In January of 1977, I turned ten-years-old. And around that time, I would up getting my second book collection of vintage comic book stories–a book that, up until that point I didn’t even know existed. We found it in the remaindered section at Two Guys, a regional low-rent department store chain, kind of like the K-Mart of its day. And because I had money that had been given to me for my birthday, I was able to buy it. By that point, it was twelve years old and had gone through several printings–it was, in fact, the very first collection of vintage comic book stories ever published, coming out in 1965 just ahead of the Batman TV show craze.
THE GREAT COMIC BOOK HEROES began life as an article that Jules Feiffer had written for Playboy magazine, of all places. It was a nostalgic look back, warts and all, at the comic books that were a part of his youth and the state of the industry a few years later when he was able to get into the business working for Will Eisner. From there, Feiffer went on to be a successful syndicated cartoonist, his strip primarily appearing in the Village Voice, as well as an accomplished playwright. He was so well-regarded, in fact, that he was able to convince a number of publishers to reprint stories from their back catalog in this hardcover collection–publishers who, up to this point, has never really worked in concert before.
As no good reproduction materials existed, Feiffer worked in concert with DC’s Jack Adler to pioneered a process by which old comic books could be photographed under certain conditions to create a usable black line image, and then recolored. This same process was later used on many of DC’s reprints, in particular the FAMOUS 1st EDITION treasuries–I gather that the reason its use wasn’t more widespread is that it was more costly and time-consuming than was considered worthwhile for a regular comic book release.
Feiffer was also enough of a bigwig in 1965 that he was able to negotiate a minor detente in the legal agreement between DC/national Periodicals and Fawcett Publications, enough to allow him to reprint a single page’s worth of Captain Marvel. In 1977 when I read this book, I didn’t understand why this was a big deal (and in fact I had read this same story twice before already.) I believe it was the one and only exception ever granted, at least up until the point where DC began licensing the rights to Captain Marvel from Fawcett in 1973.
I will confess that, when I first bought this volume, I didn’t read any of Feiffer’s text. That seemed like work to me, who needed it? It was the stories that I was here for! I was hypnotized by the reproduction of one of the comic books that Feiffer had made and sold on the neighborhood street when he was a kid. I had begun to make my own comic books before this, and so this was a very primal point of connection for me–I think I may have read the text of just that one “chapter” (they were all short enough that they were only three or four pages long.)
I also didn’t read the stories featuring the Human Torch, the Sub-Mariner and Captain America that were included in the volume. Why would I? I had learned from past experience that I adamantly disliked Marvel comics, decried them whenever I was asked about them, so there was no need to investigate these stories. It would literally be months, not until the summer of 1977, when, on one dull day with nothing better to do, I finally cracked and read through both Feiffer’s full text and the three Marvel stories. And they (along with the write-ups on Timely in the Steranko History of Comics, coming soon) were enough to compel me to give Marvel another chance. But we’ll get to that in due time.
The one disappointing aspect of Feiffer’s book to me, coming to it twelve years later, is that there were already a number of stories in it that I’d read already. Because Feiffer tried to hit all of the mainstays of the big comic book houses in his reprints, and as often as possible, the opening or origin installments. The only times he varied from this approach was when there was some other aspect of the character or the strip that he was trying to highlight–a number of these series took a little while to completely crystallize in their final forms, and Feiffer took that into account when choosing his stories.
So what was reprinted in this volume? It opened with a two-page origin of Superman, taken not from ACTION COMICS #1 but rather from the more expanded version first shown in SUPERMAN #1. Thereafter, he ran a story that he sourced from SUPERMAN #3 but which was first published in ACTION COMICS #5. It’s really the first full story in which all of the quintessential elements of the Superman series coalesce: the Lois-Clark-Superman relationship in particular. There are several pages in the middle of it that were clearly reworked from newspaper strip samples, panels extended and reformatted into comic book pages haphazardly.
