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Post by Hoosier X on Jul 21, 2017 16:31:56 GMT -5
OK. Now that I have my Freedom Fighters series review out of the way, it's time to move on to Kamandi! I finished my Kamandi collection last year but, as much as I love Kamandi, I still haven't read through the whole series from #1 to #59 (and beyond because DC published the black and white art for #60 and #61 in a Kamndi reprint collection recently). There's a bunch of these issues that I read when I bought them and then put them away and haven't read them since. So it's way past time to get started and read this awesome series from start to finish. And I call it Kamandi Monday because once a week, hopefully every Monday, I'll be leaving a few comments about whatever issues of Kamandi I read that week. But I'm starting it on a Friday because I started my Complete Kamandi project last night. (And I think we can consider this a Kamandi Appreciation Thread in general. You don't have to wait until Mondays to comment.) So I read Kamandi #1 last night. One thing that struck me last night was that a lot of this story was barely familiar to me. I thought of all the first issues and first appearance, like Hulk #1 and the first Spider-Man in Amazing Fantasy #15 and Fantastic Four #1 and the first Batman and the first Captain Marvel in Whiz #2 that I've read over and over and practically have them memorized. But I first read those when I was 11 or 12 and had the leisure to read them over and over. Plus, they were all reprints. Origin of Marvel Comics or the giant Limited Collector's Edition of Whiz #2 or whatever. So it was easy to just read them and not worry about bending the corners or something like that. (Of course, those reprints are now 40 years old and are collector's items in their own right.) But my Kamandi #1 is pretty nice. It looks like a pretty solid VF to me. It really is almost too nice to touch. Also, it's Harlan Ellison's copy of Kamandi #1! Harlan was selling his comic book collection and I came across this info online and I looked at what was available and saw Kamandi #1 and I said: "I want a Kamandi #1, and here's Harlan Ellison's copy for $50 and that doesn't sound expensive to me." So I bought it. (I even got a certificate saying OFFICIALLY that it's Harlan Ellison's copy.) That it's in such nice condition is just a plus. To be honest, I might be happier if it was a little worn and had writing all over it. "HARLAN ELLISON" written in ink across the top of the front cover or the splash page. "Jack stole this from me! I'll sue!" written across several panels. It would give my copy a little character and I'd be more comfortable dragging it out and reading it. (Kamandi #1 is reprinted in Kamandi #32, and my copy of that is pretty nice, but it's not as nice as my Kamandi #1. So I'll probably read the reprint in Kamandi #32 when I want to read Kamandi #1 from now on.) Whether or not you think Kamandi #1 is a great start to a great series probably depends on what you think of early Bronze Age Kirby. If I had seen this on the stands in 1972 (when I was eight), I probably would have hated as much as I hated OMAC #1 when I read it at a friend's house a few years later. But I love both Kamandi and OMAC nowadays. As for the story itself, it's a little bit "Planet of the Apes" but it doesn't seem like a rip-off at all because "Planet of the Apes" sounds so Kirbyesque to begin with. Kamandi emerges from his safe underground home to see the outside world, and there's the Statue of Liberty and primitive, mute humans. And then he runs into marauding Wolf-People! And then he gets in the middle of a battle between Tiger-People and Leopard-People! And the Tiger-People worship a nuclear warhead! And Kamandi is befriended by a dog who's a scientist! |
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Post by Rob Allen on Jul 21, 2017 17:43:03 GMT -5
Kamonday?
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Post by kirby101 on Jul 21, 2017 19:11:58 GMT -5
Love Kamandi too. Are you reading the current Kamandi Challenge?
