The First Kingdom - The Birth Of Tundran!

There is nothing in comics quite like Jack Katz's The First Kingdom. This is nothing less than a modern epic in the tradition of the classics The Iliad and The Odyssey. While it may lack the poetic profundity of those Homerian epics, this nearly eight-hundred page saga nonetheless aspires to be something far greater than anything produced in comics at the time. Only the Fourth World material for DC by Kirby approaches it in scope. I had most of the issues once upon a time, but I traded them away as I did most of my Indy stuff. Titan Books collected the saga some years ago and I am sorry it took me so long to catch up. 

Katz was a comics veteran of long standing having begun working in comics in 1943 for Fawcett Comics and went on to alongside Simon and Kirby in the 50's and with Stan Lee at Atlas and elsewhere. Katz used a barrage of pen names and even shows up in some Marvel comics such as the Sub-Mariner as "Jay Hawk". But he wanted to do something greater. To do that he'd have to leave mainstream comics and work independently. That meant at the time the Underground. Like Kirby, Katz moved to California where the Underground movement was centered. Finding publishers like Bud Plant, he began his epic yarn, and it would take him twelve years to complete at a rate of two magazines per year. 

The debut issue of The First Kingdom is a rugged beginning. Katz's style, despite his years of experience, had not fully jelled and the style of storytelling he was interested in changed dramatically in the first several issues. He begins with a cramped multi-panel approach which is loaded with text and little visual splendor. As the series progresses the art will open up until the pages almost become a series of full-page images. This transformation will take a while. 

We are introduced to our world, a strange one which has risen after the utter destruction of the Earth's civilizations after an atomic war. With technology vaporized, the few survivors live in a post-apocalyptic world of strange giant beasts and ceaseless tribal warfare. This warfare is conducted with sword edges and spear tips. The world is also the home of creatures called "Trans-Gods", tall powerful folk who set themselves apart from mere mankind and seem possessed of strange powers. Some few of these gods are fascinated by men and that's a source of constant friction. 

The first part of the saga is concerned with a man named Darkenmoor who we follow from his youth. He loses all those he cares for in the savage world and we follow him as he finds others to love, most notably a woman named Nedlaya. A goddess named Selowan is fascinated with Darkenmoor and despite the prohibitions of her society interacts with him. We follow Darknemoor through one harrowing experience after another as he battles for his life and the lives of others. 

Eventually after a great deal of suffering Darkenmoor becomes ruler of a great kingdom and eventually he will have a son. That son will be named Tundran, and it is Tundran who is the main protagonist of this sprawing tale. Like great epics Katz has taken his time in introducing his characters and his themes, and this generational story is just beginning after four issues. This is an amazing way to begin, and not reveals the grand scale of Katz's storytelling but demonstrates a trust in his audience. Following this story required a lot of patience. 

And then there is the other story. Running alongside the doings of Darkenmoor and his rise to power and glory, we get elaborate flashbacks which tell us of space travelers from an advanced race who came to Earth when its nuclear threat was determined to be dire, but who get here too late. These travelers are the Gods who inhabit part of the new world, or at least they are sort of. I hesitate to reveal too much here as there is much of the secret power of The First Kingdom in this side of the tale. 

At the end of the first volume from Titan Books, we have got our feet underneath us. We have met our immense cast (with more to come) and we have seemingly met our primary hero as well as the girl who will share his life. She has an origin even stranger than his, but the less said the better on that front. 

The First Kingdom is a bit of a tough read, especially at first when Katz's storytelling is not as supple as it needs to be to tell the story. The story is also hurt by a barrage of strange terms which you get used to as the story rolls along, but which threw me early on. The new terms give the story a fresh strangeness but can be confusing. Also, one thing one needs to get used to reading Katz's saga is the nudity. Women go around topless in this story almost all the time, as do the men but no one gets upset at that. Often full nudes are used, but all of this is done tastefully. While it was racy for its time, there is nothing about The Fist Kingdom which suggests its intent is in any way pornographic. Katz just seems to like to draw the human body and he does so with gusto. His figures are almost invariably slender, often strangely so as in the case of the gods. This saga is a deep dive, but worth the effort. 

Much more to come. 

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