Kamandi (/kəˈmændi/) is a fictional comic book character created by artist Jack Kirby and published by DC Comics. The bulk of Kamandi's appearances occurred in the comic series Kamandi: The Last Boy on Earth, which ran from 1972 to 1978. He is a young hero living in a post-apocalyptic future. Following the Great Disaster, humans have backslid to savagery in a world ruled by intelligent, highly evolved animals.
Publication history
Creation
DC editor Carmine Infantino had tried to acquire the license to publish Planet of the Apes comic books. After rival Marvel Comics acquired the rights, Infantino asked Jack Kirby for a series with a similar concept. Kirby had not seen the films, but knew the rough outline and had created a similar story, "The Last Enemy!", where a present-day man finds himself in a future where anthropomorphic animals have founded their own civilization. Kirby also had an unused comic strip he created in 1956, titled Kamandi of the Caves. Kirby brought these elements together to create Kamandi.[1] Although his initial plan was not to work on the comic books personally, the cancellation of Forever People freed him up to do so.[2]
The series
The Kamandi series was launched in October–November 1972, and was written and drawn by Jack Kirby.[3] The book went to a monthly publishing schedule quickly, a sign of its early popularity.[4]
Kirby provided art and story through the comic's 37th issue, in January 1976. Kirby also drew issues #38 through #40, although they were scripted by Gerry Conway. Kirby subsequently left DC. The series continued, initially with scripts by Conway and art by Chic Stone. Later issues were written by Paul Levitz, Dennis O'Neil, David Anthony Kraft, Elliot S. Maggin, and Jack C. Harris (alternating), with art by Pablo Marcos, Keith Giffen, and Dick Ayers. It was canceled during the "DC Implosion" of 1978, despite respectable sales figures. The final published issue was #59, cover-dated September–October 1978. Two additional issues, completed but not released, were included in Cancelled Comic Cavalcade #2.[5]
Entering the DC Universe
During Kirby's run on the book, Steve Sherman indicated in the letters column that the series was connected to Kirby's then-current OMAC series, which was set in the future, but prior to the Great Disaster. The only explicit connection to the DC Universe occurs in issue #29, in which Kamandi discovers a group of apes who worship Superman.[6][7]
Other stories, not by Kirby, explicitly take place in the DC universe. Kamandi meets Batman in The Brave and the Bold #120 (July 1975)[8] and #157 (December 1979).[9]Superman #295 (January 1976) establishes that the costume seen in issue #29 is Superman's and that Earth A.D. is an alternate timeline.[10] Issues #49–50 of the series establish Kamandi's grandfather to be Buddy Blank, the former OMAC, and features a brief return of his satellite ally Brother Eye.[11][12]Cancelled Comic Cavalcade #2 guest stars Sandman and establishes that Kamandi is Jed Walker.
The 1975–1977 Hercules Unbound series and the OMAC backup stories in Kamandi and The Warlord tie OMAC to the storyline of Hercules Unbound and the Atomic Knights,[13] indicating the Great Disaster to be the atomic war of 1986 that precipitated the events of the latter. Superman #295 (Jan. 1976) implies the Great Disaster to be a natural occurrence.
DC Comics Presents #57 (May 1983) shows that the events of the Atomic Knights stories were a fantasy in the mind of Gardner Grayle,[14] but DC Comics Presents #64[15] and Crisis on Infinite Earths #2[16] establish that Kamandi still exists in an alternate future of Earth-One.
Following Crisis on Infinite Earths, Earth-AD is erased from existence.[13][17]
Revival
A young Kamandi and his grandfather Buddy Blank appear in Countdown to Final Crisis, which sees the beginning stages of the Great Disaster as a virus causes humans and animals to develop aspects of each other.[18]
Kamandi also appears in Final Crisis, where he meets Anthro via a time distortion.
DC Rebirth
Cover of The Kamandi Challenge #2, art by Kenneth Rocafort. This 12-issue limited series brought Kamandi back to the DC Universe in 2017.
In January 2017, the miniseries The Kamandi Challenge was released to commemorate the 100th anniversary of Jack Kirby's birth.[19] Each issues features a new writer and artist.[20]
Kamandi is a teenage boy on a post-apocalyptic Earth dubbed Earth A.D. (After Disaster). The Earth has been ravaged by the mysterious Great Disaster, which devastated human civilization. Isolated pockets survive in underground bunkers, while most humans revert to savagery. By Kamandi's time, an unspecified period after the Great Disaster, the effects of radiation and the intelligence-enhancing drug Cortexin cause various animals to become anthropomorphic.
Kamandi is the last survivor of the human outpost in the "Command D" bunker, from which his name is derived. After a wolf kills his grandfather, Kamandi leaves the bunker in search of other human outposts.
He soon discovers that the only other intelligent humans left on Earth are Ben Boxer and his friends Steve and Renzi, a trio of genetically engineered mutants. He also makes a number of animal friends including the dog scientist Dr. Canus, the tiger king Caesar, and his son Tuftan. Later additions to the cast include the alien Pyra, the primitive girl Flower, her twin sister Spirit, detective Mylock Bloodstalker, and his associate Doile.
Other versions
An alternate universe variant of Kamandi appears in Kamandi: At World's End and Superman: At Earth's End.
^McAvennie, Michael; Dolan, Hannah, ed. (2010). "1970s". DC Comics Year By Year A Visual Chronicle. London, United Kingdom: Dorling Kindersley. p. 153. ISBN978-0-7566-6742-9. Kirby had already introduced a similar concept and characters in Alarming Tales #1 (1957)...Coupling the premise with his unpublished "Kamandi of the Caves" newspaper strip, Kirby's Last Boy on Earth roamed a world that had been ravaged by the "Great Disaster" and taken over by talking animals.{{cite book}}: |first2= has generic name (help)CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
^Cowsill, Alan; Irvine, Alex; Korte, Steve; Manning, Matt; Wiacek, Win; Wilson, Sven (2016). The DC Comics Encyclopedia: The Definitive Guide to the Characters of the DC Universe. DK Publishing. p. 164. ISBN978-1-4654-5357-0.
^Sacks, Jason; Dallas, Keith (2014). American Comic Book Chronicles: The 1970s. TwoMorrows Publishing. p. 80. ISBN978-1605490564.
^O'Neil, Dennis (w), Ayers, Dick (p), Alcala, Alfredo; Auad, Manuel (i). "The Death Worshippers!" Kamandi, The Last Boy on Earth, no. 50 (April–May 1977).
^Stewart, Tom (April 2007). "Kirby Goes to the Devil: The Saga of Devil Dinosaur and the Escape of Jack Kirby". Back Issue! (#21). Raleigh, North Carolina: TwoMorrows Publishing: 65–69.
^ abc"Kamandi Voices (DC Universe)". Behind The Voice Actors. Retrieved July 22, 2024. A green check mark indicates that a role has been confirmed using a screenshot (or collage of screenshots) of a title's list of voice actors and their respective characters found in its credits or other reliable sources of information.
