The 1978 2017 2023 Amazing Spider-Man Mighty Marvel Comics Calendar: February Fiasco

This is an expanded and updated version of a post originally published February 1, 2017.

"February Is for Fantastic Friends!" in The Amazing Spider-Man Mighty Marvel Comics Calendar 1978 (Marvel, 1977);
pencils by Jack Kirby, inks by John Verpooten
(Click picture to sales-of-Rod Stewart-Do-Ya-Think-I'm-Sexy-in-1978-size)

Today in Comics History, November 5, 1605: This scene does not occur in today's story

Take a big steamin' gawk at this cover...


cover of Headline Comics v.2 #11 (#23) (Prize, March 1947), pencils by Jack Kirby, inks by Jack Kirby or Joe Simon (?)
...which features this tagline in a font nearly bigger than the title!

Today in Comics History, September 14, 2001: America reacts to 9/11 by enacting the Kirby Protocols

from Kirby: Genesis: Silver Star #1 (Dynamite, November 2011), co-plot by Alex Ross, co-plot and script by Jai Nitz, pencils by Johnny Desjardins, colors by Vinicius Andrade, letters by Simon Bowland

Today in Comics History, August 28: Happy birthday, Jack Kirby!

This is a combined, expanded and updated version of posts originally published August 28, 2009 (multiple posts), August 28, 2010, August 28, 2012, August 28, 2017, and more.

Born on this day in 1914, America's only comic book creator, Jack Kirby!


from Mighty Marvel Calendars 1976-1980 (Marvel, 1975-1979)
Today is his 105th birthday! Happy Birthday, Jack!


from Marvel Age #32, 56, 104, and 116 (Marvel, November 1985, November 1987, September 1991, and September 1992); text by Jim Salicrup (#32), Mike Carlin (#56) and Chris Eliopoulis and Barry Dutter (#104); pencils and inks by Ron Zalme; colors by Andy Yanchus (#32), Paul Becton (#56) and Renee Witterstaetter (#104)

Today in Comics History, July 16, 1945: United States military explodes the first Kirby Bomb

This is an expanded and updated version of a post originally published July 16, 2016.



from Marvel Treasury Special Featuring Captain America's Bicentennial Battles #1 one-shot (Marvel, September 1976), script and pencils by Jack Kirby, inks by John Verpoorten, colors by Phil Rachelson, letters by John Costanza
And guess who else was there?


from You Are Deadpool #5 (Marvel, July 2018), script by Al Ewing, pencils and inks by Salva Espin, colors by Guru-eFX, letters by Joe Sabino
Whadda you have to say about this, cast of The Invisibles?




from The Invisibles (1997 series) #2 (DC/Vertigo, March 1997), script by Grant Morrison, pencils by Phil Jimenez, inks by John Stokes, colors by Daniel Vozzo, letters by Todd Klein
"I am become Death, the shatterer of worlds." — Robert Oppenheimer


from Real Life Comics #29 (DC, March 1946), creators uncredited and unknown

Today in Comics History, May 8: Happy birthday, Don Rickles, ya hockey puck!

When my pal Ron Hogan points something out to me, you'd better believe I pay attention!


So: born on this day in 1926: actor, stand-up and insult comedian Don Rickles! Also: comic book star!


cover of Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen #139 (DC, July 1971), pencils by Jack Kirby, inks by Vince Colletta, redrawn Superman and Jimmy heads by Murphy Anderson, Rickles caricature by unknown, letters by Gaspar Saladino
It may or may not also be the birthday of Don's "look-alike" or "alter ego," created by Jack Kirby: Goody Rickels, walking disaster area!

Kirby never defines exactly WHAT Goody is to Jack: clone, impersonator, long-lost brother? (They do spell their last names differently.)





from Jimmy Olsen #139 (September 1971), script and pencils by Jack Kirby, inks by Vince Colletta, letters by John Costanza
Will the real Don Rickles please stand up? He first appears in #141 (#140 was a reprint).

