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Stan, Jack, and Steve - The 1960's. (1960) Showing Signs of Life!
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Started by Prince Namor,

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Prince Namor

Prince Namor

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ON NEWSSTANDS SEPTEMBER 1960

For September, Rawhide Kid #20 features a cover by Jack Kirby, a two part story (13 pages) and 5 page story. All are inked by D. Ayers.

Originally artwork shows us that Jack was still writing what he called the '-script' into word balloon areas on the page. This made it easier for the editor to make slight changes if needed, and certainly for the letterer to finish.

Kirby also used multi-part stories, something Stan had never done until two months ago, that Jack had been using for most of his career. 

So how did Stan get the 'by Stan Lee' tag line put on these? Simple, the Rawhide Kid was a property of the publisher and in order to work on it Stan had to oversee and sign off on each story. Maybe even give some input as to what the story might feature. Not sure what. These stories still read like Kirby work to anyone who's followed this multi-part thread or read Jack's pre-Marvel work. 

Chapter ONE:

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Prince Namor

Prince Namor

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ON NEWSSTANDS SEPTEMBER 1960

For September, Gunsmoke Western #62 features a cover (inked by D. Ayers) and 3 stories with pencils by Jack Kirby. Stan signs his name to all three. Jack Keller's 7 page Kid Colt story leads off and then it's all Kirby. 

Kirby's Story ONE is inked by D. Ayers

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Prince Namor

Prince Namor

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ON NEWSSTANDS SEPTEMBER 1960

JACK KIRBY does the cover and writes and pencils the lead story in Journey Into Mystery #64. Both are inked by D. Ayers.

It's interesting to note that Kirby has used the names Elektro, the Hulk, the Spider-MEN, and others that we generally HAVEN'T seen in the other stories. 

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Prince Namor

Prince Namor

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ON NEWSSTANDS SEPTEMBER 1960

JACK KIRBY does the cover and writes and pencils the 3 part, 18 page story in Tales of Suspense #14. All are inked by D. Ayers.

Marvel isn't sure. Stan even asks at the end of the story - "Do you prefer full-length stories such as this one? Would you like to see more such epics? Write..."

Chapter THREE:

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Prince Namor

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ON NEWSSTANDS SEPTEMBER 1960

For the month, Kirby does 6.5 of the 10 covers* ** (65%) and 73 of the 230 pages of art (31.7%). By comparison, Steve Ditko, who Marvel and Stan Lee have gone to great lengths to compare the contribution as EVEN between him and Kirby - does 20 pages. 

73 to 20

Kirby was dominating Marvel's books. 

 

Giordano - 46 pages (2 whole romance books)

Hartley - 23 pages

Goldberg - 23 pages

Heck - 23 pages

Reinman - 15 pages

Keller - 7 pages

 

This isn't to put down the work of Steve Ditko during this period. I LOVE his work during this time. That's on Marvel for not understanding how GOOD he was and utilizing him MORE. 

What this shows is that Marvel had an agenda to down play HOW MUCH Kirby did to save the company during this time.

 

*From Love Romances #91 per GCD "The couple on the left are repeated from the splash panel of "No Man is Good Enough!" and are drawn by MR. Giordano. The woman in the background-right is by Kirby, as is probably the composition. Overall inking by Vince Colletta."

**Teen-Age Romance cheaply (like Charlton) uses art from the interior story so they don't have to pay to have an artist do the cover...

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Prince Namor

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ON NEWSSTANDS SEPTEMBER 1960

In September, Steve Ditko again did 4 stories for Marvel. From Journey Into Mystery #64. 

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

And again, Ditko is making the most out of whatever short synopsis idea he's getting... these are all 5 page stories with the first page a big splash...

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Prince Namor

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One thing you can clearly see is the difference between the Kirby stories and the Ditko stories, in terms of what's written. And when you know what to look for, it's very clearly visible in the finished product. This is in contrast to how Lee and Marvel again tried to make it seem like it was all the same and just one big happy bullpen where Stan was giving Jack and Steve stories to do. 

The differences tell a different story. 

Ditko IS being given a light synopsis from a past Atlas story, an unused inventory synopsis, someone else's comic book story stripped to the bare minimum of what its content is, etc. But DITKO, sees himself as the 'artist' - he's simply doing the work based on whats he's GIVEN. Nothing more, nothing less, though certainly with a flair and a style that is enjoyable to read and follow. That's what he knows to do. 

Kirby is WRITING a story. He has a one note concept that he's somehow making into SOMETHING, despite the fact there's very little variation in the basic concept of it from issue to issue. There's plenty of dialogue and drama and characterization within each story to sometimes make you forget that it's really just another monster story. This is HEAVY content for Marvel. Think about their line of comics: basic Western genre. Dumb blonde comics. One note 'oh Henry' stories as Stan called them. 

Kirby was FINALLY bringing dialogue and drama and characterization to Marvel. NOT Stan Lee.

Yeah, I get it, Stan's 'That and two bits will get you a cup of coffee' wise guy dialogue would entertain people and lighten up the drama of Kirby's superhero work and make the average reader forever be indebted to the zippiness of it. But Stan had been doing THAT for a decade in Millie the Model and it sure as hell wasn't setting the world on fire. Kirby brought the CONTENT to care about.

In looking at just the stories between them this month (Kirby and Ditko), these two writing styles are completely different. They aren't Stan Lee. They aren't Larry Lieber. One IS JACK KIRBY. The other is... well there's no telling where it's from, but it is the thinnest of ideas and the bare minimum of story.

Ditko would later show that he could do monsters as well, though that would be mainly at Charlton. Lee just didn't know how to do those stories as entertaining as Kirby, so he never really approached the idea, I guess.

At this point he was probably too busy just hoping Goodman didn't shut the whole thing down. 

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Prince Namor

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ON NEWSSTANDS SEPTEMBER 1960

From Superman #141 - Jerry Siegel had a very tempestuous relationship with DC, despite creating the most important and famous superhero character in history, but during his run at the start of the 60's he did some memorable stories, that show just how far ahead of the game DC was to a lot of what was being done in comics at the time. Curt Swan cover, Wayne Boring Interior art. 

Part ONE

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