EARTH PRIME TIME: G.I. JOE AMERICA’S ELITE: DISAVOWED VOL.

As a scholar of all things G.I. Joe and a bit of a snob when it comes to what is or shouldn’t be considered canon by Joe fandom, I was surprised to see IDW Publishingsolicit a reprint of what many comic fans consider to be the darkest of years, the post-Larry Hama G.I.Joe: A Real American Hero (1982) Devil’s Due era. I’ve dismissed these books in many a longbox and skipped over some great original artwork from convention portfolio bins before asking myself if this book has what it takes to be my America’s elite fighting team. Hasbro itself disallows this run from being canon, but Devil’s Due owned the license from 2001—2008, so there are plenty of Yo Joe! Colas to be downed as the reprints trickle into stores. G.I. Joe Americas Elite Disavowed Vol. 01 hits shelves today.

We heard shortly before New York Comic Con this year that Fred Van Lente will be leaving the regular ongoing G.I. Joe book after issue #11, and that got us thinking about the franchise and who might take over. No rumors have circulated yet, but our vote would be for Nathan Edmondson ofThe Activity and Who is Jake Ellis?. This is all before Marvel announced snatching up Nathan for newPunisher and Black Widow books at Marvel NOW!

The Devil’s Due writer from 2001-2005 starts with company founder Josh Blaylock, and his Real American Hero run became known as an alternate universe named “Disavowed.” In the universe, another terrorist organization known as Red Shadows was introduced as a threat to the Joes and Flint’s compatriot Lady Jaye dies after 43 issues of the new Disavowed continuity.

[READ MORE AT DIGBOSTON.COM]

DigBoston and LeaguePodcast Comic Book Picks of the Week for October 23, 2013

COMICS!

The inimitable team of Brubaker & Epting (Captain America) deliver an all new, extra-sized issue number one of Velvet to Image Comics. The superspy vixen Velvet Templeton is on the case in 1970s Paris! … Joining IDW’s animation resurgence is Jim Zub’s (Skullkickers) Samurai Jack #1. Jack faces demons as he attempts to thwart Aku and string together the Rope of Eons! Rejoice, old school Cartoon Network and Samurai Jack fans! … Issue 2 of The Rocketeer and The Spirit: Pulp Friction soars by today with a bi-plane punch-fest and the Rocketeer’s way of the future swooping in! Plus some romance too, thanks to Mark Waid and Paul Smith! … Picks this week from LeaguePodcast.com.

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EARTH PRIME TIME: INTERVIEW WITH PETER BAGGE (PART TWO)

We continue our talk with underground comics legend Peter Bagge (Hate) at Earth Prime Time to talk about his latest: Woman Rebel: The Margaret Sanger Story fromDrawn and Quarterly. Peter’s biographical hardcover graphic novel takes a look at one of feminism’s most controversial and important icons. Sanger’s (September 14, 1879 – September 6, 1966) life’s work was devoted to legalizing birth control and played a part in forming what is known today as the Planned Parenthood Federation of America. Peter’s book tour stops at Brookline Booksmith on Monday, October 21.
Interview part 1 HERE.

DIGBOSTON: You could say she was a loudmouth. She wrote columns in newspapers, she was a socialist. There’s so much to her.
Peter Bagge: She lived a long life, she was in her 30′s when she became very active in politics in general and more specifically in birth control.

Her politics, as is the case with most people, evolved over time.

You know that adage, if you are young and not a liberal, you don’t have a heart, if you are old and you aren’t conservative, you don’t have a brain. That would describe her. It’s not like she did some 180.

Some people would say to me, did you know she voted Republican? Technically yes, that was true, she was more supportive by the 1950s of Republicans, but that was only because the only people that would support birth control were the Republicans. By then, the Democrats, a huge part of their constituency were blue-collar Catholics.

Yet one more irony, the one person in Washington who was the most upfront about legal access to birth control was a senator from Connecticut, Prescott Bush, George W. Bush’s grandfather—who lost re-election for sticking his neck out for birth control.

