Kamandi

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Kamandi-Last Boy on Earth,revised unsold comic strip by Jack Kirby created to cash in on the Planet of the Apes craze.This series focused on Kamandi's attempt to survive in a post apocalyptic world.

Comic book enthusiasts initially believed Jack Kirby's "Kamandi: The Last Boy on Earth" was DC's way of capitalizing on the popularity of recent "Planet of the Apes" movies and probably coorect. However, Kirby had already introduced a similar concept and characters for "Alarming Tales"#1 (1957), where mankind had been made extinct in a future ruled by intelligent dogs, rats and tigers. He used this material in decades later Kamandi comic.Coupling the premise with his unpublished 1956 newspaper strip, "Kamandi of the Caves," Kirby's Last Boy on Earth roamed a world that had been ravaged by the "Great Disaster" and taken over by talking animals.

The series would be canceled as part of the so-called DC Implosion in 1978.

Kamandi is a personage of comic of publishing house DC Comics created by the acclaimed sketcher Kirby Jack . The majority of the appearances of Kamandi took place in the series Kamandi: The Last Boy on Earth, that was published between 1972 and 1978.

Kamandi is a young hero in an post-apocalyptic world. After a great cataclysm known like " The Great Desastre", the humans become aminority persecuted in a world governed by intelligent animal highly evolved.Kamandi is a personage of comic of publishing house DC Comics created by the acclaimed sketcher Kirby Jack . The majority of the appearances of Kamandi took place in the series Kamandi: The Last Boy on Earth, that was published between 1972 and 1978.

Kamandi is a young hero in an post-apocalyptic world. After  " The Great Desastre", the humans become aminority persecuted in a world governed by intelligent animal highly evolved.,which the first issue hint,unlike later on,that the series took ages later,than the 20th Century.

Origin of the concept

The concept for Kamandi seems to come from four different sources:

• the name " Kamandi" it was recycling of the idea for a dominical strip that Kirby had in certain occasion, titled " Kamandi of the Caves" (Kamandi of the caves).
• In Alarming Such # 1, September of 1957, Kirby drew a titled history " The Last Enemy" (the last enemy). In this history, a man travels in the time until year 2514, where he discovers that the humans have been extinguished and the world is governed by tribes of tigers, intelligent dogs and rats. The drawings of Kirby of these animal are very similar to their later drawings in Kamandi .
• the film of 1968 the Planet of the Apes,based the book Monkey Planet also portrayed a world governed by animal. The cover of Kamandi # 1,printed a few years on showing to one Statue of the Liberty found by George Taylor demolished, clearly was inspired by a similar scene at the end of this film.
• the premise for this comic was suggested to Kirby by the DC publisher Carmine Infantino . It is not known if it were familiarized with the works of Kirby previously mentioned, but certainly knew the Planet the Apes .

Like in the other comics that Kirby drew for the DC in years 70, the plot was in favor very conditional of the artistic part. The imagination of Kirby would lift with a huge putting in scene having involved battles between animal armies or an artificial satellite governed by robots, and would create an agreed plot to be able to shape its artistic vision.This series focused on Kamandi's attempt to survive in a post apocalyptic world.

Comic book enthusiasts initially believed Jack Kirby's "Kamandi: The Last Boy on Earth" was DC's way of capitalizing on the popularity of recent "Planet of the Apes" movies. However, Kirby had already introduced a similar concept and characters for "Alarming Tales"#1 (1957), where mankind had been made extinct in a future ruled by intelligent dogs, rats and tigers. Coupling the premise with his unpublished 1956 newspaper strip, "Kamandi of the Caves," Kirby's Last Boy on Earth roamed a world that had been ravaged by the "Great Disaster" and taken over by talking animals.Although his initial plan was to not work on the comic books themselves, the cancellation of FOREVER PEOPLE freed him up to do so.

The Kamandi series was launched in October–November 1972. It was written and drawn by JACK KIRBY through its 37th issue, in January 1976. Kirby also drew issues #38 through #40, although they were scripted by GERRY CONWAY. KIRBY subsequently left DC, but the series continued, initially written by CONWAY and drawn by CHIC STONE. Later issues were alternately written by PAUL LEVITS, DENNY O'NEIL, David A. Kraft, Elliott S. Maggin, and Jack C. Harris, with art by Pablo Marcos, Keith Giffen, and Dick Ayers. It was canceled during the "DC Implosion" of 1978, despite respectable sales figures. The final published issue was #59, cover-dated September–October 1978. Two additional issues, completed but not released, were included in CANCELLED COMIC CAVALCADE #1 and #2. as part of the so-called DC Implosion in 1978.By then the series,had run into the typical run of comic creative junk storylines.

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Jack Kirby's 'Kamandi: The Last Boy on Earth' (1972)

Jack 'The King' Kirby (August 28th, 1917 - February 6th, 1994) was one of the most highly-regarded comic creators of his time. Writing, drawing, and editing comic books, he was responsible for creating dozens of unique characters for both Marvel Comics and DC Comics.

(See Also: Jack Kirby's Biography at the Marvel DataBase)

Kirby paid homage to the climactic 'Statue of Liberty' scene from Template:Film in the first issue of the successful DC Comics comic book series, Kamandi: The Last Boy on Earth, in 1972. The Kamandi series has been accused of plagiarising the Apes movie, because it featured a boy ("the last boy") in a post-apocalyptic world controlled by talking animals - tigers, dogs, gorillas, etc. Kirby denied this (he claimed in one interview that he hadn't seen the Apes movies, but in others he said he had, and was well aware of the film series when working on Kamandi), and in any case, the series developed its own unique story from that initial concept as it continued over 40 issues. Kirby had first used the name Kamandi in a caveman-type newspaper strip idea he pitched in 1956, entitled Kamandi of the Caves; and in September the following year, in Harvey Comics' Alarming Tales #1, he drew a science-fiction story entitled The Last Enemy, in which a man travels to the future and finds that humans are extinct and the world is ruled by tribes of intelligent tigers, dogs, and rats. It was a combination of these two stories that led to the Kamandi comic.

