Remembering MiamiCon '75

I feel honored to be able to say that I actually met Jack Kirby. I even spoke to him, but to be honest, I as so in awe of the individual I was standing near I found myself at definite loss for words.

The occasion was at the Miami Con, held December 18-21, 1975, and presented at the old Diplomat Hotel. I don’t know how many comic book conventions there were back in the early to mid 1970’s, but as far as I know the Miami Con was the first big one in South Florida. Come to think of it, I don’t know if there was ever a Miami Con II or III. But this one lasted 3 days and included two HUGE guests of honor: Jack Kirby and Stan Lee.

I couldn’t have been much more than 13 or 14 years old at the time and this was a very big deal to me. Jack Kirby had recently returned to Marvel -- I don’t recall if any of Jack’s new books had hit the stands yet -- and here he was in person! Jack was scheduled to sit in on a “question and answer” panel and then would be out roaming the seller’s area.

I tagged along with two of my older brothers and the minute I walked through the double doors of the Diplomat Hotel, I could tell I as in the midst of something big: dozens and dozens of sellers set up in the hotel’s ballroom, with table after table of comic books both new and old. We were running late and got there just in time. The special guests would be meeting and greeting fans in a special side room.

As I crowded in I could see Jack Kirby bracketed between Neal Adams and another bearded gentlemen I assumed was Stan Lee along with about 6 or 7 other guests -- the names of which escape me. We were running later than I imagined because after several minutes, one of the organizers (I think) announced “…That concludes the question and answer session. Now if you’ll kindly get in a single-file line, you can come up to the table and shake hands with out distinguished guests!” My big chance -- I thought!

One of my brothers was in front of me in line and mumbled something about wanting to tell Stan Lee what a jerk he was for letting Kirby go to DC a few years earlier. I wanted to ask Stan if Kirby would be doing a monthly Silver Surfer comic. Only problem was -- the bearded gentlemen sitting next to Jack wasn’t Stan Lee, it was the James Doohan -- the actor who portrayed “Scotty” on Star Trek!

My brother got right up in Stan/Walter’s face: “…You should have never let Jack go!” stammered by older brother. James/Walter looked back at him. “…I don’t know what the heck you’re talking about!” Then I chimed in, “…And will Jack be penciling the Silver Surfer?” James/Walter responded, “…Why don’t you ask Jack, he’s sitting right next to me!” Everybody broke into laughter. …“But I want to hear it from you -- you’re Stan Lee!” replied my brother.

At that point Neal Adams interrupted. “…You guys are both wrong! Stan Lee won’t be here until Sunday afternoon. This is James Doohan! It took me a second or two to connect the dots and realize that we’d made slight fools of ourselves.

My brother and I both kind of wilted in embarrassment and continued through the line. Jack sat there chuckling and shook our hands and I smiled and opened my mouth and some phrase resembling, “I really enjoyed Kamandi” trickled from my lips.

From there we hit the seller’s room and I picked up a cheap copy of New Gods #1. This whole “convention thing” was overwhelming me. I peeled away from my brother and got lost in the moment. After what seemed like a couple of hours I needed a break. As I headed towards an anonymous corner of the ballroom to rest, it was if the crowds parted and a light beamed down from the ceiling. There he was -- the man himself. There was Jack Kirby on the seller’s floor just hanging around speaking with the occasional fan -- and just a few feet from me!

It took me awhile to recognize him -- Jack seemed bigger then when I saw him seated at the guest table just a few hours earlier. I gathered up enough nerve to go up to him. Jack must have seen me because he gave me a smile and said “How’s it going?” Whatever it was I thought I might want to say to Jack Kirby disappeared from my mind. I shyly stuck my just-purchased copy of New Gods #1 in front of him. “Can you sign this please?” Jack was all too accommodating. Then I asked his advice on what he thought I an aspiring comic book artist should stick in his portfolio. Jack didn’t miss a beat. “…When I started, I made sure I included subjects that were popular at the time. Castles and knights in shining armor. That sort of thing.”

Just when I was ready to ask Jack another question -- I heard a shrill female voice shout out from behind me “…Kirby, let’s go!” I imagine it was Jack’s wife, Ros. And then in an instant, two men approached Jack and they led him away and left me standing there.

So much for my meeting with Jack Kirby. Short and sweet but I had actually talked with the King!

I don’t know if Jack ever returned to Miami and I’m not sure if the Miami Con ever returned either. Before I knew it a flood of new Kirby books was hitting the stands and life was good.