[READ MORE AT DIGBOSTON.COM]

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EARTH PRIME TIME: INTERVIEW WITH PETER BAGGE (PART ONE)

Underground comics legend Peter Bagge (Hate) joins Earth Prime Time to talk about his latest work, including Woman Rebel: The Margaret Sanger Story from Drawn and Quarterly. Peter’s biographical hardcover graphic novel takes a look at one of feminism’s most controversial and important icons. Sanger’s (September 14, 1879 – September 6, 1966) life’s work was devoted to legalizing birth control and played a part in forming what is known today as the Planned Parenthood Federation of America. Peter’s book tour stops at Brookline Booksmith on Monday, October 21 at 7pm.

DigBoston: The most obvious question, and the one you are probably getting a lot, is why Margaret Sanger?
Peter Bagge: I wish I had a short snappy answer to that question! For a while now I’ve been doing nonfiction pieces, mainly for a publication called Reason magazine.

Short journalistic comic strips, most recently I’ve been doing short biographical strips. It felt like it was starting to build up to the possibility of doing a book-length one. I ran a bunch of names by this one particular publisher who I thought would be interested, and they were the ones who published it, Drawn and Quarterly.

One of the names I ran past was Margaret Sanger. What was interesting was the other subjects I had in mind were all literary figures for the most part. I was very interested in women writers from the mid 20th century, from between the two wars. The reason I was interested in them, besides liking their work, was that they lived very autonomous, independent lives. Though these women weren’t the least bit masculine, they lived their lives as if they were men.

They didn’t let their gender hinder them from doing anything. And that made me wonder about birth control. I also couldn’t help but notice these women didn’t get pregnant, they weren’t saddled with a bunch of kids.

I couldn’t help but wonder what kind of birth control did they use, what was available if they were using anything.

Peter Bagge - Self-Portrait / Author Photo (Drawn and Quarterly)

While researching that, I kept getting taken to Margaret Sanger. I kept running across incredible contradictory things that people would say about Sanger.

[READ MORE AT DIGBOSTON.COM]

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DigBoston and LeaguePodcast Comic Book Picks of the Week for October 16, 2013

COMICS

Check out our the first part of our two-part unabridged interview with Dig favorite cartoonist Peter Bagge (HATE) today in the paper and online. Bagge teams up with Drawn & Quarterly for a biographical comic of feminist icon that was once banned in Boston in Woman Rebel: The Margaret Sanger Story. … Golden Age hero The Fox returns in a new #1 from Archie’s Red Circle Comics with the award winning team of Dean Haspiel (Bored to Death, American Splendor) and Mark Waid (Thrillbent, Daredevil). … Harada has stolen some nanites from Bloodshot’s body and it’s up to H.A.R.D. Corps to exfiltrate and save him before the remaining nannies eat him alive in Bloodshot and H.A.R.D. Corps #15. Picks this week from LeaguePodcast.

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DigBoston and LeaguePodcast Comic Book Picks of the Week for October 9, 2013

COMICS

The indirect result of DC denying an all-ages Kamandi book for kids is the newest graphic novel from Paul Pope, Battling Boy. Join Aurora West and Battling Boy on a fresh monster stomping adventure. … Its a teamup of the century, Charles Soule (27, Swamp Thing) and Tony S. Daniel (Detective Comics, Action Comics) creating the The Man of Steel and Wonder Woman meet-cute in Superman Wonder Woman #1. … Celebrate the 10th Anniversary of The Walking Dead with issue #115. Rick vs. Negan in ALL OUT WAR! 10 alternate covers interlock, representing 10 years of the hit book just in time for the television return. … Picks this week from LeaguePodcast.com.

