Cringe Before My Wonder Gloves

While it's true that Jack Kirby produced a good deal of his full-page portraits featuring Marvel's principal characters, he also made some impressive pages where lesser characters rated their own dramatic presentations. Whether it was a villain preparing to strike, or a scene that drew you closer into a story, the placement of the page was timed well. And though there were rare instances where the dialog on the page wasn't able to live up to the image, Kirby more than met the story halfway.

One of my favorites comes from a story in Fantastic Four, where the Thing is kidnapped and taken to a planet in the Skrull empire where the inhabitants are imitating Earth's development in the 1930s--even though their science is well beyond that of the next century. Or, as Reed explains it:

Kirby's attention to detail in these scenes is extraordinary, clearly having an affinity for the styles of this time period. Take this full-page image where "Boss Barker" and his aide arrive at a meeting of top bosses. You can't help but wonder if it's paying homage to Star Trek's "A Piece of the Action," which aired just a year earlier:

The only thing I might call into question would be the colorist's choice of making the chandelier the same color as the walls, ceilings, and pillars--but perhaps that was just an oversight.

Then of course there are Kirby's imposing villains. Kronin Krask, of course, we've met before--a wealthy schemer who sought the secret to immortality. And pictured alongside him is the Wizard, who first menaced the Fantastic Four with his cohorts in the Frightful Four, and then impressively tackled the group solo:

The Wizard made not one attempt to take out the FF, but two--using nothing but his new pair of "wonder gloves." I have to give the Wizard props for threatening his opponents with "wonder gloves." The FF probably annoy Wonder Man about it whenever they see him--"hey, Simon, why aren't you wearing your wonder gloves?? HAR HAR..."

A more down-to-Earth villain was Jasper Whyte, whose creation, the Crypto-Man, threw down with no less than Thor and, later, the Hulk. The Crypto-Man was a walking siphon which could draw strength from his powerful opponents--but with Whyte such an integral character to the story in Thor, Kirby gives him equal relevance in the portrait:

But let's take a break from Earth for a moment to throw the spotlight on those characters who are more at home in the cosmos. On the left, we have one of Kirby's most impressive races--the Rigellian Colonizers, where the High Commissioner meets with their creation, the Recorder, who has arrived with Thor for an audience. A meeting which just happens to involve the events taking place in the second portrait--the confrontation between Galactus and the living planet, Ego:

Somebody should tell Galactus that if you call your ship a "visi-sphere," you're probably not going to be invisible to your enemy. Though I'd probably wait until the battle is over to point that out.

Finally, I can think of no better way to end this series than a portrait of two major Marvel characters meeting for the second time in a proposed alliance--the Sub-Mariner and Magneto. We've seen the escalation of this development elsewhere with another artist at the helm, so in a way this portrait would mark Kirby's farewell to both characters:

I still don't know how Namor gets away with attending to royal matters of state in just a pair of swim trunks.  Then again, if you're the one stamping the royal seal on the dress code, you probably have sufficient carte blanche in the matter.

Not all of Kirby's full-page portraits were so dazzling and impressive; in fact, there were arguably some scenes that got full-page treatment which didn't really merit the exposure of an entire page.  But for this series, I think I've selected those which exceptionally stood out, hopefully piquing your interest to read the stories that were so skillfully crafted around them.

The Royal Treatment

Like the Silver Surfer, full-page Jack Kirby portraits of the Inhumans were rare to come by, since they as yet had no series of their own and had to rely on guest appearances in Fantastic Four. And with Kirby exiting the title at just over one-hundred issues, that didn't give the royal family many opportunities to appear in full-page shots.

But in the few that were produced, we were able to see some striking examples of this race of beings which in a way seem the precursor of the Eternals. In The Mighty Thor, Kirby had ample opportunity to pencil the many humanoid offshoots that came to his imagination; but the Inhumans may have been Kirby's first real attempt at creating such characters which evolved on Earth:

Looking at these portraits, it's interesting to me how Kirby takes care to make the group's leader, Black Bolt, a part of the portrait rather than the striking figurehead that he could easily be--which is somewhat in keeping with how often writer Stan Lee has written the Inhumans in a way that has every member of the royal family constantly making Black Bolt's safety a priority. Indeed, their "body language" in Kirby's depictions shows a family dynamic in play. Even in captivity, they face their fate as a group (minus Medusa, in this case, who's being held captive elsewhere):

And speaking of family, even a royal family isn't necessarily immune from having its black sheep. In the Inhumans' case, that would be Maximus, Black Bolt's often-mad brother, who has proclaimed more than once that he was born to rule--not only the Inhumans, but also mankind. Fortunately, the schemes of Maximus either implode or fail to come to fruition--yet Kirby nevertheless pays Maximus due deference in these two striking portraits:

Which artist Herb Trimpe pays homage to in a later Incredible Hulk story:

It's too bad Maximus had to be so at odds with his cousins and brother, because he missed out on being included in some amazing group shots. My hands-down favorite being this one, which I'm going to have to get on my wall at some point:

Kirby also made some nice pin-ups of the Inhumans which were featured in a Fantastic Four annual, which we'll take a look at sometime so that each member of the royal family can have their own page to shine.

