Sunday, August 28, 2005

Kirby's Fifth World

And to cap off Jack Kirby Day, we have the announcement that the online Jack Kirby Museum is up and operating. Randolph Hoppe, John Morrow, Lisa Kirby and all the folks who've pitched in have done a great job. I have no doubt that in the months to come, this will become one of the most important websites for anyone who cares about comic books, and I intend to help them out all I can. If you have Kirby data to share, so should you...and of course, you'll want to join and contribute in that way. Congrats to all involved. Jack and Roz would have loved it.

• Posted at 7:19 PM · LINK

Breaking Blondie News

Just noticed the Blondie crossover in today's Gasoline Alley...filled with a lot of familiar comic strip faces.

• Posted at 4:26 PM · LINK

Sunday Afternoon

If you live in Louisiana or anywhere in the path of Hurricane Katrina, I hope you're reading this either from a safe location elsewhere, or days later when you return to find your home safe and undamaged.

Events like this that remind me of a line I quoted here a while back. Someone asked Kurt Vonnegut, "What's the purpose of life?" and he replied...

Well, I have a son who writes very well. He just wrote one book; it's called The Eden Express. It's my son Mark, who is a pediatrician and who went crazy and recovered to graduate from Harvard Medical School. But anyway, he says, and I've quoted him in a couple of my books, "We're here to help each other get through this thing, whatever it is."

I think of that in times of crisis. I'm not sure if we can ever stop wars and man-made destruction in this world but I know we can't stop things like hurricanes. All we can do is help each other get through these things.

• Posted at 1:03 PM · LINK

Jack

It's funny. No matter how much I write about Jack Kirby — and I've written an awful lot, including a monster of a biography that's nearing completion — it's never enough. Maybe that's why the book has taken so long. Jack was such an awesome presence that even today, more than a decade after his death, he resists summary. He was a kind man, a good man, a talented man, a brilliant man. He glowed with the sheer power of new ideas and creative enthusiasm...and when you were around him, you felt it. He talked to the greenest fan as an equal and sent the kid home charged with confidence and vigor. If you weren't fortunate enough to meet Jack in person, you could still get a lot of that out of his work. People still do, which is why it remains in print and why interest in him has never diminished.

It is not enough to list the comic books he created or co-created. That's a pretty long list but Jack was more than the sum of a checklist. He was a man who had lasting impact, almost all of it positive, on the industry in which he worked and on the people he touched. Along with itemizing the Hulks and Captain Americas he helped give us, you have to remember the people he impacted, not only in comics but in many walks of life, and all that they invented. Shortly after Jack's passing, I received a letter from a spot welder (I'm not making this up) who told me with absolute sincerity that the work of Jack Kirby had inspired him to be the best possible spot welder. People credit Jack as an influence on many of today's top authors and filmmakers, and that's true. But I've always thought he would have been just as proud of that spot welder.

Had Jack not died when he did, he would have been 88 years old today. With his influence and work so visible, it ought to be hard to miss the guy. But some of us sure do.

• Posted at 10:32 AM · LINK

P.S.

Just noticed I am not alone in having my name signed to a slate I don't necessarily endorse. On one page of the WGA election mailing, my friend Adam Rodman declares his support for Carl Gottlieb for the vice-presidency. On another, Adam's name appears on a list of members urging the election of the slate that excludes Carl Gottlieb. I'm having lunch with Adam this week and I'll ask him, but I'll bet he wasn't the one who screwed up here.

• Posted at 12:20 AM · LINK

Guild Stuff

If you're a member of the Writers Guild of America, west, you're just now receiving your packet for this year's election of three officers and eight members of the Board of Directors. If you're not a WGA member, you're missing out on the fun of seeing a batch of articulate, dedicated people who essentially agree on almost all the key issues waging a bloody battle against one another. Every one of them is in favor of strengthening the guild, increasing minimums, protecting and rebuilding the health insurance and pension funds, extending WGA jurisdiction to non-covered areas like animation and reality programming, etc. Still, in the guild, we never like to let the fact that we're all on the same side keep us from having a nice, divisive fight.

The guild election mailing, which I received this afternoon, contains candidates' statements and also what they call "non-candidates' statements" where various members write or sign letters of support for certain acquaintances who are running. My pal Carl Gottlieb, who's seeking what must be his eighty-thousandth term as Vice-President, usually gets some exciting names on his. This year, his endorsers include Steve Martin, Buck Henry and Rob Reiner. No one has any reason to think Steve, Buck and Rob — none of whom are particularly active in guild politics — have any insight into who'd make the best veep, or that they're signing for any reason other than that Carl's a friend. Still, if I were running for office and I could get Steve Martin to endorse my bid, I'd use his name...and so would you.

This current battle pretty much comes down to two slates of candidates. There's the "New WGA" slate, which is toplined by presidential candidate Patric Verrone, and then there's the "Common Sense" slate, which has Ted Elliott as its presidential candidate. I'm friends with some folks on both slates, think highly of all of them, and know of no one on either who'd be a disaster if elected. To the extent there is a difference of issues between the teams, it's that the "New WGA" crew wants to drastically increase the amount of money the WGA spends on organizing efforts, getting non-guild TV shows and movies under the guild umbrella, along with new technologies. The "Common Sense" candidates endorse the goal but not the strategy, arguing that the "New WGA" guys are looking at a very expensive organizing model that might work for non-creative unions but won't work for writers. I have no idea which side is right on this one. I'd like to think that whichever combination of these candidates gets in, it will be possible to look at the proposal and select the proper course. My guess is that most members will figure that a vote for the "New WGA" slate is a vote to get more militant about organizing and that all or most of their slate will prevail.

Lastly, this is a minor point but I'll mention it anyway. I agreed to add my name to a non-candidates' statement which, I thought, merely endorsed Patric Verrone's bid for the presidency. The "New WGA" website lists me as endorsing his entire slate and in the election mailing, I find my name signed to a page for not only Patric but also the gentlemen running for vice-president and secretary-treasurer on his ticket. Maybe I was confused or maybe someone else got things mixed-up. Either way, it's wrong. I'm voting for Mr. Gottlieb as v-p, I haven't made up my mind yet about secretary-treasurer, and for the other posts, I expect to take the Chinese Restaurant approach, selecting some from Column A and some from Column B. So don't be surprised if when the election results are in, our Board of Directors includes Cashew Chicken and the Yang Chow Fried Rice.

• Posted at 12:13 AM · LINK

August 29, 2005 • Current • August 27, 2005