Events | Kirby Studies

11 August 2014

Charity & Outreach, Events, Kirby4Heroes, News

Celebrate Kirby Day by helping Kirby4Heroes!

August 28, 2014, just over two weeks from now, would have been the 97th birthday of Jack Kirby, who passed away twenty years ago, in 1994, at the age of seventy-six.

Kirby means so much to the history of comics that I believe his birthday ought to be, for fans, a holiday—a day of remembrance, celebration, and thanks. I think of it that way myself. As Tom Spurgeon has observed, over at The Comics Reporter,

there seems to be a slowly developing movement to honor Kirby on his birthday,

and I’m glad to participate in and encourage that. Kirby Day: a day for acknowledging comics, cartoonists, and in particular the history of the American comic book.

Kirby Day! I like the sound of that. And it can be much more than a private celebration among fans—it can be a way to give back:

Kirby4Heroes Facebook page--please lend your support! Kirby’s family continues to celebrate his birthday by supporting veteran comic book creators through The Hero Initiative, a federally chartered, not-for-profit organization dedicated to honoring and helping creators in need. Since 2012 Jack’s granddaughter Jillian Kirby has spearheaded the Kirby4Heroes campaign to raise money for the Initiative on his birthday. In the spirit of generosity that Kirby himself championed, the Initiative seeks to provide (as its website says) “a financial safety net for yesterdays’ creators who may need emergency medical aid, financial support for essentials of life, and an avenue back into paying work.” In 2012 Kirby4Heroes raised $6000 for the Initiative, and in 2013 it raised $10,000. This year Jillian has set the goal of $15,000. I urge my readers to help reach that goal!

On August 28, Kirby Day, select comic book shops across the country will be donating a portion of their sales to The Hero Initiative. Some stores will also be hosting special events, as will as the Cartoon Art Museum in San Francisco and other organizations. ComicsPRO, the professional organization of comic book retailers, has endorsed Kirby4Heroes, and many comics artists will be lending their time and talents as well. (Follow #WakeUpAndDraw on Twitter on Aug. 28th!)

Supporting Kirby4Heroes is simple. Besides shopping at your local comics store on August 28, you can donate online or by mail. To donate online, visit The Hero Initiative at heroinitiative.org (and be sure to type “Kirby4Heroes” in the space for “special instructions”). To donate by mail, send a check to:

Kirby4Heroes Campaign
c/o The Hero Initiative
11301 Olympic Blvd., #587
Los Angeles, CA 90064

Be sure to make out your checks to The Hero Initiative!

The Hero Initiative

For more information about Kirby4Heroes, check out the Kirby4Heroes website and this article at Hero Complex (the Los Angeles Times‘s pop culture blog). Also, visit the campaign’s Facebook page, and watch Jillian’s video about the campaign via YouTube, courtesy of the Nerdist Channel:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XQbKLQkDa6k

Unfortunately, I can’t embed the video here, since WordPress doesn’t play ball with YouTube, but click through the link and you’ll see it. Here’s a screenshot:

I hope all of my readers will consider supporting Kirby4Heroes. Celebrate Kirby Day by lending veteran creators a helping hand!

12 June 2014

DENVER CON THIS WEEKEND!

NEWS! This weekend, from Friday through Sunday, June 13-15, I (Charles Hatfield) will be attending Denver Comic Con, now in its third year and already one of the largest comic cons in North America.

In particular, I’ll be a special guest at ROMOCOCO, the Rocky Mountain Conference on Comics and Graphic Novels, where I’ll be giving a plenary talk on Friday from 4:30 to 6:00 pm and taking part in a professional development workshop designed for graduate students on Saturday from 12:50 to 2:20pm. I’ll be in the company of such comics scholars as Chris Angel, RC Harvey, Jason Tondro, Jim Vacca, Rob Weiner, and Dan Yezbick, and my fellow keynote speakers Barbara Postema, Bart Beaty, and ROMOCOCO organizer William Kuskin.

I attended ROMOCOCO and DCC during their inaugural year, 2012, and I’ve been eager to get back there since! Glad to be making it this year.

Thanks to DCC, its sponsoring organization Comic Book Classroom, convention director Chris Angel and her team, and especially William Kuskin for making this visit possible!

8 November 2013

Making History Graphic @ the Los Angeles Central Library

Non-Kirby (but comics-centric) newsflash!

Next Tuesday, the Library Foundation of Los Angeles, as part of its lively, ever-ongoing event series ALOUD, will be hosting an event of special appeal to comics readers—as well as anyone interested in the challenges of turning history into story and art:

MAKING HISTORY GRAPHIC
Joe Sacco and Gene Luen Yang

Sacco, as drawn by Sacco Yang, as seen by Yang

Tuesday, November 12, 2013,
7:15 to c. 8:30 p.m.

Mark Taper Auditorium-Central Library

(The talk will be followed by a book signing in the auditorium lobby. See the bottom of this post for practical details!)

…

Join these two daring writers for a conversation on how the graphic novel and graphic nonfiction—rising from the frontlines of popular culture—can serve our understanding of history.

I have the honor of serving as interviewer and moderator for this event!

Angelenos, this is a great opportunity to hear firsthand two of the most acclaimed comics creators of our time—as they discuss projects of tremendous ambition and daring!

