Countdown: Extra!

Extra! Extra! The Los Angeles Times‘ Carolina Miranda has written a nice shout-out for our exhibition in her arts Datebook—alongside an exhibition on urban living at the Architecture and Design Museum and a screeening of avant-garde films by Saul Levine. That’s pretty cool company! Glad to be on the radar.

This calls for an extra countdown teaser. I here present:

Details from Comic Book Apocalypse!

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Countdown: T-Minus 3

Yes, just three days away from the opening of Comic Book Apocalypse: The Graphic World of Jack KIrby, here at CSU Northridge! That’s Monday, August. 24.

And one week away from Jack’s 98th birthday—Friday, August 28.

And one week away from our grand opening reception—Saturday, August 29, at 4 to 7pm.

Surfer wall

Yellow wall waiting to be done

Fourth World wall

CH and Jim in Gallery

CH and Gallery Director Jim Sweeters, weeks ago

CH and Jim look at Dream Machine

This kills me every time...

PRESS ALERT: Many kind folks and websites have been talking up the show. Thanks most recently to Fabrik, ArtSlant, and Visual Art Source, and to Cage Addicts and Bleeding Cool! And a big shout-out to the Kirby fan communities on Facebook and Twitter for spreading the word!

Countdown: T-Minus 4

Comic Book Apocalypse: The Graphic World of Jack Kirby opens at the CSUN Main Gallery in just four days—on Monday, August 24, the launch of the new CSUN year, and just four days before Kirby’s 98th birthday. I hope you’ll come see it!

What a way to celebrate the King of Comics that would be: donate to Kirby4Heroes in support of our veteran comic book creators, and then come to L.A. to see a hundred pieces of Jack’s original art. Hmmm?

CH ponders Kirby

Kamandi #14

Silent sentinels (empty vitrines waiting to be filled)

Weeks ago these vitrines stood empty, waiting. No more.

Countdown: T-Minus 5

Things are happening at the CSU Northridge Main Gallery…

Vintage photos of Kirby and Joe Simon

Blurbs and labels

Framing, matting...Cosmic, primitive, futuristic, mythic...

Countdown to Comic Book Apocalypse!

Orion tells it like it is, from NEW GODS #10 (Aug. 1972)

Comic Book Apocalypse: The Graphic World of Jack Kirby opens at the CSU Northridge Main Gallery in just six days, on Monday, August 24, 2015—exactly in time for the launch of the new CSUN semester, and just days before Jack Kirby’s 98th birthday.

The CSUN Art Galleries team and I have been working like mad to ready this show: the first CSUN exhibition devoted to original comic art, the first university exhibit anywhere dedicated to Kirby, and, we believe, the US’s largest Kirby show ever. We’re also working to get the word out—across campus, in the press, and at local shops. At the same time, I’m figuring out how to make this exhibition the centerpiece of my teaching this semester.

This is a busy time. 🙂

Display case, Comic Book Apocalypse

Far from a final layout—this was two weeks ago!

Comic Book Apocalypse includes over 100 original artworks by Kirby, as well as scores of his published comics. It focuses on Kirby from the mid-1960s on, but gives an overview of his career (including the Simon & Kirby era) and features work from as early as 1943. Highlights include the originals for two complete Kirby comic books, plus unpublished pencils, Kirby’s 1975 painting Dream Machine, more than a dozen of his trademark double-page spreads, five collages, and walls devoted to The Fantastic Four and The Fourth World. Tablet displays provided by the Jack Kirby Museum and Research Center will enable viewers to see even more art than the Gallery’s walls can hold.

Doesn't that red wall look...enticing?

Thanks to Gallery Director Jim Sweeters and his team, plus the help of a great many others, this exhibition is a dream come true. I hope you can join us for our opening reception on Saturday, August 29, from 4 to 7pm; it’s free, informal, and open to the public. Also, on Monday morning, August 31, at 10am we’ll be presenting a gallery talk with Kirby biographer Mark Evanier, and on Saturday, Sept. 26, at 1pm we’ll be doing a panel discussion with Scott Bukatman, Doug Harvey, Steve Roden, and Ben Saunders. Please come!

Unfinished Boom Tube graphic on Main Gallery wall

Things are starting to happen. Again, far from final…but a hint.

PRESS ALERT: check out this article on the exhibit at CSUN Today, as well as this this teaser from the LA Weekly! And thanks to Meltdown Comics for featuring us on their homepage!

A final note: please help celebrate Jack’s 98th birthday by contributing to Kirby4Heroes!