Captain Victory - One For All!

I have to confess I was more than a bit surprised when I stumbled across this new Captain Victory number one way back at the turn of the century. Apparently Kirby's grandson tried to market Captain Victory but sadly it was a failure in two ways. The black and white comics take the original Kirby story and cut it up and reorganize the narrative to create a different tale. The printing is amazingly primitive given the abilities of the modern age and I'm fairly certain I could do a better job using a typical industrial copy machine.

I have not ever seen in the actual pulp the second issue and according to Wikipedia, the third and final installment received only online publication. This was a misguided attempt to revive "King" Kirby's creations and while I wish the Kirby family good fortune in reaping what benefit they can from the hard work of their of father and grandfather, I am not sad that this meager effort fell flat.

Galactic Bounty Hunters which dropped from Marvel's short-lived Icon brand was a bit more successful. Written by Kirby's daughter this project was another weird offspring of the Captain Victory material, using early versions of the Wonder Warriors to create a different story line. Captain Victory even puts in a cameo in one issue.

And since no company has been able to get it together to reprint the Captain Victory and the Galactic Rangers material in a proper form, it likely remains one of the King's most obscure efforts. Image tried and failed, only giving us a collection for Silver Star.

Dynamite tried a few times to revive the series but for whatever reason has not ever appeared to attempt to reprint the vintage stuff.  Why this series has not gotten the nod is beyond me, but it's well past time someone did the deed.

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Captain Victory - All For One!

Let me close out my look at Jack Kirby's Captain Victory and The Galactic Rangers from Pacific Comics with a look at the exceedingly peculiar Captain Victory and the Galactic Rangers Special one and only. It's a odd story by any stretch and fitted within the broad cosmic confines of what had preceded in the comic, even more so.

The story begins aboard the Dreadnought: Tiger still waiting for a new engine (after losing its original to the Voice and his Wonder Warriors). To pass the time Egghead (sometimes called Mister Mind) has arranged elaborate trips into the past of the planet Earth using information he recorded while on the planet fighting the Insectons. Captain Victory, Major Klavus and Tarin the Tri-Command of the Tiger are suddenly swept up in this scheme and shunted into Paris of the historical past blended with the ficitonal works of both Alexander Dumas (The Three Musketeers) and Victor Hugo (The Hunchback of Notre Dame).

The find Egghead playing the role of Quasimodo, sort of, and quickly find themselves clothed and cast as the Three Musketeers. Plenty of action ensues as they seek to rescue a female Ranger who is being burned as a witch and stop a "Q-Bomb" which has been triggered inadverdantly. The of course save her and the misadventure comes to an abrupt halt when they shunted back to the Tiger with Egghead trying his best to rectify things.

Meanwhile the Q-Bomb having been transported into space explodes in a massive and colorful Kirby collage.

The Special also offers up some tasty Kirby pin-ups with insights into other aspects of the Ranger forces. Sadly these are glimpses of concepts we will never get a chance to see developed.  And with that Kirby says a fond farewell to his last great creation. He's not quite done with comics, but his later work will be almost exclusively with scripts written by others.

As for Captain Victory, he will return yet again, but more on that next time.

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Captain Victory - Continuity Is Tribulation!

When it came time to give Captain Victory an origin, Jack "King" Kirby offered up an epic trilogy which not only showcased the youth and early career of the commander of the Dreadnought:Tiger but deepened Kirby's earlier work at both DC and Marvel. How did he do that, well let me explain.

The story begins in Captain Victory and the Galactic Rangers number eleven in the notorious Section 51, a part of the ship filled with offbeat aliens who have gotten refuge status of sorts on the Tiger. These weirdos are not unlike mischievous children and to quiet them after a particularly raucous event while waiting for the Tiger's engines to be replaced, Victory tells them the story of his own origins, or at least an origin. It begins when he was a wee child of eight and we learn he lives in a distant area of space dubbed Hellikost with his cousin "Big Ugly" a genocidal brute and other members of an extended family of psychotics. They brood appear to live in awe of Lord Blackmass, a disembodied Voice who sometimes commands them to attack other worlds and torture and murder the locals they find there. Victory is something of a tactical savant who helps scheme out these campaigns with the help of a massive empathetic computer. With the help of that computer Victory finally is able to strike out and kills Big Ugly in retaliation for his many crimes.

Later Victory is able to escape Hellikost, with help by the computer who gives him access to remarkable technology from an earlier era, technology used by his father himself the son of the insidious Blackmass.

Victory did not know his father but the nature of the technology tickles the imagination of any comic book fan who was lucky enough to read Kirby's New Gods.

In issue twelve Victory leaves Hellikost behind and finds a world occupied by Captain Klane, a former member of the Galactic Rangers who has used up his allotted fifty clones and hangs onto the last life with brutal energy. He takes it upon himself to help raise Victory, though it's a rough upbringing to say the least. Klane has used technology to engage the native population who imitate with great speed what they find and become increasingly warlike and capable of waging ever-inceasing technological warfare. Eventually Klane is about to be killed and Victory is sent away before that final moment.

