JACK KIRBY COLLECTOR FORTY-ONE
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COMICS ABOVE GROUND
SEE HOW YOUR FAVORITE ARTISTS MAKE A LIVING OUTSIDE COMICS
OUT! T SOLD S O M AL PANEL DISCUSSIONS
TOP ARTISTS DISCUSS THE DESIGN OF COMICS Top creators discuss all aspects of the DESIGN OF COMICS:
DICK GIORDANO
CHANGING COMICS, ONE DAY AT A TIME MICHAEL EURY’s biography of comics’ most prominent and affable personality!
• Covers his career as illustrator, inker, and • WILL EISNER • SCOTT HAMPTON editor, peppered with DICK’S PERSONAL • MIKE WIERINGO • WALTER SIMONSON REFLECTIONS on his career milestones! • MIKE MIGNOLA • MARK SCHULTZ • DAVID MAZZUCCHELLI • MIKE CARLIN • Lavishly illustrated with RARE AND NEVER SEEN comics, merchandising, and • DICK GIORDANO • BRIAN STELFREEZE advertising art (includes a color section)! • CHRIS MOELLER • MARK CHIARELLO • Extensive index of his published work! If you’re serious about creating effective, • Comments & tributes by NEAL ADAMS, innovative comics, or just enjoying them DENNIS O’NEIL, TERRY AUSTIN, PAUL from the creator’s perspective, this guide is LEVITZ, MARV WOLFMAN, JULIUS must-reading! SCHWARTZ, JIM APARO & others! (208-Page Trade Paperback) $26 US • With a Foreword by NEAL ADAMS and Afterword by PAUL LEVITZ!
STREETWISE
TOP ARTISTS DRAWING STORIES OF THEIR LIVES An unprecedented assembly of talent drawing NEW autobiographical stories: • Barry WINDSOR-SMITH • C.C. BECK • Sergio ARAGONÉS • Walter SIMONSON • Brent ANDERSON • Nick CARDY • Roy THOMAS & John SEVERIN • Paul CHADWICK • Rick VEITCH • Murphy ANDERSON • Joe KUBERT • Evan DORKIN • Sam GLANZMAN • Plus Art SPIEGELMAN, Jack KIRBY, more! Cover by RUDE • Foreword by EISNER (160-Page Trade Paperback) $24 US
CAPTAIN ACTION
CAPTAIN ACTION debuted in the wake of the ’60s Batman TV show, and could become 13 different super-heroes. With over 200 toy photos, this trade paperback chronicles his history (including comic book appearances), with historical anecdotes by the late GIL KANE, JIM SHOOTER, STAN WESTON (co-creator of GI Joe, Captain Action, and Mego’s World’s Greatest Super-Heroes), and others, plus never-seen artwork by GIL KANE, JOE STATON, CARMINE INFANTINO, JERRY ORDWAY, and MURPHY ANDERSON! Includes a color section! Written by MICHAEL EURY! (176-Page Trade Paperback) $20 US
(224-page Trade Paperback) $29 US
GET ALL THREE COLLECTIONS OF MARK EVANIER’S ACCLAIMED POV COLUMNS! Each volume includes new essays, plus new illustrations and new covers by Mark’s GROO collaborator and MAD artist SERGIO ARAGONÉS! 200-page Trade Paperbacks • $17 US EACH
ALL-STAR COMPANION VOL. 1
MURPHY ANDERSON
ROY THOMAS has assembled the most thorough look ever taken at All-Star Comics:
R.C. HARVEY’s lavishly illustrated autobiographical memoir of the man whose style defined the DC look for a generation!!
• Covers by MURPHY ANDERSON! • Issue-by-issue coverage of ALL–STAR COMICS #1–57, the original JLA–JSA teamups, & the ’70s ALL–STAR REVIVAL! • Art from an unpublished 1945 JSA story! • Looks at FOUR “LOST” ALL–STAR issues! • Rare art by BURNLEY, DILLIN, KIRBY, INFANTINO, KANE, KUBERT, ORDWAY, ROSS, WOOD and more!!
• Covers his work on SUPERMAN, HAWKMAN, ADAM STRANGE, ATOMIC KNIGHTS, BUCK ROGERS, and more! • Loaded with ANDERSON ART, plus behind-the-scenes anecdotes about FINE, EISNER, SWAN, KANE, and others! • Includes a deluxe COLOR SECTION showcasing many of Murphy’s finest cover recreations and paintings! (176-page Trade Paperback) $22 US
(208-page Trade Paperback) $26 US
REVISED EDITION! NOW SHIPPING!
Explore the lives of the partners and wives of the top names in comics, as they share memories, anecdotes, personal photos, momentos, and never-before-seen art by the top creators in comics!
CELEBRATING GREAT COMIC BOOK ARTISTS OF ENGLAND A celebration of the rich history of British Comics Artists and their influence on the US with in-depth interviews and art by:
ACTING WITH A PENCIL EFFECTIVE DRAWING FOR COMICS AND ANIMATION
Make your drawings come alive with this ALL-NEW indispensible guide to creating animation and comic book art. Cartooning and lively figure drawing are explained in clear, easily understood prose and demonstrated by HUNDREDS OF DRAWINGS created especially for this book by two Emmy Award-winning masters of the subject: Mike Manley and Bret Blevins of DRAW! magazine!
COMICS ABOVE GROUND features top comics pros discussing their inspirations and training, and how they apply it in “Mainstream Media,” including Conceptual Illustration, Video Game Development, Children’s Books, Novels, Design, Illustration, Fine Art, Storyboards, Animation, Movies & more! Written by DURWIN TALON (author of the top-selling PANEL DISCUSSIONS), this book features creators sharing their perspectives and their work in comics and their “other professions,” with career overviews, neverbefore-seen art, and interviews! Featuring:
VOLUME ZERO • 12 Tales of Mr. Monster, with 30 ALL-NEW pages by MICHAEL T. GILBERT! • Collects hard-to-find stories & the lost NEWSPAPER STRIP! • New 8-page FULL-COLOR STORY by KEITH GIFFEN & MICHAEL T. GILBERT!
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“I HAVE TO LIVE WITH THIS GUY!”
THE ORIGINAL SUPERHERO ACTION FIGURE
(176-pg. Paperback) $24 US
THE LIFE & ART OF
TRUE BRIT
MR. MONSTER, HIS BOOKS OF FORBIDDEN KNOWLEDGE,
HERO GETS GIRL!
