This Sunday I’m thankful for older comics.
I collected this comic through 2017, and read the first three or four issues. Then my local shop closed. When a new one opened in the same spot a few months later I got them to order me in the issues I’d missed and then collected the rest through to the finale in 2018. But I never did get around to picking the story back up and reading it to its conclusion. So I’ve been sitting on them ever since, almost a decade!
The release of the Thundarr the Barbarian comic by Dynamite has lit a fire in me to go back and read through the whole story of The Kamandi Challenge.
One of the fun things about this comic is that each issue is written and illustrated by a different pair of creators. And there are some great teams throughout. For example Dan Abnett writes the first issue, and Walt Simonson illustrates issue 11!
The story has an overarching plot with a mystery running throughout. That’s why the tag line across each issue is “Can You Solve It Before They Do?” And then on the final issue it changes to “We Solved It! Have You?”
Each issue ends on a cliffhanger, The Challenge. The next creative team then picks up the ball and runs with it. This goes on issue after issue til the conclusion in number 12. I’m really looking forward to see how this plays out.
If you want to read the story yourself you can buy it collected online. Or maybe, if you’re lucky, your brick and mortar can get you a copy of the hardcover.
While we’re on the subject of Kamandi, I should mention another — even older — story.
Way back in 2009 DC published an anthology series called Wednesday Comics. It was a fun novelty release that ran for twelve weekly issues, each containing one page from 15 different characters’ stories.
When they collected it into a hardcover compilation the next year, they kept the large format. Kamandi was the second story, slotted between Batman and Superman. Not bad company for our boy here. Witness the majesty:
That’s the middle pages of the tale, and I added the central issues of The Kamandi Challenge for scale.
The story is a fun, fast-paced survey of some of the companions, gangs, villains and hordes Kamandi encountered in North America A.D. in the original comic as created by King Kirby.
It looks (at the time of this writing) like you can buy the compilation in hardcover online. But again, maybe your local shop can bring in a copy for you.
Hmm. Now that I have the tome in my hands, I think I’ll re-read this story before I launch into the Challenge.
[Edit: In re-reading the Wednesday Comics Kamandi story, I noticed something I’d missed years ago. The tale begins on page one at around noon. It then proceeds at a pace of about two hours per page over the course of a single night. It then ends at about 12 o’clock on the second day. The skilled use of light levels to convey both the passing of time and the urgency that carries with it — given the plot — is outstanding!]