Following the single page of Captain Marvel he could show, Feiffer then reprints the origin of Batman, from BATMAN #1 (which I’d read), as well as the first story featuring the Joker (likewise). This was about a year in, by which point Robin had been introduced, and wit the debut of the Joker all of the elements were in place. But not new to me. Next was a relatively late Human Torch story from MARVEL MYSTERY COMICS #20–like Batman, by this point the Torch’s young partner Toro had come into the series, and it had settled down into typical super-heroics. But I didn’t read it, not yet.
A pair of stories that I’d already experienced came next: the first adventure of the Flash (my third copy of it!) from FLASH COMICS #1 and the first installment of Green lantern from ALL-AMERICAN COMICS #16. Next came a solo Spectre story from ALL-STAR COMICS #1. I was familiar with this early version of the Spectre from the FAMOUS 1st EDITION reprint of ALL-STAR #3, but he wasn’t especially interesting to me. Because he was already dead and could do literally anything, there wasn’t a lot of drama to be found in his stories. Even as a kid, this deficit was apparent to me. Superman, at least, had to struggle to accomplish whatever his goal was.
Next came an adventure of Hawkman, sourced from FLASH COMICS #5. Here, Feiffer skipped the earliest adventures of the winged wonder so as to showcase the work of Shelly Moldoff on the strip (and in particular how often he was swiping Flash Gordon panels by Alex Raymond, which happened everywhere.) This was followed by a Wonder Woman story from WONDER WOMAN #2–actually, it was a single chapter of a four-chapter larger story, but I wouldn’t discover this for decades. Feiffer chose it as a good example of some of the strange sexuality that was operating under the hood of what at first glance appeared to be a patriotic heroine series. This was the stuff that really made Wonder Woman sizzle, and the lack of which one of the reasons why her series had such a lack of pop in the 60s and 70s.
Then came a Sub-Mariner adventure from MARVEL MYSTERY COMICS #7, by which point creator Bill Everett had worked out the bugs. I didn’t read it for several months, but essentially it’s an orgy of destruction, as Namor returns to Manhattan to carve out vengeance for his undersea race by wrecking and destroying his way across the city–he even at one point accosts Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia. There isn’t much plot, only carnage–and it ends with Namor’s friend Berry Dean warning him that the Human Torch would be on his trail. But that historic meeting wasn’t included.
I also skipped the origin of Captain America, from CAPTAIN AMERICA COMICS #1. It’s a pretty crude piece of work, like most of what was reprinted in this volume. There are only hints of the explosiveness that Jack Kirby would bring to the comic book page in the next few issues, to say nothing of the next few decades. The pages were a little bit more jigsaw puzzle-y, but only a little bit. That would change as Kirby got going on Cap.
Next came the first Plastic Man adventure, from POLICE COMICS #1, and which I’d read a few weeks earlier in SECRET ORIGINS OF THE SUPER DC HEROES. It was still a fun tale, but one that only hinted at the inventiveness that Jack Cole would bring to the character and to the page. I felt the same way about the Spirit based on the story that Feiffer reprinted here. He spent a lot of time talking up how innovative and impressive a series it was, but from this sampling, I just couldn’t see it. Part of that, no doubt, is that most scholars consider the best period of Eisner’s Spirit to run from around 1946-1950 or so. But Feiffer was working for Eisner for most of that period–he wrote several of the most memorable tales–and so his interest was in the earliest Spirit adventures, the ones he read as a kid.
So it was a highly-enjoyable volume, and one that would have a greater impact on me over the course of time, but also slightly disappointing. But I was glad to have it, in particular because its existence came as a total surprise to me. At this point in time, there were precious few compilations of old comic book stories, so each one was like a treasured gem.
Here’s another good one, my subscription copy of JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA #140–so good that my brother Ken bought a second copy for himself, as he did from time to time. This was the first issue of JLA to completely fill the oversized format with a single story, an approach that would last for the next couple of years. This was really only possible thanks to the speed of JLA artist Dick Dillin. Dillin is one of those long-working craftsmen whose work is often overlooked–and for sure, it could become clunky at times, or overcrowded when he was juggling so many super heroes. But he was swift enough to be able to produce a full double-sized book every month, something that was a rarity even in 1976
Writer Steve Englehart had come over from Marvel the issue before, bringing a Marvel sense of characterization to his JLA stories which would continue to develop over the coming issues. To that, with this issue, he added a Marvel sense of continuity–this entire storyline turns upon taking a failed Jack Kirby launch for a new iteration of Manhunter and tying it into the origins on the Green Lantern Corps. It was an effective trick, of a kind that didn’t typically get showcased at DC, where continuity was still an iffy proposition.