THE LIFE & ART OF KURT SCHAFFENBERGER MARK VOGER’s biography of the artist of LOIS LANE & CAPTAIN MARVEL! • Covers KURT’S LIFE AND CAREER from the 1940s to his passing in 2002! • Features NEVER-SEEN PHOTOS & ILLUSTRATIONS from his files! • Includes recollections by ANDERSON, EISNER, INFANTINO, KUBERT, ALEX ROSS, MORT WALKER and others! (128-page Trade Paperback) $19 US
• BRIAN BOLLAND • ALAN DAVIS • DAVE GIBBONS • BRYAN HITCH • DAVID LLOYD
G-FORCE: ANIMATED
THE OFFICIAL BATTLE OF THE PLANETS GUIDEBOOK The official compendium to the Japanese animated TV program that revolutionized anime across the globe! Featuring plenty of unseen artwork and designs from the wondrous world of G-FORCE (a.k.a. Science Ninja Team Gatchaman), it presents interviews and behind-the-scenes stories of the pop culture phenomenon that captured the hearts and imagination of Generation X, and spawned the new hit comic series! Cowritten by JASON HOFIUS and GEORGE KHOURY, this FULL-COLOR account is highlighted by a NEW PAINTED COVER from master artist ALEX ROSS!
(96-Page Trade Paperback) $20 US CATALOG, OR DOWNLOAD IT NOW AT INTENDED u paid which is NOT bscriber, or yo MATERIAL, su D www.twomorrows.com int TE pr a GH re RI re u’ ce RE. If yo his is COPY ve our sin NG ANYWHE website, you ha e this one. DOWNLOADI arge to download it at our cations lik bli pu ch ing we uc e od rrent, the modest fe s us to keep pr m some other website or to support allow e fro MODERN MASTERS SERIES CONSENT, fre r R fo it OU thanks—your d UT de ITHO downloa Edited by ERIC NOLEN-WEATHINGTON 0% DONE W GHTED MATERIAL. If If instead you absolutely 10 s RI wa PY it CO at R th OU OF G IN please know ST ILLEGAL PO : and it was an you should do ink. , here’s what e what you th that’s the case ISSUE, and se G and purchase a L TA GI DI IS IN TH TH D T A r E RIGH and RE ep it, DO TH 1) Go ahead int edition at ou it enough to ke website, or purchase the pr UT! at your local r 2) If you enjoy or ou e) m fre r fro it fo n of OLD O d itio the Digital Ed legal downloa ader.MOST S re to u id yo pa les lar tit gu a re h en ALNOT SHARE website (whic to have you as TER and DO op. We’d love YOUR COMPU . comic book sh OM FR IT TE RE DELE LLY, WHEGRAIN: AGAINST IT ANYTHE ST IAL ILLEGA 3) Otherwise, IENDS OR PO MAD ARTIST OUR MATER r free downloadIT WITH FR NLOADING fo W s ine DO az EP ag m KE r to WALLACEouWOOD N’T u want EGO: ALTER yo te issue of all 4) Finally, DO u to decide if for yoon fer one comple definitive g biographical fficient memoir loadin THE CBA COLLECTION be su down for free. We of , which shThe ep ouofldcomics' ke to gh ou one finest artists, 20 years in en ite ns FAWCETT COMPANION blicatio e.ALTER EGO flip-sides from the ing at our webs our puFormer Reprints the produc the making! associate aterial we out-of-print If you enjoy e mBHOB for thlife THEpuEXTRAORDINARY THE BEST OF FCA COMIC BOOK ARTIST #1-5, yingWood's rchase others. STEWART and career, by patraces ny pa e m es co th r rb plus 30 NEWso PAGES of features & art: WORKS OFt ou with contributions from many artists and , suppor them Presenting the best of the FAWCETT ets, and can ab ck po ep ns de ze th writers who knew Wood personally, makdo th cover by JOE KUBERT! Special color —wi ation wi COLLECTORS OF AMERICA newsletter! ALAN MOORE rpor p” sh•op e giant coing this a remarkable compendium art, om and ofpo ek• All-new wepreviously-unpublished a “m on and e’re not som d rare rally —liteand • New JERRY ORDWAY cover! The reclusiveW British author tells HIS OWN insights critical commentary! From mpany and nightartan y co da all by JACK KIRBY, GIL KANE, JOE ay sm a e aw e g lov vin & early samples to this work. We We’r series of interviews!e crechildhood • Index of ALL FAWCETT COMICS! STORY inse ans. extensive drawings los ators, sla KUBERT, WALLY WOOD, all e forunpubom(many ly on FRANK • Looks inside the FAWCETT OFFICES! endless pages orking freelanc mnearly of inc r, reADAMS, rd-w ountcomics owne ROBBINS, NEAL and others! of haRARE al am • Spotlights STRIPS, SCRIPTS, mini lished), comofic shop ty al • Interviews, features, and rare and previet this is the most stunning display loc all pr a ur sm e e yo ak d th m • STEVE DITKO of on the creation of toPHOTOGRAPHS s, an ARTWORK of the rob us ends,and authartorever ously unpublished artwork by C.C. assembled! s. PEARSON, ase don’t SPIDER-MAN, our editors,Wood y ROYan THOMAS on THE es BILLPle author, most neverdo published , but before! sinEstate, bu t be n’ in y wo at we executor of the Wood contributed BECK, MARC SWAYZE, KURT SCHAFe sta wh er to th n re X-MEN, AVENGERS/KREE-SKRULL ensu • Features comic storiesmabout publiby:catio rare drawings. Do willfiles, so own thisMoore Wood's FENBERGER, MAC RABOY, DAVE BERG, fro GIBBONS, ive froming omeDAVE rece WAR, THE INVADERS, and more! NEIL inc GAIMAN, SAM ion wewhile at ns art collector ROGER HILL provides a pe ALEX TOTH, BOB OKSNER, GEORGE m co of BRIAN d. KIETH,am KEVIN O’NEILL, ount wnloa wealth of obscure, previously unpublished (160-page Trade Paperback) $20 US EVANS, ALEX ROSS, Foreword by MARC e this to do BOLLAND, RICK oductsandlikothers, d at re prVEITCH, de tu Wood drawings and paintings. oa fu SWAYZE, and more! nl w plus an artistic tribute by ALEX ROSS, be do should only and a new cover by DAVE MCKEAN!s public(336-Page ationsTrade (160-page Trade Paperback) $20 US R! Paperback) $44 US w ro or oM STORIES • Includes the RARE TwMOORE VEMBE (208-Page Trade Paperback) $24 US
T
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“Pictopia,” “Lust,” his unseen work on JUDGE DREDD, and more! (208-Page Trade Paperback) $29 US
COMIC BOOKS & OTHER NECESSITIES OF LIFE
First collection includes some of his best essays and commentaries, plus new ones on the state of the art form (as only Mark conveys it), the industry’s leading practitioners (including JACK KIRBY and CARL BARKS), convention-goingm and Mark’s old comic book club (with unforgettable anecdotes)!
