This year would have been Jack Kirby’s 105th birthday! We hope you’ve seen some of the fun tweets folks have shared on Twitter with the hashtags #JackKirby105 and #JackKirbyMonth!
Since we’re getting closer to the “celebration weekend” of 27 and 28 August, we thought it best to share some of what we’ve got in the works!
Livestreams!
Join us as we take a look at some of the Kirby homes in the NYC metropolitan area! On Saturday, we’re planning to visit Nassau County and Brooklyn! This will be a driving stream, with Rand Hoppe and Tom Kraft – and possibly some special guests – in Tom’s car.
Then, late Sunday afternoon, we’ll reprise our Jack Kirby Lower East Side Walking Tour, where you can join as online or in person! We’ll have guests, trivia questions, and, as is becoming tradition, a live dramatic reading of “Street Code,” and possibly more!
We also hope to kick off “Kamandi, the Last Kirby at DC in the 1970s Livestream Series!”
We’ll be sharing links as the schedule firms up. We hope you can join us!
Science Fiction Land and Lord of Light producer/co-designer, Barry Ira Geller passed away on February 22, 2022. Barry was a longtime supporter and advocate for the Kirby Museum. A regular on our live streaming interviews, Barry also organized Kirby-themed panel presentations and lectures at several west coast comic conventions and festivals. His excitement about future projects, passion for the work and legacy of Jack Kirby, and his vision of Lord of Light as a means of elevating consciousness will be missed.
Barry shows his 1978 appointment book indicating his first meetings with Jack Kirby during our live stream event, “3 Days for 103” with Kirby Museum Trustees on August 29, 2020.
Geller and Kirby
In 1978 Barry purchased the rights to Lord of Light, a sci-fi novel by Roger Zelazny about colonists from another planet who conquer Earth and become the legendary Hindu gods until they turn against each other for control of the world. Concepts of advanced technology, magic, enhanced consciousness, and spirituality resonated with Barry and formed the foundation of his ambitious projects to create and build a mega, Disney-sized science fiction theme park called Science Fiction Land® and a related movie, Lord of Light. Barry set out to recruit some of the top technical and creative minds to build and conceive his cutting edge Science Fiction Land.
Having grown up with 60s Marvel Comics, Jack Kirby was the first person Barry thought of for the ambitious project, and simply called him on the phone in 1978. Together they concepted and visualized 13 architectural drawings of key structures and points of view in the Science Fiction Land theme park. Kirby’s pencil drawings were inked and titled by long-time Kirby comic book inker, Mike Royer. According to Barry, Kirby was to be his “general” to execute visual conception and creation of the park. Later additions to Barry’s Science Fiction Land team included famed sci-fi makeup artist John Chambers, celebrated sociologist Maurice Stein, holography scientist Donald Broadbent, futurist and cultural critic Buckminster Fuller, legendary sci-fi author Ray Bradbury, Arcology architect Paolo Soleri, and others.
Science Fiction Land had a great start and was well on its way financially. The park was to be built in Aurora, Colorado. Big restaurant chains, tech companies, and retailers were interested and invested in the project. Unfortunately, the park was not to be. Illegal activity by both Barry’s business partner and the then Mayor of Aurora ended its chances. The movie, financially tied to the opening of Science Fiction Land, also fell apart even though Barry had completed a Lord of Light screenplay.
Barry holds a photo of his younger self exiting prison where he was briefly held after the collapse of Science Fiction Land until legal procedures exonerated him.
Argo
In 1979, John Chambers, part of the original Science Fiction Land think tank, also worked for the CIA. Unbeknownst to Barry, Chambers presented the Lord of Light screenplay and Kirby’s architectural drawings to his boss, CIA technical operations officer Tony Mendez. Chambers and Mendez formulated a plan to use a desert-based sci-fi movie produced by their fictional production company Studio Six as the basis to secretly get six American diplomats out of Iran. This operation was portrayed in the 2012 movie Argo. Unlike the movie, Kirby never produced storyboards for Mendez’s operation; they used the existing Kirby-drawn architectural drawings meant for the defunct Science Fiction Land theme park. On January 27, 1980, the six diplomats made it through passport control at the Mehrabad Airport in Tehran, boarded a Swissair flight to Zürich, and escaped Iran.
Left is the Lord of Light promotional book, right is the CIA version changed to ARGO.
Later Years
In the years that followed, Barry went into security software development, producing early encryption software needed in the growing computer technology industry. But Lord of Light was never far from his mind, to the point where in the early 2010s he was ready to restart old projects and create new ones. He frequented many comic conventions lecturing on the history of Lord of Light, his work with Jack Kirby and furthering his concepts with the original think tank of using futuristic technologies to change the consciousness of humanity.
In 2012 Barry started work with Jack Kirby Museum trustee Tom Kraft to digitally restore and enhance the Science Fiction Land drawings into giclée prints to bring more attention to Kirby and Royer’s work. Later, Barry licensed the drawings to Heavy Metal who colored and redesigned them into new versions for black-light posters.
Barry with Kirby Museum Trustee, Tom Kraft holding one of the newly restored Science Fiction Land prints 2013 Wondercon.