The story opens at Bruce Wayne’s midtown penthouse, where Green lantern, Black Canary and Green Arrow happen to be, and where they’re attacked by the aforementioned Manhunter. GA and BC are quickly subdued, and GL gives himself up–and even the appearance of the Batman (who has, no kidding, been standing on the roof all the while this fight was happening) can stop him from making off with the hard-traveling heroes. Manhunter does confirm for Batman that he is related tot he Archie Goodwin/Walt Simonson Manhunter as well, another continuity piece looped together. Superman and Wonder Woman arrive in time for Superman to grab a piece of Manhunter’s teleporting craft, and the Flash is summoned to track its particular vibrational pattern.
Flash is able to track Manhunter’s teleportation to Nepal, which is where the story transitions to next, as Manhunter reveals himself as fallible former prosecutor Mark Shaw before the order’s Grandmaster–no Manhunter up until this time has ever left a trace, so in revealing their existence to the Justice League, he has failed their order. The groggy Green Arrow and Black Canary make a break for freedom but are foiled–and Green Lantern doesn’t help out at all. In fact, his Power Ring is uncharged, and when the Manhunters accuse him of a cosmic crime, his is strangely silent.
Following the trail to Nepal, Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman and Flash are ambushed by the Grandmaster, and imprisoned in a shrinking energy box that even Superman cannot break free of. But in typical JLA style, Superman and Flash combine their speed powers, accelerating Flash past his previous limits of vibrating such that he can slip between the molecules of the deadly cube and then secure their escape. The Grandmaster reveals to the liberated JLA that the order of the Manhunters are agents of justice, bounty hunters who for centuries have plied their trade across the cosmos. And now they have come for Green Lantern, for the gravest crime of all.
And so it’s time for Green Lantern to reveal his crime–a crime for which he intends to resign from the Justice League and give up his badge as Green Lantern. For the previous day, in attempting to protect a planet in his space-sector from a meteor shower, something went terribly wrong, and instead the Lantern’s power-beam was reflected off the target moon and had destroyed the planet Orinda itself and all life upon it. The JLA is skeptical of this account, and the Grandmaster gives them some time to collect evidence of Hal Jordan’s guilt or innocence–but not very much time.
Leaving Green Arrow and Black Canary behind with Green Lantern as hostages, the JLA journeys out into space to the moon of Orinda looking for answers. There, they find a member of the Guardians of the Universe under attack by an angry mob–the Guardians created and oversee the Green lantern Corps, and so the populace of the moon of Orinda blame him for the planet’s destruction. The JLA comes to his rescue, and then the group briefly powwows with Governor Tozad of the moon colony, who reveals to them that the Manhunters are known at the highest levels of government across the galaxy. Together, the group heads out to check out the desert area of the moon, where Green lantern’s power-beam would have struck.
Back on Earth, Green Arrow trades barbs with Manhunter Mark Shaw, until another Guardian appears in the room. This new arrival blasts Shaw into unconsciousness, frees the three JLA members and insists that Green Lantern recharge his Power Ring with the power battery he has brought with him. Despite GL’s protestations, the Guardian insists that more is going on here than GL realizes, and that the trio must escape the Manhunters and avoid their pursuit. Reluctantly, the guilt-stricken Green Lantern blasts his teammates to safety.
Back on the devastated moon of Orinda, the Leaguers find themselves attacked by a mythological creature, a Magnosaurus, and the powers of Superman, Wonder Woman and the Flash prove useless against it. It’s Batman who figures out the game–the Magnosaur isn’t real, it’s just an illusion. What’s more, the fact that the Moon is still in a stable orbit indicates that Orinda must still exist and just be cloaked from view. But who or what could cause that?
