard to imagine anything more heroic than overcoming an evil worldview that's been the only reality you ever knew from birth. I think it's a crime that this character hasn't been embraced and celebrated by the modern and purportedly more feminism-aware comics readership. I'd like to see a solo series sometime, with Scott free as the supporting character.
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Post by Rob Allen on Dec 29, 2016 17:04:12 GMT -5
Like berkley, I've been loving this thread without commenting (until now). You're doing a great job showing the incredible explosion of Kirby's pent-up creativity as it came pouring out month after month in 1970-1. I didn't start buying the Fourth World books until close to the end but they were the first back issues that I tried hard to find.
One note: I was always under the impression that Kirby actively refused to take the art director post or any other staff job at Marvel. For reasons of his own, he wanted to freelance. Even the editing he did at Marvel was on a freelance basis.
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Post by MDG on Dec 29, 2016 17:24:58 GMT -5
One note: I was always under the impression that Kirby actively refused to take the art director post or any other staff job at Marvel. For reasons of his own, he wanted to freelance. Even the editing he did at Marvel was on a freelance basis. From what I know about Kirby, it might've been a combination of a couple things: wanting to remain a creator and telling the stories he wanted to tell and not wanting to tell other people how they should work. I don't have a clear idea, though, of how he worked with other artists at the S&K studios, nor how he imagined working with other artists in his original plan to bring other artists in on the Fourth World books (though they were people he knew and--i assume--trusted). |
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Post by codystarbuck on Dec 29, 2016 20:13:50 GMT -5
Everything I have read, particularly from Mark Evanier, suggests Kirby always encouraged other artists to do it their way , though I can't recall ME remarking how Kirby felt about doing breakdowns for others. I tend to think he was happy to show some of the guys different techniques and then let them work out their own method. I go a lot from memory on these things, so I don't recall a conversation about Kirby turning down an art director gig, as much as talk that Stan wanted to get him that position, around the time he was leaving. I may have not read the right conversation or read inaccurate material before. That's the problem with fanzines; even the best had inaccuracies and opinion presented as fact; so, you pick up things that aren't quite true or miss corrections in other sources.
I read the infamous Comics Journal interview, with Jack and Roz and Kirby says a lot of things in there that just aren't true, from verifiable sources. he vented a lot of anger and resentment; and, I'm sure some things were the truth as he perceived it; but, not necessarily what an outside observer might say. His memory was terrible and I'm sure time clouded things even more. I have never come across a really in-depth interview with Stan, since he was always the company man and tended to parrot the company line. Most of the mainstream media appearances I have seen and read are done by people with no background and no research, or are so focused on the movies that they are useless, as history. Stan's versions of things have also been fluid and his own faulty memory doesn't help. I think it was just one of those things where Kirby built up enough resentment and Stan got a lot of it because he was management and the guy with the title, whether he had the power or not. Probably the same for Ditko. It is an industry with egos, too, which certainly clouds things.
Thanks for the kind words, I enjoy doing these, though my work schedule makes pacing them a bit tough. Finding visual examples isn't always easy, either. I know it's not that necessary; but, I think visually and like to have a visual aid for emphasis. The ironic thing is that there was a period where I wasn't a fan of Kirby. Most of what I saw from him was from his return to Marvel and the only thing that I kind of liked was Eternals. Cap and Black Panther, which I had a few issues of, were just plain weird. I kind of had to grow into his work and see earlier examples of it, to appreciate it. I was in college when I finally saw the New Gods reprints, after reading Will Jacobs and Gerard Jones' The Comic Book Heroes and their excellent chapter on the 4th World. At that point, I had read a couple of issues of the Return of the New Gods and a couple of Mister Miracle. After reading them, I saw how superior they were. What's been cool about this exercise is really reading the Forever People and see Jack being really experimental. I still don't think much of the characters themselves, as they aren't well developed and they never really seem to get fleshed out. They are as much a metaphor for "youth" as Anti-Life is one for fascism. I think that is why they were pretty much left in the past when different creators played in the 4th World concepts. They were a product of the time and they were never rounded enough to really latch onto. You remember Darkseid and Desaad and Glorious Godfrey, the Justifiers and Happyland; but, that's about it. Thing is, that would seem to me to be a better route to putting your own stamp on this, as a creator playing in Jack's sandbox. It's the one he left as mostly allegory, so you could really do something with them, if you had the vision. I confess I haven't really read any of the recent era stuff. Maybe I'll get to that, eventually.
