February 8, 2009
FFF Results Post #150—The King
On Friday,
CR readers were asked to "Name Five Favorite Jack Kirby Single-Issue Comic Books." This is how they responded.
*****
Tom Spurgeon
1.
The Eternals #4
2.
Kamandi #10
3.
2001: A Space Odyssey #6
4.
Fantastic Four #53
5.
Fantastic Four #55
*****
Alan David Doane
1.
Fantastic Four #51
2.
Avengers #4
3.
New Gods #6
4.
Amazing Spider-Man #8 (the Spidey/Human Torch backup story)
5.
Fantastic Four #48
*****
Gary Usher
1.
Captain America 208 (1977)
2.
DC Comics Presents 84
3.
2001: A Space Odyssey 8
4.
First Issue Special 6 (Dingbats of Danger Street)
5.
Our Fighting Forces 157
*****
Charles Yoakum
*
Fantastic Four #51
*
Thor #156
*
The Demon #1
*
Challengers of the Unknown #7
*
Fantastic Four #25
*****
Booksteve
1.
Captain America #100
2.
Forever People #1
3.
Fantastic Four Annual #2
4.
X-Men #11
5.
Fantastic Four #54
*****
Christopher Opinsky
1.
2001: A Space Odyssey #7
2.
OMAC #1
3.
New Gods #6
4.
Kamandi #31
5.
Captain America #207
*****
Phil Rippke
1.
Tales of Suspense #81
2.
Thor #156
3.
Mister Miracle #3
4.
OMAC #1
5.
The Eternals #9
*****
Tom Bondurant
1.
Fantastic Four #50
2.
Captain America's Bicentennial Battles #1
3.
New Gods #6
4.
Forever People #4
5.
Kamandi #29
*****
Christopher Duffy
1.
Mister Miracle #9 "Himon" -- Kirby the thinker
2.
Fantastic Four #49 "If This Be Doomsday" -- Kirby the dramatist
3.
Black Panther #1 "King Solomon's Frog" -- Kirby the yarn spinnner
4.
Eternals #9 "The Killing Machine" -- Kirby the ironist
5.
Kamandi #29 "Mighty One" -- Kirby the maker of the humorous pastiches.
*****
Uriel A. Duran
1)
Fantastic Four #5
2)
Forever People #7
3)
Mister Miracle #4
4)
The X-Men #10
5)
The Avengers #4
*****
Lou Copeland
1.
Fantastic Four Annual #5: Psycho-Man
2.
Fantastic Four Annual #6: Annihilus
3.
Captain America #210: Arnim Zola, Red Skull, monsters, monsters, & more monsters!
4.
The Incredible Hulk #2: Toad Men
5.
Mister Miracle #8: Apokolips melee
*****
Rick Lowell
*
Hulk #1
*
New Gods #6
*
Kamandi #29
*
Fantastic Four #55
*
Avengers #4
*****
Dave Knott
*
Journey Into Mystery #114
*
The New Gods #8
*
Marvel Treasury Edition: 2001, A Space Odyssey
*
O.M.A.C. #1
*
Fantastic Four #52
*****
Grant Goggans
1.
Journey Into Mystery #125
2.
Fantastic Four #51
3.
OMAC #1
4.
Tales of Suspense #17
5.
Mister Miracle #3
*****
Sean Kleefeld
1.
Fantastic Four #5
2.
2001 #8
3.
Fantastic Four #49
4.
Fantastic Four Annual #3
5.
Challengers of the Unknown #4
*****
Adam Casey
1.
Tales of Suspense #94
2.
Devil Dinosaur #6
3.
New Gods #1
4.
Captain Victory #2
5.
First Issue Special #1
*****
James Langdell
1.
Mister Miracle #4 {big aha! moment of how key Scott's story really is to the Fourth World. And... gosh... Big Barda shows up!]
2.
Fantastic Four #85 [Doctor Doom's Latveria as McGoohan's The Village]
3.
Tales of Suspense #81 [The Red Skull holds the Cosmic Cube... and the non-Kirby Iron Man half of the issue is great as well]
4.
Not Brand Echh #1 [Kirby's Fantastical Four parody... startled to see that Kirby could bring on the funny like that]
5.
The Mighty Thor #133 [Ego the Living Planet -- this after I thought Kirby had already upped the ante on mythic god-ness as far as it could go]
*****
Stephen Weiner
*
Fantastic Four #48
*
Fantastic Four #51
*
Thor #127
*
Thor #138
*
Avengers #4
*****
Johnny Bacardi
1.
Fantastic Four #35 -- It's hard to pick between FFs, but although the first one I ever read new was #22, this one had the most impact on my as a kid. Something about that uniquely Kirby way of depicting all hell breaking loose as Dragon Man came to life on that college campus grabbed me hard and didn't let go.
2.
Mister Miracle #7 -- although #6 was the first issue of this title, as well as the first issue of the Fourth World series, that I read (slow to embrace Jack's puzzling move to DC, I was), this was the one that cemented my interest and led me to find the others as soon as I could (not easy in 1972, let me tell you). I loved Kirby's Kanto character, and I thought this issue in particular featured some outstanding King art, inked by Mike Royer.
