Another superb tale. The hero's desperation! The chase through a funfair (I suspect inspired by a movie or two?) But this time I want to draw attention to the moral complexity of the story.
This is a fairly typical Kirby monster book, At his rate of working at the time, he probably wrote and drew the entire two parter in three days or so, before writing another and another and another. It's aimed at a much younger audience, and nobody could call it Kirby's best. Yet even here there is such nuance, such moral ambiguity. And a superb chase sequence, you can really feel the emotion for each character!
In the story the hero makes mistakes, then he does bad things in the heat of the moment, he gets himself into a bad situation and keeps going. The hero wins at the end by lying to the authorities and to his girlfriend about some extremely important stuff (she would not be his girlfriend if she knew the truth!). It makes the reader think. Remember, the initial situation was not the hero's fault! He was scared and just wanted the girl he loved. And the truth is the hero did all he could, This can be read as a silly monster chase story, but it's so much more than that.
Kirby's stories are about nuance, and difficult topics, and real emotions, real choices, above all reality. I find myself thinking about them long after I've finished, and getting more from them on the second and third reading. I can't say that for many other writers.
Contrast this complexity with the extreme dumbing down of the editing. The cover simply presents it as a giant who walks. So what? Most of the drama is lost. And when the monster grabs the girl, the art has been changed so she isn't there, and the speech balloon comes from off screen! Kirby is creating a metaphor for a human monster, while in contrast Stan could be extremely timid in what he would show.
This is a fairly typical Kirby monster book, At his rate of working at the time, he probably wrote and drew the entire two parter in three days or so, before writing another and another and another. It's aimed at a much younger audience, and nobody could call it Kirby's best. Yet even here there is such nuance, such moral ambiguity. And a superb chase sequence, you can really feel the emotion for each character!
In the story the hero makes mistakes, then he does bad things in the heat of the moment, he gets himself into a bad situation and keeps going. The hero wins at the end by lying to the authorities and to his girlfriend about some extremely important stuff (she would not be his girlfriend if she knew the truth!). It makes the reader think. Remember, the initial situation was not the hero's fault! He was scared and just wanted the girl he loved. And the truth is the hero did all he could, This can be read as a silly monster chase story, but it's so much more than that.
Kirby's prophetic message
You and I won't turn into a literal monster, but we can be put into very difficult positions where we could easily do things that go wrong, feel trapped, and be seen as a metaphorical monster. Behind every real world monster (wife beater, violent thug, etc.) there is somebody who's had just as bad treatment themselves. For evidence, see the book The Creation of Dangerous Violent Criminals.Kirby's stories are about nuance, and difficult topics, and real emotions, real choices, above all reality. I find myself thinking about them long after I've finished, and getting more from them on the second and third reading. I can't say that for many other writers.
The editing
Contrast this complexity with the extreme dumbing down of the editing. The cover simply presents it as a giant who walks. So what? Most of the drama is lost. And when the monster grabs the girl, the art has been changed so she isn't there, and the speech balloon comes from off screen! Kirby is creating a metaphor for a human monster, while in contrast Stan could be extremely timid in what he would show.
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