The Fantastic Full-Page Five

Jack Kirby's full-page artwork featuring his creations was certainly the icing on the cake in terms of wrapping up his silver age career at Marvel. And in Fantastic Four, where he began that journey, the incredible adventures of the FF gave him a number of opportunities for him to contribute many such 7 x 10s to the magazine's readers. Yet it was with somewhat of a tinge of disappointment that we greeted those pages, since the group by then had Johnny's girlfriend, Crystal, substituting for Sue on missions--and the dramatic image of the Fantastic Four as a team wasn't quite the same with Sue's conspicuous, if understood, absence.

In fact, the only instance I can recall where Kirby did a full-page representation of the original team (aside from posters and pin-ups) was this one:

(And not even in uniform! *sniff* )

Still, these images chart an interesting course for the FF. There's of course this memorable image of Sue and Reed, with Sue very close to having her first baby, and Reed worried about the cosmic radiation in her blood causing harm to her and/or the baby:

With Sue out of action for the duration, there were a number of missions where the remaining three members handled missions as a trio. It was a strange dynamic. That's not to say that the team's effectiveness went down a notch without Sue's contribution--quite the contrary. It was as if Sue's absence wasn't felt at all. The FF's adventures were as fast-paced as ever, and their teamwork didn't seem to suffer for lack of a fourth member. I've heard of picking up the slack, but jeez--it didn't seem like Reed, Ben and Johnny felt any slack was present to begin with. They did pretty remarkably as a trio, most notably in dealing with the return of Galactus as well as this life-or-death battle with Annihilus:

And then Crystal came aboard. And a funny thing happened--now we all started feeling Sue's absence. Where Sue was more of a nurturer and contribute-where-needed team member in battle with the FF, Crystal was on more than equal footing with her three powerful teammates. She was certainly qualified (hell, over-qualified) to take Sue's place (albeit presumably temporarily)--and that was the problem. This "Fantastic Four" felt--I don't know, wrong. And Kirby's art of this revitalized team didn't ease the situation one bit:

(By the way, there's a slight goof on Kirby's part in one of these pages--can you spot it? If you need a hint, he made the same kind of goof in this later issue.)

When Sue started clocking in again, you could practically hear a sigh of relief in comics shops everywhere. Yet in a way, the team now looked out of sync, even on a full page:

Yet even with this weird game of musical chairs going on, Kirby found opportunities to give individual team members their full-page due. These two of the Torch came to mind, as they display both the super-powered FF member blazing into action as well as a very human Johnny Storm:

Oddly enough, what stands out for me in the first image isn't the great image of the character blazing into harm's way, but Ben's caption. The words land so awkwardly. I mean, how many sisters does Johnny have, if he needs reminding of this one's name? "Stretcho and Suzie" would have sounded just fine, wouldn't it? Otherwise, it would be like him adding "yer brother-in-law Stretcho," which would have sounded ridiculous in tandem with the last part. As for the second image, I absolutely love the use of shadow, as well as showing the living area in such detail. The moment comes during a break in a deadly battle that Reed and Sue were having with a foe--and it drives home the fact that these are people, too, who have to come home and deal with unexpected family matters just like the rest of us.

Next time, we'll see Kirby's full-page work with a different kind of family.  I won't spoil it by revealing their identity here--but I will tell you that their dog food bill would make your jaw drop.

Sky-Rider Of The Microverse

In terms of the full-page portraits of the various characters artist Jack Kirby has drawn, the Silver Surfer had unfortunately been put at a disadvantage. Before he got his own series in 1968, the Surfer had been only an occasional guest-star in Fantastic Four--and Kirby's more frequent use of full-page artwork was just getting revved up by the time the Surfer shifted his appearances to his new title. And since Kirby wasn't assigned to pencil the Surfer's mag, there was no opportunity for the artist to churn out the full-page renderings of the Surfer that he otherwise might have. That only left The Silver Surfer graphic novel, before Kirby and Marvel parted ways for the final time.

As a result, there are only a few full-page Surfer displays that were published--though if viewed in the context of Kirby's great body of work as a whole, you might say we're fortunate to have these few samples.

I can start you off with what I consider one of the most striking images of the Surfer I can think of:

Everything in this page clicks for me. The scale of the Surfer soaring over the city beneath him; the resolute expression; his alien nature; the variety of the building detail; there's so much here to absorb. If I had to pick a close second of the definitive Surfer, it would probably be these images from an earlier appearance:

Another Surfer/city shot was done in the later graphic novel:

It's the same general idea, but of course under different circumstances. In the first, the Surfer has come to a grim decision to begin a series of attacks in a misguided attempt to unite the human race; in the second, he's soaring over the skies of Earth for the first time in his quest to locate a suitable world to sustain Galactus. Both drawings give ample opportunity to explore the Surfer's musings on the problem at hand.

