Beginning today is the first of the 24-issue series by Jack Katz, The First Kingdom. It is a milestone achievement in comic book art and considered an early graphic novel. I will be running the series throughout the month of January, with posts usually occurring in the afternoon (PST).
Jack Katz (b. 1927) has been in the comic book business for almost 80 years! Originally inspired by the work of Hal Foster and Alex Raymond, Katz developed his own unique style of highly detailed illustration. One look at any of the issues of his magnum opus, The First Kingdom, will show you the dazzling detailed panels, unsullied by word balloons. Instead, Katz preferred using what looks to be an electric typewriter font for the captions with the dialogue directly under them so that they were integrated into one element of the panel, leaving room to showcase the work.
The First Kingdom is a sweeping epic, but unfortunately received limited exposure because it was an "underground comic" sold primarily through "head shops" at the time they were first published because of profuse nudity and sex (none of it close to the salaciousness of other cartoonists like R. Crumb and S. Clay Wilson). Plus, it was produced independently by Katz without the oversight of corporate comic book moguls. Over the years, the series gained notoriety and ended up being serialized in a several-volume "above ground" (aka mainstream) collection.
The First Kingdom was originally published by Comics & Comix Co. from 1974-1977 and then was picked up and the series completed by Bud Plant. Each issue includes a forward by a noted genre personality, such as Clay Geerdes, Bill Blackbeard, Jim Steranko, Milton Caniff and Jack Kirby with an introduction and synopsis by Katz.
I had forgotten how good this series was. Katz was ahead of his time.
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