Fourth World, Part 12

(Continued from Part 11)

In late 1974-early 1975, KAMANDI, OMAC and OUR FIGHTING FORCES kept cranking on.  Instead of OMAC going monthly (which I dearly wish had happened), a 4th title appeared which spotlighted several stories Jack had done months earlier but been rejected... 1st ISSUE SPECIAL.

KAMANDI, THE LAST BOY ON EARTH 26  /
art by Jack Kirby & D. Bruce Berry   (February 1975)

OMAC 3  /
art by Jack Kirby & D. Bruce Berry   (February 1975)

KAMANDI, THE LAST BOY ON EARTH 27  /
art by Jack Kirby & D. Bruce Berry   (March 1975)

OUR FIGHTING FORCES 153  /
art by Jack Kirby & D. Bruce Berry   (March 1975)

KAMANDI, THE LAST BOY ON EARTH 28  /
art by Jack Kirby & D. Bruce Berry   (April 1975)

OMAC 4  /
art by Jack Kirby & D. Bruce Berry   (April 1975)

WOW!!!  One of the most exciting pages in the entire 8-issue run of the book!

OUR FIGHTING FORCES 154  /
art by Jack Kirby & D. Bruce Berry   (April 1975)

The first of Jack Kirby's "rejected" concepts to see the light of day was ATLAS THE GREAT. The story appeared in the 1st issue of 1ST ISSUE SPECIAL, a new anthology in the tradition of DC's SHOWCASE, which featured new and returning characters as potential pilots for new series. However, so few of the series' short run were actually spun off into their own books, a case could be made that it acted more as a dumping ground for "unsold pilots", the way the TV networks often run rejected shows during the summer months when nobody's watching, as "filler".

This is a shame, as ATLAS fit very well in the long tradition of Italian "sword and sandals" films that were so popular in the 1960's, as well as "sword and sorcery" and "barbarian" series that spilled over into comics, beginning with Marvel's CONAN THE BARBARIAN.  What is particularly striking is how the first half of this issue so closely mirrors the opening sequence of John Milius' 1980 CONAN film, before veering off in a far more interesting and less downbeat direction.  It strongly suggests to me that the Milius' film swiped the "origin" sequence from Kirby (Robert E. Howard NEVER gave his hero an origin), then got it wrong. I've never liked that movie; I wound up loving this comic!!

Most annoying is that Kirby's story ends at the halfway point. I find it infuriating that DC turned this down, while we got so many issues of THE DEMON, KAMANDI, and OUR FIGHTING FORCES.  Reading ATLAS also made me dearly wish Kirby had done a THUNDARR THE BARBARIAN comic, considering all the fantastic work he put into that TV series.

ATLAS 1  /
unused cover by Jack Kirby

1st ISSUE SPECIAL 1  /
art by Jack Kirby & D. Bruce Berry   (April 1975)

ATLAS  /
presentation piece by JACK KIRBY

KAMANDI, THE LAST BOY ON EARTH 29  /
art by Jack Kirby & D. Bruce Berry   (May 1975)

OUR FIGHTING FORCES 155  /
art by Jack Kirby & D. Bruce Berry   (May 1975)

(Continued in Part 13)

For in-depth reviews and a fascinating discussion of these issues,
go to the CAPTAIN COMICS message board...

See THE LOSERS page at Wikipedia
See THE SANDMAN page at Wikipedia

Artwork (C) DC Comics Inc.
Raw scan of KAMANDI #26 from My Comics Shop
Raw scans of KAMANDI #27-28 and
     OUR FIGHTING FORCES #153-155 from Heritage Auctions
Raw scan of KAMANDI #29 from eBay
1ST ISSUE SPECIAL unused cover from Cap'N's Comics blog
Raw scan of ATLAS presentation page from the Tom Kraft's What If Kirby site.
Restorations by Henry R. Kujawa