Just posted this elsewhere... thought I'd share. Enjoy!
"MY 1ST KIRBY"
I might as well get the ball rolling...
My intro to Jack Kirby was-- of all things-- F.F. ANNUAL #3. What a place to come in. I'd seen 1 or 2 of the "Marvel Superheroes Show" cartoons (I recall part of an Iron Man episode), but it didn't make a dent somehow. But when the 1967 F.F. cartoon debuted, I watched from the 1st week. SPIDER-MAN debuted the same day (a half-hour later), but initially, it was the F.F. that grabbed me more. Looking back, that 1st episode-- "Menace of the Mole Man" (an adaptation of "Return of the Mole Man"-- I still can't figure why they skipped the 1st story) remains one of the show's best episodes.
About 2 months later, I was in my barber shop, reading F.F. ANNUAL #3. (It had obviously been sitting around for quite some time, as it came out 2 years earlier!) Of course, the attraction was, I knew the lead characters. I also remembered seeing Iron Man, but all these others-- talk about overwhelming. That book had 4 stories in it-- and I wasn't even halfway thru when it was time to go home. My barber said, "Not done? That's okay. Take it home with you" I long ago lost track of how many times I've read that issue. Especially the first 2 stories. Over the course of many years, I slowly was introduced to pretty much all of the multitude of characters in "Bedlam At The Baxter Building!" Re-reading all my 60's Marvels a few years back, the story stands as pretty much a "climax" or "grand finale" to the entire era of early-60's Marvel, a celebration of everything and everyone that had come along between 1961-65.
It was slightly jarring to see Reed & Sue get married-- as they were already married on the TV show. And the reprints in the back all took place when they were still just dating.
I still think one of the crowning moments of the story is when Daredevil takes on Hydra single-handedly. Oddly enough, it was only VERY recently I took a really close look at some of those panels, and realized that most of the men on that speeding truck were NOT Hydra agents, but were actually neo-Nazi stormtrooper types. In other words, they were The Hate Monger's men! (Even though HE was long dead.) As revealed some months later in STRANGE TALES (if you read between the lines), it's clear Hydra was supplying The Hate Monger with his equipment. Since they're both Nazi outfits, that figures.
Anyway, pages and scenes go by, and we find ourselves at the waterfront, where ATTUMA (who I'd seen on the cartoon show) and his entire fleet rises from the water, ready to attack NYC. And, as described, in "the biggest coindcence of the year", the speeding truck driven by the BLIND guy (Daredevil) arrives just at that moment. He crashes it off the edge of a dock, and while jumping from the cab, thinks to himself, it can explode "harmlessly" in the river. I don't think Attuma and his entire undersea army felt that way. (heeheehee)
It cracks me up that one of the heroes with the least-impressive power levels winds up single-handedly saving the entire city.
In the back, clearly marked as a reprint, was not only a full-blown Dr. Doom story (he'd been on 3 episodes of the carton show), but my introduction to SUB-MARINER (who, due to bizarre circumstances of licensing, was NOT on the F.F. show-- GO FIGURE!!). I really didn't know what to make of this guy at first. He goes around wearing next to nothing (like TARZAN, who I had first seen only a couple months earlier in the form of Ron Ely), but was super-strong like SUPERMAN. But which side is he on? Over the course of one story, his allegiance changes, and his motives and attitudes seem fluid.
In retrospect, I tend to think "Captives of the Deadly Duo" MAY be the single BEST Sub-Mariner story in all of the 1960's. When they first brought him back, they deliberately stripped away many years of character growth, in order to return him to how he was when he first appeared. This is a BAD habit of far too many writers, especially Roy Thomas, who's just obsessed with the 1940's and "ORIGIN!!!" stories in general. But quickly, he developed past that. Unfortunately, after FF #6, he seemed to bounce back and forth depending on the vaguaries of individual stories. And then, when they gave him his own series again, it was like some IMPOSTER had taken his place. Not only did his manner of speech mutate into something never seen before, but he also became absurdly muscle-bound.
The 2 stories reprinted in the back, both halves of FF #11, seem to get very little respect these days. I think they're fun. Part of "A Visit With The Fantastic Four" served as part of the inspiration for "The Way It Began", the cartoon that retold the origins of both the FF and Dr. Doom. It also featured the flying saucer from Planet X (another story adapted for TV) for added continuity. And "The Impossible Man" was just zany fun! I think too many younger fans (and this includes many who became pros) take their comics WAY too seriously.
Next?
Henry
