At first glance, MISTER MIRACLE must have seemed the most “different” of the 4 books Jack Kirby did at DC in 1971. While JIMMY OLSEN, FOREVER PEOPLE and NEW GODS all featured huge casts, MM apparently starred a solo superhero—although, one with a profession, “Super Escape Artist”. I suppose, looking back at Jack’s long career (most of which most of his fans at the time may have been completely unaware of), MM might be seen as a latter-day variation on the short-lived STUNTMAN. One thing’s for sure—Stan Goldberg would never have given MM a color scheme like this—red, yellow AND green! Traditionally, Goldberg preferred primaries for heroes, secondaries for villains. Mixing the two was virtually unheard of at Marvel, and mixing red and green in particular makes him almost look like a Christmas tree.
The initial episode actually features two Mister Miracles. The first is Thaddeus Brown, an older, white-haired, bearded gent who apparently has been around quite some time, and is coming out of retirement, to the chagrin of his assistant, Oberon (a dwarf who may have been based on then-popular actor Michael Dunn). The other is the incredibly-named Scott Free, a mysterious young drifter who talks of having been brought up in an orphanage. Scott happens across the pair while they’re rehearsing a particularly-dangerous escape act, and the three are interrupred by a bunch of thugs from “Inter-Gang”.
Shortly after befriending the newcomer, Thaddeus is murdered while setting up another death-trap, and only after he’s gone does Oberon tell Scott the rather convoluted back-story of the whole mess. It seems Thaddeus once shared a hospital bed with a man who made a bet that he could stop Thaddeus with an “escape-proof trap”, and wagered ten thousand dollars on it. Years later, however, the man became a high-ranking member of “Inter-gang”, and his position there would NOT allow him to lose the bet or lose face—so he had Thaddeus killed.
Apart from the presence of Inter-Gang, this series would not seem to have any immediate link with the other 3 books Kirby was doing... until we see Scott using impossibly-advanced scientific gadgets to aid in his own death-trap escapes. Also, the device he uses to ease Thaddeus’ pain as the old man passes away, “ping”ing as it does, would indicate a possile connection with the youngsters from “Super-Town”. The gang-leader, “Steel Hand”, reminds me of either SARGE STEEL from Charlton Comics, or “Iron Hand”, a member of KAOS on GET SMART.
Steel Hand manages to put Scott into the most impossibly deadly trap yet, and is assured of his utter demise (and destruction)... until Scott shows up at his house, alive and whole, and the two square off one-one-one. With a small crowd of police officers on hand to witness Steel Hand’s confession, it seems an entire area division of Inter-Gang has just been put out of business. Wow—that’s more than all the characters in the other 3 books combined have managed so far.
At the end, Scott’s background is still a mystery, but he & Oberon have now become a team, ready to go on stunning audiences all across the country.
I’d like to say I enjoyed this more than I did, but the truth is, just on the basis of this one issue, this was the LEAST-entertaining of Jack’s new books so far. I also strongly suspect it must have been a RUSH-job. After 6 GREAT-looking issues of JIMMY OLSEN, and GREAT-looking first issues of FOREVER PEOPLE and NEW GODS, the interior art on this one—by comparison—looks like CRAP. I blame the inks. There’s “Vince Colletta”, and then there’s this, and by the looks of it, Vince either inked this entire book over a weekend, or not at all. It’s known Vince worked with assistants, but none of them were ever credited, and it’s often difficult or impossible to know who did which pages, or books. Overall, the look of this entire issue reminds me of the “Vince Colletta” look from the 80’s, when his quality really went to hell... except for something like page 16, which I would SWEAR was inked by KLAUS JANSON! I’ve seen tons of Janson’s work, and that page in particular SCREAMS of being his. It’s possible. I know Janson started out as one of Dick Giordano’s assistants (and had a similar, if “rougher” look early-on), and Dick was at DC at this time.
I know Kirby originally wanted to create new series and then hand them off to others to illustrate under his control. It really makes me wish John Romita had taken up his invitation. I could really see MISTER MIRACLE being done by (or even INKED by) Romita. Especially once a certain female joined the cast.
Registered: Aug 2003
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I miss the New Gods stuff. Barda was my favorite character, and not because of the Byrne supes/porn story like it seems so many reference, but because of the twist on her relationship with Scott. She was the big bruiser, but certainly wasn't unfeminine, Scott was the smaller and more levelheaded. Barda was certainly attractive. They had a marriage that wasn't retconned out, she wasn't burned or raped in some retcon storyline, and they actually loved each other as a married couple.
something very rare in today's comics.
-------------------- Damn you, you kids! Get off my lawn or I'm callin' tha cops!
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As Nick Simon's site is STILL down, today I started my very 1st "blog" (what a silly word) and have now uploaded the first 9 Fourth World covers-- ALL my own "restorations". Take it from me, NOBODY else online has images anywhere as good as these!
A title like that and no sign of Superman? Outrageous!
Since arriving at DC, Jack had gone collage-happy again. With this issue, he does his first cover with a collage in quite a lot of years. It could have worked... except this cover is copy-heavy. I mean, even Stan Lee’s copy-heavy covers have nothing on this! You’ve got a HUGE blurb at the top—a whopping-big word balloon on the side (with really big lettering!)—and head-shots (with text) of all 5 of the regular cat at the bottom. Can you say... “OVERKILL”??