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Post by berkley on Jul 21, 2017 23:16:31 GMT -5
Love Kamandi too. Are you reading the current Kamandi Challenge? Probably I should ask this on the Modern Comics Board, but how are you finding it? I've only skimmed a few issues in the LCBS, none of them have really enticed me to buy it so far. |
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Post by codystarbuck on Jul 22, 2017 1:06:41 GMT -5
Kamandi reviews? Someone should have thought of this a long time ago!    Always good to have another insight. To be fair, I was ready to tap out by the time Kirby got to the end of his time (which is why I started grouping issues together). Gerry Conway on the scripts didn't help. Kind of interested about the later stories, which I have never bothered to read. |
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Post by Hoosier X on Jul 22, 2017 1:35:50 GMT -5
Kamandi reviews? Someone should have thought of this a long time ago! Always good to have another insight. To be fair, I was ready to tap out by the time Kirby got to the end of his time (which is why I started grouping issues together). Gerry Conway on the scripts didn't help. Kind of interested about the later stories, which I have never bothered to read. I like the series even after Kirby leaves. In one storyline, Kamandi runs into a bunch of filmmaker coyotes who hold Spirit hostage and force Kamandi to make a movie while they film it! I love that. I have a few pages of notes for a storyline about how the raw footage was made into a low-budget exploitation film and is a bit of a cult film in certain parts of the A.D. world, and Kamandi finds himself something of a celebrity among some young baboon cadets at a military school in what used to be Spain. For a short time, Kamandi had a back-up feature with tales of the After Disaster World, and it is really bad! Even for a bad Bronze Age back-up, it is really really bad. But I think Kamandi the main feature remains very entertaining right to the end. |
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Post by Hoosier X on Jul 22, 2017 1:42:11 GMT -5
Love Kamandi too. Are you reading the current Kamandi Challenge? I've liked it quite a bit at times, but not as much at others. I loved the plant girl! Kamandi in the old series frequently had some whacky girl as part of the entourage. Spirit turned into a butterly! Arna lived among those mutated humans who grew to adulthood and died within a few years. And I don't what was up with Pyra! She was a real whacko! But the plant girl was great! And a later writer decided to just discard her as fast possible for one of my least favorite chapters so far. |
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Post by kirby101 on Jul 22, 2017 10:00:37 GMT -5
Love Kamandi too. Are you reading the current Kamandi Challenge? Probably I should ask this on the Modern Comics Board, but how are you finding it? I've only skimmed a few issues in the LCBS, none of them have really enticed me to buy it so far. As with this type of project, it is mixed depending on the artist/writer team. Sometimes the cliffhanger ending is too much a priority. But it has been mostly fun with some superb chapters. And just seeing new Kamandi books come out is a blast. I thought th best non-Kirby Kamandi was the one done for the newspaper comics series the published a few years ago. |
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Post by codystarbuck on Jul 22, 2017 10:25:39 GMT -5
Kamandi reviews? Someone should have thought of this a long time ago! Always good to have another insight. To be fair, I was ready to tap out by the time Kirby got to the end of his time (which is why I started grouping issues together). Gerry Conway on the scripts didn't help. Kind of interested about the later stories, which I have never bothered to read. I like the series even after Kirby leaves. In one storyline, Kamandi runs into a bunch of filmmaker coyotes who hold Spirit hostage and force Kamandi to make a movie while they film it! I love that. I have a few pages of notes for a storyline about how the raw footage was made into a low-budget exploitation film and is a bit of a cult film in certain parts of the A.D. world, and Kamandi finds himself something of a celebrity among some young baboon cadets at a military school in what used to be Spain. For a short time, Kamandi had a back-up feature with tales of the After Disaster World, and it is really bad! Even for a bad Bronze Age back-up, it is really really bad. But I think Kamandi the main feature remains very entertaining right to the end. Coyote filmmakers? Do they get their equipment from Acme? I smell disaster... |
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Post by Hoosier X on Jul 22, 2017 11:59:10 GMT -5
I like the series even after Kirby leaves. In one storyline, Kamandi runs into a bunch of filmmaker coyotes who hold Spirit hostage and force Kamandi to make a movie while they film it! I love that. I have a few pages of notes for a storyline about how the raw footage was made into a low-budget exploitation film and is a bit of a cult film in certain parts of the A.D. world, and Kamandi finds himself something of a celebrity among some young baboon cadets at a military school in what used to be Spain. For a short time, Kamandi had a back-up feature with tales of the After Disaster World, and it is really bad! Even for a bad Bronze Age back-up, it is really really bad. But I think Kamandi the main feature remains very entertaining right to the end. Coyote filmmakers? Do they get their equipment from Acme? I smell disaster... I had never even thought of that! The way the story turns out, with Kamandi as the Roadrunner, I'm wondering if it was an intentional homage. |
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bran
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Post by bran on Jul 22, 2017 15:51:26 GMT -5
As for the story itself, it's a little bit "Planet of the Apes" but it doesn't seem like a rip-off at all because "Planet of the Apes" sounds so Kirbyesque to begin with. Kamandi emerges from his safe underground home to see the outside world, and there's the Statue of Liberty and primitive, mute humans. And then he runs into marauding Wolf-People! And then he gets in the middle of a battle between Tiger-People and Leopard-People! And the Tiger-People worship a nuclear warhead! And Kamandi is befriended by a dog who's a scientist! Man, everything that was obviously done in pre-production for Kamandi is brilliant. (Story before story that is not told.) Boy grew up in a bunker with granddad... anyone remembers movie Blast from the Past with Christopher Walken? Boy's picture of the World-before is naive and grandiose as grandpa probably raised him with idealized stories of humans and Earth. So boy gets out - and we the readers are exploring this new world together with him, he is as much surprised as we are. No need for additional exposition and there is a mystery that can be unrevealed one piece at the time. Instead of POA's human-apes there are humanoids - even better! (For those not familiar humanoids are almost identical to creatures from City-Shaft Mutant Ghetto from Before Incal). There are no super-heroes to fix it all in Kamandi. There are in one episode however some humans that are worshiping something that closely resembles Superman's costume/cape. Was it a satire of organized religion, satire of super-hero culture, homage to Superman, or Kirby simply wanted to link Kamandi-verse with DC fictional Universe? Overall Kamandi did not use all of it's potential (it's action-action-action), nevertheless it's well worth just for the art in it. Kirby took his time (was not in a rush) here, and the inkers did a good job not to damage his art. |
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zilch
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Post by zilch on Jul 23, 2017 20:40:47 GMT -5
When we were growing up, us three brothers had our different spheres of fandom.
