Jack Kirby and the Flying Chair: Seldom Seen 1950's Comics from Alarming Tales #1

Here is another great Jack Kirby story from that amazing comic from 1957: Alarming Tales #1 from Harvey Features Syndicate. Please say "hello" to hapless Timothy Donnegan and Donnegan's Daffy Chair.

Splash panel from Alarming Tales #1 by Jack Kirby Man in flying chair zooms past air force jets to soar through the upper atmosphere This is one of four Kirby tales in this classic science-fiction comic, and it's the one that made the cover (shown below)

Click on the cover thumbnail below to see it nice and big.

Alarming Tales #1 by Jack Kirby cover shows terrified man zooming across Manhattan in a rocket powered chair
So it seems that sad-sack janitor Timothy Donnegan is cleaning up the patent attorney's office when an impatient inventor leaves his invention behind. It's one crazy-lookin' chair. Naturally our hero has to set down for a spell...
1957 Alarming Tales comic scans Janitor promises to look after funny looking chair in a comic book story by Jack Kirby
Janitor sits down in flying chair in a comic book story by Jack Kirby 1957 scans
"No harm in that."
Famous last words. Donnegan pushed a button, and BEGORRA---
Famous last words. DonneganDonnegan pushed a button, and BEGORRA--- he was OFF! Jack Kirby
kirby-chair-3-2
janitor gets a joyride in a runaway rocket chair drawn in a 1957 comic book story by Jack Kirby
Flying chair rockets past air force jet drawn by Jack Kirby for Alarming Tales #1
Talk about Unidentifiable Flying Objects--!
Jack Kirby Donnegan rockets out of the solar system in Donnegan's Daffy Chair comic book scans Jack Kirby drawings
Busting out of Earth's atmosphere, he breaks the sound barrier, The heat barrier, and the speed of light!
Jack Kirby Donnegan rockets out of the solar system in Donnegan's Daffy Chair comic book scans Donnegan returns from outer space five years later.
...and five years later...
Jack Kirby Cop and crowd
Looks like Donnegan spent some time hanging out with Moebius's Arzach!
Donnegan back from beyond the stars in Kirby's Alarming Tales #1
Check out the crazy headgear, man!
Arzach Moebius conehead hat
Look familiar?

Anyway, here's the entire four-page story below. Just click on any of the thumbnail pages below to open up a new window with nice BIG high-resolution comic book scans!
kirby-chair-001 kirby-chair-002
kirby-chair-003 kirby-chair-004
...and if you missed the other stories from this issue, you'll find them here >>>>
The Fourth Dimension is a Many-Splattered Thing by Jack Kirby
The Fourth Dimension is a Many-Splattered Thing
(Jack Kirby's Ditko-esque take on Matheson's Little Girl Lost)
Click on the splash page above for the whole story.

and HERE >>>>
Jack Kirby's proto-Kamandi post apocalyptic story The Last Enemy
The Last Enemy --Jack Kirby's proto-Kamandi post apocalyptic story. Click on the splash page above for the whole story.
---and there's still one story left to come from this alarming comic book! Stay tuned!


5 comments:

  1. Eddie FitzgeraldApril 27, 2008 at 1:13 AM

    Wooooowww!!!! A terrific site...one of the best cartoon sites around! I'm going to tell everybody I know about this (everybody who doesn't know about it already)! Congratulations!

    P.S., My Safari browser wouldn't show your twisted verification word, and I had to switch to Firefox in order to leave a comment. If comments have been sparse, problems with posting them might have been the reason.

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  2. ShermApril 27, 2008 at 4:03 AM

    Thanks for the kind words, Eddie! I certainly appreciate you spreading the word. The cartoon world is a much better place when we can all share this stuff ^_^

    I'll have to check with Google/Blogspot to find out the deal on the comments verification...I'm glad you worked thru the snafu. Great to finally meet you! Best --Sherm

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  3. sdestefanoMay 4, 2008 at 8:10 AM

    While Jack could draw a flying chair like nobody's business, he was second to none when drawing bulldogs!

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  4. AnonymousJune 9, 2008 at 12:49 PM

    Hey Sherm,
    Just found this site after googling another story (Colorama, by Bob Powell) which was collected in a Harvey digest called Shocking Tales #1 in 1981. The digest also included all your Kirby stories from Alarming Tales #1.
    Thanks so much for posting these! They took me way back to my childhood, thumbing through that dog-eared digest over and over again. I'd love to read any more like these if you have them.
    I love the site, and I look forward to going though your back posts for more great stuff. Thanks again.

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  5. ShermJune 9, 2008 at 12:53 PM

    Hi, Marc...glad you liked them...there's still one more story from that book that I'm gonna post. So keep an eye out!

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