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| Images copyright MARVEL COMICS |
We all know about the controversy over who did what in the MARVEL superhero comicbook stakes, I'm sure. Was it STAN or was it JACK? Kirby's kamp klaims the King kreated absolutely everything (see what I did there?) and Stan just came along for the ride. However, in the kase (help, I kan't stop) of THOR The MIGHTY, there's good evidence to suggest that this simply wasn't so.
For example, it's likely that had Jack created Thor, he'd have drawn the first ish and mailed it to Stan to simply dialogue (which is not to suggest that dialoguing is really that 'simple'). However, that's not what happened by all accounts. Here's what did. Jack worked from a full script by Stan's younger brother, LARRY LIEBER. Stan came up with the plot, then handed the job over to Larry to write - which he did magnificently.
'Twas Larry who invented the metal URU to explain what Thor's hammer was made of; 'twas also Larry who created the name of Thor's mortal alter-ego - DOCTOR DONALD BLAKE; and 'twas Larry who delivered a true comicbook classic. Just read the opening captions as Blake fails to see the descending spaceship of The STONE MEN From SATURN!
"Two principals in a grim pageant... neither one noticing the other! But how different would things be if they were to meet at this moment! How different would be the future of all mankind!
But ours is a drama decreed by the fates to be acted out! Nothing can stop it! Nothing can change it! Watch and see..."
In my estimation, that's darn good writing for a 'long underwear character' aimed at kids back in the 1960s. Remember, at the exact same point in time over at DC COMICS, a typical caption was "One day, in Metropolis..." The point is this: No one seems to dispute Larry's account that he wrote a full script which Jack then drew, which appears to rule out Kirby as the 'prime initiator' in the creation of the hammer-swinging thunder god.
Anyway, I've teased you long enough - it's now time to open the floodgates of visual enjoyment and unleash upon you the first part of the cover gallery of The Mighty Thor! (H'mm, that sounds strangely familiar for some reason.)
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I've just realized I posted these same covers before - but what the heck! They're worth another outing.
8 comments:
Interesting to note that Thor must have picked up a personal trainer after his first cover appearance as he becomes progressively more buffed on each cover after that. This is the best I have ever seen these look - are the scans from the Masterworks volumes?
Phil, a good magician never tells his audience how his tricks are done. Oh, go on then. Yes, they're from the Masterworks volume, as I only have 5 original issues of the 10 featured (including #83).
As Larry can invent/write like that ( I thought it was Stan's writing ) I'm going to have to check out some of those ATLAS (Mk.II) titles!
JP, Larry also scripted Iron Man's first appearance and also (I think) Ant Man's. An excellent wordsmith.
JIM 84 was the first cover I recall seeing as a small image on Marvel Tales. Those covers had a serious look to them that was so far removed from the light-hearted DC fare. Stan Goldberg's murky colors added to the sombre attitude, but it drew me in completely. I still have a soft spot for those early Thor's, where he's fighting communists and thugs.
Nick, I thought these early Thor tales were great, as well as the early Iron Man stories. Just right for kids, but adults looking for a mild distraction for 20 minutes or so could also enjoy them.
Being one firmly in 'the Kirby kamp' who strongly believe Stan (mostly) merely provided the dialogue to Marvel's classic comics, I've not heard this version of Thor's invention. There does, however, exist a pre-Marvel DC tale penned by Kirby which also features a chap gaining Thor's powers by finding his hammer. I would have to dig it out as proof, but it blows Larry Leiber's dubious story right out of the water (and call me cynical, but let's not forget he is Satan Lee's brother! Er, that was a typo, but I think I'll leave it as stet - LoL!.
I also think Thor is a good title to investigate just how shit Stan's ideas were whenever Kirby didn't happen to be drawing the book, something that's harder to prove with the Fantastic Four, as Kirby was the sole artist for its first 100 issues.
Whenever Kirby's not on the Thor title, we get either lame-duck characters like Merlin or 'The Mad Magician', or simply retreads using Loki or other Kirby characters. And beyond all this, do I REALLY need to point out all of Kirby's margin notes on his original pencils, explaining the story to Stan?
I firmly believe that the TRUE creative engines of Marvel were Kirby & Ditko (witness how stale the Spider-man book became when John Romita took it over - what great super-villains came after Ditko's departure? The Rhino & The Kingpin? And let's face it, in the case of The Kingpin, he was deathly dull until Frank Miller came along decades later).
I rest my case! (Nice blog, otherwise, Kid! :-) )
I think you're overlooking one simple fact, L, and that is Jack's notes in the margin don't disprove that he and Stan discussed the plot before Jack started drawing it. And Stan admitted from day one that Jack sometimes added to the plot while drawing the story (with whatever mag they worked on), and even sometimes told Stan what it was going to be in advance. As for those margin notes, as Jack paced the story and added bits as he went along, the notes were a reminder to Stan of what they'd discussed - and to explain what Jack had added.
It's also not true to say that whenever Jack's not on the Thor title, we got 'lame-duck' characters. The Executioner (JIM #84), The Reds (JIM #87), Thug Thatcher (JIM #89), The Radioactive Man (JIM #93), The Lava Man (JIM #97) were hardly memorable characters, and Jack drew all these stories.
I've got the DC Thor story, and apart from the design of the hammer, it bears little resemblance to Marvel's Thor. I therefore think you're massively overstating the case when you say it 'blows Larry Lieber's dubious story right out of the water". It doesn't, it merely demonstrates that Jack once drew a Thor-themed story for DC.
However, regardless of whoever first came up with the idea of doing Marvel's Thor, the finished comic as it first appeared to the public was the result of a collaboration between Stan, Jack & Larry.
I also think you'd get a lot of argument from fans over your contention that Spider-Man under Romita was stale (sales went up). Villains that were introduced in any strip's early days are usually the ones that become regarded as 'great', but The Tinkerer, Electro, The Big Man & The Enforcers, The Master Planner, The Meteor Man, The Molten Man, all seem like 'B' listers to me. Even The Vulture is just an old guy with wings.
I'm afraid your case doesn't really stand up to examination, but thanks for the compliment.
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