It’s the Guardian who provides the answer, by revealing that Governor Tozad himself is one of the Manhunters, whose aim, it seems, is to discredit the Guardians and the Green Lantern Corps. And now that their secret is out in the open, it means open warfare between the Cult of the Manhunter and the Justice League of America. And that’s where this installment ends, in a To Be Continued!
But that wasn’t quite the end of the issue, as after the letters page came the inaugural edition of a new regular feature, showcasing what was going on 100 issues earlier in JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA. Because I was hugely interested in the history and earlier stories of these characters, this feature was my meat–and this short two-page recap of JLA #40 from ten years previous was simultaneously intriguing and imagination-spurring. I loved these two pages almost more than the rest of the issue, to be honest.
Jack Kirby, with Inks and Colors by Al Williamson.
This is awesome. Is that The Watcher?
Yes.
Unpublished sketch by Kirby of Uatu, before he took up residence on the Moon.
Kirby had a lot of ideas for Uatu, and a lot of them never saw publication because he went to DC in the 70s and he was pissed at Stan.
TLDR explanation: Stan was being… Stan.
Also, Jack Kirby was obviously a creative genius… BUT he NEEDED an editor.
Think of Jack Kirby like a fire hydrant on a hot day, with a couple of kids twisting one of the ends off of the nozzle: EVERYBODY in the neighborhood has fun in the water. And there is plenty of water for all of the kids in the neighborhood to get a chance play.
But… the water is not exactly drinkable. Some of the water is crystal clear. Some of it… not so much: Kirby.
Jack needed an editor, but that does not mean that he shared all of his ideas.
this pencil drawing of Uatu is a crystal clear glass of pure Kirby Gold.
I wonder what he had planned for him?
for one thing, Uatu was kind of bad at the whole “Sworn to not Interfere” Schtick. he was quite fond of interfering, actually.
I wonder what his end game was?
and why protect the Earth?
Uatu was supposed to watch the entirety of the Milky Way Galaxy, but he spent the entirety of his tenure as the Watcher on Earth’s Moon.
So, again: WHY?
not the obvious “because the comics take place on Earth” answer. seriously, an in story-answer. does anybody know? because I sure as shit don’t, and I would like to have that knowledge.
Earth X got pretty close to answering my question, but Marvel decided that it is not canon. so… I will continue to wonder.
One more thing, anybody else notice that Jack’s Fourth World had one sizable difference from his Marvel Cosmic work:
DC’s Fourth World has boundaries.
The source wall is the edge of existence. It is also where the Gods are sent to die. when the Fourth World Ended (Final Crisis), all of the New Gods rejoined with the Source. They were then reborn in new forms, but their older forms became part of the source wall.
Darkseid kinda looks like one of the Easter Island Statues, right? The Prevailing Theory is that the Easter Island statues were created as memorials for loved ones that passed. Tombstones. Darkseid is a Tombstone. His entire goal in existence is to end all of existence. Fitting, isn’t it? That Darkseid would want to end the Fourth World.
So… What happened to the First, Second, or Third? The Source Wall is where the relics of those Worlds are kept. A Wall.
A wall around existence. Meaning that it is finite. Maybe Jack was feeling sad when he made the New Gods, or maybe he just came to grips with his own mortality. I dunno.
But, Marvel does not have a wall around it. Just an endless expanse of questions and wonder.
I am not saying these things to give answers.
I am saying them to provoke questions for which I do not have answers.
If you want the answers, a good place to start would be to read some more comics.
Come on in, the water feels awesome.
…
Technically speaking, the Source Wall was a post-Kirby addition to the mythos?
Pretty sure Jack’s version of it was just a wall out in space, but later writers took the ball and ran with it to expand its significance. I think you’re right that Jack didn’t intend it to be a boundary, but that’s really the purpose that it serves.
“The source wall is a solid barrier surrounding the multiverse, beyond which lies the source.”
It’s the wall at the end of the New Gods’ existence. So, maybe Jack meant it as giving his New Gods a sense of mortality.
Regardless of Jack’s intent, it does raise the same question. Why does DC have a boundary wall around its existence?