Our teenage Super-Towners turn up in the middle of a busy downtown street, interrupt traffic, get into a philsophical exchange while wondering “WHAT’s a hippie?”, leave one obnoxious passer-by breathless and nearly-unconscious, then “PHASE OUT!” right in front of a traffic cop, leaving him confused. “Kids!”
But then things get REALLY serious—and downright WEIRD—as we meet this issue’s Apokaliptan baddie, “Mantis”. Between his powers and his costume, he almost seems like what you’d get if you crossed The Banshee (from X-MEN) and Electro (from AMAZING SPIDER-MAN). With a little bit of INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS tossed in, as it seems this electrical-charged villain does his charging while sleeping in a man-sized “power-pod”. Darkseid’s on the scene, and Mantis actually argues with him how “EARTH IS MINE! MINE! I came here FIRST! You have NO right—“ It’s sort of like a Field Marshall argueing with Hitler that, no, I invaded Poland, it’s MINE, NOT yours! I don’t think that would go over well. (Is this guy SUICIDAL—or just REALLY stupid??)
However, just like how, in the previous issue, Darkseid didn’t seem to care at all about the girl he kidnapped or her rescuers (apart from the fact that he left a bomb to kill all of them anyway), in this case, he tells his high-strung underling that the guy can HAVE Earth—he doesn’t want it—he’s after something else—which is HIS alone. And so, later in the book, Mantis attacks a major city, causes a lot of destruction and wholesale panic—all of which, from his boss’s POV, is just a means to somehow locate the one mind which contains “The Anti-Life Equation”.
Meanwhile, our teens arrive in a slum neighborhood, and quickly make the acquaintance of Donnie, a young crippled boy who walks on crutches and is thrilled to meet those he believes came from a “UFO”, and his Uncle Willie, a far more suspicious gun-toting type who mistakes them for your more garden-variety biker gang—at least, until Beautiful Dreamer plants an image in his mind that they’re more wholesome types, as might have been seen on 1950’s TV shows. As they begin to set up shop in one of the less burnt-out empty houses in the area, Serifan demonstrates one of his “Cosmic Cartridges” which are “sensitive the universe”. I’m telling you, this book just gets weirder on every page!
Before long, Serifan recognizes Mantis on the news, and The Infinity Man goes into action. The whole time, Darkseid watches, along with a rather sick-looking underling of his—Desaad—whose field of expertise seems to be FEAR. Though there’s a few tense moments, Infinity Man prevails, and Mantis is forced to literally CRAWL back to his “pod” to recharge. For a menace reputed to be regarded almost as highly as Darkseid, he comes across as kinda pathetic. Darkseid resigns himself to waiting.
A bit uneven episode, story-wise. Also, unless my eyes are deceiving me, there’s evidence of no less than 3 DIFFERENT inkers on this book, despite Vince Colletta being the only one credited. Much of it, like the splash page, looks like “typical” Colletta. But then there’s stuff like pages 2-3 which look a lot more rushed, even sloppy. And then again, there’s stuff like pages 4-5 which are MUCH SLICKER, dare I even say more “professional”-looking. I mean... this can’t ALL be the work of only ONE guy—can it? And of course, I can’t help but wish the WHOLE BOOK had looked like those “slicker” pages.
Legend has it, when Wally Wood heard that Jack Kirby was coming to DC and was gonna be doing no less than 4 books at the same time, he approached DC and practically BEGGED for the chance to ink one of the books, and work once more with the guy whose SKY MASTERS newspaper strips he’d inked in the 50’s. DC turned him down, FLAT—because Vinnie had worked out an agreement with them to do ALL 4 books. What a guy—he said—SARCASTICALLY.
Registered: Aug 2003
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Comic book physics tells me those "Cosmic Cartridges" probably mess with quantum mechanics and maybe the strings in string theory.
Desaad is name after the Marquis de Sade who had a really interesting life, including time in the Bastille. He wrote a book that is banned in many countries.
-------------------- Go with the good and you'll be like them; go with the evil and you'll be worse than them.- Portuguese Proverb
From: Illinois | Registered: Jun 2010
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NEW GODS #2 / May’71 – “O’ DEADLY DARKSEID”
For the 2nd cover in a row, we see Orion and his flying harness over a B&W background. But this time, it’s a photo of a city, and the design of the cover is very offbeat. The logo is shrunk, jammed into the MIDDLE of the cover, and with “ORION of the” added (apparently at some point Jack concisidered just naming the book ORION), and the book’s villains appear in BIG vignettes ABOVE the logo. Man, you just never knew what to expect from Kirby at this point!
For the 2nd episode in a row, Jack opens the story with a long narrative intro. The splash page this time reveals that the two planets, New Genesis and Apokalips, apparently are in orbit NEAR each other—the latter perpetually in the shadow of the other! The visual reminds me a LOT of the image of the two planets Iskandar and Gammilon on the first season of STAR BLAZERS. On that show, that image was seen regularly from the very beginning, but it wasn’t until the climax of the season-long epic storyline that the heroes realized that for the entire length of their long space trip, they’d been heading straight for their enemies’ stronghold!
Another 2-page spread has nothing to do with the story, but shows a group of “Celestial” children at play, as the city of New Genesis hovers peacefully in the background.
High-Father and a group of others observe The Source Wall, which indicates others must follow Orion to Earth, and the war between the planets. High-Father argues with Lightray, who wishes to be with his friend, but who High-Father feels is “too young”yet. Gee—does he KNOW about Mark Moonrider and his pals?
