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Sunday, May 13, 2007

KIRBY'S KAMANDI
(SOME PAGES FROM KAMANDI #4 and #29)

[Below] Cover and a page from a 1973 Kamandi (#4)

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[Below] The spread from Kirby's "Superman" issue of Kamandi #29

[Above] Kirby's comic about "the Last Boy on Earth" seems heavily derived from the Planet of the Apes movie, but according to the Kirby bio book Tales to Astonish and also the Kamandi Wikipedia article (here) Kirby's ideas for Kamandi date back to at least 1957 (the Statue of Liberty motif, which directly recalls the first Apes movie, was apparently pushed on Kirby by then DC Comics publisher Carmine Infantino).

Named for the bunker called "Command D" where Kamandi lived with his grandfather (who may have been Kirby's other creation, OMAC, aka the One Man Army) he set out to discover if any intelligent human life was left on a planet over run with talking, scheming and warring animals. The original series lasted 59 issues.

The datajunkie blog site has been running a Kirby Cover collection (doesn't include Kamandi) here.

[Below] I read this story when it originally appeared. Kirby's referencing Superman (without him ever showing up in the tale) and building a gorilla cult based upon Superman's suit, which they handle like a deity's relic, was an idea well and away from the usual comic topic. Thoughtful, but with Kirby's dynamic, careening storytelling style. (See a spread from the issue here)

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