Bully Says: Comics Oughta Be Fun!

Monday, January 13, 2014

365 Days of KirbyTech, Day 13: The Enclave's Transfer-Grid

Previously on 365 Days of KirbyTech... Reed Richards has used a Micro-Tool Assembly Unit in order to assemble a copy of The Enclave's Electronic Bracelet, which, as the FF saw on Reed's Heat-Image Tracer, was used by rogue scientist Dr. Jerome Hamilton, the kidnapper of Alicia Masters, to transport her from her apartment to the Enclave's HQ, the Beehive!

But is there some sort of giant receiving unit which brings Hamilton, his crimson helmet, and his snazzy white slacks, along with Alicia to the Beehive? Why, yes. You bet your sweet Kirby there is.

'Thank you! Which one has half his head cut off by your dialogue balloon?'

'Thank you! Which one has half his head cut off by your dialogue balloon?'

Panels from Fantastic Four (1961 series) #66 (September 1967), co-plot and script by Stan Lee, co-plot and pencils by Jack Kirby, inks by Joe Sinnott, letters by Artie Simek

As friendly neighborhood commenter Swurfswacker noted the other day, nobody could draw people walking through walls quite as fine as Kirby. I'm sorry he never drew Ms. Kitty Pryde.

Edited on 01/16/14 to insert this addition:

The Transfer-Grid returns in Incredible Hulk Annual #6, where Doctor Strange and the Hulk use it to run away from the danger instead of defending us from it. Geez, they shoulda called that non-team they were on the Run-Awayers, huh?

'Hulk think magician talk too much! Hulk enjoy leaping into milk!'

'Hulk think magician talk too much! Hulk enjoy leaping into milk!'

Panels from The Incredible Hulk Annual #6 (November 1977), co-plot by Len Wein, co-plot and script by David Anthony Kraft, pencils by Herb Trimpe, inks by Frank Giacoia and Mike Esposito, colors by Janice Cohen, letters by Gaspar Saladino

The T-G appears again much, later in Marvel Comics, although in actual Earth-616 Marvel-time history, it's probably about eight weeks later. The revived Enclave uses the Transfer-Grid to hijack a biological cocoon containing "Her" (a.k.a. Paragon, a.k.a. Kismet, a.k.a. J'Ridia, a.k.a. Ayesha, a.k.a. Miss Jackson if you're nasty) from Project: Pegasus...

'Kirby Krackle Yoink!'

Panels from Quasar #57 (April 1994), co-plot and script by Mark Gruenwald, co-plot by Peter Sanderson, pencils by John Heebink, inks by Aaron McClellan, colors by Paul Becton, letters by Janice Chiang
The Transfer Grid no longer seems to utilize the electronic bracelet, but this makes sense: the Enclave already knows their destination, and they're going to be doing some giant white energy-being five fingered discounting today.

'But I'm on my coffee break!'

Hey, Frank, ya lazy load! Get yer butt over there and help! (At least push the button or something!) Why aren't you helping out? Are you, like, a double agent or something? Oh, yes, that's right...he is.

'Oh, poopie!'

In fact, Frank is Agent MST-3K! Huh, that's funny. I always thought this guy was Agent MST-3K.

The only man who could hold his own in an invention exchange with Jack Kirby.

The only man who could hold his own in an invention exchange with Jack Kirby.

The T-G's seen again in a couple of Spider-Man story arcs in 1997 where Spidey faces off against the Enclave, first by reluctantly teaming up with Enclave recruit the Tinkerer against an all-new, all-different Carrion. This time the Electronic Wristband is used, and I'm just wondering how Spidey got it on over his webshooters. Once he's got both of those on at the same time, that guy must have thicker wrists than Remo Williams. (Oh, sorry...this part of the post should have been in yesterday's entry. Whoops!)

'That energy field just looks like an enormous screen door, and as an arachnid, I'm biologically opposed to that.'

'That energy field just looks like an enormous screen door, and as an arachnid, I'm biologically opposed to that.'

