Continuing with photos of what I did at Comic-Con, we have a photo of what may just be my favorite panel of any San Diego con. Sunday morning for me always starts with the annual Jack Kirby Tribute Panel which is always packed and always interesting. I love it because Jack was, is and probably will always be one of my favorite people to talk about. The folks in the pic below are (back row:) Paul Levitz, Tom Brevoort, Patrick Reed and Paul S. Levine. Up front, you have me, Tracy Kirby and Jeremy Kirby. Tracy and Jeremy are grandkids of Jack and Roz.
Rather than me telling you about this year's Kirby panel, I'm going to let my friend Jamie Coville tell you about it. Jamie attends most of the panels at Comic-Con that deal with comic book history, be it recent or ancient. With the cooperation of the panelists, he records these panels and puts them online on his website for which he does not charge. You can find a recording of this panel and of many others over there. From it, I swiped a photo he took of the panel and this description of what was said on it…
On the panel was Mark Evanier, Tom Brevoort, Paul Levitz, Tracy Kirby, Jeremy Kirby, Patrick Reed and Paul S. Levine. The main theme of the panel is the current Jack Kirby exhibit. Patrick revealed how the exhibit came together, Levine talked about his small part as the Kirby's family lawyer and the impact the Exhibit had on him, Tracy and Jeremy spoke about how much of the Kirby family was there for the opening, they also spoke about some of the family items that are a part of the exhibit including Kirby's army uniform, how the exhibit is not just his artwork, but how it tells the story of Kirby as a person and a family man, Levitz announced that there are some NY Free Educational comic books being made, one of which will be about Kirby, others will have some Kirby related material in it, they spoke about Joe Simon being mentioned in the Kirby exhibit and how Jesse Simon was there at the opening, how they got private collectors of Kirby's art willing to donate to the exhibit, they also had costumes that Jack had designed for a play, they showed photo's of Jack and talked about them.
Tom Brevoort spoke about his first exposure to Kirby and how he still impacts Marvel to this day, Mark, Paul and Tom spoke a lot about Kirby's time at DC and how he was treated by Carmine Infantino, DC's production department and why, Evanier spoke about Jerry Siegel as an example of how creators are embarrassed about being ripped off on their creation both in terms of credit and money, Levine and Levitz spoke about the deal they made for New Gods characters merchandising, Tracy and Jeremy talked about their goal of keeping Kirby's memory alive for a long time.
Later on Sunday, I hosted the Cover Story panel. This is a panel I've been hosting every Sunday for I-don't-know-how-long, and I've done some of these at WonderCon, too. This was another idea, as I recall, that came from Gary Sassaman, who was in charge of programming (and other things) at the convention for many years before his retirement. Quick Draw! also began with an idea of Gary's.
The premise of Cover Story is to discuss the design and execution of comic book covers. I get a handful of great artists who've drawn covers and then I have a friend randomly select a few covers of the past by each. As I explain to the artists and the audience, these aren't the best covers these artists did or the worst ones or the most popular ones…just four or five covers. We discuss what goes into fashioning a good cover and then we discuss how and why the examples succeeded or didn't. Some of the most interesting moments come when I project a cover on the big screen and the artist moans, "Oh, I hated this one!" In this world, you can sometimes learn more from failure than from success.
This time out, the artists were — left to right behind me — Rick Hoberg, Chris Cross, Dan Jurgens and Michael Cho. I am again seated, this time because this was my eighteenth panel of the convention. I don't know why I don't look happier in some of these photos because I remember smiling and having a very good time.
Rick, Chris, Dan and Michael are four very good artists and they were all very good at explaining why they did what they did. Not every good artist can do that. Some of them, if you asked, "Why did you choose that angle?" would just shrug and say, "It just seemed like the way to stage it." There's nothing wrong with that. Jack Kirby operated like that. But some artists can articulate their reasons better and when I get artists who can, Cover Story is a more successful panel.
And this was my nineteenth and final panel of the con. It's called The Business of Cartoon Voices and it's all about how to break into that profession and how not to get ripped-off by what I call "Predatory Voice Coaches." There are many fine, non-predatory coaches around but there are some who will promise you the career of your dreams, take all your money and then, if and when you don't get the career you want, tell you, "You need more lessons. Write me another check!"
Talking to the crowd that filled Room 7AB that afternoon, we had Julie Thompson, an agent with Sutton, Barth and Vennari, one of the best agencies in town for this kind of thing. She's the lady behind me in the photo. Next to me is the brilliant voice actor Fred Tatasciore and behind Fred is the also-brilliant Kaitlyn Robrock. Kait used to come to every Cartoon Voice panel I hosted, studying all that was said and how the actors on the panel performed. Now, she's the voice of Minnie Mouse and many, many other cartoon characters you hear. Isn't that a nice rags-to-riches kinda story?
The other panel I hosted at the con on Sunday was a Cartoon Voice panel that I've already told you about but I have more photos from it and other panels. This series will run three more days.