Kirby-l: Ten Years Young (more or less) …and Counting

One of these days I’m actually going to finish a pet project of mine -- that being a Kirby-l internet forum “anniversary” recollection. Trust me -- it’s a lot easier said then done. Until then, I offer up a bit of nostalgia about Kirby-l and salute everyone who has ever taken the time to post a question and add to the never ending discussion about why Jack Kirby was the greatest comic book creator the industry ever knew.

So let’s take a trip back…

It was 1995 or there about, but it seems like yesterday: I was on my computer, killing a few minutes while on a short break from work and enjoying a moment or two surfing the World Wide Web.

Just for kicks I’d decided to type in “comic book artists” on the Yahoo search engine to see what would come up. To my surprise a whole list of talented folks revealed themselves before my very eyes. But the name that shined the most brightly just happened to be Jack Kirby! I was in heaven! Not one, not two, but four websites dedicated to Jack! Hey, life doesn’t get any better than this!

Now you have to understand, back then -- in my mind anyway -- there wasn’t a whole lot of difference between the concept of the “internet” and the monolith in 2001: A Space Odyssey! To me, they were practically one and the same! It’s only been 10 years or so, but this whole internet thing was new to me. How the heck all this information was available at the touch of a finger was almost more than I could handle. So when I noticed Jack Kirby on the ‘net, who was I to ask questions?

If my memory serves me well, one Kirby site I found was a biography of sorts and linked to Hogan’s Alley, another was for the newly-started Jack Kirby Collector, a third was for a British Kirby fanzine – the name of which escapes me at the moment -- and the last internet Kirby listing was for a discussion forum for what is now affectionately known as Kirby-l..! I gotta say it again: when I discovered this I felt like I’d just won the lottery. In short order, I’d subscribed to the Jack Kirby Collector and joined the Kirby-l forum. And that ladies and gentlemen is when the fun started!
Kirby-L was and still is a great meeting place for Kirby fans.

The original driving force for the original version of Kirby-l was a gentleman by the name of Matt Gore. At some point he let go of the reigns and another individual named Chrissie Harper took over. Seeing as how my memory is at least as bad as Stan Lee’s it wouldn’t surprise me if I got the order wrong. But no matter. With Kirby-l it was as if Jack’s concept of the Uni-Mind was realized at long last. On Kirby-L I’d found a place where anyone could pose a question about Jack and talk about it at length with other like-minded individuals. And it wasn’t just the average Joe who participated in this daily sparring. Such Kirby luminaries as Mark Evanier, Mark Sherman, Greg Theakston and others including Bob Heer, Doug Rockstead, Bob Rivard, Mark Mayerson, George Kesidis, Richard Bensam, Olivier Toublan, Ron Evry, Charles Hatfield, Barney Dannelke, Chris Bailey, Ray Owens, Kirk Groeneveld, Gene Kannenberg, John Morrow, Colin Stuart, Mike Rhode, Steve Jones, Mike Manley, Harold May, Rodrigo Baeza, Cord Wiljes, Lou Smith, Glen Gold, Mark Justice, Jon B. Cooke, Keith Lee, Steve Taylor, Steve Chaput, Carlos Benvenutti, J. Kevin Carrier and a whole lot more folks whose names I’ve long since forgot often joined in and added their thoughts and recollections to all things Kirby.

Kirby-L quickly became one of my favorite vices. Back then it was great listening to Mark Evanier wax philosophic about his years spent working as Jack’s assistant. We postulated who may have been the inker on the first issue of Fantastic Fourwhy Vince Colletta was Jack’s worst inker, in addition to great tidbits about the Fourth World Trilogy. Not to mention seeing scans of Jack Kirby artwork that fellow fans shared on line.

It all seems a bit ant-climactic recalling this in 2007. But back in 1995 everything about Kirby-l smacked of a certain “newness”. Funny enough, although the original core group of Kirby-l contributors has either moved on, lost interest or passed away, the same kinds of questions are still being debated today.

These days the Kirby-l forum is moderated by Randy Hoppe and is sponsored by the Jack Kirby Museum and Research Center. I have no doubt that 10 years from now, it’ll still be going strong. Just like the legacy of Jack Kirby!

We hear so often that Jack Kirby was such a consistent 3-to-5 page-a-day comic book artist that I think the full impact of such a produce-or-starve work ethic starts to lose its luster after awhile. Sometimes I try to picture myself illustrating three pages of artwork a day and in my mind’s eye it doesn’t seem that difficult. But then I sit down to actually try to do it and I find the results are far, far different.

