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JACK KIRBY COLLECTOR FIFTY-NINE

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SUMMER 2012

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LEE & KIRBY: THE WONDER YEARS (KIRBY COLLECTOR #58)

Special double-size book examines the first decade of the FANTASTIC FOUR, and the events that put into motion the Marvel Age of Comics! New interviews with STAN LEE, FLO STEINBERG, MARK EVANIER, JOE SINNOTT, and others, with a wealth of historical information and Kirby artwork! (160-page trade paperback) $19.95 (Digital Edition) $5.95 • Now shipping!

BACK ISSUE #59

DRAW! #23

BRICKJOURNAL #20

PATRICK OLIFFE interview and demo, career of AL WILLIAMSON examined by ANGELO TORRES, BRET BLEVINS, MARK SCHULTZ, TOM YEATES, ALEX ROSS, RICK VEITCH, and others, MIKE MANLEY and BRET BLEVINS’ “Comic Art Bootcamp”, a “Rough Critique” of a newcomer’s work by BOB McLEOD, art supply reviews by “Crusty Critic” JAMAR NICHOLAS, and more!

LEGO SUPERHEROES! Behind-the-scenes of the DC and Marvel Comics sets, plus a feature on GREG HYLAND, the artist of the superhero comic books in each box! Also, other superhero work by ALEX SCHRANZ and our cover artist OLIVIER CURTO. Plus, JARED K. BURKS’ regular column on minifigure customization, building tips, step-by-step “You Can Build It” instructions, and more!

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BACK ISSUE #60

BACK ISSUE #61

JENETTE KAHN interviewed by ROBERT GREENBERGER, DC’s Dollar Comics and unrealized kids’ line (featuring an aborted Sugar and Spike revival), the Wonder Woman Foundation, and the early days of the Vertigo imprint. Exploring the talents of ROSS ANDRU, KAREN BERGER, STEVE BISSETTE, JIM ENGEL, GARTH ENNIS, NEIL GAIMAN, SHELLY MAYER, ALAN MOORE, GRANT MORRISON, and more!

“JLA in the Bronze Age”! The “Satellite Years” of the ‘70s and early ‘80s, with BUCKLER, ENGLEHART, PÉREZ, and WEIN, salute to DICK DILLIN, the Justice League “Detroit” team, with CONWAY, PATTON, McDONNELL, plus CONWAY and GEOFF JOHNS go “Pro2Pro” on writing the JLA, unofficial JLA/Avengers crossovers, and Marvel’s JLA, the Squadron Supreme. Cover by McDONNELL and BILL WRAY!

“Toon Comics!” History of Space Ghost in comics, Comico’s Jonny Quest and Star Blazers, Marvel’s Hanna-Barbera line and Dennis the Menace, behind the scenes at Marvel Productions, Ltd., and a look at the unpublished Plastic Man comic strip. Art/comments by EVANIER, FOGLIO, HEMPEL and WHEATLEY, MARRS, RUDE, TOTH, WILDEY, and more. All-new painted Space Ghost cover by STEVE RUDE!

“Halloween Heroes and Villains”! JEPH LOEB and TIM SALE’s chiller Batman: The Long Halloween, the Scarecrow (both the DC and Marvel versions), Solomon Grundy, Man-Wolf, Lord Pumpkin, Rutland, Vermont’s Halloween parades, and… the Korvac Saga’s Dead Avengers! With commentary from and/or art by CONWAY, GIL KANE, LOPRESTI, MOENCH, PÉREZ, DAVE WENZEL, and more. Cover by TIM SALE!

“Tabloids and Treasuries,” spotlighting every all-new tabloid from the 1970s. Superman vs. the Amazing Spider-Man, The Bible, Captain America’s Bicentennial Battles, The Wizard of Oz, even the PAUL DINI/ALEX ROSS World’s Greatest Super-Heroes editions! Commentary and art by ADAMS, GARCIALOPEZ, GRELL, KIRBY, KUBERT, MAYER, ROMITA SR., TOTH, and more. Wraparound cover by ALEX ROSS!

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ALTER EGO #111

ALTER EGO #112

ALTER EGO #113

ALTER EGO #114

ALTER EGO #115

GOLDEN AGE NEDOR super-heroes are spotlighted, with MIKE NOLAN’s Nedor Index, and art by MORT MESKIN, JERRY ROBINSON, GEORGE TUSKA, RUBEN MOIRERA, ALEX SHOMBURG, and others! Plus FCA, MR. MONSTER, more 2011 Fandom Celebration, and part II of JIM AMASH’s interview with Golden Age artist LEONARD STARR! Cover by SHANE FOLEY!

SUPERMAN issue! PAUL CASSIDY (early Superman artist), Italian Nembo Kid, and ARLEN SCHUMER’s look at the MORT WEISINGER era, plus an interview with son HANK WEISINGER! Art by SHUSTER, BORING, ANDERSON, PLASTINO, and others! LEONARD STARR interview Part III—FCA—Mr. Monster—more 2011 Fandom Celebration, and a MURPHY ANDERSON/ARLEN SCHUMER cover!

MARV WOLFMAN talks to RICHARD ARNDT about his first decade in comics on Tomb of Dracula, Teen Titans, Captain Marvel, John Carter, Daredevil, Nova, Batman, etc., behind a GENE COLAN cover! Art by COLAN, ANDERSON, CARDY, BORING, MOONEY, and more! Plus: the conclusion of our LEONARD STARR interview by JIM AMASH, FCA, MR. MONSTER, BILL SCHELLY, and more!

MARVEL ISSUE on Captain America and Fantastic Four! MARTIN GOODMAN’s Broadway debut, speculations about FF #1, history of the MMMS, interview with Golden Age writer/artist DON RICO, art by KIRBY, AVISON, SHORES, ROMITA, SEVERIN, TUSKA, ALLEN BELLMAN, and others! Plus FCA, MR. MONSTER and BILL SCHELLY! Cover by BELLMAN and MITCH BREITWEISER!

3-D COMICS OF THE 1950S! In-depth feature by RAY (3-D) ZONE, actual red and green 1950s 3-D art (get out those glasses!) by SIMON & KIRBY, KUBERT, MESKIN, POWELL, MAURER, NOSTRAND, SWAN, BORING, SCHWARTZ, MOONEY, SHORES, TUSKA and many others! Plus FCA, Mr. Monster’s Comic Crypt, BILL SCHELLY, and more! Cover by JOE SIMON and JACK KIRBY!

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Contents

THE OLD(?)