I’m…pretty sure Kirby’s version didn’t have a wall, just the Promethean Galaxy, a vast reach of space filled with folks who’ve tried to cross it bound to the remains of their equipment:
Metron notes that he has no idea what’s beyond it, and WANTS to give it a shot someday, but he hasn’t the guts.
“This one tried to engulf the Barrier… …beyond it lies the source.”
So the Promethean tried to eat his way through the source wall, and wound up chained to a rock and floating through space. A barrier at the edge of all space and time, beyond which lies the source.
Again, there’s no indication that there’s an actual physical wall on the other side of the Promethean Galaxy, just that on the other side of it is The Source, and no one’s managed to make it through.
It being a wall made up of giants was IIRC, something…I think it was Starlin came up with?
It says it right there on the bottom right of the page you posted. There’s a “barrier” between the universe and the Source.
We’re essentially debating what that barrier looks like.
It was probably Starlin that made it a physical wall. Maybe even in Cosmic Odyssey with Mignola?
Is it just me, or was Starlin’s New Gods clunky as fuck? Something about it always falls flat for me. Probably because it’s a different creator, one who is supremely talented in his own right, playing in Kirby’s sandbox. Something about it doesn’t work for me. Meh. But it’s all cannon now.
Grant Morrison seems to be the best writer to tackle the New Gods and handle them correctly.
Jack Kirby, with Inks and Colors by Al Williamson.
This is awesome. Is that The Watcher?
Yes.
Unpublished sketch by Kirby of Uatu, before he took up residence on the Moon.
Kirby had a lot of ideas for Uatu, and a lot of them never saw publication because he went to DC in the 70s and he was pissed at Stan.
TLDR explanation: Stan was being… Stan.
Also, Jack Kirby was obviously a creative genius… BUT he NEEDED an editor.
Think of Jack Kirby like a fire hydrant on a hot day, with a couple of kids twisting one of the ends off of the nozzle: EVERYBODY in the neighborhood has fun in the water. And there is plenty of water for all of the kids in the neighborhood to get a chance play.
But… the water is not exactly drinkable. Some of the water is crystal clear. Some of it… not so much: Kirby.
Jack needed an editor, but that does not mean that he shared all of his ideas.
this pencil drawing of Uatu is a crystal clear glass of pure Kirby Gold.
I wonder what he had planned for him?
for one thing, Uatu was kind of bad at the whole “Sworn to not Interfere” Schtick. he was quite fond of interfering, actually.
I wonder what his end game was?
and why protect the Earth?
Uatu was supposed to watch the entirety of the Milky Way Galaxy, but he spent the entirety of his tenure as the Watcher on Earth’s Moon.
So, again: WHY?
not the obvious “because the comics take place on Earth” answer. seriously, an in story-answer. does anybody know? because I sure as shit don’t, and I would like to have that knowledge.
Earth X got pretty close to answering my question, but Marvel decided that it is not canon. so… I will continue to wonder.
One more thing, anybody else notice that Jack’s Fourth World had one sizable difference from his Marvel Cosmic work:
DC’s Fourth World has boundaries.
The source wall is the edge of existence. It is also where the Gods are sent to die. when the Fourth World Ended (Final Crisis), all of the New Gods rejoined with the Source. They were then reborn in new forms, but their older forms became part of the source wall.
Darkseid kinda looks like one of the Easter Island Statues, right? The Prevailing Theory is that the Easter Island statues were created as memorials for loved ones that passed. Tombstones. Darkseid is a Tombstone. His entire goal in existence is to end all of existence. Fitting, isn’t it? That Darkseid would want to end the Fourth World.
So… What happened to the First, Second, or Third? The Source Wall is where the relics of those Worlds are kept. A Wall.
A wall around existence. Meaning that it is finite. Maybe Jack was feeling sad when he made the New Gods, or maybe he just came to grips with his own mortality. I dunno.
But, Marvel does not have a wall around it. Just an endless expanse of questions and wonder.
I am not saying these things to give answers.
I am saying them to provoke questions for which I do not have answers.
If you want the answers, a good place to start would be to read some more comics.
Come on in, the water feels awesome.
…
Technically speaking, the Source Wall was a post-Kirby addition to the mythos?
