Captain America by Jack Kirby: Part 1- Initial Deployment

My next few posts will be in regard to Jack Kirby’s Captain America, spanning his three runs on the character in the 40’s, 60’s and 70’s. So here it is, first one up, Golden Age Captain America by Jack Kirby.

So this should really be “by Jack Kirby & Joe Simon” but as I’m going to be writing about his entire Captain America related output, the only constant throughout is Jack Kirby, but that doesn’t mean I’ll not be taking the writing into consideration too.

I remember the first time I read these, the first ten issues of Captain America Comics. I was, in all honesty, mildly disappointed. I’d read The Invaders and the early Silver Age stories that take place in war torn Europe and I had expected the same of the Golden Age stories, but, as those of you that have read these books already know, that isn’t the case.

But, this wasn’t the first time I’d read these and I knew that I wasn’t going to see any vistas of a bombed out London or fire gutted churches in rural France and I felt an ice cold tickle of excitement as I opened the cover of the first volume to see…….Cap Smashing Adolph in the Kaiser, I mean Kisser. Woo-Hoo. Yeah, I know we don’t actually see anything of this in the strips, but still, Cap Smashing Adolph in the Kisser is one heck of an iconic image in any medium. And that, Ladies & Gentlemen, is only the first page.

Can you tell I’m excited.

Just to back track slightly, my reprints of these comics are in Captain America: The Classic Years volumes 1 & 2. Each volume reprints five issues and the two volumes contain the complete ten issue Golden Age run of Kirby on Cap. They are also collected in the Golden Age Marvel Masterworks of Captain America Comics, but you will have to purchase three volumes of those as each volume only collects four issues.

Anyway. Smack, Adolph gets a knuckle sandwich to the face and turn the page again, we’re into a lighting quick origin of the feeble Steve Rogers being transformed into the Super-Soldier that is Captain America. I love the fact that these two Jewish lads totally subvert the Blue Eyed, Blond Haired Nazi ideal of an Aryan Uber-Mensch and turn him into a living weapon against the very rats that hold that ideal so vehemently.

In these stories Cap and Bucky operate almost exclusively in the U.S. As I mentioned earlier, on my first reading of these stories I expected them to be fighting across various theatres of conflict, but instead Cap and Bucky actually oppose Fifth Columnists that are operating within Americas shores, plus the odd purely criminal enterprise. Kirby and Simon provide a varied range of stories from pure adventure to mystery, horror and a dose of weird fiction that feels like it’s ripped straight out of the pulps, but all have an emphasis on action.

From the first issue we’re introduced to the regular supporting cast that are featured throughout the run, including Bucky of course, but also the “original” Red Skull, the almost love interest Betsy/Betty Ross and the comic relief Sgt. Duffy, who’s used to great effect by Steve Rogers to cement his image as the bumbling Pvt. Rogers at Camp Lehigh. Duffy in particular used to great effect in the scripts, the comedic moments offer a counter to the dramatic scenes and are perfectly timed to change the pace of the stories, particularly in the longer strips.

It’s no secret that there was a considerable amount of input from other artists for these strips. I don’t know that anyone has been able to completely nail down exactly who did what, particularly in regard to the Kirby/Simon split of art chores, but suffice to say that diverse hands created these ten issues. In some sections it’s obvious that it’s someone other than Kirby or Simon, in others it’s a close call to make. It can be a little jarring, but not to the point that I was fully pulled out of the story, so if that’s what it took to get these books out then so be it.

The layouts of the strips changes from rigid to fluid from page to page, on first noticing, you might be tempted to assume that it was a different artist, but in many cases I would say not. This was, after all, the very early days of the medium, so I think it has more to do with Kirby experimenting with various story telling techniques to see what will work best, he seems to get to grips with this quite quickly and changes it around depending on the content, which seems obvious now, but back then it was still an open question of fluidity or uniformity.

There’s plenty to love in these volumes. The work of Simon & Kirby on this strip was truly innovative, with odd perspectives and dynamic layouts breaking new ground in the burgeoning comic book industry. The truth is that not everything in these volumes works one-hundred percent, but all of it stands head and shoulders above most other Golden Age books, and I say that as a reader that loves Golden Age comics. Like Batman and Superman, there’s a reason that Captain America is still one of the industry’s biggest selling characters, the fact that he is very much of his time has, in effect, made him timeless and somehow, Kirby and Simon have presented this character as what we would now describe as a fully formed archetype. Nothing in regard to the basic foundations of the character has needed to be changed (although it hasn’t stopped people doing so) and seventy years on, I’m pleased to say, that you won’t find many comics that are better than these.

Mad Thinker Reads………….

