While Kamandi, The Last Boy on Earth is one of Jack Kirby’s lesser-known creations, it is a notable title that delivers an engaging post-apocalyptic adventure that is both imaginative and fun.
What Is It?
The post-apocalyptic series takes place after the “Great Disaster” has ravaged the world, and it follows the teen-aged boy Kamandi (named after the bunker “Command D” where he grew up) who finds himself alone after his grandfather dies (killed by intelligent wolves). He sets off into this strange new land to discover that animals now rule and that most humans have devolved to the level of the beast. But he also finds much more than that as he meets humans who can change their bodies to steel to survive the radiation, as well as cities populated by robots imitating the mobs of Chicago, an alien of pure energy investigating the planet, and even the lost Watergate tapes used as weapons!
Character First Appearance: Kamandi, The Last Boy on Earth #1 (1972)
Created by: Jack Kirby
Original Run: 1972-78 (59 Issues)
Legacy
Kamandi, The Last Boy on Earth may at first seem derivative (read more about that below), and it takes a few issues to hit its stride, but this underrated series gave Jack Kirby–the King of Comics–the chance to just let his imagination run wild and create crazy new worlds while reveling in the quintessential spirit of fun and adventure at the core of the four-color medium.
A Closer Look
This early 70’s series came from comic book legend Jack Kirby and at first blush many genre fans may dismiss it as nothing more than a four-color ripoff of the Planet of the Apes movies (the cover of the first issue definitely supports that assertion). It did have its similarities to that film franchise with its post-apocalypse Earth where the animals have risen to the level of intelligent, civilized beings (though multiple species, not just apes) and most humans have turned into mindless beasts. But the series went well beyond the scope of the Apes movies as Kirby (accurately dubbed by his former collaborator Stan Lee as the “King of Comics”) used it to let his imagination run wild and to create and explore many different worlds on a monthly basis.
It’s not that Kamandi was particularly revolutionary and it wasn’t quite as vast of a tale as the Kirby’s Fourth World series, but it still had an epic feel to it (as did pretty much everything he produced). And Kirby took it through many twists and turns as he introduced an intelligent snake running a vast merchant business, a war between dolphins and killer whales with humans in the middle, a recreation of the Charge of the Light Brigade with bulldogs, a challenge to possess Superman’s uniform, and more. The series was just relentless and over-the-top, but it was also great fun. And Kirby’s artwork was at its pinnacle with the limitless possibilities of the worlds of Kamandi offering any of a number of opportunities for him to deliver his mind-blowing graphics.
It’s true that Kirby borrowed liberally other sources during the book’s run, almost blatantly stealing parts from Planet of the Apes and Beneath the Planet of the Apes for the first issue while also delivering a retread of the King Kong story a few issues later. But he had already set so many precedents during his reign as a comic book artist up to that point, that he could be forgiven a few swipes. And he still managed to make each of the tales his own, full of his trademark gusto and panache.
Kirby split the writing duties after the 32nd issue and left the series altogether after #40, but his run stands as a classic among comics even if this title is not usually recognized as one of the greats. The quality dropped after his departure and the series was cancelled after its 59th issue. But the Kirby issues are definitely worth seeking out as a quintessential example of the master of comics at the top of his game. If you have never read the original Kamandi, or if it has been years since you perused that explosive Kirby artwork, I highly recommend checking out this entry from a time long before today’s dark, brooding heroes and when comics still knew how to be fun.
Cancelled Too Soon?
Perhaps, but by the time the title was cancelled, not many people were reading it. Kamandi was Kirby’s longest-lived creation during his stint at DC in the 70s, but there was no resolution to the story at the time that he left as he figured the title would continue on with other creative talents. The issues that followed experienced an ever-revolving door of artists and writers, though, and it was ingloriously cancelled on a cliffhanger after issue #59 during the “DC Implosion”.
