Gomdulla (Monsterbus p.345)

Kirby's story is interesting and different. But Lee's text tries to make it dull and the same.

Text versus art. 

Look at the last page, where the mummy lies on the floor. Look at the font size, compared with other pages. See how much is squashed into the panel - so much that the word balloon extends into the next panel. Compare this to other pages, or to pure Kirby stories (i.e. after 1970): Kirby does not plan his panels so badly. 

Also notice that this panel and the next one introduce information not even hinted at before. That is bad writing, a bad conclusion. Kirby's art does not do that: no hint of aliens in the pictures. In short, the art and the final edited text are different, so once again we must look at them separately.

Bad text. 

First, let's dismiss the text. The text opens by saying the creature is a pharaoh. But clearly he is not: what pharaoh was ever twenty feet tall? The text says his power is the greatest on Earth. This is not true, as he is defeated with a simple touch. The text says his story is the most incredible of our time. This is not true, as every month this and other comics produce numerous stories of equal merit. The opening text is classic Stan Lee hyperbole, but Kirby does not write like that. Kirby, in contrast to Lee, gives us possible alternate futures based on an understanding of the past: Kirby may use metaphor, but he always tells the truth.

Now look at the end: this is yet another alien? How dull!!!! What a waste of comic money if the story is just like all the others. Kirby once said that Stan Lee was not the kind of person who came up with ideas. Lee's editing confirms it. 

The story told by the art

The art tells a much better story. This is a joyful celebration of western orientalism: it has the bigger than human mummy, the deadly secret society, the westerner who dresses as an Arab, the evil genie (or mummy) who can be stopped by a simple touch, and of course the pyramids and bazaars. It's glorious! And Kirby has never covered this before (at least, not in the monster comics, and not in such a concentrated way). With Kirby there is always something new, rich, mind expanding and delightful!

A true story.

All of this is based on truth: each meme is an exaggerated version of something westerners discovered and marvelled at when they first encountered the orient: the pyramids and bazaars of course, the apparently impenetrable culture and dangers that we interpreted as secret societies; the western adventurers like Richard Burton, the Arabian Knights plus strict social class system that gave us the exotic ideas of enormous powers that could be shut down with just the right word; the apparent curse of Tutankhamen's tomb, and so on. It's all here, but literally larger than life! So much food for the mind.

The original ending. 

In that context, look again at the ending without the text. In the art the creature is never explained, as that is the whole point of the orient - it is always a place of mysteries. The priest and servants were enslaved, and only the westerner's chaos and distraction allowed the priest to escape. That is how westerners saw the orient: this is a story of our own past. But it also a story of the future, and could work just as well with the eastern and wester positions reversed:

Kirby the prophet. 

Look at the moral of the story:  the ordinary working man is the same throughout the world, he is not the enemy, he is enslaved but if we help him he is a friend. Throughout this blog I have spoken about giant organisations as gods, and of the future of inequality. The insider, the person working in an oppressive organisation, knows the simplest ways to defeat it. This is the message we need to hear. This is how we can defeat the real Gomdullas.

Good grief, I sound like a socialist revolutionary. Anyone who reads my other web sites will know I am closer to Adam Smith, but Smith was concerned with the same topics as Kirby and all thinking people: what is best for the ordinary person? 

The name. 

Obviously Kirby didn't speak Arabic but he was well read and the name felt right to him. Why? 

I have been unable to find the etymology of "gom" as I can't find a phonetic Arabic->English dictionary. Obviously the ending is "allah" as in "abdulla" (the "a" often becomes "u") but what does "Gomb" mean? Something like "false" or "offense to"? Of course, "gomb" is just an English version - perhaps the original Arabic was "khumb" or something.

Maybe it isn't even Arabic but comes from some other cultural source. Kirby's Jewish ancestors came from central Europe, and Gomb is Hungarian for "button". Gomballa was defeated by a button.  If anybody reading this has any other ideas, please let me know!