There have been times when -- after reading a stack of The Eternals for example – that I’m so pumped up and motivated that I’ll grab a few sheets of paper and a pencil and sit down at the ‘ol drawing board with the full intent of illustrating non-stop for one Herculean 10-hour stretch. If I’m lucky, I may get a cover penciled. Maybe a pin-up. If I’m real lucky I may get a few pages of simple layouts sketched out. But then reality hits me in the head and I have to mow the lawn or take my daughter somewhere or repair a leaky Fawcett. I’m pretty positive that even if I was just drawing 20 pages of stickmen I still wouldn’t get very far.

Which brings me back to Jack Kirby. The man was a virtual production line when it comes to making great comic books. And I urge anyone to attempt at even faking what Jack did -- regardless of your level of talent. While I write this I’m glancing over at my light table and seeing the same handful of drawings staring back at me. They’ve been sitting there in various stages of completion for about two weeks now and I’m not really sweating it. I wonder if Jack ever wished he had that type of flexibility in his schedule -- to choose not to pencil anything if he so desired. Apart from the fact that he probably couldn’t, I wonder some times if he would have blown off a day at his drawing table even if he had the chance. I’m more convinced than ever that Jack had to draw. Much in the same way that gamblers have to play cards or smokers need another cigarette. All of us fans are the ones who benefited the most from this “vice” of Jacks. But maybe if Kirby was making a lot more money and had some kind of ownership in his creations he would have been a little easier on himself.

Before I wrap I want to point out some way-cool news that I just stumbled across: A Newsarama article states that Eric Larsen is going to be penciling a new Silver Star on-going series. Silver Star -- as you may or may not know – was one of Jack’s last major undertakings before he more or less retired from penciling. Here’s an excerpt from Eric Larsen:

“…It will be two books to begin with. Silver Star covers Earth - Captain Victory covers all space and both will be packed with awesome Kirby characters and concepts many of which have only appeared as sketches. The idea is to introduce these characters one after another the same way that characters were introduced in other Kirby books over the years. What I'd like to do is feature Jack's original drawings and whatever notes he might have had in the back of the books to give readers insight into what Jack drew and what we had to work with. In the Silver Star book, for example, there are a few drawings that feature characters that didn't make it into the book. In Jack's original Silver Star pitch there was a whole gang of guys that wound up on the cutting room floor and Jack redesigned his "Angel of Death" character so much that he doesn't look like the same guy. That original design was cool as all hell and I want to put that design to good use. Jack has numerous cosmic characters that would fit right in to Captain Victory and Earthbound characters would be right at home in Silver Star and we can mix and match as well, having cosmic characters appearing in Silver Star and non-cosmic characters popping into Captain Victory…”

You can read the entire interview/article by clicking here!.

Eric Larsen is one artist who is keeping the Kirby flame alive with his unbridled enthusiasm for the medium.

I think Mark Evanier was once quoted as saying that a person’s favorite Jack Kirby comics are the ones they grew up reading. Meaning that for many of us who grew up in the 1960’s the Fantastic Four, Thor and Captain America represent the watermarks of Jack Kirby’s career. For others who grew up a few years later it was Jack’s work on the Kamandi and The Demon. For others still, the yardstick for measuring Jack Kirby’s creativity is with the books he produced during his second stint at Marvel -- books like Devil Dinosaur, The Black Panther and The Eternals to just name a few. The important thread here -- and actually there are many -- is that Jack Kirby produced a heck of a lot of comic books and comics characters during his illustrious career. And because of that -- in my humble opinion anyway -- you can’t just pigeon-hole one specific time period showcasing “the best work” Jack Kirby ever did.What I find even more interesting is that for lots of fans -- me included -- we may have grown up reading Jack’s work in one decade, but actually prefer his work from another.

For example, I grew up in the mid-to-late 60’s with 3 brothers, and the four of us were completely immersed with Jack’s run on the FF, Thor and any thing else he happened to produce. By the time I finally got my hands on one of Jack’s books there usually wasn’t much left to it. It had literally been devoured during the shared reading of my siblings. But the period I really enjoyed -- call me silly -- is the body of work Jack produced during his second tenure at Marvel (1975 - 1978). I thoroughly enjoyed The Eternals and Captain America and 2001: A Space Odyssey. Maybe I was a little older and not quite so in need of substance per se, so I just took Jack’s writing in stride. I tuned in to the elements I liked and tuned out the stuff that annoyed me (like Jack’s constant use of quotation marks) and just had a great time.