On Earth, Orion & the 4 rescued Earth-people arrive at Dave Lincoln’s apartment, only to discover Darkseid is waiting for them there! Orion accuses Darkseid of breaking the peace by kidnapping the four, and threatens he can “finish” him now. Darkseid coldly replies, “Finish ME—and you finish YOURSELF! You HESITATE, ORION! You can SENSE why—but you DON’T KNOW—do you? But DARKSEID is FREE of mysteries! He can ACT!” At that instant, Brola, an underling, attacks Orion with a “shock-prod”, and is amazed that it doesn’t KILL him. A battle commences, until Brola is hurled straight thru a brick wall... only to vanish, along with his master. It’s clear Darkseid knows the truth that Orion doesn’t—that Orion is his SON.
At their base under the city, Darkseid chastises Brola. “Enough, DOG! Find your KENNEL and nurse your well-deserved wounds!” Gee, great guy to work for. Desaad, briefly introduced in FOREVER PEOPLE #2, is working on a “Fear Machine”, and wearing protective clothing to shield himself from its rays. He uses several of Darkseid’s loyal thugs as test subjects. As with the incident with Mantis, Darkseid hopes by unleashing terror among an entire city, it may help him locate the person whose mind will “yield” the Anti-Life Equation.
Using a Mother Box (a nickname Orion explains was created by “the young of New Genesis”), Orion shows his four new associates visions of Darkseid’s various schemes—Apokalips warriors invading Earth via Boom Tubes; a group operating underwater known as “The Deep Six”; Mantis, “whose mammoth power rivals that of Darkseid himself”, and is tunneling somewhere under the city; as well as a view of the “dropout society” in The Wild Area who citizens may possess the secret Darkseid seeks. In quick succession, the events in NEW GODS are tied in with both FOREVER PEOPLE and JIMMY OLSEN, as well as giving a glimpse of future events. But where does MISTER MIRACLE fit in? Not a clue—yet!
As the Fear Machine’s power is unleashed, Orion races thru the city and finds a generator disguised as a billboard. Destroying it, he almost falls to his doom, but recovers and flies off. Far below, looking quite like a stock broker checking a teletype readout, Darkseid tells Desaad his machine has yielded nothing—“not the SLIGHTEST trace of the thought waves we seek.” Desaad wants to capture Orion, but Darkseid, angered, tells him Orion is the kind who could never be captured alive. Desaad notes how quickly Darkseid defends his enemy. “It is strange how very like US he is—in his FIERCENESS and—“ “SILENCE, DESAAD!” WAS ORION MY OWN SON-- he would mean NOTHING to the purpose of our MISSION!” Obviously, Desaad may suspect something—but he doesn’t know the truth.
Back at Lincoln’s apartment, the four resolve to help Orion in his struggle—though they can’t imagine how they can.
Generally, the art on this issue is TERRIFIC—though some pages are better than others, notably the ones with bigger panels, or that feature Darkseid or other denizens of Apokalips. I’d almost swear there’s at least 2 different inkers at work here, and maybe 3, as the “feel” of the lines is somewhat different between, say, pages 4-5 and pages 6-9, while something like page 10 looks like “typical” Vince Colletta. I’ve read of so much research having been gone into by fans trying to discrearn which of a small army of inkers worked on Jack Kirby’s CAPTAIN AMERICA from the early 1940’s, but looking at these books again, I wonder if we’ll ever know exactly WHO did WHAT on the Fourth World?
Registered: Aug 2003
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Some general comments from another group...
These days, so many "bad" things have been done to Kirby's characters by later writers, more and more I tend to just IGNORE all the later stuff and consider it as "never happened". (This includes Hank & Jan getting divorced... or Johnny & Crystal NOT getting married when they should have.)
Considering the 2 people involved were apparently such HUGE fans of Jack (Mark Evanier & Paris Cullins), it kinda makes me wonder, "WHAT HAPPENED HERE?" I ran into Paris right in front of my art school one day, in between series, and he was raving about his upcoming book-- NEW GODS. Comparing it to FOREVER PEOPLE, he said, "And THIS is gonna be EVEN BETTER!"
Ever since, Mark Evanier talks about it like HE wishes it had never happened.
Frankly, and I'm not even sure about this one, but at the moment, the ONLY later "retcon" I don't mind was finding out that The Infinity Man was really Darkseid's BROTHER. But even there, I bet Jack might have come up with something very different...
In other Fourth World things... yesterday I downloaded no less than 7 music albums by Lanie Kazan-- the inspiration for BIG BARDA! As far as I know, at least 5 of them are out-of-print, which makes me grateful for fellow music fans, blogs, and hi-speed internet.
Registered: Aug 2003
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A lot of comics covers show a hero in danger. This book may be one of the only series that tends to show the hero in a danger of his own making! Another thing that makes this stand out is the text. There’s SO MUCH OF IT! Seems like Jack Kirby may have been deliberately trying to out-do both Stan Lee and Roy Thomas in the “excessively wordy” department.
The first 3 pages of this story are bizarre, to say the least. We see Scott & Oberon putting together a robot version of Mister Miracle, called a “Follower” for its ability to imitate precisely his movements. It’s a tool to help Scott fine-tune a new escape trap, this one involving a straight-jacket, a very difficult balancing act, and high explosives. But SOMETHING is watching them from afar, and judging from the hi-tech on display, it’s something not human. Sure enough, when we turn to page 4, abruptly we get a FULL-PAGE close-up of a robotic entity called “Overlord”, who sets off the explosive before Scott’s ready. And when it comes to “tech” design, NOBODY does it like Kirby!
