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| Image copyright DC COMICS |
The Statue Of Liberty gives it away, I suppose. KAMANDI was DC's response to PLANET Of The APES, as well as being JACK ('King') KIRBY's longest-lasting comicbook for the Distinguished Competition. There were 59 issues of Kamandi in all, of which Kirby drew #s 1-40, but wrote only the first 37. Then it was back to MARVEL for a few years, where, sadly, he faced equal disappointment in his endeavours.
I think this was Kirby's longest running title at DC. My understanding is he never saw Planet of the Apes, he was just told the premise and he ran with it. So many good stories in the run. The death of Flower, the discovery of Superman's costume-some fans speculate it wasn't Superman's actually costume but that of the actor George Reeves. We never find out what happened to the super heroes in the great disaster. But we do know Kamandi's grandfather is none other than Buddy Blank, OMAC himself. What I like is Kirby just went ahead and did the comic and continuity? What's that? Figure that out later!
ReplyDeleteDC wanted to adapt POTA, but Marvel got the rights instead, so Carmine Infantino suggested that Kirby do something similar. Jack combined that idea with the name of a previous strip he'd done (Kamandi of the Caves) and hey, presto - DC's Kamandi was the result. Apparently, it's all a possible future on either Earth-1 (or an alternate Earth, I can't quite recall). After Crisis, the Great Disaster didn't happen, and Kamandi turned out to be Tommy Tomorrow.
ReplyDelete"Kamandi" was the only Kirby DC comic I really liked as Kirby seemed (to me at least) have an idea of where the strip was going (probably as it was a more "contained" world) - I always thought Kamandi would make a good TV series or movie for DC/Warner with al today's CGI. There was also a really nice version of "Kamandi" by Dave Gibbons and Ryan Sook (on art) in the "Wednesday Comics" a few years ago,
ReplyDeleteI got that collection on sale. Nice stuff, that and the Mike Allred Metamorpho. I loved Kirby's covers. Who wouldn't buy this? http://greatcovers1.tumblr.com/post/106571502936/another-jack-kirby-cover-this-one-for-his-kamadi
DeleteI saw some of them - the art was excellent. Out of all Kirby's DC stuff, I think Mister Miracle showed the most promise. Mostly from the escapology angle, not so much the Fourth World stuff. My favourite 'though, was his 15 issues of Jimmy Olsen.
ReplyDeleteI forgot that he did "Jimmy Olsen" at this time, I agree they are really good with some excellent art / stories (pity the re drew Superman's face though) I still have a few of these in my collection(I may look them out later for a wee read) - I liked the "Demon" as well (although John Byrne's version was my favourite) and the Losers wasn't to shabby either (for a war comic) I really lost interest in his output when he was put to work on "Justice Inc". I think I am very much in the minority as I liked his next spell at Marvel and really enjoyed the "Eternals" and "Black Panther" (the latter a cult classic imho) . Was it after this that Kirby did "Super Powers" for DC?
ReplyDeleteI didn't mind the Murphy Anderson inked heads, PM - they did the same with Werner Roth's Superman over in Lois Lane's comic, if I recall rightly. Kirby just couldn't keep Supes' hair consistent from panel to panel. I've got a full run of The Eternals, but some of them are a dry read, especially the Annual. Kirby returned to DC for a while in the early to mid-'80s after Marvel and Pacific Comics, which is when he did Super Powers. (And also the New Gods wrap-up and The Hunger Dogs.)
ReplyDeleteI forget where, but I recently saw an image on another blog which is very similar to the cover of Kamandi #1, so it seems likely that Kirby used it as his 'inspiration' for his cover.
ReplyDeleteThank god DC never got their hands on POTA - it was only because of Marvel UK's POTA weekly that I discovered Marvel comics at all. Funny how the Statue of Liberty always survives intact - obviously the best thing to do in the event of an apocalypse is stand very, very close to it.
ReplyDeleteLooks like it's become detached from its base, so perhaps halfway up the stairs would be better.
ReplyDeleteKamandi was actually where I discovered Kirby. I guess I was the audience that they were seeking because I really liked it and I always thought it would be a great TV series, too. Mister Miracle was my next favorite DC comic, but I sort of got lost in the Fourth World concept because I was a bit late coming to it. So much easier to catch up on missed issues today than it was back then. If you missed it, you missed it.
ReplyDeleteYup, you're right, G - that's why it's sometimes taken me decades to obtain issues of a title I missed at the time. You never know, Kamandi may yet be made into a TV series or movie. Who'd ever have thought that Ant Man would be made into a blockbuster film?
ReplyDeleteThis is one of the covers on the whatifkirby site, it's a composite paste-up and heavily re-touched with tip-ex which has been inked over.
ReplyDeleteMore details, DSE. Is it the original art, or something different? Wait a minute - I seem to recall that the original Kamandi figure was pasted over before publication - is that the one?
ReplyDeleteYeah it's the camera ready art for this cover, the figure in the boat's been enlarged, if recall correctly that is, anyway it's been resized in some manner. Once you've seen it, it's easier to spot the tell tales on the printed cover. There's also another, quite different version of the artwork that I have seen but I'm not sure of its context, i.e whether it was submitted prior to this one. I think it probably was, it would explain the improvised edits to this cover.
ReplyDeleteYeah, it's coming back to me - I remember seeing it somewhere. I may have a copy of it in a folder on my computer. I think I've also seen the other one you mention.
ReplyDelete