The Kirby Vault! OPENING SHOT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2 (is a boycott right for you?) KIRBY OBSCURA . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4 (Barry Forshaw’s alarmed)

ISSUE #59, SUMMER 2012

JACK F.A.Q.s . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .7 (Mark Evanier on inkers and THE WONDER YEARS) AUTEUR THEORY OF COMICS . . . .11 (Arlen Schumer on who and what makes a comic book) KIRBY KINETICS . . . . . . . . . . . . . .27 (Norris Burroughs’ new column is anything but marginal) INCIDENTAL ICONOGRAPHY . . . . .30 (the shape of shields to come) FOUNDATIONS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .32 (ever seen these Kirby covers?) INFLUENCEES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .38 (Don Glut shows us a possible devil in the details) INNERVIEW . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .40 (Scott Fresina tells us what really went on in the Kirby household) KIRBY AS A GENRE . . . . . . . . . . . .42 (Adam McGovern & an occult fave) CUT-UPS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .45 (Steven Brower on Jack’s collages) GALLERY 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .49 (Kirby collages in FULL-COLOR) UNEARTHED . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .54 (bootleg Kirby album covers) JACK KIRBY MUSEUM PAGE . . . .55 (visit & join www.kirbymuseum.org) GALLERY 2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .56 (unused DC artwork) TRIBUTE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .64 (the 2011 Kirby Tribute Panel) GALLERY 3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .78 (a full-color SOUL LOVE story) UNEARTHED . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .88 (Kirby’s Someday Funnies) COLLECTOR COMMENTS . . . . . . .90 GALLERY 4 (DIGITAL BONUS!) . .100 (a grayscale version of Gallery 3, not in the print edition) PARTING SHOT . . . . . . . . . . . . . .110 Front cover inks: JOE SINNOTT Back cover inks: DON HECK Back cover colors: JACK KIRBY (an unused 1966 promotional piece, courtesy of Heritage Auctions) This issue would not have been possible without the help of the JACK KIRBY MUSEUM & RESEARCH CENTER (www.kirbymuseum.org) and www.whatifkirby.com—thanks! The Jack Kirby Collector, Vol. 19, No. 59, Summer 2012. Published quarterly (didn’t say which quarters) by and ©2012 TwoMorrows Publishing, 10407 Bedfordtown Drive, Raleigh, NC 27614, USA. 919-449-0344. John Morrow, Editor/Publisher. Single issues: $14 postpaid ($18 elsewhere). Four-issue subscriptions: $50 US, $65 Canada, $72 elsewhere. Editorial package ©2012 TwoMorrows Publishing, a division of TwoMorrows Inc. All characters are trademarks of their respective companies. All artwork is ©2012 Jack Kirby Estate unless otherwise noted. All editorial matter is ©2012 the respective authors. First printing. PRINTED IN CANADA. ISSN 1932-6912

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(above) Unfinished Thundarr The Barbarian illo, circa 1980. TM & ©2012 Ruby-Spears Productions • Scan courtesy Rand Hoppe at the Jack Kirby Museum (www.kirbymuseum.org) COPYRIGHTS: Alicia, Avengers, Batroc, Black Knight, Captain America, Crystal, Daredevil, Devil Dinosaur, Dr. Doom, Dr. Strange, Dracula, Fantastic Four, Fin Fang Foom, Giant-Man, Hulk, Human Torch, Invisible Girl, Iron Man, Moonboy, Mr. Fantastic, Nick Fury, Rawhide Kid, Rhino, Sgt. Fury and the Howling Commandos, Silver Surfer, Spider-Man, Sub-Mariner, Thing, Thor, Ulik, Wolverine, X-Men TM & ©2012 Marvel Characters, Inc. • Bat Lash, Batman, Big Barda, Darkseid, Deadman, Demon, Forever People, Hunger Dogs, In The Days of the Mob, Jimmy Olsen, Joker, Kanto, Losers, Manhunter, Mister Miracle, New Gods, OMAC, Orion, Robin, Shazam, Spirit World, Superman TM & ©2012 DC Comics • Shield, Wizard TM & ©2012 Archie Publications • Green Hornet TM & ©2012 The Green Hornet, Inc. • Mickey Mouse TM & ©2012 Walt Disney Productions • Alarming Tales, Young Romance TM & ©2012 Joe Simon Estate • Big Bang Theory TM & ©2012 Chuck Lorre and Bill Prady • Man-Lizard TM & ©2012 Don Glut • Spirit, Gerhard Shnobble TM & ©2012 Will Eisner Estate • From Hell TM & ©2012 Alan Moore • Two-Fisted Tales, “My World” TM & ©2012 William M. Gaines Agent • Thundarr TM & ©2012 RubySpears Productions • Beardley Bullfeather, Kirby Collages, Night Fighter, Soul Love, True Divorce Cases TM & ©2012 Jack Kirby Estate • Hot Wheels TM & ©2012 Mattel

Boy -O-Boycott? T

Opening Shot

by editor John Morrow

(below) The Avengers has topped $1.4 billion in box office gross worldwide at this writing. To paraphrase Robert Downey Jr. in the commercials, let’s do a rundown of the characters’ origins: Nick Fury? Kirby. Thor? Kirby. Hulk? Kirby. Captain America? We’ve got a Simon & Kirby. Iron Man? Kirby got the ball rolling on the design for Don Heck. Black Widow and Hawkeye? Kirby drew their earliest appearances.

here’s been a small (but oft-times vocal) minority of TJKC readers that never much cared for the oversized tabloid format we started back with issue #31. Much like the pushback that Barry Windsor-Smith got over his tabloid-sized Storyteller series (one of the most beautiful comics series ever produced), some readers flat out hated it—not because it didn’t present the Kirby material gorgeously, but because (and I’ll quote what I’ve heard all too often), “It’s too hard to store it.” “Really?” I always thought. “You’d give up seeing Kirby art at near actual-size, just to make it easier to store in your long boxes?” Such, I guess, is the mentality of comic book collectors—and since they’re the very ones who’ve kept TwoMorrows in business for close to 20 years, even when I don’t agree with their opinions, I have to respect them. This issue is proof that sometimes, when a small group of fans is persistent, they can get their wish. With this issue, we’re back to the standard magazine-size of our first thirty issues. After adjusting to the old format while creating last issue’s “Wonder Years” double-length book, I realized I could enjoy working in the smaller format again. But another reason for the change is economic; the US Postal Service continues adding shipping surcharges for oversized packages, and it’s simply no longer economically feasible to ship copies to subscribers without dramatically increasing our subscription rates—something I’m loathe to do to our longtime readers. So to compensate for the smaller page size, you’re getting (for as long as we can afford it) 16 extra black-&-white pages, and best of all, a 4-page color section in each issue. I know from experience that our readers will let me know what they think of this new (old) format! While this issue focuses on some rarities from the “vault” of Jack’s life and career, I’m sure most Kirby fans are well aware of the recent slate of Marvel films, based largely on characters and concepts Jack created or co-created. As I write this, the Avengers film is now the #3 grossing movie of all time, and still playing at many theaters. It’s currently cleared nearly $1.4 billion (that’s with a “B”) worldwide, and the DVD release is still months away. But even before its box office debut, the initial ruling

in the Marvel/Disney vs. Kirby Estate lawsuit went Marvel’s way, with the judge deciding that everything Jack did in the 1960s was “work for hire,” and thus the Kirbys have no claim to anything Jack created. There’s an appeal announced, but for now, that’s the way things stand. And it has a lot of people a tad upset—which leads into the notion of small groups of fans making a difference. On July 30, 2011, Steve Bissette called for a boycott of all Kirby-derived product from Marvel. You can read the full blog post here: (http://srbissette.com/?p=12761). As Steve so eloquently put it:

“Jack Kirby always, in his life and in his work, trumpeted the power of the individual to act against power. It was Jack’s message, in all his work: the power of the individual to change the world. So, change the world, those who grew up reading, loving, enjoying, creating, earning livings from Kirby’s work and all that followed. Rationalizing not taking action is playing the corporate game. “Speaking only for myself: I’ve had it. I’m done with Marvel and all Marvel Kirby-derived product, period. No movies (I was planning to see Captain America this weekend; that’s forever off the table), no more comics from their Kirby legacy, nothing. Bringing greater public shame/ pressure to bear may or may not yield results, but removing further investment in their exploitation of the Kirby legacy— which is, undeniably, 85%+ of Marvel’s pantheon—will send a message.” Right afterward, Tom Spurgeon, on the Comics Reporter website on August 1, sided with Bissette over Marvel’s continued treatment of the Kirby legacy (http://www.comicsreporter.com/index.php/go_read_steve _bissette_on_jack_kirby_and_marvel/): “What remains most troubling about what Marvel has done and continues to do to many of its contributors and their families is how deeply unnecessary all of it seems. Marvel has resources out the wazoo. They have plenty of publishing money to provide royalties to a creator or an estate on work republished, even more movie money to make payments to creators for use of their characters in a movie, and tons of accrued cultural capital to properly give folks credit for a storyline or character without damaging the allprecious brand.” More recently, on February 7, 2012, comics creator (and co-founder of the Center for Cartoon Studies) James Strum wrote an impassioned article at Slate.com, giving his reasons for specifically boycotting the 2

By now, you may or may not’ve seen The Avengers. I don’t fault you if you did—the previews made it look like a lot of fun—but I applaud you if you didn’t. Me, I won’t be seeing it—at least not until such time as Marvel decides to treat Jack even remotely equal to how they treat Stan Lee. I also haven’t, and won’t, see the recent Captain America, Thor, or Hulk movies. I won’t be buying any archive or masterwork collections of these characters either. It just doesn’t feel right to me to financially support projects that put money in Marvel’s pockets, when they can’t see fit to offer even a token payment to Jack’s family, not even on comics reprints. Never forget: DC Comics, for all its faults, still manages to pay royalties to the Kirby family when they reprint Jack’s work. They list him on the books as creator when they print new stories of his characters. And back in the 1980s, under Jenette Kahn as publisher, they even found a way to cut Jack in on royalties for the Super Powers toy line that was being developed, even thought they had no legal requirement to do so. My $10 movie ticket or $30 book purchase won’t make a dent in Marvel’s bottom line—I know that. But I can instead use it to buy an old Kirby issue to support a back issue dealer, or Titan Books’ recent Simon & Kirby “Crime” collection, or even DC Comics’ new Spirit World reprint. And I can always donate to the Kirby Museum, of course. As might be expected about a publication with the name “Jack Kirby” in its title, we sometimes get accused of unfairly bashing Stan Lee. So let’s be clear: Stan’s position, based on his recent courtroom deposition, and his appearance in Jonathan Ross’s In Search of Steve Ditko documentary, is that he’s unequivocably the sole creator of all the Marvel characters. His stance is that Kirby, Ditko, all those guys, while great artists, were just taking orders, and doing exactly what Stan told them to do. And I’m sorry—that’s just not fair, nor accurate. Comics is a collaborative medium. That artist, especially at Marvel in the 1960s, was just as key to the creative process as the editor/writer/dialoguer. Whether or not Jack (or Stan’s) contributions were “work for hire,” is irrelevant to the question of who did what in the characters’ creation—something Arlen Schumer discuses in his “Auteur Theory” article in this issue. Recently, on April 25, 2012, reporter Eric Larnick of The Huffington Post was covering the press junket for Stan’s new documentary, and questioned him about Kirby as co-cre-

ator, and if he’d be credited in the Avengers film:

KIRBY KREDITS Our pal Jason Hofius researched how Jack Kirby has been credited in the latest Marvel films, and while there were no credits for him at the start of any of the films, there was a small reference in the end credits. Each sequence started with the top actors, key personnel like directors of photography and editors, before listing full cast credits and stunt performers, and then the credit for the creators. So they were fairly early in the credits each time. Here is the wording of the credits from the past five films:

(http://news.moviefone.com/2012/04/24/s tan-lee-jack-kirby-avengerscredit_n_1450146.html?ref=moviefone) Stan seemed rather annoyed at such a question intruding on his latest moment in the sun—I guess I’d be too—but at least the word is getting out that there was someone else involved in the creation of the classic Marvel characters. Likewise, I continue to hope that Marvel (now Disney) will one day step up and do right by Jack’s family, and all the other heirs of the creators who gave Marvel such a rich catalog of characters to draw from. History would indicate it’s an uphill battle, but as long as we continue to hold Stan, and Marvel, and Disney accountable in whatever small way we can, there will always be a reason for them to do something. Maybe they never will. Maybe only a future court battle will make something happen. But as long as Jack’s work continues to capture the imagination of the public—well, you can call it Stan-bashing or Marvel-bashing if you like, but I’ll keep trying to balance the scales in whatever small way I can. I hope you’ll join me. H (A personal aside: You’re reading this in July, and this issue was supposed to be out in April. Alas, some family matters hit right after last issue shipped, pushing me behind schedule. Then, in February—just as I was about to start this issue—my gall bladder decided it wasn’t happy where it was, and attempted to reenact a very memorable scene from the first Alien movie. If you saw my brief appearance in the Jack Kirby: Storyteller documentary of a few years ago, you may’ve noticed how wide-eyed and goofier than usual I looked. That was filmed almost ten years ago at the San Diego Comic-Con, on the day I was released from the SD emergency room, all doped up on pain meds from my only prior gall bladder attack. The docs aren’t sure why it waited this long to recur, but all I know is, two ERs and one ambulance ride later, I found myself waking up with several incisions in me, and a nurse showing me photos of some nearly 1" diameter boulders that they pulled out of me. I feel great now—all those unexplained, stress-induced pains I’d had in my upper abdomen the last several years are gone. But let’s just say the recovery period didn’t go so well, and leave it at that. Pile on the time I had to spend coordinating the LEGO Festival we organize every year, and you now know why this one’s so late. I’ll be spending the next few months getting fully caught up on my TwoMorrows work backlog, so you won’t see issue #60 till late this year or early next. But never fear, as soon as I get my schedule back in order, I’ll be right back on TJKC, and I already have the next five issues planned out.) 3