Adolph. Kisser. >>SMACK<<

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Fighting American by Joe Simon & Jack Kirby

Publisher: Titan

ISBN: 9780857681157

Paperback, 200 pages

I’ll have to keep this post short and sweet. I’m reading comics quicker than I have opportunity to write about them at the moment. So, at lightning speed, a quick rundown of Fighting American by Joe Simon & Jack Kirby.

This is the paperback volume printed by Titan Books in 2011. There was an earlier hardback printed by Marvel in the 90’s, but you’ll pay considerably more for that one and as far as I’m aware, it reprints the same material.

This reprint collects the original seven issue run of Fighting American, published by Prize Comics starting in 1954 and the two issues commissioned by Harvey Comics in 1966, of which only the first issue saw print.

The general package is very good, including a brief introduction by Joe Simon that puts the Fighting American’s origin in context. I was particularly happy with the colour retouching. It’s not too bold, it’s basically been cleaned up and realigned.

For anyone unfamiliar with the Fighting American, the character is a riff on Captain America, complete with his own Bucky called Speed Boy. The first couple of issues of the comic are pretty typical super-hero fare, inspired by Marvel’s short lived relaunch of Captain America in the 50’s. Marvel’s Captain America soon folded, but Fighting American managed to keep afloat for about a year (the issues were published on a bi-monthly schedule.) So why did two characters that were so similar fare so differently?

Well, the obvious answer is that Captain America didn’t have Simon & Kirby producing it. But there is a little more to it than that. I mentioned above that the first couple of issues were standard super-hero adventure, but as the series progressed the tone of the strip changed dramatically by becoming less dramatic. By the time the stories found their feet they were making their mark by poking fun at Fighting American and super-hero books in general. Speed Boy becomes much more than just a sidekick, in many of the stories he plays the straight man, saving the oblivious F.A. from certain doom on more than one occasion. The villains are ridiculously over the top stereotypes of Red Menace threats with names like Poison Ivan and Hotsky Trotski, which I suppose aren’t too dissimilar to the names used in his later Fourth World stories (Big Barda, Granny Goodness, Lashina.) and the stories range from Commie smashing to racket busting to extraterrestrial threats. Yes, the whole field is covered, with tongue firmly in cheek for the majority.

Now, I’m not saying that there isn’t similar Kirby work out there, but if there is anything comparable, I haven’t come across it. In very broad terms I’d describe it as Captain America crossed with The Spirit.

By the end of the book we move on to the Harvey Comics issues. Whilst I’m happy at the inclusion of these comics, they don’t have the sparkle that the original run did. From the look of the stories I would say that the involvement of Simon & Kirby was minimal for these issues. But, being a bit of a completist, it’s great that they are reprinted here.

For more detailed information regarding the creation and credits for the Prize issues, plus some other interesting bits, I’d recommend that you have a look at these and related pages at Kirby Museum: Fighting American.  

So there you go a (nearly) short and snappy post of a great curiosity from the Simon & Kirby library. It’s certainly worth owning and it’s available at a reasonable price.

Mad Thinker Reads………………….

Our Dear Departed Grandpa Jack & Uncle Joe.

Wild Western Action (Skywald, 1971)

Mini Post

Wild Western Action: Featuring the Bravados, issues 1-3, published in 1971 by Skywald, a company better remembered by today’s readers for their horror magazines.

The reason I purchased these was because the headline feature, The Bravados, was written by Len Wein, a writer I’m a fan of due to his run on Thor, but it was also drawn by Syd Shores, which I have to say, seemed like a great combination.

These comics are about fifty pages, and I was surprised to find that only around eleven pages of each comic is the Bravados feature. The first two issues are an origin tale, bringing together the cast and pitting them against a common enemy. When the individual characters arrive separately at a small town that they have some connection to, instead of finding their friends and family waiting for them, they find the entire town and it’s inhabitants, utterly annihilated. They soon learn what has taken place and vow to work together to see justice done.

The third issue sees our heroes wandering the west and righting a wrong just for the hell of it. The Bravados was pretty good, but I was a little disappointed in the low page count of the strip in each issue. But, there was an up-side to it.

What I didn’t know, prior to my purchase, was that the remaining page count was devoted to reprints of some incredible Golden Age western strips featuring a host of great talent and iconic characters.

You’ll see classic characters such as the Durango Kid, Billy Nevada (originally Billy the Kid) & Rio Vegas brought to you by the likes of Don Heck, Mike Sekowsky and the fantastic Fred Guardineer.

This was a real treat for me, I’m a sucker for the Golden Age and who doesn’t like a shoot-out. So, yes, I was very pleasantly surprised by Wild Western Action and whilst I appreciate that Golden Age Westerns aren’t to everyone’s taste, this is a great introduction covering a range of characters and creators. And best of all, it won’t cost the earth to add it to your comic box.

