"They've Set Fire To The Universe!! Look Out! LOOK OUT!" COMICS! Sometimes We Celebrate The Arrival On Earth of Jack Kirby!!

Yes, it's that time of the year again! The time of the year when we celebrate the eternal magic of the man born on this day in 1917 as Jacob Kurtzberg; a man more commonly known to all as Jack Kirby. I'll shut my fat yapper now because this is his day and so without any further ado here are a selection of "cosmic"!!! images that just boggle my mind every time I see 'em. Many happy returns then to the man whose physical form has gone but whose genius transcends mortality. KIRBY!!!  photo Kirby05C_zpsfff296b0.jpg

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He was born on 28th August 1917.

He was Jacob Kurtzberg.

He was Jack Kirby.

He was EXCELLENT!

He was the King of - COMICS!!!

 

All images taken from issues of the 1976-7 comic book series 2001:A Space Odyssey(*) published by Marvel Comics. All pencils by Jack Kirby with letters and inks by "Mighty" Mike Royer.

(*) Based on concepts of the MGM movie by Stanley Kubrick and Arthur C. Clarke.

 

"...Not As A Mystery--But As A MAN!" COMICS! Sometimes The King Knew The Score!

Celebrate your Dad, come on! (Let's Celebrate!). Smooth segues be damned on this, The Day of The Father; didjya know that Jack Kirby was also a Father? Like all Fathers Jack Kirby knew of "The Task" but only Jack Kirby dared speak of it. The final, greatest "task" of any Father; when he must remove the bomb from his child's head while waving him or her off into "The Future", remaining behind to be blown up in their stead. Wait, maybe it was a metaphor! Or maybe I just wanted to post some Jack Kirby covers because, hey, today I get celebrated (COME ON!!!) so bit busy, yeah?  Maybe more substantial content later? J_Smitty did some reviews one post down and they're good eating! Yammer, yammer; look, here's some 1970s Jack Kirby magic...  photo 2001_Dad_02001_B_zps2ecad685.jpg

Sure, every Dad'll tell you how he  dreams of the day his spawn will leave home so he can actually watch, oh, that three and a half hour David Lynch film with the rabbit sitcom in it all in one go, or just get so drunk he pukes so hard he turns inside out in his own home. But it's all a bluff facade; they all know deep inside that when it happens it'll be like being kicked in the heart by a Shire horse. Jack Kirby knew that and Jack Kirby drew that. Empty Nest Syndrome but with robots and shouting and stuff. Because Jack Kirby was complex. Jack Kirby was The King:

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Of course we all know he won't ring unless he needs money.

And now in a futile attempt to satiate your cavernous need for content here be the covers and splash pages to the short-lived, but EXCELLENT!, 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY series published by Marvel Comics. A company for whom Jack Kirby famously did some "work for hire"!!! The series was written and drawn by the ceaselessly astounding Mr. Jack Kirby and inked by his finest facilitator Mr. Mike Royer. If you find these issues in a back-issue box pick 'em up because, due to some Rights business, it's unlikely to be reprinted anytime soon. Advice that is, you know, like your Dad gives you. But more fun. Anyway, this...

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 photo 2001_End_01001_B_zps06839b43.jpg Sup your micro-brews while you can, Fathers of The World.

Well, okay, there may not actually be a party goin' on right here but at least there's always - COMICS!!! Happy "Father's" Day!!!

Wait, What? Ep. 123: Assault Monitors

 photo 056e8705-2df6-408f-a364-dbc9cee4a351_zps26378d3c.jpgFrom the amazing Kirby-written, Kirby-drawn finale to the first Super Powers miniseries.

See, everyone? I don't blow every deadline, just some of the deadlines.

Anyway, we're back (although SPOILER: we're off next week again) with not quite two hours of Kirby talk, Ewing talk, and...three year old niece talk?  Um, I'm afraid the answer to all of those is: YES.  Join us after the jump for show notes, why don't you?

