Decent Comics: "Atlas the Great!" by Kirby and Berry

Hey, hey, hey, Groove-ophiles! At long last, and 'cause you demanded it, here's Jack Kirby's Atlas, from 1st Issue Special #1(January 1975). Sort of a simplified New Gods, Ol' Groove has always thought of it as an exercise in Kirby getting a story out of his system, but there are hints in the editorial page of 1IS #1 that "Atlas the Great!" just might have started off as...Atlas #1! What makes Ol' Groove think that? Paragraph 6: "Which brings us to Atlas #1." If ya don't believe me, just look at this, Irving:

Hmmm? HMMMM? I know, big deal. This is the only Atlas story ever published until James Robinson brought him back in Superman a few years back. Mebbe so. But I think it's kinda cool...

Decent Comics: "Gung Ho!" by Kirby and Berry

Here we are, Groove-ophiles! The final Losers story by Jack Kirby from Our Fighting Forces #162 (September 1975). This one starts off with a misleading cover by Ernie Chua (Chan); misleading in that it has the wrong Loser featured in the scene, it should be Gunner, not Sarge, as you'll see for yourself when you read "Gung Ho!" But The King went out with style, allowing the least of the Losers, Gunner, his own time to shine and do his part to give us another action-packed fable on the atrocities of war.

Jack's 100th birthday celebration is coming up at the end of the month, and unless you've been under a rock, you've notices that it's been celebrated on comicbook sites and blogs pretty much all year long. And that's how it should be!

Decent Comics: "The Major's Dream" by Kirby and Berry

AttennSHUN, Groove-ophiles! Jack "King" Kirby is back with another Losers mini-epic! "The Major's Dream" from Our Fighting Forces #161 (August 1975) feels almost like an episode of The Twilight Zone, but it's really King Kirby dealing with the sensitive issue of the trauma suffered by so many soldiers of all ranks and nations. D. Bruce Berry inked it, and somebody at World Color Press messed up with the printing plate on page one! Oh, yeah--and Joe Kubert drew the cover!