Guide To Golden Age Manhunter Reprints

Paul Kirk was the Manhunter, hunting the ultimate game...criminals!

His journey began in Adventure Comics #73 (April, 1942) by Jack Kirby and Joe Simon (even getting a cover), and continued through Adventure Comics #92 (June-July, 1944) (though Kirby did less on the series as time progressed....).

Still, worth a look to see where you can find the Golden Age tales of this character!

First up, from Adventure Comics #73 (April, 1942) by Kirby and Simon, was "The Secret Of The Buzzard's Revenge".  The Buzzard kills Empire City's Police Inspector Donovan, inspiring big game hunter Paul Kirk to put on a costume himself, and takes down the Buzzard as the costumed crusader, Manhunter.  

This tale was reprinted in New Gods #4 (August-September, 1971) (that has a few Kirby tales on its own.).

Next up is Adventure Comics #74 (May, 1942), by Kirby and Simon, with a "Scavenger Hunt", where Paul Kirk gets involved in a dispute between Henry and Big Droop, leading Manhunter to help Henry hunt down wanted felon Crusher Burns, (Henry's target in the scavenger hunt), helping him win, and get a date with party goer Patty.

This tale was reprinted in New Gods #5 (October-November, 1971), with Orion fighting the Deep Six!

Adventure Comics #75 (June, 1942) is the next Manhunter tale by Kirby and Simon, where Paul learns to "Beware Of Mr. Meek".  Jewel thief, Panama Parker slips her stolen jewels on Paul Kirk, drawing Manhunter into a confrontation with her and Myron Meek (whom she was fleeing, and she stole the jewels to keep Meek from doing that).  Manhunter captures Meek, with help from Panama...and turns them both over to the police, but with a good word for her for her help.

This was reprinted in New Gods #6 (December-January, 1971/1972), where Orion finishes his battle with the Deep Six.

The next Manhunter tale is "The Legend Of The Silent Bear" from Adventure Comics #76 (July, 1942) by Kirby and Simon, with Paul Kirk being drawn into a murder during a weekend retreat.  Confronting the killers, Manhunter is blinded and, with the help of a boy scout, captures the killers.

This story was reprinted in New Gods #7 (February-March, 1972), wherein the reading world is introduced to the Pact which defines the truce between New Genesis and Apokolips.

"The Stone Of Vengeance" from Adventure Comics #77 (August, 1942) is the next Kirby/Simon epic, with a priceless jewel stolen for the Rajah, who kills all the other thieves, but the jewel falls into the hands of a shoe shine boy.  Manhunter gets involved, saves the boy, captures the Rajah and returns the jewel to its rightful owner.

This was reprinted in New Gods #8 (April-May, 1972), with Terrible Turpin facing Kalibak.

More jewel theft for Manhunter to deal with in Adventure Comics #78 (September, 1942) by Kirby/Simon, with "The Lady And The Tiger", where the Tiger, a criminal, murders millionaire Thurston Drake, with his daughter Ellen trying to track him down, with Manhunter rescuing her and trying to take the Tiger to the police before Tiger died.

This story was reprinted in New Gods #9 (June-July, 1972), with the debut of the Forager.

The last reprinted Manhunter story is from Adventure Comics #79 (October, 1942) where Manhunter "Battles The Cobras Of The Deep"by Kirby and Simon.  Here, the Manhunter deals with Nazi spies led by Dr. Heinnig, where Manhunter stops them from trapping him, then follows them to their U-boat, capturing it and its crew, turning it over to the United States Navy.

This was reprinted in Detective Comics #440 (April-May, 1974), which also has a back up of Manhunter in the current day....

Kirby and Simon do one last tale together on Manhunter (not reprinted; Manhunter also makes a cover with Sandman and Sandy) and then the title falls into others hands until Adventure Comics #92 (June-July, 1944)...until Paul Kirk is revived to fight the Council in a Detective Comics back up series running from Detective Comics #437 to #443 (October-November, 1973 to October-November, 1974) by Archie Goodwin and Walt Simonson (which has been collected a few times, and well worth the read).

Kirby comes back to Manhunter as well, but this time, Mark Shaw...and more on him here!

Happy 100th Birthday Jack Kirby

Sadly, Jack Kirby (born August 28, 1917, died February 6, 1994) is no longer with us.

But, a few of his friends wanted to celebrate...

...folks like Captain America and the Fantastic Four.....

....Bombast and Captain Glory....

....Machine Man and Devil Dinosaur (Moon Boy too!).... 

...to the Eternals and Black Panther....

...Kamandi, the Last Boy On Earth! and Etrigan, the Demon....

....the Sandman (and all sorts of things on the edge of dreams) and the Manhunter....

....the Dingbats of Danger Street and Atlas....

...OMAC, the One Man Army Corps and our fighting forces of the Losers... 








....the New Gods and Mr. Miracle (finding a whole Fourth World).... 

...to whole teams of heroes like the Avengers and the X-Men....

...including Avenger members like Thor and the Hulk....

