Happy Birthday to the King of Comics!

Today is the 103rd anniversary of the birth of Jacob Kurtzberg, better known to us all as Jack Kirby, the absolute King of Comics. I've been absorbing Jack's DC work through my very pores this year, thanks to these collections...

Yeah, I already had tons of the original comics, but re-reading them in tpb form is both handy and a new way to experience old favorites. All that's left are Kamandi (my omnibus, which I ordered for MY birthday, last Wednesday, the 26th)  should be here soon!) and Forever People (which I'll get for Christmas, if not sooner). 

Now I just need this to go back into print...

And for a miracle to happen so these can be collected in their own volumes...

Happy birthday, Jack Kirby! Your legacy still entertains, enthralls, and amazes me! Thank you so very, very much!

Famous Firsts: "The Sandman vs. General Electric" by Simon and Kirby

Happy New Year, Groove-ophiles! 2018?! Where does the time go? Well, at least we still have our own time machines here in Groove City--comicbooks, baby! Let's kick off the new year with one of the wildest comics of the Groovy Age: Joe Simon and Jack Kirby's Sandman #1! DC kicked off 1974 with the re-teaming of one of the most famous and prolific writer/artist teams of all time: Joe Simon and Jack Kirby. Both men had been working at DC on separate projects, then someone finally realized that they had one of the Dream Teams of the Golden Age under their Decidedly Creative roof and put 'em back together for, it seemed, a one-shot. Due to a major winter storm on the East Coast, a lot of comics didn't make it to the stores for a few weeks, which helped that wild and wacky first ish of Sandman sell enough copies to make DC wanna bring it back--exactly one year later. When Sandman returned to the spinner racks in January 1975, neither Simon nor Kirby returned with it, instead Spectre writer Michael Fleischer and penciler Ernie Chan (then "Chua") took over the creative chores, joined by inker Royer. While Chan did his best to ape Kirby, he only completed two issues before Kirby himself returned to team with Fleischer and Royer to complete the series (inked by Wally Wood in the last ish, number 6, September 1975). An unpublished Sandman story stayed "in the editor's drawer" for a few years (You can read all about it right here). Okay, that's your history lesson--now here come da comics!

Random Reads: "Invasion of the Frog Men!" by Fleisher and Kirby

Hey, hey, hey, Groove-ophiles! One of the wackiest, most far-out features of the Groovy Age was Joe Simon and Jack Kirby's Sandman. The Golden Age team-supreme did one ish and parted ways. DC revived it months later with writer Michael Fleisher and Ernie Chan. Chan did one more ish, then co-creator Jack Kirby returned to draw Fleisher's scripts. "Invasion of the Frog Men!" from Sandman #5 (July 1975) is an example of the wild wonder Fleisher and Kirby (along with inker Mike Royer) imparted on us back in the Groovy Age. Check it out!