Tag Jack Kirby

Why did the original Silver Surfer run fail? #1-18

A little more than two years after the first book hit the stands it was part of a Marvel wave of cancellations due to poor sales (Nick Fury, Doctor Strange, and The Silver Surfer) and suspensions (X-Men & Captain Marvel) and it was gone. I can’t say I was that sorry to see him go. What happened? There are a gazillion reasons and theories why the Surfer failed in his first solo effort. I will list some of my own reasons I thought the book failed and then we will take a look at the high’s and lows of the run itself. For anybody who thinks this run is not a failure I say this – when you are cancelled and the Sub-Mariner continues you have done something wrong.
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Cap’s Artist Alley Part One: Captain America 109-113

This eleven issue run has two strong story arcs, and features Rogues gallery of Marvel artists. Early Daredevil and late Original X-Men runs also feature a stellar group of artists in them, however I think they fall just a little short of this one. Jack Kirby, Jim Steranko, John Romita, John Buscema, Sal Buscema, and Gene Colan all get a crack at Captain America here. All of the stories are written by Stan Lee. This edition of Arcs and Runs will be as much about the artists as the stories themselves, and will be in two parts.
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Heritage 2014 Feb 20-22 Comic Art Signature Auction

This week Heritage wrapped up its 2014 February 20 - 22 Vintage Comics & Comic Art Signature Auction, covering a large array of classic covers and stunning artwork. A nice mix of silver age covers, modern classics and a range of strip art. The big winner was the cover to Action Comics issue 15 for $286,800.00, but these five pieces caught my eye.
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Arcs & Runs #2 | Fantastic Four 44-51

This instalment of Arcs & Runs will look at the most important run of comics in the silver age IMO. DC Showcase (revival of super-heroes - new Flash and Green Lantern) and The Amazing Spider-Man, both receive and deserve a lot of consideration as the most important run of the silver age. Spider-Man is easily the most popular character to emerge from the 60’s; however he may not have even happened if it weren’t for a comic called the Fantastic Four.
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Between Nuance and Bombast

I was having a conversation with some friends the other day and we were discussing, of all things, Golden Age Romance comics. The ones that were created by Joe Simon and Jack Kirby, Leonard Starr and Matt Baker. Titles like Young Love and My Date and Young Romance. These were huge in their day and were showcases for some of the best sequential storytelling to grace the pages of four colour comics!
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Arcs & Runs

We will start with an arc from my second favourite title: Tales of Suspense. I thought it was only fair that this title get the chance to be number one, as it has always been runner-up to my all-time favourite; Amazing Spider-Man. Our featured arc covers the last story ever told in the title. It doesn’t end in Tales of Suspense, but spills over and concludes in a ‘bridge book” IM/SM # 1, and the two new titles CA#100 and IM#1. All of the books feature Jack Kirby (CA) and Gene Colan (IM) artwork.
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