Brother Zag
11-10-2007, 12:05 PM
I'm visiting family this weekend (my fam celebrates Thanksgiving early, as we all travel, and we've found it to be less expensive and less hassles if we celebrate early... but I digress). My mom's boyfriend (though I hesitate to call a man near 80 a "boy") is a wonderful Hawaiian man named Moses. He served in the U.S. Army in the 40s and 50s.
He was walking past a stack of books I'd brought with me and saw the cover of the Black Panther TPB. "Jack Kirby?" he said, spotting the name on the cover. "Yeah." "Was he in the army?" he asked me. I said, "Yeah, I think so." Moses asked, "in the 40s and 50s? A few years older than me?" "Far as I know," I said, "why?" "I served with a Jack Kirby," he told me. "He writes comic books?" he asked. "Writes? He did. Some, yeah, but he was better known for his art." I was on the computer so I googled Kirby to find a picture of the King. As I searched, I offhandedly mentioned he was no longer wiith us, passed away in the 90s. When Moses saw the pictures of Jack Kirby, tears welled up in his eyes. "That's him," he said quietly. He left the room. I followed, found him in the living room trying not to show his emotions, but he was clearly upset, and I found myself trying to make up for the fact that I'd just given him the news that an old army buddy had died. When he pulled it together, he came back into the room where I was on the computer to see the pictures of Kirby again. He asked when Kirby had died, and I told him '94. "He looked good. Aged well," Moses said, looking over my shoulder at the Google image search. "He did some comics, huh?" Moses asked. "He's one of the greats, Mo, a giant. Helped create the Fantastic Four and Captain America, among others. They call him 'The King'! He's one of my heroes." Moses nodded and smiled a little, but was clearly still saddened to hear Kirby was gone.
I wanted to ask him more, but could clearly tell Mo didn't really want to talk about it much more. He got quiet for a while.
What a strange combination of emotions: here I was, feeling guilty that I'd broken the news to Mo in so cavalier a way, feeling Mo's emotion... but also thrilled in a weird way to realize there was only one degree of separation between myself and The King. The cool part was being able to tell Moses about all that Jack Kirby had created, and how he'd become an idol, a hero to so many of us.
I'm not sure why, but I thought I had to post about this, share a moment that really touched me this morning.
Mike
He was walking past a stack of books I'd brought with me and saw the cover of the Black Panther TPB. "Jack Kirby?" he said, spotting the name on the cover. "Yeah." "Was he in the army?" he asked me. I said, "Yeah, I think so." Moses asked, "in the 40s and 50s? A few years older than me?" "Far as I know," I said, "why?" "I served with a Jack Kirby," he told me. "He writes comic books?" he asked. "Writes? He did. Some, yeah, but he was better known for his art." I was on the computer so I googled Kirby to find a picture of the King. As I searched, I offhandedly mentioned he was no longer wiith us, passed away in the 90s. When Moses saw the pictures of Jack Kirby, tears welled up in his eyes. "That's him," he said quietly. He left the room. I followed, found him in the living room trying not to show his emotions, but he was clearly upset, and I found myself trying to make up for the fact that I'd just given him the news that an old army buddy had died. When he pulled it together, he came back into the room where I was on the computer to see the pictures of Kirby again. He asked when Kirby had died, and I told him '94. "He looked good. Aged well," Moses said, looking over my shoulder at the Google image search. "He did some comics, huh?" Moses asked. "He's one of the greats, Mo, a giant. Helped create the Fantastic Four and Captain America, among others. They call him 'The King'! He's one of my heroes." Moses nodded and smiled a little, but was clearly still saddened to hear Kirby was gone.
I wanted to ask him more, but could clearly tell Mo didn't really want to talk about it much more. He got quiet for a while.
What a strange combination of emotions: here I was, feeling guilty that I'd broken the news to Mo in so cavalier a way, feeling Mo's emotion... but also thrilled in a weird way to realize there was only one degree of separation between myself and The King. The cool part was being able to tell Moses about all that Jack Kirby had created, and how he'd become an idol, a hero to so many of us.
I'm not sure why, but I thought I had to post about this, share a moment that really touched me this morning.
Mike