Alan Moore, who wrote Watchmen and V for Vendetta says, “With any legitimate trial of whistleblower Bradley Manning still being at an unspecified date in the future, it would seem that what is presently on trial here is Western culture itself.”
Category: Cartooning
King Kirby’s family loses claim to legacy
Well, this is disappointing. The family of Jack Kirby, the most powerful single creative force comic books will ever have, has lost their suit to obtain the copyrights of the characters that populate the Marvel Entertainment empire.
It’s a sad state of affairs that a settlement couldn’t be reached, where Kirby’s estate gets a share of the proceeds from the movies that are doing so well. It’s saddens me there’s so much bad blood between the Kirbys and Stan Lee, and also between Lee and Steve Ditko. I love everything these guys did, and I’m not comfortable taking sides, but the anti-Stan sentiment that has developed bothers me. Just as the Beatles did their best work together, so did Jack and Steve when working with Stan. Kirby saw the possibilities of his creations as major media entertainment, but Stan deserves credit for making it happen. I just wish the Kirbys could cash in the success of the franchise. Even better would be an alternate reality fantasy where Jack and Stan sued together as co-creators, as Siegel and Shuster did for Superman.
P.S. I haven’t seen the Captain America movie yet, so I don’t know who gets credit for the character. With Jack Kirby, Joe Simon co-created Cap, and he had his own lawsuit. Simon says (sorry, couldn’t resist), “I’ve been happy with the results of our various legal entanglements, and my relationship with Marvel is very good these days.”
P.P.S. Joe Sinnott submitted a statement to the court in March. It’s at this link.
In search of Jonathan Ross
Noted and notorious ex-BBC personality Jonathan Ross is at Comic-Con in San Diego. (Thanks for the tip, Denro!) I’m glad that Ross either never noticed, or didn’t care, that I posted his documentary In Search of Steve Ditko shortly after it aired in September, 2007.
Saugerties salutes native son Joe Sinnott
The 4th of July parade in Saugerties, NY featured grand marshall Joe Sinnott. Joe served in WWII, enlisting in the Navy after his brother Jack was killed in France.
Joe is 84, and take a look at his perfect-as-ever finished ink art over Alex Saviuk’s pencils for yesterday’s Spider-Man comic strip. Joe has said that he thinks he hit his peak about 50 years ago, and he’s just stayed there. It’s no brag, it’s just fact!
Here’s an example of Joe’s supremely masterful and clean inking over Jack Kirby’s pencils for Fantastic Four #63, in 1967 (borrowed from Rob Steibel’s Kirby Dynamics blog). The notes in the margins were written by Jack, and those notes get into the extremely contentious subject, that’s currently being litigated, of who created the characters of the Marvel Comics universe.
Eric’s anime pick: Planetes
http://youtu.be/L7vwj3TMZTc
The unbearable lightness of gunfire
The anime Gunslinger Girl may have a disturbing premise — school age girls turned into assassin cyborgs — but the music used for the opening credits, by the Scottish band the Delgados, is outstanding. I especially love the ethereal part after 3:30.
http://youtu.be/L-Slx60x3Hw