If you look very closely, you can see Kirby's Spirit World and just make out In the Days of the Mob.
One of the joys of the Comics Characters Club in school was telling the BGE pupils about Jack Kirby's 100th anniversary. The oldest comic they'd seen at that point was somebody's dad's 90s Wolverine with a die-cut cover ( which, if you're 12, is from ancient history.) It's been educational- I hope- to show the BGE kids Marvel's True Believers reprints of Kirby milestones.
Groot: obviously, kids and adults will immediately recognise this timber tyrant from the GotG movies. But this story is from the days when a Sporr, a Zzutak or a Fin Fang Foom invaded and was dispatched every month. Amusingly, Groot's first appearance is half the length of the debut of the original Hulk, Xemnu.
Subsequently renamed the Titan to prevent confusion, the fluffy fiend with the elongated arms resurfaced in my first ever issue of The Defenders.
Devil Dinosaur: another Marvel monster from Kirby, in a title which reminds me of Kamandi crossed with 2001. A selection recognised by club members from my classroom, where I keep some copies of the current Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur title.
I thought it prudent to shy away from the topic of Kirby's re-enactment of the Flight from Eden, however.
Black Panther: Also familiar to a wider audience now, thanks to the Marvel movies. This was probably my own favourite reprint, in that I had first seen a partial reprint in an early 80s Brit-Marvel title.
It's a wild, non-stop action romp: very different to the cerebral Panther's Rage. When I reviewed that collection - See http://somefantasticplace-dougie.blogspot.co.uk/2017/05/walk-like-panther.html , I said he was a difficult character to like. Regal, obviously, mysterious and remote, here he is vigorous and dynamic- of course, it's Kirby- but overshadowed in his own book by the supporting cast.
The Collectors- represented by Mr. Little and the slinky princess Zanda -remind me of the Scavengers in the second-last Forever People. Interestingly, we never see T'Challa without his cowl until the back-up strip: the rattling Bond-esque Zemo resurrection yarn from Tales of Suspense.
Eternals: the sprawling and inventive tapestry of the premier instalment of Kirby's ancient astronauts saga enthralled me in the mid-70s but it never became the New Gods mark two I hoped for. The focus was more diffuse and the distribution even more erratic than the early 70s. The King had visited these ideas before in the earliest Kree appearances, so Eternals has never worked for me as a transplant in the mainstream Marvel Universe.
Speaking of the Fantastic Four, it's bizarre and incredible that not one single issue was reprinted for this anniversary -although they have a supporting role in the Inhumans reprint. I haven't bought that since I got the entire series in hardback from Fast Forward in Ayr recently. Similarly, I read Ant-Man's exploits in Giffnock library last autumn. I wasn't interested in early Thor or Iron Man but I might still pick up the Captain America issue.
Meanwhile, DC also celebrated Kirby's legacy with specials comprising new material and reprints. We'll look at those titles next time, ranging from the gods of New Genesis to the newsboys of Suicide Slum.
Ideas for future posts : still thinking about a post on Dan Dare; MWOM at 45; Jamie McCrimmon; Star Trek novels and Edgar Rice Burroughs' Mars. These may be forthcoming this autumn.
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