0:00-2:35:  Hello again!  It has only been about two weeks but we are confoundingly rusty. 2:35-19:01:  And yet, within the first three minutes we are talking comics.  More specifically, we are talking the terrific Ethan Rilly's Pope Hats #3, which Graeme found on the cheap while we were at the comic store together up in Portland.  We talk about it, the work of Philippe Dupuy and Charles Berberian; the Paul books by Michel Rabagliati; how it feels to be in the elite cadre of CE newsletter writers; the difficulty of digging through long boxes as you get old; the food in Portland; Vegan Viking -- Portland food or Jack Kirby character?; the hero of World War II, Ken Dynamo: and more. 19:01-21:16: After some problems with his 2000 A.D. app, Jeff managed to get his subscription ironed out and was up to his neck in 2000 A.D.  And so in Part One of "this week in Al Ewing," we rant about the Zombo strip in 2000 A.D.'s Free Comic Book Day issue, or do until an unexpected tech snag sends us instead into…. 21:16-21:52:  INTERMISSION ONE! 21:52-24:19:  And we are back, with a story from Graeme about some hold music that is all about listening to music while on hold.  Meta.  And then about a company that has put the Star Trek logo onto an arrangement of atoms. Terrifying. 24:19-29:33:  But, yes. Back Al Ewing and Henry Flint's fantastic Zombo story for the 2000 A.D. Free Comic Book Day story.  Also, Graeme was in the store during Free Comic Book Day and saw some eye-opening things.  (I mean, apart from comics.) 29:33-34:54:  Hey, Whatnauts:  care to help a brother out?  Jeff is looking for ideal comic books for his three year old niece that are age appropriate and feature female action heroes.  This segment talks about the stuff he's looked at, the stuff he's looking for, and how you can help. 34:54-54:08: And somehow this leads into Justice League of America #3.  Graeme has read a bunch of recent DC titles and comes away with a good feeling about the variety in the New 52's line-up…or does he?  Included in the discussion:  the latest issue of Swamp Thing, Suicide Squad #20 by Ales Kot and Patrick Zircher; Ann Nocenti doing her thing on Katana; Jeff Lemire's Green ArrowBatman & Robin, and more.  By contrast, Jeff read The Movement #1 and Action Comics #20, and was maybe not so positive about it. 54:08-59:59:  Part Two of "this week in Al Ewing":  Graeme sells Jeff on Avengers Assemble #15AU, and Mr. Ewing's latest novel, The Fictional Man. 59:59-1:07:22:  Also under Graeme's magnifying lens, Gilbert Hernandez's Julio's Day and Paul Pope's The Death of Haggard West. 1:07:22-1:07:43: Intermission Two! 1:07:43-1:16:16: Can you withstand the onslaught of….The Graemebot! And Jeff has a story of frustration--dire funny book frustration.  Family are involved. 1:16:16-1:28:09: Jeff has seen Iron Man 3 and talks about that a bit.  What about Jeff's boycott?  He talks about that, too, as well as the weirdness that appears to the Avengers 2 negotiations and Marvel Studios. 1:28:09-1:32:46:  Which brings us to Graeme's tweet about Marvel and Jack Kirby that was retweeted 645 times. The figures in Graeme's tweet comes from the first issue of Comic Book Creator from Two Morrows Press, which we also talk about for a bit. 1:32:46-1:55:56: Speaking of Kirby, we discuss The Jack Kirby Omnibus Vol. 2, as well as the amazing "White Zero" issue of 2001: A Space Odyssey #5.  We discuss the first Super Powers miniseries, especially the last issue written and drawn by Kirby. 1:55:56-end: Closing comments.  Next week we have a skip week thing going on (again) but we make pledges! We make vows!  We take oaths! To try and give a good run of episodes for a bit.

As for the episode itself, well, hmm.  It probably hasn't hit iTunes yet (although that RSS feed does seem to synch up quite nicely to it these days) but, as always, you are more than welcome to listen to it here:

Wait, What? Ep. 123: Assault Monitors

As always, we hope you enjoy, and we thank you for listening!

Wait, What? Ep. 101: Little Shavers

2001_kirbyKirby. Kubrick. 2001.

2001 for Episode 101?  I don't think it's deliberate, but knowing Mr. McMillan, I wouldn't entirely rule it out either.

After the jump:  Welcome to a new age of... Show notes!