On the other hand, there was undoubtedly a strong Apes influence on the comic series that emerged. DC Comics publisher Carmine Infantino had failed to secure the comic-book license for the Apes movies, shortly beforehand. He had wanted Kirby to do their Apes series, and instead offered creative control of a new series to Kirby on the understanding that he develop a 'Planet of the Apes'-style concept (Infantino thus claimed to have created the premise for the series). Kirby revived his Kamandi concept from the fifties, and the final DC Comics version was a hybrid of Kirby's original character and Planet of the Apes. The Statue of Liberty cover was included at Infantino's insistence; Kirby later complained in interview that he didn't want to do it because it was so obviously copying Apes.

Jack Kirby 'Planet of the Apes' concept art

The comic book rights to Planet of the Apes had been acquired by Roy Thomas of Marvel Comics, DC's rival, by 1974, but Kirby had ended his first run at Marvel (1958-1970) when he joined DC, and by the time he returned to Marvel (1976-1978), the series was already winding down. A letter from a fan in an April 1976 issue of the UK Planet of the Apes comic asked if Jack Kirby could be asked to draw an 'Apes' story in the future, prompting the reply, "We'd dearly like to show our gratitude by telling you that Jack Kirby will immediately be switched to the drawing chores. But, with our forward planning already laid out, we have to break the news that the chances of Jack exercising his unique talents on an apes series are slim indeed."

Jack Kirby 'Planet of the Apes' concept art

Kygoor fights the Monster Bird in 'Return to the Planet of the Apes' (1975)

As Apes passed out of the mass consciousness to be replaced by newer sci-fi franchises, it seemed that Kirby would never work on an Apes project, but there was one more quirk of his career that would give a tantalising glimpse of what might have been. In the late 1970s, Kirby abandoned comics for animation studios, working with DePatie-Freleng on the animated Fantastic Four series in 1978 (along with co-creator Stan Lee and Marvel writer Roy Thomas). DePatie-Freleng had earlier produced the 1975 Return to the Planet of the Apes animated series, and were later bought out by Marvel in 1981. Jack Kirby also worked with Hanna-Barbera and Walt Disney around this time. In 1980, he began working with Ruby-Spears Productions, designing characters and backgrounds for Thundarr the Barbarian, Goldie Gold and Action Jack and Mr. T. Kirby and comic artist Doug Wildey were both then creative consultants on Chuck Norris: Karate Kommandos and The Centurions. During his time with Ruby-Spears, Kirby began drawing presentation boards for new animation projects. Among the presentations he proposed was a Planet of the Apes cartoon based on the 1974 TV series - Joe Ruby and Ken Spears had been employed as story editors on that series. Concept sketches by Kirby have been unearthed, and the most widely-circulated is of Virdon, Burke, (both looking rather different), a female astronaut (“blonde companion of astronauts”) and Toomak, a “human slave boy.” A second, much more unusual sketch seems to show an enormous gorilla with hands aloft; in one hand a male human astronaut; in the other a human female in what appears to be a super-hero outfit. In the background a human or ape figure carries a banner while riding a dragon-like flying reptile over a mountain. The images of the giant gorilla among mountains and, particularly, of the flying reptile are more reminiscent of 'Kygoor' and the 'Monster Bird' from Return to the Planet of the Apes - Doug Wildey had been supervising director and associate producer for that series. Ruby-Spears' Apes series was never developed, but in 2010 Ruby-Spears and Sid & Marty Krofft announced plans to revive some of the original characters Kirby had also designed during that time, in as many forms as possible.

External links

• Jack Kirby article at Wikipedia
• Behind The Planet Of The Apes - The Jack Kirby Collector
• Jack Kirby profile at the Internet Movie Database (IMDb)

References

==Possible Inspiration==

Countdown Special: Kamandi, The Last Boy on Earth. Art by Ryan Sook.| publisher      

= DC Comics| debut           = Kamandi, The Last Boy on Earth #1 (October 1972)| creators       = Jack Kirby| alter_ego  -   Tommy Tomarrow?Alternate Reality.  = *| full_name       =| species         = Human| homeworld       = Earth A.D.| alliances       = | partners       = | supports       = | aliases         = | powers            |title               = Kamandi, The Last Boy on Earth|cvr_image           = Kamandi 001.jpg|cvr_caption         = Cover for Kamandi, The Last Boy on Earth #1 (October, 1972). Art by Jack Kirby and Mike Royer.|cvr_alt             = |schedule             = Bi-Monthly|format               = Ongoing series|limited             = |ongoing             = |1shot               = |genre               = Science-fiction|pub_series           = |date                 = |1stishhead           = |1stishyr             = 1972|1stishmo             = October|endishyr             = 1978|endishmo             = September|1stishhead#         = |1stishyr#           = |1stishmo#           = |endishyr#           = |endishmo#           = |issues               = 59|main_char_team       = Kamandi
Dr. Canus
Pyra|writers             = Jack Kirby, Gerry Conway, Elliot S. Maggin, Dennis O'Neil, Jack C. Harris|artists             = |pencillers           = Jack Kirby, Chic Stone, Keith Giffen, Dick Ayers|inkers              = D. Bruce Berry, Mike Royer, Ernie Chan, Alfredo Alcala|letterers           = |colorists           = |editors             = |creative_team_month = |creative_team_year   = |creators_series     = |TPB                 = |ISBN                 = |TPB#                 = |ISBN#               = |nonUS               = }} 

Kamandi is an American comic book character, created by artist Jack Kirby and published by  DC Comics. The bulk of Kamandi's appearances occurred in the comic series Kamandi: The Last Boy on Earth, which ran from 1972 to 1978.  Kamandi is a young hero in a post-apocalyptic future. After a huge event called "The Great Disaster," humans have been reduced to savagery in a world ruled by intelligent, highly evolved animals. 

