''Captain Victory'' is a

comic book A comic book, comic-magazine, or simply comic is a publication that consists of comics art in the form of sequential juxtaposed panel (comics), panels that represent individual scenes. Panels are often accompanied by descriptive prose and wri ...

originally created, written and drawn by

Jack Kirby Jack Kirby (; born Jacob Kurtzberg; August 28, 1917 – February 6, 1994) was an American comics artist, comic book artist, widely regarded as one of the medium's major innovators and one of its most prolific and influential creators. He grew ...

. It was first published by American comic book publisher

Pacific Comics Pacific Comics was a comic book Distribution (marketing), distributor and Comic book publisher, publisher active from 1971 to 1984. The company began as a San Diego, California, comic book shop owned by brothers Bill Schanes, Bill and Steve Schan ...

in 1981. Kirby agreed to create a comic for the fledgling publisher because Pacific promised him full creative control, and ownership of the characters.

Publication history

One of Pacific Comics first titles, the original run of ''Captain Victory and the Galactic Rangers'' lasted thirteen issues, plus a special, through January 1984. All were written, illustrated, and edited by Jack Kirby. In the last issues of the Pacific series, Kirby crafted an origin story for Captain Victory which he tied into the ''

New Gods The New Gods are a fictional extraterrestrial race appearing in the eponymous comic book series published by DC Comics, as well as selected other DC titles. Created and designed by Jack Kirby, they first appeared in February 1971 in ''New Gods'' ...

'' comic book that he had written and drawn for

DC Comics DC Comics (originally DC Comics, Inc., and also known simply as DC) is an American comic book publisher owned by DC Entertainment, a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery. DC is an initialism for "Detective Comics", an American comic book seri ...

in the

1970s File:1970s decade montage.jpg, Clockwise from top left: U.S. President Richard Nixon doing the V for Victory sign after his resignation from office following the Watergate scandal in 1974; The United States was still involved in the Vietnam War ...

. It was suggested that Captain Victory was the son of

Orion Orion may refer to: Common meanings * Orion (constellation), named after the mythical hunter * Orion (mythology), a hunter in Greek mythology Arts and media Fictional entities Characters and species * Orion (character), a DC Comics c ...

, of the New Gods. Orion was not specifically named, but a number of clues were planted, including equipment said to belong to Captain Victory's father that was identical to the astro-harness ridden by Orion in the earlier series. Additionally, Captain Victory's grandfather, Blackmaas, was illustrated only as a cast shadow, but a shadow that to many readers bore a resemblance to Orion's father,

Darkseid Darkseid () is a supervillain appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. Created by writer-artist Jack Kirby, the character first made a cameo appearance in ''Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen'' #134 (December 1970), before being fully in ...

. After the end of Pacific, no more was seen of Captain Victory until

Topps Comics Topps Comics was a division of Topps Company, Inc. that published comic books from 1993 to 1998, beginning its existence during a short comics-industry boom that attracted many investors and new companies. It was based in New York City, at 254 3 ...

attempted to revive the character as part of a planned 5-issue mini-series. It only lasted one issue (''Victory'' #1, June 1994) before Topps cancelled all of the 'Kirbyverse' books in 1994. This issue was a part of a more complex project named

Secret City Saga Secret City Saga is a concept and collection of various comic book titles created by American writer and artist Jack Kirby, and published by the short-lived Topps Comics, an offshoot of the Topps Trading Card company. Beginning in April 1993, the ...