0:00-1:51: Testing, testing! (Okay, I admit it: the new age of show notes is pretty much exactly like the old age of show notes.)
1:51-6:39:  Graeme (and his new friend, a mystical crow) share an observation about Brian Bendis and his interviews on Word Balloon, which leads to a bit of discussion about our sound problems for Ep. 100.  And if anyone wants to do up a splash page for "Even Troopers Have Their Limits!" as described herein, we would figure out some way to thank you for it (probably in twitter shout-outs and old review copies, and if you've listened to enough episodes, you know exactly how the labor for those rewards is being divided).
6:39-10:13: Are you experienced in the art of... K-Box?  Graeme and Jeff begin developing their next money-making scheme before your very eyes--the oral history of infamous Internet commenters.
10:13-29:58: On to the comics! Graeme wraps up his New52 Zero Issue overview with an examination of the highly remarkable revisions to Tim Drake's history. And Jason Todd's history. And Guy Gardener's history.  And Damien Wayne's history. And Selina Kyle's history.  You may sense a trend here.  (Also there were a few parts where I could've edited out the musings of mystical crow in there, but I didn't.)
29:58-34:28: You know what's not an Issue Zero?  Prophet #29 by Brandon Graham and Farel Darymple.  It is probably Jeff's favorite issue since the reboot, if for no other reason than it nails Space Conan angle he finds so enjoyable.  Graeme is much more coolish on the reboot generally, and that is a thing we rap about at least long enough to provide...
34:28-49:25: The world's greatest segue to what Graeme has been reading:  Jack Kirby's 2001: A Space Odyssey!  In the first of this episode's two dramatic readings, Graeme performs Kirby's text page from the first issue to help make sure our minds are properly blown.
49:25-53:38: So properly blown are our minds, in fact, that Jeff has to get off the phone and call back due to worries about the tech quality of the call.  (Also, it should be noted:  Jeff is recording despite managing to once again strain his back, and so has taken a muscle relaxant to allow him to twist at the hips easily and sit comfortably and other fun stuff that feels more and more like dire necessities once they are taken away.  For extra Whatnaut points, can you determine precisely when the muscle relaxants kick in and make Jeff even more thickheaded and easily baffled?)  We get back, Graeme wraps up talking about Kirby and then moves on to Steve Englehart's '70s run on Dr. Strange.  Us talking admiringly about Englehart is pretty much the free space center spot in the middle of the Wait, What? bingo card, isn't it?
53:38-59:28: Jeff exhorts Graeme to check out Tom Scioli's amazing love letter to Marvel Comics, Final Frontier, a webcomic that starts with a quartet of Fantastic Four analogs giving a farewell concert on the roof of their impressively stacked building, and gets only stranger, wilder, and more hilarious from there.
59:28-1:17:34:  Here's a shocking surprise--Graeme had never heard of Mike Allred's movie, Astroesque!  Jeff saw it fourteen years or so ago, and can kinda remember it?  From there and a consideration of the Allred mystique, it's on to discuss the Cult of the Indy Creator, whether it hurts or helps the artist, and what it might mean for comics and/or Matt Wagner (about which, Jeff has bungled some of the points he's taken from the very keen piece on Wagner by Jason Michelitch over at Hooded Utilitarian ) and/or Gilbert Hernandez.
1:17:34-1:21:12: And from there, we get to Jeff confessing his trepidation about Brandon Graham's Multiple Warheads and Brian Lee O'Malley's upcoming Seconds and why or why not that should be the case.
1:21:12-1:21:58: Graeme has a tender moment alone with you, the listener. (Well, more like thirty-five seconds... but it is very, very tender, so there's that.)
1:21:58-1:30:54:  Then a moment of high drama:  Will Jeff and Graeme remember where they left off?  (They do.) Will they have more to say about the expectations of creators and readers, and their shared responsibility for a work? (Yep.) You must tune in to find out! (Except you don't, see, because I already told you...but that's not to say it isn't interesting listening.)
1:30:54-1:41:48: News time!  It's more than just a thing Jeff tries to get Graeme to talk about while he tries to find a reference. Kirkman! Millar! Ultimate Avengers hardcover! Sale prices at Comixology!
1:41:48-1:47:31: Time for our second dramatic reading--this time it's Jeff, covering that well-known cowboy's lament, Letter from Matt Fraction to Jaime Hernandez in Love & Rockets New Stories #5 (in the key of E).  And maybe we get our new podcast motto out of it?
1:47:31-end: Speed round! (By which I mean, the time of the podcast where we kind of act like we're on speed.)  Jeff likes The New Deadwardians.  He likes it a lot.  Graeme mentions Larime Taylor, an artist who draws comics with his mouth.  And then we spend some time wondering about Morrisoncon, which will be over by the time you ever hear us talk about it. (And once again, we prove which of us is the optimistic one and which the more pessimistic one.)  Also, the return of our special guest-star, information about our upcoming birthdays, and how you can prepare for at least one of us, should you so choose.
Chances are you can still find us on iTunes, sort of, but, hey, there's always, like, here?
As always, we hope you enjoy...and thanks for listening!