Fantastic
Kirby
“Co-created
by” is such an awkward phrase. It accurately describes that middle-school
science project on which your parents “absolutely, positively did not” provide
any assistance. It correctly describes Captain America, who was co-created by
Joe Simon and Jack Kirby. Both wrote. Both drew. A few years later, the pair
co-created the unbelievable genre of romance comics. Simon and Kirby went their
separate ways in the early ’50s. Kirby continued producing freelance art,
ultimately hooking up with Marvel Comics.
In
1961, Jack Kirby and Stan Lee co-created the Fantastic Four. Having worked
together for two years, the pair had developed a very pragmatic approach to
producing comics. Lee would give cursory instructions about the next issue
(something like “giant bug stomps LA”) and Kirby would go home and develop a
story, illustrate it, and annotate the panels. After receiving the finished
pages, Lee would add the dialog.
The
pair used this methodology throughout the genesis of the Marvel Universe,
institutionalizing it as the Marvel Method. Kirby was the artist-storyteller on
the first appearances of the Fantastic Four, the Hulk, Thor, the X-Men, and
several others.
Within
a few years, Marvel’s corporate cronies realized that Kirby had never signed
over his rights to those characters. Another 20 years later, Kirby agreed that
Marvel owned all rights to the characters forever and Marvel returned his
artwork, which it had been holding hostage. A phenomenal worker, Kirby had
regularly produced 15 pages of comic art per week. During the decades of legal
posturing, Marvel had destroyed or lost all but 1,900 pages.
Recently
re-released, Essential Fantastic Four,
Volumes 1-3 includes the first five years of Kirby’s work on the title.
Volume three contains “This Man, This Monster” from Fantastic Four #51, which
some have called the single best comic book ever published. For those of a more
obsessive stripe, issue 43 of the Jack
Kirby Collector (Twomorrows Publishing) is scheduled to hit comic shops
July 20.
—
Craig Brownlie
Curses
George
Washington called the use of profanity “A vice so mean and low without any
temptation that every man of sense and character despises it.” My mom thinks
only lazy people too dumb to come up with an alternate way of expressing
themselves trot out the curse words. Both the father of our country and the
mother of me make interesting points, but most people really seem to enjoy
swearing.
Over
the last two decades expletives have slowly seeped into television shows, be
they network (NYPD Blue), basic cable
(The Shield, South Park), or premium cable (The
Sopranos and the Old West cusstravaganza Deadwood). Oddly enough, it seems that when the restrictions on
language are lifted, the quality of the shows skyrockets. Is this because
profanity makes situations more true to life?
The
nearly Shakespearean Deadwood is
arguably one of the best-written shows on TV, but not everyone is on board with
the need for — or historical accuracy of — the cursing woven throughout
each episode. It is a fact, however, that in 1878 a law was passed in the real
town of Deadwood making swearing illegal, which suggests that it had become a
problem.
But
it’s surprising that modern society continues to be shocked by the use of
excessively colorful language. According to the Federal Communications
Commission, “Obscene speech is not protected by the First Amendment and cannot
be broadcast at any time.” The FCC makes big money leveling fines at violators
of its nebulous laws, but advertising dollars just might speak louder. Even
under the current administration, the line between what is and isn’t considered
obscene continues to blur.
And
they’re only words, aren’t they? I thought we had bigger fucking fish to fry.
This article appears in Jul 6-12, 2005.
