Kirby story ID

[benday-dot]

I was reading The Jack Kirby Collector #13 the other day and in the course of an interview session with Jack, Jim Steranko and Walter Gibson (of Shadow fame) Kirby mentions in considerable detail a story he seemed to have done at some time. Borrowing from Romeo and Juliet, he tells the tale of two androids-- one male, one female-- who, despite the objections of their rival creators, carry on a relationship from their laboratories through ESP. When finally they meet mutual destruction results. It turns out one was made of "postive energy" and the other of "negative." Yin yang gone wrong I suppose. Either that or it was a climax to remember ;)

Does anyone know where and when this story first appeared. The sci-fi content and typical twist ending make it seem like an Atlas anthology story from perhaps Amazing Adventures vol.1 or Strange Tales vol.1. But perhaps the tale goes back to Prize, or more likely the 50's DC/National Kirby period.

I included a scan below, however CBR size restrictions may make the image difficult to view.

Thanks!

[Scott Shaw!]

Sounds to me like it could be from an issue of Harvey's 1957 series, ALARMING TALES, but the GCD doesn't offer any obvious clues.

Aloha,

Scott!

[Kirk G]

I'm no expert, but I was always surprised to see how many classic sci fi stories were being adapted to comics and appeared in one form or another in Fantasty Masterpieces (earliest monster reprints) #1-3 before they started reprinting Golden Age Cap, Torch and Namor as the headliner stories....

And I believe those reprints drew from Tales to Astonish, Strange Tales and Tales of Suspense, Journey into Mystery and the ilk.

But, sorry, I never heard of that story...nor do I remember that Jack Kirby interview feature....and I read all the Jack Kirby Collectors, too! (The mind starts to go, just after the eyes...then the blood pressure.... soon, it's viagra time!):D

[InfoBroker]

Check your notes...

Captain America and soon other 1940s Marvel Super-hero comics started in Fantasy Masterpieces #3, which was also the first 72-pages issue.

To me it is more ironic that 1940s super-hero tales started filling the pages of a comic titled Fantasy Masterpieces, whose starting premise was to reprint the monster books and high fantasy tales of the 50s and early 60s.

And now that I've seen the covers, I wish I had some of those Harvey Alarming Tales comics that Scott Shaw! mentions above. Besides my love for Kirby, they also feature some nice Howard Nostrand material.

And lookie-here, the Kirby biography book Kirby King of Comics can be pre-ordered from Amazon right now. I gotta click in from Mark Evanier's website (http://www.povonline.com/Buy%20me.htm) so he gets some click-thru credit. But I wonder how Mark managed to cram Jack's career into a mere 224 pages.

- jb the ("it must be the abridged edition") ib -

[T GUy]

John,
I wish I had some of those Harvey Alarming Tales comics that Scott Shaw! mentions above. Besides my love for Kirby, they also feature some nice Howard Nostrand material.

Kirby also did some similar work around the same time for Harvey's Race for the Moon and Black Cat Mystic. Excellent work. However, it's Alarming Adventures which features the seeds of Kamandi, the DNAliens and the Mobius Chair.

And lookie-here, the Kirby biography book Kirby King of Comics can be pre-ordered from Amazon right now. I gotta click in from Mark Evanier's website so he gets some click-thru credit. But I wonder how Mark managed to cram Jack's career into a mere 224 pages.

- jb the ("it must be the abridged edition") ib -

IIRR, Mark Evanier is doing either two books or two versions of the same book, so you're approximately right (Kirby for Dummies and Everything You Wanted to Know About Jack Kirby but Didn't Even Know Enough to Know You Wanted to Know It).

If we're lucky Mark will appear in a puff of smoke, I mean a Boom Tube, and give us the S. P.

[InfoBroker]

Yea, you triggered a memory link about the regular and the giant economy sized editions of the book being mentioned by Mark. Now my joke isn't so funny.

Do you have any of the Harvey Alarming Tales/Adventure books in you collection Tguy? I am especially interested in knowing more about the story for this cover.

http://www.comics.org/graphics/covers/1260/400/1260_4_1.jpg

-jb the ( always wanted my own Mobius Chair) ib -

[InfoBroker]

Everything You Wanted to Know About Jack Kirby but Didn't Even Know Enough to Know You Wanted to Know It).


That title sounds like you and me.

