Jack Kirby Article in the NY Times Today.

[Typo Lad]

Jack Kirby, a Comic Book Genius, Is Finally Remembered (]http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/26/opinion/26sun3.html?ex=1345780800&en=0162cba479ce13b3&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss)



The fear of being forgotten after death is endemic in the creative arts. In the case of the iconic comic book artist Jack Kirby, it happened while he was still alive. By the 1960s, Mr. Kirby had already revolutionized the comic book business more than once. Working as principal artist and in-house genius for Marvel, he created a voice and an aesthetic unmatched by any other company.

Marvel took his talents for granted and denied him the credit and compensation he clearly deserved. Worse, he was overshadowed by his loquacious and photogenic collaborator, Stan Lee, who became the public face of an enterprise that depended heavily on Mr. Kirby’s skills.

Mr. Kirby eventually quit, leaving behind characters like the Hulk, the Fantastic Four, the X-Men and the Silver Surfer, and ending what was easily the most fruitful collaboration in comic book history. His long and ugly battle with Marvel over the rights to his original artwork galvanized the artistic community and raised his public profile

My dad called me because of this article "the Times had an article about comics!'

Any idea why they're printing old news?

[Aaron Kashtan]

It seems like it's at least partly because of the new Marvel Comics stamps.

[Jack Zodiac]

Is that what prompted the BBC "In Search of Steve Ditko" documentary, where they also vaguely mention the many face of Stan Lee?

[benday-dot]

Is that what prompted the BBC "In Search of Steve Ditko" documentary, where they also vaguely mention the many face of Stan Lee?

The BBC doc was a personal project of Jonathon Ross, who is a lifelong comic book fan, and especially a Ditko fan. He is known besides for his big and rich reporter contract for his huge comic book collection.

[Indigo Al]

Is that what prompted the BBC "In Search of Steve Ditko" documentary, where they also vaguely mention the many face of Stan Lee?

When does that air, or has it already?

[benday-dot]

When does that air, or has it already?

It's slated for September 18th. Hopefully you have some sweet satellite tv.

[Indigo Al]

It's slated for September 18th. Hopefully you have some sweet satellite tv.

More like crappy, overpriced Time-Warner cable. I guess that means they won't show it on BBC-A?

[J. Robb]

With interest in Mr. Kirby growing — and his characters already marching across the screen — a movie of his life is clearly in order.
I agree with this, I think a movie about Marvel's early days could be interesting to even non-comic fans if done right. Some might be amazed to see such a small group of people create today's huge franchises like Spider-Man, the X-Men, Fantastic Four and others.

[Sabrinaset]

Wasn't there a book similar to this .... Gerard Jones wrote it ... Men of Tomorrow, was that it?

[king mob]

Is that what prompted the BBC "In Search of Steve Ditko" documentary, where they also vaguely mention the many face of Stan Lee?


No, it was Damon Albarn that kicked Jonny Ross up the arse to do a comics documentary. Albarn appeared on Rossy's chat show, with Jamie Hewlett & the conversation drifted to Tank Girl & Hewlett's Deadline days. Albarn then question Ross as to why, as someone who is well known to love comics, has never taken advantage of his position within the BBC (one of their high earners due to their popularity) and produce something about comics for the BBC.

What followed was a fairly vigourous debate between Ross & Albarn (with Hewlett sitting there looking a bit lost) where Albarn's point was 'well, you love comics, you're incredibly rich & influential in the BBC so what the bloody hell is stopping you?''; while Ross could only splutter vague non-answers before finally regaining control of the interview and moving it on.

A month or so later Ross said he was working on something for the BBC in relation to comics, so there you go.

[berk]

Good for Albarn, beacuse this doc sounds like somehting that really needed to be done, going by the few things I've read about it. And maybe someday somebody''ll do something about Kirby and how his legacy continues to be paid little more than lip service up to the present time.

[DonC]

Wasn't there a book similar to this .... Gerard Jones wrote it ... Men of Tomorrow, was that it?


No, Men of Tomorrow was about Harry Donenfeld and Jerry Siegel & Joe Shuster.

[Rob Allen]

A couple of years ago I wrote to the producers of the "American Masters" series on PBS to suggest that they devote an episode to Jack Kirby. A few others from the kirby-l list also wrote to them. None of us got any reply. Maybe it's time to write again.

[dougputhoff]

I found out from Mark Evanier's "NewsFromMe" blog that today (8-28) would've been Kirby's 90th birthday. Ironically, the "CBR" front page has no mention of it.

[Ed Cunard]

I found out from Mark Evanier's "NewsFromMe" blog that today (8-28) would've been Kirby's 90th birthday. Ironically, the "CBR" front page has no mention of it.

In fairness, that's not really news by any stretch. A feature on Kirby would be nice, but that'd be nice any time.