Trimpe and Kirby(Pt 15) Hulk #122 &123 and Fantastic Four #89 - Reed, Ben and Shiny Waxed Floors

Aug. 1969: Fantastic Four #89 Jack Kirby

Dec. 1969: Hulk #122  Herb Trimpe

And again, in Hulk #123.

Jan. 1970: Hulk #123  Trimpe

The full Kirby panel:

1969: Fantastic Four #89 Jack Kirby

Trimpe and Kirby (Pt 12) Incredible Hulk #122 and Fantastic Four #89 - It's Clobberin' Time!

Aug. 1969: Fantastic Four #89 Kirby

Dec. 1969: Hulk #122 Herb Trimpe

1969: Fantastic Four #89 Kirby                               1969: Hulk #122 Trimpe                    

 The panels on the pages: 

                         Fantastic Four #89 Kirby                Hulk #122 Trimpe                                          

Trimpe and Kirby (Pt 10) Incredible Hulk #122 and Fantastic Four #89 - Johnny Storm

In the "inspired by" category...

Dec. 1969: Hulk #122 Trimpe

Aug. 1969: Fantastic Four #89 Kirby

Trimpe and Kirby (Pt 8) Incredible Hulk #122 and Fantastic Four #89 - Sue Storms

1969: Fantastic Four #89 Kirby

1969: Hulk  #122 Trimpe

Trimpe and Kirby (Pt 7) Incredible Hulk #122 and Fantastic Four #89 - Bodies in Motion

Aug.1969: Fantastic Four #89 Kirby

Dec.1969: Hulk  #122 Trimpe

Trimpe and Kirby (Pt 6) Incredible Hulk #122 and Fantastic Four #89 - Reed Richards aka Stretcho

Aug. 1969: Fantastic Four #89 Kirby

Dec. 1969: Hulk #122 Herb Trimpe

Trimpe and Kirby (Pt 1) Incredible Hulk #122 and Fantastic Four #89

The late great Herb Trimpe's artwork was often called "Kirbyesque" so here we'll take a look at Trimpe's work on Hulk #122 and #123, which featured the Fantastic Four as guest stars. I never read Hulk back then but I was an FF fan, so for me it's fun to see these FF recalls. 

Trimpe was not used to drawing the FF and it was important to keep such well-known characters on model. It's pretty apparent Trimpe used several then-recent Fantastic Four issues, chiefly #83-#89, for inspiration/reference.These issues were probably on hand in the Marvel offices--remember, Trimpe was part of the Marvel production staff. 

Anyway, as we'll see in the next few posts Trimpe took some Kirby poses but added his own distinctive style to them. All in all, some great work by Mr. T!

Let's start with these covers, Fantastic Four #89 and Hulk #122. Both issues are from 1969: FF #89 was published in May 1969, around the time when Hulk #122 was being created, given a 4 month production lead time. Sure, there's Reed's fist in the forefront, but let's face it, that's a pretty common--and expected--Reed shot. Here I'm more interested in Sue and Crystal. 

Aug. 1969: Fantastic Four #89  Jack Kirby                            Dec. 1969: Incredible Hulk #122 Herb Trimpe                 

A closer look at the two covers: 

Here's a close-up of Sue and Crystal on the FF #89 cover...

...and on the Hulk #122 cover.

Fantastic Four #150 (Pt 28) Franklin Richards and Mole Man

1974:  Fantastic Four #150  Buckler

1969:  Fantastic Four #89  Kirby

More of the Franklin/Fantastic Four #89 - #150 connection here! 

Giant-Size Avengers #1 (Pt 37) Smoke and Mirrors

1969: Fantastic Four #89  Kirby

1974: Giant-Size Avengers #1 Buckler

Thor #227 - Thunder God, Human Torch

Thor #227 was published at around the same time as Fantastic Four #150 and had the same creative team, Gerry Conway and Rich Buckler.  As mentioned, like his FF run Buckler's 1974 Thor run relied heavily on Kirby swipes.  Here, #227 Thor's details are clearly based on the well-known Thunder God splash in Thor #124.

But I think there was another Kirby page used as a model here too. Take a look at the positioning of the background figures and the curved shape of the Torch's and Thor's torsos--these point me to this Fantastic Four #89 splash.

Thor #227 (1974) Buckler

FF #89 (1969) Kirby

Fantastic Four #150 (Pt 5) Franklin and Reed Richards

Fantastic Four #150 (1974) Rich Buckler

Fantastic Four #89 (1969) Jack Kirby

Fantastic Four #144 (Pt 11) Kirby Crowd Scene

Fantastic Four #144 (1974) Rich Buckler

Fantastic Four #89 (1969) Jack Kirby