Today, DC released the second issue of The Kamandi Challenge, by Peter J. Tomasi and Neal Adams, which picked up on the cliffhanger left behind by last month’s creative team, writer Dan Abnett and artist Dale Eaglesham.
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The series is conceived as a tribute to Jack Kirby, the creator of Kamandi, who would have turned 100 years old in 2017. The year-long event is one of a number of projects being published in the comics industry to celebrate the life and legacy of Kirby, including Marvel’s Monsters Unleashed and a new, Kirby-drawn Artist’s Edition of The Fantastic Four over at IDW.
“I think depending when you grew up Kirby’s influence was going to be huge – which for me it was,” Tomasi told ComicBook.com.”The Demon, OMAC, New Gods, Kamandi, Captain America, Fantastic Four and Thor — Jack’s kinetic approach to visual storytelling left its stamp from the first moment you see it. An immediate change in your Comics DNA without a doubt.”
The concept of The Kamandi Challenge is that each incoming writer/artist team will leave a cliffhanger to be picked up by the previous team, “challenging” them to get the characters out of the mess they’ve put them in.
“The cliffhanger was a nuclear missile about to go off. My reaction was, ‘This is gonna be a short book,’” Adams joked. “Tomasi handled plotting the cliffhanger, so in place of a nuclear payload, there would be a gorilla. That was simple. Because 20 pages of a thermo-nuclear device detonating in slow motion wouldn’t cut it. On a serious note — well, not that a nuclear device isn’t serious — this project puts incredible pressure on editorial, in terms of continuity. If the previous artist hasn’t finished his book before the next begins…CHAOS ENSUES!”
“‘Game on’ was my reaction [to the cliffhanger,” Tomasi said. “I was psyched to be dealing with a nuclear missile cliffhanger in the opening of Neal and I’s issue. I decided I didn’t want to go the usual way and have Kamandi find a way to disarm it. I felt it would be funny in a real way for a teenager to be scared shitless and think about everything he’s never gonna get a chance to do and then have the missile serve as a Trojan Horse instead of a massive explosion.”
“I wanted to throw them a curve with another Kirby concept I always liked and that was The Manhunters,” Tomasi said when asked what inspired his own cliffhanger. “Then I thought what other crazy bits could I leave them with and decided on a literal cliffhanger with Kamandi tossing himself off the cliff overlooking the San Diego Comic Con Convention Center!”
How will the next team (Jimmy Palmiotti and Amanda Conner) get out of it? You’ll have to read next month to find out…and then check back here for a conversation with Tomasi about what he’s leaving to the next writer.
You can check out both of this issue’s cliffhangers, along with a note from Dan Abnett about his contribution to the series, in the attached image gallery.
MORE The Kamandi Challenge: Breaking Down the Issue 1 Cliffhangers With Dan Abnett | DC Announces The Kamandi Challenge | Check Out The Kamandi Challenge #1’s Epic Guest Star | 5 Reasons To Look Forward To The Kamandi Challenge | Did DC Comics Ever Publish Planet of the Apes?
The first two issues of The Kamandi Challenge are availble in comic book stores and online at ComiXology today.
