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| https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/heat-vision/black-panther-jack-kirby-wouldve-adored-film-says-family-1084730 |
Hey, Mom! Talking to My Mother #1154 - Reprint - KIRBY'S BLACK PANTHER - a sense of doubt post #1473
Hi Mom,
When I do a reprint, usually, I like to add more content. So this one needs some more Black Panther content, starting with the new header that someone devised with the in-set of Jack Kirby's photo. Nice.
We must never forget and we must pay homage to our creators.
Its time to present this material again given the recent win by Black Panther at the Oscars.
Jack Kirby created Black Panther, but the King of a Wakanda surely has a life of this his own that goes far beyond Jack Kirby.
But he would have loved the new movie. See this.
FEBRUARY 15,
2018 10:00am PT by Ryan Parker
'Black Panther' Co-Creator Jack Kirby Would've Adored
Film Phenomenon, Family Says
FROM -
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/heat-vision/black-panther-jack-kirby-wouldve-adored-film-says-family-1084730
"My
father was a very social liberal person. He very much believed in social
justice and equality," son Neal says of the late artist.
The largest audience the late Jack Kirby could
reach in the 1960s — back when he and Stan Lee created comic book superhero the
Black Panther — was at most 200,000 through circulation.
When the Marvel Studios film starring Chadwick
Boseman opens this weekend, it will be seen by millions around the
world.
Excitement and anticipation for the Ryan Coogler picture are at a
boiling point. The film is projected to open to $100 million-$150 million and
could become the biggest launch ever for a Marvel Cinematic Universe hero's
first stand-alone movie. Black Panther is
already being heralded by those who have seen it as a cultural movement.
Kirby, who died in 1994, would be overcome with joy, and likely
some shock, with how beloved his one-time risky character has become, his
family tells Heat Vision.
"Fifty years ago, he could have never
envisioned the statement that this movie is making and the way it is being
embraced by everybody," Kirby's son, Neal, says of the legendary artist.
"In terms of a message, that was always his intention, but he could have
never envisioned reaching this size of an audience."
Created in 1966 by Lee and Kirby, Black Panther
was revolutionary as the first African superhero in mainstream comics.
Considered by Kirby as one of his most important creations for its
message, T'Challa (Black Panther) was a black man with brawn, brains,
wealth and advanced technology introduced in the middle of the civil rights
movement.
Neal Kirby, a high school senior when Black Panther first appeared
in Fantastic Four No. 52 in summer 1966, remembers
his father talking to him about introducing the character.
"I recall during the winter or early spring
he asked me what I would think of a black superhero in the comics. Of course he
was very much for it, as we all were at the time," Kirby says. "My
father was a very social liberal person. He would have been the Bernie Sanders
of his day. He very much believed in social justice and equality, so he
honestly thought it was time. Why shouldn't African-Americans have their own
superhero?"
Kirby's son says he believes his father
purposely designed the character to rival white superheros.
"You had a character like Black Panther
that not only has all the physical powers and a super suit, but he is certainly
the intellectual equal to Reed Richards (Mister Fantastic) of the
Fantastic Four," he says.
But such a character at that time was risky both
creatively and for life and limb. However, the senior Kirby did not care, his
son says. The comic book legend dealt with adversity before over another
character, Captain America, who was portrayed as punching Adolph Hitler in the
face in his 1941 first issue.
"I remember at one time he received a
letter or something happened [over Black Panther] and he was a little
concerned," Kirby says. "It kind of went back to his day when he and
Joe Simon created Captain America and they were receiving death threats from
the American Nazi party in New York. And, as the story goes, Mayor [Fiorello
H.] La Guardia put a police car outside their studio. So there was a little
concern there (again). But it was a passing thing. I don't think he ever
expected blow back, like the KKK coming after him or anything like that."
More than anything, the Kirby family is happy
the elder Kirby is finally getting his due for creating numerous beloved
Marvel characters with Lee. Both Lee and Kirby created their popular characters
as work for hire, which meant Marvel retained the rights. But many fans have
long felt Kirby received the short end of the stick compared to Lee, who
for decades was the sole face of the brand. Kirby ultimately left for
rival DC in 1970.
"It is not a big secret. My father was
always very frustrated that recognition wasn't there," Neal Kirby says.
"And that's just natural for anyone. It was a difficult situation for
years and years."
Jack Kirby's children, Neal and three daughters,
took Marvel to court over copyright claims on certain characters. The case was
later settled. Neal Kirby says the family has a much better relationship with
Marvel these days and the family has been invited to all the Marvel film
premieres.
"He would have just been thrilled
regardless whether he saw his name up there or not," Neal Kirby says of
his father's pride for his creations being turned into huge blockbusters.
"To their credit, Marvel has been very good about [properly crediting Jack
Kirby]. We have had a very good relationship with them for the past couple of
years."
The family is doing its part in carrying on Jack
Kirby's legacy and memory, too.