WERTHAM WAS RIGHT!
Second collection features many never-before published columns on comic book history, creation, and appreciation, including Mark’s diatribe on comic book numbering, and an essay on comics greatest villain, DR. FREDRIC WERTHAM!
SUPERHEROES IN MY PANTS! (NOW SHIPPING!)
NEW THIRD COLLECTION about the people who create comics, the people who read them, and why they do these strange things!
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WOOD CHECKLIST
Lists Wood’s PUBLISHED COMICS WORK in detail, plus FANZINE ART, ADVERTISING ILLUSTRATIONS, UNPUBLISHED WORK, and more. Illustrated with rare and unseen Wood artwork! (68 Pages) $7 US
CRAZY HIP GROOVY GO-GO WAY-OUT MONSTERS #29 & #32
PETE VON SHOLLY’s spoof of monster mags will have you laughing your pants off—right after you soil them from sheer terror! (48 Pages) $8 EACH US
SPECIAL! GET BOTH ISSUES FOR $12 US POSTPAID
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A new series of trade paperbacks devoted to the BEST OF TODAY'S COMICS ARTISTS! Each volume contains RARE AND UNSEEN ARTWORK direct from the artist’s files, plus a COMPREHENSIVE INTERVIEW (including influences and their views on graphic storytelling), DELUXE SKETCHBOOK SECTIONS, and more!
VOL. 1: ALAN DAVIS
VOL. 3: BRUCE TIMM
(128-Page Trade Paperback) $17 US
(120-Page TPB with COLOR) $19 US
VOL. 2: GEORGE PÉREZ
VOL. 4: KEVIN NOWLAN
(128-Page Trade Paperback) $17 US
(120-Page TPB with COLOR) $19 US
Prices Include US Postage. Outside the US, Add $2 Per Item Canada, $3 Per Item Surface, $7 Per Item Airmail
TwoMorrows. Bringing New Life To Comics Fandom. TwoMorrows Publishing • 10407 Bedfordtown Dr. • Raleigh, NC 27614 • 919/449-0344 • FAX 919/449-0327 • e-mail: twomorrow@aol.com • www.twomorrows.com
Contents
THE NEW
OPENING SHOT . . . . . . . . . . .2 (Kirby’s Unleashed all over again) UNDER THE COVERS . . . . . .4 (extensive looks at our cover images) JACK F.A.Q.s . . . . . . . . . . .10 (Mark Evanier on Jack’s views of penciling and writing for Marvel)
ISSUE #41, FALL 2004
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NEW GENESIS . . . . . . . . . .16 (a new Dark Horse comic with Kirby art!) CRAFTINESS . . . . . . . . . . . .19 (a lettering machine named “Royer”) PAPER TRAIL . . . . . . . . . . .20 (a tale of two Kirby contracts) ANALYSIS . . . . . . . . . . . . . .23 (Jack didn’t follow the equation for success at 1970s Marvel) INCIDENTAL ICONOGRAPHY . .25 (from Paste-Pot Pete to the Trapster) KIRBY OBSCURA . . . . . . . .26 (Barry Forshaw digs up more obscure Kirby gems) GALLERY 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . .28 (covering 1970s Marvel) KIRBY AS A GENRE . . . . . .40 (Adam McGovern on what might have been)
Unused splash page, meant for Fantastic Four #102 (Sept. 1970). The issue was shelved when Jack left Marvel for DC, and later chopped up to make issue #108 (March 1971), but this splash was discarded. Characters TM & ©2004 Marvel Characters, Inc.
ANIMATTERS . . . . . . . . . . .42 (the man behind the 1966 Kirby-inspired (swiped?) Marvel Super-Heroes ’toons) GALLERY 2 . . . . . . . . . . . . .48 (a smattering of the best of Kirby’s ’70s Marvel work) TRIBUTE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .59 (the 2004 Kirby Tribute Panel, with Mark Evanier, Steve Rude, Paul Ryan, Walter Simonson, Mike Royer, and Dave Gibbons) UNEARTHED . . . . . . . . . . . .71 (a most amazing find: 1962 Kirby Hulk pencils!) COLLECTOR COMMENTS . .78 (missives on Kamandi and OMAC) PARTING SHOT . . . . . . . . . .80 (some nut on a surfboard) Front cover inks: DICK GIORDANO Back cover inks: MARK SCHULTZ Cover colors: TOM ZIUKO Photocopies of Jack’s uninked pencils from published comics are reproduced courtesy of the Kirby Estate, which has our thanks for their continued support. COPYRIGHTS: 2001 Characters, Angel, Avengers, Beast, Black Goliath, Black Panther, Black Widow, Bucky, Captain America, Champions, Devil Dinosaur, Dr. Doom, Dr. Droom/Druid, Eternals, Falcon, Fantastic Four, Galactus, Grey Gargoyle, Hellcat, Hercules, Hulk, Hulk, Human Torch, Iceman, Ikaris, Invaders, Invisible Girl, Iron Fist, Iron Man, Ivan the Terrible, Kro, Liberty Legion, Loki, Machine Man, Makarri, Medusa, Modok, Moonboy, Mr. Fantastic, Night Flyer, Nova, Paste-Pot Pete, Red Skull, Rick Jones, Scarlet Witch, Sif, Silver Surfer, Spider-Man, Squadron Supreme, Stiltman, Sub-Mariner, Ten-For, Thena, Thing, Thor, Tigra, Toro, Trapster, Union Jack, Vision, Warriors Three, Wasp, Watcher, Wizard, Yellowjacket TM & ©2004 Marvel Characters, Inc. • Arna, Batman, Big Barda, Darkseid, Demon, Green Arrow, Green Lantern, Jimmy Olsen, Kamandi, Lightray, Metron, Mr. Miracle, New Gods, Orion, Superman, Watchmen, Wonder Woman TM & ©2004 DC Comics. • Galaxy Green, Kirby Unleashed art, Sky Masters, True Divorce Cases TM & ©2004 Jack Kirby Estate. • Galactic Bounty Hunters TM & ©2004 Jack Kirby Estate and Genesis West. • Glom TM & ©2004 Wallace Wood Estate.