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Post by berkley on Dec 30, 2016 17:53:27 GMT -5
I don't think Kirby wrote the kind of characters that were meant to "develop" in the usual sense. His characters were more like those found in fairy tales, legends, or myths: they were meant to function as particular "types" - even as archetypes, in some cases - and as such worked as much on the symbolic as on the narrative level. Keeping this in mind, I think it's usually a mistake to criticise them for their lack of psychological nuance and character development: that's not how they were intended to work.
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Confessor
CCF Mod Squad
Not Bucky O'Hare!
Posts: 10,199 
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Post by Confessor on Dec 30, 2016 19:52:06 GMT -5
Going back to your review of Mister Miracle #6, Funky Flashman is almost as unsubtle a dig at Stan Lee as the character Stan Bragg from DC's Angel and the Ape from a few years earlier. Almost...  I'm really not a fan of Kirby's post-FF work, but this is an excellent review thread, codystarbuck. Keep up the good work. |
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Post by codystarbuck on Dec 30, 2016 22:51:14 GMT -5
I don't think Kirby wrote the kind of characters that were meant to "develop" in the usual sense. His characters were more like those found in fairy tales, legends, or myths: they were meant to function as particular "types" - even as archetypes, in some cases - and as such worked as much on the symbolic as on the narrative level. Keeping this in mind, I think it's usually a mistake to criticise them for their lack of psychological nuance and character development: that's not how they were intended to work. That's probably true, though Mister Miracle and Barda (and even Oberon) are exceptions. And Darkseid. I might argue Orion, though I don't think he necessarily grows across the series, as much as reacts to certain events more, showing more personality. Lightray has never really been developed by anyone and is mostly just the cheery guy telling Orion to lighten up. At least they got personalities, which is more than the Forever People did. I also have to say that the Infinity Man doesn't exactly wow me. It's not Kirby's best visual design, and he just kind of shows up and then pulls their fat out of the fire and leaves. For as powerful as he was supposed to be, Darkseid kicked his tuchus pretty handily. We'll just have to see if the second half of the series changes my opinion. Kirby did develop his villains well, though. Darkseid is one of the most complex and intriguing villains of all time, which is why other writers latch onto him. Desaad is the snivelling weasel personified, Granny is downright scary, and Glorious Godfrey is all to recognizable, in a world of celebrity evangelists, self-help gurus, and spin doctors. Virmin and Kanto are fun clowns, who add a bit of style to Darkseid's retinue and the Female Furies are like a pro wrestling heel stable wreaking havoc on the promotion, though they sometimes turn babyface. Kirby's got some really good character stuff coming up. |
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Post by berkley on Dec 31, 2016 0:15:13 GMT -5
I don't think Kirby wrote the kind of characters that were meant to "develop" in the usual sense. His characters were more like those found in fairy tales, legends, or myths: they were meant to function as particular "types" - even as archetypes, in some cases - and as such worked as much on the symbolic as on the narrative level. Keeping this in mind, I think it's usually a mistake to criticise them for their lack of psychological nuance and character development: that's not how they were intended to work. That's probably true, though Mister Miracle and Barda (and even Oberon) are exceptions. And Darkseid. I might argue Orion, though I don't think he necessarily grows across the series, as much as reacts to certain events more, showing more personality. Lightray has never really been developed by anyone and is mostly just the cheery guy telling Orion to lighten up. At least they got personalities, which is more than the Forever People did. I also have to say that the Infinity Man doesn't exactly wow me. It's not Kirby's best visual design, and he just kind of shows up and then pulls their fat out of the fire and leaves. For as powerful as he was supposed to be, Darkseid kicked his tuchus pretty handily. We'll just have to see if the second half of the series changes my opinion. Kirby did develop his villains well, though. Darkseid is one of the most complex and intriguing villains of all time, which