Panels from Spider-Man: Dead Man's Hand one-shot (April 1997); script by Roger Stern; pencils by Darick Robertson and Dan Lawlis; inks by Keith Aiken; colors by Christie Scheele and Ian Laughlin; letters by Richard Starkings, Emerson Miranda,and Albert Deschesne
AIEEEE SPIDER-MAN CUT OFF HIS LEG oh wait no sorry he's just using the Transfer-Grid to walk through a wall sorry about the alarm

Geez, she's calm about that walking through the walls thing. This must be the era when Mary Jane was perpetually on methaqualone.

Geez, she's calm about that walking through the walls thing. This must be the era when Mary Jane was perpetually on methaqualone.

And nobody ever saw Spider-Man, ever again. Luckily he has several clones in reserve and up and running in time for Spider-Man Team-Up a couple months later, when the Enclave was still tinkering with the Transfer-Grid...

'Uh, boss, the Transfer Grid's over THERE. THIS is Terence Trent D'Arby's wishing well.'

'Uh, boss, the Transfer Grid's over THERE. THIS is Terence Trent D'Arby's wishing well.'

Panel from Spider-Man Team-Up #7 (June 1997); script by Kurt Busiek; pencils by Sal Buscema; inks by Dick Giordano; colors by Tom Smith; letters by Dave Lanphear
Before you ask: naw, I'm not gonna spotlight the aforementioned "Bio-Modem" in this feature. It's dull, boring and it doesn't really look anything like KirbyTech. Accept no substitutes! Here's some more proof that the Enclave shoulda bought the extended warranty on the Bio-Modem:

'Wait! Before we escape, has anyone seen my number 34?'

'Wait! Before we escape, has anyone seen my number 34?'

Now here's something we haven't seen before: the Transfer-Grid's no-doubt giant control lever is pulled to the "Omni-Retrieval" setting, and programmed to suck everything into it and teleport it out of the Enclave's cozy hideaway: the evil scientists, the lab equipment, the minifridge with Carl's sandwich in it, and even all those Dilbert cartoons somebody'd stuck up on the bulletin board next to the softball sign-up sheet.

'It's refreshing us with the great taste of Gatorade!'

'It's refreshing us with the great taste of Gatorade!'

The Transfer Grid even sucks itself out of the room.

'They even took the last can of Who Hash!'

Funny, I always thought the one who did that was this guy!

'So long, sucker!'

Edited on 04/05/14 to insert this addition:

Finally, there's a recent appearance of the Transfer-Grid at a symposium for mad scientists (MadExpo '13?) where the new leader of the Enclave, Dr. Theodore Goodrich (or as he should be called, Dr. Badrich), uses the Transfer-Grid merely as a flashy way to exit the stage after his keynote. Showoff! This is really going to make Bob the Hydra Agent's presentation look like complete crap, especially since Bob can't even manage Powerpoint.

'Security! Security! He's Kitty Pryding all over the place!'

'Security! Security! He's Kitty Pryding all over the place!'

'Well, we have to see if our Evil Kickstarter hits its goal, and then we can start handing out the evil stretch rewards.'

Panels from Indestructible Hulk Annual #19.INH (November 1977), script by Mark Wait, pencils and inks by Jheremy Raapack, colors by Val Staples, letters by Cory Petit

Hey, while you're down here reading the fine print, let me post a grateful "thank you" to these sites, which are proving an invaluable aide in researching appearances of Kirbytech! Thank you one and all to the creators and keepers of these essential websites for all your diligent work! Consider yourself each duly awarded a shiny-new Bull-Prize, Uatu Division!

Tomorrow: What's the buzz?

2 comments:

Chance said...: Does it really say MST-K3 in the original? That's quite a coincidence.; 1/13/2014 7:06 PM
Bully said...: Yep, Chance! (See the upper right hand corner of the comics panel right above the photo of Joel.)

Apologies if you read this post when it was half-finished: I accidentally published it before I had completed writing it!

And I think it's less of coincidence, rather more of Mark Gruenwald probably being an MST3K fan! Lots of comic creators are! Somewhere here on the bulliMac I've got a folder of MST3K cameos in comic books, including appearances by the 'bots in The Hulk: Future Imperfect, Shanda the Panda, Ninja High School and others. I need to make a post out of that!; 1/13/2014 8:07 PM