Mad Thinker Reads……..

Rugged Men In Memorable Hats.

Batman Chronicles: Volume Five

Batman Chronicles: Volume Five

ISBN: 9781401216825

Writer: Bill Finger

Art: Jerry Robinson & Bob Kane

Collects Material From: Batman #8-9, Detective Comics #57-61, World’s Finest #4, from 1942.

So here’s my second review of a Batman Chronicles, which feature chronological reprints of all appearances of Batman. I probably mentioned it in my post regarding Vol. 4, but the DC Chronicles are a great, economical buy. As far as I know they are the best value for money Golden Age reprint series on the market and one of the very few that are printed on a regular schedule. I’m glad DC are exploiting their Golden Age heritage in this format, because all of the GA marvel reprints are expensive hard backs on a slightly more erratic print roster. Nice one DC.

This volume has been one of the most enjoyable to date. Volume Four I found a little lacklustre, but with Five, Mr. Finger is back on track and Mr. Robinson is as clear and iconic as ever.

Early in this volume we’re introduced to a brand new villain, the never before seen Penguin. One of the most interesting things about these reprints is that, when reading them, you can see just how little these incredible characters have had to be changed over the years. Yes, of course, some of Batman’s rogues gallery have been updated, the Joker in particular, but the Penguin is essentially the same character from his first appearance until now. Some of that is because he is at heart a crime boss rather than a psychopath, and crime always pays. But the timeless concept combined with Robinson’s strong visuals give us an idiosyncratic, reusable character, who unlike many other disposable criminals from this era, has stayed with us in the public imagination. I particularly enjoyed Finger’s opening description of Penguin as a funny little man with a benevolent face. It’s a pity that that benevolent face isn’t used more today as a way for Penguin to disarm potential competitors or victims, but he is more commonly imagined with sharp, hawkish features. He is one of the great Finger/Robinson creation.

A common approach to stories in this volume is the “Weird Mystery” tale. Examples are “The Four Fates” where we are left to wonder whether the deaths of a group of criminals are coincidence or the result of a curse (including a relatively sophisticated twist ending for a 1942 comic.) There’s also “Professor Radium” which deals with a scientist able to kill and apparently resurrect his victims with a touch, and “The Superstition Murders” about a murderer and stage play based around common superstitious beliefs (such as black cats, broken mirrors and walking under ladders.) Perhaps it’s this differing approach to the story telling formula which freshened up this volume in comparison to the previous, but either way these are interesting and original stories that fit in to the Batman Universe perfectly. As to whether the “Weird Mystery” leaning was an editorial decision or Finger’s own sense of the times, I don’t know, but previous volumes also include this kind of tale, just not to the extent that this volume exhibits.

Iconic cover of Batman #9. Reprinted in this
volume and used for the cover. By Jack Burnley.

There are a couple of Joker appearances peppered through the book, one of which stands out above the others, “The Cross Country Crimes” is the first anarchic scheme for the Joker. His previous crimes use gimmicks only as an assisting element to the crime itself, but in this story, the crimes themselves become the gimmicks as Joker is symbolically writing his name across the USA by committing robberies in specific locations. This is the first Joker escapade that hints at the deranged nature of his criminal activities, which unfortunately isn’t followed up in later Joker tales within this book, but I’m hoping it’s a precursor to lunacy in later volumes. It’s a tightly plotted tale, even if some of the clues are a little stretched and should be required reading for anyone interested in the history and evolution of this character.

Another Joker tale “The Case of the Costume Clad Killers” features one of my favourite splash pages ever. The story and art deliver in all the right places, it’s not however, a classic Joker story and doesn’t bear special mention in comparison to any other strip in this book. But that splash page is a classic. I’m sorry to say that I couldn’t get an image of it for this blog page, but if I do find one I promise I’ll add it. (OK, I’ve found an image and added it below, but unfortunately it's a low quality fiche scan, you can still see the general composition and layout though.)

Detective Comics #60 Splash Page. Art by Jerry Robinson (Fiche Scan)

We have an over-sized joker, with classic Robinson features, dressed as Napoleon, leering over a pint-sized Batman & Robin. The imagery is perfect and the composition leaves absolutely nothing to be desired. Robinson uses the angle of the Joker’s head, his line of sight and his pose to lead the audience’s eye from the main element of Joker in his Napoleonic uniform, down to the miniature figures in the foreground, which are structured into a triangle with the axe weilding thug at the apex, the triangle in turn, leads the eye back up to the Joker’s head. In other words, Robinson expertly forces a double take on to us. Genius. I may well be wrong about this, but I’ve never seen this image referenced in any later comics by other artists. Which is shame, because if Alex Ross had painted it, I’m sure it would be considered an iconic Joker piece.