Jack Kirby's 'Kamandi: The Last Boy on Earth' (1972)

 Jack 'The King' Kirby (August 28th, 1917 - February 6th, 1994) was one of the most highly-regarded comic creators of his time. Writing, drawing, and editing comic books, he was responsible for creating dozens of unique characters for both Marvel Comics and DC Comics. (See Also: Jack Kirby's Biography at the Marvel DataBase) Kirby paid homage to the climactic 'Statue of Liberty' scene from Template:Film in the first issue of the successful DC Comics comic book series, Kamandi: The Last Boy on Earth, in 1972. The Kamandi series has been accused of plagiarising the Apes movie, because it featured a boy ("the last boy") in a post-apocalyptic world controlled by talking animals - tigers, dogs, gorillas, etc.

Kirby denied this (he claimed in one interview that he hadn't seen the Apes movies, but in others he said he had, and was well aware of the film series when working on Kamandi), and in any case, the series developed its own unique story from that initial concept as it continued over 40 issues.Even ardent fans of Jack Kirby found incredible,in too seem similar in the Kamandi series,such the Statue of Liberty,Ben Boxer ans freind space suites resembled George Taylors.The Tigers worships an atomic bomb,just the underdwelling mutant humans did in Beneath the Planet of the Apes.Sure,much was barrowed from Jack Kirby's other book,but the Ape serie did have a influence,no matter what Jack Kirby stated.

Kirby had first used the name Kamandi in a caveman-type newspaper strip idea he pitched in 1956, entitled Kamandi of the Caves; and in September the following year, in Harvey Comics' Alarming Tales #1, he drew a science-fiction story entitled The Last Enemy, in which a man travels to the future and finds that humans are extinct and the world is ruled by tribes of intelligent tigers, dogs, and rats. It was a combination of these two stories that led to the Kamandi comic. On the other hand, there was undoubtedly a strong Apes influence on the comic series that emerged. DC Comics publisher Carmine Infantino had failed to secure the comic-book license for the Apes movies, shortly beforehand. He had wanted Kirby to do their Apes series, and instead offered creative control of a new series to Kirby on the understanding that he develop a 'Planet of the Apes'-style concept (Infantino thus claimed to have created the premise for the series). Kirby revived his Kamandi concept from the fifties, and the final DC Comics version was a hybrid of Kirby's original character and Planet of the Apes. The Statue of Liberty cover was included at Infantino's insistence; Kirby later complained in interview that he didn't want to do it because it was so obviously copying Apes.  his is not a review but a discussion. I hosted a Kamandi discussion once before, but enough time has passed that another one is in order. The Kamandi Omnibus reprints issues #1-20 (the first of two reprinting Kirby’s entire run) and is a great value in comparison to the two previous “archive” editions which reprinted the same issues. Plus, the art is much, much better suited to this non-glossy stock, my favorite format. And, this volume contain three of my four favorite Kamandi stories ever.

From what I have read (somewhere), supposedly Jack Kirby had not seen Planet of the Apes by the time he started this series, but I find it hard to believe that someone associated with it had not. It’s not just the ruins of the Statue of Liberty on the cover (and the double-page splash on pages 2-3) which makes me say so; it’s also that a group of leopards in issue number one worship an atomic bomb. That similarity to Beneath Planet of the Apes is too spot-on to be entirely coincidental (not to mention that one of the tigers is named “Caesar“).

The new POTA movie and comic book and prose novel have all put me in the proper frame of mind to re-read Kamandi at this time. Kamandi is not POTA, but it is (as they say) “an incredible simulation.” One could almost imagine Kamandi to be POTA by pretending the various animal species are all various tribes of apes. They’re not, b ut it’s fun to imagine Kirby doing 40 issues of POTA continuity! It could almost fit… almost.

The splash page explains: “HIS NAME IS KAMADI! It may seem like a strange name to you--but actually it is a sort of dramatic tribute to the people who once populated Command “D”, the last section of a large underground bunker complex!” Because Kamandi later returns to this bunker complex and one of the doors is plainly labeled “Command D”, I would have preferred it if Kirby hadn’t decided to make the significance of Kamandi’s name so explicit.

The first issue introduces species of intelligent wolves, tigers, leopards and dogs (as well as feral humans). Main characters include Caesar (a tiger), Dr. Canus (a dog), and Ben Boxer (a mutant human). It helps if one doesn’t think too hard about Ben Boxer’s body chemistry. He is “radioactive” (also described as a “natural atomic pile”) and has a “cyclo-heart” (also described as an “atom smasher”). A disc on the chest of his uniform acts as a “damper rod” which he must continually press in order to “control radiation leakage.”

Finally, the issue ends with a map of North and South America, indicating where Kirby intends to take the series in the future.

On a personal note, I have to be very careful where I’m situated in the room relative to my wife when I read this volume. I remove the book’s dust jacket when I read, and the front cover of the book itself features a head-shot of Kamandi. If there’s one character Tracy hate the very look of more than Archie Andrews, it’s Kamandi.

Jack Kirby 'Planet of the Apes' concept art

The comic book rights to Planet of the Apes had been acquired by Roy Thomas of Marvel Comics, DCs rival, by 1974, but Kirby had ended his first run at Marvel (1958-1970) when he joined DC, and by the time he returned to Marvel (1976-1978), the series was already winding down. A letter from a fan in an April 1976 issue of the UK Planet of the Apes comic asked if Jack Kirby could be asked to draw an 'Apes' story in the future, prompting the reply, "We'd dearly like to show our gratitude by telling you that Jack Kirby will immediately be switched to the drawing chores. But, with our forward planning already laid out, we have to break the news that the chances of Jack exercising his unique talents on an apes series are slim indeed." 

