In July of 1993, Stuart Deitcher had an opportunity to visit Jack Kirby’s home in Thousand Oaks, California. He documented this trip on video and has graciously allowed us to archive and publish its contents. “I purchased a small Hi8 video camera specifically for this trip,” Deitcher tells us. “I was brand new to using a video camera, so please remember that I shot this for my personal memories. It was never intended for other eyes to view.”
While the quality of the video is low, it’s a historically significant look inside the Kirby home. We are pleased to present the video here in its unedited form as well as Mr. Deitcher’s memories of the trip.
In 1992 I went to San Diego Comic-Con. I hung out with art dealers Hans Kosenkranius, Will Gabriel, as well as Kirby family friend and inker Mike Thibodeaux. It was on this trip that I met [Misfits frontman and influential rock n’ roller] Glenn Danzig, who had also set up at SDCC as a comic art dealer. They all had some awesome Kirby material. Everyone was super nice and friendly. The convention hall was full of comics, original art, a handful of video game companies, and a few scantily clad ladies promoting some independent publishers. It was a terrific room and wasn’t overcrowded.
While I was standing by Hans’ table, Jack and Roz Kirby would occasionally stroll by. Mike and Hans mentioned that the Kirbys really enjoyed interacting with their fans, even welcoming those who stopped by their house in Thousand Oaks, California. I thought that sounded like an awesome idea and discussed it with Glenn and Mike, who said that they could make a visit to the Kirby home happen. We agreed to stay in touch in order to make plans at a later time.
After SDCC ended I headed to the San Diego airport. My flight was overbooked. The Republican National Convention was taking place in Dallas at the time and they needed the seats, so the airline asked if some passengers wanted to be bumped with a free domestic ticket for the next calendar year offered as compensation. My girlfriend and I decided to wait the extra four hours for the next flight which earned me a free flight back to San Diego. Unfortunately, that 12 month window meant I would miss the 1993 San Diego Comic-Con by about 2 weeks.
So I came up with another plan. This was my opportunity to put my Kirby visit into action. I talked to Glenn several times over the phone (remember, this was before the days of email and text messaging). He called Mike and set up my visit with the Kirbys for July of 1993. After buying my brand new video camera, my girlfriend and I flew into San Diego, rented a car, hit a Holiday Inn, and settled in for our four day trip.
I checked in with Glenn that evening to confirm our get together at his house. The next day I got into my Enterprise midsize rent-a-car and headed up to Los Angeles. Using a paper map (remember those?) I found Glenn’s gated house with the black Porsche parked in the front yard. He was extremely cool and friendly. His house had some really interesting things, including a full size stuffed wolf, giant M&M figures, stained glass panels and even more impressive items on display.
Glenn showed me some amazing Kirby material. Glenn called Mike and told him that we were heading in his direction. We jumped into my car and got on the Pacific Coast Highway. The cars seemed to be filled with many attractive women. I noticed that they were checking out Glenn as we drove. The one thing I remember about that drive was thinking: “women never check me out like that.”
A few hours later we found Mike’s apartment. Mike said goodbye to his girlfriend and we all jumped in his white van and headed to Thousand Oaks. This was turning into one of the coolest days of my life.
After about a 90 minute ride we pulled up to the Kirby home on Sapra Street. Jack and Roz were lovely people and welcomed us with hugs. The first thing that I noticed was all of the Fourth World full color art on the living room walls, most of which I had never seen before.
As we walked further in we went into Jack’s studio. It was wood paneled and had all kinds of cool stuff. Jack’s drawing table was a very low, simply constructed table made of brown wood that showed its age. There were cabinets with many drawers that were uneven and difficult to pull out. Many were full of well worn pencils. This had been the King’s throne for approximately the past 35 years. This was “where the magic happened.”
The house was beautiful. The patio in the back was adjacent to a large yard with a fire pit. It was at the top of a hill. You could almost see the wildfires burning miles away. Jack’s grandson was there as was their adorable dog.
Jack took me on a tour of his “castle” and he was incredibly informative and open. He had many framed items leaning against the wall. These were items getting prepared to be sent to one of the first large comic book auctions (this was in the days before Heritage Auctions). Among these, I saw the Captain America pin-up from Avengers #10 (with Chic Stone inks). Framed and hanging on the wall in the kitchen was a large pencil drawing of the New York City neighborhood where Jack grew up – the spread from his autobiographical short story, “Street Code.”
I really wasn’t supposed to be shooting all of this video. Nevertheless Jack and Roz humored my need to memorialize my visit. I even purchased a few pieces of art from Jack. We all hugged Jack and Roz goodbye. It was great to know that Jack was happy and living in a beautiful area. He was in a home that was worthy of his stature as the King of Comics.
We jumped into Mike’s van again. My head was spinning. We decided to stop at a Waffle House. My stomach was still in knots from the visit. I think I was able to eat something. Glenn was still getting looks from the waitresses and just about any other woman we passed. Glenn told us some “war stories” of his adventures on tour with his band.
We got back in the van and headed back to Mike’s apartment. Mike was awesome. I couldn’t thank him enough for making this incredible day possible. Glenn and I got into my car and headed back to his house. It was dark, late, and I still had a three hour drive back to San Diego ahead of me. Glenn was fantastic. Without him this day wouldn’t have happened. I got back to the Holiday Inn at about 3 am. It was a 21 hour day and I was still wound up. I had just visited Jack “King” Kirby! If I had won an Olympic gold medal I wouldn’t have felt as incredible. It was one of the best days of my life. Thank you Mike, Glenn, and of course Jack and Roz.