Scott & Oberon survive, partly with the aid of Scott’s Mother Box, which he explains, is alive—in a way—though weakened after absorbing so much of the blast. As they recover, Scott plans for the next escape—which doesn’t make Oberon happy.
Meanwhile, somewhere nearby, apparently in an old mansion, we meet the ones responsible for the explosion. Surrounded by hi-tech equipment and “soldier boys” wearing futuristic outfits (that would be right at home in STAR WARS), is an old lady with “big” white hair—“Granny Goodness”. Under her flowing robe we find she’s wearing a suit of armor, and uses a metal pipe to take out on her “boys” her frustration for not killing Scott yet. She’s like a sci-fi variation on Shelly Winters’ Ma Barker from the film BLOODY MAMA. It’s obvious she knows Scott, and refers to him as having “run away from her institution”. If she’s the one who was in charge of the “orphanage” Scott says he grew up in, she definitely out-does “Sister Mary Stigmata” (alias “The Penguin”) from the movie THE BLUES BROTHERS.
As Scott prepares his next trap—being shackled to a wooden wall with his arms going thru holes in it, and a trio of large spears set to be fired at him automatically-—Oberon comments that if Thaddeus Brown ever saw the things Scott was attempting, he’d have gotten into another line of work. Incredibly, Scott escapes again, once more with help from Mother Box. Oberon feels sure Scott isn’t from anywhere on Earth, and sure enough, Scott mentions he arrived by Boom Tube, another device used by the teenagers in THE FOREVER PEOPLE.
As Oberon is cleaning up outside, the “Follower” robot seems to come back to life, and by dumb luck, is mistaken for the genuine article by 3 of “Granny’s Raiders”, as Scott calls them (removing all doubt that he KNOWS who’s out to get him). The trio subdue & kidnap Oberon and “Scott”, but the real Scott follows them, using a pair of “Aero Discs” attached to his feet, something apparently used by Granny’s “Flight Troops” (and which much later turned up verbatim in the movie HIGHLANDER 2). On their return to base, we learn that—sure enough—Granny works in the service of DARKSEID. “Love HIM! Serve Great DARKSEID! Wear your pointed helmets proudly where he leads! DIE for him—and REWARD Granny!”
Of course, then she finds out they’ve snatched a robot, but before she can vent her wrath a second time, the real Scott intrudes, knocking her “boys” down and snatching his friend in high-speed flight. But before they can vamoose, a trap door opens and both are sucked thru the floor into “THE X-PIT”, a hi-tech creation of Overlord, which has a transparent box at the bottom containing multiple dangers, including flames, electric charges, a river of hardening mud...
High above, Granny relaxes and laments, “POOR Scott Free! How he must be suffering! It’s too bad he COULDN’T learn to see things—Granny’s way.” One of her soldier boys brings her a small box which she says was a gift from Darkseid, and is capable of creating anything she wishes (hmm, sounds like a variation on “The Cosmic Cube”). But just then, the box is FRIED, and Scott & Oberon stand before her, having somehow escaped from the X-PIT. Granny seems genuinely distressed at what’s happened to her box, but it soon turns to murderous rage. Scott explained how he realized that the atoms of the X-Pit, which kept reforming, proved it was linked directly to Overlord—so he used Mother Box to strike back directly at the trap’s creator. It’s then we learn that the very impressive-looking Overlord was really quite tiny (about the size of a Cupie Doll) and fit neatly into the small box Granny was so upset about. It seems one form of miniaturized artificial life took out another one.
Granny threatens, “You—you’ll pay DEARLY for this!” Scott replies, “And that brings me to my parting words!!! DRY UP AND BLOW AWAY, GRANNY GOODNESS!” Scott & Oberon fly off, Oberon urging him, “Fly faster, Scott! I’ve got an EERIE feeling that she’s warming up for the SECOND round!”
And so, with the second installment, we’ve learned that Scott is definitely involved with Apokalips—but can he really be a product of that planet, from all the others we’ve seen so far? Perhaps the clue is on page 11, when Scott said, “I had to SURVIVE as an individual—as MYSELF!” Shades of Number Six on THE PRISONER!
I must say, this is one UGLY-looking comic-book! The art is AWFUL, despite Jack Kirby knocking himself out as usual. I’ll tell you what—despite what it says in the credits on page 5, I don’t believe Vince Colletta touched a single page of this comic. I’m not sure if the pages in the previous issue were done by the same inker or not—they’re similar, but a bit different, somehow. But if I had to guess (AND I AM), I’d say the inks this time look like the work of FRANK McLAUGHLIN! They’re dark, they’re HARSH, they’re OVER-POWERING. And I know Dick Giordano was at DC at this time, and Frank often worked with him. Why not with Colletta as well? I’m surprised that, in ALL I’ve read over the years about these books, including in THE JACK KIRBY COLLECTOR, that I have never once run across any reference to anyone other than Colletta inking all these books. Am I the only one who’se really noticed this?
Registered: Aug 2003
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JIMMY OLSEN #139 / Jul’71 – “THE GUARDIAN FIGHTS AGAIN!!!”
Not many comics ask the questions that matter in today’s world. Like... “Are you ready for defoliants in your succotash? Are you ready for landmines in your lunchbox?” Yes, there’s no doubt, there’s only ONE comic in the history of the medium that posed THESE questions, and I’ve arrived at it: JIMMY OLSEN #139. As madcap and INSANE as the cover is, who’d believe the story inside has such a “normal, regular” title as, “The Guardian Fights Again!!!” ???