Jack Kirby 'Planet of the Apes' concept art

Kygoor fights the Monster Bird in 'Return to the Planet of the Apes' (1975)

As Apes passed out of the mass consciousness to be replaced by newer sci-fi franchises, it seemed that Kirby would never work on an Apes project, but there was one more quirk of his career that would give a tantalising glimpse of what might have been. In the late 1970s, Kirby abandoned comics for animation studios, working with DePatie-Freleng on the animated Fantastic Four series in 1978 (along with co-creator Stan Lee and Marvel writer Roy Thomas).

DePatie-Freleng had earlier produced the 1975 Return to the Planet of the Apes animated series, and were later bought out by Marvel in 1981. Jack Kirby also worked with Hanna-Barbera and Walt Disney around this time. In 1980, he began working with Ruby-Spears Productions, designing characters and backgrounds for Thundarr the Barbarian, Goldie Gold and Action Jack and Mr. T. Kirby and comic artist Doug Wildey were both then creative consultants on Chuck Norris: Karate Kommandos and The Centurions. During his time with Ruby-Spears, Kirby began drawing presentation boards for new animation projects.

Among the presentations he proposed was a Planet of the Apes cartoon based on the 1974 TV series - Joe Ruby and Ken Spears had been employed as story editors on that series. Concept sketches by Kirby have been unearthed, and the most widely-circulated is of Virdon, Burke, (both looking rather different), a female astronaut (“blonde companion of astronauts”) and Toomak, a “human slave boy.” A second, much more unusual sketch seems to show an enormous gorilla with hands aloft; in one hand a male human astronaut; in the other a human female in what appears to be a super-hero outfit. In the background a human or ape figure carries a banner while riding a dragon-like flying reptile over a mountain. The images of the giant gorilla among mountains and, particularly, of the flying reptile are more reminiscent of 'Kygoor' and the 'Monster Bird' from Return to the Planet of the Apes - Doug Wildey had been supervising director and associate producer for that series. Ruby-Spears Apes series was never developed, but in 2010 Ruby-Spears and Sid & Marty Krofft announced plans to revive some of the original characters Kirby had also designed during that time, in as many forms as possible.

 ==External links==* Jack Kirby article at Wikipedia* Behind The Planet Of The Apes - The Jack Kirby Collector* Jack Kirby profile at the Internet Movie Database (IMDb) 

---

==References== 

=Kamandi of the Caves=

by Rob SteibelPosted October 21, 2010 in Uncategorized.

Thanks to John S. for his comments on the Statue of Liberty & Kamandi post.

Hi Rob, Just read your new Kamandi posting.  Very insightful!  I’d never seen that Schomburg FANTASTIC UNIVERSE cover before.  Quite a revelation!  The only other thing I can add to what you’ve written is that I believe DC and Marvel both bid for the rights to do a comic-book version of APES, but Marvel got the rights to it because they put in a higher bid than DC.  Having lost the bidding war, Infantino asked Kirby to come up with something similar, so Jack took his old, unused KAMANDI OF THE CAVES newspaper strip proposal and transformed it into the KAMANDI comic book we all know and love–a comic which, by the way, went on to become the best-selling title he produced for DC in the seventies and which almost certainly outsold Marvel’s feeble black-and-white APES magazines!  So really, DC ended up winning after all…which was no surprise, since they had The King on their side! Best regards, John

Here are some examples of unfinished 1950s Kamandi of the Caves comic strips Jack worked on. The strip on the bottom is signed by Jack and dated 1958.This Kamandi appears to an adult.

Write the first section of your page here.

Kamandi of Earth-Planet of Future Beast

by Rob SteibelPosted October 22, 2010 in Uncategorized.

One final post on Kamandi for the time being: here are some penciled Kamandi presentation pieces. The second page is dated 1972, so I’ll guess this was artwork Jack put together in order to pitch his Kamandi idea to DC, although this looks more like a pitch for an animation project. Some great pencil-work by Jack here. I’d love to see Mike Royer add inks to these pages. Great example of how Jack could create an entire back-story fairly quickly, then it was simply a matter of executing the plan on a monthly basis.[1]

General vision of the series

The world of Kamandi is located in a Land of the future, to which often it talks about like " Earth A. (After Disaster)! " (" Earth D. (After the Cataclysm) " -. The governors of this world are animal intelligent who yerguen themselves on their later legs and are equipped with human intelligence and humanoides hands; between these they includegorilas, tigers, dogs, from Leon, guepardos and other mammals. Other animal have not changed their physicalappearance but nevertheless they are intelligent and they can speak; among them serpents include themselves, dolphins and killer whales. Some small animal have acquired a gigantic size or have changed in an ample variety of forms; between these the insects and the crabs include themselves. The horses have not been affected -- probablybecause to Kirby it enjoyed drawing cavalry regiments of tigers and gorilas riding towards the battle.

At the beginning of the series, it is revealed that the old United States now is divided in regions. The greatestregions are governed by gorilas, the tigers and from Leon one. The city of Chicago is populated by gangsters robot, and bulldogs governs England.

The majority of the humans of the series does not speak and is employees of the intelligent animal. There are some exceptions, as it is the case of the mutant friend of Kamandi, Horseradish tree Boxer.

The nature of " Great Desastre" it was never explained, but it had " something that to see with radiación". In Kamandi # 16 occurs an explanation for the animal talking. Gorila doctor reads the newspaper of a died human doctor who was written in the time in which the Great disaster took place. While the night is passing and the battle between gorilas becomes hardened and the tigers in the ruins of Washington D.C gorila doctor reads how the Dr. Michael Grant invented a chemical compound called cortexin. The compound apparently was spilled on the water provision and, when they ingested it to the animal, it conferred the great intelligence to them. These effects have been transmitted the descendants of the animal. Many of the original intelligent animal came from the Zoo of Washington. In # 16, gorila doctor has recreated this chemistry. While one is dying sees how the same effects in the previously wild humans take place; this implies that perhaps the humans recover their intelligence someday.

