I wanted to do a “Great Covers” for Jack Kirby’s Mister Miracle because I love ‘em and they’re also some of the few original printings of Kirby that I own. But I just couldn’t decide on a single issue. So here we are with a four cover collage.
Starting top left and working clockwise we have #1, #6, #9 and #13 of Mister Miracle vol. 1. Cover dates between March 1971 and March 1973.
These are excellent examples of Kirby in full swing of his third wind. His first being his initial employment (notably with Joe Simon) in the Golden Age, then his legendary resurgence in the early sixties creating the modern Marvel mythology (alliteration unintended), and then this in the seventies, a superb series of inter-related titles known as the Fourth World.
The Fourth World books were woefully underselling at the time and ended up being prematurely cancelled, but today, like his work for Marvel, they’ve provided a spine for the Cosmic stories of the DC Universe and are seen as the great body of work that they are.
No one can draw power and dynamism like Kirby. Mark Evanier says in his Kirby biography, Kirby: King of Comics, that Jack would start his drawing from the top left of the page and work down to the bottom right, as if he could already see the finished piece before him.
Jack, if you were a living woman of similar age, I’d kiss you.
Mad Thinker
Mister Miracle was supposed to have been Kirby's fascination with Jim Steranko, who in his early career in Europe worked as an escape-artist.
ReplyDeleteBill Mantalo the writer of DCs Blackhawks after their aborted attempted by the old production crew to copy the spectacular graphics of Marvel, an acknowledgement their rival was doing better than them. The Blackhawks had been initially a Wil Eisner invention, in their has-been days working for GEORGE, Dick Hanley took over the writing, writer of Teen Titans, now the middle aged aviators spoke hip talk. Bill sent scripts to DC, as the old crew were wound up, Bill's script was dusted off and used making the characters last a little longer.
Bill at the back of Strange Tales where Nick Fury, Agent of Shield featured, asked if Jim Steranko was the self same Steranko who had writen a magic book ?
Marvel were happy to acknowledge he was one and the same man.
Mr. Miracle featured as part of the Forever People, Jack's daughter was asked post the great mans death if she would write a script to his unfinished work, and two artists were assigned to help her. I was tempted to buy this comic but didn't, now I kick myself for not doing so.
Bill Mantallo went on to write Marvel's Micronauts, Micronauts were Japanese toys, it was the first such deal, he would go onto Secturs, not sure I have that right, also with a toy tie-in.
At night Bill was studying law, his ambition to be a lawyer, he was run over in NY city and received head injuries all his studying left his head, but I believe he returned to writing comics, but I do not know what he is doing now ?