You gotta understand... JIMMY OLSEN was like “king of the dorks” when it came to superhero comics. Jack Kirby was single-handedly trying to raise his book out of the mire or maddening mediocrity. But let’s face it, it was still “JIMMY OLSEN”. So readers should have expected at least the occasional bout of literary looniness. Also, it might help to remember, DC Comics used to publish BOB HOPE comics. And, JERRY LEWIS comics! Both were clearly very popular in their time, as evidenced by how long they lasted. So, in 1971, someone may have asked... why NOT a DON RICKLES comic? And if Arnold Drake was no longer at DC to do one, then hey, it might as well be Jack Kirby.
At The D.N.A. Project, Tommy is testing The Guardian, concerned that, like all products of their genetic research, he appears to have something “elusive” in his brain waves. Nevertheless, he becomes the first clone given clearance to go into the outside world. Next thing, Supes, Jimmy & The Guardian, the latter two in The Whiz Wagon, are zooming along The Zoomway headed for Metropolis. The young Newsboys are left behind—as one of them has caught what appears to be a cold. But in a place involved with so much scientific research, everyone feels it’s best to be sure.
The shot of the Whiz Wagon coming out of a tunnel entrance reminds me of The Batmobile leaving The Batcave. I’m still a bit confused here, as after passing the now-deserted “Habitat”, they go thru ANOTHER underground tunnel. So—is Habitat actually in a huge underground cavern, or does the road just go thru a tunnel in between it and Metropolis? Supes flies on ahead, so he can switch to being Clark Kent, then act concerned that he hasn’t heard from Jimmy in so long. When the two get together, confronting Morgan Edge is much on their mind, for all the obvious shenanigans they suspect he MUST be involved with that happened over the prevous 6 issues.
Back in The Project, a miniature Scrapper Trooper turns up, and helps the boys “escape”. They make it to an abandoned tunnel containing an underground river, and use the motorboat conveniently left there to continue on.
But meanwhile, on page 10, things go COMPLETELY nuts. Oh, you thought the last 6 issues were crazy? HAH! Think again! Morgan Edge returns to his office, where he casually tells his secretary, Miss Conway, that he left earlier because the city was in danger of an atomic explosion. As she doesn’t respond, we have to guess she figures he’s joking (he wasn’t). On hearing Kent & Olsen want to see him, he gives orders to say he’s STILL not in. And then—what kind of a segue is this??—he askes about the contracts for Don Rickles. Okay, he’s an entertainment mogul. It makes sense he’d be concerned with known celebrities. But then Miss Conway reminds him of Don’s “look-alike”—“Goody Rickels”—who’s on their research staff. And Edge looks about to have a heart attack. “DEMONS OF DARKSEID! If the REAL Don Rickles and this yo-yo ever bump into each other—it’ll be UTTER CHAOS!!”
At that moment, Goody appears in his office, dressed in a super-hero suit, saying some producer told him to wear it in connection with a “pilot film”. Edge’s hidden reaction is anything but normal. “The solution is obvious! This man must be KILLED!” SAY WHAT??? There’s what’s known as “slipping into The Twilight Zone”—and then there’s THIS. As nutso as it may seem, the entire plot of the rest of the comic stems from this utterly screwball motivation.
Next thing, Miss Conway hands Kent & Olsen a note about a UFO in Cronin Park. Once there, they find one—and stepping out of it, Goody, still in the union suit. Kent goes inside, Goody pushes a button—“FZOMP” The entire UFO vanishes, taking Kent with it. And before anyone can bat an eye, a group of what The Guardian calls “Assault Troops”, armed with wooden clubs, attack. Surprisingly, things go well for our side, until the leader of the baddies—an UGLY thug named—whatta ya know—“Ugly Mannheim”, grabs Jimmy at gunpoint and forces Goody & The Guardian to surrender. “Ugly” reminds me somewhat of “Roman Troy Moronie” (Richard Dimitri) from JOHNNY DANGEROUSLY.
Shortly, the group is sitting around a table eating—AT GUNPOINT. “You either eat—or you DIE!” “Finish it, Guardian, or else Olsen gets it!” Not your typical dining table conversation. But then comes the HORROR. Yes—HORROR. Ugly tells them they’ve all just eaten food laced with “pyro-granulate”—“fine, deadly grains just waiting for the right time to ignite”. As he tells them, “You’re DEAD men! ALL of you! In twenty-four hours—you’ll FLARE UP like torches!” Jimmy’s shocked—he can’t believe it!! (Considering this is an issue of JIMMY OLSEN, it does seem completely against the grain—and even more so considering what a goofy story it’s been up to this moment.) The Guardian wants to know WHY he wants them dead. But Ugly AIN’T SPILLING IT! “I DON’T have to explain that! I DON’T even have to keep you any longer! You’re LEAVING! NOW!” And with that, he DUMPS them out of the back of his MOBILE HOME right onto a street “in the worst part of town”. And he doesn’t even SLOW DOWN when he does it! That’s not nice!