I was into super-heroes, comic books in general and also old movies. Our local station and local UHF station (remember those?) showed tons of old movies and had different weekly series showing a different genre movie (Western Theatre, John Wayne Theatre, Gangster Theatre, Abbot and Costello Theatre, Chiller Theatre, ect) and i devoured them all watching them with my mom who was a big old movie buff. The middle brother was into Monster movies, and got all the models for all the different monsters, got to pick horror movies to watch at the drive-in theatre, that cool Jack Davis Frankenstein poster, ect. Brother #3 was into both World War II and dinosaurs.
Along with our Dad, the one book we all loved was Kamandi. It had everything!! Action! Big Monsters! Lots of fighting!! Ruined civilizations!
Starting with #2 (never did find #1 at the stands, but picked it up years later), we all shared the books. Reading them till the covers fell off, acting out different scenes with army men, dinosaurs and giant monsters. It was great fuel for all our back yard playing!!!
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Post by Hoosier X on Jul 24, 2017 14:34:02 GMT -5
I'm up to Kamandi #5. I read it last night just before going to bed. Even though I've read all these issues before, I have never read these first ten issues of Kamandi in a row as a unit - and I'm thinking that was a mistake. They are even better when you read them together. There's a big gap in time between #2 and #3 as Kamandi and Ben Boxer and Renzi and the other cyclo-heart dude have traveled from the New York area to the Las Vegas area in their magic science blimp, where they find the Gorilla Communes, under attack by the Expanding Tiger Empire! But then #3, #4 and #5 all take place in a fairly short time-frame. I especially love #3 and #5. The fifth issue introduces Kamandi's first girlfriend Flower. Ahh tragic Flower. I think I must have read Flower's first appearance once when I first got it because I had forgotten how touching it is. Kamandi releases a bunch of the primitive humans from the pens while the gorillas and tigers are fighting and he tells them to take off! But the topless black-tressed beauty follows him and introduces herself. "Me Flower!" Kamandi tells her to go off with her friends and she says "YOU Flower's friend!" and so he takes her with him. And so begins the fruitless quest to find Flower a blouse or a sweater or something before she is tragically swept away by the relentless Bronze Age Bonkerness of Earth After Disaster! Don't hold your breath. It is as futile as the Enterprise's five-year mission to catch up with that wayward shipment of pants for the female crew members. |
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Post by Hoosier X on Jul 25, 2017 15:16:49 GMT -5
There's these lions who are trying to protect the humans being kept on a wildlife refuge. Unfortunately there are some bad pumas who are poaching on the refuge. Tragically Kamandi and Flower get caught in the middle and Flower is killed! It's tragic because she was learning so fast! She had learned how to wear slippers and how to form basic sentences. Kamandi was going to start her out on pronouns very soon. (How to wear a shirt had been tabled for a while because reasons.) All kidding aside, a very touching and tragic issue. Next: Kamandi #7, one of my favorite comic books ever! |
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Post by kirby101 on Jul 28, 2017 8:50:06 GMT -5
Anybody read Kamandi Challenge #7?
I enjoyed the clean Jurgens/Janson art and loved the bitch brigade.
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