Reflective Repost: The GHOST Of STAN 'The Man' LEE Presents - Part One: The MIGHTY THOR...

Copyright MARVEL COMICS

Hi there, culture lovers, this is Stan Lee here.  I'll be appearing on 'Crivens!' from time to time to yak about some of the great comics I worked on with my fellow collaborators.  Y'know, the place I'm hanging out now since my passing is extremely comfortable and I guess I could just spend my time loafing about on clouds and playing my harp, but I know how much all you true Marvel Maniacs will be missing me so I thought I'd keep in touch.  I'm not usually one for plugging the characters of the Distinguished Competition, but similar to Deadman (though he does it with humans), my essence pops into my 8 inch Mego action figure in order to be able to communicate with you.

First up is Thor The Mighty, who made his debut in Journey Into Mystery #83 back in 1962.  Jack Kirby claimed to have created him, and he certainly came up with the look, but my brother, Larry Lieber, always wrote 'full script' and 'twas he who came up with the name Don Blake and Jane Foster (Jane Nelson in her first appearance), which is at odds with Jack's version of events.  So Larry wrote the tale, based on my plot, and Jack illustrated it from my brother's script.  Had the Jolly one created the character and his secret identity, he'd surely have named him, not left it to Larry.  (Hey, Leave It To Larry sounds like a great title for a TV show.)

Of course, pre-Marvel, Jack had played with the character of Thor a couple of times in the past in one-off tales, but apart from the design of the hammer, none of his earlier versions resembled Marvel's mallet-swinging hero.  For those who say Jack's design of Mjolnir proves he created the character, well, actually all it proves is that Jack created the look of Thor's hammer, whichever Thor it happened to be - DC's or Marvel's.  However, seeing as how 'King' Kirby came up with the visuals of our strip, and later contributed a great deal to the plotting, often coming up with the plots himself with only a little occasional tinkering from me, then he certainly deserves the title of co-creator.  I didn't do these stories by myself, and neither did Jack; we both relied on the Bullpen's talented inkers, letterers and colourists to help breathe life into our little fables.

I guess it's always possible that Jack and I discussed the idea of doing Thor before I gave the plot to Larry, or it might even have been Jack's suggestion to start with (though it could just as easily have been mine), but neither of us could swear to it either way with total certainty.  Let's just say that when it comes to creative rights, yours truly, Jack, and Larry all deserve a measure of credit in birthing our version of big daddy Odin's favourite son.  

Well, that's it for now true believers - I'll yak with you all again in the very near future.  Right now I'm off over to the next cloud to watch Sam Rosen re-letter the ten commandments in English; nobody could letter quite like Sam - though I hear a Scottish laddie I once met in Glasgow comes pretty durn close.

Excelsior!

BABE Of The DAY - GAIL McKENNA...

Gorgeous Gail McKenna gazes

adoringly at me, transfixed by my manly-

man handsomeness.  I tell you, it's not easy

being the object of lust and desire to so many

women as there's not enough hours in the day

to give them all the time and attention they

constantly demand from me.  (Yup, they'll

buy that - completely believable.)

KIRBY'S The DEMON DC Cover Gallery Omnibus...

Copyright DC COMICS

Let's not waste words, Crivvies - let's get straight into the action!  Here are the covers of all 16 issues of Jack Kirby's DC mag, The Demon.  Got a favourite?  Then let's hear which and why, comics lovers!  The comments section awaits.

 

Roll Up, Roll Up... It's Yer Actual SPIDER-MAN COMICS WEEKLY Cover Gallery Omnibus... (Updated)

Copyright MARVEL COMICS

We now return to the early '70s when the western world seemed like a much nicer, brighter, and safer place (if you were a kid or teenager) than it is now.  Or maybe today's kids and teenagers think the same of the world nowadays as they see it.  However, they don't have weekly comics like the ones we had - certainly not in terms of sheer numbers anyway.

I've shown these Spider-Man Comics Weekly covers before, of course, but I've tidied them up a tad for this new Omnibus presentation.  SMCW had ordinary newsprint (same as its interiors) covers for its first 47 issues, before going glossy-covered from ish #48, but it then suffered from muddy printing for quite a time, due to an over-use of Zipatone on the interior pages.

Marvel got it all sorted eventually, but the artwork on quite a number of stories was negatively affected (ruined, even), and I bet many readers were put off by the obscured art and quit buying the comic.  Shame, really, as it deserved far better (as did the readers).  Anyway, fasten your seatbelts, Crivs, 'cos we're taking a time-travelling trip into the past!

(Update: For some inexplicable reason, issues 5 & 26 didn't show up on the post when first published.  Worry not - now added.)  

Bonus: Below, the first three glossy covered issues...