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| Copyright DC COMICS |
The DEMON was JACK KIRBY's third longest lasting book for DC COMICS. KAMANDI was the outright winner at around 40 issues, MISTER MIRACLE managed to make 18, and The Demon hit 16 before cancellation. Poor Jack seemed thwarted at every turn at DC, who clearly had different ideas on how to use his talents than he did. Makes you wonder why they ever bothered to hire him away from MARVEL in the first place.
Perhaps it was merely a ploy to deprive Marvel of what DC regarded as their opposition's 'chief creative force', but, if so they miscalculated. Marvel hardly noticed JK's absence, and DC failed to capitalise on the powerhouse they had in their midst. It's only now, many years after the fact, that Jack's DC work is being appreciated by the wider audience it (arguably) deserves, but failed to garner at the time.
So, having already looked at covers 1-5 here, we now turn our attention to the next five on the list. Don't forget to keep your eyes peeled for the third and final post in this series, in which we'll showcase the last six covers in this sadly short-lived title.
I recall during the time I was tracking down the DC Kirby's at shops and marts, I'd get an occasional raised eyebrow or even a slightly disparaging comment because of my interest in the DC work. The DC work is of particular interest to me because it pushes my fan button, it's the work I was exposed to that had most resonance at a tender age. I get did get quite a few marvel reprints but Spiderman seemed to hold my focus there and the orginal Marvels didn't make it often to any of my local shops, which generally stocked Charlton and DC.
ReplyDeleteOne of the things I like about the DC covers from this period is that they seem to my eyes to be punchier than their Marvel counterparts, I like the sharp edges of the DC logo and the fact it's in a circle and the way they shift line work onto a colour plate occasionally.
Jack Kirby has no bigger fan than me, believe me. While his tenure at D.C. created many fantastic characters and even more fantastic art, these titles (Kamandi, Mr. Miracle, Omac) were short lived, I think, maybe in part, because the guy came up with ideas fast and furious and than got a bit bored with them...maybe he was always thinking about the next opus, like a young guy is always thinking about his next lay. On the other hand, I don't think D.C. knew how to handle him, market him or work him into their universe, since his stuff was so boldly different from most of their material. I think the same thing happened when he went back to Marvel. I'm not criticizing the man, far from it. He was like a lot of highly creative people, jumping from one project to another. I wonder how the pope felt, dealing with Michaelangelo all those years!
ReplyDeleteWonderful art on these covers, reminds me Halloween is coming.
Have to agree with the above about the superiority of DC's covers at this time, whether it was The Demon , The Spectre, The Shadow etc. They seemed less fussy and more direct, and they seemed to jump out more in the shops. I wasn't a huge Kirby fan, but some of these Demon covers are pretty nifty.
ReplyDeleteThat's an interesting thought - were DC's covers really better at the time? I'll have to look through some Marvel back issues and do a comparison. Thanks for commenting, guys.
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