Sacco has just published The Great War: July 1, 1916: The First Day of the Battle of the Somme, a panoramic accordion book depicting that wrenching, transitional moment in the history of warfare.

Yang has just published Boxers & Saints: two graphic stories, each in its own book, that tell two different sides of China’s Boxer Rebellion, together adding up a compelling dialectical tug-of-war but also a complete, and complex, novel.

Making History Graphic is happening at L.A.’s Central Library, 630 W. 5th Street, Los Angeles, CA 90071. Follow the link for directions to and detailed information about the venue. Here’s what the ALOUD website says about tickets and availability:

Reservation Policy for Free Programs:
As most [ALOUD] at Central Library programs are free of charge, it is our policy to overbook. In the case of a FULL program your free reservation may not guarantee admission. We recommend arriving early. Space permitting, unclaimed reservations will be released to standby patrons at 7 PM.

4 November 2013

The Kirby Museum Goes Live in the Lower East Side!

Wow! Thanks to miLES (Made in the Lower East Side) and its successful Storefront Transformer campaign on Kickstarter, the Jack Kirby Museum and Research Center will be a live, brick-and-mortar museum, a crackling storefront HQ of Kirbyness, this coming week!

The Jack Kirby Museum Prototype: Alpha

179 Delancey Street, New York, New York 10002

Monday, Nov. 4th, through Sunday, Nov. 10th, 2013

Daily hours 12:00 noon to 7:00 p.m.; plus special events after 7:00 p.m.

This marks a milestone for the Jack Kirby Museum. Thus far the Museum has been an online venture mostly, but it hopes one day to establish a permanent brick-and-mortar space dedicated to Kirby’s life and work. That’s a dream and a cause I support with my whole heart! To get there, the Museum’s trustees have long dreamed of creating a pop-up museum—that is, a temporary exhibit—near Kirby’s birthplace in New York’s Lower East Side. Thanks to the trustees’ hard work, and miLES’s support, that dream has become a reality. Prototype: Alpha, a Kirbycentric space and an event in itself, will be happening all this week, Nov. 4th through 10th, at 179 Delancey. Noon to 7:00 at least, each day!

For a week, the Museum’s leaders—a dedicated, passionate, friendly, and welcoming bunch—will be celebrating all things Kirby, in that very part of NYC where Jack was born and raised. Prototype: Alpha will include an original art show, a biographical display, visits by local student groups, even drawing classes or demonstrations—and of course a shop, where visitors can purchase high-quality prints of Kirby art as well as Museum memorabilia.

There will be special events too! First, trustee Rand Hoppe will open the shop with a reception and brief talk on Monday, Nov. 4th, at 7:00 p.m. Then artist and historian Arlen Schumer will follow with a talk on Tuesday, Nov. 5th, at 7:00. Finally, artist James Romberger will appear in conversation on Sunday, Nov. 10th, at 5:00.

(Wish I could be there in person to help celebrate. Sigh, I’m on the wrong coast…)

More events, including Internet guests and video programming, are in the process of being planned—keep watching the Kirby Museum website for news!

Congratulations to Rand and all the Kirby Museum trustees on reaching this important goal!

22 September 2013

2 Comments

Events, Kirby in Academia, Talks

Mix 2013, plus a blast of Kirby from Mix 2012

About a year ago, in October 2012, the Columbus College of Art & Design (CCAD) launched Mix, its annual series of symposia about comics. I hope it lasts forever. Under the leadership of CCAD’s Robert Loss, Mix is rapidly shaping up to be a key event in the comics studies calendar—and that first Mix, 2012, was a delight. I had the privilege of attending Mix then, and fondly recall working and hanging out with Robert, Douglas Wolk, my good friend, fellow scholar, and co-author Craig Fischer, local comics creators such as Ken Eppstein and Michael Neno, and a host of other fine folk.

Ach, would that I could attend Mix THIS time, but sadly I cannot. I still want to tell you about it! This coming weekend, Friday and Saturday, Sept. 27-28, CCAD will put on the second annual Mix, i.e. Mix 2013, featuring keynote guest Jeff Smith, plus Carol Tyler, Tom Spurgeon, documentary filmmaker Dr. Jonathan Gayles, and a screening of Gayles’s White Scripts and Black Supermen, plus Jared Gardner, John Jennings, Mark C. Rogers, and many other comics scholars, both veteran and new. PLUS an exhibition of art from Smith’s RASL, and, talk about an embarrassment of riches, an exhibition of work by Gary Panter (visiting CCAD almost as I type this!). It sounds fantastic, and I wish Robert and everyone a stimulating, collegial, and fun event!

I had the pleasure of giving a talk at Mix last year, on Oct. 5, 2012, titled “Kirby Goes for Broke.” Thanks to Robert and his collaborators, video of that lecture, as well as other events from Mix 2012, has just gone online!

(Check out CCAD’s YouTube channel, CCADedu, for more!)

Giving that talk was a blast, especially the post-talk Q&A, which I thought was rich and interesting. It gave me a chance to think about Kirby “on my feet” before a very sharp and attuned audience, something I’ll always be grateful for. It’s all captured on this video!

Go to Mix 2013 if you possibly can.