Fourth World, Part 19

(Continued from Part 18)

Text to be added...

DC SPECIAL 27  /
art by Rich Buckler & Joe Rubinstein   (May 1977)

SECRET SOCIETY OF SUPER-VILLAINS 5  /
art by ERNIE CHAN   (February 1977)

KAMANDI, THE LAST BOY ON EARTH 49  /
art by ERNIE CHAN   (March 1977)

KOBRA 7  /
art by MIKE NASSER   (April 1977)

SECRET SOCIETY OF SUPER-VILLAINS 6  /
art by Rich Buckler & Vince Colletta   (April 1977)

KAMANDI, THE LAST BOY O EARTH 50  /
art by Rich Buckler & Alfredo Alcala   (May 1977)

SECRET SOCIETY OF SUPER-VILLAINS 7  /
art by Rich Buckler & Joe Rubinstein   (June 1977)

NEW GODS 12  /
art by AL MILGROM   (July 1977)

KAMANDI, THE LAST BOY ON EARTH 51  /
art by Rich Buckler & Jack Abel   (July 1977)

SECRET SOCIETY OF SUPER-VILLAINS 8  /
art by Rich Buckler & Jack Abel   (In Progress!)   (August 1977)

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

See Erik Larsen's KAMANDI article at Comic Book Resources
Read He Who Wanders' SSoSV thread at Legion World

Artwork (C) DC Comics Inc.

Raw scans of DC SPECIAL #27,
     KAMANDI #49-50,
     and KOBRA #7 from Heritage Auctions

Restorations by Henry R. Kujawa  

Fourth World, Part 18

(Continued from Part 17)

In case anyone's wondering what Gerry Conway's SECRET SOCIETY OF SUPER-VILLAINS is doing here, the 2nd issue introduced Darkseid as the financial backer of the villain group.  Although he was only part of the ongoing proceedings until issue #5, another character who debuted in Kirby's Fourth World books was son introduced to take his place for the rest of the series.

Although Phillipino artist Ernie Chua (later Ernie Chan) was the most
prolific cover artists on these books at the time, other contributors include
Dick Giordano, Joe Kubert, Rich Buckler & Mike Nassser.

SECRET SOCIETY OF SUPER-VILLAINS 2  /
art by Dick Giordano & Klaus Janson   (August 1976)
SECRET SOCIETY OF SUPER-VILLAINS 2  /
art by Dick Giordano & Klaus Janson /
Fantasy version by Henry Kujawa 
KAMANDI, THE LAST BOY ON EARTH 45  /
art by ERNIE CHAN   (September 1976)

KOBRA 4  /
art by JOE KUBERT   (September 1976)

KAMANDI, THE LAST BOY ON EARTH 46  /
art by ERNIE CHAN   (October 1976)

SECRET SOCIETY OF SUPER-VILLAINS 3  /
art by ERNIE CHAN   (October 1976)

DC's disastrous cover format with the wide banner finally came to and end with the Nov'76 issues. As it turned out, it was the beginning of a major company-wide upgrade, which also involved a new publisher hired for the job from outside the industry-- Jeanette Kahn.

KAMANDI, THE LAST BOY ON EARTH 47  /
art by Rich Buckler & Frank Giacoia   (November 1976)

KOBRA 5  /
art by Rich Buckler & Frank McLaughlin   (December 1976)

SECRET SOCIETY OF SUPER-VILLAINS 4  /
art by ERNIE CHAN   (December 1976)

KAMANDI, THE LAST BOY ON EARTH 48  /
art by ERNIE CHAN   (January 1977)

KOBRA 6  /
art by Mike Nasser & Joe Rubinstein   (February 1977)

(Continued in Part 19)

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

See Erik Larsen's KAMANDI article at Comic Book Resources
Read He Who Wanders' SSoSV thread at Legion World

Artwork (C) DC Comics Inc. /

Raw scans of KAMANDI #45-46 from Comic Book Swap site
Raw Scans of KOBRA #4-6 and
     KAMANDI #47 from Heritage Auctions

Restorations by Henry R. Kujawa  

Fourth World, Part 17

(Continued from Part 16)

Anyone who remembers what happened to FANTASTIC FOUR the moment Jack Kirby left the book probably could have predicted what was coming as soon as Kirby left DC.  To put it simply, an awful lot of AWFUL comics came out, featuring characters he created.  Nevertheless, I intend to present the best-looking cover images I can manage.

Amazingly, Darkseid appeared in 2 different books with the same cover date (Apr'76).  The first was an aborted revival of NEW GODS, which tried to do too much in too few pages and did it all badly.  The 2nd had him as a central character, albeit mostly out-of-character, in a story that was completely rejected and redone before the final version was published 2 months later!

