From The Jack Paar Program for December 18th, 1964 — a big break for a new act…

Despite just being released from the hospital, I knew I couldn't miss the gala event this evening at the Skirball Cultural Center here in Los Angeles. It was the opening of two new exhibitions — Jack Kirby: Heroes and Humanities and Away in the Catskills: Summers, Sour Cream, and Dirty Dancing. Guess which one I was there to see.

John Morrow — who publishes The Jack Kirby Collector and the other fine publications from TwoMorrows Publishing — flew in from North Carolina just for the event. He was nice enough to pick me up along with my lovely friend Gabrielle Muttone and drive us to the Skirball Center. I was using my Rollator because my balance is not great, my legs get tired when I stand too long and a Rollator gives you the opportunity to sit whenever you like, regardless if there's an empty chair nearby. Actually, there were quite a few folks there on Rollators.

It's a terrific exhibit and I need to go back at least once to enjoy all its terrificness and yes, I know that's not a word. Call DOGE and have me fired for not doing my job properly.

The halls at the Skirball have many original pages and covers from Jack's long, amazing career and there are photos and a running next in the captions and…well, it will not disappoint anyone interested in the man's work. The exhibit will be there until March 1, 2026 and you can find out everything about visiting it on this page.

The place was mobbed and, interestingly, a lot of folks there came not knowing much or anything about Jack Kirby. They were loyal Skirball members who attend everything there and seek to broaden their knowledge by exposing themselves to whatever the Skirball thinks is worth hanging on its walls. I found myself in a fascinating conversation with a couple who didn't really know who Jack was when they walked in. They were mightily impressed with what they saw and had become on-the-spot Kirby fans. They also seemed unable to grasp the concept that I or anyone could have possibly known someone who created such mind-boggling artwork.

But of course there were people there who knew Jack — or knew of him — or knew each other. Among the many I encountered were Mike Royer, Rand Hoppe, Tom Kraft, Lisa Kirby, Jeremy Kirby, Tracy Kirby, Jillian Kirby, Tom Kenny, Jerry Beck, Scott Shaw!, Paul S. Levine, Dave Schwartz, Paul Power, Frank Balkin and many more. It was really a lovely evening and if you can get yourself to the Skirball in the next year, you'll have a very good time. You may even see me there again having another very good time.

I think Seth Meyers is doing some of the best political comedy ever done on television. Some of you might say, "Well, that's because you're Liberal and so is he" and the answer to that is that non-Liberal political comedy isn't even in the game. No one has ever done it that well and it's doubtful anyone ever will because, to use the analogy I made up for this years ago, it's like doing a Marx Brothers movie and trying to make Margaret Dumont the funny one. Right-wing media is good at a lot of things — I think it's a lot better than left-wing media at attracting loyal followers — but humor? Nope.

Here's Mr. Meyers the other night explaining why the Biden economy was so much better than the early stages of the Trump economy…and I'm not saying Donald can't turn it around but the way he tries to invert history and take credit for his predecessor's successes does not make me optimistic that he and his mob know what they're doing…

Glenn Kessler of The Washington Post points out how Trump keeps spinning the news of the stock market to claim the good news is his doing and the bad news is Biden's.

He also finds 32 false or misleading claims in Trump's recent interview with Time magazine.

Daniel Dale of CNN finds another whole bunch of not-true statements in Trump's interview with ABC News.

Politifact takes on the issue of whether Kilmar Armando Abrego García has "MS-13" tattooed on his knuckles. Photo experts say no. Trump will go to his grave insisting the photos are real. Snopes agrees Trump is wrong.

The New York Times, FactCheck.org and The Associated Press all list accomplishments Trump is claiming for his first 100 days in office that are not true.

While you're at it, I recommend reading Fred Kaplan on how Trump's attempts to make America more of a world power are backfiring big time.

Everyone's favorite mindless warrior, Groo the Wanderer, makes a tidy cameo in today's episode of the always-clever comic strip, Slylock the Fox by Bob Weber Jr. That's one of two panels and you can see the other one and maybe find the differences between them over at www.slylockfox.com. Always a fun site to visit.

