Jack Kirby's Fourth World Part 5 - Fun In The Fourth World!

The saga continues!

Jimmy Olsen#141 finishes the Don Rickles storyline, and does it with a great deal of pace and polish. The real Don Rickles shows up, meets his doppleganger Goody Rickels, is predictably revulsed. The Golden Guardian races to find a antidote for the explosive he, Jimmy and Goody have eaten. Superman/Clark Kent finds himself in another dimension and is saved from same by of all people Lightray of the New Gods. Morgan Edge is upset when Goody and Jimmy show up and soon are saved by the Guardian who has beaten the Inter-Gang up and gotten the antidote. Then Clark returns via Boom Tube and his plan to eliminate these nusances is completely dashed. Don Rickles overcome by all this is literally carried away to end the story.

Foreve People #4 is one of my favorite issues. The cover is outstanding and the story has the FP captive in "Happyland", Desaad's torture chamber on Earth disguised as an amusement park. The FP are held in various traps which cause them great distress because illusions force them to think others are ignoring their plight. While they suffer, the crowd laughs at what they understand to be entertainments. These are very clever and show the emphasis on psychological stress as opposed to physical stress. Desaad doesn't want them to die necessarily, but he definitely wants them to suffer. It's great evil on display and still sends a shiver. Darkseid walks the grounds of the Happyland and his evil is only seen by a child, scared to death of him, Darkseid says only children see the world accruately as they are not blinded by their own self delusions. It's a great scene and his maliciousness is readily apparent.

New Gods #4 gives us the O'Ryan Gang, the four Earthers Orion saved work together to infiltrate Inter Gang and destroy the "Jammer" a device which keeps Orion's Mother Box from finding Darkseid's minions. The story opens with the death of Seagrin, a New God who we only seen after his demise. The Black Racer shows up to carry him away, and Orion declares he'll see vengeance. At the end of the story, Orion is on his way to battle the Deep Six and confronts the Spawn. The preliminaries are over and the New Gods saga is really beginning to click on all cylinders. Some of Kirby's best work ever is in the offing!

Mister Miracle #4 completes the battle with Doctor Bedlam and shows us how Scott escapes the tower of madmen. He does so with the help of Big Barda. She debuts in this issue, first scaring Oberon and then rushing to Scott's aid. The two of them end Bedlam's threat, escape multiple traps, including one on a TV soundstage featuring a show about Medieval times which explains the cover image, and return home to explain it all to Oberon. Scott usually does his stuff it seems, then stops to explain his trick, a pattern we've seen in previous issues. Barda shows up at the end of the story sans armor in all her zoftig glory and suddenly we're all more interested.

This round of stories really gives the first in which all the series seem to have fully established themselves and are just telling stories. New characters show up, Barda and Sonny Sumo at the end of Forever People, and the scope of the war seems to be spreading. Even Jimmy and Superman seem to be drawn deeper to the center of things in the Rickles issues.

It's all great stuff, and gets better each round. With this installment I'm putting my analysis of the Fourth World books on hold for a time. Maybe I'll get back to it later on.

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My Favorite Comic Book Cover Today #29 - Abbott & Costello!

I wish I owned more of these Charlton Abbott and Costello comics. And by more I mean any! I overlooked this title and when I find it in the back issue bins it's always a bit steeper than I want to go. But I need to break down and get them eventually. These Tony Tallarico covers, especially this one featuring a play on Tallarico's World of Wheels comic for Charlton is way fun.

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Hi-Adventure Heroes!

These two issues of Hanna-Barbera's Hi-Adventure Heroes from 1969 offer up adaptations of the cartoon features from The Banana Splits Adventure Hour.

In the debut issue dated May 1969 we have three features: The Three Musketeers, The Adventures of Gulliver, and The Arabian Knights.

The Three Musketeers advanture "The True King" introduces us to The Musketeers (Porthos, Athos, and Aramis) along with D'Artagnian and the King. The King is kidnapped by his twin brother and put into prison hidden by an iron mask. (Sound familiar?)He gets a message out to the boy Toulie who is the nephew of Lady Constance and who idoizes the Musketeers. The guys save the King and send his vile brother into exile after considerable derring-do and Toulie gets made a Junior Musketeer.

The Adventures of Gulliver story titled "Dangerous Journey" is an origin story. Aboard Captain Leech's ship we meet Thomas Gulliver and his son Gary and Gary's dog Tagg. Gary's dad is threatened by Leech and he gets his sone and Tagg overboard. They wind up on a beach and meet the Lilliputians especially two goofs named Glum and Bunko and a chick named Flirtacia. After the obligatory tie-down scene Gulliver makes friends then a hawk steals the King and Gulliver goes to the rescue. The King is grateful and gives Gulliver kudos, but the story ends on a mysterious note when Gulliver's father's watch is found.

The Arabian Knights story titled "Captive Princess" focuses on Prince Turhan who leaves his friends to save Princess Nida. After some brief action and tomfoolery he does just that rejoining the Knights for a happy closing panel.


The second issue of this quarterly series is dated August 1969 and offers three features again: The Three Musketeers, Micro-Venture, and The Arabian Knights.

