Kirb Your Enthusiasm (14)

By: David Smay
March 1, 2011

Fourteenth in a series of posts, each one analyzing a single panel from a Jack Kirby-drawn comic book.

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I scanned this panel from Mister Miracle #9 (July 1972) out of the very comic I bought off a spinner rack at the corner 7-Eleven that year. It only cost twenty cents for Jack Kirby to blow my eleven year-old mind. Looking at it now I’m distracted by how much pleasure I take in the four-color printing process where the cheap, pulpy paper absorbed the dyes. I’ve seen reproductions on glossy stock and while the composition remains strong, it isn’t as beautiful; I think Kirby designed the drawing to pull down into the page. Glossy reproductions of Kirby’s work are akin to that first generation of CD releases with their too-tinny brightness, lacking warmth and depth.

Let me extend that musical parallel to praise in particular Mike Royer’s inks. Remember when Sonic Youth toured with Neil Young and talked him into releasing an entire CD of nothing but feedback? That’s what Mike Royer does for Kirby, unleashing raw, ink-black power. It’s difficult to reclaim the element of shock that ran through comic fandom at Royer’s inking, clutching at their pearls as their faces flushed — simply because Royer chose to amplify Kirby’s pencils instead of muting them.

The panel itself is just another everyday Kirby master class in composition. You see exactly why everybody stashes Kirby in their swipe files. Note the genius of the aero-discs as a method of flight. Kirby was always mucking about with ways to make flying look more dynamic, whether it was Thor launching his hammer or the Silver Surfer. But I think the aero-discs were his best innovation because it allows him to bring the poses of a skater into the sky — and what better way to unleash speed and power onto a panel than pulling from hockey and roller derby. It’s fast, brutal, strenuous and gliding. In contrast, the Para-Demons come after Scott Free like a sky full of aerial linebackers trying to drag down a speed skater.

This panel comes from the story “Himon,” which concluded a three-issue storyline that returned Scott Free to Apokolips, and explored his original escape. Considering that Darkseid’s primary motive is to acquire the Anti-Life Equation, which extinguishes all free will, the most surprising aspect of Apokolips is that it is an anarchic free-for-all where different branches of Darkseid’s forces routinely bludgeon each other with manic glee. New Genesis looks like a Swiss day spa.

The character of Himon, a benevolent Fagin training his misfits to create their own Mother Boxes and find The Source, reflects back on Kirby himself and his mentorship of young talents. Similarly, Apokolips plays like the rough-scraped Lower East Side that forged Kirby, and it’s not hard to see Scott Free’s desire to be free, to escape, to find The Source as a metaphor for the young Jacob Kurtzberg’s desire to rise above the streets, to realize the visions he could imagine. This story thrilled me as a kid because I saw myself in Scott. But it’s even more affecting to me now when I see it as a dialogue across time from the older Kirby as Himon — masterful, weary with loss, unbowed — reaching back to his younger, yearning self.

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2011: KIRB YOUR ENTHUSIASM (Jack Kirby panels): Douglas Rushkoff on THE ETERNALS | John Hilgart on BLACK MAGIC | Gary Panter on DEMON | Dan Nadel on OMAC | Deb Chachra on CAPTAIN AMERICA | Mark Frauenfelder on KAMANDI | Jason Grote on MACHINE MAN | Ben Greenman on SANDMAN | Annie Nocenti on THE X-MEN | Greg Rowland on THE FANTASTIC FOUR | Joshua Glenn on TALES TO ASTONISH | Lynn Peril on YOUNG LOVE | Jim Shepard on STRANGE TALES | David Smay on MISTER MIRACLE | Joe Alterio on BLACK PANTHER | Sean Howe on THOR | Mark Newgarden on JIMMY OLSEN | Dean Haspiel on DEVIL DINOSAUR | Matthew Specktor on THE AVENGERS | Terese Svoboda on TALES OF SUSPENSE | Matthew Wells on THE NEW GODS | Toni Schlesinger on REAL CLUE | Josh Kramer on THE FOREVER PEOPLE | Glen David Gold on JOURNEY INTO MYSTERY | Douglas Wolk on 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY | MORE EXEGETICAL COMMENTARIES: Joshua Glenn on Kirby’s Radium Age Sci-Fi Influences | Chris Lanier on Kirby vs. Kubrick | Scott Edelman recalls when the FF walked among us | Adam McGovern is haunted by a panel from THE NEW GODS | Matt Seneca studies the sensuality of Kirby’s women | Btoom! Rob Steibel settles the Jack Kirby vs. Stan Lee question | Galactus Lives! Rob Steibel analyzes a single Kirby panel in six posts | Danny Fingeroth figgers out The Thing | Adam McGovern on four decades (so far) of Kirby’s “Fourth World” mythos | Jack Kirby: Anti-Fascist Pipe Smoker