Iron Man (2008) Based on the Marvel Comic Book by STAN LEE DON HECK LARRY LIEBER JACK KIRBY The Incredible Hulk (2008) Based on the Marvel Comic Book by STAN LEE AND JACK KIRBY Iron Man 2 (2010) Based on the Marvel Comic Book by STAN LEE DON HECK LARRY LIEBER JACK KIRBY Thor (2011) Based on the Marvel Comic Book by STAN LEE LARRY LIEBER JACK KIRBY Captain America: The First Avenger (2011) Based on the Marvel Comic by JOE SIMON and JACK KIRBY Jack’s name is there, so that’s a great step. However, there’s a big difference between “Based on the comics by...” and “Created by....” This short-changes both Stan and Jack, by equating the contributions of guys like Don Heck and Larry Lieber—both of whom are on record as not considering themselves creators of the characters—with Lee and Kirby. But it’s certainly a more convenient way to offer up some credit, especially in light of past and pending legal proceedings.

Avengers movie. If you haven’t already, check it out (http://www.slate.com/articles/arts/culturebox/2012/02/the_avengers_why_i_m_boycotting_marvel_s_movie.html)

Kirby got a clever credit on the March 1, 2010 episode of The Big Bang Theory sitcom, which featured a cameo by Stan Lee, playing himself. The character played by Steve Paymer is “Judge J. Kirby.”

in front of it. Robots in the comics of the 1950s and 1960s were plentiful, but never had I seen one with such an impressive amount of detail in its design—the imagination on display here was clearly something very unusual indeed. The actual thrust of the piece itself was something readers had seen a thousand times before: a machine achieving a kind of consciousness and humanity, before an inevitably tragic ending, but this is a genuinely poignant, moving piece in which the melding of writing and breathtaking artwork dovetail together with complete precision. Reading this tale and its predecessors again for this article had left my chest and thighs covered with flakes of elderly, crumbling comic book, and has made me aware that unless I replace it soon, I may get (at the most) two or so more readings from this fragile object in the rest of my life. But, hey, this was the American copy of the book that I first acquired many years ago—and I am really loathe to part with it. Sentiment! You know what I’m talking about, don’t you?

SIMON WITHOUT KIRBY It’s hardly surprising that on the cover of Joe Simon’s fascinating autobiography, My Life in Comics, there is an image of the red-white-andblue avenger Captain America punching a grimacing Adolf Hitler—the UK publishers Titan Books (who have done such sterling work in making this kind of material available) will be well aware that it is a good time for readers to be reminded who co-created the durable superhero as a new big budget movie appears. But the other half of the cover design consists of a vintage black-&-white photo of a cigar-chomping illustrator at a drawing board—no, not Jack Kirby, but his business partner and fellow artist Joe Simon, who was to do so much splendid work with Kirby over the years. The fact that Joe Simon was not too far away from one hundred years of age but lived to see his most famous creation become the subject of a major film is heartening—and readers of this journal will be well aware that the late Jack Kirby saw virtually nothing of the sprawling canvas of his characters now leaping across the big screen. Joe Simon puts down the secret of his longevity to the fact that he really never stopped working, and to some degree, the book itself is a homage to the Jewish work ethic, crammed full of pithy anecdotes which extend right across the entire history of comics right up to the present day (Zelig-like, Joe Simon has been present at many of the most seismic events in the history of the medium). He is not modest about his own achievements, but there is no sense of self-aggrandisement (British readers do not respond well to breast-beating self-advertisement); by the same token, he is remarkably frank about people who he feels have finessed their own careers by utilizing (uncredited, of course) the talents of others: It is no surprise to see that Simon reserves some of his scorn for Batman co-creator Bob Kane and the talented but much-disliked Superman editor Mort Weisinger. Simon’s insights into the creation of the fondly-remembered work he did with Jack Kirby (such as their horror book Black Magic, the splendidly tongue-in-cheek Fighting American and, of course, the original shieldslinger Captain America) are greatly entertaining, and the sheer amount of information about his sadly missed partner alone make this book essential reading for readers of this magazine. If perhaps (and surprisingly) we do not learn as much as we would expect to about Jack Kirby’s character, that is perhaps a reflection of the fact that Kirby himself appeared to live for his work and his astonishing output was largely devoted to feeding his family; while clearly a great instinctive artist (using the word ‘artist’ in its broadest sense), the real thinker in the Simon/Kirby duo was undoubtedly the former—it’s unlikely that Jack Kirby could have produced a balanced and encyclopaedic book about his life in this fashion. Several mysteries that admirers of the duo might expect to be cracked go unsolved (such as to who exactly did what at certain points in the partnership), but Joe Simon’s My Life in Comics is a truly diverting—and instructive—read. H

creatures, of course, was unequalled by any other artist in the field). The tale itself owes something to Ray Bradbury’s classic “A Sound of Thunder,” though the hunter here does not take a trip back in time but into another dimension, courtesy of a strange egg-shaped inter-dimensional machine. And like Bradbury’s tale (not to mention the various comic adaptations and rip-offs of that original piece) there is a sting-in-the-tail twist ending which may be dispatched rather too quickly (the story itself was only four pages long) but doesn’t undercut all the atmospheric evocation of another world.

ENTER THE FIRE BALLS The title story, “The Fire Balls,” is probably the weakest in this otherwise exemplary book, but having said that, it’s still a million miles more accomplished than most similar fare being produced at the time—not least for its spectacular artwork. The splash panel is striking enough, with glowing oblongs of red and yellow hovering above a farmer and his wife as a horse rears in panic; but the tale itself is a relatively straightforward alien visitation piece. What sets it above most such fare is a sudden exhilarating rush of pulp poetry that invariably surfaces in so many Simon & Kirby pieces of this period. Here, that moment happens when after fruitless attempts to discover the composition of the fireballs, one of the fiery objects suddenly swoops down and engulfs a man in the crowd—and proceeds to use him as a conduit announcing who the visitors are (they are, in fact, inhabitants of the sun). The panels in which the hapless bystander is turned into a virtual microphone for the alien visitors are splendid Kirby stuff, with the man’s face darkened despite the reddish radiance that envelopes him.