For those who've asked: Yes, there's another mini-series of Groo the Wanderer presently in work…but it may take a while before you see it. Sergio and I are both busy with a great many things. If I can just stop going to the hospital, it might hasten things along.

Quite a few years ago, the great Broadway songwriters John Kander and Fred Ebb did this show. It's 52 minutes of them performing some of their most popular songs and a few you probably never heard. There are moments in it when Mr. Ebb looks like Albert Brooks in Broadcast News perspiring heavily but the whole thing is pretty entertaining…

CNN lists and debunks 100 lies that Trump has told in the first 100 days of his second presidency. And those are probably not the only ones.

I'm not blogging on my iPhone while lying on a gurney getting an Ultrasound like I was this morning. I'm at my computer in my house and writing this makes me really feel like I'm back. There will be a post here in the next day or two about Hospital Food and it will not be pretty.

If you wanna know what happened: I had my gallbladder removed last Friday and they sent me home around 6 PM. I was feeling fine…a little tired but fine. Scroll back and see how much I posted here that evening. Saturday, however, I was in agony for a condition in my legs. Was it a result of the gallbladder surgery? I didn't think so and the doctors I talked to via phone on Saturday didn't see how it could be. One of them was the surgeon who did the surgery.

Sunday, the pains were so great that I had to do something. Around 6 AM, the lady staying with me said, "Call 911, have them take you in" and she was, of course, right. There were no other options short of honorable death or ritualistic suicide by disembowelment…but you have to be a full-fledged samurai to do those things and I never finished the course. So I had my second ride this month in an ambulance and when I finally got to see a doctor, it turned out to be a very wise lady who decided it was a series of muscle spasms…and DO NOT WRITE TO TELL ME ABOUT YOUR EXPERIENCES WITH MUSCLE SPASMS. I DO NOT WANT TO HEAR ABOUT YOUR MUSCLE SPASMS AND I DON'T NEED ANY MORE ADVICE IN THIS AREA. Thank you very much.

The proper medication was prescribed and taken and soon the pain was going away. They kept me over until it was gone and I was up and walking…and that, pretty much, was that. I wouldn't wish those couple of days on anyone but I have to say: Every single person I encountered — every doctor, every nurse, every administrative person, everyone holding a mop or pushing me in my bed from one examination room to another…even, maybe especially, the firemen who came when I called 911…was friendly, patient, understanding and good at what they did. It made the experience a lot less painful.

I'll write more about those days in the coming days. Thank you for your patience.

Seth Meyers last night was real good too…

As most of you have correctly deduced, I'm dealing with some more medical issues. They're minor and already solved and I should be back to full presence in a day or so. I'm feeling pretty good and one of the things that made me feel pretty good waa watching this. It's Jon Stewart firing up America to save America…

Please forgive any typos in this post. I'm doing it on my iphone while in a hospital bed while a man is doing an Ultrasound on my abdomen to verify that my liver is as sound as the last Ultrasound on my liver said it was. If only this nation's economy was functioning as well as my liver…

….but this is too important not to embed. If you haven't already seen it, see it…

P.S. If the above video is not John Oliver explaining what an unqualified dufus Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is, refresh your browser until that video appears and then watch it. Thank you.

You've doubtlessly been asking yourself, "Evanier's been doing that blog of his for twenty-four years! When the hell is he going to get around to writing something about Lancelot Link, Secret Chimp?" Well, that time is now.

Lancelot Link, Secret Chimp was a Saturday morning series on ABC in 1970 that was kind of like Get Smart! if Get Smart! had featured a cast of chimpanzees. It was created by Stan Burns and Mike Marmer, a very successful comedy-writing team who'd not only worked on Get Smart! but also on The Carol Burnett Show, The Flip Wilson Show, The Steve Allen Show and many others.

Apart from its all-chimp cast, it was unique in the way it was written. They'd write a script with mostly action and the trainers would do their best to coax those actions out of the chimps. Then the writers, including Burns and Marmer, would write actual dialogue to the footage and it would be dubbed-in by a voice cast that included Joanie Gerber, Dayton Allen, Bernie Kopell, Malachi Throne and Steven Hoffman. I believe Hoffman was the lead singer in the show's band, The Evolution Revolution.

