Day 21 of this year’s Jack Kirby Tribute Month, curated by Howard Simpson, and today’s prompt is Stompa of the Female Furies!
Stompa first appeared in Mister Miracle #6 (like the rest of the Female Furies). I took a shot at drawing her on a previous Jack Kirby Tribute Month here. Her specialty is kicking and stomping. That may not sound like much, but her skills make that quite the effective threat!
I mentioned previously about colors shifting on Mad Harriet, and it happened with Stompa during her appearances too. Sometimes she had two different shades of orange. Sometimes her helmet was yellow, and other times orange. In one issue, it was gray! So like I said with Harriet, when you try to draw her, you have to make some decisions about color.
Hope you like my take here on Stompa. If you’re curious who’s next, feel free to swing by tomorrow to find out!
Putting this year’s interpretation of Stompa with the past version nearly gives her in motion. Not sure if that was intentional or accidental. I do not know the story of how the Furies came to exist as characters. Is there one? A team of women did not seem to be the norm in comics at the time of their arrival. Did anyone ask that question to Jack that you know about? I would not want to be in the bottom of that panel. Thanks.
I can’t claim any firsthand knowledge, but my impression is that at least early on in Jack’s Fourth World books, DC kind of let him do whatever he wanted. I’d tend to think that the Furies were something Jack came up with himself. If you look back to my Barda post on the 18th, apparently Jack would’ve liked to give the Furies their own title. It didn’t get all that far; he only did a layout for a cover or splash page, by way of apparently pitching the idea.
Later, artist Frank Fosco fleshed out the pencils, then Mike Royer did a little further tweaking and inking. TwoMorrows used it as a cover for The Jack Kirby Collector #73.
And there it is. Jack birthed the Furies. I was wondering if a writer or editor suggested the concept but I sort of doubted that was the case. And I will repeat that is a book I would have bought in that time period. Thanks Mark.