Tuesday, August 18, 2015
Random Reads: "The Merchant of Menace" by Conway, Giffen, and Royer
Dig it, Groove-ophiles! Kirby had left DC and Kamandi, heading back to Marvel. Meantime, a young, exciting penciler by the name of Keith Giffen (who does a mean Kirbyeseque style) is making the scene. You flip open the cover of Kamandi #44 (May 1976), and there are Giffen's powerhouse pencils, inked by Mike Royer, himself! Together, they make Gerry Conway's "The Merchant of Menace" look pretty far-out, baby!
Man, is Giffen channeling his inner Kirby on this one !
ReplyDeleteGiffen has made a number of noteworthy tributes to Kirby, continuing on in a style clearly Giffen, but with a strong Kirby influence that, when Giffen works on Kirby characters, is a very compatible and satisfying continuation of the characters for any Kirby fan. I frankly thought the stories in KAMANDI 41-59 were pretty much completely duds, much as I love the preceding 40 issues by Kirby.
Giffen was the only artist who did artwork of note in those KAMANDI issues, despite the writing in that run being less than satisfying, even those by the great Dennis O'Neil.
Starlin's O.M.A.C. backup also started off well in 59, but stillborn in the womb, thanks to the "DC Implosion" ending the series.
We had to wait till WARLORD 37-39 to see that backup run again, and reach its conclusion.
I especially love Levitz and Giffen's run in LEGION 285-306. The most fun I'd had since reading Kirby's JIMMY OLSEN 133-148. And I get the impression they were trying to re-create the same flavor as Kirby's JIMMY OLSEN run, with a massive torrent of characters, and a great mix of action and humor.
Some other great early Giffen work is his fill-in issues on the AMAZING ADVENTURES/Killraven series, issues 35 and 38.
And his DEFENDERS run.
And CLAW 8-12 with Michelinie.
A KAMANDI run by Giffen, Perez, Simonson, or Ladronn would all be a dream come true for me, given a collaboration with the right writer. I dream of doing my own KAMANDI run someday. And Adam Strange, and the NEW GODS, and BATMAN and... yeah... me and every other fanboy.