HOLY COW! What a CLIFF-HANGER!!! It says here... “SPINE-CHILLING! BLOOD-FREEZING! HEART-STOPPING! Only those adjectives can describe the INCREDIBLE roaring climax in the NEXT ISSUE! For MANY lives hang in the balance—when a strange question is answered!! WILL THE REAL DON RICKLES PANIC??” Now let me explain this—sort of. As I said, DC used to publish a very-popular JERRY LEWIS comic. Back when, there was a Saturday morning TV cartoon named—I’m not kidding—“WILL THE REAL JERRY LEWIS PLEASE SIT DOWN?” (It ran from 1970-72—you can look it up! Honest!!) So I figure—and I have never run across even a single reference to this before I put two and two together myself—that Jack’s title for the next episode was a take-off on that. Makes PERFECT sense to me!
What DIDN’T make sense was the way—according to Mark Evanier—Jack’s 7-parter somehow got truncated to 6, and ended last issue instead of in this one. Because—see—NEXT issue is a REPRINT ANNUAL. So, instead of a break between stories, Jack started the 2nd story... then, readers had to wait TWO issues before they could read Part 2! That’s NOT FAIR!
A few comments about the art. Unlike MISTER MIRACLE #2, this issue CLEARLY was inked by Vince Colletta. Mostly. And he did a NICE job, mostly. That’s if you don’t count the usual Clark, Jimmy & Superman faces re-pencilled & inked by Murphy Anderson, who did such a NICE job, you almost wish he’d done THE WHOLE ISSUE. And then of course, some pages look BEWTTER than the rest, making me wonder if somebody (like, I dunno, Jack Abel maybe?) inked here and there. Goody also looks better-inked than the rest of the book. Murphy Anderson, or someone else? But then there’s page 14—panel 4, to be specific. Unless my eyes are deceiving me, in that ONE panel, whoever inked Clark Kent DID NOT redraw him. So in that ONE panel, it’s Jack Kirby’s Clark Kent we see. Looks good to me...
Registered: Aug 2003
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FOREVER PEOPLE #3 / Jul’71 – “LIFE VS. ANTI-LIFE!”
Now THIS is a disturbing comic-book. This comes across right on the cover, which, although it once again has TOO MUCH text on it, has a limited color scheme—the heroes entirely in shades of magenta, the background another B&W photo, this one appears to be a shaft of light cutting thru couldy darkness. Hovering over the scene, a figure wearing a metal helmet, who declares, “Live by MY rules—or DIE!”
The splash page shows a crowd of people, all with totally blank expressions (I mean really blank—none of their eyeballs are visible!). The page opens with a quote from ADOLPH HITLER, where he commented on how his followers all had the “same expression”. Pages 2-3 are a reverse shot showing what the crowd is so entranced by—bright-faced, red-haired, robe-wearing Glorious Godfrey, a fantasy version of an evangelical preacher, combining Medieval fashion with futuristic organ-pipes, spouting out a message about “ANTI-LIFE”, and how he can give his followers “the power to wield DEATH!”
Godfrey openly proclaims that Darkseid and a “Holocaust” is coming to Earth, and he begins passing out armor helmets to those who will be “UNIFIED! GLORIFIED! JUSTIFIED!” The scene quickly switches to the slum where one of the “Justifiers” is assaulting young crippled Donnie, demanding to know where his friends are. Rescuing the boy, the teens from New Genesis barely escape when the entire building is blown up, taking with it the one who set off the charge. We never see Donnie’s uncle, nor is he mentioned, so we have to assume he wasn’t home when this happened. Mark Moonrider deduces that “All from NEW GENESIS, who have come to EARTH—are being sought out—for DEATH!” After using Mother Box to surround the area with a protective shield against other Justifiers, the group departs in search of their attackers.
Page 11 is where the book REALLY takes a frightful turn, as a rectangular flying transport lands on a rooftop, depositing a squad of Justifiers. “This is the part of town we want! The people we’ve chosen as TARGETS live here! “Move in SWIFTLY! Before the swine REALIZE what’s happening! SIEZE as many as you can! DON’T bother to discriminate! The women and children are as hated as the men! Break in the doors! Waste NO time on mercy! DRAG them out! Treat them ROUGH! LISTEN to their cries! I’ve been WAITING to do this for years! Get going! We’ll SHOW what we do with your kind!” It’s a scene right out of Nazi Germany—but it’s happening HERE—NOW! “SHUT UP! You’re nothing but animals! ANTI-LIFE WORKS! We’re JUSTIFIED in ridding the city of this human trash! The city should thank us!” Following this mass-kidnapping of innocent people, the next 2 panels show a public library being burnt out. “The NONSENSE stored in this place shall NEVER pollute another mind! You need know no more that the PROPER things!”
I’m guessing since all the victims in these scenes were white, that it was probably a Jewish neighborhood that was attacked. The real horror of this is not only that it COULD happen here, but that this kind of thing has CONTINUED to happen in various countries over the years since this comic came out. Time and again, despots turning people against people to further their own aims, often murdering the most learned and intelligent people and making sure the rest remain as ignorant as possible, the better to control them with.
Godfrey (who somewhat resembles TV evangelist Billy Graham), becomes aware that one of his followers failed, as the Forever People are approaching. Sure enough, they arrive where he’s set up a tent for people to hear his “revelations”. Using the ritual, they switch places with The Infinity Man, who uses control over atoms to slip in thru the ground itself, before attacking and taking out the “Demon’s Organ”. But just as he confronts Godfrey, DARKSEID shows up in person. In seconds, by force, he sends Infinity Man back where he came from, to be replaced by the teenagers. “It would PAIN me to deal HARHSLY with you! That is why I keep such as DESAAD at my side!” “I DON’T mind playing games in the slightest! HERE! Try this toy! FUN, isn’t it?” Using a bizarre hand-weapon (which reminds me of the guns used on SPACE: 1999), Desaad knocks the group unconscious, before having them loaded into an Aero-Van.