The post-Kirby era begins...

1ST ISSUE SPECIAL 13  /
art by DICK GIORDANO   (April 1976)

AMAZING WORLD OF DC COMICS 11  /
art by DICK DILLIN   (April 1976)

KAMANDI, THE LAST BOY ON EARTH 41  /
art by JOE KUBERT   (May 1976)

I couldn't find a single decent image of KOBRA #2 anywhere online, so I just did a minor clean-up of the one that everyone seems to be using, from the GCD.  However, I did find an image of the original line-art, so I'm posting that here as well.  Personally, I think this gets my vote for one of the WORST-looking covers I've posted here.  I'm kinda wondering about the text at the top of the original art image-- was this some kind of hand-drawn recreation?

KOBRA 2  /
art by ERNIE CHAN   (May 1976)

KAMANDI, THE LAST BOY ON EARTH 42  /
art by JOSE LUIS GARCIA-LOPEZ   (June 1976)

SECRET SOCIETY OF SUPER-VILLAINS 1  /
art by ERNIE CHAN   (June 1976)

BRAVE & THE BOLD 128  /
art by JIM APARO   (July 1976)

KAMANDI, THE LAST BOY ON EARTH 43  /
art by ERNIE CHAN   (July 1976)

KOBRA 3  /
art by ERNIE CHAN   (July 1976)

KAMANDI, THE LAST BOY ON EARTH 44  /
art by ERNIE CHAN   (August 1976)

(Continued in Part 18)

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

See Erik Larsen's KAMANDI article at Comic Book Resources
Read He Who Wanders' SSoSV thread at Legion World
Read the rejected version of SSoSV #1 at the Amazing Blog Of DC Comics

Artwork (C) DC Comics Inc.

Raw scans of KAMANDI #41-44,
     KOBRA #2 (inks) and KOBRA #3
     from Heritage Auctions site
Raw scan of KOBRA #2 from the Grand Comics Database site

Restorations by Henry R. Kujawa 

OMAC 9, Part 2

(Continued from Part 1)


page 14

page 15

page 16

page 17

page 18

page 19

page 20

page 21

page 22

page 23

page 24

page 25

page 26

Here's the cover with COLOR added by me!

Read Chris Sims' review of OMAC #9 at Chris's Invincible Super-Blog.
See Dek Baker's WARGODS OF ATLANTIS at Zumcomics.

OMAC is a Trademark of DC Comics, Inc.
Story & Art (C) 2002 Dek Baker & David Morris

Scans, Clean-ups & Color by Henry R. Kujawa

OMAC 9

From the MASTERWORKS message board (3-4-2012):

My first exposure to OMAC was Jim Starlin's run (cut short by the "DC Implosion"). I was a fan of his, and really got into what he was doing.  He was followed by Mishkin & Cohn, with LaRoqcue & Colletta, who just didn't cut it somehow.  When I read Jack Kirby's run, however, it immediately became my FAVORITE of his early-70's DC work. Over time, I realized just how totally wrong-headed and character-destructive Starlin's take had been, and how Mishkin & Cohn had actually tried to steer things back to Kirby-- they just didn't have the skills to do it right.

In 2002, UK fans David Morris & Dek Baker did OMAC #9, "IS THIS THE END OF OMAC?" a 22-page story printed in B&W which was, effectively, the 3rd part of Kirby's final story.  Yeah, it was intended as a 3-parter. That last panel at the end of part 2 was slapped in there by the editor when the book got cancelled abruptly.  Starlin picked up at the end of part 2, ignoring that there was supposed to be a part 3.  Well, I've read it.  It's NOT by Kirby... but while the art is crude, it captures the look and feel of Kirby the way early Barry Smith did.  But it's the writing that really pushes it over. You'd almost SWEAR Kirby did it himself.

I saw this promoted in an issue of THE JACK KIRBY COLLECTOR, and sent away for a copy.  What a blast!  I understand they only ran off so many copies, but I wish they'd do more.  More, I wish DC would cut a deal with them and include it in any future reprints of Kirby's run.  IT'S THAT GOOD.


Well, DC reprinted Kirby's 8 issues of OMAC, but did not have the sense to strike a deal to include Baker & Morris' OMAC #9.  And since the fanzine mini-comic is out of print, HERE it is in its entirety.  ENJOY!

OMAC 9  /  art by Dek Baker & Dave Morris   (2002)

inside front cover

page 1

page 2

page 3

pages 2-3

page 4

page 5

page 6

page 7

page 8

page 9

page 10

page 11

page 12

page 13

(Continued in Part 2)

OMAC is a Trademark of DC Comics, Inc.
Story & Art (C) 2002 Dek Baker & David Morris

Scans & Clean-ups by Henry R. Kujawa