...to Green Arrow and the Challengers of the Unknown....

...to the Boy Commandos and the Guardian and the Newsboy Legion....

....to Manhunter and the Sandman again (for the first time)....

...even this rare cover for a hundredth issue of Comic Reader, covering a few of DC's characters.....


...and so much more....

....this is why Jack Kirby is and forever shall be the King!

Jack Kirby's Manhunter

Jack Kirby had a few last surprises for DC Comics fans in the 1970s, as First Issue Special #5 (August, 1975) hit the racks.  This issue introduced readers to lawyer Mark Shaw, whose uncle, archeologist Bradford Shaw, introduced the public defender to the organization of the Shah, an ancient order dedicated to justice....whose current member was soon to face retirement after barely defeating the Chopper (as he related to his leader, the Grand Master).  

The Grand Master heard Mark's pleas for justice, and sent him a uniform and power baton of the Manhunter, which he used to defend his uncle and himself from the thugs of Al Beefer, the Hog.

But, alas, Kirby was leaving DC, and readers never saw the follow up battle of Shaw's Manhunter and the Hog...or other characters of the time, like the Dingbats and Kobra.

Justice League of America

Manhunter did finally return in Justice League of America #140 and #141 (March and April, 1977), in two stories ("No Man Escapes The Manhunters" and "No World Escapes The Manhunters") by Steve Englehart, Dick Dillin and Frank McLaughlin, with Mark Shaw returning to bring Green Lantern (Hal Jordan) to justice, because it appeared he destroyed a planet full of people.  The political leader of that planet, Governor Tozad,  survived, and was leading forces of a neighboring planet against the Guardians of the Universe (one of whom was on that planet of Orinda), and that Guardian helped Green Lantern break free from the Manhunters, revealing the Manhunters to be organized on many planets, with many agents working for them (and against the Green Lanterns, including faking the destruction of Tozad's planet, which he arranged as he was also a secret agent of the Manhunters).

The Guardian of the Universe reveals that the Manhunters were originally robots they used to protect the universe, but the Manhunters proved too single-minded to work (and they rebelled against the Guardians), so the Guardians retired the robots (and started to use humanoid agents, which eventually became the Green Lantern Corps).  Both Superman and Flash related their encounters with Guardians of the Universe in passing, as Batman also mentioned how he met a Manhunter (Paul Kirk), who died fighting the Council.  The Manhunter Mark Shaw was to replace also resurfaced, and Mark Shaw lost faith in the Manhunters (who also were prepared, having a "Supermanhunter", a Manhunter with Kryptonite armor, to face Superman).  The Manhunters were a thread to the whole galaxy, but disappeared again after this encounter (though Mark Shaw stuck around, taking on the identity of the Privateer until Justice League of America #150, where he eventually was brought to justice).

Millennium and More

The Manhunters revealed in the Justice League story waited for a while, but came back with a vengeance, menacing the whole DC Universe in the Millennium 8-issue mini-series of January and February, 1988 by Steve Englehart, Joe Staton and Ian Gibson, which also crossed over into most of the titles of the time, as members of heroes supporting casts were revealed to be Manhunter agents....and, in the Suicide Squad (#9), they recruited Privateer Mark Shaw for help against the Manhunters, with him surviving the mission, thus allowing him to go free when it was over.

Manhunter Mark Shaw ended up with his own title, which lasted 24 issues, where he acted as a super-villain bounty hunter, capturing villains that would be used for the Suicide Squad (like Count Vertigo), invading aliens, the Janus Directive, along with dealing with his own issues (enhanced by shape-changing hitman, Dumas), in issues by writers John Ostrander and Kim Yale, and artists Doug Rice, Sam Keith, Kelley Jones, Mary Mitchell, Romeo Tanghal, Pablo Marcos, Frank Springer, John Koch, John Statema and Grant Miehm.

Mark Shaw survived that series, working with the Suicide Squad for a bit, then having a complex connection to other Manhunters (partially thanks to Eclipso, and Chase Lawler, Kirk DePaul and Kate Spencer)...

.....but, all of which was pretty impressive for a character created by Jack Kirby!

DC Invasion Crossovers Part 1

Invasion! was a three issue mini series in 1988, by Keith Giffen, Bill Mantlo, Todd McFarlane, P. Craig Russell, Al Gordon, Josef Rubinstein, Tom Christopher, and Bart Sears, covering a gathering of the Alien Alliance (headed by the Dominators) to unite against the heroes of Earth.

The first issue was devoted entirely to the Alien Alliance, and the kidnapping of humans from Earth to be tested for a genetic anomaly....which some people on Earth were found to have, that allowed them to manifest super human abilities when hit with extreme stress or danger.

This first issue set the stage for First Strike and Aftermath (the second and third issues of the series), as well as the two issues of individual titles of the heroes of the DC Universe, some of which are detailed below.