“We’re taking them where we took the OTHERS! To the CAMP OF THE DAMNED! It is NOT the first of its kind seen on Earth! But DESAAD is the master of THIS one! Even as Justifiers make a MOCKERY of life—DESAAD plays with DEATH as if it were a FINE ART! I wonder what sort of MAETERPIECES he’ll make of THESE brats!” Amidst all this enthusiastic SICKNESS and DEPRAVITY, Darkseid reminds Desaad that the main purpose of the camp MUST remain uncovering the secret of the Anti-Life Equation. Godfrey doesn’t seem to believe in its existence. As he says, in a magnificent full-page close-up shot, “If one could MASTER such an equation—he could CONTROL the minds of ALL living things in the universe—with a MERE word! I-I BELIEVE in ANTI-LIFE, great DARKSEID—but it can only be induced in others by the means of INVENTIVE SELLING!” Darkseid, of course, dismisses this.
As Hitler kept his various commanders at each others’ throats, to keep any one of them from becoming too powerful, so does Darkseid with his. “You favor HIM always, Great DARKSEID! Thing of what my JUSTIFIERS do in your cause!” “I beg to depart from this PETTY situation, sire!” Amazing how without batting an eye Desaad manages to so totally belittle Godfrey in front of both him and his master. In a SCARY clopse-up, Desaad continues, “You’re a loud, petulant BUMPKIN, Godfrey! Like all REVELATIONISTS, you’ve got imagination—but not finesse! But I, good Godfrey, have BOTH! I leave you now for my “camp”, which DARKSEID knows is TERROR, refined to PERFECTION!” Although I rather doubt Kirby had ever seen him, in that one panel Desaad reminds me an awful lot of English actor Milton Johns, who appeared in 2 Tom Baker DOCTOR WHO stories, “The Android Invasion”, and “The Invasion Of Time”. In the latter, he played “Kelner” the head of Time Lord security, who always seemed to be too sneaky for his own good, spying on EVERYONE, and slyly siding with whatever side would be most to his advantage at any given moment. In other words, someone you really couldn’t trust.
Jack ends with the following: “Their DESTINATION is the most BIZARRE and TERRIFYING structure ever seen by the eyes of man! It is DESAAD’s own little domain on Earth—a pilot project of Purgatory—where torment is computed—death is controlled—and escape impossible! DON’T MISS—KINGDOM OF THE DAMNED!” Wow. What a CLIFF-HANGER! While JIMMY OLSEN began with 3 2-parters that together formed a 6-parter, Jack was wise to begin each of his other 3 brand-new books with stand-alone episodes for the first 2 issues apiece. Now, having set the stage, he finally begins to expand into multi-parters in the other books. It’s gonna be rough waiting to plow thru the other books before getting to the next episode of this one.
Although it’s clear Vince Colletta inked much of this issue, once again I can’t shake the feeling someone else was involved, mostly in the second half—possibly Frank McLaughlin. Some of the linework just looks too “harsh” and heavy for Vince’s lighter, cleaner style, and Frank did a TON of work at DC over the years.
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NEW GODS #3 / Jul’71 – “DEATH IS THE BLACK RACER!”
And now, I’ve reached possibly one of the most controversial comic-books Jack Kirby ever did in his entire career. No kidding!
For the 2nd issue in a row, the logo reads “ORION OF THE NEW GODS”, and it’s shrunk even smaller than last time. It’s been suggested that different issues or stoylines in this book might spotlight different characters, and have their names on the covers, not unlike what happened for a few issues when the X-MEN split up. After several of the most excessively copy-heavy covers in the history of comics, this one’s kind of sedate. “Is he after ORION—or YOU? RUN! RUN! DEATH is the BLACK RACER!” In front of another photo background, this one more effective than most, perhaps because this time we can see what we’re looking at, and, the subtle use of color, we see a man driving a vehicle, looking behind him as he points a gun at someone who’s chasing him. It’s... no, I’m NOT making this up... a black man in a Medeival suit of armor and cape—FLYING—on SKIS! Wow. As someone online recently said, Jack Kirby absolutely did NOT do drugs. Ralph Bakshi & Gray Morrow have nothing on this. Talk about imagination run riot!
In case anyone’s forgotten about him, the first 3 pages spotlight Lightray—who’s flying in space, chased by The Black Racer. WHY? It seems the Racer is the living personlification of DEATH (as most of the NEW GODS seem to be the living personlification of one concept or another). I would think out of all the characters in these books, Lightray would be the LAST one Death should be pursuing. But what the hey.
On Earth, in Lincoln’s apartment, Orion changes into Earth-clothes, “another masquerade” as he puts it. And we learn something very interesting about him. His face—described by the redhead as “positively beautiful—like a living statue modelled by the ancient Greeks”—is NOT really his. It’s a construct created by Mother Box “in her mercy” by rearranging the atoms of his face. Briefly, he restores his true face—and it’s FIERCE!—before returning to his kinder guise.
Something that occured to me as I read this scene, is that the 4 Earth-people Orion rescued, who become his allies, and who next issue take on the nickname “The O’Ryan Gang”, seem uncannily like counterparts of The Fantastic Four. Lincoln, the sort-of leader, smokes a pipe, as Reed Richards did early-on, and it’s his apartment they meet at. Then there’s the girl, with the “Mrs. Peel” hairstyle so favored by Sue after she got married. There’s also the younger guy wearing a sweater—and, Lanza, who’s shorter, stockier and more expressive than the others. He looks a bit Jewish to me—I could easily picture him as someone from Jack’s neighborhood, or even an older, more laid-back version of Ben. Suggests some interesting ideas and possibilities, as far as, WHAT IF Jack had stayed at Marvel, and used FANTASTIC FOUR to tell part of his “Fourth World” story?
