The
Strange World of Your Dreams
is a short-lived companion
to
Black
Magic from Prize; Simon
& Kirby are doing romance and crime comics for
the company at this time as well. Dream analysis is an esoteric subject
indeed (and in my opinion, the longer pieces here that use it in story
plots work better than the short analysis-only ones.)
Jack Kirby's distinctive writing style is a little subtler than it will
be twenty years in the future, but there's no mistaking him on
most of these stories. There are few quoted words, but there are some.
He emphasizes words that other writers probably would not, but at this
point in his career most notably he emphasize entire
sentences—generally final ones in long captions.
In the tiers comparing "Send
Us Your Dreams [Julie Pendleton]"
(SWOYD
1) and "X-Pit"
(Mister Miracle
2, May-June/71, DC), note the
triples: It was strange! Unexpected! Humiliating!; Explosion! Shock!
Flame! Those were what made me take these as examples, but then I
noticed these commas after conjunctions: "And, I thought I liked her!";
Then, the panic of aftermath!
If other writers submitted scripts rewritten by Kirby, or coplotted, I
don't see any way of telling. Jack Oleck had some scripts published
without rewriting at Prize (easier to find in
Black Magic);
Kirby
doesn't script
all
the S&K stories, just the great majority—other
artists' as
well as the ones he draws.
I'll emphasize that
I'm
IDing only the
final script as used in the comic book.
On the art side, it would take a better eye than mine to point out
specifics of Joe Simon's work, if any, here. I'm
not very sure of the inks on Kirby's pencils or on Mort Meskin's, but I
wonder if George Roussos inks a number of stories.
“The
Dreaming Tower” in #1 takes H.P.
Lovecraft’s “The Outsider”
(uncredited) and makes a rather different story out of it;
Lovecraft’s shock ending becomes a throwaway plot point on
the comic book story’s
second-to-last page.
The
Strange World of Your Dreams
| Aug/52 |
#1 |
I
Talked with My Dead Wife |
w: Jack Kirby
p: Kirby |
| |
|
You
Sent Us This Dream [unnamed] |
w: Kirby p:
Mort Meskin |
| |
|
Don't
Wake the Sleeper |
w:
Kirby
a: Bill Draut |
| |
|
Send
Us Your Dreams [Julie Pendleton] |
w: Kirby p:
Kirby |
| |
|
The
Dreaming Tower |
w: Kirby p:
Meskin |
| S-O/
|
#2 |
The
Girl in the Grave |
w: Kirby p:
Kirby |
| |
|
You
Sent Us This Dream [Betty L.] |
w: Kirby a:
Bob McCarty |
| |
|
You
Sent Us This Dream [Ellen K.] |
w: Kirby p:
Kirby |
| |
|
I
Lived
200 Years Ago |
w: Kirby p:
Meskin |
| |
|
Send
Us Your Dreams [Walter W.] |
w: Kirby p:
Kirby |
| |
|
A
Dream Saved His Life |
w: Kirby a:
? |
| N-D/
|
#3 |
The
Woman in the Tower |
w: Kirby p:
Kirby |
| |
|
Send
Us Your Dreams [Edith Beck] |
w: Kirby a:
Draut |
| |
|
Edge
of Madness |
w: Kirby p:
Meskin |
| |
|
You
Sent Us This Dream [Patricia S.] |
w: Kirby a:
George Roussos |
| |
|
You
Sent Us This Dream [Thomas R.] |
w: Kirby p:
Kirby i: Roussos? |
| |
|
You
Sent Us This Dream [John W.] |
w: Kirby a:
McCarty |
| J-F/53 |
#4 |
Show
Us Your Face |
w: Kirby p:
Meskin |
| |
|
The
Moon and You * |
w: Jack Oleck?
a: McCarty |
| |
|
Romance
in the Stars * |
w: ? a:
McCarty |
| |
|
Send
Us Your Dreams [many readers] |
w: Kirby a: ? |
| |
|
The
Skeleton in Your Closet * |
w: ? a:
McCarty |
| |
|
You
Sent Us This Dream [Paul R.] |
w: Kirby? a:
? |
| |
|
4L-523
|
w: Oleck?
a: ? |
| |
|
*
Special Horoscope Featurette |