Now a young man, in issue thirteen Victory joins the Galactic Rangers and we follow his career as he quickly rises through the ranks. We meet the love of his  young life but the two of them are separated by orders and he pursues his career.

Eventually he becomes a Captain in the very campaign in which his love is killed. We see him take command of the Dreadnought: Tiger and encounter his command and the  officers under his command for the first time.

Sadly aside from a single special this is the final Captain Victory story by Kirby. But in this origin we learn much about what the title really might mean and what might have come had it been allowed to continue.

While Captain Victory and the Galactic Rangers showcases a Jack Kirby who by dint of Father Time has diminished talents, there still seems to be this allure caused by Jack's desire to tell big stories. The mythic scope of the Fourth World does seem to resonate here as well, though without the acute focus. This (if we believe that Victory is the descendant of Orion) is of a universe lacking the singular element of Darkseid which galvanized so much of the disparate folks in the DC material. Though in this story and the one which preceded it, there is a notion of a grand mystery which seems to be that evil raising itself up once again. And artistically Kirby was diminished with the spectacular vistas missing some of the drama which more supple anatomy and composition might deliver. The inking is maybe some to blame as Thibodeaux is not as adept as Royer, but that's not what most of it seems to be. Kirby has clearly lost a step by the time this series appeared, though even at that he was superior to most of his colleagues.

One more to come. Or is that all -- we'll see next week.

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Captain Victory - Martius Klavus!

As a nifty back-up in issues of Captain Victory and the Galactic Rangers we get some insight into the early days of Major Klavus and we get a glimpse of his attempts to qualify for the Rangers and we get a look at his  home world, which it turns out owes quite a great deal to ancient Earth history.

We learn that these aliens had gotten a peek at Earth in the time of the Romans and were mucho impressed by what they saw. Despite the many sins committed by the Empire, the people of this planet overlook that and focus on the discipline they behold.

So impressed are they that they fashion their own society in a somewhat mirror image of the Roman Empire. Reminded me of a cool half dozen Star Trek episodes where aliens were always seemingly intoxicated and overcome by Earth culture.

On the world of Martius Klavus we find the Roman Empire as it might have become had it survived on Earth and reached for the stars and beyond. The story is about two brothers who make different choices in life and one who pleases his father and one who to some extent disappoints.

Martius Klavus is the ambitious son of a planet around the giant sun Antares and he had opted to join the Galactic Rangers, much to the chagrin of his father and his brother with whom he has had a lifelong rivalry. This tale gives us an insight into the crew of the Dreadnaught: Tiger and shows why Klavus is such a by-the-book officer, a bit ambitious but certainly loyal. It's a tradition born on Earth itself many centuries ago.

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Captain Victory - Sacrifice Is Continuity!

As the forces of the Captain Victory and his Galactic Rangers close up operations on the planet Earth they get their next mission which will send them into Quadrant X in which have appeared mysterious anomalies such as the forms of beings larger than a single galaxy.

From Quadrant X comes four terrifying "Wonder Warriors" -- Finarkin the Fearless, Bloody Marrien, Paranex the Fighting Fetus (yep...that's what I said) and Ursan the Unclean.

We quickly behold these beings attack some pirates and their deadly powers are revealed. Meanwhile the Dreadnought: Tiger prepares to leave Earth.

While Tarin and Orca organize the debarkation of Earth, Captain Victory consults the bizarre multi-dimensional navigator to prepare for "Zap-Out", the method by which the ship will enter Quadrant X.

While the preparations are made the Wonder Warriors take on an outpost of the Rangers and kill two hundred troops.

After many delays the journey of the Dreadnought: Tiger to Quadrant X is undertaken at last.

Very quickly the Rangers confront the Wonder Warriors, and surprisingly subdue them all save for Paranex by unleashing "Section 51", a group of ragtag weirdo aliens from across the cosmos who have taken up refuge aboard the Tiger.

The Wonder Warriors though escape with relative ease, and seemingly capture Captain Victory and steal one of the Tiger's main engines.

They escape into the depths of Quadrant X following the orders of "The Voice" a clearly malevolent force, a disembodied entity which can assert control over others and who it seems is already familiar with Captain Victory. But Victory had substituted a robot double and so defeats the plans of the enemy for the time being.

One thing about this particular yarn that I never noticed until the latest reading was how long the Dreadnaught: Tiger lingers around Earth as the Wonder Warriors coalesce their powers. The Galactic Rangers seem to want to leave but the story won't move on. It's strange and gives the tale a bit of a stalling feel. That said, this story is not as strong as the first arc for the simple fact the Wonder Warriors are curiosities but lack the  compelling nature the relentless Insectons bring to their attacks. The Warriors are more capricious and more in line with standard super-villainy traditions. But we are promised more as the mystery continues.

More on that next week.

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Captain Victory - Goozlebobbery!

In the pages of Captain Victory and the Galactic Rangers we meet the Goozlebobber! In issues 4-6 of the run, the antics of the Goozelbobber offers a comedic counterpoint to the deadly drama in the lead feature.

