Monday, July 11, 2005

Tap Your Troubles Away

You almost have to feel sorry for Presidential Press Secretaries. At some point, every one of them has to go out and face the press corps and steadfastly not answer direct questions about something that would be embarrassing to their administration...and might even help get someone indicted. Scott McClellan, who fields queries for G.W. Bush, has had a relatively easy time of it since the White House reporters all sound like they're on the Fox payroll, even when they're not. But on the current matter of Karl Rove and all the inoperative, contradictory statements and denials, the press corps has suddenly shown a wee bit of fang. Take a moment and read today's exchange, at least the first part.

Note that in Mr. McClellan's language, the phrase "I appreciate the question" can be roughly translated as "Watch me try to tap-dance my way around this one."

And don't you wish the press had been half this vigorous pursuing questions relating to...oh, maybe yellow cake uranium or Weapons of Mass Destruction or people being tortured at Gitmo or something that results in human beings, many of them Americans, dying?

• Posted at 5:03 PM · LINK

Sondheim Pix

The newspaper changed the link to the photos of the Sondheim gala. Try this one. (And I changed it on the previous message, too.)

• Posted at 10:33 AM · LINK

Cheap Jack Imitations

The above is an unpublished drawing by the late Jack Kirby. There are a lot of unpublished Kirby originals floating around these days, many of which were even drawn by Jack. But a number of them were not.

In a few cases, there are innocent (or perhaps, wishful) misidentifications. A drawing looks something like Kirby did it...and since it would be worth more if he did than if he didn't, the possessor says, "Boy, that sure looks like Kirby to me." Or sometimes, they hedge the i.d. by saying, "Oh, this is a Kirby layout that someone else finished." With a very few exceptions, this is not the case. After about 1960, which is when most of the surviving art dates from, Jack did almost no layouts for other artists that weren't finished, published and properly credited. The exceptions are few, far between and not likely to turn up in the original art market.

Increasingly, I am seeing what I believe are outright forgeries showing up there. I'm talking about pages that Mr. Kirby never actually did but which are being marketed as if they're off his drawing board. Usually, they are tracings of things he did do, or sometimes composite tracings — the head from one sketch traced onto a tracing of the body of another sketch. Often, they are represented as preliminary roughs or cases where Jack drew a cover, decided something was amiss, and then redrew the same scene for what became the published version. This is also something Jack almost never did. Last year, a devout Kirby fan paid more than two grand for what was represented as Jack's first, still-in-pencil attempt at the cover of Captain America #100. No, it wasn't. It was just someone's tracing — and not a very good one — of the one drawing Jack did for the front of that issue.

I believe I know the source of a few of these fakes. There's a gentleman (I'm using that noun loosely) who worked briefly in the comic book industry back in the seventies — and when I say "briefly," I mean briefly. I think he got around three actual credits, though he occasionally worked as an assistant to other, more established artists. Most comic fans reading this would not know his name. Around '76, seeking ghost/assistant work, he mailed Jack a portfolio of sample pages...and every panel in them was traced from published Kirby art. Jack had no interest in having anyone assist him and if he had, a swiper of his earlier drawings was the last guy he'd have hired, so the offer was politely declined. But I did see the samples and noticed a certain odd misreading of Kirby technique and a very different pencil texture. I think I'm seeing that same misreading and texture in some of the fake Kirby drawings currently making the rounds, at least one of which I know the buyer purchased directly from this artist.

I see a lot of fakes because people keep coming to me with alleged Kirby art that they wish to have authenticated...and I'm thinking of adopting a "no comment" policy and refusing to get involved. It's always a pain, especially when someone e-mails a blurry, low-res scan and says, "If I don't hear from you in 12 hours, I'm going to assume it's real and buy it." Yes, someone actually did that and no, I didn't get back to him in time. (What I would have told him was that I couldn't be certain based on what he'd sent.)

Worse, a gent in Europe recently purchased — for about thrice the money it would have been worth if authentic — a "Kirby" drawing that blind aborigines could spot as bogus. He mailed me a stat and asked me to sign a Certificate of Authenticity stating that I, as Jack's one-time assistant, swore that the attached drawing was Kosher and Kirby. I broke it to him gently that he'd been had and received in return, a flurry of angry accusations: I'm lying, I'm too stupid to recognize real Jack Kirby artwork, I'm in cahoots with some guy I've never heard of who's offered to buy the putative drawing cheap since it cannot be authenticated, etc.

Like I said, I may stop answering such questions but in the meantime, I'm putting out the word: There are fake Kirby drawings out there and their number is increasing. Actually, there are a lot of fake drawings and autographs attributed to all the "high ticket" comic artists. There's a gent on eBay who, though I've e-mailed him to stop, insists on selling Groo promotional cards with phony Sergio Aragonés autographs — this, despite the fact that real Sergio signatures are about as rare as hydrogen molecules. Counterfeit Charles Schulz sketches are especially becoming a booming cottage industry.