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EARTH PRIME TIME: BABYLON CONFIDENTIAL WITH CLAUDIA CHRISTIAN (PART TWO)

 

Actress Claudia Christian (Babylon 5, The Hidden, Clean and Sober) joins us to talk about her tell-all book about Hollywood, a new way of coping with an alcohol addiction, and more in Babylon Confidential: A Memoir of Love, Sex, and Addiction. Part two of our unabridged interview deals with her discovery of The Sinclair Method to treat alcoholism as well as her upcoming projects. (Part 1 HERE)

DIGBOSTON: To go back a bit and to change tone. Throughout the whole book, you talk about your struggles with alcohol, something you deem to call a monster that a lot of people struggle with, including myself. A lot of people go about their recovery in different ways. At the apex of the book you talk about your absolute bottom and your recovery. Mind talking about that a bit?
Claudia Christian: Not at all! My alcoholism struck when I was 37/38. I realized that I had a problem so I became sober. I tried everything. I went to AA meetings, which did nothing for me, I tried hypnotism, I tried psychotherapy. You name it. What happened to me, I was one of those people who would stay sober for six months and fall off the wagon. [I would] stay sober for 9 months and fall off the wagon. The problem with that is, there is a state of alcohol deprivation if you are an alcoholic. This is a scientific term.

The brain is in constant craving, even if you don’t realize it.

When I was sober. Every single day, all I could think of was the fact that I was sober, and I hated it. I just wanted to be normal again.

I wanted to be the Claudia that had one drink and could walk away.
I wanted to be the Claudia that had a dinner party, [could] have a couple of glasses of wine and be fine. It confused me that something changed in my brain.

I come from a family of scientists and doctors. I kept thinking there must be some sort of way to change the brain. There has to be. I ended up in a detox center with my absolute last, worst binge. It was a nightmare. It was the only time I had to have a medical detox. I was sober for 10 months and fell of spectacularly. Because that is what happens, the binges get worse!

As we tend to do.
And that’s how people die. You hear about these famous people who drink a bottle of vodka, and they die. You overdo it and you poison yourself.

I went to the detox center, they treated me horrifically, inhumanely. Most of the time that’s what it is, treating addicts with degradation, which is so not fair. I checked myself out in 24 hours. On the way out, I saw this flyer, for Vivitrol” “Get Rid of the Cravings.” It was a shot, $1000 a month. I called and no one ever called me back so I did my own research. I found out the key ingredient is called Naltrexone.

That lead me to the book by Dr. Roy Eskapa, The Cure for Alcoholism: The Medically Proven Way to Eliminate Alcohol Addiction.

[READ MORE at DIGBOSTON.com]

EARTH PRIME TIME: BABYLON CONFIDENTIAL WITH CLAUDIA CHRISTIAN (PART ONE)

Actress Claudia Christian (Babylon 5, The Hidden, Clean and Sober) joins us to talk about her tell-all book about Hollywood, a new way of coping with an alcohol addiction, and more in Babylon Confidential: A Memoir of Love, Sex, and Addiction. Part one of our interview deals with her illustrious start in Hollywood and inspiring people as Commander Susan Ivanova in Babylon 5.

DIGBOSTON: Thanks for joining us to talk about Babylon Confidential.
Claudia Christian: Thank you for having me.

What I expected was a Hollywood tell-all book and what I got was much more than that! An inspiring story of recovery, as well as stories about Hollywood and your relationships. Can you tell me about the interesting things that happened when you first moved to Hollywood?
Back in the ’80s, it was a much easier profession, I think. Nowadays with the advent of reality shows and so forth it is difficult for actors or actresses to get a job. My beginning is almost a joke. I met an actor in Laguna Beach when I was 16 working in a coffee shop, he gave me the name of a manager. I met her, she signed me, I booked a series! It was so easy.

There was much less competition, you didn’t have families moving out for pilot season with children in tow.

That was really exciting, I worked all the time, it was a new environment. I wanted to be on my own since I was a little kid. I loved being independent. I moved to LA when I was 17.

The beginning was fun. When I look back now, I didn’t understand I was working with people like Faye Dunaway and Bob Hope, George Clooney … at the time, they were just people. I wasn’t really inundated with star-struckness. It was just work.

Unfortunately you had some negative experiences with some famous actors you talk about in the book, such as Cliff Robertson and William Shatner.
The Cliff Robertson thing was kind of shocking because I had never been treated like that, it was a silly incident and he pulled a very dramatic, sort of violent gesture toward me and I thought, “Wow, is this what Hollywood is like?”

