King Kobra!

Jack "King" Kirby's tenure at DC Comics in the early 70's was one of splendor as he was at long last able to realize some of his notions of how comics could be told, but also disappointment as he was eventually unable to follow through on his projects in the way he ideally desired. By the end of his tenure, he was just working to on random projects to play out the contract.

One of those random projects was "King Kobra" about a villainous mastermind who had a twin brother who was not an enemy of mankind and in fact who ended up working against him.

Kirby produced exactly one issue, but that one issue never really saw the light of day.

As Kirby was leaving, the project was snatched up and given over to up and coming Marty Pasko to rework along with Pablo Marcos who altered the art which needed altering. "King Kobra" was gone and in hits place was a short-lived comic book titled merely Kobra.

Kobra was part of the burgeoning "Conway's Corner" which was spearheaded by disaffected Marvel talent Gerry Conway. He came to DC at just about the moment Kirby left and co-created a number of titles.

Kobra he inherited, but with the help of Pasko and a cavalcade of artists attempted to make his own.  In issue two Chic Stone, a venerable inker of Kirby at Marvel took the art chores over with assistance from Marcos on inks.

The third issue showcased a newcomer named Keith Giffen helped by inkers Terry Austin and Dick Giordano. The covers for the first three issues had been done by Ernie Chua, an artist who was at the time doing a host of work for DC.

The fourth issue featured a dramatic cover by Joe Kubert. The artist inside was Pat Gabriele.

Issue five was the only issue to that point in which the cover and the interiors were done by the same artist, the always reliable Rich Buckler. By the time, the haphazard nature of Kobra was part of its charm.

With the seventh issue Michael Nasser / Netzer took the helm on art and Kobra seemed to have found its first regular artist after a half dozen issues on the stands. But it was not for long.

Nasser and Pasko wrapped up the series with the final issue and like that Kobra faded from the stands.

A final issue of Kobra was produced but was not published as such, but instead became a Batman story of sorts and was jammed into the debut issue of DC Special Series.

Kobra has gone one to become of DC's reliable mastermind villains, but it's amazing really given the ramshackle nature of the characters initial presentation to the public. It's speaks perhaps to the absolute power of Kirby's original concepts, a mutated by Conway and others as they had become.

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