But the joyride didn’t stop there -- a few years later I chanced upon Captain Victory and felt like I was enjoying a sci-fi adventure from the 1940’s. The only thing missing was the popcorn.I’d like to think that for most of us fans it’s the same. We all grew up reading specific Jack Kirby books but deep down in our heart-of-hearts we enjoy other Kirby titles. When you want to impress your friends you mention the literary merits of The New Gods. But when no one is watching you’re a sucker for adventures of Machine Man or Devil Dinosaur.Jack’s books have never gone out of style. Whether it’s the Boy Explorers from the 1940’s or Jack’s Romance titles from the 1950’s, there is something for everyone. Great artwork and great writing from on of America’s least known (outside of comics anyway) but most talented artist-writer-editors.

As long as I’m basking in the glow of so much of Jack Kirby’s work, allow me to provide a free plug for Greg Theakston’s fantastic series of books entitled “The Complete Jack Kirby” from Pure Imagination Publishing. Greg has been systematically publishing Jack’s work beginning with his early strip work and I believe he is up to volume 5 by now. The Complete Jack Kirby is a great way to get to know the art of Jack Kirby and like I mentioned earlier, after reading a volume or two of this great series you’ll understand why I said that you can’t possibly pigeon-hole Jack’s work to one specific decade or genre.

Jack of all Trades

You know -- I've been meaning to start this Jack Kirby blog for quite a while but I never could find the time. Hopefully that has changed. At any rate, before another day/month/year goes by, I figured I needed to get some words down on paper regarding one of the -- if not the most creative, talented and dynamic comic book creator the industry has ever known -- Jack Kirby. And if you don't know who Jack Kirby is then shame on you.

So just who is Jack Kirby? For starters he's not "just" anyone. He was/is a real "jack of all trades" (hence te name of this blog). A comic book writer, artist, editor and creator whose career spanned about 50 years and encompassed pretty much the birth of the comic book medum itself! Not only that, Jack Kirby was the creator or co-creator of some of the most popular and widely read comic book characters the world has ever known -- namely the lion's share of characters that make up what is better known as the Marvel Universe. Plus a whole bunch of other creations for DC Comics and a host of other publishers.

Don't believe me? If you've ever thrilled to any of the Hollywood blockbusters that deal with the X-Men, The Hulk, the Fantastic Four or any of a dozen other Marvel comic book properties that have hit the screen in the last few yars, then you have enjoyed some of the characters created by Jack Kirby. Or if you you've ever enjoyed the four-color adventures of these same characters within the pages of a comic bok than chances are you read a story that was either written, illustrated or both by Jack Kirby.

I'm not sure if I can add anything new to the Kirby mythology that hasn't already been said or hasn't already been written, but at the very least I can offer a fan's point of view on JK and also turn you on to some other cool links that will teach you everything you ever wanted to know about my favorite comic book creator.

For starters you can check out The Jack Kirby Collector at http://www.twomorrows.com/. Publisher John Morrow has been producing the JKC -- a real labor of love -- for about the last 10 years or so and this king-sized magazine offers insights and artwork on Jack Kirby. Also at the top of the list is Mark Evanier's suberb site http://www.newsfromme.com/ which has a seperate link for Jack Kirby. Mark had the enviable position of actually working as Kirby's assistant back in the early 1970's and is currently finishing up a long-awaited biography on the artist many in the industry still refer to as "the king." And certainly I'd be remiss if I didn't mention the The Jack Kirby Museum and Research Center -- run by the Jack Kirby Estate and which exists as a way cool venue to keep Jack's name in circulation and educate people on Kirb's many contributions to Marvel Comics and the comics industry in general. And before I forgot, you may want to join in the fun on the Kirby-L chat forum, where more often than not a whole bunch of like-minded (at least I think they're like-minded) Jack Kirby fans post questions and generally argue about who is the best and worst inker to ever embellish a Jack Kirby page of art or which story was the best that Jack ever wrote, etc. There's a great bunch of folks on Kirby-L and there's always room for more.

Heck, if all you do is take a few minutes to check out the above links then you'll be off and running.In the meantime join me when you can as I wax poetic about Jack Kirby and the exciting four-color worlds he was able to create with the use of a simple pencil and a blank sheet of paper!