Please note, at the top, the single greatest advertising line in the history of comics.


cover of Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen #141 (DC, September 1971), pencils by Jack Kirby, inks by Neal Adams
Golly, Morgan Edge and his employees seem to love the Don Rickles! They musta caught his act in whatever the Earth-1 equivalent of Vegas is.




from Jimmy Olsen #141; script and pencils by Jack Kirby, inks by Vince Colletta, redrawn Superman and Jimmy heads by Murphy Anderson, letters by John Constanza
When Don meets Goody, that's when the misunderstandings begin and the feathers start flyin'! Even without an appearance by Cluck Kent, the Amazing Super-Chicken.

Before your Crisises and you Final Nights and your Dark Metals, kids, this is what we had for entertainment. And we loved it!




Ha! It's funny because Don Rickles goes crazy! This'll lead to a long-running storyline, I'm sure! (Note: Don or Goody never appeared again in DC Comics.)


But Don did appear in comics, because, hey, you can't keep a good, insulting man down! Here he is as a super-hero stopping a bank robber, with fellow comics/heroes Henny Youngman, Johnny Carson, and Rodney Dangerfield.


from National Lampoon Presents the Very Large Book of Comical Funnies (National Lampoon, 1975), art by Frank Spinger
Back when kids actually knew who the comedians of the '60s were, MAD went whole hog in on Rickles and his contemporaries (Danny Thomas, Richard Pryor, Woody Allen, and Bob Hope)!


from "Botch Casually and the Somedunce Kid" in MAD #136 (July 1970), script by Arnie Kogen, pencils and inks by Mort Drucker
And somebody workin' on The Simpsons seems to be under the influence of Rickles. in two consecutive issues!


from "The Homer Show" in Simpsons Comics #42 (Bongo, April 1999), script by Chuck Dixon, pencils by Phil Ortiz, inks by Tim Bavington, colors by Nathan Kane, letters by Jeannine Crowell Black


from "Journey to the Cellar of the Kwik-E-Mart" in Simpsons Comics #43 (Bongo, June 1999), script by Robert Graff and Jesse Leon McCann, pencils by Julius Preite III and Erick Tran, inks by Tim Bavington, colors by Nathan Kane, letters by Jeannine Crowell Black
So, happy birthday, Don Rickles, ya meatball! Naw, I'm just kiddin'. I like you! Next to the dog-faced boy! Ha!

Happy birthday to you too, Goody. May you come back soon in, I dunno...let's say...Suicide Squad.


from "If Everyone Talked Like Don Rickles" in MAD #131 (Bongo, December 1969), script by Earle Doud, pencils and inks by Angelo Torres

Today in Comics History, February 6, 1994: The King is dead. Long live the King!

On this day in 1994, the great Jack Kirby passed away. We still miss him tremendously.


from Marvel Age #136 (Marvel, May 1994)

More Real Facts: Are you ready for the world of tomorrow?

Panel from "The Rocket Lanes of Tomorrow" in Real Fact Comics #1 (March-April 1946); script, pencils, and inks by Joe Simon and Kirby Kirby; letters by Howard Ferguson
Well, that didn't happen.

365 Days of Defiance, Day 348: Every year this comic treasury becomes more and more vital

Panels from Marvel Treasury Special featuring Captain America's Bicentennial Battles #1 (September 1976), script and pencils by Jack Kirby, inks by John Verpoorten, colors by Phil Rachelson, letters by John Costanza

365 Days of Defiance, Day 240: Kirby Says: Don't Ask, Just Punch a Nazi! (aka Today in Comics History, August 28: Happy birthday, Jack Kirby!)

Today is Jack Kirby's One Hundredth Birthday. Happy Birthday, Jack!


