Stan, Jack, and Steve - The 1950's. (1959) The Uphill Climb 2 2

[Prince Namor]

ON NEWSSTANDS MARCH 1959

Jack Kirby would also do a couple of stories, the first was in Tales of Suspense #4, written, penciled by Jack with inks by Christopher Rule. 

[Prince Namor]

ON NEWSSTANDS MARCH 1959

The second was in World of Fantasy #18, written and penciled by Jack with inks by Christopher Rule. 

I read this story as a reprint when I was a kid and remember thinking it was so cool... had no idea it was Jack Kirby.

[Prince Namor]

ON NEWSSTANDS MARCH 1959

And of course Jack still had the Sky Masters Newspaper strip on going...

[Prince Namor]

ON NEWSSTANDS MARCH 1959

Steve Ditko did 4 stories for Marvel in March. From Strange Worlds #4.

Penciled and inked by Steve Ditko. Writer unknown. NOT written by Stan Lee. 

 

[Prince Namor]

ON NEWSSTANDS MARCH 1959

Steve Ditko did 4 stories for Marvel in March. From Tales of Suspense #4.

Penciled and inked by Steve Ditko. Writer unknown. NOT written by Stan Lee. 

[Prince Namor]

ON NEWSSTANDS MARCH 1959

Steve Ditko did 4 stories for Marvel in March. From Tales to Astonish #4.

Penciled and inked by Steve Ditko. Writer unknown. NOT written by Stan Lee. 

[Prince Namor]

ON NEWSSTANDS MARCH 1959

Steve Ditko did 4 stories for Marvel in March. From World of Fantasy #18.

Penciled and inked by Steve Ditko. Writer unknown. NOT written by Stan Lee. 

[Prince Namor]

ON NEWSSTANDS MARCH 1959

DC continued to push forward with ideas, even with absolutely no competition. In March, they introduced Supergirl, Supes' cousin from Krypton. From Action Comics #252. Written by Otto Binder with art by Al Plastino. Cover by Curt Swan. 

Of course she would play a part in one of DC's most famous (infamous) covers, 1985's Crisis on Infinite Earths #7 (when she died). I'll always remember the character as one that Brainiac 5 had a crush on...

Edited September 3, 2022 by Prince Namor

[Prince Namor]

ON NEWSSTANDS MARCH 1959

I always remembered DC's letter columns as kind of dry, and sorely lacking any personality - the complete opposite of Stan's who really delighted in interacting with fans. So whoever was doing the DC letter columns back in 1959 should've stayed doing it, because they at least had SOME fun with it... (from Action Comics #252)

[Prince Namor]

 

ON NEWSSTANDS MARCH 1959

DC Comics also introduced Bat Mite in the pages of Detective Comics #267 (Curt Swan cover), Bill Finger story, Pencils by Sheldon Moldoff (signed as Bob Kane). Bat Mite would be erased from the Batman world 5 years later, in 1964, when Julius Schwartz started Batman in a new direction. 

However, his life in the DC Universe, Bat Mite would appear numerous times (from Wikipedia)

Television:

Bat-Mite appeared in The New Adventures of Batman, voiced by Lou Scheimer.[citation needed] This version is a well-meaning magical fan of Batman's who tries to help him despite usually complicating matters. One episode featured his home planet of Ergo as well as a villain of Bat-Mite's species named Zarbor.

An animatronic Bat-Mite briefly appeared in the Batman: The Animated Series episode "Deep Freeze", voiced by Pat Fraley.

Bat-Mite appeared in Batman: The Brave and the Bold, voiced by Paul Reubens.[citation needed] This version regularly breaks the fourth wall, reads to Batman his past, present, and future exploits from real world comic books, and makes fun of real-world comic convention fans.

Bat-Mite appears in Lego DC Comics: Batman Be-Leaguered, voiced again by Paul Reubens.

A stuffed Bat-Mite toy appears in DC Super Hero Girls.

Video games:

Bat-Mite appears in Batman: The Brave and the Bold - The Videogame as a special assist character in the Wii version that can be summoned and controlled with a running copy of the game's Nintendo DS counterpart to drop anvils, bombs, and power-ups via Wii-DS connectivity.

Bat-Mite appears as a playable character and game navigator in Lego Batman 3: Beyond Gotham, voiced by Roger Craig Smith.

[Prince Namor]

ON NEWSSTANDS APRIL 1959

For April Stan Lee wrote his usual:

 

Patsy & Hedy #65 - with Al Hartley art 

Wyatt Earp #24 - 3 stories with MR. Ayers art

GunSmoke Western #53 - 2 stories, one with Jack Keller art and the other with MR. Ayers art.

 

Atlas released 8 titles in November. The other 5 were:

Battle #65

Journey Into Mystery #53

Strange Tales #70

Love Romances #82

My Own Romance #70

[Prince Namor]

ON NEWSSTANDS APRIL 1959

For April, Jack Kirby would do the covers for 5 of the 8 titles! (All but the Romance books, which he'd start on in June! Oh... and Patsy & Hedy)

All inked by Christopher Rule...

Wyatt Earp #24 

GunSmoke Western #53 

Battle #65

Journey Into Mystery #53

 

except:

Strange Tales #70 (inked by MR. Ayers)

 

Edited September 5, 2022 by Prince Namor

[Prince Namor]

ON NEWSSTANDS APRIL 1959

Jack Kirby would write and pencil a story in Strange Tales #70 (inked by Christopher Rule) that starts out like a villain origin from the 60's. Even his dialogue sounds Marvel Super Hero Silver Age... the only difference is the quick ending that's needed to finish it off as a 5 page story...

[Prince Namor]

ON NEWSSTANDS APRIL 1959

Jack Kirby would write and pencil TWO stories in Battle #65 (both inked by Christopher Rule)

Story ONE:

[Prince Namor]

ON NEWSSTANDS APRIL 1959

Jack Kirby would write and pencil TWO stories in Battle #65 (both inked by Christopher Rule)

Story TWO:

[Prince Namor]

ON NEWSSTANDS APRIL 1959

Jack Kirby would do his final TWO stories in Challengers of the Unknown #8 (both inked by Wally Wood). The first would feature the first appearance of Drabny, who'd later be a member of the Challenger Haters. 

Story ONE:

[Prince Namor]

ON NEWSSTANDS APRIL 1959

Jack Kirby would do his final TWO stories in Challengers of the Unknown #8 (both inked by Wally Wood). The second would feature the first appearance of the alien Robot Kra, who'd also later be a member of the Challenger Haters! Those Jack Kirby characters were too good for DC NOT to use after he left!

Story TWO:

[Prince Namor]

ON NEWSSTANDS APRIL 1959

The Double Life of Private Strong #1

So Jack Kirby's time at DC was over. He was doing freelance work for Marvel. But no superheroes... then Joe Simon says, "Let's try some superheroes at Archie."

The -script is credited as 'Joe Simon' by Archie Comics, and they have no reason to lie, but... having read what Jack's been writing at Marvel for the last year... this dialogue, at times, reads very much like those stories. It sounds like a combination of the two writing this. 

Story ONE:

Edited September 5, 2022 by Prince Namor

[Prince Namor]

ON NEWSSTANDS APRIL 1959

The Double Life of Private Strong #1. Of course they didn't create this original character... it's Archie Comics' the Shield. But this is an updated Silver Age take on it. Obviously inspired by DC's Silver Age Superhero updates... This comic heavily influenced Barry Windsor-Smith as a kid!

Story Two:

[Prince Namor]

ON NEWSSTANDS APRIL 1959

The Double Life of Private Strong #1

They even do a short Fly story/AD...

Story EXTRA: