It’s Day Six of this year’s Jack Kirby Tribute Month, curated by Howard Simpson. Today’s prompt is Peggy Carter, Captain America’s WWII love.
Most people are probably more aware of the MCU version of the character, played by Hayley Atwell. The character was a little different in the comics. We first see her in a flashback in Tales of Suspense #77, where Captain America meets her as she works with a group of French resistance fighters going up against Germans fleeing Normandy via the Falaise Gap.
This issue was drawn during a period when Marvel kept Jack very busy. Not only was he penciling (and likely driving the plots of) Fantastic Four and Thor, he was also generating page layouts for several other titles, which were given to other pencilers to work from. So they could develop a feel for “the Marvel style.” This particular story featured John Romita’s pencils over Jack’s layouts, so it’s fair to say that Romita had a hand in shaping Peggy Carter’s look too. You can definitely see it in the comic.
For what it’s worth, rather than just faking her rifle, I did a little weapons research. Based on that, I gave her an M1 Garand. It’s considered an iconic U.S. Army or Marine Corps WWII-era service rifle.
Anyway, this is my take on Peggy Carter. Feel free to return tomorrow to see who’s next.
Nice! I liked the little research on the rifle. It reminds me of those little cutouts that DC did in many of their war comics to highlight older weapons from different wars. In fact, you should do a day by day of Kirby devices, there are certainly enough to fill up a month!
Thanks! I guess you could say that maybe one of the neat aspects of being an artist is that you get to educate yourself about things like this. You do a little research, and learn something you didn’t know before. I could’ve just faked it based on what I saw in the comic, but thought it would be better and more interesting to bring a little authenticity into it.
You’re certainly correct that there were more than enough devices Jack created to do a whole month of them. He was always thinking up cool gadgets for his heroes and villains to use.
My Dad had his M1 in the closet at the house for years. And some other memorabilia that he returned to the States with after being in the Battle of the Bulge. He also had photos of people being freed at concentration camps. No joke. I really liked the MCU Peggy Carter series. I can say now it was likely the one I favored. I reread the story which I have not since I bought the book.“You’ve got to leave the partisans! This isn’t woman’s work.” I love your take on the character. Thanks.
Thank you!
I feel like maybe doing stories that touched on WWII was a bit easier(?) for Jack and Stan than it is for modern creators, as they’d served and knew it firsthand. They had a pretty clear idea for themselves where the dividing line might be between being respectful and not being respectful. For modern creators who did not have that experience, you have to be more careful. I guess my doing research to figure out the rifle here was my way of showing respect.