Seventeen episodes were made and its first season, the show had an hour time-slot with Lancelot Link adventures occupying much of the hour and the remaining time filled by classic Warner Brothers cartoons. The second season, it was in a half-hour time slot with the cartoons eliminated and the same Lancelot Link material edited down to fit. I believe it is just the half-hour episodes that have since been syndicated.

I don't remember ever making it all the way through a single episode but it achieved some popularity and a lot of merchandising in 1970. Gold Key put out eight issues of a comic book largely written by Paul S. Newman and largely drawn by Mike Sekowsky. Here is a little documentary about the series that interviews Mssrs. Burns and Marmer. Thanks to "John G." for calling it to my attention.

Mark is spending most of today resting after yesterday's surgery. It went so well they let me go home the same day but more sleep is feeling like a great idea so that's what I'll be doing.

Shelly Goldstein was nice enough to send me this link to four numbers from the current Broadway revival of Gypsy starring Audra McDonald. It's for NPR's "Tiny Desk" program and I saw no reason not to share it with all of you. Enjoy. I'll be back at full strength in a day or so…

Donald Trump said he'd solve the Ukraine/Russia nastiness within twenty-four hours of taking office. He might not even wait that long. But now, a hundred-plus days into his second presidency, people still seem to be killing each other over there so he's trying to back-pedal from his claims or promises or whatever you want to call them. But Daniel Dale of CNN has found fifty-three times Trump said he could settle it in one day.

Fact-Check.org chimes in with fact-checking of Trump's claims about the price of gas and eggs. Politifact tackles his claims about getting gas prices down to $1.98 in some states.

Meanwhile, Trump is claiming credit for a rise in military sign-ups but as the Associated Press notes, that rise started under Biden.

Professor (and author) Arnold Kunka is reporting the passing of his friend — and I guess, mine — comic book creator Jack Katz. Jack Katz was born September 27, 1927 so he made it to the age of 97. Like just about everyone who got into comics when he did, he was enraptured by "the funnies" in the newspapers when he was a kid, loving especially the works of Hal Foster and Alex Raymond. Jack attended the School of Industrial Art in New York City and began drawing comic books while still there.

Throughout his career, he bounced around so many companies and worked under so many different names that it's difficult to list all the work he did but his first job would seem to have been assisting C.C. Beck and Pete Costanza on the comic Bulletman and maybe the original Captain Marvel, which they were then producing.  This would have been around 1943.  He worked for many of the "shops" that cranked out pages for various publishers of the day including The Jerry Iger Shop, The Harry Chesler Shop and the shop of Joe Simon and Jack Kirby.  Katz considered Kirby a personal mentor and always said, "Jack Kirby taught me how to ink and to spot black areas in my work."

He worked for everyone over the years and under many names including Jay Hawk, Vaughn Beering, Alec Justice, and David Hadley. Never very happy with the scripts or assignments he was given, he took advantage of the growing market for underground comics in the seventies and embarked on an amazing endeavor: He wrote and drew one of the first graphic novels to attract serious attention. Starting in 1974, he created The First Kingdom, an incredible fantasy story that he announced would span 24 issues.

Many doubted he would complete it, especially since the detailed art style he applied to it often required several days to complete one page. But finish it, he did: 768 pages done over twelve years. Each of its twenty-four issues was dedicated to his then-wife Carolyn who was as committed to seeing her husband fulfill his mission as he was to fulfill it himself. He later attacked shorter (but always epic in some sense) projects with the same intensity of effort.

Jack and I were friends for a time. He and Carolyn even once stayed a few days at my old apartment in Los Angeles where Jack spent almost every minute drawing about half of a page of The First Kingdom on my drawing table. The intensity with which he pursued it and everything else he did was amazing and, at times, a little scary. At some point, we drifted apart and I don't think we spoke in the last twenty-some-odd years. I don't know why.

The photo at the top of this piece was taken by me at a San Diego Con around — this is a guess — 1977. The one below is probably from the same convention. It's Jack at right with another of his many heroes, Joe Kubert. Jack Katz was a rare talent and of all the people I've met in the comic industry, I can't think of one who was more passionate and dedicated to his work or willing to spend every waking hour for days getting things the way he wanted them to be on the page. Just an amazing guy.