One of the numbers keys in this series is the number #29 in which Kamandi discovers the suit of Superman, connecting in this way to Kamandi with own Universe DC. is for the first time so Kamandi lives in one on the many parallel Earth that filled to Universe DC before Crisis in Infinite Earth . After this, Kamandi did occasional appearances in DC Comics Presents and The Brave and the Bold forming equipment with Superman and Batman . But generally Kamandi continued living in its separated parallel world of the other personages of DC.

Kirby stopped writing the scripts of the series towards number 35, but it continued drawing it until number 40. Although other many titles of Kirby were cancelled when it went away, DC continued the title until number 59.Numbers 60 and 61 were written, drawn and partially inked, and can be in Cancelled Comics Cavalcade .

After the aim of the series

The series of end of the 70, Hercules Unbound, tried to unite and to explain several of the series of DC “after Desastre” such as Atomic Knights, Kamandi, and others, and tried to explain from where the intelligent animal came from Kamandi, constructing all this around which was developing by Kirby.

Towards the end of the series of Kamandi, nexuses of union with OMAC paid attention, that would be used in later histories.

When the limited series of 12 numbers Crisis in Infinite Earth the future unified all the temporary lines of inMultiverso (DC Comics), the situation of the personage in Universe DC drastically was altered. In the temporary line reviewed, Kamandi is the grandson of OMAC, and was left in a refuge until it was rescued and red-baptize like Tommy Tomorrow - the name of the personage who was previous to Kamandi during 25 years. As a tribute to Kamandi the boy were found in " D" command; (the English transcription phonetic of both words is similar), that was the name of búnker that # 1 had given to Kamandi its name in the number.

The miniseries, Kamandi: AT Earth's End published in 1993, but it bore little relation to cómic from Kirby except by his name. This series had its continuation in Superman AT Earth's End .

Tribute to Kamandi in the series of 1998 surrendered Superboy when Superboy appeared in a world similar to the one of Kamandi.

In the third plot arc of the series Superman/Batman, that showed the heroes traveling through time, these was or fought with, Sgt. Rock, Jonah Hex, Darkseid, and Kamandi.

The plot arc of Savage Dragoon This Savage World (that includes the numbers #76-81) directly was inspired (and homenajeaba a) Kamandi .

Creation

DC editor Carmine Infantino had tried to acquire the license to publish Planet of the Apes comic books but when this failed to happen he asked Jack Kirby for a series with a similar concept. Although Kirby had not seen the films he knew the rough outline and he had also created a very similar story, "The Last Enemy!", in Harvey Comics' Alarming Tales that predated the original Planet of the Apes novel. He also had an unused comic strip he created in 1956, titled Kamandi of the Caves. Kirby brought all those elements together to create Kamandi. Although his initial plan was to not work on the comic books themselves, the cancellation of Forever People freed him up to do so.

The series

The Kamandi series was launched in October–November 1972. It was written and drawn by Jack Kirby through its 37th issue, in January 1976. Kirby also drew issues #38 through #40, although they were scripted by Gerry Conway. Kirby subsequently left DC, but the series continued, initially written by Conway and drawn by Chic Stone. Later issues were alternately written by Paul Levitz, Denny O'Neil, David A. Kraft, Elliott S! Maggin, and Jack C. Harris, with art by Pablo Marcos, Keith Giffen, and Dick Ayers. It was canceled during the "DC Implosion" of 1978, despite respectable sales figures. The final published issue was #59, cover-dated September–October 1978. Two additional issues, completed but not released, were included in Cancelled Comic Cavalcade #1 and #2.

 ===Entering the DC Universe===

During Kirby's run on the book, Steve Sherman indicated in the letters column that the series was connected to Kirby's contemporary OMAC seriesTemplate:Citation needed, which was set sometime prior to the Great Disaster. The only explicit connection to the DC Universe occurs in issue #29, where Kamandi discovers a group of apes who worship Superman's costume, and who speak of legends of Superman trying and failing to stop the Great Disaster. The story leaves it ambiguous whether the legends are true (although Kamandi believes Superman was real) and whether the costume is indeed Superman's.  Various non-Kirby stories tie the series more explicitly to the DC Universe. Kamandi met Batman in The Brave and the Bold #120 (July 1975) and #157 (December 1979). Superman #295 (January 1976) establishes that the costume seen in issue #29 was indeed Superman's, and that Earth A.D. is an alternate future for Earth-One, distinct from that of the Legion of Super-Heroes. Issues #49-50 of the series establish that Kamandi's grandfather was the elderly Buddy Blank, hero of the OMAC series, and features a brief return of OMAC's satellite ally, Brother Eye. Kirby's Kamandi story in Cancelled Comic Cavalcade #2 guest stars The Sandman and establishes that Kamandi is Jed Walker. The 1975-1977 Hercules Unbound series and OMAC backup stories in Kamandi and Warlord tie OMAC to both the storyline of Hercules Unbound and to the Atomic Knights, indicating that the Great Disaster was the atomic war of 1986 that precipitated the events of the latter. DC Comics Presents #57 (May 1983) indicates that the events of the Atomic Knights stories were a fantasy in the mind of Gardner Grayle, but DC Comics Presents #64 and Crisis on Infinite Earths #2 make clear that Kamandi still existed in an alternate future of Earth-One. In the wake of the Crisis on Infinite Earths, the Great Disaster did not occur, and the boy who would have become Kamandi instead became Tommy Tomorrow. 

Revival

In the aftermath of the Infinite Crisis limited series, a bunker named Command D has been built under the ruins of the city of Blüdhaven. In early 2007, DC Nation house ads showed a partial picture of Darkseid and mention a "Great Disaster". Additional DC promotional art for the series Countdown show the Statue of Liberty in ruins, similar to Kamandi #1 (although later, Dan DiDio revealed that the Statue's appearance in that teaser ad was a reference to the Sinestro Corps War). Throughout 2007, DC Comics contained continual references to a coming Great Disaster. In Countdown #31, Buddy Blank and his unnamed blond grandson are introduced into the storyline. As of Countdown #6, The Great Disaster is in its early stages on Earth-51 due to the outbreak of a virus, which is causing humans to develop animal like features, and animals to develop humanoid features. In Countdown #5, the virus claims Earth-51's Buddy Blank's daughter, but his grandson is safe. Una, an alternate Earth's version of the Legion of Super-Heroes Triplicate Girl, gives him her Legion flight ring, which he uses to safely get him to Cadmus' "Command D" facility, which was used to control Brother Eye, and has the defenses necessary to protect them from the virus'  victims. As he settles in, he hopes that his grandson can forgive him for making him "The last boy on Earth." In Countdown: Arena #2, an ape Starman from Earth-17 mentions he is attempting to form a truce between the forces of Kamandi and Ben Boxer, indicating a second variant Kamandi Earth, unlike Earth-51. 