is why other writers latch onto him. Desaad is the snivelling weasel personified, Granny is downright scary, and Glorious Godfrey is all to recognizable, in a world of celebrity evangelists, self-help gurus, and spin doctors. Virmin and Kanto are fun clowns, who add a bit of style to Darkseid's retinue and the Female Furies are like a pro wrestling heel stable wreaking havoc on the promotion, though they sometimes turn babyface. Kirby's got some really good character stuff coming up. yes, it's interesting that the Forever People work more as a collective unit than as individuals, but when that unitary nature is manifested in the story as an actual collective individual, the Infinity Man, it's usually less compelling. But it makes sense that since they're in part meant to symbolise youthful drive, optimism, and energy, it's more fun to see them interacting, even with the minimal personalities Kirby gave them. Of course, it's always possible they would eventually have been given more marked personalities had the series not been cancelled so soon. For example, there's a one-page illustration of Beautiful Dreamer with Darkseid's head in the background that always makes me wonder if Kirby had something in mind for that character down the road, a bigger individual role to play in the grander Fourth World scheme of things than the pretty girl, token female, damsel-in-distress we usually saw:  |
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Post by codystarbuck on Dec 31, 2016 9:32:08 GMT -5
Well, at the start Beautiful Dreamer has some hidden knowledge of the Anti-Life Equation, which is why Darkseid has her under wraps in the first issue; but, that seemed to disappear. She's just hanging around the rest until we see Sonny Sumo demonstrate the Anti-Life Equation, via Mother Box, at Happyland. Mark Evanier has talked about Kirby departing from his own plots and creating as he went along. Maybe he just forgot what her role was and gave it to someone else. It's kind of like Babylon 5. In the pilot, Lyta Alexander is the telepath who makes contact with the alien Kosh, which unlocks something in her. She was supposed to develop great power. When they went to series, they recast, with a new telepath, Talia Winters. She encounters an old friend who was subjected to experimentation, by the Psi Corps. He unlocks new abilities in her. Then, the actress decided to leave the series and that was dropped; but, Lyta came back, changed and progressed from there. B5 was more tightly plotted and stuck to the design; but, things got altered and roles shifted in the telling. I suspect Kirby shifted some of BD's role, with Anti-Life, to Sonny Sumo.
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Post by MWGallaher on Dec 31, 2016 19:03:34 GMT -5
Kirby did develop his villains well, though. Darkseid is one of the most complex and intriguing villains of all time, which is why other writers latch onto him. Desaad is the snivelling weasel personified, Granny is downright scary, and Glorious Godfrey is all to recognizable, in a world of celebrity evangelists, self-help gurus, and spin doctors. Virmin and Kanto are fun clowns, who add a bit of style to Darkseid's retinue and the Female Furies are like a pro wrestling heel stable wreaking havoc on the promotion, though they sometimes turn babyface. Kirby's got some really good character stuff coming up. Granny tapped into a fear that wasn't exploited much in the comics of the time, but one that probably affected most readers under 16, to some degree or another: the fear of being orphaned and placed with an uncaring and cruel guardian. Granny in particular strikes me as the sort of villain that Stan Lee wouldn't have permitted, or would have watered down significantly, had Kirby given these concepts to Marvel. I continue to be a little astonished that Kirby got away with a character named "Desaad", blatently evoking the best known sexual deviant in the history of western civilization. |
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Post by MWGallaher on Dec 31, 2016 19:10:01 GMT -5
Mister Miracle #5 We shift our scene to Virmin Vundabar, who is testing a death trap, with a Mister Miracle model.  This is one of my favorite panel sequences. Kirby was often eager to move on to the next big action, but Virmin's fiddling with his monocle provides such a great timing cue to the reader here, that the effect is almost cinematic. Kirby's usually about the big stuff, but this shows he knew how to take advantage of the small actions, too, like a skilled director instructing his cast. |
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Post by berkley on Jan 1, 2017 4:12:35 GMT -5
