Super Powers
1985 Series
Issue:
1
Page:
22
Publisher:
DC Comics
Cover Date:
September, 1985
Art Type:
Panel
Story:
“Seeds of Doom!”
Character(s):
Aquaman, Desaad, King Arthur, Martian Manhunter
History:
Published
Size:
13 x 19.9 in. (33 x 50.6 cm)
Credits:
Penciler:
Jack Kirby
Inker:
Greg Theakston
Second Inker:
Bill Wray
Letterer:
David Cody Weiss
Scans of this art courtesy of Steve Wyatt
Average Rating:
My Rating:
Super Powers Outages…
… or Outrages?
Honestly, among his latest works, this one is more an embarrasment than anything for the King.
Pat himself couldn't appreciate it.
Perfect fit for Colletta to ink.
Dialogue
It really cracks me up how some fanboys criticize the dialogue in Kirby's comics, saying Jack was a bad dialogue writer. Yet these same people seem to feel that the dialogue in most mainstream Marvel and DC comics, written by all the house hacks, is just wonderful. What a joke. Case in point: the dialogue on these Super Powers pages -- which, like most other dialogue in Marvel and DC books, reads like it was written by a sixteen year old. The fact is that Kirby was a far better dialogue writer than all the lame-ass, self-conscious, pretentious fanboys masquerading as professional writers both then and now.
I agree
The Super Powers series I took as pass on based on Kirby not being the writer (as I recall he wrote one issue, which was rewritten), and the horrible inking.
Obviously by the time of the second second Super Powers Kirby had so much trouble dealing with the tremor in his drawing hand the act of drawing had become a very difficult task for him. Even with that on those occasions where Kirby was interested he produced some wonderful pages. This great page has Kirby's dialogue, which I think was rewritten for the published version.
http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.whatifkirby.com/sites/def...
Another of Kirby's pages:
http://www.whatifkirby.com/sites/default/files/comicpages/superpowers5_p...
I really get a kick out of the fact the art shows when Kirby was interested because he was drawing his own characters, a monster, or some kind of hardware the artwork is excellent despite his struggles, when he's drawing The Flash or Batman his complete disinterest is reflected in the art which often looks like a half-hearted scrawl.
As to John's comments about Kirby's writing. Kirby was the best writer in mainstream comic books during the 70's and 80's by a wide margin. It isn't just that his writing was great, the stuff it's most often compared is really weak.
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