The Story Continues
Two more issues had been completed at the time of the cancellation, but they were never published except in the low-run compilation Cancelled Comics Cavalcade, and that was for copyright purposes only. Those resolved the cliffhanger from issue #59, but were not designed to wrap up the series. In fact, issue #61 incorporated an unpublished Kirby Sandman story titled “The Seal-Men’s War on Santa Claus” (no . . . really). You can find pdfs of the issues if you search online, but you are probably better off just reading the detailed summaries at this link.
The official continuation for the character was in Brave and the Bold #157 when Kamandi had a second team-up with Batman (the first was in B&B #120), but that does not offer a very satisfying conclusion. In fact, it delivers a rather ridiculous and convoluted story. The short-lived Hercules Unbound series took place after the events of the Great Disaster (and also incorporated the continuity of the Atomic Knights series), but Kamandi never crossed over to that one. He teamed up with Superman in DC Comics Presents #64, but then his continuity was erased in the Crisis on Infinite Earths series. He had a brief revival in the 90s with the Elseworlds storyline Kamandi: At Earth’s End but that differed considerably from the original series and only ran six issues. He returned once again with a short run in the Wednesday Comics series, but that also existed in its own continuity. In honor of Kirby’s 100th birthday, the twelve-issue Kamandi Challenge series was released with different creative teams writing each chapter. He has since made a few sporadic appearances in the current and ever-convoluted DC Universe and also in a few of the animated shows.
Should It Be Rebooted?
DC has already rebooted the character a few times and none of those have proven to be popular. What they should do instead of a reboot, is continue the original series. Just pick up from around issue #40 (most of the storylines beyond that point are not worth reviving) and carry on with the adventures of the Last Boy on Earth. Kirby mapped out a world that was never fully explored during the original run, and there are plenty of tales that can follow from what he started. This series influenced quite a number of artists and writers, and I am sure there would be a notable list of creative talent willing to take on the task. Call it an Elseworlds series and run with it or maybe tie in the Fourth World and OMAC as both could easily fit into the continuity. If done right this could prove to be a very popular series. But since DC is owned by the corporate machine that is Warner Bros. Discovery, I don’t expect much energy to go into a revival of this lesser-known character.
Kirby Did It First
DC editor Carmine Infantino had attempted to get the license to the Planet of the Apes movies, but he could not work that out and he asked for Kirby to come up with something similar. And even though Kirby recycled some ideas from those films into his Kamandi series, the fact is that he had already ventured into that territory fifteen years prior to the first appearance of the DC character. In 1957, he did a six-page story in the first issue of Harvey’s Alarming Tales titled “The Last Enemy”, and that follows a man who travels into the future to find that animals have come to rule the world after the humans destroyed themselves in an atomic war (you can read the story online or download it at the Digital Comics Museum). This future world had dogs, tigers, and rats fighting for supremacy (though no apes) and you can see seeds of Kirby’s Kamandi series in the story. You can also see some of the basic concepts that Pierre Boulle would work into his novel which came out in 1963, six years after the Kirby story. So tell me now, who copied who?
Interesting Facts:
A link was later established (after Kirby left the book) between Kamandi and the OMAC character that Kirby also created for DC, with the latter turning out to be Kamandi’s grandfather. That link was suggested in the letters column early on, but there’s no indication that Kirby himself ever planned to tie the two books together.
DC had plans to turn Kamandi into an animated series in the late-70s. Kirby had returned to Marvel at that point, but word of the show had reached the competition. Marvel asked Kirby to come up with something similar to his prior work, and he produced Devil Dinosaur. Neither project turned into an animated series, but DD had a nine-issue run and has since been revived as Moongirl and Devil Dinosaur.
Where Can You Read It?
The 40 Kirby issues have been collected in two volumes and an eBook version of the first volume has also been released. An omnibus combining both of those was published, but it has since gone out of print. Issues #41 to #59 have never been collected nor do I expect to see those issued in that format. They are not fetching high prices among collectors, though, so completists can get those without breaking the bank. Kamandi: At Earth’s End has not been collected, and the other revival is only available in the rather costly Wednesday Comics omnibus. The Kamandi Challenge has been released as a TPB and in eBook format.