Well, at the start Beautiful Dreamer has some hidden knowledge of the Anti-Life Equation, which is why Darkseid has her under wraps in the first issue; but, that seemed to disappear. She's just hanging around the rest until we see Sonny Sumo demonstrate the Anti-Life Equation, via Mother Box, at Happyland. Mark Evanier has talked about Kirby departing from his own plots and creating as he went along. Maybe he just forgot what her role was and gave it to someone else. It's kind of like Babylon 5. In the pilot, Lyta Alexander is the telepath who makes contact with the alien Kosh, which unlocks something in her. She was supposed to develop great power. When they went to series, they recast, with a new telepath, Talia Winters. She encounters an old friend who was subjected to experimentation, by the Psi Corps. He unlocks new abilities in her. Then, the actress decided to leave the series and that was dropped; but, Lyta came back, changed and progressed from there. B5 was more tightly plotted and stuck to the design; but, things got altered and roles shifted in the telling. I suspect Kirby shifted some of BD's role, with Anti-Life, to Sonny Sumo. Yes, good point. I think those shifting ideas might have come into play with his original plan to hand off the titles to other creators eventually, had the books not been cancelled. I think it's evident from the comics themselves that Kirby was really getting into the story and would have wanted to continue writing the books himself for some time, perhaps longer than he had intended going into the project. I don't think it unlikely that he would have been happy to pass them on to the right creators somewhere down the road, though. As it was, by the 80s I think he had lost much of his interest in the whole thing, and perhaps that would have happened even sooner had he been allowed to get it out of his system by continuing the books for a more substantial run. Wally Wood would have been very interesting on Orion, visually, as I think he had a knack for drawing physically impressive heroes without the kind of exaggerated musculature we usually see in superhero comics. And who wouldn't want to see Wood's versions of female characters like Barda and Beautiful Dreamer? |
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Post by Deleted on Jan 1, 2017 12:09:31 GMT -5
Great to see this in-depth commentary on Kirby's magnum opus. So much to comment on and I've fallen behind with the thread, so I'll just mention a couple things that I think don't get talked about enough and go sadly un-noticed by the later writers and artists who use these characters. Barda: As with Darkseid, I think later writers and artists habitually miss something about this character that should be evident from her very first appearance: though military through-and-through by lifelong training she isn't the stiff, hidebound, uptight personality that is sometimes associated with this idea. If you look at the body-language in that comic, she's often leaning against doorways, slouched in a chair, etc. You can see it even in the casual way she walks along with the huge cannon on her shoulder, above. Later on in the series, when you see her with the Furies on Apokolips, it's hard to imagine anything more rough and ready while still being an army unit. To put it in comic book terms, she's much more like Nick Fury than the prim and proper officer I've seen in too many later comics. I think Kirby added some nice visual touches with the broad face and wide, level eyes, the helmet down over the eyes, etc. I don't think this has been emulated by many of the artists who've drawn the character after Kirby. The armour itself is one of my favourite costumes - I think I picked it one Classic Christmas when that was the subject. I think Barda is one of the greatest creations in comics. It's hard to imagine anything more heroic than overcoming an evil worldview that's been the only reality you ever knew from birth. I think it's a crime that this character hasn't been embraced and celebrated by the modern and purportedly more feminism-aware comics readership. I'd like to see a solo series sometime, with Scott free as the supporting character. I just could not help myself to agree with you 100% of what you written about Big Barda and/or Barda for short and I just find her very unique and one of my favorite DC Comics Characters. I just loved her when Grant Morrison put her in his JLA team thet he put together and that alone put me into my level of attention to that character.  |
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Post by berkley on Jan 1, 2017 13:35:34 GMT -5
