It’s now Day 11 of Howard Simpson’s online Kirby Celebration this month, in honor of Kirby’s birthday. It’s open to all creatives, and you can track what they post on your favorite social media platforms by the hashtag #KirbyArtTributes.
Today’s prompt is Groot. Now, some of you are probably saying, “Hey, wait; that doesn’t look like Groot!” That’s because it’s the original version of the character as he first appeared in Tales to Astonish #13.
At that point in time, pre-Fantastic Four, Kirby was batting out many, many monsters stories, one after the other, for Marvel. Issue after issue, month after month, they had to always come up with new ones. Kirby was up to the challenge, always finding interesting visuals for all these monsters.
Groot was just another among this vast horde, along with monsters like Rommbu, ZZutak, Googam Son of Goom, and Fin Fang Foom. Fun, but just a one-off monster, like they pretty much all were. Groot was largely forgotten after the superheroes took over the spotlight, until the creators behind the reimagined Guardians of the Galaxy comic in 2008 decided to resurrect him as part of that team, and reimagine him. Thanks to the Guardians movies, it’s safe to say he’s a lot better known now than he ever was before. However, it’s still fun to remember how Groot started off.
Enjoy, and feel free to come back tomorrow!
I had the book. Nearest I can recall, Tales to Astonish and Strange Tales with monsters started to appear shortly before the FF4 broke through. So maybe ’58, ’59. Prior to that, either I did not notice them or they were not there. Some just grabbed the eye as the Groot issue did. It may have been the name and the critter’s appearance fitting together nicely. Grrrrrr rooot. You create a nice faceshot giving Groot character. Thanks
Glad you approve, Joe. Especially as someone who bought the original comic back when it came out! Your timeline sounds about right, for the pre-Marvel Universe monster books.