I only had one real classic “casting couch” incident but that was with Bob Evans.

I’m sure every actress in town has one of those with him! That didn’t make the book.

The other incidences were men making passes or just being inappropriate or lascivious or whatever. I think I got a pretty good deal compared to some actresses I’ve talked to.

 [READ MORE at DIGBOSTON.COM]

DigBoston and LeaguePodcast Comic Book Picks of the Week for October 2, 2013

COMICS

October means Halloween! Halloween means comics specials, and here’s the first, Shadowman #11 from Valiant Comics written by Jim Zub (Skullkickers). This ish comes with a detachable Shadowman mask cover variant and is drawn by superstar Miguel Sepulveda. Is NOLA safe from the undead threats lurking in the shadows? Jack to the rescue! … Today’s the day to visit EARTH PRIME TIME for our interview with Glen Brunswick and pick up issue #2 of Reality Check. An artist’s comic book hero creation comes to life and he needs more help than you’d think! Also available today is Glen’s Non-Humans TPB with Whilce Portacio. … Keeping it spellbound and weird is The Occultist #1 from Tim Seeley (Hack/Slash) and Mike Norton as our young mystic takes heed of the book of spells called The Sword. … Picks this week from LeaguePodcast.com.

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EARTH PRIME TIME: INTERVIEW: MAGREET DE HEER

Dutch comic book artist Magreet De Heer comes to Cambridge tonight to educate children of all ages with her new graphic novel, Science: A Discovery in Comics (NBM Publishing). It was a delight to read her book and get some feedback on her exhaustive research, women in science, and how her husband contributes to the book as colorist and number one fan. Margreet will be at Million Year Picnic at 5pm tonight for the signing.

 
DIGBOSTON:Margreet, thanks for taking the time today to talk about Science: A Discovery in Comics!
MARGREET de HEER: No problem at all, thank YOU for the interest in my book!.

After your acclaimed comic Philosophy: a Discovery in Comics, what motivated you to take on Science? 
Science is actually the third book in the series – but it is the second book published in the States. The second book published in The Netherlands was about Religion, and there’s a good chance that will be published in the US next year.

When I was invited by my Dutch publisher in 2009 to talk about making a graphic novel about philosophy, he tentatively mentioned that it might be the start of a series. My husband and I looked at each other and immediately said: “Well, then the next needs to be Religion (because I am a theologist and come from a family full of church ministers) – and after that Science, of course.” It seemed a logical trio to us: philosophy, religion and science are all ways in which people try to make sense of the world.

[READ MORE at DIGBOSTON.COM]

DigBoston and LeaguePodcast Comic Book Picks of the Week for September 25, 2013

COMICS

This one is for the kids! Our friend Nathan Edmondson from The Activity and Who is Jake Ellis? scribes the Man of Steel in Adventures of Superman #5. An alien baby crashed on Earth, and someone is out to get her! From capes to swaddles, the Man of Tomorrow! …Blossom, Bubbles and Buttercup are back to steal the attention from MLP! Witness the cute Powerpuff Girls vs. Mojo Jojo in the return of Powerpuff Girls #1. Aw Yeah, camping trip! Itty Bitty Hellboy #2 takes to the woods for S’Mores and more! … Picks this week from LeaguePodcast.com.

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EARTH PRIME TIME: REALITY CHECK, NON-HUMANS, + MORE WITH GLEN BRUNSWICK

Image Comics has been, since 1992, the proving ground for comic book professionals to claim ownership of their work. Today we talk to Image creator Glen Brunswick about his awesome new series Reality Check, which tells the tale of a hero stepping into the real world, directly from the mind of his creator! Glen was gracious enough to talk a bit about his recent work with one of the fathers of Image, Whilce Portacio, entitled Non-Humansabout toys coming to life and walking among us. We’ve been a fan of Glen since his ‘Kirby as Genre’ series, Jersey Gods, so we would have been remiss to mention The Kingin our interview on this fine Wednesday. Reality Check #2 is released on Wednesday, October 2.

