Here’s a new drinking game to play. Pull up a Marvel comics cover and name the characters that neither Jack Kirby nor Gary Friedrich had a hand in creating. Maybe someone will create a roulette app for it?
Case in point: The Champions #16, 1977. The penultimate issue of this ill-fated superteam book includes the story, “Carnage in the Capital!” by Bill Mantlo and Bob Hall. It features a cover drawn by Gil Kane and 5 out of the 6 characters here were created by Jack and Gary. (I know Gary Friedrich has created only a relative handful of characters compared to King Kirby, but given this week’s news, I thought they should be teamed up here.)