Jack Kirby Video Interview
For over a decade now, when someone asks me who my hero is, I chill of electricity shoots up and down through my spine and I get tingles as I say “Jack Kirby”— the guy was magic.
So imagine my joy today when I found a recently unearthed 1985 video interview with my hero. SEE HERE- - It’s broken up in to Realplayer clips.
In Clip 5, he mentions something that I had heard before, but never from the man himself… when he went to Marvel Comics to work, they were literally closing up shop that day. Getting rid of the comic book line entirely. Jack Kirby left DC to come make sure that the comics wouldnt be gone, and he wanted to keep the old heroes alive, the ones that served him well during the war. He single handidly saved the comic book industry.
He also mentions how he was battling the movies. He loved movies, but he felt that it was his competition, that his comics were like take-home movies– He said he could never conquer the camera, but it was his job to sell those books. And it was with that passion in his work, he created an industry and made many people wealthy. Nowadays, you just hear creators say they can’t compete with DvDs or video games.. and they kind of submit to the fact….. Jack Kirby would have never submitted to that… he would have worked harder to compete, and while doing so, taken the whole damn industry to a new level.
Will there ever be another Jack Kirby? Who’s going to come and save comics in its death throes?
August 20th, 2005 at 10:39 am
Wow! This is great stuff, DJ. Thanks for sharing. I have read tons of interviews with Jack Kirby. I even have a few audio interviews with Jack, but I don’t think I’ve ever seen a video interview with The King. It’s nice to see Jack with a smile on his face and cracking jokes.
August 20th, 2005 at 10:55 am
its spelled “death throES” buy a spell checker, DJ
August 20th, 2005 at 12:22 pm
You spelling nerds are getting on my nerves!
August 20th, 2005 at 12:58 pm
Wow, thanks for finding this! I’m a big Kirby fan myself, and this is pure gold.
August 20th, 2005 at 2:12 pm
“You spelling nerds are getting on my nerves!”
Also, it’s… “Who’s going to come and save comics in ITS death throes?” The “its” in that case is possessive and doesn’t need the contraction that “it’s” (AKA “it is”) would.
*ducks in case of a flying brick of silence*
August 20th, 2005 at 2:33 pm
Whyyyyy I OUgggghta!!
August 20th, 2005 at 10:19 pm
I sometimes use gmail so spellcheck and then copy and paste. Not when i post here, cause most people cant tell the difference.
August 21st, 2005 at 2:31 am
Yeah, most people, like DJ here
August 21st, 2005 at 5:00 am
Oh, Jack Kirby! At first I thought you meant Jack Chick…
August 21st, 2005 at 9:32 pm
Great link DJ. We should all thank Daddy Kirby.
August 22nd, 2005 at 1:55 pm
Keep in mind that as Kirby got older and saw how he was going to get screwed big-time by Marvel, some of his claims got more and more outlandish. He’s gone on record as saying that Lee had very little to do with the stories, that he created many of the major characters, etc.
Now, there’s no denying Kirby’s genius and creativity. And there’s no denying he got screwed. See that big FF movie? His estate got NOTHING. NADA. ZIP. That’s because Marvel had him sign a retroactive contract in the late 80s just so he could get a fraction of his original artwork back. As much as I like Joe Quesada, it pains me to hear him brag about how Marvel’s trade paperback department is outselling DC’s when they’ve put out a lot of Kirby’s work (including a Marvel Visionaries: Jack Kirby $35 hardcover and a $100 FF Ombinus book) that his estate won’t get a dime of.
But the “They were closing down” story is probably not true.
August 22nd, 2005 at 2:31 pm
The story about them closing down is true, according to folks like Martin Goodman, etc as well. The comic line was doing really poorly, and they were planning a big cancellation of the line, and Kirby came over and told them not to do it. This wasn’t just Kirby’s account….
Don’t even get me started on how much Kirby got screwed over, and not given credit, or while OTHERS stole complete credit for the works. It’s such a touchy issue among comic fans… Marvel should be ashamed of themselves though… I’ve vowed never to work for Marvel until they somehow make things right for the Kirby Estate. Putting his name in a movie, isn’t enough.