-jb the ("and my two sons, and Berk and Benday-dot, and ...") ib -

[benday-dot]

Swell! And thanks pa, er I mean JB, for the insight. I considered Harvey too. Harvey was always noted for its special consistency in terms of story quality, an extra dedication it seems to being a cut above (much like EC in that respect). Kirby, just might have been inclined to pull a Harvey rabbit (with apologies to the Jimmy Stewart movie ;) ) out of his hat as he cited this example of his work. In the context of the mentioned B.E.M (Bug Eyed Monsters), the famed stock and trade of Jack's Atlas work, I was thinking Kirby might have have indeed had an Atlas story in mind.

Hey, what an obscure, impossible question I've asked. Many thanks for the input. May the flag pitched upon Mt. Kirby forever fly.

[T GUy]

John, Do you have any of the Harvey Alarming Tales/Adventure books in you collection Tguy? I am especially interested in knowing more about the story for this cover.

It's called 'Donovan's Daffy Chair' (with a possible variant spelling) and is the cover story of the comic which first features the seed of the concept that was later to become Kamandi, the Last Boy on Earth.

Translation: so long ago since I last even looked inside this classic issue that I've forgotten more about it than I remember.

I do remember when I first acquired it resenting the 'fact' that Kirby had not done the cover... and years later realising that that is a Kirby cover, but under inks unlike those I had hitherto known from that era (possibly Joe 'Hay' Simon's).

[Lone Ranger]

Here's an interesting book I found while scrolling through the GCD.

It's a 1981 digest with many of the stories discussed in this thread (sadly, no robo-love, though).

The indexer provides a decent synopsis of many of the stories, even the 'Kamindi' connection.

I'd love to get my hands on this one.

Shocking Tales Digest (http://www.comics.org/details.lasso?id=35722)

[scratchie]

This may be an obvious link, but have you asked the author of this blog?

http://jackkirbycomics.blogspot.com/

Does he post on this board?

[InfoBroker]

WOW!

That digest is interesting just for Colorama. Everything else is wonderful bonus material. I wonder what they changed?

I will try pulling out Graphic Story Magazine #16 over the weekend. It has a nice meaty Howard Nostrand interview, along with reprints (smallish like this digest) of Colorama and another classic Nostrand tale "What Happens at 8pm" the later from Harvey's Witches Tales.

-jb the ( and the changes makes me think Steve Bissette talks about this Digest as part of his fantastic History of Horror Comics Lectures that he did at the big comical conventions in the early 90s) ib -

[Kirk G]

Check your notes...

Captain America and soon other 1940s Marvel Super-hero comics started in Fantasy Masterpieces #3, which was also the first 72-pages issue.

To me it is more ironic that 1940s super-hero tales started filling the pages of a comic titled Fantasy Masterpieces, whose starting premise was to reprint the monster books and high fantasy tales of the 50s and early 60s.

And lookie-here, the Kirby biography book Kirby King of Comics can be pre-ordered from Amazon right now. I gotta click in from Mark Evanier's website (http://www.povonline.com/Buy%20me.htm) so he gets some click-thru credit. But I wonder how Mark managed to cram Jack's career into a mere 224 pages.

- jb the ("it must be the abridged edition") ib -

I stand corrected on the Fantasty Masterpieces. I also wondered about this shift. Do you think the first two issues didn't sell well? The first one or two were the only ones that I ever saw, as I got them in my initial load of comics but they were coverless in 1965! And, they were obviously well read! I remember Ditko's "Those Who Change" most vividly, and so, I assume that was the issue that I had for some reason...

[benday-dot]

Here's an interesting book I found while scrolling through the GCD.

It's a 1981 digest with many of the stories discussed in this thread (sadly, no robo-love, though).

The indexer provides a decent synopsis of many of the stories, even the 'Kamindi' connection.

I'd love to get my hands on this one.

Shocking Tales Digest (http://www.comics.org/details.lasso?id=35722)

Coincidentally, I ordered that from Lone Star about 10 days ago. It hasn't arrived yet. Like you LR it was a bit of serendipitous discovery. I was searching for a reprint of the Kirby story " The Fourth Dimension is a Many Splattered Thing." A Harvey Classic. Noting, like JB, that it also contained Colorama I tagged it along to a larger order. I'm not a big fan of the digest format, but hey beggars can't be choosers. I'll report back when it arrives.