Apparently when Marvel Comics put out its "complete" Machine Man collection earlier this year they were unable to reprint the first three stories starring X-51 from the pages of 2001: A Space Odyssey which debuted the resilient robotic hero. But thanks for fellow blogger and friend of the Dojo Britt Reid and his RetroBlog network, we have ready access to those three stories for ourselves.
So to read the real debut of "Mister Machine" take a look at this link and then at this link where you will find 2001: A Space Odyssey #8.
Go here and here for the complete issue of 2001: A Space Odyssey #9 and here and here to wrap it up for issue #10 of 2001: A Space Odyssey.
This comic was an ideal choice for Jack Kirby as he'd been doing stories which, if they didn't inspired the original movie, plowed much of the same ground that this flick covered. Machine Man though is the anomaly, an offshoot that seemed from the get-go to be other and its connection to the background of 2001 was tenuous. Mister Machine seemed like a try-out in the waning days of a comic which had not caught fire in the terms of sales. One thing about Mister Machine is that color, the pink-purple-magenta hue. It seems an offbeat choice, but it sure makes him distinctive.
Next week we meet "Machine Man" and enjoy the official start of his own comic magazine.
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Luckily, I've got all ten issues of 2001, so I can dip into them whenever I want. I found Ditko's issues of Machine Man more entertaining than Kirby's though, but that's perhaps because they were scripted by Marv Wolfman and Tom DeFalco.
ReplyDeleteJust finished the series again for the first time in many years and was impressed by the Ditko run, but I have to say that Kirby's tenure was stronger than I remembered.
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Thanks for the plug and links, Rip.
ReplyDeleteProud to be a part of your amazingly-comprehensive tribute to The King!
You're very welcome and thanks for all the labor you put out to bring to light some very obscure comics, things I'd not see otherwise.
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