Publisher:
DC Comics
Cover Date:
July, 1973
Art Type:
Panel
Story:
“The Monster Fetish!”
Character(s):
Kamandi
History:
Published
Size:
10.8 x 15.8 in. (27.3 x 40 cm)
Credits:
Penciler:
Jack Kirby
Inker:
Mike Royer
Letterer:
Mike Royer
Scans of this art courtesy of Tom Kraft
No doubt about it. By the mid '60s Jack was developing a style that should have been both inker proof and colour proof. I've never seen a Kirby page from the '70s and later which didn't look better in B&W. In fact the colour on something like Kamandi cheapened Kirby's work. People will say, "The artwork was meant to be seen in colour."
That is true to the commercial intent, but I see Kirby as being sure his pages work in B&W.
I don't agree that those books had bad color. The printing in early seventies comics was generally excellent, due to the fact that they used a better paper stock than was used in the latter seventies, and the fact that they were still being printed with metal plates, which always produced a sharper, crisper image than the plastic plates they switched to later.
As to the idea of Kirby's pages being meant to be seen in black-and-white...most certainly not. Kirby always understood the importance of color-holding containment lines for every element of his pictures, and his style -- like that of most other mainstream comic artists of that time -- was designed with that principle in mind. The fact that it worked in black-and-white AS WELL AS color was because Kirby, like all other good comic artists, also understood that the art SHOULD work in black-and-white as well as color. Why? Because if it works in black-and-white, it will also, generally, work in color; and if it doesn't work in black-and-white, it generally won't work in color, either.
Correction
Obviously, this is from KAMANDI #7 (published by DC), not 2001 #7 (published by Marvel). Nice page, though!
Countdown minus ten.
Ten pages to arrive to the key number. Surprises are about to show... :-)
Love these pages...
...they just look so much better than the printed comic.
Pencils of Steel
No doubt about it. By the mid '60s Jack was developing a style that should have been both inker proof and colour proof. I've never seen a Kirby page from the '70s and later which didn't look better in B&W. In fact the colour on something like Kamandi cheapened Kirby's work. People will say, "The artwork was meant to be seen in colour."
That is true to the commercial intent, but I see Kirby as being sure his pages work in B&W.
Color
I don't agree that those books had bad color. The printing in early seventies comics was generally excellent, due to the fact that they used a better paper stock than was used in the latter seventies, and the fact that they were still being printed with metal plates, which always produced a sharper, crisper image than the plastic plates they switched to later.
As to the idea of Kirby's pages being meant to be seen in black-and-white...most certainly not. Kirby always understood the importance of color-holding containment lines for every element of his pictures, and his style -- like that of most other mainstream comic artists of that time -- was designed with that principle in mind. The fact that it worked in black-and-white AS WELL AS color was because Kirby, like all other good comic artists, also understood that the art SHOULD work in black-and-white as well as color. Why? Because if it works in black-and-white, it will also, generally, work in color; and if it doesn't work in black-and-white, it generally won't work in color, either.
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