Final Crisis

Main article: Final CrisisKamandi is seen in DC's Final Crisis limited series, a sequel to the earlier Crisis on Infinite Earths and Infinite Crisis.  In the first issue he appears in what seems to be a time distortion, asking Anthro, the "first" boy on Earth, for the weapon the New God Metron gave him, a reference to the series' opening scene in which Anthro, like Prometheus, is given knowledge in the form of fire. He makes another appearance in the second issue as one of the captives of the evil New Gods (alongside Batman), warning the detective character Dan Turpin that they are making slaves of them. In the final issue, he appears on Earth-51 after it has been reconstructed. 

==Fictional character biography==

In the eponymous series, Kamandi is a teenage boy on a post-apocalyptic Earth (which the textual narrative describes as "Earth A.D. (After Disaster)") that has been ravaged by a mysterious calamity called the Great Disaster. The precise nature of the Great Disaster is never revealed in the original series, although it "had something to do with radiation" (in the series' letter column, Jack Kirby and his then-assistant Steve Sherman repeatedly asserted that the Great Disaster was not a nuclear war, a fact confirmed in issue #35).

The Disaster wiped out human civilization and a substantial portion of the human population. A few isolated pockets of humanity survived in underground bunkers, while others quickly reverted to pre-technological savagery. Shortly before the Great Disaster, a scientist at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, Dr. Michael Grant, developed a drug called Cortexin, which stimulated the reasoning abilities of animals. During the Great Disaster, Grant released the experimental animals affected by the drug, and dumped the Cortexin itself into the stream created by a broken water main. In the ensuing days, animals escaping from the National Zoo drank from that stream and became affected by the drug. 

By Kamandi's time, an unspecified period after the Great Disaster, the effects of Cortexin and the radiation unleashed by the Great Disaster itself had caused a wide variety of mammals, including gorillas, tigers, lions, cheetahs, leopards (all descendants of escaped zoo animals), rats, dogs, wolves, and kangaroos to become bipedal, humanoid, and sentient, possessing the power of speech. Others, including dolphins, killer whales, and snakes, developed sentience, but retained more or less their original size and form. The newly intelligent animal species, equipped with weapons and technology salvaged from the ruins of human civilization, began to struggle for territory (horses were apparently not affected, and serve as a means of transportation in the technologically impoverished world of Earth A.D.).Strangely enough,the same insident,happened in Kamadi's time,but as far it was told,none of the human reverted to the intelligence level of the past.Unfortunately,this may have something explorted,to resolve Kamandi's vow to get humanity back on track.

By this time, most surviving humans are bestial, with very limited reasoning ability. Most have only the most rudimentary ability to speak, although they can be trained. (The precise cause of the loss of reasoning ability is ambiguous in the original series.) The animals treat humans as beasts, using them for labor or as pets.  Kamandi is the last survivor of the human outpost in the "Command D" bunker near what was once New York City ("Kamandi" is a corruption of "Command D"; it is unclear if Kamandi ever had any other name). Raised by his elderly grandfather, Kamandi has extensive knowledge of the pre-Disaster world, thanks to a library of microfilm and old videos, but he has spent most of his time inside the bunker, and is unaware of the state of the world outside. When his grandfather is killed by a wolf, Kamandi leaves the bunker in search of other human outposts.  He soon discovers that the only other intelligent humans left on Earth are Ben Boxer and his friends Steve and Renzi, a trio of mutants genetically engineered to survive in Earth A.D. He also makes a number of animal friends, including Dr. Canus, the canine scientist of Great Caesar, leader of the Tiger Empire, and Caesar's teenage son, Tuftan. Later additions to the cast included the alien woman Pyra, the girl Spirit and the consulting detective Mylock Bloodstalker (loosely based on Sherlock Holmes) and his associate Doile (named for Holmes' creator, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle); Bloodstalker is, appropriately, a bloodhound. Even the most sympathetic animals, however, are nonplussed by Kamandi and Ben's ability to speak. Kamandi and his friends set out to explore the world of Earth A.D., in hopes of one day restoring humanity to sentience and civilization. ==Other versions

==Elseworlds

The Elseworlds miniseries Kamandi: At Earth's End was issued in 1993, but had little relation to the Kirby comic except by name. This series was followed up by Superman: At Earth's End, both were written by Tom Veitch.

 ===Superman/Batman===

In the third story arc of the Superman/Batman series, which showed the heroes traveling through time, they met or fought with, variously, Sgt. Rock, Jonah Hex, Darkseid, and Kamandi.

Superman & Batman: Generations

In Superman & Batman: Generations III #3 (May 2003), one of the stories was set during the century immediately following the 'Great Disaster' engineered by Luthor's robotized brain. It dealt with Superman II, Batman, and other survivors of the technological age dealing with Kamandi-like intelligent animals and overgrown ruins.

Wednesday Comics

Dave Gibbons and Ryan Sook produced a Kamandi serial for Wednesday Comics in 2009. The stories for Wednesday Comics have their own continuity. 