ALSO ON HILOBROW: Joe Alterio’s Cablegate Comix | HiLobrow posts about comics and cartoonists | HiLobrow posts about science fiction | The New Gods generation

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2014: KERN YOUR ENTHUSIASM (typefaces): Matthew Battles on ALDINE ITALIC | Adam McGovern on DATA 70 | Sherri Wasserman on TORONTO SUBWAY | Sarah Werner on JOHNSTON’S “HAMLET” | Douglas Wolk on TODD KLONE | Mark Kingwell on GILL SANS | Joe Alterio on AKZIDENZ-GROTESK | Suzanne Fischer on CALIFORNIA BRAILLE | Gary Panter on SHE’S NOT THERE | Deb Chachra on FAUX DEVANAGARI | Peggy Nelson on FUTURA | Tom Nealon on JENSON’S ROMAN | Rob Walker on SAVANNAH SIGN | Tony Leone on TRADE GOTHIC BOLD CONDENSED NO. 20 | Chika Azuma on KUMON WORKSHEET | Chris Spurgeon on ELECTRONIC DISPLAY | Amanda French on DIPLOMA REGULAR | Steve Price on SCREAM QUEEN | Alissa Walker on CHICAGO | Helene Silverman on CHINESE SHIPPING BOX | Tim Spencer on SHATTER | Jessamyn West on COMIC SANS | Whitney Trettien on WILKINS’S REAL CHARACTER | Cintra Wilson on HERMÈS vs. HOTDOG | Jacob Covey on GOTHAM.

2013: HERC YOUR ENTHUSIASM (old-school hip hop tracks): Luc Sante on “Spoonin’ Rap” | Dallas Penn on “Rapper’s Delight” | Werner Von Wallenrod on “Rappin’ Blow” | DJ Frane on “The Incredible Fulk” | Paul Devlin on “The Adventures of Super Rhyme” | Phil Dyess-Nugent on “That’s the Joint” | Adam McGovern on “Freedom” | David Abrams on “Rapture” | Andrew Hultkrans on “The New Rap Language” | Tim Carmody on “Jazzy Sensation (Bronx Version)” | Drew Huge on “Can I Get a Soul Clap” | Oliver Wang on “The Adventures of Grandmaster Flash on the Wheels of Steel” | Douglas Wolk on “Making Cash Money” | Adrienne Crew on “The Message” | Dart Adams on “Pak Jam” | Alex Belth on “Buffalo Gals” | Joshua Glenn on “Ya Mama” | Phil Freeman on “No Sell Out” | Nate Patrin on “Death Mix Live, Pt. 2” | Brian Berger on “White Lines (Don’t Do It)” | Cosmo Baker on “Here We Go (Live at the Funhouse)” | Colleen Werthmann on “Rockit” | Roy Christopher on “The Coldest Rap” | Dan Reines on “The Dream Team is in the House” | Franklin Bruno on The Lockers.

2012: KIRK YOUR ENTHUSIASM (Captain Kirk scenes): Dafna Pleban: Justice or vengeance? | Mark Kingwell : Kirk teaches his drill thrall to kiss | Nick Abadzis: “KHAAAAAN!” | Stephen Burt: “No kill I” | Greg Rowland: Kirk browbeats NOMAD | Zack Handlen: Kirk’s eulogy for Spock| Peggy Nelson: The joke is on Kirk | Kevin Church: Kirk vs. Decker | Enrique Ramirez: Good Kirk vs. Evil Kirk | Adam McGovern: Captain Camelot | Flourish Klink: Koon-ut-kal-if-fee | David Smay: Federation exceptionalism | Amanda LaPergola: Wizard fight | Steve Schneider: A million things you can’t have | Joshua Glenn: Debating in a vacuum | Kelly Jean Fitzsimmons: Klingon diplomacy | Trav S.D.: “We… the PEOPLE” | Matthew Battles: Brinksmanship on the brink | Annie Nocenti: Captain Smirk | Ian W. Hill: Sisko meets Kirk | Gabby Nicasio: Noninterference policy | Peter Bebergal: Kirk’s countdown | Matt Glaser: Kirk’s ghost | Joe Alterio: Watching Kirk vs. Gorn | Annalee Newitz: How Spock wins