The Jack Kirby Collector, Vol. 11, No. 41, Fall 2004. Published quarterly by & ©2004 TwoMorrows Publishing, 10407 Bedfordtown Drive, Raleigh, NC 27614, USA. 919-449-0344. John Morrow, Editor. Pamela Morrow, Asst. Editor. Eric Nolen-Weathington, Production Assistant. Single issues: $13 postpaid ($15 Canada, $16 elsewhere). Four-issue subscriptions: $36.00 US, $60.00 Canada, $64.00 elsewhere. All characters are trademarks of their respective companies. All artwork is ©2004 Jack Kirby unless otherwise noted. All editorial matter is ©2004 the respective authors. First printing. PRINTED IN CANADA.
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Black Panther TM & ©2004 Marvel Characters, Inc.
Under The Covers
(above) David Russell at home with Jack, circa 1982.
I
nker extraordinaire Dick Giordano took a turn at inking Kirby—his first time ever—for this issue’s front cover. The pencils were submitted by David Russell, who had this to say about Jack:
I picked up my first Jack Kirby comic book in 1962. Thereafter I was hooked on the creations of this remarkable man, whose visions continue to enrich my life and stimulate my imagination. I met Jack in 1972 at an LA comic convention. By one of those occasional miracles, this lead to a friendship which continued through the years. His work influenced me profoundly; the privilege of knowing the man had yet another immense impact. Jack’s work speaks forcefully to the common, and the not-so-common man—the idealist, the dreamer, and the selfless warrior. His stories and heroes exemplify the noblest human impulses and ambitions. His message is disarmingly sublime: the best of human nature can, and will, overcome the worst. Jack well understood that the human spirit requires constant regeneration, not degradation. Indeed, you can see the stars from the gutter, but you can’t reach them. This message is lost on a more recent crop of storytellers, who tend to wallow in depression and defeatism; and here I might well cite the works of Tim Burton and Chris Carter. After twenty years in the film industry, I can certainly say that many, many directors, writers and designers have been deeply influenced by Jack’s remarkable body of work. In my own case, Jack’s dynamic approach to storytelling was there to guide me on numerous occasions: in creating effects boards for space battle scenes and the final lightsaber battle in Return of the Jedi; in the conceptual designs for Batman; in storyboarding the OK Corral fight for Tombstone, battle scenes of The Thin Red Line, and the madcap dramatics of Moulin Rouge. On many other films and in many ways, Jack’s inspiration and influence is apparent. One other point should be made: Jack, amongst his other talents, was the most accomplished master of the art of composition of the 20th century. How often have I watched filmmakers struggle to compose a dynamic shot! Inspired compositions flowed from Jack’s incisive mind like water. In this most critical area, where almost every artist exhibits weakness, Jack excels. The noted illustrator Leo Pando has perhaps best summed up Jack Kirby: He was more than an artist; he was a force of nature. His work continues to inspire and exalt, and to summon the hero in everyone. David Russell • ozmaproductions@yahoo.com • www.storyboardart.com
(below) Still available from TwoMorrows is Michael Eury’s biography, Dick Giordano: Changing Comics, One Day At A Time. It’s chock full of luscious Giordano art, plus a compelling story of a life spent in all aspects of the comics industry.
(right) We racked our brains to think of a time Dick illo’d some of Kirby’s signature characters. The one we finally came up with was this cover from DC’s First Issue Special #13 (April 1976). New Gods TM & ©2004 DC Comics.
Dick Giordano Covers Kirby Conducted by John Morrow (If you don’t know who Dick Giordano is, you’ve probably not been reading comics from the 1950s till now. He’s a gifted penciler, a superb inker—particularly over Neal Adams, his partner at Continuity Studios in the 1970s—had pivotal terms as editor at Charlton Comics, and as Vice President of DC Comics. This interview was conducted by e-mail in September 2004.)
you think Ditko, he was working for Charlton first and it was natural for him to come back after he had a falling out with Marvel. Money never meant a lot to Steve, anyway. It was the work that interested him. TJKC: Did you look at the Simon & Kirby romance books in creating
THE JACK KIRBY COLLECTOR: Was Kirby an influence on you? When did you first discover his work? DICK GIORDANO: Actually, I first discovered Jack’s work when I was a young comic reader. I didn’t know who Simon & Kirby were or who did what, I just knew that their work was a cut above the rest. Jack wasn’t a big influence on my approach to comic art because as I entered the comics field, I was attracted to the illustrative approach of Alex Raymond or Hal Foster. This, of course, before the resurgence of the super-hero titles that dominate the field today! TJKC: When did you first meet Jack? Did you get to know each other well at all? DICK: I really met Jack when I was the editor-inchief at DC. I’m sure we were in the same places on occasions before that and that Jack and I were introduced, but when he worked on the Fourth World stuff at DC in the ’70s, I was no longer at DC and Jack was already living on the West Coast. We never knew each other well. TJKC: When you were editor at Charlton, did you ever consider approaching Kirby about doing work for the company? Or did you just consider him to be out of Charlton’s price range? DICK: Completely out of Charlton’s price range! And although I admired his work enormously, I would not even think of asking him to work for our rates. If 5
Mark evanier
Jack F.A.Q.s
A column answering Frequently Asked Questions about Kirby by Mark Evanier (below) Joe Sinnott’s masterful Fantastic Four inks (this from issue #91, Oct. 1969), showing his handling of the Thing’s rocky epidermis.
(next page) Frank Giacoia inked this cover art for Fantasy Masterpieces #4 (August 1966), which reprinted “Ivan The Terrible” from Captain America Comics #4 (June 1941). Look how well Jack captured Ivan’s likeness from 25 years earlier (inset). All characters TM & ©2004 Marvel Characters, Inc.
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ur first question this month comes from Arthur Garcia, who describes himself as “a 40 year old Brazilian artist who learned almost everything he knows from American movies and comic books.” (There’s a frightening concept. Hope it wasn’t any that I wrote.) He asks...