Neal Kirby's, daughter, Jillian, spearheaded the Kirby 4 Heroes charity
campaign and routinely shares stories about her grandfather on social media.
Although she never met him, Jillian Kirby
says she is immensely proud of her grandfather's work and legacy.
"I do know that if he were alive today, my grandfather would
be beaming, but not because of just seeing his creation on the screen, but for
the message of pride, self-respect, dignity, hope and optimism it bears,"
Jillian Kirby told Heat Vision. "A
black superhero with both amazing mental as well as physical powers, from a
technologically advanced society in Africa, sends as strong a message now as it
did over 50 years ago. Today, my grandfather’s message will reach tens of
millions of people of all races and nationalities, a concept my grandfather
could never have conceived of."
Jack Kirby was posthumously named a Disney
Legend with Lee for their co-creations last summer. During his speech, Lee said
of his partner after a tribute video, "I have never been known as a man of
few words, but I have to say, I was so thrilled to see that testimonial to Jack
Kirby. So well-deserved."
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| at BOOKS WITH PICTURES in Portland on Division and 11th |
FROM -
https://sensedoubt.blogspot.com/2018/02/hey-mom-talking-to-my-mother-958-kirbys.html
Hey, Mom! Talking to My Mother #958 - Kirby's Black Panther
Hi Mom,
Despite being buried in work, extra buried because I was sick last week, so I did not maintain my usual pace, I took a break and went to see Black Panther today, Sunday, long after the time stamp on this post (more like 4 p.m.).
I feel I earned this break as I worked many hours both Saturday and Sunday before quitting for special events (Saturday night Liesel and I went to a Chinese New Year party).
I will not offer a full review yet, and I am building a curated repository of interesting articles, but I will say that the Black Panther lives up to the hype. It is as good as they're saying. I am glad I stopped working long enough to go see it and enjoy it.
So, here, for more of the comic book connection, material from the man who created the character: Jack Kirby.
Don't be disturbed by Kirby's use of "a black" and "blacks" in the quote below. He was not racist. And he loved this character. He did a great deal of the ground work for the character's heritage and African ancestry, and he did so with pride, respect, and great love.
In all the wonder and hype surrounding the film, let's not forget Jack Kirby's role as the characters creator, and though many have followed and contributed wonderful stories and elements to his lineage and development, Kirby is KING.
Jack Kirby's Black Panther
More than a half-century after Marvel Comics introduced the first black superhero in issue 52 of The Fantastic Four, the media is heralding the arrival of the first black superhero on the big screen: And it's the same character.
This is a reflection of two things, how painfully slow we make progress in the United States (if we make it at all), and how ahead of the curve Jack Kirby was.
Kirby, with Stan Lee, created the Black Panther in the mid 1960s acknowledging that Marvel had black readers, but no black characters.
Kirby, in his own gruff manner (he was a World War II combat vet who chain-smoked Roi-Tan cigars), put it this way:
"I came up with the Black Panther because I realized I had no blacks in my strip. I’d never drawn a black. I needed a black. I suddenly discovered that I had a lot of black readers. My first friend was a black! And here I was ignoring them because I was associating with everybody else. It suddenly dawned on me — believe me, it was for human reasons — I suddenly discovered nobody was doing blacks. And here I am a leading cartoonist and I wasn’t doing a black."
“I really think my father created and introduced the Black Panther because it was the right thing to do at the time,” said Kirby's son Neal. “It broke all the stereotypes—a black super hero with a scientific brain. It’s no secret that my father was very socially liberal, and I think he saw this as his personal way of making a statement and ‘joining’ the civil rights movement.”
Kirby initially named the character the Coal Tiger and did this character design. However, this was quickly changed to Black Panther - a name that pre-dates the black rights movement group of the late 1960s.
Black Panther made his first appearance in Fantastic Four #51 in a story plotted and penciled by the artist and scripted and edited by Lee.
The character made appearances in Captain America and The Avengers and in a solo, backup strip in Daredevil before landing his own series, in Jungle Action, starting in 1973. This was a memorable run, not created by Kirby, but scripted by Don McGregor with art from Rich Buckler, Gil Kane, (not that) Billy Graham and others.
Kirby, who'd been working for DC Comics for several years, returned to Marvel in the mid-1970s and did a 12-issue stint on a new Black Panther series, which he wrote, drew and edited, from 1977-78.
Here's a selection of art from that series and from Kirby's 1960s work on the character.
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Reflect and connect.
Have someone give you a kiss, and tell you that I love you, Mom.
I miss you so very much, Mom.
Talk to you tomorrow, Mom.
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- Days ago = 1338 days ago
- Bloggery committed by chris tower - 1903.03 - 10:10
NEW (written 1708.27) NOTE on time: I am now in the same time zone as Google! So, when I post at 10:10 a.m. PDT to coincide with the time of your death, Mom, I am now actually posting late, so it's really 1:10 p.m. EDT. But I will continue to use the time stamp of 10:10 a.m. to remember the time of your death, Mom. I know this only matters to me, and to you, Mom.
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