Here’s Day 19 of the month-long Jack Kirby Tribute, in honor of his birthday this month. Suggested/sponsored by Howard Simpson, it’s open to all creatives, and you can find people’s work on your favorite social media platforms by the hashtag #KirbyArtTributes.
Today’s prompt reads, “Draw a character or scene from Jack Kirby’s Kamandi series.” I chose to depict Kamandi himself, along with his friend Ben Boxer in his armored-up form. They’re going down into some busted-up Subway, maybe in search of something or someone, obviously on their guard. On Earth A.D. (After Disaster), you can’t be too careful!
I have a lot of affection for the Kamandi book and the character. And it seems like I’m not alone in that. A number of people around my age seem to have a similar affection for the book. And of all Jack’s post-Fourth World titles he did for DC, Kamandi sold the best and lasted the longest, continuing on in other hands for a good while even after Jack left and went back to Marvel.
I think there must have been something in the air at the time. Not just Planet of the Apes, but other films (like Logan’s Run) and sci fi that had a fascination with dystopias that came about after our current world collapsed for one reason or another.
On a personal level, I came across Kamandi just about the time I was beginning to recognize individual artists and remember their names. I’d seen some of Kirby’s work earlier, but had not been quite old enough for his name to register with me just yet. This was the right time, and the right book. I became a full-fledged Kirby nut after this. Not having any connection to wider fandom as a kid and an aspiring artist, I had this naive thought that, “Kirby’s getting older. He’s gotta be like in his 50’s! Eventually he’s going to retire, and someone will need to pick up the baton from him! Maybe it should be me!”
Of course, I had no idea just how many other fan artists there were out there who had similar ideas of trying to be the next Kirby. I went through a lengthy “Jack Kirby phase” as a young artist, not really understanding the underlying “why” of what he did yet. I just saw the surface, loved the energy and the imagination, and thought it was what comics should be. Eventually I grew out of my fixation on trying to draw like him, but I can still see Kirby as a component of my artistic DNA, whether anyone else can or not. Kirby and his work still matter a great deal to me. Which is why I’m participating in this Tribute!
Anyway, hope you like my shot at Kamandi, and please come back for tomorrow’s image!
Somehow I knew you would get around to Kamandi. I too have too have great affection for the title. I think it is the “kid” in me. In some ways, he has the appeal of Billy Batson–a kid needing but also willing to take reponsibility for himself as well others. That is a hard formula not to like.
Your series has brought me to do more thinking about the Kirby art than anything. I guess a daily dose of the Jack will do that. Last night as I was sitting in the back yard reading the news I had a “eureka” moment. Now remember, unlike yourself, I am not an artist. Jack’s work grows. One image blends into another. I do not mean animated, which it also is, but I mean like a plant growing out of the earth. No earth, no plant. No plant, no earth. He blurs the lines of separation between items in the space of his panels and pages. I cite Kamandi cover #1. The Building and the Statue of Liberty and Kamandi rafting would be meaningless puposely and visually if they were singular images. Each flows and weeps and grows out of the other, like the Thing’s hand reaching from underneath a rock. The word “organic” gets tossed around a lot these days. I would use that word as it applies to being alive. Everything is “alive” in his art, even things we usually see as not living. Thanks Mark for another great piece.
Wow, thanks for the observations/meditations on Kirby’s work! Interesting ideas.
I’d never made the association before with Billy Batson, but I can see it. I also think of Kamandi as being a bit like Terry from Terry and the Pirates, in that as a normal kid, he’s sort of the reader’s entrée/tourguide into the exotic world you’re visiting with him.
There’s also another Captain Marvel connection in Kamandi’s story. Though not stated in the comic, my understanding is that Jack had it in mind that Kamandi’s grandfather who raised him in the bunker was actually Buddy Blank. Fans of OMAC will recognize that Buddy was the one who got transformed into OMAC. If you think about it, there’s a certain amount of Capt. Marvel in OMAC: a smallish guy who gets zapped from above and transformed into this more powerful other individual.