Posted By Dan Greenfield on Feb 19, 2020 | 2 comments

Kirby and Ditko — from the seeds of Kubrick and Clarke…

Hey, in case you hadn’t heard, Marvel this week is launching 2020 Machine Man, a two-part miniseries tying into the House of Ideas’ Iron Man 2020 crossover, by Christos Gage, Andy MacDonald, Tom DeFalco, Mike Hawthorne and co.

Neat.

But what’s even neater is how Machine Man came about. Here it is in one paragraph:

2001: A Space Odyssey — one of the greatest movies of all time — was created by Stanley Kubrick and Arthur C. Clarke. Jack Kirby adapted the movie for Marvel years after its 1968 release. In that series, Kirby created Mister Machine. Renamed Machine Man, the living robot was given his own series — also by Kirby — in 1978 and was merged into the Marvel Universe. Kirby left after nine issues and the book was revived less than a year later with Steve Ditko providing the art. (Marv Wolfman then DeFalco became the writers.)

That’s a helluva lot of titanic talent fueling the origin of a fairly minor character.

So let’s celebrate Machine Man’s early days with 13 COVERS — all by Kirby and Ditko.

Far out.

Kirby pencils, john Verpoorten inks

Kirby pencils, Frank Giacoia inks

Steve Ditko

Kirby pencils, Mike Royer inks

Ditko

Kirby and Giacoia

Ditko

Kirby and Giacoia

Ditko

Kirby pencils, Joe Rubinstein inks

Ditko

Kirby pencils, Mike Esposito inks

Kirby pencils, Bob Layton inks

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MORE

— The Powerful, Clashing Visions of KUBRICK’s and KIRBY’s 2001. Click here.

— JACK KIRBY COLLECTOR #79 Will Be a Look at the King’s BIG Ideas. Click here.

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— Cover images and credits from the Grand Comics Database.