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Topic: eternals....was jack kirby ahead of his time? (Topic Closed Topic Closed) Post ReplyPost New Topic
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Dave Carr
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Posted: 26 July 2006 at 2:01pm | IP Logged | 1  

Not only was Gaiman quoted out of context, he was misquoted, to boot.  Then a reference to this miquote out of context is made.  All of this appears on this very page. 



Edited by Dave Carr on 26 July 2006 at 2:01pm
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Scott Rowland
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Posted: 26 July 2006 at 2:31pm | IP Logged | 2  

"Gaiman has not been quoted out of context. Plus, he is a writer. He has some skill with words. Presumably, when he chooses words, he chooses them based on his understanding of what they mean, not at random."

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True, that writers should have an awareness of what words mean.  That doesn't meant that they don't get misinterpreted, as for instance, happened with your comment about Dave Cockrum and the "thousand lines."  Just as in that case, one has to look at the totality of what was said.  When one looks at everything Gaiman said about the Eternals, it's clear that he respects Kirby.

Digressing, I was disappointed recently to find an example in print of a (then-future) comics professional referring to Jack Kirby as " 'Hack' Kirby."    It was Mark Gruenwald in a letter in Collector's Dream, a fanzine published by the guys who did the original Marvel Indices.  I was very disappointed to read that, especially considering Mark's longest run was on the Kirby co-created Captain America and that he decided to use one of Kirby's Eternals as a supporting cast member in Quasar.  


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Joe Mayer
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Posted: 26 July 2006 at 5:11pm | IP Logged | 3  

Gaiman has not been quoted out of context.
*****

Then why no comment on the rest of what he had to say?

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Robert White
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Posted: 26 July 2006 at 7:42pm | IP Logged | 4  

How anyone could take offense to anything about Neil Gaiman is beyond me. Warren Ellis? Sure. Grant Morrison? Sure. But...Neil Gaiman? The man's character and the strength of his work should count for something. If he can improve on Eternals (a title far more amorphous than something like Superman or the FF, for instance), then so be it. JB certainly improved on the character of Invisible Girl, so it's safe to say that Kirby and Lee didn't get her "right." We might not want to say it, but that's the reality.
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Jason Czeskleba
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Posted: 26 July 2006 at 10:40pm | IP Logged | 5  

 Roger A Ott II wrote:
Was Kirby given cart blanche to do what he wanted at that time?  I thought I remember reading that he wasn't treated that great when he came back to Marvel in the mid-70's.  Would the editorial PTB at the time have had any say in the book? 


AFAIK the "not being treated great" was predominantly bitchy comments behind his back rather than editorial interference.  From what I've read, Kirby did more or less have creative freedom at 70's Marvel (with the exception of on the Silver Surfer graphic novel he did with Stan).  He was his own editor and produced the entire finished product and shipped it to Marvel.  As far as I know, he didn't have to run story ideas by anyone beforehand, and no one had the power to ask for rewrites or redraws of anything he did. 

The only instances I know of editorial interference were early in his return.  According to Mark Evanier, Kirby noticed that someone at the Marvel offices was making changes in some of the dialogue in his books, and he had to complain directly to Stan to get the practice stopped.  But as far as I know editorial did not force him to do anything.  He was strongly encouraged to feature a big-name superhero guest star in Eternals, but he was not forced to do it, and he was able to decide the manner in which it was done (a Hulk robot rather than the real Hulk).  I would guess that was typical, that the most the PTB did was make nonbinding "suggestions" to him.


Edited by Jason Czeskleba on 26 July 2006 at 10:40pm
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Ted Pugliese
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Posted: 27 July 2006 at 8:21am | IP Logged | 6  

I enjoyed the first issue of the new series, especially the art and then the mystery.
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Chad Carter
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Posted: 27 July 2006 at 4:44pm | IP Logged | 7  

 

The "mystery" is who is wanting an Eternals book by anyone other than Kirby.

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Matt Linton
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Posted: 27 July 2006 at 4:49pm | IP Logged | 8  

Given that a new Eternals book by Kirby is impossible, it's not that unreasonable.
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Chad Carter
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Posted: 27 July 2006 at 4:56pm | IP Logged | 9  

 

What are you saying? Something happen to Kirby?

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Scott Rowland
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Posted: 27 July 2006 at 5:06pm | IP Logged | 10  

Kirby passed away over 10 years ago.
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Chad Carter
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Posted: 27 July 2006 at 5:23pm | IP Logged | 11  

 

See, don't try to kid me. I just saw Kirby the other day. He was eating an ice cream cone. Pistachio. That really disappointed me, too. I'm a strawberry man, myself. He looks good. Tanned. He asked me what the hell I was looking at. You think I wouldn't remember something like that?

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Matt Linton
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Posted: 27 July 2006 at 7:04pm | IP Logged | 12  

Did someone forget to give Chad his meds?
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