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| Images copyright MARVEL COMICS |
When JACK KIRBY returned to MARVEL in 1975 after his 5 year sojourn at DC COMICS, he pretty much regurgitated what he'd been doing over at the Distinguished Competition - at least in the case of The ETERNALS and DEVIL DINOSAUR. The former was similar to The NEW GODS and the latter resembled KAMANDI to a degree. As far as DD goes, part of the reason was because there was talk that Kamandi was being considered for development as an animated TV series, so Marvel wanted a property that could likewise be developed to compete with their rivals.
Surprisingly, The Eternals proved to be a tad more successful than New Gods, in that it lasted for 19 issues in comparison to the other's mere 11, but Devil Dinosaur petered out after only 9. It was the last comicbook that Kirby ever produced for Marvel, and although it was mildly entertaining, it was hardly the blockbuster hit that readers were expecting from the The KING's return. Kirby's art could in no way be described as realistic, as Devil's plastic jaggy teeth, devoid of even the slightest hint of detail, inarguably testified.
Entertaining and professional as they were, Jack's later efforts demonstrated just how much he needed STAN LEE. Without him, he just couldn't seem to reach the heights that both men, in unison, had formerly scaled with ease. Jack Kirby was a spent force, out of fashion with the comics-buying public and never again to attain the success he'd enjoyed at Marvel in its nascent years.
That's the trouble when you're a giant whose shoulders others stand upon; eventually you end up at the bottom of the totem.
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And hey, if MOON-BOY was the very first human, then just what the heck were the rest of his tribe? They sure look like the same species to me.
Jack Kirby was a spent force, out of
ReplyDeletefashion with the comics-buying public and never again to attain
the success he had once enjoyed at Marvel in its nascent years.
I cant argue with that.
I tried reading Devil Dinosaur in a collected edition and I just skimmed the artwork and there was nothing there either.
Jack had done enough.
Kid, an article about Kirby could only generate one comment??? I just have to add to it. I remember reading all 9 issues of Devil Dinosaur in one sitting, it took me little over 30 minutes! There were only around 17 pages per issue in Marvel comics those days. So if you add up the few panels per page in a typical Kirby comic, there is not a lot of material there. Unfortunately, there was nothing spectacular about the artwork to compensate for this. It did read much like those saturday morning "adventure" cartoons of the mid-1970s! Maybe that was the whole point of the exercise, as you mentioned.
ReplyDeleteDespite those big white teeth, DD neglected to use them, winning every fight by kicking with his feet. Jack must have been watching some of those corny Godzilla movies! Meanwhile Moon-Boy got out of most of his scrapes via his monkey-like abilities, not his supposed superior brain power. Moon-Boy and all the subhumans always reminded me of the Oddbods, the monsters in the Carry On Screaming movie (Maybe some of this was due to the comics code and I guess this was aimed at a more juvenile market). The drawings of DD and all the dinosaurs were very crude, they looked ponderous, bulky, much like the early Iron Man before the streamline design (was that Ditko?). But this was 1978, the world and science had moved on, Star Wars had also exploded! This should have been Kirby's renaissance period.
Anyway, Kamandi is one of my favourite DC characters from the early 1970's. It's hard for me to see any tangible connection between it and DD.
But, despite all the above criticism, I do not hate the books. After all this was Jack Kirby!!! There is still something there that you don't find anywhere else! I don't think he was a spent force at 60 years of age.
There you have Devil Dinosaur born not of radiation, but from FIRE, the great force that primitive man discovered that changed human history. In many ways DD was like the Hulk, he just kept on going because of his power and stamina and the occasional brain wave. Maybe the Moon-Boy could have been better developed, the Mr Fantastic of his era, but he was more of a cross between Tarzan and Cheeta! I don't regret reading it all, I will probably read it again and discover things I missed.
If you do a feature on The Eternals, I look forward to your comments on that series.
(Marko)
I'll get to The Eternals before long, Marko, that's for sure. Kirby was still coming up with ideas even when older, but none of them ever really had the impact of his earlier Marvel work. In that sense, he was a 'spent-force' - nothing he did in his later years ever seemed to stick.
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