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| Images copyright MARVEL COMICS |
When JACK KIRBY returned to MARVEL in the mid-'70s, the only existing mag he resumed drawing was CAPTAIN AMERICA. Apart from lending his artistic prowess to some covers (usually designed by MARIE SEVERIN), he steered clear of the heroes he'd helped make famous back in the '60s. So - no FANTASTIC FOUR, THOR, HULK, AVENGERS, X-MEN, etc. He did draw the Hulk in a couple of issues of The ETERNALS, but it was a 'cosmic powered' mechanical figure - not the genuine green-skinned goliath himself.
I have to confess to not being overwhelmed by many of the covers Kirby drew during his '70s period. His art style by this time had become a little too 'cartoony' and not quite as realistically rendered as in former years. JOE SINNOTT inked quite a few of them, but even he couldn't entirely disguise Kirby's looser, blockier, more abstract way of doing things compared to his triumphs in the '60s.
However, there was one cover in particular I remember being impressed by when I first laid eyes on it back in 1975 - MARVEL PREMIERE #26. Inked by VINCE COLLETTA, the cover looked like it could've been a '60s piece discovered in the Marvel Vaults. GEORGE TUSKA did the interior pencils, and Colletta's inks on them may not have been quite as successful as on the cover, but they didn't have to be. I purchased that issue for the cover alone, and wished Marvel would assign more of Jack's art to Vinnie's magic brush and pen. (Although the placement of the figure with the axe is somewhat suspect and his right leg needs a little work - but that's down to Jack, not Vinnie.)
Examine the cover at the top of this post and then compare it to the Fantastic Four one inked by Sinnott, above. The perspective is all wrong and the background figures' sizes aren't consistent to one another. And is that car parked up on the pavement? Also, look at where the windscreen is positioned and the sparse detail on the chassis. One hesitates to use the word 'lazy' in relation to Jack Kirby; after all, every line that Joe inked was there in the pencil stage, Jack certainly didn't stint in that department. I often wonder though, if, later in his career, he'd simply passed the point of caring whether his art reflected reality or not, and it was only the overall effect he was concerned with.
Maybe it was just a case of Jack getting older and less interested in sustaining the near-perfection of earlier days. After all, at this stage he'd been drawing comicbooks for close to 40 years, so could perhaps be forgiven for being somewhat worn down by the 'conveyor-belt' production process of the medium. And who could blame him? Life has a way of sucking the soul out of even the best of men.
However, I come to praise Kirby, not to 'bury' him. So, take another look at that HERCULES cover and enjoy what Jack was still capable of when combined with an inker who knew how to dilute his later weaknesses and enhance his strengths.
Hi Kid,
ReplyDeleteThat Marvel Premiere cover is excellent, although my favorite is Iron-Man # 80 (why that has never been made into a Tee shirt is beyond me!). They both have something in common though. Some of Kirby's best covers in this period are one's that feature figures of the heroes taking up most of the cover. Ka-Zar and the first Cap issue come to mind. They were uncluttered and worked better in this period for Kirby. Most of the "busy" covers don;t work as well. Too, kirby was working from cover designs by Marie Severin, John Romita, Ed Hannigan and Dave Cockrum. Copying others ideas did not always bring out the best in Kirby, and it often shows. He likely was bored working on other peoples concepts and designs.
Kirby's best covers were usually the ones he designed himself, as I suspect he did for the books he edited and drew. Some of the Invaders covers were also pretty nice.
Thanks for commenting, Nick. Yeah, that Iron Man cover is nice - but again, I felt that full figure drawings filling the cover were an easy way out for Jack. Incidentally, do you think he drew the nose, or would it have been added later? (I doubt he'd have known IM had grown a nose.)
ReplyDeleteAlso, I seem to remember seeing that cover (IM #80) somewhere else, either as a poster or tee-shirt - although I could be wrong.)
The Kirby /Colletta Thor was great.
ReplyDeleteNUFF SAID!
And so say we all. Excelsior!
ReplyDeleteI find myself frustrated by the disproportionate figures on Kirby covers of the mid-70s. Take the giants on Tower Bridge (Invaders 15) or the disparity between the hands and the feet of the Golden Gorilla on FF 171.
ReplyDeleteI realise that the figures are often symbolic but it still bugs me. On the other hand, some of the covers from that period are terrific: Iron Nose, of course and Union Jack (Invaders 8).
I suspect that Al Milgrom, the inker, added that nose. I really wouldn't mind if they deleted it from all reprints of these particular stories - it looked awful.
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure if I've seen the original pencils to Iron-Man # 80 but I suspect the nose was added in.
ReplyDeleteI suspect that you're right, Nick, and apologies for taking 8 years to reply to your comment. How'd I miss it?
ReplyDelete