O
Being a big Kirby fan, I have noted how tight his pencils were in the middle Sixties when compared to his early ’60s Marvel works. Was it just a matter of Jack being given a more human work load or there was another reason? A friend of mine said something about Stan Lee trying to reproduce the artwork from the pencils. Did it happen and did it have any influence on the way Jack penciled his pages? No to that last part. For a long time in comics, printing from the pencils was a pipe dream that some publisher or budgetconscious editor had every year or so... but not for long. They’d experiment a bit and invariably decide it was neither practical nor cost-efficient. Even the tightest of
pencilers left stray construction lines on their pages and most would freehand straight lines and circles, figuring the inker owned a ruler and a compass. So if they could somehow have solved the technical problems of photographing art, sans inking, that would have meant having the top artists work tighter and cleaner. This would have meant they’d have produced less and had to be paid more per page. (The whole idea of having one artist ink another was to have the top artists output more work.) On top of that, you’d have to handle the pages with greater care and also pay someone to go in for touch-ups, whiting out stray lines and smudges and tidying up after the letterer erased chunks of art to rule in his guidelines and ink in the copy. Since the inkers were not highly compensated, eliminating them did not seem like it would save mucho dinero. Still, it was tried now and then. I believe Neal Adams did at least one mystery comic job for DC in pencil, though that was for creative effect, not because anyone thought it would become standard practice. Also, portions of one Barry Smith Conan were reproduced—not too well, as I recall— from his pencil art. I never heard of anyone thinking it might be done with Jack’s art. Stan Lee certainly would not have wanted Jack to pencil tighter and produce less. By way of history: Around 1974, someone in the Marvel production office had an idea for a print-from-pencils process. It was decided that they’d look over their current crop of illustrators, select the guy who did the cleanest, tightest pencil art, and try it with his work. At that moment, the honor seemed to belong to George Tuska and one of his jobs was given the treatment. The test got as far as some preliminary proofs before someone (Stan, I was told) declared it a disaster. By the time the story in question was published, it had been inked in the normal manner. Today, with computers, it’s possible to scan pencil art and then true it up in Adobe Photoshop or Corel Draw or some other program. Many artists are doing this, in whole or part with their work and in some cases, they job out the “clean-up” tasks to others. As I write this, there are rumors that one or more of the major companies may contract with a company overseas to take the pencil art generated here, scan it and then render it for publication. I have no idea how well this might work... but among my many fantasy-regrets is that this technology was not around when Jack was doing his best drawing. Not that what Mssrs. Sinnott, Royer, Giacoia, et al, did was not superb but Jack’s inkers would have been the first to tell you that even the best embellishment of his pencils lost something. I think that’s true of most of comics’ great artists when their work was handed to someone else to finish. It would have been interesting to see what you would have gained by printing from Jack’s pencils and what you would have lost without the contributions of the inkers. Note that I’m saying it would have been interesting, not that it would have been better.
Getting to the first part of your question: As the Sixties progressed and Marvel’s sales went up, Jack’s page rate went up. It didn’t go up commensurate with those sales. I believe he was always grossly underpaid, given the value of his work to the company, then and in subsequent years. But from time to time, the money did increase a bit and when it did, he insisted on slowing from 4-5 comics per month to a little over three. His work got tighter as a result of that slowdown, and also as a result of the shift in 1967 to a smaller original art size throughout the industry. (A page went from 12" by 18" to 10" by 15". Jack hated the change at first and was never truly happy with it.) So there are two factors—better pay and smaller originals—that impacted the tightness of Jack’s work as the Sixties progressed. I can suggest two others. One is not the potential absence of inkers but their presence. Jack rarely looked at his work after it left him. He almost never saw the inked pages before publication and paid scant attention to the printed books. By the time a comic was printed, its contents were ancient history to the forward-looking Kirby. And as has been mentioned elsewhere, he did not then care very much how his work was inked. Still, I believe the contribution of his best inkers had an effect on how Jack drew his pages. Joe Sinnott’s influence is most evident in the way Jack penciled the character of The Thing in Fantastic Four. The inker, who arguably had more control of lineweights than any of his predecessors, developed a unique texture in how he rendered Ben Grimm’s craggy epidermis, and also in how he dropped in black areas. Jack seems to have seen what Sinnott was doing and, perhaps subconsciously, incorporated it into his penciling. The same is true, I think, of the way Jack penciled outer space and “cosmic” energy. It just looked more effective in the printed comics after Sinnott got through with it, and I think Jack noticed that and figured it into his technique. There are other little traces of Sinnott creeping back into the pencils. Jack saw he was getting tighter, more precise inking and I think that affected how he approached his pages. In the same sense, I believe the inking of Frank Giacoia on the Captain America stories in Tales of Suspense had its influence on how Jack drew. He admired the way Giacoia kept the figures in action scenes without losing their sense of motion, and I think it encouraged Jack to be more powerful and fluid in how he posed his heroes. Later, the knowledge that Mike Royer would be finishing a page freed Jack from fretting that the inker might be unable to interpret what he was doing. It enabled him to draw bolder and to just be Jack Kirby. Lastly, I would suggest that Jack concentrated more effort on his penciling as he became increasingly certain that the work would have a long life, being reprinted again and again—and with better
reproduction and paper than comics had ever had. This he told me when I first met him in 1969 and while it wasn’t exactly an inconceivable prospect at the time, it also didn’t sound like something we were likely to see as soon as we did. Still, Jack was sure of it by the late Sixties, and I believe some extra attention was paid to artistic detail because of that. (It was another in the long list of reasons he got rid of Vince Colletta at DC.) Happily, Jack did live to see some of that deluxe reprinting take place. He wasn’t happy with some of the reproduction, done as it often has been from very bad photostats or heavily-reconstructed pages, and he was extremely unhappy with some of the niggardly or non-existent reprint fees. Proudly though, he saw his faith in the basic material justified. It really did deserve hard covers and better paper. Moving on to the next question: In an earlier column, I wrote that Jack did not seem able to separate the writing of a comic from the act of drawing it. This brought a query from Randall Codge... I was intrigued by your comparison of Kirby writing and drawing a comic to Irving Berlin writing music and lyrics to a song. Do you think this is the best possible analogy? I always thought of Kirby as someone more like D.W. Griffith or Orson Welles put together, both inventing and reinventing the form. In some future column, I hope you can address this and expand on it. Most analogies are like the girls I dated in high school: They only go so far. In my view, what Jack did in comics does not correspond precisely to the accomplishments of anyone else in any medium. If you want to compare him to someone in the movie business, it would have to be someone who was
simultaneously a director, a writer, a producer, an art director, a special effects designer, a choreographer, a costume designer and even an actor. Few people have been all that and none of them have “led the way” in movies to the extent Kirby did in comics. Some might wonder about my inclusion of “actor” in that list. I tend to think that one of the things Jack brought to his work was the same personal sensibility that most great thespians bring to theirs. Years ago, I sat in on a number of acting classes— just to observe, because I’ve always known I belong on a stage the way a giraffe belongs on a Segway. But the process has always fascinated me and one night, sitting on the floor of a basement classroom in West Hollywood, I heard a teacher tell the following anecdote... An actress was hired for the smallest of parts in a horror movie. There weren’t even any lines. She had to walk out of a building, spot the monster coming towards her and scream. It was maybe a ten-second scene, and there was no monster on the set. The special effects crew was creating said creature and would add it to the film in post-production. The associate director began working with her, blocking where she’d stand and such. She asked him, “Where am I coming from? What happened in this building that I’m exiting?” The A.D. said, “Who cares? You’re just coming out a building.” The actress asked, “Who am I playing? Is this woman smart or stupid or rich or what?” The A.D. said, “Doesn’t matter. She’s just a woman who sees the monster coming and screams.” The actress asked, “How do I feel about this 11
New Genesis
Once And Future King
Kirby collaborates across time and space on the all-new Galactic Bounty Hunters. By Adam McGovern
(right) Cover of issue #5 of Galactic Bounty Hunters.