Barry continued new projects working with artist and colorist Anne Marie “Wally” Wharton who colored the 3D model of Kali, a character from the Lord of Light novel. The Kali figure was designed by Barry and sculpture Jacob Atienza. Wally worked on other projects such as coloring several of the Kirby Science Fiction Land drawings for use in future projects.
Artist and colorist Anne Marie “Wally” Wharton with a model of Kali colored by her.
Barry collaborated with artist Mike Royer to take the god figures from one of the drawings, Terminal of the Gods, and add Kirby-inspired squiggles overlayed on 3D models. Mike and Barry continued new projects working with artist and colorist Anne Marie “Wally” Wharton who colored the 3D model of Kali, a character from the Lord of Light novel. The Kali figure was designed by Barry and sculptor Jacob Atienza. Wally worked on other projects such as building a color palette used as a basis to color several of the Kirby Science Fiction Land drawings and for use in future projects.
Mike Royer with Barry at a panel discussion “Barry Geller & Mike Royer 2017 ComicCon SDCC” at the 2017 San Diego Comic-Con.
Comic artists/creators Mike Royer and Mike Thibodeaux with Barry doing a Kirby pose at the San Diego Comic-Con 2017.
There were other contributors and artists to Barry’s renewed focus on Lord of Light, such as sculptor Robert Maya, painter Mike Reagan, digital artist David Coons, videographer James Daugherty and digital designer and sculptor Jacob Atienza. Decades after Science Fiction Land first became his passion project, Barry was rebuilding his think tank.
Our sincere hope that this vision will continue after our loss.
We’re excited to announce that we are offering a new limited edition print of Jack Kirby’s Dream Machine. The colors are further restored, and the dated edition will number 100.
Producer and art director Barry Geller and inker/letterer extraordinaire Mike Royer join us for a livestreamed virtual event! Kirby’s Lord of Light works are some of his most inspired mythological visuals, and we’re thrilled to be able to talk about it with Barry and Mike.
Get ready! Starting Veteran’s Day, Thursday, November 11th at the One Art Space in NYC’s TriBeCa neighborhood, we’ll be offering or new exhibit:
Kirby, Eternally – from Ragnarök to Rebirth!
We’ll take a look at how Jack Kirby portrayed impending doom, armageddon, post-apocalypse and rebirth throughout his career, including The Eternals, Forever People, Thor, New Gods, and more. Original art will be on display, as well as reproductions of stories, pencil photocopies and even more!
For our opening day, we’re proud to be screening “Kirby At War,” which examines Jack Kirby’s comics through his experience as a young American soldier in WWII France.
On Saturday the 13th, the Jacked Kirby podcast will be recording an episode.
We’ll be presenting readings of Kirby’s works, including essays from the Eternals letters pages, comics stories, and more to be determined!
Due to NYC pandemic restrictions, we’ll soon be offering a limited # of attendance tickets for some of these special events.
Stay tuned here and on our social media feeds for more details!
We will be at the New York Comic Con this week from Thursday, October 6th to Sunday, October 10, 2021
We’ll have our full set of merchandise for sale including the popular Galactic Head t-shirt , art prints, posters, the Galactic Head pin, mini-portfolios and so much more!
Stop by, visit and talk Kirby with Trustees Rand Hoppe and Tom Kraft.
Got Kirby Art?
Do you have Kirby original art and plan to attend the con? We will have our professional scanner available to scan original art at our booth. Please stop by and have your art scanned for research, study and preservation for us all and future generations.
About our Digital Archive
The Museum’s Jack Kirby Digital Archive is an ongoing project to document and preserve super high-res digital images of all of Jack Kirby’s original art, photos and documents.
On Saturday, August 28th, join us to celebrate what would have been Jack Kirby’s 104th birthday! Starting at the corner of Delancey & Essex at 4pm, the walking tour will make its way to Kirby’s birthplace, then to the location of his boyhood home, and will end at the location of the boy’s club that was instrumental to his upbringing. At each stop, we will share stories and facts about Jack Kirby’s life on the Lower East Side and engage in some friendly Q&A about his work and career. There will also be trivia questions with prizes!
The tour will last approximately 90 minutes with a walking distance of less than a mile. We expect all attendees to be fully vaccinated, keep a reasonable distance while walking, and to wear masks during all stops. The tour will be livestreamed to our usual venues on YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, and Twitch, with Kirby-centric video clips streamed out while we are walking.
What: Jack Kirby LES Walking Tour When: Saturday, August 28th, 4-5:30pm Where: Meet on the NE corner of Essex and Delancey, in front of Richies and Fabco Shoes
One-time Jack Kirby assistant and long-time great guy Steve Sherman passed away last Thursday, June 24th. It was a joy having gotten to know Steve over the years, and it’s sad that he’s gone.
Jack Kirby & Steve ShermanSteve often joined Mark Badger and Bruce Simon at conventions in the Bay Area.
We are honored that Steve’s widow Diana Mercer has requested that those who wish to make a donation in Steve’s honor direct that money to us. Here’s a button to help:
We’ve published some of Michael Hill’s work over on our “Kirby Effect” blog, but now his fantastic book, “According to Jack Kirby” is available! It’s a must read!
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