Oh — and I should also mention one other category of misrepresented Kirby art. Sometimes, an artist — primarily one who worked with Jack like Joe Sinnott, Dick Ayers or Mike Royer — will be engaged to do a "re-creation," taking an old Kirby drawing, tracing it and inking it. That is legitimate, and they usually sign the piece in some way to indicate that Jack never actually touched that piece of paper. Once in a while, owners will erase the line that denotes re-creation or somehow suggest the artwork started with a Kirby pencil drawing actually pencilled by Kirby. There is one former Kirby inker who has been known to find a published Kirby drawing (usually something obscure), trace and ink it, sign the drawing with both their names and tell the buyer, "Years ago, Jack gave me this sketch to ink." An acknowledged re-creation is okay but this is not.

So the moral of this story is to be careful. The supply of Jack Kirby art is finite but there's no end to how many forgeries can be produced.

• Posted at 2:22 AM · LINK

Going to San Diego This Week?

Many of us will be trekking down to S.D. this week for the Comic-Con International. There will probably be in excess of 100,000 people flocking into that convention center, all of them determined to see my panels and to stand ahead of me in any line. Here are a few random thoughts you might want to roll around...

• The current weather forecast calls for clouds in the morning each day with mostly sunny conditions to follow. Lows will be around 60 to 66 while the highs could get up to 75 or thereabouts. Pack accordingly.
• Speaking of weather: We are happy to hear that Hurricane Dennis did much less damage than predicted. Still, a weather event like that has the capacity to screw up a lot of airline schedules, and it sometimes takes a few days for them to get back to normal.
• Paul Dini reminds me that next Sunday, July 17, is the fiftieth anniversary of the opening of Disneyland. If you're thinking of going there then — or just coming back from San Diego on the 5 Freeway — you might want to keep in mind that the Disney people are expecting record attendance. Hey, if you think the Comic-Con is crowded, go get in line for the Indiana Jones ride that day.
• Parking at the convention center is always a nightmare. You would do well to consult the convention website for Parking and Shuttle Bus Information and also for data on the Trolley Stops. Every year, I hear of people who just drive to the con and think, "I'll just find a place to park when I get there." This is not a smart way to approach the problem. Some of those people have never been heard from again.
• And lastly for now, here's another link to my list of convention tips. You can never have enough convention tips.

I'll probably think of something else to post before the big event commences. Check back.

• Posted at 2:16 AM · LINK

Today's Political Rant

I'm still a little blurry on exactly how I feel about the Valerie Plame, Judith Miller and maybe Karl Rove matter. I believe legitimate leakers — folks who disclose wrongdoing in powerful places — should be protected, but that protection should not extend to some of the excesses that are, alas, becoming the norm.

After I wrote my earlier post, I read a column by Michael Kinsley who, though a Liberal and a newspaperman, has come to some of the same conclusions. I also read a piece by Frank Rich, who makes some good points for the opposite view.

Also this weekend, I read The Secret Man, the new book by Bob Woodward on his relationship with Mark "Deep Throat" Felt. It's a quick read, more like a long article, and it leaves me (no surprise) with a generally favorable view of Felt. A lot of this is because Woodward reminds us of some of the slimy things the Nixon Administration was trying to do, making it quite credible that Felt believed they were trying to manipulate the F.B.I. for political purposes, much as they were doing with the Internal Revenue Service. I can easily accept that Felt believed something had to be done to stop them, and that it's wrong to dismiss him, as some have attempted to do, as a guy who just ratted on his associates because he was mad he didn't get a promotion. There are plenty of moments in the book when I don't like Felt for things he says and does as Mark Felt, but I think what he did as Deep Throat was important and vital and heroic.

One of the more intriguing but sad parts of the book is how Woodward details his conversations with Felt after dementia had robbed the latter of most of his memory. Woodward is almost desperate, grasping at anything, to get Felt to recall his role as informant and to say something positive about their relationship. Eventually, the memories never resurface but the old man is friendly enough to give Woodward some satisfaction. It was also interesting to read about Woodward's struggle to keep the secret for so many years, including deciding to lie in a few instances.

Turning back to the Plame/Miller/Rove matter: Though the lack of leaks from the prosecutor's office is a good thing, and a welcome change from the way Judge Starr slimed those he could not indict, there's one downside. It's too much speculation by people who really don't know the details. At the moment, folks seem to be arguing that Rove might not be guilty of naming Valerie Plame as a C.I.A. agent because he didn't know her name and could only say, "Joseph Wilson's wife." I can't believe the actual case, if there is one, will turn on that distinction.

• Posted at 12:54 AM · LINK