(next page) Two-page spread from Galactic Bounty Hunters #3. Characters TM & ©2004 Genesis West and the Kirby Estate.
(below) Several members of the creative team at Comicon International 2004 (left to right): Mike Thibodeaux, Lisa Kirby, inker Marty Lasick, Steve Robertson, and Rick French.
(Probably the biggest Kirby news of the coming year is Galactic Bounty Hunters, a posthumous collaboration between the King (represented by some never-published presentation art and character concepts), his daughter Lisa (on scripts) and some of his most prominent supporters (like Mikes Thibodeaux on pencils and Royer on inks). Coming from Dark Horse Comics in 2005, the book follows famous fantasy author Jack Birky as a dangerous emergency calls him from a quiet family life to the former career as a space-swashbuckler on which his supposedly fanciful tales turn out to be based. Played for good-natured laughs like the TV cartoon series one could easily see it succeeding as, the title encounters a bit of space-turbulence in the early stages of setting up its story, with some hit-and-miss humor and unevenly paced thrills. But the ride is worth sticking with—the Kirby spreads incorporated by Thibodeaux are suitably dazzling and matched well by Thibodeaux’s own art throughout, and by issue #4 (of a projected eight-part introductory cycle) we’re in full-blown Kirby Komedy of Errors mode, with peeks into the cranky retirement of galactic saviors, the disastrous overconfidence of their blockbusterheaded successors, the hilariously hellish attractions of an orbiting theme park for supercriminals, the deadly domesticity of alien incarceree “Martian Stewhurt,” and even a farcical yet emotionally revealing comeback cameo by Kirby’s straightlaced master of the universe, Captain Victory. The Jack Kirby Collector intercepted several of GBH’s creators (Lisa Kirby, Mike Thibodeaux, co-scripter Steve Robertson and editor/colorist Richard French) for some advance insights into the latest “new” Kirby comic.)
THE JACK KIRBY COLLECTOR: I know the Kirby Estate and various creative collaborators have plans for Kirby-owned properties in all media. How did this particular project come about, and at any point have there been plans for it in other forms—cartoons, toys, etc.? LISA KIRBY: After the passing of my mother Rosalind, I had the arduous task of taking inventory of my father’s artwork. As usual, Mike Thibodeaux came to my rescue and helped me through the inventory process. During this time we came across various sketches my father had drawn but never used. Mike had mentioned that he would work that way sometimes, drawing out characters and writing concepts to be used for future projects. I really felt drawn to [one] particular group of characters. They seemed to jump off the page at me. These four characters turned out to be used for Galactic Bounty Hunters. Mike suggested I try my hand at developing the story concept further, and see if I would enjoy the writing process. With the help of some concept notes that my father left behind, the story just grew and took on a life all its own. We added other characters that my father had not used, to further enhance the story. We used as much of his original art as possible. STEVE ROBERTSON: At first, we put together a package to present this story as an animated television series. As we realized that we were coming up on the tenth anniversary of Jack’s death, we decided that we should [also] work up a comic book series to commemorate him. TJKC: How much guidance did Jack leave behind as to his thought processes and plans, and how much of the book is stuff the new team just ran with and built on? MIKE THIBODEAUX: Jack left us a one-page synopsis on the characters, several conceptual drawings and about 15 pages of story art (half of which were quite rough). Most the art will be seen in later issues since we built this [whole] story 16
around Jack’s original opening sequence! We also found four rough pages to a completely different story and worked them into this [one]. And we still have several loose pages we were unable to work into the story. Of the conceptual drawings, we were able to use four of them as covers—including one of Jack himself, drawn as a cigar-chompin’ monster at a drawing table with his heroes jumping out at you! From issue #4 on it’s all us except for a few pages of Jack’s we were able to work in. RICK FRENCH: Which, by the way, were inked by Mike Royer. MIKE: Yeah, Royer worked on issue #3, 7 and 8—thanks Mike! LISA: Mike [Thibodeaux] penciled everything else to finish up the story—I think my dad would have liked it; I’m proud of what we accomplished. RICK: I think Lisa’s dad would have been exceptionally proud. Lisa not only fell in love with this concept of Jack’s, but got behind it to try and bring it to life. She’s constantly coming up with ideas to improve the story, and continuously works on dialogue. She’s also bought a set of ink pens and brushes, and helped on the artwork. And with the high cost of coloring, Lisa’s just purchased a new computer to begin coloring herself!
