This week brings, once again, the happy madness of Comic-Con International in San Diego, an event that in some ways began with Jack Kirby and continues to testify to his influence. I’ll be there this week, for the first time in, what, seven years? (I don’t think I’ve been to CCI since Kirby’s and Will Eisner’s combined centenary in 2017, which is the last time I used the above graphic.)
Honestly, I’m a bit intimated about returning to the hectic swirl that is Comic-Con. Remember, folks: good shoes, plenty of water, energy bars, that sort of thing. And patience! (Maybe don’t plan on attending two back-to-back time-certain events with less than half an hour’s transit or break time in between?)
I’ve been to Comic-Con many times (starting in 1986), but life has changed since we last went. COVID has hit. Politics have seesawed with terrifying unpredictability. My in-laws and my own parents have all passed away. Mom and Dad’s passings were hard. My wife, our daughter, and I have lived in our current house, through the pandemic, long enough to know the place minutely, almost every nook and cranny. My son and his wife have been married seven years, and are parents now, which makes us grandparents (the usual proud and doting kind!). My daughter traverses greater Los Angeles as a librarian and activist. I’ve termed out of my service to the Comics Studies Society and continue to pursue publishing projects. My wife has transitioned out of (she hates the R-word) her years as a teacher and counselor and returned to school to pursue her first love, art. I am eyeing that kind of move (the R-word!) myself in the coming few years. I watched a few Comic-Con@Home videos in 2020 but then lost touch. This blog went on a near two-year hiatus, only recently ended (good grief!). These days, I’m up to my neck in further Kirby studies work. Whew.
I’m looking forward to getting back to CCI in a smaller way than before, with a reduced schedule and, I hope, lots of get-togethers with friends. We’ll be attending the annual Teaching and Learning with Comics workshop (with Peter Carlson, Antero Garcia, and my friend and colleague Susan Kirtley) at the San Diego Central Library on Wednesday afternoon, hopefully the screening of John Kinhart’s documentary film Married to Comics (about Carol Tyler and Justin Green) on Thursday afternoon, the Eisner Hall of Fame ceremony on Friday morning, and of course the panel I’m participating in, which is about Patrick McDonnell’s recent book, The Super Hero’s Journey:
Mutts creator Patrick McDonnell’s The Super Hero’s Journey is a celebration and reinvention of the Marvel Comics drawn by Jack Kirby he loved as a kid. McDonnell will discuss this book and his upcoming Comic-Con Museum exhibit with Kirby experts Glen David Gold (Carter Beats the Devil), Charles Hatfield (Hand of Fire: The Comics Art of Jack Kirby), and publisher Charles Kochman (Abrams ComicArts). Moderated by Kim A. Munson (Comic Art in Museums).
Thanks for Kim Munson for making me a part of this panel!
There are several other Kirby-themed events happening at Comic-Con, and I hope to be able to attend some of them. Look out for:
- Jack Kirby’s Mythology (hosted by Rand Hoppe of the Kirby Museum, with Tracy Kirby, Ray Wyman, Jr., Bruce Simon, and Mark Badger), on Thursday at 12:00 noon
- the Comic Arts Conference session Take This Job and…: Kirby Characters, Work for Hire, and Rebels with a Cause (with Jim Thompson, Marc Greenberg, and Daniel Barer), on Saturday at 11:30am,
- TwoMorrows Turns 30 (with John Morrow, publisher and editor of The Jack Kirby Collector among many other things), on Saturday at 4:00pm
- and of course Mark Evanier’s Annual Jack Kirby Tribute Panel, on Sunday at 10:00am, this year with Patrick McDonnell, Rick Parker, Tracy Kirby, Dave Schwartz, and Paul Levitz along with Evanier
In addition, there are many panels featuring friends and colleagues of mine that I hope to take in. Also, we’ll be visiting, and on Thursday afternoon after 3pm I’ll be guesting at, the booth of the Jack Kirby Museum and Research Center (booth #1804), which is on my favorite part of the convention floor, in a triangle formed by the IP (independent publishing) Pavilion, the Small Press Pavilion, and the Gold and Silver Pavilion (near Lobby B2). There’s a map below, FYI, or you can find the Museum’s booth by visiting the searchable Comic-Con Exhibitor Portal and typing in “Kirby.”
I expect to be at the Museum’s booth on Thursday between 3:30 and 5:30pm, signing and selling copies of my Eisner-winning Hand of Fire: The Comics Art of Jack Kirby (2011) and the exhibition catalog Comic Book Apocalypse: The Graphic World of Jack Kirby (2015). Please drop on by, say hello, and chat with me about Kirby! My books will be discounted a bit, and portion of all sales will go to the Kirby Museum.
Jack and Roz Kirby were practically patron saints of Comic-Con in its early years, and I can think of nothing I’d like to do more at the Con than support the Kirby Museum, who are doing the good work of preserving and extending his legacy. Why not stop by and donate?
If you do get to come to Comic-Con, go easy on yourself and everyone around you, remember to stay watered and fed, walk with patience, and enjoy! It’s like nothing else in this world.
Kirby Studies 