Great to see this in-depth commentary on Kirby's magnum opus. So much to comment on and I've fallen behind with the thread, so I'll just mention a couple things that I think don't get talked about enough and go sadly un-noticed by the later writers and artists who use these characters. Barda: As with Darkseid, I think later writers and artists habitually miss something about this character that should be evident from her very first appearance: though military through-and-through by lifelong training she isn't the stiff, hidebound, uptight personality that is sometimes associated with this idea. If you look at the body-language in that comic, she's often leaning against doorways, slouched in a chair, etc. You can see it even in the casual way she walks along with the huge cannon on her shoulder, above. Later on in the series, when you see her with the Furies on Apokolips, it's hard to imagine anything more rough and ready while still being an army unit. To put it in comic book terms, she's much more like Nick Fury than the prim and proper officer I've seen in too many later comics. I think Kirby added some nice visual touches with the broad face and wide, level eyes, the helmet down over the eyes, etc. I don't think this has been emulated by many of the artists who've drawn the character after Kirby. The armour itself is one of my favourite costumes - I think I picked it one Classic Christmas when that was the subject. I think Barda is one of the greatest creations in comics. It's hard to imagine anything more heroic than overcoming an evil worldview that's been the only reality you ever knew from birth. I think it's a crime that this character hasn't been embraced and celebrated by the modern and purportedly more feminism-aware comics readership. I'd like to see a solo series sometime, with Scott free as the supporting character. I just could not help myself to agree with you 100% of what you written about Big Barda and/or Barda for short and I just find her very unique and one of my favorite DC Comics Characters. I just loved her when Grant Morrison put her in his JLA team thet he put together and that alone put me into my level of attention to that character. I haven't read much of Morrison's JLA, having been turned off by how Orion and Darkseid were used from the little I saw of it. My impression is that his version of Barda wasn't as bad as those other two but that she wasn't given much to do, but I probably haven't seen enough to really say. I'm not sure how much of the Kirby stories Morrison had read up to that point. From a few things he's mentioned in interviews, I believe he might have come to them fairly late, perhaps even not until after his first time writing these FW characters in JLA (which would help account for what I see as his poor showing in that regard). |
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Post by codystarbuck on Jan 1, 2017 15:30:58 GMT -5
JImmy Olsen 144, 145 and 146    Our story opens with Groundskeeper Willie out for a jaunt around the Loch...  It's nae a good trip an' tha' wee beastie destroys his bonnie boat! So, we cut to Morgan Edge, Jimmy and the Newsies. Edge tells them they blew the story and they don't get the Whiz Wagon. It was a bit like this... But, if the gang heads to Scotland and gets the story on the monster, he'll reconsider. The gang agrees and Scrapper grabs a change of clothes, in stereotypical kilt and tam o' shanter. The gang flies over in a supersonic private jet and then drop down via the Whiz Wagon, nearly running down their contact in the bargain. They meet the man, Felix MacFinney who takes them back to his place for food and lodging and for Scrapper to try to set up Jimmy with Felix's daughter, a bonnie lass named Ginny.  Scrapper has also brought along a Scrapper Trooper, unbeknownst to the rest of the gang. They bed down for the night and hit the Loch in the morning. There, Flippa goes diving, looking for the monster, while Felix pulls a gun and lets the Newsies know about the Scottish branch of Inter-Gang.  Luckily the Scrapper Trooper takes charge and activates an electronic whistle that calls the monster, who attacks, killing Mac Finney. The gang gets to shore and wonders why Inter-Gang is trying to kill them, when they find Ginny, who tells them Felix wasn't her father. While all this goes on, Superman and the Guardian take time out at a nightclub, to check out a new band..  Turns out Dubbilex is also there, doing some research. We learn that the band works for Darkseid and they bring the house down, literally, on top of Superman, to make their escape. The next issue picks up the gang in scotland meet Inspector R-r-r-robert MacQuarrie (ya' ken?), who tells them he believes their story about the monster and shows them a griffin, a unicorn and a chimera, all which appeared locally. He then introduces them to Angry Charlie, one of Kirby's more oddball creations, and one who looks a bit like the Tick's grandfather.  