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Alright, since you demanded it, saddle up the Wolf Wagons and keep an eye open for Orangutan Surfing Civilizations, its time for...
There'll probably be less jokey jokes for this thread since this era of Kirby kind of defies that format. Its just a wild, good fever dream
The first map we're given. There's another bigger, more famous one coming later, but this is still worth seeing.
Its a well known fact that any comic can be improved with the addition of a rad map.
I love how Kirby's animal people are all gnarly monstrosities. There's no romanticism in this future world or its inhabitants.
When you're the last boy on earth but microfilms didn't teach you that the punchline comes AFTER the set-up
Kirby was a master of brand synergy before the term existed
Also, jeez, I'd kill for those cheekbones, pouty lips and ability to find hair product even after the apocalypse.
More like Kamandi the Last Femme on Earth, am I right?
Considering what the appearance of a gruff cigar-chomper in one of his comics usually meant, I'm 90% sure we know what Kirby's fursona was
Kamandi's face accurately conveys the feeling of realizing the other last intelligent humans are part of a computer worshipping cult
I like the idea of kirby's animal people finding old funny animal cartoons and going "well, of COURSE our ancestors made these!"
"People read what they want to from history in order to feel superior" is a strong theme in Kamandi
All of Kirby's work at DC from this period fits into the overarching themes and ideas he was also using in the Fourth World saga
TFW they're destroying each other to win a strawberry shortcake
Kirby's political satire went beyond concepts like "subtle" or "overt"
Well, sometimes anyway
"Ape men turned Nixon's tapes into a sonic death cannon" may be among the most 70s Kirby sentences possible
Kamandi is a roller coaster ride of ideas. He'll spend one or two issues in a place that other comics would devote a whole series to.
Life comes at you fast
Kamandi the Last Femme and the Horny Dolphin
Most of the post-Great Disaster animals are scavengers/living in ruins, but every actual society Kirby shows is great. Here's a dolphin city
Way to go, CANADA
Jack Kirby's Nausicaa of the Valley of the Winds
(Actually, no fooling, a Kamandi/Nausicaa crossover would fucking rule)
Now here's a famous issue where we find that Superman failed to stop the apocalypse but gorillas worship him anyway
And they have a series of rituals to prove who is the most able to recreate his famous feats
Whats interesting is that, since this is pre-crisis, its never actually clear if Superman is real or if they're worshipping our fiction
Remember back in issue 2 kamandi was reading comics. The futur may have mixed up our fiction with our history to get their gods
The Last Boy is about to discovery the greatest post-apocalyptic adventure of all... is fatherhood
Kirby left after issue 40, and a revolving series of writer/artists (including greats like Gerry Conway, Denny O'Neil, and others) took over
Its...frankly never as good as it was under Kirby. The weirdness is a lot more "generic silver/bronze age weird" than Kirby's
Though Kamandi's dog scientist friend does start dating the alien lady made of fire, I guess