Self-portrait from Forever People #4 (August 1971), as reprinted in Kirby: King of Comics (2002) by Mark Evanier; pencils by Jack Kirby, inks by Vince Colletta
I've spent this year focusing on mostly fictional acts of defiance and rebellion from the pages of our favorite medium, but let's take a moment on Jack's birthday to salute this actual hero of a man who not only drew supers who would punch Nazis and their sympathizers, he would put his money where his mouth was in real life:


from Kirby: King of Comics (2002) by Mark Evanier
The only sad thing about those paragraphs is that the last sentence is no longer true.

We need Kirby more than ever, but alas, he's departed from us. His absence leaves us all a little poorer, but he's left behind his work, his words, his art, and his ideas to continue to inspire us. So now's your time to step into the shoes of the King and try to carry on his legacy. Imagine. Create. Write. Draw. Believe. Resist. Rebel. Defy. Be a king.

Today in Christmas Comics History, December 24: USS Palomino is hit by a mysterious ink wave

Top: original pencils to panels from The Black Hole newspaper strip (September 2, 1979), pencils by Jack Kirby;
Bottom: inks and art corrections by Mike Royer, redrawing figures to fit Disney models;
both from The Jack Kirby Collector #32 (TwoMorrows, July 2001)

366 Days with J. Jonah Jameson, Day 110: Not Brand Ecchymosis

Last week I asked you the musical question (minus the music): Did Jack Kirby ever draw J. Jonah Jameson? Well, Bully-fan Carousin' Chris K. suggested one I'd missed from the pages of the ultimate Marvel mag of the 1960s, that scion of satire and paragon of parody, Not Brand Echh!



Panel from "The Origin of Sore, Son of Shmodin" in Not Brand Echh #3 (October 1967), script by Stan Lee, pencils by Jack Kirby, inks by Frank Giacoia, letters by Artie Simek
As Chris humbly suggests, that might actually be Magnificent Marie Severin chipping in on the background characters there, as she's definitely the doyenne of drollery when it comes to Not Brand Ecch caricature! But until definitely proven otherwise, let's declare this a Kirby JJJ and of course, there must be feasting and celebration! Let us party with pizza!

(What? You bring the pizza, I'm runnin' the blog here.)

Jack Kirby's Monsters, Night 12: I Fought the Colossus and the Colossus Won

Cover of Strange Tales #72 (December 1959), pencils by Jack Kirby, inks by Christopher Rule, colors by Stan Goldberg, letters by Artie Simek
Yes, Jack Kirby predicted planetary warming, as seen in this absolutely true-to-life scenario that also happens to feature a world-wide computer that can predict the outcome of any global question, even what will be on NBC in the fall of 2015. (It predicts Blindspot will be cancelled by January!)


Splash page from "I Fought the Colossus!" in Strange Tales #72 (December 1959), plot by Stan Lee (?), script by Larry Lieber (?), pencils by Jack Kirby, inks by Steve Ditko, colors by Stan Goldberg, letters by Artie Simek
In short, this is not much different than the also-Kirby Ruler of Earth. Still, guys, I'm pretty sure naming a big worldwide government-replacing computer "Colossus" is not all that great an idea.


...especially a computer that is secretly building a big ass robot. Or, as he was known in those days, Peter Rasputin.


Like Honeycomb, this robots big. (Yeah, yeah, yeah!) Also, dig that kuh-razy Kirby architecture! Frank Gehry, turn in your t-square — Jack's got you beat!


With those giant clodhoppers a-trampin' left 'n' right, how could the robot be anything other than an enemy? So, let's escalate the fight directly to atomic weapons. Really? And you guys got this far in civilization with that sorta attitude? I call shenanigans on that.


Luckily, the robot is rock stupid and is easily led over a cliff. Maybe they shouldn't have installed that special secret "Wile E. Coyote" protocol.


Then, humanity threatens the most powerful computer in the world by arriving to chop it up with axes and sledgehammers.


But what's this? (In my William Dozier voice) Turns out that the computer had built the robot to bring about an era of peace, harmony, prosperity and knowledge. Also: giant robots.


How does that make ya feel about humanity now? ... Dumb-asses.