Television

• Kamandi and his supporting cast made four appearances in the animated series Batman: The Brave and the Bold voiced by Mikey Kelley. The first instance was as part of the teaser introduction to the episode "Dawn of the Deadman" where he, Dr. Canus, and Batman evade a group of Rat Men. His second appearance was in the full-length episode, "Last Bat on Earth" where he teams up with Batman when Gorilla Grodd goes to Kamandi's time. In "The Malicious Mr. Mind," Kamandi assists Batman when the Misfit follows Kamandi to Batman's time. In "Joker: The Vile and the Villainous", Misfit and his robots attack Kamandi and the Tiger Men in order to claim a doomsday device that was in their possession that the Tiger Men were worshipping. When a time portal opens and it was first thought to be Batman coming to Kamandi's aid, it was actually the Joker who came to Misfit's aid and they defeat Kamandi and the Tiger Men. Afterwards, the Joker pushes a button on the doomsday device which blows up the Earth, killing Kamandi. Sounds silly.
• Jack Kirby is the undisputed monarch of the comic book field, considered to be both a star of the Golden Age of comics as well as the Marvel Age of comics. In the early 1970s, Kirby moved from New York to California, leaving Marvel for DC Comics and the promise of an ambitious new project of his, The Fourth World. That bright new concept, spanning out over four comic titles (The New Gods, Mister Miracle, The Forever People, Superman's Pal, Jimmy Olsen) was prematurely nipped in the bud despite critical acclaim. The New Gods and Forever People were canceled after eleven issues to make room for what publisher Carmine Infantino hoped would be more commercial fare, Jack Kirby's Kamandi, the Last Boy on Earth and The Demon.

Kamandi (which had its origins in Jack's 1956 syndicated attempt, Kamandi of the Caves) featured the story of a human boy struggling to survive in a future world dominated by intelligent animals (a theme uncomfortably close to Planet of the Apes).

Debuting in November 1972, the title had a better track run than the Fourth World series --it lasted 40 issues, but although it may have appealed to younger readers, objectively one can only conclude that the title, with its fairly predictable plots, was one of Kirby's lesser efforts. It particularly suffered in comparison to the likes of Frank Miller's Daredevil and Denny O'Neil's Green Lantern/Green Arrow stories, both which were coming out at about that time. (Currently Bruce Timm, producer of the Batman Beyond animated series, has hopes of bringing Kamandi to television and is looking at the possibility of doing a pilot for Cartoon Network.)

Toys

• Kamandi was included in DC Universe Classics Wave 14, released in 2010.
  Jack Kirby's 'Kamandi: The Last Boy on Earth' (1972)
  Jack 'The King' Kirby (August 28th, 1917 - February 6th, 1994) was one of the most highly-regarded comic creators of his time. Writing, drawing, and editing comic books, he was responsible for creating dozens of unique characters for both Marvel Comics and DC Comics. (See Also: Jack Kirby's Biography at the Marvel DataBase) Kirby paid homage to the climactic 'Statue of Liberty' scene from Template:Film in the first issue of the successful DC Comics comic book series, Kamandi: The Last Boy on Earth, in 1972. The Kamandi series has been accused of plagiarising the Apes movie, because it featured a boy ("the last boy") in a post-apocalyptic world controlled by talking animals - tigers, dogs, gorillas, etc. Kirby denied this (he claimed in one interview that he hadn't seen the Apes movies, but in others he said he had, and was well aware of the film series when working on Kamandi), and in any case, the series developed its own unique story from that initial concept as it continued over 40 issues. Kirby had first used the name Kamandi in a caveman-type newspaper strip idea he pitched in 1956, entitled Kamandi of the Caves; and in September the following year, in Harvey Comics' Alarming Tales #1, he drew a science-fiction story entitled The Last Enemy, in which a man travels to the future and finds that humans are extinct and the world is ruled by tribes of intelligent tigers, dogs, and rats. It was a combination of these two stories that led to the Kamandi comic. On the other hand, there was undoubtedly a strong Apes influence on the comic series that emerged. DC Comics publisher Carmine Infantino had failed to secure the comic-book license for the Apes movies, shortly beforehand. He had wanted Kirby to do their Apes series, and instead offered creative control of a new series to Kirby on the understanding that he develop a 'Planet of the Apes'-style concept (Infantino thus claimed to have created the premise for the series). Kirby revived his Kamandi concept from the fifties, and the final DC Comics version was a hybrid of Kirby's original character and Planet of the Apes. The Statue of Liberty cover was included at Infantino's insistence; Kirby later complained in interview that he didn't want to do it because it was so obviously copying Apes. 
  Jack Kirby 'Planet of the Apes' concept art
  The comic book rights to Planet of the Apes had been acquired by Roy Thomas of Marvel Comics, DCs rival, by 1974, but Kirby had ended his first run at Marvel (1958-1970) when he joined DC, and by the time he returned to Marvel (1976-1978), the series was already winding down. A letter from a fan in an April 1976 issue of the UK Planet of the Apes comic asked if Jack Kirby could be asked to draw an 'Apes' story in the future, prompting the reply, "We'd dearly like to show our gratitude by telling you that Jack Kirby will immediately be switched to the drawing chores. But, with our forward planning already laid out, we have to break the news that the chances of Jack exercising his unique talents on an apes series are slim indeed." 
  Jack Kirby 'Planet of the Apes' concept art
  Kygoor fights the Monster Bird in 'Return to the Planet of the Apes' (1975)
  As Apes passed out of the mass consciousness to be replaced by newer sci-fi franchises, it seemed that Kirby would never work on an Apes project, but there was one more quirk of his career that would give a tantalising glimpse of what might have been. In the late 1970s, Kirby abandoned comics for animation studios, working with DePatie-Freleng on the animated Fantastic Four series in 1978 (along with co-creator Stan Lee and Marvel writer Roy Thomas). DePatie-Freleng had earlier produced the 1975 Return to the Planet of the Apes animated series, and were later bought out by Marvel in 1981. Jack Kirby also worked with Hanna-Barbera and Walt Disney around this time. In 1980, he began working with Ruby-Spears Productions, designing characters and backgrounds for Thundarr the Barbarian, Goldie Gold and Action Jack and Mr. T. Kirby and comic artist Doug Wildey were both then creative consultants on Chuck Norris: Karate Kommandos and The Centurions. During his time with Ruby-Spears, Kirby began drawing presentation boards for new animation projects. Among the presentations he proposed was a Planet of the Apes cartoon based on the 1974 TV series - Joe Ruby and Ken Spears had been employed as story editors on that series. Concept sketches by Kirby have been unearthed, and the most widely-circulated is of Virdon, Burke, (both looking rather different), a female astronaut (“blonde companion of astronauts”) and Toomak, a “human slave boy.” A second, much more unusual sketch seems to show an enormous gorilla with hands aloft; in one hand a male human astronaut; in the other a human female in what appears to be a super-hero outfit. In the background a human or ape figure carries a banner while riding a dragon-like flying reptile over a mountain. The images of the giant gorilla among mountains and, particularly, of the flying reptile are more reminiscent of 'Kygoor' and the 'Monster Bird' from Return to the Planet of the Apes - Doug Wildey had been supervising director and associate producer for that series. Ruby-Spears Apes series was never developed, but in 2010 Ruby-Spears and Sid & Marty Krofft announced plans to revive some of the original characters Kirby had also designed during that time, in as many forms as possible.

