Ken Aldred

How many sources for change are available? Innate / born with it - mutants, extraterrestrials. Radioactivity. Chemical agents - toxic waste, drugs. Magic - Juggernaut. Experimental alteration - aliens such as the Kree, space gods such as The Celestials, human laboratories. Technological enhancement. For a normal human on the street becoming a mutate with superpowers, tech, alien probing and magic are out, leaving chemical agents or radioactivity to fall back on repetitively. For the early 1960s, radioactivity best fit the constantly tense, paranoid zeitgeist, and exploitation of that allowed Lee to churn out large volumes of material without having to think too hard at all about origination.

As well as radioactivity, Marvel, and especially Tony Stark, were fixated on transistors. The ones created in their 60s universe were clearly far more advanced than even modern day silicon chips and nanotechnology.

Doctor Phosphorus Firestorm

Yup. Caused by a bolt of superheated, charged plasma rather than simple radioactivity.

He’s also missing six eyes, and six more attack eyebrows.

It does look a bit like a hybrid from a telepod accident.

Just a joke comment about a boardie pal, porcupine48, who’s a big fan of the character. Paranex is from Kirby’s Captain Victory series.

Don’t let Jimmers see this. One of his favourites. Better than Paranex, the Fighting Foetus.

Surprised someone hasn’t also tried desperately extending that to being a prototype for Thanos’ chair as well. Should’ve been as big as Iron Man 55. Although, there’s really more interest in his ‘Copter as a mode of transport, so maybe not.

One of the few 70s Kirby comics I’ve never read, despite it being a very short series.

Wouldn’t say that. There’s a lot I like; Fourth World, Kamandi, Demon, Eternals. There’s also Devil Dinosaur, which is quite insane.

Same for me. In the 70s I owned the reprint of the two part story in a Treasury Edition.

Great book. Contains 'The Last Enemy', considered a Kamandi prototype.

My oldest Kirby comic is also one of my all-time favourite comics. One of the greatest super-hero slugfests...

Eternals is one of my favourite Bronze Age series. Significant to me because this issue was on the newsstand racks the month I upped my game and became a serious collector. The first complete run I bought by mail order. Remember it well.

I was given a copy by a kid who lived in the street, and that would've been early 1974. Previously I'd focused solely on Marvel comics, but I was immediately impressed by Kirby's dynamic artwork and started looking out for his DC books on the newsstand from this point onwards. I don't have the original comic any more, but I do have a nice NM raw somewhere in the boxes.

Yup. Just joking with Kav.

That cover was a bad place to start with Kirby. I prefer his usual style, not this, where he appears to be copying Kneel Atoms.

I was immediately impressed by the energy of his artwork, but quickly appreciated his very dynamic art style. There was also the panel layout and graphic storytelling ability as well, although as a kid I wouldn’t really have understood that, and it was just there, working subconsciously, I would guess. A master of his craft.

Definitely keepers. I’m still looking forward to reading the Hickman X-Men books.

My two favourite Frazetta covers.

Yup. But a mid-50s colonoscopy is even more memorable.

When I bought a Fantagor 1 NM raw on the boards from Howard Greber, he threw a NM Big Apple Comix 1 into the package as well. Extremely difficult to find a high grade copy of either underground over here, and a nice surprise as I'd just mentioned the book casually. Another example was when I bought a Weirdom Illustrated 13 raw from him, the first Richard Corben comic, graded 9.0, but an easy 9.4, and then discovered it was a certificated publisher file copy as well, so similar to the OP's post.

Y, The Last Man.