SAVING THE BEST FOR LAST In fact, the best piece in the issue is probably the wind-up story “I Want to be A Man.” Encountering a crisp black-&-white reproduction of this tale in a 68-page reprint as a boy (and having no idea that the artist whose work I was looking at was Jack Kirby), what struck me most was the towering, complex robotic figure reaching down to the human walking

Barry Forshaw is the author of The Rough Guide to Crime Fiction (available from Amazon) and the editor of Crime Time. He lives in London. 6

Mark Evanier

Jack F.A.Q.s A column of Frequently Asked Questions about Kirby

We start this time with some questions from Michael Wohl:

Ditko walks into the Marvel offices to pick up work. Ordinarily at this point, he and Stan would sit down and decide what the next Spider-Man or Dr. Strange story should be about so he can go off and pencil it, but Stan can’t. Maybe he’s too busy. Maybe he’s home sick. Whatever the reason, Ditko can’t leave with a plot to draw, so someone—maybe Stan, maybe Production Manager Sol Brodsky—decides to give him something to ink so he can earn some money the next few days, by which time Stan will be ready to start him on the pencils of a story. That issue of Sgt. Fury (#15) is sitting there, ready to be inked, but no one has been assigned to it yet. George Roussos, working under the name “George Bell,” had been more or less the regular inker on the book, but it was around this time that Stan became unhappy with his inking and DC, where he did the bulk of his work and all his penciling, began making noises like, “If you work for Stan, you don’t work for us.” And Roussos is antsy that someone there will figure out Bell is Roussos and vice-versa. So George has stopped working for Marvel for a while. Maybe it’s getting late to get someone else started on that issue of Sgt. Fury, so Ditko will also be doing the company a favor by getting it done. But I’ll bet you the main reason is that Ditko needs something to do and Stan isn’t able to work out a plot with him at that moment. Not long after this, Steve takes over the entire plotting of Spider-Man and “Dr. Strange.” He never again inks someone else’s pencils at Marvel since it’s never again necessary for him to wait for Stan in order to start working on an issue. Anyway, I’ll wager it was something like that. “Casting” inkers, as you call it, was not a big deal at Marvel back in the sixties because there usually weren’t a lot of choices. They worked with a small talent pool and if you want to draw up a little chart, you can see that there were times when Stan had available to him the services of about four inkers—like Frank Giacoia, Chic Stone, Vince Colletta and Mike Esposito—and whatever Don Heck and Dick Ayers might do when they weren’t penciling. Wally Wood was in there for a while too, but once Roussos departed, there weren’t many more options for a while. An awful lot of the inking assignments on Marvel’s books then were simply a matter of who was available at the moment and who needed work. Stan tried to steer certain inkers to the major comics, selecting them because he thought they were right for the material. Colletta did not ink Kirby on Thor because Stan felt Colletta was the best inker for Kirby pencils. Whether he was or was not, the line of thinking there was that Colletta was the best inker for Thor.

I have read all the articles and opinions about Vince Colletta and seen the examples of how he took shortcuts and erased parts of Kirby’s pencils that seemed too difficult to ink. I wonder if you could tell us who you liked to see inking Jack and also how did Kirby feel about this? And while we’re at it, how did Stan “cast” inkers? How did he decide that Sinnott should ink this book while Giacoia should ink that one? And why did Steve Ditko ink an issue of Sgt. Fury over Dick Ayers? aking the last question first and working backwards... I have no direct knowledge on why Ditko inked that Sgt. Fury but I can give you a pretty good theory. Imagine the following.

(below) Splash page from Fantastic Four #39 (June 1965). Note the extra space between the inker’s first and last name, and how it’s all offcenter. It originally was lettered with Frank Giacoia’s full name, but he didn’t want Marvel’s competitors to know he was working for them, so had it changed to the pseudonym “Ray.”

bothered by Colletta leaving things out than I am by what I see as a simple incompatibility of artists. Not every inker can ink every penciler. Frank Giacoia came closer than most and even he was occasionally placed on the wrong pencils. Take a look at the work he did inking Neal Adams on the Green Lantern/Green Arrow strip. It’s not either of them looking their best. Joe Sinnott, I believe, is one of the two-or-so best inkers to ever work in comics but I don’t think his approach meshed with Adams on the two issues of Thor they did together. I thought the one issue of Captain America where Wally Wood inked Gene Colan was an example of two brilliant artists who worked in wholly-different ways, fighting it out in every panel. I liked the art of Kurt Schaffenberger and that of Alfredo Alcala. But when DC had the latter ink the former on a mini-series once, I thought the resultant art was a lot worse than what either man could have done on his own. My own favorites at Kirby inking were many—certainly Sinnott and Giacoia and later, Royer. I really, really, really (three reallys) liked what Bill Everett did on Thor. I liked Chic Stone and Dick Ayers on certain books... and George Roussos on Sgt. Fury. There are others— all a matter of taste.

Recently, the publisher of this magazine did a special issue that contained a book-length essay and historical overview of the Fantastic Four. It was called Lee and Kirby: The Wonder Years and it was written by Mark Alexander who, sad to say, passed away from a heart attack in 2011. He was 56. (Send your questions to Mark via his website, www.newsfromme.com) I have received a number of questions asking me about the book, about his conclusions, his history, etc. Basically, people want to know how I feel about it. I am glad John Morrow published it. I wish more people would write about Jack and about his work... and I say that knowing full well that the more he gets written about, the more often people will write factuallyerroneous things about him. But Jack had a firm belief that the truth would in time rise to the top of any morass. So when there were lies out there, it was just a matter of waiting them out. Mark has a lot of opinions in his book about content. I agree with some, disagree with others. Reading the classic Lee-Kirby issues, he perceives a lack of enthusiasm by Jack, and to some extent Stan, settling in at one point and ending the greatness. I think it came later than he did but that’s just two Marks liking different things. Mark said some nice things about me in the book and thanked me for the help I gave him. It wasn’t all that much and I wish I’d given him more because I think he misunderstood some things I told him. Here are two examples... On page 147, he writes: “Mark Evanier told us that he has all the Stan Lee plot outlines from the astounding Dr. Doom/ Silver Surfer story cycle that spanned FF #57-60. These plot outlines prove that at this majestic phase Stan was still making solid Pete Von Sholly spotted Kirby’s original, erased positioning of Batroc’s leg (top) on the art to Tales of Suspense #75 (March 1966), and moved the Ayers-inked leg back to its original position (bottom). He contributions to the storylines.” thinks Ayers may have changed it from Jack’s layouts. “Although this was supposed to be ‘laid out’ by No, I didn’t tell Mark that. I told him I Kirby and penciled by Ayers, I think Jack got carried away here—there’s a lot more Kirby than Ayers in had seen a few of them and that they did not this image.” After the change, Pete says, “Not a huge difference but the negative space around the figures show Stan contributing much by this point. is better composed—not chopped up as in the final and the overall composition feels cleaner to me.” 10