Pretty sure Jack’s version of it was just a wall out in space, but later writers took the ball and ran with it to expand its significance. I think you’re right that Jack didn’t intend it to be a boundary, but that’s really the purpose that it serves.
“The source wall is a solid barrier surrounding the multiverse, beyond which lies the source.”
It’s the wall at the end of the New Gods’ existence. So, maybe Jack meant it as giving his New Gods a sense of mortality.
Regardless of Jack’s intent, it does raise the same question. Why does DC have a boundary wall around its existence?
I’m…pretty sure Kirby’s version didn’t have a wall, just the Promethean Galaxy, a vast reach of space filled with folks who’ve tried to cross it bound to the remains of their equipment:
Metron notes that he has no idea what’s beyond it, and WANTS to give it a shot someday, but he hasn’t the guts.
“This one tried to engulf the Barrier… …beyond it lies the source.”
So the Promethean tried to eat his way through the source wall, and wound up chained to a rock and floating through space. A barrier at the edge of all space and time, beyond which lies the source.
Jack Kirby, with Inks and Colors by Al Williamson.
This is awesome. Is that The Watcher?
Yes.
Unpublished sketch by Kirby of Uatu, before he took up residence on the Moon.
Kirby had a lot of ideas for Uatu, and a lot of them never saw publication because he went to DC in the 70s and he was pissed at Stan.
TLDR explanation: Stan was being… Stan.
Also, Jack Kirby was obviously a creative genius… BUT he NEEDED an editor.
Think of Jack Kirby like a fire hydrant on a hot day, with a couple of kids twisting one of the ends off of the nozzle: EVERYBODY in the neighborhood has fun in the water. And there is plenty of water for all of the kids in the neighborhood to get a chance play.
But… the water is not exactly drinkable. Some of the water is crystal clear. Some of it… not so much: Kirby.
Jack needed an editor, but that does not mean that he shared all of his ideas.
this pencil drawing of Uatu is a crystal clear glass of pure Kirby Gold.
I wonder what he had planned for him?
for one thing, Uatu was kind of bad at the whole “Sworn to not Interfere” Schtick. he was quite fond of interfering, actually.
I wonder what his end game was?
and why protect the Earth?
Uatu was supposed to watch the entirety of the Milky Way Galaxy, but he spent the entirety of his tenure as the Watcher on Earth’s Moon.
So, again: WHY?
not the obvious “because the comics take place on Earth” answer. seriously, an in story-answer. does anybody know? because I sure as shit don’t, and I would like to have that knowledge.
Earth X got pretty close to answering my question, but Marvel decided that it is not canon. so… I will continue to wonder.
One more thing, anybody else notice that Jack’s Fourth World had one sizable difference from his Marvel Cosmic work:
DC’s Fourth World has boundaries.
The source wall is the edge of existence. It is also where the Gods are sent to die. when the Fourth World Ended (Final Crisis), all of the New Gods rejoined with the Source. They were then reborn in new forms, but their older forms became part of the source wall.
Darkseid kinda looks like one of the Easter Island Statues, right? The Prevailing Theory is that the Easter Island statues were created as memorials for loved ones that passed. Tombstones. Darkseid is a Tombstone. His entire goal in existence is to end all of existence. Fitting, isn’t it? That Darkseid would want to end the Fourth World.
So… What happened to the First, Second, or Third? The Source Wall is where the relics of those Worlds are kept. A Wall.
A wall around existence. Meaning that it is finite. Maybe Jack was feeling sad when he made the New Gods, or maybe he just came to grips with his own mortality. I dunno.
But, Marvel does not have a wall around it. Just an endless expanse of questions and wonder.
I am not saying these things to give answers.
I am saying them to provoke questions for which I do not have answers.
If you want the answers, a good place to start would be to read some more comics.
Jack Kirby did several illustrations of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles on behalf of his friend, Kevin Eastman. He supposedly liked the idea and thought it had great potential.
It was pretty easy to get sketches from Jack at the end. In the years before he died, Jack Kirby was not well liked in the comics world. He was rather like Michael Jackson in that he became a near demigod after death, after a decade or so of being taken for granted.
