The Man, The Machine!

Machine Man was one of those happy surprises that pops up in comics from time to time. Originally created by Jack "King" Kirby during his run on the 2001 A Space Odyssey comic book, Machine Man (originally named "Mister Machine") proved to be a concept with "legs". He got his own book, again written and drawn by Kirby and the adventures were what you'd expect, full of energy, power, and bristling with technology.


The book gets canceled, Machine Man does a few guest-star stints and then suddenly he's back again, this time featuring artwork by Steve Ditko. This is an interesting distinction, that such a minor character should have been drawn by the twin titans of Mighty Marvel's early history, and at a time in both men's careers when they had come back to the house of mostly their ideas for a few more paychecks. The Ditko run features writing by Marv Wolfman and Tom DeFalco and is much more a character-driven notion than the high-tech rendition by Kirby. But it too got canceled.


I've always found it interesting to compare the two debut issues by Kirby and Ditko, as it shows not only the difference in the handling of this character but also the fundamental differences in the approach of both of these great talents to handling character in general. Kirby's figure is power and energy barely contained and focus is on the "machine" and Ditko's figure is reflective in its stance and clearly this is mostly about the "man". Two different takes, both valid, and both interesting. But alas not commercially successful.

Then comes 1984 and the limited market is ravenous for product. Limited series pop up like mushrooms in the dark and practically any hero you can name at Marvel and DC gets a title of some kind. Machine Man returns in a very exotic story with fabulous artwork by Herb Trimpe and Barry Windsor Smith. This story by Roger Stern projects Machine Man into the future and really makes the most of the characters artificial nature. The covers by Barry Smith though still shine as some of the most innovative and compelling I've ever seen. And I can think of few limited series that made better use of the cover designs not only to showcase the main character, but to drive home the theme of the story to boot. Beautifully rendered, these are very smart comics, implying a narrative as they are viewed in succession. (See above.)


Machine Man has been around since in the Marvel Universe, going by the name of X-51 sometimes. He will always be around. Heck Disney might even make an animated feature with him some day. It could be very neat. Few of Marvel's second-tier characters have been as well served as X-51 (Aaron Stack) the Machine Man.

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