PART TWO OF KIRBY'S 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY COVER & SPLASH PAGE GALLERY...

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So far, my previous post on 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY has generated the same level of interest as the comicbook - not very much.  I assume that sales of the Treasury Edition adaptation were okay, otherwise it's highly unlikely that MARVEL would've green-lit the monthly mag, but the series itself seems to have seriously under-performed to last only ten issues.

Sadly, JACK KIRBY's name no longer had the same kind of 'pulling-power' it once did.  True, the die-hard Kirby fans were as rabid as ever, but the wider comics-reading public remained less than impressed by Jack's later output.  He was like an old-time ballroom dancer at a disco, in that he seemed curiously out of  step with what the comics-buying public preferred.  That's not to say that his mags were without any kind of merit, only that Kirby was now a sideline squatter rather than a mainstream maestro.

However, don't let that deter you from enjoying these 'last gasp' gyrations of a giant of the industry.  He may have been fast falling out of favour and fashion, but remember the old saying - "You can get many a nasty sting from a dying bee!"

     

And below is the front and back cover of the Marvel Treasury

Edition movie adaptation that started the ball rolling.

MARVEL LEGEND DICK AYERS PASSES AWAY...

April 28th, 1924 - May 4th, 2014

Sadly, another MARVEL BULLPEN legend has passed away.

DICK AYERS, one of JACK KIRBY's finest inkers - as well as

a great artist in his own right - died on May 4th at the ripe old age

of 90. The ranks are dwindling alas, but his work will live on. 

KIRBY'S 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY COVER & SPLASH PAGE GALLERY...

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It started with JACK KIRBY's 1976 treasury-sized illustrated adaptation of STANLEY KUBRICK's movie, based on ARTHUR C. CLARKE's novel, 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY.  It then continued in a regular comicbook series which introduced MISTER MACHINE, who later went on to star in his own magazine entitled MACHINE MAN.  At least, that's the READERS' DIGEST version, but, strictly speaking it's not entirely accurate.  Clarke and Kubrick worked on the novel together (based on various short stories by Clarke) at the same time the movie was being made, but wasn't published until shortly after its release in 1968 - with Clarke named as sole author.

Kirby's adaptation incorporated elements from both the book and the movie, so he'd obviously read the novel, but what you may be wondering is - whose idea was the adaptation, Jack's or Marvel's?  After all, the movie was eight years old, not a recent blockbuster hit, and was therefore hardly likely to generate much interest in spin-off merchandise.  Was this yet another sign of just how out-of-touch Jack was with reader's tastes?  Ten issues - in which the last three completely changed direction - proves conclusively that the mag failed to generate much of a following amongst the assembled masses of Merry Marvel Madmen.

Or was it Marvel who had misjudged the potential?  Doubtful.  I'm led to believe that doing the adaptation was a condition that Jack negotiated with Marvel, who agreed in order to get him to sign on the dotted line.  Licence fees for movie adaptations aren't cheap, but Marvel must have figured it was worth it to get him to rejoin the fold.  It was the Bullpen equivalent of slaying the fatted calf upon the return of the prodigal son.  The 'King' was back - but not for long, alas!

However, all that is now history - and what we're interested in is what was then the future.  So let's all go on an odyssey of our own, as we look at the covers and splash pages of one of Jack's shortest-lived Marvel monthlies from the sizzlin' '70s.

Part Two coming soon!