External links

• Jack Kirby article at Wikipedia* Behind The Planet Of The Apes - The Jack Kirby Collector* Jack Kirby profile at the Internet Movie Database (IMDb)

References

 

 

Miscellaneous

• A DCAU version of Kamandi appears in the comic book Justice League Adventures #30, and he is aided by the Flash.

 ==Collected editions== 

• Kamandi Archive:

FOR YOUR CONSIDERATION: DC’S KAMANDI OMNIBUS VOL. 1 This Post is Filed Under: Home Page Highlights, Interviews and Columns by Robert Greenberger

Kamandi Omnibus Vol. 1

Good creators never toss out their ideas. They file them away until inspiration or opportunity strikes. Such was the case when DC Comics publisher Carmine Infantino called up his most creative editor, Jack Kirby, and asked for a new series. DC had tried and failed to gain the comic book rights to the Planet of the Apes franchise, which had proven box office gold with no end in sight in 1972.

Kirby had not seen the films but was familiar enough with the premise and put his mind to work. Earth After Disaster was nothing new to the King, having previously trolled this territory, notably with The Last Enemy! for Alarming Tales back in the 1950s. At the same time, 1956, he prepped a prospective comic strip called Kamandi of the Caves and since it never sold, thought the time had come. He intended to create the series and let others execute it but Infantino unexpectedly canceled Forever People so Kirby decided to do the book himself.

Rather than a world with dominant apes, Kirby went author Pierre Boulle one better and gave intelligence to the entire animal kingdom. In late 1972, Kamandi, the Last Boy on Earth debuted and was a success, lasting for six years. Now, DC is repackaging the first two volumes of the Kamandi Archives as the lower priced Kamandi Omnibus, collecting the first 20 issues. Kirby wrote and drew the first 37 issues, his longest run at DC, and then illustrated three issues written by Gerry Conway before returning to Marvel Comics. The series, under other hands, lasted until the infamous Implosion in 1978.

Kamandi’s Earth is a radically different one as you see in the two-page map provided in the very first issue. Whatever the Great Disaster was, it not only altered the relationship between man and beast, but it also changed the topography as a massive land bridge formed, connecting North America to Greenland with a link from Canada as well. Alaska was now a land of “strange fire”. Different animal species held dominion over different stretches of land and instinctive enmities were now played out in grand wars. Humanity was reduced to a handful of people compared to the billions before the unexplained cataclysm.

Zoo animals evolved thanks to a chemical called Cortexin and radiation, eradicated mankind and went to war with one another, amassing land and power. Most animals were altered in size and dexterity, while others merely gained superior intelligence. Oddly, horses seemed entirely unaffected. Surviving men and women were pressed into service as slave labor with a mere handful acting as freedom fighters, hoping to unite mankind once again. Some of these men find a young blond boy in the bunker marked Command D, and thus a heroic name was born. Kamandi accompanied Steve, Renzi and the powerfully-clad Ben Boxer on numerous adventures around the globe, making friends and enemies wherever they went. In time, they are joined by the mute girl dubbed Flower and the canine Dr. Canus and Tuftan, a Tiger prince.

In true Kirby fashion, the series is brimming with ideas and breathless adventure while the dialogue is somewhat stilted and most characters sound interchangeable. But the vistas created by Kirby, clearly having fun, are worth the price of admission.

Volume two is when the explicit connections between Kamandi and the DC Universe manifest themselves including the classic #29 and the reverence paid to Superman’s uniform. With hope, this first volume will sell well enough so we can have a second collection, completing the King’s opus.Whether inspired by the Planet of the Apes or material before,dosen't matter,Jack Kirby good or bad left his mark on the material.

Purchase

** Volume 1 collects Kamandi: The Last Boy on Earth #1-10, 224 pages, October 2005, ISBN 1-4012-0414-7

** Volume 2 collects Kamandi: The Last Boy on Earth #11-20, 228 pages, February 2007, ISBN 1-4012-1208-5 * Countdown Special: Kamandi, the Last Boy on Earth 80-Page Giant #1 collects Kamandi: The Last Boy on Earth #1, #10 and #29.

* Kamandi by Jack Kirby Omnibus 

** Volume 1 collects Kamandi: The Last Boy on Earth #1-20, 448 pages, September 2011, ISBN 1-4012-3233-7** Volume 2 collects Kamandi: The Last Boy on Earth #21-40, 424 pages, December 2012, ISBN 1401236723* Wednesday Comics (collects Wednesday Comics #1-12, 200 pages, June 2010, ISBN 1401227473) 

==See also==* Jack Kirby bibliography 

== References ==

 

== External links ==

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*Template:Comicbookdb

*Kamandi at the DC Database Project Template:Jack Kirby   on of your page here.