Monday, January 23, 2012

A Track Deeper Into The 2001 Marvel Comic Book













001: A Space Odyssey was the name of an oversized comic book adaptation of the 1968film of the same name as well as a monthly series, lasting ten issues, which expanded upon the concepts presented in the Stanley Kubrick film and the novel by Arthur C. ClarkeJack Kirby wrote and pencilled both the adaptation and the series, which were published byMarvel Comics beginning in 1976.
 The Treasury Edition 
Marvel published the adaptation in its then-common treasury edition format featuring tabloid-sized pages of roughly twice the size of a normal comic book. The story is a close adaptation of the events of the film, but differs in the fact that Kirby incorporated additional dialog from two other sources: the Clarke/Kubrick novel, and a copy of an earlier draft script of the film that included the more colloquial-sounding version of HAL 9000, as originally voiced by actor Martin Balsam before Douglas Rain took over. In addition, the comic narrative captions describe the characters' thoughts and feelings, a significantly different approach from that taken by the film.
The treasury edition also contained a 10-page article entitled 2001: A Space Legacy written by David Anthony Kraft.
 The Monthly Series 
Shortly after the publication of the treasury edition, Kirby continued to explore the concepts of 2001 in a monthly comic book series of the same name, the first issue of which was dated December 1976. In this issue, Kirby followed the pattern established in the film. Once again the reader encounters a prehistoric man (Beast-Killer) who gains new insight upon encountering a monolith as did Moon-Watcher in the film. The scene then shifts, where a descendant of Beast-Killer is part of a space mission to explore yet another monolith. When he finds it, this monolith begins to transform the astronaut into a star child, called in the comic a New Seed.
Issues 1-6 of the series replay the same idea with different characters in different situations, both prehistoric and futuristic. In #7, the comic opens with the birth of a New Seed who then travels the galaxy witnessing the suffering that men cause each other. While the New Seed is unable or unwilling to prevent this devastation, he takes the essence of two doomed lovers and uses it to seed another planet with the potential for human life.
In issue #8 of the comic, Kirby introduces Mister Machine, who is later renamed Machine Man. Mister Machine is an advanced robot designated X-51. All the other robots in the X series go on a rampage as they achieve sentience and are destroyed. X-51, supported by both the love of his creator Dr. Abel Stack and an encounter with a monolith, transcends the malfunction that destroyed his siblings. After the death of Dr. Stack, X-51 takes the name Aaron Stack and begins to blend into humanity. Issues 9 and 10, the final issues of the series, continue the story of X-51 as he flees destruction at the hands of the Army.
 
Everything taken from Wiki obviously. 


When I speak of Space Gods I'm speaking of things like the monolith 
A good overview off Kirby art can be seen Here
 Even More Information Can Be Found Here
This blog post has been inspired by The Exonauts blog which has two wonderful videos Here
I wanted to go a bit deeper into the Marvel Comics & really connect a bit more with them. While researching this article I happened  across this. I literally stumbled upon this wonderful poster from an alternative universe from artist 
Peter Stults! Its pretty awesome. You can find a whole bunch of them 


3 comments:

  1. The Kirby 2001 comic was a wholly unique creation and the the sort of thing you'd find hard to believe if it wasn't right there in your face.

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    1. Thanks for the comment Trey. This was one of my favorite comics besides the Marvel Star Wars ones growing up. See my dad had picked them up many years before & they were in our house hold. They're a unique creation from a time when you didn't see the high gloss CGI crap that you see today. These came from deep within Kirby's brain & I think it worked a bit differently then others when it came to storytelling. I think he wrote from a very epic Biblical style that we really don't see today. I love these comics & thought I'd pass more information about them along. Stay tuned there's stuff coming up that your not going to see else where. Thanks staying with me man. Much appreciated

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