DIGBOSTON:Hi Glen! Thanks so much for talking to us today about your comics, and news of your most recent series, Reality Check for Image Comics! 
GLEN BRUNSWICK: Thanks for the invitation. Happy to be here.

In Reality Check #1 you’ve turned the mirror on a comic book creator that is being vetted by The Big Two and also we see a comic book origin like we’ve never seen before, the secret origin of a comic book creator! How much of this is based on your own experience? Is this an ongoing title?
I’m starting Reality Check off as a four issue mini-series. I have some ideas for future sequels, but this is a self contained full story experience. I clearly share some similarities with Willard—and that was a big part of writing about a comic creator who’s creation comes to life in the real world. There wasn’t a lot of research involved for me—it’s the old write what you know adage.

So many of the details about the comic industry and Hollywood seeped into the work based on my own memories or experiences.

Having said that, Willard as a character, is quite different than me—He’s single, while I’m a married guy. He’s has experienced great loss in his life—the death of his brother, while I fortunately haven’t been affected by that kind of tragedy.

[READ MORE AT DIGBOSTON.COM]

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DigBoston and LeaguePodcast Comic Book Picks of the Week for September 18, 2013

COMICS

Another great spyfi title hits the shelf this week with Zero #1 from Image Comics by Ales Kot and up and comer Michael Walsh. Great military action with a sci-fi twist! … Over at Dark Horse, we trade in our NOLA vamps for furry Werewolves in the Big Easy with Kiss Me Satan #1 from the author of the recent Buffyverse tale Spike: A Dark Place. “Do you wanna die”? Toadies drummer Mark Reznicek co-writes Buzzkill #1 about a superhero who gets his powers from drinking copious amounts of alcohol! … Picks this week from LeaguePodcast.com.

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EARTH PRIME TIME: PEACEFUL TOMORROWS WITH SHANE W. SMITH

Shane W. Smith is an Australian independent comics creator with a successful sci-fi series The Lesser Evil under his belt. The sequel books Peaceful Tomorrows Vol. 1 & 2are now available on Amazon. Volume 2 was released just this week. Shane joins Earth Prime Time to tell us about the rich world he has created, with a galaxy at war and corrupt politicians pulling the strings.

DIGBOSTON: Thanks for taking the time to talk to us about The Lesser Evil and Peaceful Tomorrows. Care to tell new readers a bit about the world you’ve created?
SHANE W. SMITH: Thanks for having me here, Clay! Centuries of racial hate have kept a bitter conflict on the verge of engulfing the galaxy for as long as anyone can remember, even though the reasons for the hatred have long since ceased to matter.

Corrupt bureaucrats have been stoking the fires of fear and prejudice to strip their citizens of their rights.

That’s the macro story. The backdrop.

The story in my books, however, tends to focus a little more tightly on individual characters, attempting to navigate the moral pitfalls of a galaxy gripped by terror, and trying to carve out for themselves a place where they feel they belong.

[READ MORE at DIGBOSTON.COM]

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DigBoston and LeaguePodcast Comic Book Picks of the Week for September 11, 2013

COMICS

We’re still in the Summer of Valiant for a couple of weeks! This week shows the debut of the immortal soldier in Eternal Warrior #1 written by Greg Pak (Planet Hulk, Batman/Superman) and drawn by Valiant exclusive artist Trevor Hairsine. … Fred Van Lente launches a new title at Dark Horse with Brain Boy #1, reviving a short lived ’60s comic about a psychic working for the secret service. … Martians invade Mega-City One in Mars Attacks Judge Dredd #1. … Picks this week from LeaguePodcast.com.

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BLACK MASK STUDIOS: LIBERATING AND OCCUPYING COMICS - Cosmic Treadmill at FORCES OF GEEK!

Black Mask Studios is a new creator owned and operated publishing company that can be described as being influenced just as much from the punk rock scene as it is the comic market.