On the next page, Mark writes, “In July 1969, when Mark Evanier was visiting Kirby for the first time, Jack got a phone call from Stan Lee. According to [him], ‘We got to listen in on Jack’s end of a plot conference which lasted only a minute or two—though after it, Jack made a point of telling us that, on earlier issues, they’d spent more time talking.’ During Evanier’s first visit, Kirby was drawing FF #97. Jack and Stan were still plotting the book jointly at this juncture, and Kirby’s tenure on the series was only five issues away from being over.” No. I don’t think a phone call that lasts a minute or two, not all of which was spent talking story, amounts to joint plotting. There are other points where Mark’s version of the Lee-Kirby collaborative relationship doesn’t coincide with mine. I’m not claiming he’s wrong so much as trying to make it clear that I don’t endorse his understanding. In a future column when I have more time, I want to address the topic of “plotting” because I think some people use wildly varying definitions of what it means. To some, it means saying, “Hey, let’s bring back Mole Man in the next issue.” To others, it amounts to figuring out all the events that comprise the story and even working out what occurs in each panel. Many editors engage in a certain amount of the first definition—and some even in the second—without believing they’re entitled to a plotting or co-plotting credit. But that’s for another column. Next question? H

(below) Original art to Fantastic Four #12 (March 1963), showing a detail of Stan Lee’s margin notes.

ally happiest working more or less independently of other writers. The King was essentially a creator, an artist who plotted stories as he drew, with the natural flow that came easily to him. However, there are many who believe that Kirby’s best and certainly most commercially successful work was in collaboration with writer Stan Lee. There has been a good bit of ink used discussing just who did what in that process. In conventional comic production involving a separate writer and

Scan courtesy Heritage Auctions.

artist team, the writer usually provides the artist with a full script to work from. Lee is famous for having instituted the Marvel Method, wherein an artist would plot a story based on the sketchiest of outlines provided by the writer. Once the story was drawn the artist would supply the writer with explanatory notes in the page’s margin, whereupon the writer would fill in the final script. Lee believed that his artists were strong plotters and allowing them creative freedom would result in a better story. Certainly, in the case of Jack Kirby, he was correct. Recently, I saw a film clip of Stan Lee looking at Jack Kirby’s original artwork for Fantastic four #12 for the first time since it had been published. One of the first things that caught Lee’s eye were the margin notes in the panel borders, which he initially assumed belonged to Kirby. Lee started to explain the Marvel Method of writing, wherein he would give Kirby a rough idea of the plot, Kirby would elaborate the plot, pencil the book and deliver to Lee with Kirby’s notes for scripting in the margins. Halfway through his explanation, Lee realized that the margin notes were his own, written as reminders to him, prior to final scripting.

Margin Notes rom what we know about Jack Kirby, he was gener-

This exchange raises an interesting question. Just when did the process known as the Marvel Method actually begin, and what was the nature of the creative process prior to its inception? Several comic book historians allege that in the beginning, Stan Lee provided his artists with full scripts. Lee’s brother, Larry Lieber has stated in interviews that he wrote full scripts for Kirby as well. However, Kirby and several of his co-workers 27

pleasure to have these meetings where they said, “Do you want to give us a wishlist of all DC’s immortal characters that might have been around then?” TJKC: I admire the thought that went into which characters show up and how they interact. The balance of familiar and new characters, and the unusual proportion of women team-members, and the full perspective of the medieval world with the Muslim mathe-magician Al Jabr. CORNELL: The diversity is entirely deliberate. People say, “Oh you’ve gotta let this stuff arise naturally”; it doesn’t arise naturally, you’ve got to do it deliberately; you can’t just leave a comicbook out in the rain and gay people will grow in it (laughter). Not if you want to represent all aspects of life, and I do think everybody should have a superhero who is like them.

RANDOM ACTS OF KIRBY Being a supplemental survey of the latest parallel-Kirby artifacts in print, sound and pixel to come across the dimensional transom.

Monster Mashup Rob Wuest’s self-published Monsters Among Us had me at page 6, when a single caption starts with “Meanwhile” and ends with “suddenly.” A page later, the scientist-father hero is prepping his special super-tech device to convert a two-dimensional apple painting to a 3-D fruit for the sake of ending world hunger, and when his son says he hopes it works, replies, “It has to, Bobby”—meaning, don’t ask us how it works, but it “has to” move the story of the 3-D ray accidentally hitting a Ditko/ Kirbyesque monster comic along. Wuest knows well the imperatives of midcentury genre comics, and the strictures of the late-1950s society the book is set in, with the starring family’s mom merrily bringing platters of food while dad and junior well-meaningly destroy the world. If Lee & Kirby’s FF were the sophisticated city-émigrés who symbolized Ike & Kennedy-era cosmopolitanism, the Kraushaars (ouch-arr!) in Monsters Among Us, secured in a standard small-town house, are the successful suburbanites with all modern—and future—conveniences. They prove a bit inconvenient as the monstrosities from the second dimension begin to rampage, to the apocalyptic glee of artist Stefano Pavan (whose brilliant Kirby-app graphics graced my stage production “Norrga the Thunderer” last summer). The Kraushaars attend a local Martin Luther King guest-sermon for the right dawn-of-the-’60s civic-chic celebrity cameo, and come away with a renewed lesson about standing with their fellow man and woman, against, um, giant monsters. It’s both a hilarious comment on super-adventurers’ clueless remove from the concerns of real-life heroes putting their lives on the line, and a touching point about how comics, then and now, tap our need for largerthan-life humans who are even bigger than the problems we made in the first place. We haven’t reached the future we expected and most of those old comics aren’t as good as we remember, but in both period detail and creative possibilities, Monsters Among Us gets it right. [http://www.monsters-among-us.com/]

(above left) Giant-size man-things: Wuest & Pavan’s monsters break into comics. (top right) The ever-popular Mister Miracle sawn-in-half trick, and others from Maxwell’s. (bottom) Remember kids, tattoos are good for you: Cheese Hasselberger’s Fin fan-art. 44

Channel Kirby The Kirby spirit transmits in all media, most lately streaming through the audio ether, supercharging the online continuum and phasing into the physical realm. The “Kirby Enthusiasm” exhibit took over the walls of Hoboken, NJ’s legendary band-bar Maxwell’s from the Saturday of New York Comic Con to the end of 2011, covering the walls with psychedelic, punky, experimental and straight-ahead conceptions of Kirby befitting the venue’s stage, and featuring an all-star lineup from Pete Von Sholly and Dean Haspiel to Frank Espinosa and Miss Lasko-Gross. The pop-art of Kirby-enthusiastic bands accompanied the opening night, though the King’s own namesake outfit Kirby Krackle was booked elsewhere. Still, KK’s third and finest disk, Super Powered Love, is available in all formats and universes, with pop neoclassics, punk anthems, Rap & B themes and ukulele ballads telling the strong and true stories that are every fanboy and girl’s heart’s desire. Find out how to get it at http://www.kirbykracklemusic.com, see my full review at http://blog.comiccritique.com/?p=1109, and while you’re wasting company time in a good cause, check out writer and publisher Nat Gertler’s “A Buck for Jack” campaign at http://abuckforjack.com. This is one fan acting alone and trying to make a difference, donating a single dollar for every big-budget movie he’s seen that wouldn’t exist without Kirby, passing it on to the nonprofit Kirby Museum (also benefited by the Kirby Enthusiasm show and spotlighted elsewhere in each issue of this pub), and asking all fans to do the same—not boycott the often-excellent multimedia incarnations of Kirby’s concepts, but just ensure the recognition of his own contribution and the prominence of his original work—which, for this King, is the most proper of royalties. H

