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Jack Kirby cvr/art; 3rd SA Sub-Mariner; COMIC BOOK IMPACT rating of 7 (CBI)
It's typical of the hard-bitten, cynical world of Silver Age Marvel to show the heroes right on the cover of their own book being turned out of their digs and jeered by crowds. It's also a sign of the clever way Stan Lee and Jack Kirby could turn everyday drabness into imaginative gold, almost as though they were thinking big by going small. It certainly had never been tried before, so readers were turned on by the originality and audacity of Marvel's ideas, and stuck around for the strong storytelling and attention-grabbing art. This is only the third appearance of the Sub-Mariner in the Silver Age, and Lee and Kirby have already transformed him completely from a brooding romantic demigod into a snarling, almost completely adversarial despot. Readers loved it.


Artists Information

Jack Kirby is called 'The King of Comics' for a reason, during his career that spanned six decades he gave us many of the most iconic characters the medium would ever see. From his introduction of Captain America at the height of World War II it was clear he wasn't your ordinary comics artist. But it was his creative explosion at Marvel Comics in the 1960's that cemented his legacy, over a short period of time Kirby would give us The Fantastic Four, Iron Man, The Hulk, The X-Men, Thor, Ant-Man and Nick Fury just to name a few. Kirby would then go to DC and create his Fourth World, introducing Darkseid, Mister Miracle, The New Gods and a host of cosmic supporting players. Long live The King.

Richard "Dick" Ayers was an American comic book artist and cartoonist best known for his work as one of the main inkers during the late-1950's and 1960's Silver Age of Comics, including some of the earliest issues of Marvel Comics' including Jack Kirby's The Fantastic Four. He is the signature penciler of Marvel's World War II comic Sgt. Fury and his Howling Commandos, drawing it for a 10-year run, and he co-created Magazine Enterprises' 1950s Western-horror character the Ghost Rider, a version of which he would draw for Marvel in the 1960s. His career would span 7 decades until his death in 2014.