The Goozlebobber is just one, the most infamous perhaps, of the creatures segregated in the Dreadnought:Tiger's "Section 51", where all manner of aliens from across the cosmos have taken refuge.

(A two-page look at Section 51 from a later issue of Captain Victory. )

He escapes and comes to the planet Earth where he adopts the form above and finds two small children to entertain.

The parents of course are less enthralled but when the cops show up, even they defend the seemingly harmless Goozlebobber who leaves to have more adventures. When Captain Victory's crew leave Earth the Goozlebobber is left behind and presumably is still among us.

The Goozlebobber reminded me of Impossible Man from the pages of Fantastic Four. Not only can he assuem multiple forms (maybe not as broadly as IM) but he seems to be mostly a harmless friendly alien who finds diversion on the Earth.

Here we see the last page of the Goozlebobber trilogy where he eludes police by adopting a very famous face (at least it was so at the time).

Impossible Man had done something similar a few years before in the pages of Marvel Two-In-One, though he reflected an earlier administration.

Both comics are beneath the dignity of the Presidency, but that was then and this is now.  Possession by an outer space alien might explain a lot.

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Captain Victory - Victory Is Sacrifice!

What would you do if you woke one day and your world had been invaded by a savage alien race which was bent on enslaving and killing mankind for the sole purpose of working to harvest the resources of the planet. Who are you gonna' call?

Well in this instance it's the Galactic Rangers, an outer space police force of varied interstellar races and species working together to bring some sort of order to the wild and woolly regions of the galaxy. "Captain Victory" (a code name we are told -- we never learn his real birth name) is the leader, and due to his status he is awarded fifty clone bodies of which he's used four. And in the very first issue he dies again, but that demise just the beginning.

Jack Kirby's last great opus for the fledgling Pacific Comics was developed for a line which bore his own name but the finances fell through. So it languished in his files.

When the folks at Pacific called with an offer of creator-owned participation, he dusted off the story and expanded it with the help of Mike Royer and Mike Thibodeaux and gave us one and all the first mainstream comic book of the direct sales era. Kirby was not at the height of his powers, but still like any great talent  he still was considerably impressive.

The story begins on a dead world where the Insectons led by their Regent and their Lightning Lady utterly consumed it. The Rangers try to stop them then and there, but fail to capture the leadership which heads into the hinterlands of space and find the green world of Earth.

Later Captain Victory and his comrades Major Klavus,  the lion-faced Tarin, the aquatic Orca, navigator Egghead, scientist Chusang (among many others) arrive in the enormous spacecraft called "Dreadnaught: Tiger".

They assist the local authorities of Spartanville, Pennsylvania who are confronted with the earliest stages of the Insecton threat which is insinuating itself in the community even as they strategize.

The battle against the Insectons starts small but steadily grows with casualties on both sides. The Insectons are of an all-controlling group mind and have no regard for themselves as individuals -- a mindset they seek force upon their captives.

The forces of Earth, specially the United States Army fight alongside the members of the Galactic Rangers as the Insectons spread beyond the small town of Spartanville and head to the large population of Philadelphia.

The Galactic Ranges work furiously to find a way to stem the tide of the battle which threaten to broaden across the United States and then across the world. They unleash their Micro-Troops who fight furiously in the tunnels of the Insectons. They find human beings who have been turned into slaves used as canon fodder by the deadly Beehive-like society of the Insectons.

Ultimately Captain Victory  uses the advanced technology to destroy the threat of the Insecton scourge but it comes at great cost to himself -- his life is lost again. It's a good thing he has a bevvy of clones at his command or the series would have ended right here. But it didn't. More next time as the Galactic Rangers fight a menace from the deeps of  space - The Wonder Warrors and the enigmatic "Voice".

Captain Victory and the Galactic Rangers was a real milestone, for comics and for Kirby. The "King" had retired from comic books after his Bronze Age stint at Marvel and had gotten into animation work which paid much better. He was at long last getting comfortable and didn't need to kick out comic book pages at a furious rate to pay the mortgage and put food on the table.

The series was a response to the popular films of the era -- Star Wars and Close Encounters of the Third Kind -- and Kirby in his mind was just returning the favor to those directors whom he was certain had lifted some key concepts from his own seminal work. Captain Victory had life as a series, a graphic novel and even in an offbeat form as a screenplay. What it became was fascinating comic book series which reinvented to some extent the very industry.

Alongside the stalwart Victory are Major Klavus a man who can invoke the spirits to empower himself with spectacular abilities, the aquatic Orca who gets to do some very dangerous grunt work because he can, and Tarin the lion-faced member who appears to have the greatest heart of the team and who seems always concerned with the bystanders who get drawn into the battles.

The comic's first story arc has a remarkable quality, a slow and unsteady unfolding of an ever-increasing threat. As you read it and watch the Rangers attempt to help mankind stem the tide, you get the feeling throughout that despite their minor wins, the overall effort is a losing one. When Captain Victory makes his ultimate choice, it seems that choice was indeed the necessary one.

There is more to come as the Rangers prepare to leave Earth and confront the "Wonder Warriors". They arrive next week, but tomorrow we meet the elusive Goozlebobber.

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