anything about these relationships in the real Kirby family that’s autobiographical? LISA: At first I did not see the connection, but during one of our story meetings I suddenly blurted out, “Oh my, I’m Garrett!” [Birky’s son.] Everyone got a good laugh. It had just dawned on me that I acted the same way when I was a teenager. I remember rolling my eyes at some of the stories he used to tell. Even though I would drop into the studio from time to time during the day, it was really just to spend time with him. He worked many hours so it gave us some time to chat and he would tell me about his latest project he was working on. I really just thought of it as my dad’s job. As an adult I appreciate the scope of my father’s genius and what he had accomplished. I wish I could turn back time to soak in some of those precious moments and really listen to what he had to teach me. TJKC: There seem to be some subtle comments about the evolution of the comics industry and other adventure media in this book. Garrett, who looks down on his dad’s fantasies as quaint, speaks for the school of thought that bigger and bigger pyrotechnics are always better, and one character’s robot companion mopes about how his successor models have had their emotion circuitry replaced with weapons. Are you partially on a mission to bring back a certain charm and humanity to this type of fiction? MIKE: Comics have become quite dark and sinister in the super-hero genre, [and] there are a lot of gray areas in the moralities of mankind today—[but] we’re not here to tackle those issues! We’re here to extol the virtues of family, some-
LISA: I just hope it’s worth it... RICK: It will be—if each of you fans will support us by purchasing ten copies each! [laughs evilly] TJKC: The book brings together a heroic team behind the scenes as well as in the story; will the credits of each issue specifically list who did what on which page? MIKE: We’ll definitely list Jack’s contributions in each issue, along with writers, inkers, letterers, etc. TJKC: In the early issues Jack Birky has a teen son who’s a bit embarrassed by his dad’s occupation and a younger daughter who’s enchanted by it—was there ever
thing Jack believed very strongly in. We’ve also designed this story so that it can be enjoyed by young readers as well as adults. STEVE: We weren’t trying to make any comments about the work of others in the field of fantasy. We are striving to present this story in a manner that we see as being consistent with Kirby’s efforts in graphic storytelling, and consistent with what we see as being the apex of comic book storytelling in general—[having] 17
ANIMATTERS
Marvel Man
An animated talk with a father of the Marvel Super-Heroes cartoons
(below) Storyboards from two Captain America episodes of the 1966 Marvel Super-Heroes cartoons, with art taken straight from published Marvel comics. All characters TM & ©2004 Marvel Characters, Inc.
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Article by Adam McGovern Interview with Robert Lawrence conducted September 20, 2004 by Arlen Schumer, Adam McGovern and Steve Lawrence; transcribed by Steven Tice. o pop nostalgists of a certain age (or several, thanks to syndication and home-video), there are few touchstones as major as the 1966 Marvel Super-Heroes series, a single season’s worth of daily animated adventures with five of the then-upstart company’s most popular characters. Shown one hero a day, the cartoons brought to life Captain America (often with a number of Avengers guest-stars), the Hulk, Iron Man, Thor and Sub-Mariner, courtesy of the production team Grantray-Lawrence (named for its principals Grant Simmons, Ray Patterson and Robert Lawrence). The company would later carve itself into pop-culture history by launching the 1967-70 SpiderMan cartoon (their one season being the best capturing of that character’s flavor until the 2004 Spider-Man 2 film), but the Marvel Super-Heroes show holds a special place in enthusiasts’ hearts. This may be partly because its very rarity makes it a special treasure, and partly because of timing; with the show always scheduled when young children were most likely
T
to be watching, more than one generation has discovered the Marvel characters by way of the cartoons before they were even old enough to read a comic. This spins a spell of fond memory that some fans manage to break; many deride the ultra-limited animation as laughably cheap. But many others see beyond this to the reluctantly budget-conscious producers’ admirable resourcefulness, and their clear reverence for the material: Shot directly from the comic art by Kirby (Cap, Hulk, Thor), Ditko (Hulk), Colan (Iron Man, Subby), and Heck (Iron Man, Cap), with minimal hand, eye and mouth motion and some panning across scenes and tracking of still figures across backgrounds Terry Gilliam-style, the shows were like a talking gallery of classic Marvel art, a kind of SuperpowerPoint prized by kitsch and culture connoisseurs alike. (The same can be said for a feature perhaps even more well-remembered than the shows themselves: their theme songs, legendarily goofy jingles with one foot in the Tin Pan Alley of Steve Rogers’ time and one in the hip-
ster lounge of Tony Stark’s.) Seeming virtually filmed on newsprint by creators with fourcolor ink in their veins, the Marvel Super-Heroes cartoons are a one-of-a-kind pop artifact. In the late summer of 2004 the proprietor of another great figurative gallery of super-hero art, designer Arlen Schumer (whose coffee-table history The Silver Age of Comic Book Art has created a culture-wide stir), introduced TJKC columnist Adam McGovern to
Robert Lawrence, creative force behind these classic cartoons. Bob was eager to speak for the historical record about the pop-art icon he helped create, and doing so while in a real-life battle with a serious illness testified to both his enthusiasm and graciousness. Though, to his regret, he never met Kirby and thus couldn’t bring his gift for anecdote to this magazine’s namesake, few people have been as responsible as Bob was for exposing the Kirby canon to America’s mainstream households and impressionable minds, making his insights as interesting to the Kirby specialist as they are to comics fans of all tastes. With lively accounts of heady times, we learned that all these years later Robert Lawrence still had intriguing tales to tell… ADAM MCGOVERN: Could you first explain for us how you came to do these cartoons? Did you approach Marvel or did they approach you?
BOB LAWRENCE: I was associated with a fascinating group of animators in Hollywood. Some of the best ones [were] Ray Patterson [and] Grant Simmons, and we were doing animation work; programs and commercials as well. And the comic books intrigued me. I’m not a comic book reader per se, but the artwork to me was absolutely alluring. We decided to see if we could animate a book. Now, if you recall, at that particular period, the business was in a slump, and [Marvel publishers] the Goodmans, papa and son, were fighting to stay alive. And fortuitously, I was able to make contact with them. I fought hard for a contract, and we wrote an unbelievable contract with the Goodmans, because they didn’t know what they had and where to go. Believe it or not, in this contract I was able to obtain participation in the merchandising rights, and continuing interest in it. And we proceeded to run some tests to
(above, and previous page) This promotional booklet was sent out to help syndicate the show to local television stations across the U.S. (center) Animation cel art, before coloring. All characters TM & ©2004 Marvel Characters, Inc.
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A look at some of the high points of Jack Kirby’s ’70s Marvel work, by Shane Foley hile it’s certainly true that there are a good number of readers who love Jack’s ’70s output at Marvel as his best, it would seem a larger number would contend that it was far from his best work; that it showed he was growing tired and frustrated and that he was increasingly out of step with the readership of the decade. Sales of his books would seem to reflect the latter view. Nevertheless, I feel that some of the perceived shortcomings of this ’70s Marvel work blind many to see some of the gems that are contained there. I firmly believe that there were many moments in Jack Kirby’s work in the ’70s at Marvel that were every bit as powerful and creative as those best remembered from his earlier work. In my article in TJKC #29 called “Where Have All the Villains Gone?” I mentioned what I felt was Jack’s ‘middle period’ at Marvel in the ’70s, where colorful, wellcrafted villains again populated his titles. Some of those I feel were written into superlative and inspired sequences, filled with suspense and drama. Some of these are briefly looked at here.