TwoMorrows Publishing TwoMorrows Publishing is a publisher of magazines about comic books, founded in 1994 by John and Pam Morrow out of their small advertising agency in Raleigh, North Carolina, United States. Its products also include books and DVDs. List of maga ...

created a 'graphite edition' reprint of the first ''Captain Victory'' issue. The edition, in TwoMorrow's words, "presented 'Captain Victory'' #1as it was created (before it was broken up for the later Pacific Comics series), reproduced from copies of Jack's uninked pencils!" In 2000, Jack Kirby's grandson Jeremy Kirby launched ''Jack Kirby Comics'', the fledgling company's only offering being a three-issue retelling of ''Captain Victory'', reordered and rescripted by Jeremy. The quality of issues, anyway, is judged fairly inferior to the originals, despite the interesting cover art. The title of the comic book is the same as the original from 1981. The 3rd issue was published exclusively on the web. In 2006, a new series was published, based on recently discovered initial, and rejected, character sketches for the Wonder Warriors. '' Jack Kirby's Galactic Bounty Hunters'' was co-written by Jack's daughter, Lisa, and is creator-owned by her under Marvel's

Icon An icon () is a religious work of art, most commonly a painting, in the cultures of the Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, Catholic Church, Catholic, and Lutheranism, Lutheran churches. The most common subjects include Jesus, Mary, mother of ...

imprint. Captain Victory and the Galactic Rangers guest-starred in issue #3 of the six-issue

limited series In the field of comic books, and particularly in the United States, a limited series is a comics series with a predetermined number of issues. A limited series differs from an ongoing series in that the number of issues is finite and determined ...

. In late 2011,

Dynamite Entertainment Dynamite Entertainment is an American comic book publisher founded in 2004 by Nick Barrucci in Mount Laurel, New Jersey, known for publishing comic book adaptations of licensed feature film properties, such as ''Army of Darkness'', '' Terminator ...

started a new series under the ''Kirby: Genesis'' title, which used many of Kirby's created and owned characters (many unpublished), including Captain Victory. This led, in November 2011, to a new Captain Victory title which lasted six issues. It was later collected into a trade paperback. A new continuing series, ''Captain Victory and the Galactic Rangers'', written by

Joe Casey Joe Casey is an American comic book writer. He has worked on titles such as '' Wildcats 3.0'', ''Uncanny X-Men'', '' The Intimates'', '' Adventures of Superman'', and '' G.I. Joe: America's Elite'' among others. As part of the comics creator gro ...

and published by

, began in August 2014. It ran for 6 issues and was collected into a trade paperback in 2016.

Collected editions

In February 2007,

Erik Larsen Erik J. Larsen (born December 8, 1962) is an American comic book artist, writer, and publisher. He currently acts as the chief financial officer of Image Comics. He gained attention in the early 1990s with his art on Spider-Man series for Marvel ...

reported that

Image Comics Image Comics is an independent American American comic book, comic book publisher and is the third largest direct market comic book and graphic novel publisher in the industry by market share. Its best-known publications include ''Spawn (comics) ...

planned to publish a completely recolored one volume

collection Collection or Collections may refer to: Computing * Collection (abstract data type), the abstract concept of collections in computer science * Collection (linking), the act of linkage editing in computing * Garbage collection (computing), autom ...

of Jack Kirby's 14 issues of Captain Victory. In July of the same year, he announced that Image Comics would be publishing an all-new Captain Victory comic book featuring many of Jack Kirby's never-before-seen creations. The hardcover collection was scheduled to be released in November 2007 (), but production issues delayed the hardcover, so that better source material could be located."Captain Victory" Needs You!
(press release),

Comic Book Resources ''CBR'', formerly ''Comic Book Resources'', is a news website primarily covering comic book news, comic book reviews, and comic book–related topics involving movies, television, anime, and video games. It is owned by Valnet, parent of publicat ...

, October 8, 2007

References

External links

''Captain Victory and the Galactic Rangers''
at

Don Markstein's Toonopedia Don Markstein's Toonopedia (subtitled A Vast Repository of Toonological Knowledge) is an online encyclopedia of print cartoons, comic strips and animation, initiated February 13, 2001. Donald D. Markstein, the sole writer and editor of Toonopedi ...

Archived
from the original on April 13, 2012. * * {{Dynamite Entertainment 1981 comics debuts 1984 comics endings Comics by Jack Kirby Comics set on fictional planets Dynamite Entertainment titles Topps Comics titles Image Comics titles Science fiction comics Dynamite Entertainment characters