The next portrait is something of an anticlimax, given the circumstances:

The Surfer has shrunk himself to the "microverse," in the hope of escaping detection by the approaching Galactus. The gambit works--yet because of his vastly decreased size, the Surfer deludes himself into thinking that he has the freedom of another "universe" to explore, unhindered by the barrier which exists around Earth to contain him. And his "freedom" may indeed be the case, as far as it goes. Picture having a lifetime to explore California on foot, with all the time in the world and nothing but new vistas and experiences awaiting you, and you see what a let-down this image is for those readers who see the Surfer's "freedom" here as bittersweet. The microverse may be a godsend for the Surfer, to whom one planet to spend your existence on may have still felt like a prison in comparison to the limitless universe he called home--but this new universe will never have a Zenn-La for him to return to, and has in essence contained him on a slide under a microscope. It's an image of the Surfer that seeks to have an impact under all the wrong conditions.

Since we've now run out of the full-page issue portraits featuring the Surfer, I thought I'd throw in the nice poster of the Surfer (and Galactus) which Kirby drew along with a series of other posters for Marvelmania:

It naturally doesn't fit into any story elements that the others are a part of, so there's a certain loss of spontaneity--and the only elements we can really read into this image are strictly promotional in nature. Though it does make you wonder how the others would come across if you removed their dialog and slapped the Surfer's logo onto the art in its place:

(Let's just hope Galactus doesn't end up feeling excluded.)

And You Thought Klingons Wrecked The Place

Usually the mental picture we have of Asgardians looks something like this:

Not that the Asgardians would object to the association; in fact, they'd probably burst into loud affirmation of their aggressive prowess on full display. And by "full," I'm of course referring to artist Jack Kirby's full-page portraits--in this case, his many depictions of the gods and other-worldly beings of Asgard, whether in full battle or full revelry. And though we humans are no slouches when it comes to partying, I think we can safely say that nobody does revelry better than Asgardians.

(Okay, so Hogun the Grim is a grim partier. Are you gonna tell him that?)

But when it comes time to toss aside their petty games, draw swords and maces and join ranks, the ale-swigging, arm-wrestling Asgardians are well-matched by a plentiful array of deadly foes. And we can count among the heavy hitters these bruisers:

It should be noted that not all Asgardians join their brethren in the nearest bar when there's a lull in battle. Some prefer to spend their down time by retiring to their respective lairs for some craftiness and scheming. Such as the beauteous Karnilla, Queen of the Norns, who keeps her friends (perhaps a better word would be "minions") close and her enemies closer.

As is evident in even the face and temperament of this stern sorceress, Karnilla has a weakness, in the form of a most unexpected Asgardian "enemy"--Balder the Brave, who has reluctantly fallen in love with this foe of Asgard who has relentlessly pursued him. In these early times, Karnilla often sought to use not only sorcery but force of arms to coerce Balder's fealty. Yet she had only to wait for the right moment to skillfully extract a pledge from him in return for her aid:

Yet Karnilla has a counterpart in the halls of Asgard--one who's not only equally practiced in guile, but unmatched in pure villainy. That, of course, is Loki, whom Kirby gives equal full-page attention to:

I suppose that just goes to show you that even a place in the universe so steeped in grandeur as Asgard can have its practitioner of evil. I must say, though, that Asgard's impressive "reception area" pulls out all the stops for the occasional visitor who drops by:

(They also pull their swords.  Just to be on the safe side.)

Thou Mayest Approach The Headgear

I've never heard Odin, the Lord of Asgard, referred to as "Majesty"--but where artist Jack Kirby's full-page portraits of him are concerned, the word fits him like a glove. Odin strikes an imposing figure, to be sure--as seen here in his element, flanked by his warriors and vested in Asgardian raiment, his word regarded as law by all who stand in "the Presence":

Small wonder that most of Kirby's portraits of the All-Father are close-ups of his face, where that full beard of his takes prominence. Yet no face shot of Odin would be complete without that incredible headgear that Kirby is known for. It's almost as if the more incredible and majestic the subject of the portrait, the more Kirby felt he or she needed headgear that would leave no question as to the person's status. In Odin's case, his headgear not only gives us a sense of Odin's stature, but of Asgard itself:

It was the rare full-body shot of Odin that could compete with the striking impression of just his face, so the context of the shot probably had to be carefully considered. Take the following two portraits, for example:

In my opinion, one works much better than the other. In the first, with Odin firing his "power scepter," look how difficult it is to fit, well, all that Odin is into the shot. The headgear, as usual, is beyond awesome--but even though Odin is issuing a dramatic proclamation and is at the peak of his lordly power, he comes off looking like a very short character with no distinguishing characteristics apart from being an elderly warrior. His boots seem disproportionate to his legs, and his height doesn't scale correctly with the size of his feet. Maybe that headgear is actually compacting Odin down from his full height. I bet his counselor in the background rigged it with extra weight--he can't be happy about the competition with his own skyscraper headgear.

By comparison, look how nicely the second pose works for Odin--regally sitting in judgment, every inch the ruler. Just about 95% of him fits in the shot, yet we really don't feel deprived of any of his presence or impact. And Thor is certainly approaching with caution, and no doubt reverence.

In another post, we'll see that Asgard, like her liege, has much to offer Kirby's full-page renderings. And you can bet a certain God of Evil is going to insist on preferential treatment.