It’s now Day Nine of this year’s Jack Kirby Tribute Month, curated by Howard Simpson. This time out, it’s focused solely on the Fantastic Four and supporting characters from Jack and Stan’s 100+ issue run. Today’s prompt is Medusa, of the Inhumans.
In her first appearance, Medusa is actually not an ally. She shows up teamed with the Wizard, Sandman and Pastepot Pete as the Frightful Four, in Fantastic Four #36. She makes a formidable enemy, with psychokinetic control over her lengthy, prehensile hair. It isn’t until FF #45 that we find out about the Inhumans, and that she’s part of the group.
Although the FF’s first meetings with the Inhumans don’t go well, over time, they become allies. After Jack and Stan’s run, Medusa even spends some time as a member of the Fantastic Four.
Medusa’s outfit changes quite a bit over the years. It’s safe to say that what I’ve drawn here is more or less her classic look. Though in her first appearance, her outfit is quite different! (Stay tuned!)
More often than not in comics, red hair has typically been depicted as a standard comic book orange (50% magenta with 100% yellow). But when they really want the color to punch (like with Medusa), sometimes they’d go full-on comic book red (100% magenta with 100% yellow).
Looking at it now, I feel like maybe a little bit of Wally Wood crept into my depiction here, subconsciously. But I can’t find him ever having drawn her. However, I do remember Dave Simons once doing a drawing of her in Wood’s style, so maybe that was in the back of my mind.
Hope you like, and (a hint) tune in tomorrow for another Inhuman!
Thanks for the color explanation of Medusa’s red hair. Her hair and her costume work well together, bringing the best of both colors out for my eyes. The Wally Wood affect and an interesting sidenote. Wally illustrated a tale in Galaxy Science Fiction entitled “To Marry Medusa” (August 1958). Medusa’s lips do have a sort of “Wood afterglow.” What stands out for me is the black around the eyes and the purple/maroon streaking down the left side of her mask. That sure accentuates everything in the rest of the picture. Was it intuitive to do that? I cannot wait until tomorrow to get another eyeful. Thank you
I was wrong. The tale in the particular issue of Galaxy he illustrated was “Seven Deadly Virtues.” My apologies.
No worries! It’s impressive that you were able to pull those things up largely just from memory.
Looked up the story you mention, and it was apparently written by Theodore Sturgeon. I’d guess Wood might have gotten paid a bit better for his work on that than he usually did for his comics work.
Glad you like my shot at Medusa here. I guess the answer to your question is that all of it is partly based on looking at what Jack did, and also partly on my own instincts. Jack would on occasion place highlights on Medusa’s mask, but I kind of used it in maybe a more organic way, placing it on certain planes and edges where the light might hit, to help with form. At least on the face. It’s the sort of thing you figure out over time, either just by playing with it, or studying the work of others.