Publishers Steve Niles (30 Days of Night), Brett Gurewitz (from punk band Bad Religion) and Matt Pizzolo (Occupy Comics, Godzilla) are ready to represent the punks, vegans, animal liberators, the 99% and hip hop heads with a variety of intelligent, funny and sometimes bizarre catalog of comics featuring artists and writers from the underground and also celebrity writers and artists the likes of Alan Moore, Ghostface Killah, Darrick Robinson and Ben Templesmith.
 
After the jump we take a look at their first wave of titles.

 

BALLISTIC
Writer/Co-Creator: Adam Egypt Mortimer
Illustrator/Co-Creator: Darick Robertson
Colorist: Diego Rodriguez
Letterer: Crank!
Producer: Pizzolo
Issue #2 out on September 11, 2013
BUY DIRECT

Not since Transmetropolitan (Warren Ellis, Darick Robertson) has a future world looked so disgustingly bleak and surreally awesome. One could also draw comparisons to the cybernetic hyper pop culture world of Hard Boiled(Frank Miller, Geof Darrow) or elements of Miller’s Roninfor this tale of ex-con Butch with his talking, fleshy best friend of a gun.

The walls, the cars, the drugs, the cloned human meat and even gigantic buildings with human heads seem to be living and breathing.

Everyone’s on drugs, especially the gun and bong hits from organic brain stems seem to keep everyone on the same level.

The psychedelia is merely a backdrop for a bad-boy heist story except that this time, the guns is too hungover to participate or function properly. 

What we have here is a cyber-psychedelic-anti-hero action comic for the ages. No wonder this is Grant Morrison’s favorite comic of 2013. Writer Adam Egypt Mortimer is working with Morrison on a movie project that will mess with your head no doubt!

Darick Robertson is a master of the page, with incredible detail and really excellent work here. Fans of The Boys and Transmetropolitan need this book!

[READ MORE at FORCES OF GEEK]

EARTH PRIME TIME: “DRONES” WITH CHRIS LEWIS

 

Some great stuff comes my way via ComiXology Submit: a section on the site where creator-owned projects and independent creators get to strut their stuff with guided-view technology and sit right next to the big boys on the app! A recent gem I discovered was Drones, a comic about remote bomb pilots in Las Vegas bombing Afghanistan in the war on terror. Writer Chris Lewis was gracious enough to join us today to point some attention to his Kickstarter to get a trade printed with the conclusion of this action-packed and fun book!

DIGBOSTON: Thanks for joining us today to talk about your Kickstarter for Drones. What can you tell new readers about the series?
CHRIS LEWIS: Thanks for having me, Clay! Drones is a self-published, five-issue miniseries about the so-called War on Terror, Las Vegas style. It’s a satirical look at these crazy things we hear about in the news, with a special emphasis on unmanned aerial vehicles (AKA drones), the pilots who operate them, and the people (and goats) caught in the crosshairs.

Your first issue draws people in with a cool concept, plenty of action, gambling, and even sex. Are you trying to give people a heart attack?
This is just another example of reality being far stranger than fiction. With Drones I’ve tried to ride my imagination into the weirdest wild blue yonder, but I’m nowhere close to matching the pure insanity we’re consuming on a daily basis.

Just another day at work. Drones, Bruno Oliveira art

How much research did you do on drone pilots?
Quite a bit, actually. I’ve always been into politics, espionage, technology, etc., and I just started gobbling up news reports about drones after the events of September 11th. There’s an amazing book called Wired For War, and after I read it I started realizing that there was a very interesting psychological aspect to these drone pilots who are flying missions over war zones half a world away, sometimes firing missiles, but mostly just watching.

There’s a term that gets thrown about when describing how these drone pilots feel while they’re at work: The God’s Eye View.

The whole thing started to get uncomfortable when I realized that this technology mirrored how I was consuming media.

War via video feed. War as entertainment.

And guess what? A lot of drone pilots live and work at a base outside of Las Vegas, Nevada. They have access to the biggest stage in the world in Afghanistan, and they are literally a short drive away from the entertainment mecca that is the Strip. These two things should make you question your sanity.

