Scarlet Witch and Ava Gardner

I'm sure we've all read about how much Jack Kirby loved the movies. But had he seen these Ava Gardner images when coming up with the Scarlet Witch's look? Take a look: tousled chestnut tresses, check. Chiseled bone structure, check. Shapely figure, check. And yeah, even a dimpled chin. 😉

Wanda the Scarlet Witch in X-Men #4 - Jack Kirby

And check out the poster for the 1960 MGM film The Angel Wore Red, starring guess who? 

Angry Young Men: Incredible Hulk #1 and...

I've long wondered if Kirby's fine-featured, brooding Hulk was based--facially, anyway--on a certain fine-featured, brooding actor. And yeah, I first posted this on a comic book forum a while back but I'm re-posting it here just 'cause I like these images. So there! 

(l.) Brando as Antony in the 1953 film Julius Caesar         (r.)  Incredible Hulk #1 by Kirby-Reinman                   

Fun fact: In 1969 Jack Kirby designed the costumes and posters for a production of Julius Caesar at the University of California at Santa Cruz. More info at the  Kirby Museum. 

Update: check out August 2015 Time magazine on Kirby!  

Scarlet Witch's Hair Color Part 2

As we saw last time, Wanda and Pietro left the X-Men comic (X-Men #11) and immediately showed up that same month's Avengers comic. Her hair was still brown on the cover of Avengers #16...

Scarlet Witch on the cover of Avengers #16 (1965)

...however in the story itself, we come across a Stan Lee caption describing a certain "graceful black-haired beauty."  Yep, instead of a brown base color Wanda's wavy windswept hair now has a grey base, again with a lot of black inking.

Wanda and Pietro in Avengers #16 (1965)

The million dollar question: why the change in Wanda's hair color? Was Stan Lee merely being poetic when he called her black-haired--after all many describe dark brown hair as "black"-- and did the colorist mistakenly take him literally? Or if the change to black hair was an editorial decision, did showman Stan hope to invoke an association with a certain ebon hair'd, headline-grabbing movie queen?

Maybe Stan felt that since Wanda was now a newly-minted heroine she needed to have her own unique hair color. At that time Marvel's lead super-heroines--so few in number you could count 'em on one hand with fingers to spare--all had different hair colors: Sue Storm was the blonde, Jean Grey was the redhead, and Janet Van Dyne, the Wasp, had brown hair. Perhaps Stan thought two Marvel "brownettes" would confuse the kiddies (never mind that Jan and Hank's feature in Tales to Astonish would only last a couple of months after they departed the Avengers).  

Sue Storm, Jean Grey and Janet Van Dyne

But guess what, the new Sub-Mariner series that replaced Jan and Hank's in Astonish included the return of a character, Lady Dorma, who--though non-powered--had always had an exotic look similar to Wanda's...including wavy, tousled brown hair with black shading!

Dorma in Tales to Astonish #70 (1965)

In any event, here's the black-haired Wanda with her Kooky Quartet cohorts: 

Scarlet Witch in 1965-6

Wanda and Pietro left the Avengers active roster for a few issues (Avengers #30-35) but while they were on team leave they popped up in Thor #134  and X-Men #27.  

                  left: Thor #134 (Kirby)                                   right: X-Men #27   (Roth)                                               

When Wanda and Pietro returned to the Avengers in Avengers #36 the team had grown beyond the Kooky Quartet and Wanda traded in her big ol' headgear for a much sleeker model (though a reader wrote in and complained that the new design looked like it would puncture Wanda's cheeks every time she spoke). A couple of issues later, Marvel expanded its color palette and began to use blue as her hair's base color, instead of the grey.

1967: shades of grey in Avengers #36...and dark blue in Avengers #38 

Here's Wanda by John Buscema, Don Heck, George Tuska and Werner Roth. 

Scarlet Witch in 1967-8

Wanda and Pietro left the team in Avengers #53 (1968) and didn't rejoin until nearly two years later in Avengers #75 (1970). During her time away she was shown in Avengers Annual #2, Avengers # 58, Spider-Man #71 and X-Men #59-60, always with black hair. The black hair was even present in Silver Surfer #5, in a Buscema recreation of a Kirby X-Men #11 panel from her Brotherhood of Evil Mutants days.  

On hiatus from the Avengers: Scarlet Witch in 1968-9

As mentioned above, Wanda and Pietro returned to the team in Avengers #75. On the cover she has blue-black hair...

On the cover of  Avengers #75 (1970)

...but as with #16, inside it's a different story! Next: The Scarlet Witch returns to her roots. 

Black Canary, Brave and the Bold #61, and...

Here's Murphy Anderson's classic cover for The Brave and Bold #61 (1965) starring Black Canary and Starman. You know, this particular image of Black Canary reminds me of another sensationally sinuous femme fatale...

Yes, none other than the original Love Goddess herself:  Rita Hayworth! This famous publicity still is from Cover Girl, one of lovely Rita's biggest hits.

So the question remains: is Starman Kelly or Astaire? ;)

The Medusa Effect...on Models, Movie Stars, and Musicals!

There's no doubt that Medusa's long beautiful shining gleaming streaming down-to-there hair was a major influence in the swingin' sixties look. Don't believe me? Just take a look at just a few of the pop culture icons who followed our Ms. Medusa's lead.

The Marvelous Magnificent Medusa from Fantastic Four Annual #5 (1967), by Jack "King" Kirby, natch!

Veruschka, top model; appeared in Antonioni's Blow-Up

Another icon from the '60s: model Jean Shrimpton

Raquel displays her best assets--her tresses ;)

'Nuff said ;)

The preceding program has been brought to you in (mostly) living color by

Marvelous Medusa mashup!