Lee & Kirby & Ditko & Everett & Brodsky: A Guest Post on DAREDEVIL #1 and Related Matters

In response to yesterday's post concerning DAREDEVIL #1, I received an e-mail from my friend Mark Evanier. Mark is one of the most knowledgeable people I know about classic comics and in particular the people who worked on them. He had a number of insights that he wanted to bring up, not just about yesterday's … Continue reading Lee & Kirby & Ditko & Everett & Brodsky: A Guest Post on DAREDEVIL #1 and Related Matters →

Lee & Kirby & Ditko & Everett & Brodsky: The Long Road to DAREDEVIL #1

Some recent comments by reader and historian Ferran Delgado prompted me to go back and to take a closer look at DAREDEVIL #1, the last of what we would consider the formative Marvel titles to be launched and one that was plagued in its delivery by a variety of delays. I've written about those delays … Continue reading Lee & Kirby & Ditko & Everett & Brodsky: The Long Road to DAREDEVIL #1 →

Lee & Kirby: The Enigmas and Non-Enigmas of FANTASTIC FOUR #8

I suspect that this post is going to put some noses out of joint. How can it not, given the subject matter that we're about to get to? So I want to state right up front that I'm not looking to give any insult to anyone. As always, I'm looking to try to ferret out … Continue reading Lee & Kirby: The Enigmas and Non-Enigmas of FANTASTIC FOUR #8 →

Lee & Ditko & Orlando & Rockwell: the Multiple Car Crash of TALES TO ASTONISH #61

I think it's no great secret that for a good portion of its run, the Ant-Man/Giant-Man strip in TALES TO ASTONISH was troubled. Struggling, really. More so than any of the other Marvel characters of that era, Hank Pym's series, borne out of a one-off fantasy story, was retooled and reworked far more often than … Continue reading Lee & Ditko & Orlando & Rockwell: the Multiple Car Crash of TALES TO ASTONISH #61 →

Lee & Kirby & Simon & Ditko & Oleck: The Spider and the Fly Extra

The response to last week's piece on the complicated and complex origins of Spider-Man and all of the behind-the-scenes activity that stretched back for almost a decade before the character would eventually reach comic book newsstands was incredibly well received. In the space of a week, it's become one of the most-viewed posts on this … Continue reading Lee & Kirby & Simon & Ditko & Oleck: The Spider and the Fly Extra →

Lee & Kirby & Simon & Ditko & Oleck: The Spider and the Fly

It's one of the big, fundamental questions that lies at the heart of the origin-myth of perhaps Marvel Comics' most popular single character, and its one that has been discussed and debated at length by those with some degree of insider information: how much did Jack Kirby have to do with the development of Spider-Man, … Continue reading Lee & Kirby & Simon & Ditko & Oleck: The Spider and the Fly →

Lee & Kirby: Even More on FANTASTIC FOUR #1

This is a topic that never quite gets exhausted for me. Over this past weekend I had a need to revisit the pieces I had originally devoted to analyzing FANTASTIC FOUR #1 and the assorted art changes and adjustments that I detected therein. And in doing so, a number of new ideas struck me--including one … Continue reading Lee & Kirby: Even More on FANTASTIC FOUR #1 →

Lee & Kirby & Ortolani: Farewell to the King

In response to having serialized his final Fantastic Four story, the wonderful Leonardo Ortolani sent me over an additional tale very much in the same spirit which I had never seen before. He told me that he had done it in early 1994, right after Jack Kirby passed, and that it ran in a fanzine … Continue reading Lee & Kirby & Ortolani: Farewell to the King →

Lee & Kirby: More Thoughts on FANTASTIC FOUR #1

I recently got an e-mail from Glen David Gold, the fine writer and Kirby enthusiast, who had a few additional thoughts about FANTASTIC FOUR #1 and how it may have been put together. We ended up corresponding a bit dissecting these questions, and so with Glen's permission, I'm going to post some of that correspondence … Continue reading Lee & Kirby: More Thoughts on FANTASTIC FOUR #1 →

Lee & Kirby & Ortolani: The Last Fantastic Four Story, Part Five

This is the back half of the fourth and concluding installment of the Final Fantastic Four story that Italian creator Leonardo Ortolani produced for the tenth issue of the Italian fanzine MADE IN USA in 1994. It was set immediately after the last FF issues produced by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby and was intended … Continue reading Lee & Kirby & Ortolani: The Last Fantastic Four Story, Part Five →