The Three Musketeers story titled "Masks of the Spider" focuses on a threat to the Queen by a secret society called Masks of the Spider. Their weapon of choice is a bunch of spiders dropped in a room. Despite advice from the Queen's cousin Margaret, the Masks attack again and the Queen is taken to a remote castle. The Musketeers are again helped by the young boy Toolie, though as you might notice his name is spelled differently that it was in the first issue. The Musketeers save the Queen and the leader of the Masks of the Spider is revealed to be her own cousin Margaret who aspired to the throne herself.

Next is a Micro-Venture story titled "The Tiny Sea" and we meet Mike and Jill and their Dad who has a car that can shrink. Mike is curious about frogs and after some shinking they find themselves among frogs and such and we learn about the life cycle of frogs. A hawk gives them some trouble but that's about it.

The Arabian Knights story this time is titled "The Slave-Maker" and it begins with the evil Bakaar seeking a magic potion from Kadan the Sorcerer on the Island of Darkness, a spell that will make the Knights his slaves. Kadan engages the Knights in battle and manages to capture Turhan and Nida. But the shapechanger Bez, the strongman Raseem, and the magician Farik along with the donkey Zazuum come to the rescue turning the tables on Kadan and sending him and his men to Bakaar under the spell of slavery. But we are told the gallant Turhan will soon send the antidote though he's destroyed the potion itself.

These were fun comics. The neat thing about Gold Key stuff of this vintage is the extra stuff they throw in. I'm always charmed by the kid art they run and the jokes are hokey but entertaining. There are text pieces in both of these issues detailing other Gold Key comics and even offering checklists. Checklists were great to get back in the day before the internets as we all know.

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My Favorite Comic Book Cover Today #28 - Marvel Super-Heroes!

When I first started getting comics, Marvel was offering up really two universes, the then-current universe of 1968 and through reprint books like Marvel Tales and Marvel Collector's Item Classics vintage stuff from their early days. Fantasy Masterpieces was a real gem, giving us a range of material from Marvel's Golden Age and Atom Age past. Then it became "Marvel Super-Heroes" with its twelth issue and the debut of Captain Marvel a "showcase" for new characters. I loved this book. Along with reprints I got new stuff like Phantom Eagle, the Guardians of the Galaxy and even stories featuring Ka-Zar and Doc Doom. Then it changed again becoming a full-blown reprint book again, but this time featuring more "modern" material. This issue featuring Avengers #3 and X-Men #2 rocked me. I consider Avengers #3 the single best issue of that title's long run and X-Men #2 with the Vanisher is a great story. But it's this cover by Marie Severin and John Romita that really makes this issue a wonder. So many heroes, so little money. Wotta' bargain this was!

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Charlton Horseplay!

Here are three interesting Charlton comic book covers. From 1955 you have a Black Fury cover, very dramatic and dynamic. But from 1958 you have that same image used again for a Black Jack cover, and finally in 1961 the image is used yet again for yet another Black Fury cover, but this time the fire is gone and winter has come.

I don't criticize Charlton for this labor and cost saving practice, it's what gives that crazy company its charm. But these covers sure form an interesting trio of images.

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My Favorite Comic Book Cover Today #27 - Headline Comics!

Who are the guys on that photo cover for Headline Comics? Well that's Jack "King" Kirby as the hood who is surprised and that arm of the law belongs to Joe Simon. The boys did the honors themselves of portraying the players in this law enforcement mini-drama. Great cover!

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Cerebus The Aardvark!

Cerebus the Aardvark is an amazing creation. I followed the decades-long saga off and on, getting on board in the early 80's, but eventually trading away all of those issues. I rejoined the saga in the early 90's and still have some of those around here. I had to abandoned the story because of finances and frankly a lack of patience with its then-pondering pace. Nonetheless, I marvel at Dave Sim's commitment and I celebrate the accomplishment.

But for all that, I've never read the earliest Cerebus stories, the ones which spoof the classic Thomas-Smith Conan stories. Now, the stories themselves are actually pretty funny. The Earth-Pig isn't a fully rendered character yet, but his irrascible nature is fully in view and his plain-spoken approach to worldly matters is entertaining. All in all a pretty spot-on lampoon of the classic Marvel barbarian comics. You can readily see which scenes from Barry Smith's early work are on display. Sim's art cleaves so closely to Smith's that its difficult to find him. But knowing that soon enough he will find his own voice, makes the sometimes painfully exact homages easier to digest.

The first story rips off the plot of "The Heart of the Elephant" and does a neat spin on it. The second takes a dive at "The Frost-Giant's Daughter" sort of, without the daughter, and the third one I've read so far, is the funniest yet with giving us the loquacious Red Sophia in all her well-rounded glory. Funny stuff. You can see the engine beginning to hum, though many stories remain. Elrod, Cockroach, Julius, they all are funny or perhaps humorous is a better word. I don't so much laugh as nod when the jokes come. I won't pretend to get all the jokes, but the stories are well crafted and you can see Sim's skills grow story by story in these early outings as his interests become less about creating a curious pastiche of Barry Windsor Smith and more about developing an intersting world for Cerebus to inhabit.

I doubt I go beyond the first volume. But that first one is pretty good.

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