3.
The Demon #7 -- The first appearance of his precociously creepy Klarion the Witchboy. Not my favorite cover, though -- that would be #13, with its rushing monsters and delirious cover copy.
4.
Journey into Mystery #104 -- Thor vs. the Grey Gargoyle; the first Thor comic I ever read. I still remember sitting in my Mom's car and reading it intently as she drove around doing errands.
5.
Fantasy Masterpieces #3 -- My first exposure to the Golden Age Captain America stories, and better believe it blew my 6-year-old mind to know that Kirby had been drawing comics since World War II! My favorite story in this one, though, took place in Hollywood and borrowed its ending liberally from the Errol Flynn Adventures of Robin Hood film. Oh, and this was also my first exposure to those wonderful old Sci-Fi giant monster stories as well- BRUTTU!
*****
John Vest
1.
Fantastic Four #48
2.
Fantastic Four #60
3.
Thor #131
4.
Tales Of Suspense #81
5.
Fantastic Four #95 -- a favorite for the wonderful interior splash page with the Thing holding up a building.
*****
Andrew Mansell
1.
New Gods #7
2.
Fantastic Four #77
3.
Demon #1
4.
Captain America's Bicentennial Battles
5.
2001 #6
*****
Fred Hembeck
1.
Fantastic Four #4
2.
Avengers #4
3.
Captain America's Bicentennial Battles
4.
Fighting American #1 (Harvey sixties' era reprint)
5.
Fantastic Four Annual #2
*****
Michael Aushenker
1)
Tales of Suspense #86 -- A nostalgic pick: the first comic book story I ever read.
2)
The Incredible Hulk #1 -- Classic! (one of many, many, many in Kirby's case...this list is not easy to narrow down)
3)
Fantastic Four #48 -- Rise of the Silver Surfer!
4)
The Demon #7 -- Enter Klarion the Witch Boy!
5)
Marvel Treasury Special Featuring Captain America's Bicentennial Battles -- Kirby's Cap was already larger-than-life... then it got super-sized! Out. Of. Control!!!!
*****
Christopher Keels
*
Captain America (and the Falcon) #212
*
Eternals #9
*
Fantastic Four #9
*
Mister Miracle #9
*
Kamandi #1
*****
Trevor Ashfield
1.
Our Fighting Forces #159
2.
Fantastic Four #92
3.
Kamandi #29
4.
Young Romance #97 -- My dad's wife found this book among stuff from her teen years... there's an odd little story by Kirby about a tough guy who saves a nice girl from an even more threatening sort, but later realizes that it could never work between the two of them: he needs to be with this other, more dangerous girl. I guess you have to read it for yourself but it's kind of a sweet, affecting story.
5.
Eternals # 1
*****
Mauricio Matamoros
*
Black Magic 1 (1971 DC edition)
*
Demon 7
*
Fantastic Four 1
*
Fantastic Four 29
*
New Gods 8
*****
Chris Zepeda
1.
Captain America #100
2.
In The Days Of The Mob #1
3.
Fantastic Four Special #6
4.
Mister Miracle #1
5.
Kamandi #6
*****
Mark Coale
1.
Strange Tales 104
2.
Captain America 108
3.
New Gods 6
4.
First Issue Special 5
5.
Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen 139
*****
Robert Goodin
*
Captain America 210 (This one has blown my mind since I was 5.)
*
Journey into Mystery 115
*
Tales of Suspense 63
*
New Gods 7
*
Thor 133
*****
Michael J. Grabowski
*
What If? #11 "What If The Original Marvel Bullpen Had Become The Fantastic Four?"
*
Black Panther #3 "Race Against Time"
*
2001: A Space Odyssey #6 "Inter-Galactica"
*
Captain America #208 "The River of Death"
*
Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen #141 "Will the Real Don Rickles Panic?" PLUS a reprint of the first Newsboy Legion Story (first Golden Age Kirby I'd ever seen), introduced by the classic Kirby at drawing board self-portrait, all capped by the all-time greatest cover blurb: "Kirby says: 'Don't Ask! Just Buy It!'"
I "came of age" around about the same time Kirby returned to Marvel. With no idea who he was and not much idea who the non-Spidey Marvel heroes were, I just bought the comics that really stood out on the spinner rack. And re-read them more than most of the rest, no matter how little sense they made out of consecutive context. (The much earlier Jimmy Olsen was a much later hand-me-down.) For a beginning comics reader aged 6-9 years old, there were no other books on the stand (at least that live in my memory) that were so strange, intriguing, dominated by some crazy logic that made them endlessly enjoyable to my young imagination. These Marvel books remain otherworldy. I read them now as if Kirby was thumbing his nose at the Marvel Universe he helped create, with all the continuity entanglements that had come to restrain his characters. As if he was pointing out that comics universe history and logic is stupid when it becomes a useless constraint on story potential and the brilliant imaginations of comics creators.
*****
thanks to all that participated
*****
*****
posted 6:30 am PST |
Permalink
Daily Blog Archives
November 2019
October 2019
September 2019
August 2019
July 2019
Full Archives
