Category Archives: Open Thread

“Kirby” in ARGO movie

Not sure how much Kirby will be involved, but Ben Affleck is directing a movie called ARGO, about the 1979 CIA mission to rescue some people in Iran that used a fake movie production, based on the real movie proposal for an adaptation of Roger Zelazny’s LORD OF LIGHT for which Jack Kirby did several spectacular designs, inked by Mike Royer.  According to the IMDB entry for the movie, the role of Jack Kirby is being played by Michael Parks. The movie is scheduled to come out in September of 2012, so we’ll see then how big a role Kirby has in the story and if any of his actual designs appear in the movie.

Kirby Omnibus questions

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Just got my copy of DC’s THE JACK KIRBY OMNIBUS VOLUME ONE, reprinting his non-Challengers 1950s work for DC and some 1940s work that won’t fit anywhere else. Very attractive book, with a lot of never-reprinted material, looking forward to reading it over the next few weeks.

Few question marks though. I’m really confused about why “Pirate Or Patriot” from REAL FACT COMICS #1 [1946] is missing. Mark Evanier even says in the introduction that Kirby drew four stories for REAL FACT and that three of them are included, but no indication of why one was excluded. The story was reprinted in MISTER MIRACLE #4 [1971], so I have a copy and there’s no question it’s Kirby.

Also, I haven’t seen it, but SHOWCASE #15 [1958] is listed as having a 2-page story called “Space Ships Of The Past” by Kirby. That’s not included in here, either. Anyone seen it to comment on? It sounds like something that might have been intended for REAL FACT (the other 2-page stories from REAL FACT were used as fillers around that time), so I’m curious if it looks more like 1946 Kirby or 1958 Kirby.

Anyway, very minor possible blights on an otherwise great book, shouldn’t distract from anyone buying it. Fortunately DC’s tendency has been not to number books in this format which won’t be part of a series (so no “Volume One” designation on the Kirby OMAC, Losers and Demon, the S&K Sandman, the Ditko Creeper, the Kubert Viking Prince), so the “Volume One” on this new book implies that there might be plans for a “Volume Two” where oversights like those can be addressed.

Happy Joe Simon Day

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Congratulations to Joe Simon, born 95 years ago today.

As usual for all your Joe Simon needs I refer you to Harry Mendryk’s S&K Blog, and look out for several books by Simon in the next year.

Happy Joe Simon Day

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Today is Joe Simon’s 94th birthday, and he’s still going strong. Happy Birthday, Joe.

Mark Evanier has a post up about Simon. And of course you should keep an eye on the S&K Blog for a regular dose of some great analysis and wonderfully restored classic comic book images from Simon’s career.

Happy Birthday Joe Simon

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Over on the S&K Blog, Harry mentions that it’s Joe Simon’s birthday. Many happy returns to Jack Kirby’s longtime partner, and check the last few weeks of Harry’s blog for some great examples of Simon’s early work.