Cut-Ups

Kirby’s Collages In Context by Steven Brower (This piece originally appeared in Imprint, the daily design blog from Print magazine, and can be found online at: http://imprint.printmag.com/illustration/jackkirby%E2%80%99s-collages-in-context/ ) ack Kirby had choices to make, especially considering he could do it all: writing, penciling, inking, coloring. Along the way he found it prudent to concentrate on what he could do best: dream big and render those flights of fancy in graphite. Why then would he choose to break his stride and search through various magazines in search of the right image, rubber cement in hand? Kirby’s entrée into the world of collage did not begin with the Fantastic Four, or even by his own hand. Richard Hamilton included a (Simon &) Kirby Young Romance splash page in his seminal 1956 collage “Just What Is It that Makes Today’s Homes So Different, So Appealing?” launching both Pop Art and Kirby into the fine art world. “High” culture had begun to give sway to pop culture through the most democratic of visual art forms, collage. True, its origins could be traced back to ancient Japan, and examples exist during the thirteenth century in Persia, spreading to Turkey and eventually Europe by the 1600s. The modern version that first captured the public’s attention was created in 1912, when Pablo Picasso glued newspaper clippings into a Cubist painting. The artist’s and general public’s fascination with collage had begun. Artists of the Russian Constructivist, Bauhaus, Dada and Surrealist movements pushed the form further. When Henri Matisse’s eyesight began to fail, he turned to cut paper collage, producing “Jazz,” celebrating the other 20th century TM &©Jo art form that employed improvisation and spontaneity as a Jack Kirb e Simon & y Estates main ingredient. During the Abstract Impression movement of the 1950s, Rauschenberg, Reinhart and Motherwell explored the medium further. Artists more widely known for their other talents, such as William S. Burroughs, John Cage and Louis Armstrong all created collage. In comics, the ever-inventive Will Eisner employed the technique in The Spirit in “The Story of Gerhard Shnobble” in 1948. However this featured a single aerial cityscape with drawn figures and captions on top, to connote flight, rather than fully realized collaged elements. If anything, as dramatic as the effect was, this could be seen as a shortcut on the part of the artist, as much time was saved rendering architecture. Never one to take the easy way out, Jack Kirby was the first in comics to utilize collage as entirely something new and explore its full potential, despite the crude printing techniques of the time. Beginning in 1964 with the Fantastic Four, Kirby created collages to convey fanciful scenes of cosmic dimensions. These early comic collages were used to further the storytelling and appear to be created concurrently. However, according to former assistant and Kirby biographer Mark Evanier, by the 1970s Kirby would often create collages from his collection of photographic magazines such as National Geographic and Life, whenever the mood struck him, and make good use of them at

(above) “Just What Is It that Makes Today’s Homes So Different, So Appealing?” by Richard Hamilton, 1956. (below) “Compotier avec fruits, violon et verre” by Pablo Picasso, 1912. (right) Rodchenko, Russian Constructivism. All collage images TM & ©2012 the respective owners.

(top left) Fantastic Four #48, 1966. (top right) John Heartfield, 1935. His anti-Nazi message undoubtedly would’ve resonated with Kirby. (above) Sgt. Fury #13, Dec. 1964. (below) Kirby’s comics collages influenced others: The New People, Dell, 1970. (left) Kirby created two DC magazines, Spirit World and In The Days of the Mob, originally intended to be printed in four-color throughout. After DC reneged, he had to reconfigure both as single-color interiors with only four-color covers. This image is from Spirit World, which DC just reprinted.

floats below a half obscured castle, four headless women walk single file in Victorian era gowns, ghostly figures peer out from three windows, and a drawn nude male figure, back to the viewer, merges with a large rock formation. All this is printed in a single color, purple, which adds to the intended eeriness. What is interesting is the variation in tonality that creates the illusion of foreground and background. Considering the source is all found material, one gets a glimpse into how carefully constructed these collages are. Although rhythmic, Kirby’s approach to collage appears to have been careful consideration as opposed to unfettered spontaneity. Kirby’s collages have little in common with Cubism or Dadaism in execution, such as those by Picasso, Marcel Duchamp, Man Ray or Kurt Schwitters, but the affect of Surrealism is in clear evidence. Following the staid 1950s (at least by popular perception) the 1960s saw a return to the dreamlike qualities of Surrealism both through mainstream culture through advertising and counter-culture imagery as well. Perhaps Kirby’s collages come closest to the work of courageous anti-Nazi artist John Heartfield, whose pointed political work was intended not only to be responded to viscerally, but also told a story. Then again, there are Kirby collages in existence where the original motivation remains mysterious. Unfortunately the origins of Kirby’s interest in collage are unknown. Conceivably his awareness did indeed begin with his inclusion in Hamilton’s groundbreaking piece. Certainly artists such as Picasso and Matisse were household names during his early years. What these works do provide is yet another glimpse into the mind and genius of Jack Kirby, the cosmic imagination that tirelessly explored new areas of creativity and expression, with the singularity, passion and inventiveness only an artist of his stature could bring. Today, thanks to improved technology, both digital and printed, we can view his collages closer to the spirit in which they were created. H

Gallery 1

The

King Of Collage irby’s first published collage art appeared in Fantastic Four #24 (cover-dated March 1964).