I did notice that Jack neglected to even once mention the girl or the young guy by name ANYWHERE in this issue. I know at least one editor who got very upset about this sort of thing, and INSISTED that EVERY character be identified BY NAME in EVERY issue of EVERY comic-book... but there’s subtle ways to work this sort of thing in. THIS is where Jack could have used some editorial “help”. Just a bit of fine-tuning here and there, aiding without getting in the way.
Out in space, Lightray is about to bite the big one, when unexpectedly, a Boom Tube appears, sending the Racer elsewhere. It’s Metron’s doing, and he chastises his younger associate. “You could have done the same thing, Lightray! You must learn to think more COOLLY.” As for where—and why—perhaps the Racer says it best. “So, Destiny has changed my course and takes me here—to EARTH!” Yep, now a guy in red, yellow & blue Medieval armor ON SKIS is flying over Harlem. Gotcha.
It’s a bit jarring, but we suddenly find ourselves thrust into what looks like a scene from some “Blaxploitation” film. On a rooftop, a colorful killer in shades named “Sugar-Man” guns down an apparent stoolie named “Screamer”. But there’s a witness—former Police Officer & crippled Viet Nam War vet Willie Walker. The name is ironic, as Willie is confined to his bed, unable to walk, talk or even feed himself. Sugar-Man decided to take no chances, and eagerly prepares to silence this witness, too... when suddenly, the armored hand of the Racer blocks his shot, causing Sugar-Man’s gun ot explode in his face! In pain, he runs from the scene.
And then it gets even more bizarre. The Racer walks right THRU the wall into Willie’s apartment, and understands why Destiny has brought him here. Perhaps Lightray wasn’t meant to die after all, but merely to draw Metron into acting as he did. (My own thughts.) The Racer takes Willie’s hand—and Willie finds he’s no longer crippled! Just as suddenly, the Racer is gone—nothiong left inside his armor but ashes. And Willie—BECOMES—The Black Racer.
Not far away, Orion (now using the Earth-name “O’Ryan”—how can anyone tell the difference?) and, as he reminds us, “Special Investigator” Lincoln, track down the members of Inter-Gang who earlier kidnapped Lincoln and his 3 new friends. A thug named Badger—short, heavyset, balding—has a very strange-looking bomb he wants planted at a Communcations Building. Its purpose, to melt “every bit of communication metal witrhin a radius of thousands of miles—no telephones—no television—not even radios or telegraph!” It would mean “total chaos”.
Orion susprised the gang by smashing right thru the wall, but Sugar-Man escapes with the bomb and drives off at high speed. Orion uses Mother Box to somehow send the bomb—truck, driver and all—into SPACE!!—where it explodes. The strange thing is, as far as the readers—and Sugar-Man—could see—this was accomplished by The Black Racer, who was chasing the truck, used one of his ski-poles to penetrate the truck and activate “anti-gravity circuits” built into the bomb (SAY WHAT?). And yet, Orion gives the credit to Mother Box. What REALLY went on here?? His mission completed, the Racer returns to Willie’s apartment, and is transformed back into Willie. And so, more irony, as we have a man who is alternately crippled, yet at times now has “the freedom of the farthest dimension”.
I have to admit, parts of this book feel like they might have been taken from two completely unrelated stories, then jumbled together at the last minute. The scenes of The Racer—the embodiment of Death-- walking thru walls reminds me a lot of the earlier Kirby story, “AND FEAR SHALL FOLLOW!” from CHAMBER OF DARKNESS #5 (Jun’70).
Once again, I believe I see no less than 3 different inkers’ hands at work here. The cover, pages 1-3 & 22-23 are clearly Vince Colletta’s work (a very nicely-rendered splash, too). Pages 4-8 and 16-21 all look like Frank McLaughlin to me—dark, “harsh”, and exhibiting his habit of excessively THICK outlines in places. Page 13 looks much slicker, cleaner. Art Cappello, perhaps? The rest, it’s hard to be sure. I’m beginning to suspect that a lot of the hatred tossed at Vince Colletta over his work on these books may actually be aimed at work he DIDN’T EVEN DO, but got others to do FOR him. Tsk!
Most of the criticism of this issue over the years, as you might expect, focused entirely on The Black Racer. The most typical comments being, that he was “a rip-off of The Silver Surfer!” Hey, what artist DOESN’T rip off HIS OWN ideas from time to time? The simple idea of a flying man—ON SKIS!!!—has been the center of ridicule. That he wears a totally incongruous Medieval suit of armor has also come under fire. I dunno... the concept is SO bizarre, SO totally “out there”... in a way, it kinda works. I do think it might have gone over a lot better if, instead of looking like one more late-60’s/early-70’s technicolor fever dream, if he’d been done in some monotone shades... black, gray, dark blue, dark red... something. In Roger Corman’s MASQUE OF THE RED DEATH, the many forms of Death all had brightly colored robes... but EACH one had only ONE color per outfit.
I guess the real question may be a toss-up. Who was the most bizarre character Jack introduced in the Jul’71 issues? The Black Racer—or Goody Rickels?
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