King Kirby

Danny Barer
6 hrs

The Sandman, words by Michael Fleisher, art by Jack Kirby and Michael Royer (drawn circa mid-70s, published 1981). My final purchase of Comic-Con (after I saw it on Preview Night, and it nagged at me until the last 15 minutes of the Dealer's Room) is this page, which is itself the subject of comics history. In December 1981, I purchased a Best of DC Digest with holiday-themed stories, lured by the cover's promise of a never-before-published Kirby story. Inside was a gonzo story of The Sandman and Jed battling seal men to save Santa Clause. Turns out that this story was meant for SANDMAN issue #7, but the series was canceled before the story saw print. Then the story was slated for KAMANDI 61 (hence the shorthand on the top of the page concerning that issue, and the 1978 copyright date stamped on the back of the page)--but then *that* title was canceled, a victim of the DC Implosion of 1978. Finally, DC ran the story--smaller in size, but still large in entertainment--in that 1981 digest. I never forgot the enjoyment of reading that bizarre Kirby story. And now a page from it is mine.

Danny Barer
Here's a better scan of the page, from the dealer's web page. (He lists the inker as D. Bruce Berry, but those sure look like Royer inks to me.)