October 1970: When Kirby Met Kent

In August 1970, at age 16, I was no longer reading many comics. But I knew I had to have a copy of Superman’s Pal Jimmy Olsen 133.

Jack Kirby, the Marvel visionary, coming to DC? I must say, the mind reeled.

So, like a lot of other readers, I picked up Jimmy Olsen 133, the first issue of that title I’d purchased in several years. It did seem odd that Kirby’s first new DC efforts were published in the moribund Jimmy Olsen title,

“Pete Costanza (Nemesis, Captain Tootsie) was the artist handling Jimmy's comic when Jack Kirby (Devil Dinosaur, Sky Masters) moved from Marvel to DC in 1970,” explained comics historian Don Markstein. “Since Costanza was planning to retire, Kirby could replace him without worrying about anybody getting thrown out of work. Thus, Jimmy was catapulted into Kirby’s Fourth World multi-title storyline, which also included The New Gods, The Forever People and Mister Miracle.”

I remember being particularly interested in examining Kirby’s take on Superman. I wanted to see Kirby’s dynamism injected into my favorite character.

I also remember suspecting that Kirby’s Superman faces had been redrawn. No matter. This Superman hurtled along in reckless Kirby abandon, and that’s what I wanted to see. 

Even Superman’s heat vision looked more formidable when Kirby drew it. Kirby knew that superheroes were about power, and he took care to put that on the page.

I also noticed that Kirby’s characterization of Superman didn’t quite tally with DC’s established one. Superman did not generally moan about being lonely the way he did in the first issue of Forever People. Nor would DC’s established Man of Steel have considered leaving Earth to live with some tribe of super strangers. He was too dedicated to his mission for that.

But again, no matter. Here, Kirby was merely anticipating events. Superman’s sense of himself as an isolated outsider on Earth was a theme writers would return to repeatedly in later decades.