Goody Rickels is among the odder creations of Jack Kirby. Kirby, after all, is arguably the only most vital determine in comics historical past. He’s greatest recognized for his tenure at Marvel, the place he co-created Captain America, the Fantastic Four, the X-Men, the Hulk, Black Panther, Iron Man, Thor, and numerous extra. He drew (and, in many instances, largely wrote) lots of the most influential and beloved Marvel comics of all time.
But his work at DC is nothing to sneeze at, both. Here once more, he has tons of characters and comics to his title, however he’s greatest recognized for his epic Fourth World saga. This cosmic battle between good and evil stretched over 4 books, all concurrently written, drawn, and edited by Kirby, and launched key DC characters like Darkseid, Mister Miracle, Big Barda, and Orion. It’s a grandiose, operatic tetralogy that tackles struggle, life and loss of life, love and hate, nature vs. nurture, and different weighty matters.
And additionally, Goody Rickels is there.
No one fairly is aware of the place Goody Rickels got here from. According to comics historian and Kirby’s former assistant, Mark Evanier, the unique concept was to have Superman meet the then extraordinarily fashionable insult comedian Don Rickles, since certainly one of Kirby’s Fourth World books was Superman’s Pal Jimmy Olsen. Rickles famously boasted that he by no means picked on the little man, so Evanier and Kirby’s different assistant, Steve Sherman, prompt to Kirby that Rickles ought to cameo in a comedian and insult Superman. After all, you’ll be able to’t choose on a larger man than that!
DC determined to spin this concept into a larger promotional alternative, even going as far as to get permission from Rickles’s publicist. Kirby was instructed to stretch the story over two points, with Rickles’s face on the quilt. That’s when issues bought bizarre.
The weirdness begins in Morgan Edge’s workplace. Edge is the top of Galaxy Broadcasting System and our heroes’ boss throughout this period. He’s additionally secretly a minion of Darkseid, the evil ruler of the planet Apokalips — however even evil minions have day jobs, and in this story, Edge’s entails making an attempt to get Don Rickles to signal a contract with GBS.
Instead, in barges Goody Rickels. Goody Rickels seems precisely like Don Rickles, however he isn’t a relative (observe the totally different spellings of the final names), he isn’t a clone (regardless of a lot of Kirby’s Jimmy Olsen being about cloning), and he isn’t an insult comedian. He’s simply a particularly annoying man who seems like Don Rickles and is known as Goody, a very regular title to have. And apparently works on Edge’s analysis workers, which is the one rationalization we ever get for who the hell this man is. And he’s carrying a superhero costume, which “some of the fellows in another office” instructed him to put on — once more, no additional rationalization is ever given. He’s solely been right here for a web page and I’m already baffled.
Annoyed by Goody’s random histrionics, Edge decides that “The solution is obvious! This man must be killed!” which is the one humorous line in this two-part “comedy” story. He sends Goody — and Clark and Jimmy and their superhero pal, the Guardian — to analyze a UFO in a close by park. It’s a lure, meant to dump them in deep area, however fortunately, solely Clark will get caught in it, and he’s clearly high quality.
Goody, Jimmy, and Guardian are then captured by gangster Ugly Mannheim and his goons, who additionally work for Darkseid. Mannheim then…feeds them a hearty meal? Oh, however then he reveals that the meals was loaded with a chemical referred to as pyro-granulate, which sooner or later in the subsequent 24 hours will spontaneously combust, killing them. Then he kicks them out of his, um, evil cellular house. You may have simply shot them, buddy.
And that’s the top of the difficulty! Please observe that Don Rickles, your entire cause for this story, and who lent his title and likeness to it, didn’t seem wherever in it.
Jimmy Olsen #140 is a reprint concern, so the story picks up in #141. Guardian races off after Mannheim’s cellular house in search of an antidote, and Jimmy and Goody head again to the workplace for medical assist. The workplace? It’s a TV station! Hospitals exist! You’re about to blow up!
Meanwhile, Don Rickles has arrived at GBS, the place he’s greeted with Beatlemania-esque hysteria. I wasn’t born but through the peak of Rickles’s reputation, however…Don Rickles? The man who voiced Mr. Potato Head in Toy Story???
After two excruciating pages of Goody being annoying on the subway, Jimmy and Goody burst into Edge’s workplace, which causes Don to all of a sudden echo the whole lot Goody is saying. Like a lot in the story, that is by no means defined. Goody and Don then spot each other and gawk in confusion. ME TOO, GUYS.
As Jimmy and Goody begin to smoke extra closely, Edge tucks Don into an ante-room to maintain him out of all of the sci-fi shenanigans — which does no good, as a result of Guardian promptly bursts via the window of the ante-room with the antidote. There’s an explosion…and then the smoke clears to indicate Jimmy and Goody consuming the antidote whereas Guardian exposits that the pyro-granulate has been neutralized. So…what was the explosion, then?
An extraordinarily frazzled Don sits down shakily in a chair — and is instantly knocked over by Clark leaping out of a increase tube and saying, “Hail, friends! Clark Kent greets you from the vast unknown!” as a result of he’s an unlimited dork. The police bomb disposal unit arrives, and Don rushes into their arms, begging them to take him away from this loopy place.
And…that’s it. That’s the top. You’ll observe that in this two-part “Don Rickles insults Superman story,” Don solely seems in one concern and by no means truly meets Superman; he simply has a fleeting encounter with Clark Kent. Whom he doesn’t insult.
The actual Rickles was not proud of these comics he’d agreed to lend his likeness to, particularly when DC blithely assumed he’d promote them on discuss reveals. Even years later, when Conan O’Brien pulled them out on a present the place Rickles was guesting, Rickles refused to speak about them. Fair sufficient, actually. I am keen on Jack Kirby with all of the unhinged fervor of the subsequent comedian e-book nerd, however these points are…unhealthy. They’re simply unhealthy. Sorry, King.
More than 50 years later, nobody actually is aware of what Kirby was pondering. Where did Goody come from? Why did he (presumably) assume this was humorous? Why do these two points have so many baffling plot holes? Kirby left us in 1994, and Evanier doesn’t appear to have any solutions, so the world will most likely by no means know.
And but Goody’s entire the whole lot is so complicated that I’ve a form of bizarre affection for him, which is why I used to be completely delighted to see him cameo in Fire & Ice: Welcome to Smallville #4. And what a cameo! Fire, Ice, and Martha Kent (sure, Superman’s mother) attend a drag present collectively…and who must be the emcee however Goody Rickles [sic], dressed to the nines and completely slaying? Yas, queen!
Goody’s look in Smallville sheds zero gentle on any of the mysteries of his existence, but it surely made me so completely satisfied to see him once more, 52 years later and dwelling his best possible life. (Okay, Fire and Ice are so disruptive they get kicked out, and additionally, a supervillain leads an anti-drag protest exterior the present, however Fire punches her out, so…it’s high quality? For Goody, at the very least. The supervillain will get eaten by cannibals. It’s form of a bizarre comedian.)
In conclusion, I can’t actually advocate the unique Goody Rickels tales, however I do advocate this extraordinarily in-depth weblog put up about them by Alan Stewart, to whom I’m indebted for all of the historic context I’ve talked about. And once more, I heartily advocate Fire & Ice, which is brilliant and humorous and pleasant. Most of all, I’m grateful to comics for being an countless supply of bizarre nonsense for me to share with you. Thanks, comics!
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