• FANTASTIC FOUR #24, March 1964 (first published collage art, 2 panels) • FANTASTIC FOUR #29, Aug. 1964 (1 collage page) • FANTASTIC FOUR #32, Nov. 1964 (1 collage page) • FANTASTIC FOUR #33, Dec. 1964 (1 collage page) • SGT. FURY #13, Dec. 1964 (1 collage panel) • FANTASTIC FOUR #37, April 1965 (1 collage page) • FANTASTIC FOUR #39, June 1965 (1 collage page, shown at right)) • FANTASTIC FOUR ANNUAL #3, 1965 (1 collage page) • JOURNEY INTO MYSTERY #120, Sept. 1965 (1 collage panel) • FANTASTIC FOUR #48, March 1966 (1 collage page) • FANTASTIC FOUR #51, June 1966 (1 collage page) • THOR #131, Aug. 1966 (1 collage panel) • THOR #132, Sept. 1966 (1 collage page) • FANTASTIC FOUR #55, Oct. 1966 (1 collage panel) • FANTASTIC FOUR #62, May 1967 (2 collage pages) • FANTASTIC FOUR SPECIAL #6, Nov. 1968 (2 collage pages) • THOR #160, Jan. 1969 (1 collage page) • THOR #161, Feb. 1969 (2 collage pages) • THOR #162, March 1969 (2 collage pages) • FANTASTIC FOUR #89, Aug. 1969 (1 collage page) • MARVELMANIA PORTFOLIO, 1970 (right) (collage of astronaut riding spacecraft) • SUPERMAN’S PAL JIMMY OLSEN #134, Dec. 1970 (2 collage pages) 49

(above) When Kirby returned to Marvel in 1975, he continued using collage, as here for his adaptation of Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey. (right) Fantastic Four #39, 1965. (below) Marvelmania Portfolio, 1970.

height of the Pop Art hysteria. He would continue creating collages for the next two decades, with his final piece produced specifically for comics appearing in the 1985 Hunger Dogs graphic novel (at last, finally being reproduced in full-color with quality paper and printing). Friends and family say Jack found the art of collage relaxing and therapeutic. Fans found them fascinating in print, but until recently, his collages have brought only modest prices on the original art market (and generally only are in demand if they were published in an actual comic book). That seems to be changing, as even his unpublished collages (such as “Goddesses” shown on page 52 of this issue) are fetching higher prices—sometimes more than the cost of pages from some of his less popular comics series. In that spirit, we present the following checklist of Kirby’s published collage work, in chronological order of the date of publication.

K Jack would’ve likely produced and handed in the artwork to Marvel in late 1963, at the

Tribute

2011 Kirby Tribute Panel Transcribed by Steven Tice, and edited by John Morrow • Photos by Chris Ng Held Sunday, July 24, 2011. Moderated by Mark Evanier, and featuring Walter Simonson, Erik Larsen, Richard Kyle, Mike Royer, and Jonathan Ross. MARK EVANIER: This is the Jack Kirby tribute panel. Guess who I am? [laughter] One of the neatest things at this convention that I’ve learned is that I can patch my iPad into the projection screen here. I want to show you a photo that I found too late to put into my book on Jack. [pause, laughter] This is Steve Sherman, who’s sitting over there. Steve Sherman, ladies and gentlemen, [applause] and myself, and I think this may have been Jack’s Irvine house. Roz, I am sure, took this photo, and this was in—Lisa Kirby gave me every photo she could find of Jack; I prowled

Mark Evanier

(below) Unfinished version of the cover for Tales of Suspense #92 (Aug. 1967). Kirby pasted a collage over it; see page 52. (next page, bottom) One positive side effect of the Marvel/ Kirby lawsuit is this unused FF page surfaced during depositions.

through them and prowled through them, and somehow I missed this one the first time through and found it when I reorganized the photos to give back to her after the book went to press. I think I’m 17 in this?

article about comics, and in the early seventies he had a bookstore in Long Beach, which was the center of intelligentsia in Southern California for people who understood what comics could be. He imported foreign comics, one of the first people to do that. Any time you went to his store, there were great writers and artists hanging around and talking. Just to go there was like a mini-comic-convention, but with really smart people. This is Mr. Richard Kyle. [applause] I’ll be asking Richard to relate the story of a project he did with Jack that you all are familiar with. And a person I’ve known even longer than I have known Richard, and who was another one of those people who was often hanging around the store, Mr. Mike Royer, ladies and gentlemen. [applause] Another artist who I admire tremendously— many of you have seen a brand new book that is reprinting his Thor work off the original art and—is it the exact same size you did it? The exact same size it was done. This is Mr. Walt Simonson. [applause] And rushing here from another meeting, so he will probably be late and may not get here much before the panel ends, but I Steve Sherman asked British TV personality and devout comic fan Jonathan Ross to join us, and he says he will, and we’ll talk about stuff until he gets here. Let me take this off the screen. We’ve got a couple more photos here, if I can remember how to do this. Here’s one with Joe Simon. [Mark flips through several photos on-screen] In the background you can see this was a traveling exhibit that Neal Kirby put together of Jack’s original art at a couple of conventions, and it looks like a San Diego con from the badge they’re wearing. Let me introduce you to the publisher of the Jack Kirby Collector, Mr. John Morrow. [applause] This is the trustee, curator of the Kirby Online Museum, Mr. Rand Hoppe. [applause]

STEVE SHERMAN: Probably, and I’m probably 19. You look happy! [laughter] EVANIER: Jack looks happy, that’s the nice part. It’s a good shot of him in his natural habitat, at the drawing table. We do these panels every year because I spend an awful lot of my time at this convention talking about Jack, and I’m sure I’m not the only one. You walk around that room downstairs and you see his influence everywhere. And I don’t mean just, you see a lot of people in Galactus masks, or Thor merchandise, or Captain America memorabilia. What you see is Jack’s definition of comics, which transcended those things printed on cheap newsprint. You see that definition of comics all over the room, and… the oddest things remind me of him. There were people downstairs doing this sciencefiction-y dance last night, and I—don’t you just love the fact that nobody in a costume seems to be able to take a picture anywhere, except right where we want to walk in the aisles? [laughter] But they’re doing this science-fiction number, and I remember—Steve, do you remember how Jack had this thing about dance as a… “comics as dance”? SHERMAN: Right. EVANIER: I thought of it, kind of shrugged and thought, “Okay, that doesn’t make a lot of sense,” but some of the things Jack said didn’t make a lot of sense at that moment. And there’s “comics as dance,” they’re doing an interpretive ballet in the aisles at a comic convention, and it is comics, somehow, on a strange level. So we’re going to talk about Jack for a while. I’ll start it by asking everybody in the audience who has a Kirby-related announcement about something that they’re publishing or producing to offer it. Let me introduce to you the dais at this moment. On the far side is one of my favorite collaborators and a gentleman who has become an amazing artist in this business with his comic The Savage Dragon. This is Mr. Erik Larsen. [applause] And I’ve known this next gentleman for an awful long time, and I asked him to come here. One of the themes of the convention this year is fifty years of comic fandom, and Richard was a pioneer of comic fandom. There are some who credit him with being the first person to use the term “graphic story” in an

RAND HOPPE: I received some phone calls recently from a movie studio in Hollywood. I don’t know if you’re familiar with the story, but Jack did some drawings for a theme park movie project called The Lord of Light back in the eighties, I think? Or seventies. And apparently the story is that those drawings were used to get hostages out of Iran by the CIA, because the CIA created a fake movie production company, and went to Iran looking 65

Kirby A Go-Go A never-published Kirby 1971 story planned for Soul Love • Inks by Vince Colletta, color by Tom Ziuko

Gallery 3

Jack Kirby Collector #59