W
(this page) Cover pencils to Black Panther #10 (July 1978). (next page) Pencils from Black Panther #8, page 4 (March 1978).
48
The
Return of the King
The pacing and scripting that Jack created for the Jakarra episodes in Black Panther #6-10 show he was the master of building suspense. Jakarra, T’Challa’s bitter half-brother, was developed in several tension-building episodes. In #6, while the Panther seeks the Cup of Youth (in a story I found extremely dull) he is revealed to have exposed himself to raw vibranium. Its mutative effect clearly hinted at in #6 begins in earnest in #7. Great Kirby lines appear such as “Yours is the sickness of the small!” uttered by N’Gassi. Then comes the beating of the drums—an ominous sign of an ancient evil that has returned. (A potentially great sequence that I’m sure sounded terrific in Kirby’s head but which needed more pages to get the effect onto a soundless page).
The Jakarra Sequence
Issue #8 begins strongly with a flashback to T’Challa’s rise to be king, followed by a sequence with the Jakarra mutation being wild and ravenous before the mind and ambitions of Jakarra the man take control. At this point, to my mind, the story pace falters with the unnecessary diversions of T’Challa delayed by Mafia agents, a Star Wars movie set disaster and from the Royal Family becoming the uninspiring Black Musketeers. Two issues worth that could easily have been one. But then, from page 15 in #9 (numbered as page 27) Jack gets the pacing right again and the tension resumes. The monster undergoes his final mutation and begins his death march toward the vibranium mound. Then in #10, it’s all action as Jack wraps it all up nicely. Some great stuff.
All characters TM & ©2004 Marvel Characters, Inc.
Gallery 2
49
All characters TM & ©2004 Marvel Characters, Inc.
And Then There’s 2001 #6 so death comes. If one takes the time to get immersed in this little episode, it really takes you away to that strange, cold and very frightening unknown. And there are lots more. Was Jack’s ’70s Marvel work of lesser quality than at other times? Some say yes, some say no. All I know is, with story sequences like these being turned out at the rate of fifteen pages a week, the man was a genius! ★ (below) 2001 #6 (May 1977) splash page pencils.
All characters TM & ©2004 Marvel Characters, Inc.
This is a little episode without much plot per se but just a concentration on one event— the rescue of an alien by a very average man. There is no conversation with the alien (because that’s how it would be if we were with one) and there is no explanation of what we are seeing (’cause that’s how it would be if we were suddenly light years from home). There is just a mad, wild chase through a strange and terrible space that only Kirby could visualize. Since there are no super-heroes here, death for the hero is the most likely outcome. And
58
Tribute
(center image) A photo of Jack at an early 1970s San Diego Comicon, by and courtesy of Shel Dorf. Photo ©2004 Shel Dorf.
2004 Kirby Tribute Panel Held July 23, 2004 at Comicon International: San Diego, featuring (clockwise from top) Moderator Mark Evanier, Steve Rude, Paul Ryan, Walter Simonson, Mike Royer, and Dave Gibbons. Edited by Mark Evanier, transcribed by Steven Tice.
Other photos courtesy of Chris Ng.
(above) Do you see the resemblance to Jack in this drawing of Reed Richards, from the cover of Fantastic Four #7? Mr. Fantastic TM & ©2004 Marvel Characters, Inc.
MARK EVANIER: This is the Jack Kirby Tribute Panel, which means I must be Mark Evanier. It’s hard to believe it’s been ten years since we lost him. On the other hand, it’s hard to believe it hasn’t been longer. Jack was such a ubiquitous presence in my life. Every day, one of two things happens, sometimes both. Someone asks me a question about Jack, or something happens in my life which causes me to think about Jack. And it isn’t always a matter of advice he gave me about comic books or storytelling. More and more, as I get older, the things that I recall about Jack are things about life and about people. More and more of what Jack said to me makes sense. He had a way of meeting someone and making a judgment about them. Not a cruel judgment, just an assessment of the person and he’d say something about what made them tick, and what they were all about. At that age—I met Jack when I was seventeen—I often didn’t see whatever he saw but as I get older, I start realizing that Jack’s assessments were correct, and frequently deeper than I was able to appreciate at that time. I was looking at skin level, and Jack was twelve levels under the epidermis, understanding people. Now, when I’m looking at old Kirby work, or have the joy occasionally finding a Kirby story that I didn’t read back then, I see more and more of the humanity. I’m more and more impressed with—not the cosmic stuff, the things that
(Editor’s Note: This year’s Kirby Tribute Panel included a Jack Kirby Awards ceremony, presented by the Kirby family to individuals for their dedication to the Kirby legacy. We’ve omitted the ceremony from this transcript, and are saving it for TJKC #43, where we’ll be devoting the entire issue to new interviews with the recipients of the Awards, and their personal recollections of Jack and Roz Kirby.)
leap out at you, the giant muscles when the characters have their legs spread in different time zones as they throw a punch. I’m impressed by the humanity in his work. I’m impressed with the color in Jack’s dialogue when he was able to do it himself, and yes, it was sometimes operatic but opera is a form of expression and another way to try and understand the world. The same way Jack made the visuals in his world larger than life, so did he make the motivations of the people. And I just see more and more of Jack. There’s a Fantastic Four cover, I think it’s #7; somebody pointed out to me one day it has a drawing of Reed Richards on it that looks like Jack. I’d looked at this cover for years and years and years. I got it when it first came out, and I never realized how much of Jack was in that cover. Every time I look at it, I go, “How did I not see Jack staring out at me when I looked at this cover before?” It’s really an amazing thing. We have a number of people here who were influenced by Jack in different ways. We have a number of people in the audience who worked with Jack. We have some of his family members here. Where’s Lisa? There she is! Say hello to Lisa Kirby. [applause] And say hello to Tracy Kirby, ladies and gentlemen. [applause] Let me also introduce you to my partner at the time I knew Jack. Y’know, you didn’t just work with Jack. When people say you were an assistant to Jack or worked for Jack, no, we became like family members. We were adopted. It was an amazing relationship. 59