The inspector tells them they all come from a place they call Brigadoom. Jimmy and the Newsie go check it out, Jimmy and Scrapper via land and the rest of the Newsies in the Whiz Wagon. They are attacked by the monster and fire torpedoes. Meanwhile, Jimmy and Scrapper have been hiking through the terrain and are worn out and copp some z's, when they are overcome by strange rays. Scrapper is woken up by the Scrapper Trooper, who has grown to his size; except he hasn't. Everyone else has been shrunken down. He leads them to Brigadoom, which is decidedly Kirby...  They realize that it must be the Evil Factory, just in time to be zapped by Simyan and Mokkari. While this goes on, the monster continues its attack on the Whiz Wagon. Jimmy gets strapped to a table, for experiments, while the Scrappers get dumped in a room to be attacked by a dinosaur. The Scrapper Trooper uses a weapon hidden in his helmet and saves the day. While this has been going on, Superman has found a hidden tunnel under Suicide Slum and is tracking the band. Dubbilex has them ensnared in his telekinetic control, but gets zapped by energy and they escape via Boom Tube. It's all pleasantly goofy and Jimmy and the newsies are a great combo. It's like a mash-up of the Avengers (not those guys, the sophisticated ones), minus Steed & Peel, but with the Dead End Kids in the middle of it. Okay, for the younger crowd, it's like the X-Files, minus Mulder and Sculley; but with the Goonies thrown in. Kirby had a flair for comedy and the Newsboy Legion brings it out. Quite frankly, the Guardian is rather boring and the stuff with him and Superman is rather disrupting and distracting. We tend to think of Kirby for these grand epics and forget he also is the guy behind the Thing and the Yancy Street Gang's battles, Fighting American, and the Newsboy Legion. I would have liked a lot more of this kind of stuff, without Superman. This is what makes comics fun. The pro wrestling fights of superhero comics are great; but, you can't beat a kid gang riding around in a high-tech hotrod, fighting monsters and each other. At the end of the issue, Jimmy is transformed (gee, how original!) into a caveman; 'cause, comics! In issue 146, he starts stormin' around; and, like with the Hulk Olsen, Simyan and Mokkari can't control him and nearly get their butts kicked. They zap him into submission. Just then an intruder alarm goes off and they head to investigate. The two Scrappers find Jimmy and try to figure out how to get out. The intruders are the rest of the gang, as the Whiz Wagon crashes into the the Evil factory. They are knocked unconscious and the baddies hook up a conveyor and drag them, slowly, to a furnace, while they go off to continue their experiment with Jimmy. First rule of successful villainry, don't turn you back on the hero when he's in the deathtrap. The Scrappers have Jimmy on a super-golf cart, trying to find the way out. They are heading through a menagerie of weird experiments, locked in cages. Jimmy wakes up and smashes into the cages, unleashing the creatures (sabretooth tigers, dinosaurs and the like). Meanwhile, the other Newsie wake up and get free (told ya!) and find themselves in the middle of the monsters. Total mayhem ensues as Cave Jimmy smashes things, the Newsies blast things and the evil due fire back. Machinery explodes and the Evil Factory explodes and we end with the gang escaping and Cave Jimmy also free; but unconscious. Thus ends the saga of Simyan and Mokkari and the Evil Factory. This last section is total action and mayhem and is Kirby just cutting loose.    It's like the end of the Blues Brothers, as they destroy whole parts of Chicago (no big loss). Kirby is wrapping things up, as he is bored with the situation and never really wanted to do Olsen. He hated taking on someone else's characters; he preferred to create his own. He was stymied in trying to do something with Superman, exploring his alienness and the possibility of like people in Supertown. Mark Evanier speaks of the Superman editors going back and forth telling Kirby not to do this or to do that, then reversing themselves. It was rather schizophrenic. He wanted out; but, he'd get one last shot at Superman and Supertown, which we'll explore next. Oh, yeah, Dubbilex demonstrates more power and Superman chases after the escaped band, which will lead us to next issue. |
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