Lastly on this volume I feel obliged to tell you that, if like me, you’ve always wanted to see Batman beat up Hobos or kill an evil and destructive giant white whale with a spear, well, this is the comic for you.

Mad Thinker Reads……….

Batman by Bill Finger & Jerry Robinson as much as humanly possible.

M.T.

Batman Chronicles: Volume Four

Batman Chronicles: Volume Four

ISBN: 9781401214623

Writer: Bill Finger

Art: Bob Kane, Jerry Robinson & Others

Collects material from: Detective Comics #51-56, Batman #6-7 & World’s Finest Comics #2-3, from 1941

Ahh…The Bat-Man.

He holds a very special place in my heart. My absolulte, favourite, number one, top comic book character of all time, forever. The most versatile of all the masked avengers. Ol’ Pointy Ears was the first American character I read (see the Intro Post of this blog) and the only one that I’ve read consistently. So easy to get wrong, but when a writer/artist team get it right, the results are spectacular. A couple of favourite pairing that springs to mind are Doug Moench /Gene Colan and Alan Grant/Norm Breyfogle. But the comics we’re discussing now pre-date those creators by generations, we’re talking Golden Age here, ladies and Gentlemen, 1941.

So, why am I writing about The Batman Chronicles: Volume Four when I haven’t previously mentioned one, two or three. Easy. The first three volumes were read before I started this blog and I feel it would be unfair to review them without being entirely familiar with their contents. So I’ll start with Four and continue through the later volumes as I read them, when I do re-read the earlier collections, I’m sure they’ll get a mention.

For anyone unfamiliar with DC’s Chronicles, they are a paperback printing very similar to the hardback Archives, obviously cheaper (I’ll get back to that later), but the most significant difference is the ordering of the material. In the Archive volumes the Batman and Detective Comics issues are printed in separate collections, whereas the Chronicles reprint all the Batman stories from Detective Comics, Batman and World’s Finest in chronlogical order, allowing, in my opinion, a seamless progression in the readers mind of the growth of all involved with the creation of the strips.

Yes, yes. Thanks for that, but what about the strips, I hear you cry.

By 1941 Bill finger had been writing practically every appearance of Batman since his creation. I’ve got a lot of time for pretty much anything that Finger wrote, but by 1941 things were getting a little bit formulaic, that being said, it was a very good formula and at no point does it get boring, it’s just that nothing is really being added to what would become the Batman Legend. These are solid, readable and entertaining stories, they just aren’t the best stories that Finger has written. There’s a considerable amount of time spent outside of Gotham (Dick and Bruce do seem to spend a lot of time on vacation, but they’re millionaires, so why not?) so whilst the backdrops are fresh, the stories are at least partially recycled from earlier strips. There are however several memorable moments, one in particular being a great return of the Joker, with his Practical Joke Gang. In all fairness to Finger, even when he’s not on top form, he’s still better than most and he manages to tell complete and succinct tales in what would now be considered as a very low page count.

There are a few disappointments with this volume and the Chronicles in general. Firstly, specific to this volume, is the cover. Jerry Robinson, despite his infuriating lack of credit, was the driving visual force behind the early Batman strips, so I have no idea why the terrible cover, pencilled and inked entirely by Bob Kane, was chosen for this volume. I don’t want to sound bitchy (but I’ll say it anyway) Rob Liefeld could have done a better job at rendering Batman’s extremities than Bob Kane did on this cover. For some unaccountable reason, our heroes have been drawn with the malformed hands of toddlers.

More generally, concerning the Chronicle editions is the noticable ink spread. In many places the text is difficult to read, I assume this is due to the low quality of paper, this also has an impact on the art which can appear to be in soft focus at times.

To end on a positive note, there is one small but wonderful element that is rarely mentioned in connection with Batman- Fred Ray. This volume offers two covers from Ray, World’s Finest Comics #2 & 3. Ray is better known for drawing Superman, so with me not being a great reader of Supes, he’s not an artist I’ve had a great deal of exposure to. I’d like to change that. On the strength of the covers that I’ve seen in this and previous volumes I’ve really come to appeciate his clear line style, which seems a generation ahead of it’s time. A pleasant surprise and I look forward to seeing more Ray in future volumes.
My recommendation concering the Batman Chronicles really depends on the monetary aspect. If you can afford to buy the Batman and Dark Knight Archive Editions you will certainly be getting a better quality product. But you’ll pay considerably more for the privelige. If however, you’re on a budget, the Chronicles offer you a chance to read some fine (and not so fine) Golden Age Batman stories at a very affordable price.

Mad Thinker