[READ MORE AT DIGBOSTON.COM]

DigBoston and LeaguePodcast Comic Book Picks of the Week for September 4, 2013

COMICS

The bad guys take over at DC Comics this month, and if you are lucky you’ll get a copy of the 3D lenticular cover of your favorite baddy. That is, if DC made enough (which they didn’t). Speculators and collectors alike will be clamoring over these special covers! … Geoff Johns (Green Lantern, Blackest Night) and David Finch (The Dark Knight) kick it off with the main event title, Forever Evil #1 as Nightwing seems to be teaming up with none other than Lex Luthor before facing the Crime Syndicate of America from another dimension. Keep an eye on Grayson! … Andy Kubert writes and Andy Clark draws the Clown Prince of Crime in Batman 23.1 — Joker!, an early tale of the purple suited lunatic, complete with face! … Me am tell you not pick up Superman 23.1—Bizarro Superman because Sholly Fisch terrible Superman writer. … Picks this week from LeaguePodcast.com.

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EARTH PRIME TIME: HAPPY BIRTHDAY, JACK “KING” KIRBY

Let’s all take a minute to celebrate the life and times of the undisputed King of Comic Books, Jack “King” Kirby! Comic book, movie, sci-fi, and pop culture fans all owe this man practically everything. Jacob Kurtzberg (August 28, 1917 – February 6, 1994), was born to the poor Kurtzberg family. His mother encouraged him to draw and as a young man he eventually started on newspaper strips. His career got the biggest boon when he created Captain America in 1941 with collaborator Joe Simon. Timely Comics (later Marvel) had a winning team on its hands. After switching from company to company and working on various projects, Kirby teamed up with Stan Lee to create The World’s Greatest Comic Magazine in 1961, The Fantastic Four, creating, in that single issue, the start of the Silver Age of comics and resurrecting Marvel Comics from the Power Cosmic. That year begat stories resonating with fans to this day and influencing our favorite summer superhero blockbusters with timeless characters.

The saddest part of Jack Kirby’s legacy is that he is not often credited in these movies, nor was he ever rightly compensated for the work he did as a creator. Before the creator’s rights revolution, partially spearheaded by Batman’s Neal Adams in the 1970s, all work for comic book companies was work for hire. All characters (to this day, this is sadly true for the Big Two companies, unless a contract denotes otherwise) are property of the parent company to do what they like with them.

And that’s all fine, but it should shock and surprise you, and make you drop your cereal spoon, to realize that Jack Kirby’s heirs receive NOTHING when a movie likeCaptain America is produced.

Luckily, his family is cool, and so are the people over at the Jack Kirby Museum and Research Center. Let’s tell you a few things about the cigar smokin’, page crankin’, sonuvvagun that you might not know!

1. Ben Grimm / The Thing is Jack Kirby!

Fantastic Four #8 by Jack Kirby

Well, we are sure that Jack himself didn’t get irradiated in space and turn into a rock monster, but we can be sure that The King saw himself in his creation. I bet he would have clobbered the Yancy Street gang with big orange fists if he could have. But Jack found more time for drawing on fish paper with a No. 2 pencil than he did for fighting, so I guess we are lucky.

[READ MORE AT DIGBOSTON.COM]

DigBoston and LeaguePodcast Comic Book Picks of the Week for August 28, 2013

COMICS

Aw Yeah, Hellboy! We’ve missed Superman Family Adventures and Tiny Titans, now we can get our fill of cute heroes in the Aw Yeah style at the popular Dark Horse character, Itty Bitty Hellboy #1 from our pals Art & Franco. Its an all ages funny book, from hell! … The Joes amp up to take on Cobra and defend Manhattan in Fred Van Lente’s G.I. Joe #7. Yo Joe! … Grant Morrison ran out the clock on his two volume end cap to an epic run on Batman with Batman Incorporated. Superstar co-creator on the series, artist Chris Burnham leaves the series with an all-star special in Batman Incorporated Special #1. DC Publisher Dan DiDio and Ethan Van Sciver (Flash Reborn, Dark Knight) spin off a BatCow backup! … Picks this week from LeaguePodcast.com.

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