Flash

The Flash of Invasion! was Wally West, who, being Kid Flash until the supposed death of his mentor, Barry Allen, fought on as the Flash.  Flash fought the Durlans (shape-changing aliens) in Cuba, where his father (Rudolph West) was also hiding in Flash #21 (1988), and Flash #22 (January, 1989), in issues by William Messner-Loebs, Greg LaRocque and Larry Mahlstedt, and Flash also worked with the Manhunter.

Manhunter

Manhunter was a man named Mark Shaw, who worked for the Manhunters (precursors to the Green Lantern Corps), but turned against them, and became a bounty hunter of super-villains.  Manhunter was paid by Wally's mom to go down to Cuba to help Wally (thus he also ended up fighting the Durlans as well, using his training and energy baton) in issues of Manhunter #8 (Holiday 1988) and #9 (January, 1989) by Kim Yale, John Ostrander, Frank Springer and Pablo Marcos, in tales intertwined with those of Flash and Invasion!

Checkmate

Ordinary men had to step up during the Invasion, and the knights of the secret government organization, Checkmate! were as likely as any to do the job.  Checkmate #11 (Holiday, 1988) dealt with humans working with the aliens to unseat the government in England, while Checkmate #12 (February, 1989) dealt with the knights keeping Cape Canaveral safe (and dealing with the Dominators last assault on mankind) in two stories by Paul Kupperberg, Steve Erwin and Al Vey.

Animal Man and Swamp Thing

Animal Man (the man with animal powers) and Swamp Thing (a powerful Earth Elemental both got a little involvement in the battle.  In Animal Man #6 (Holiday 1988 by Grant Morrison, Chas Troug and Doug Hazlewood), Buddy Baker (a.k.a Animal Man) faced off against a Thanagarian warrior and artist, with a little help from Hawkman, while Swamp Thing #81 (Holiday, 1988, by Rick Veitch and Alfredo Alcala) didn't have Swamp Thing in it (as the Dominators sent him away the issue before, fearing their plant-based technology would be vulnerable to a plant elemental), and this issue dealt with his wife, Abby Cable, dealing with a widowed alien.

Superman

Superman had two monthly titles at this time, so we deal with the First Strike issues of his here.  In Superman #26 (1988 by Roger Stern, Kerry Gammill and Brett Breeding), Superman dealt with the supernatural menace of Baron Sunday, as well as attacks by the Thanagarians and the machinations of Luthor and Brainiac, with Captain Atom looking for Superman, but only finding the Guardian (and a new Gangbuster emerging to help people in Metropolis as well).  In Adventures of Superman #449 (1988, by Jerry Ordway and Dennis Janke), Guardian fights Gangbuster while looking for Superman, finding the man of steel but losing Gangbuster.  Jimmy Olsen helps out, getting Superman to Captain Atom, and leading him to meet with the Dominators (and leading into Invasion! #2).

Wonder Woman

Wonder Woman is recruited to help by Black Canary in Wonder Woman #25 (1988 by George Perez, Chris Marrinan and Will Blyberg), helping the Justice League International against the warrior Khunds, while in Wonder Woman #26 (January, 1989, also by Perez, Marrinan and Blyberg), Wonder Woman works with Captain Atom and Etta Candy to free Steve Trevor from the shape-changing Durlans.

Captain Atom

Nuclear powered hero wrapped in an alien metal shell, Captain Atom, is recruited by the U.S. government to head up the response to the aliens in Captain Atom #24 (1988, by Cary Bates, Greg Weisman, Pat Broderick and Romeo Tanghal), with the JLI's Maxwell Lord, the Suicide Squad's Amanda Waller and General Wale Eiling (secretly of the Captain Atom Project), and they find a Durlan spy disguised as Steve Trevor in their midst (leading back into Invasion! and the later Wonder Woman story).  In Captain Atom #25 (January, 1989, by Bates, Weisman, Broderick and Robert Smith), the heroes celebrate what they thought was a victory until situation change (leading into Invasion! #3).

Starman

Will Payton was a man struck by a beam from outer space, allowing him to control his density, fly and limited shape-change, which he used to become the hero, Starman.  Dealing with a group of powered people called the Power Elite, Starman is recruited into the Invasion in Starman #5 (Holiday, 1988 by Roger Stern, Tom Lyle and Robert Smith), after being kidnapped by a Durlan, and then fighting Khunds with Firestorm, Firehawk and Power Girl.  Then, after Invasion! #2, in Starman #6 (January, 1989 by Stern, Lyle and Smith), Will is part of clean-up duty across the world, along with Green Lantern, Atom, Power Girl and Blue Beetle, and runs into the Power Elite again as time for Earth runs out....

Invasion continues...

...and the 3 issue mini-series is collected in tradepaperback, with Animal Man's issue in the Animal Man TPB of 1991, Swamp Thing in Swamp Thing: Infernal Triangles TPB of 2007, and the Superman tales would make it into a Superman: The Man of Steel Volume 11 (if there is to be one), and the Wonder Woman issues would be in the second Wonder Woman by George Perez Omnibus due out in 2017, with the rest of the tales presented here needing collection.....

....and more tales to follow in a new column!