The Audio File: King Kirby

In many ways, comic books and audio dramas aren't as different as they might seem. Sure, comic books are very much a visual medium, whereas audio dramas are auditory oriented. However, both mediums are very much team efforts. Oh, you can make a comic or an audio drama all on your own. However, more often than not you get by with a little help from your friends. Sometimes that means that the real hard works, and the real movers and shakers, might not get as much credit or attention as they deserve. This ties into the audio drama we'll be reviewing today. We're taking a look at King Kirby.

You may not have heard of Jack Kirby, but you're probably familiar with his work. Pretty much every major Marvel Comics character ever, besides Spider-Man and Doctor Strange, was first dreamed up Jack Kirby. But before he was the king of comics, he was just a kid from Brooklyn with big dreams. King Kirby follows the life and career of Jack Kirby, from his humble beginnings, to time serving in World War II, to his time at Marvel, and everything that followed.

I first became aware of this audio drama when I was perusing the r/audiodrama subreddit. They have a weekly thread about newly released audio dramas, complete with brief descriptions of each show. King Kirby looked promising, and now here we are.

King Kirby started life as a stage play, created by Crystal Skillman and Fred Van Lente, for a theatre festival. It did fairly well, and it even became a New York Times Critic's Choice Pick, but the team wanted to bring it to a wider audience. The play was funded via Kickstarter, and as a reward to the backers, the team recorded a reading of the play at Midtown Comics in Manhattan. So, they had the initial audio sitting around for a while before they got the idea to make it into an audio drama. So, Crystal and Fred hired Bobby Cronin to compose some music for the podcast. And thus, an audio drama was born.

I suppose it's rather fitting that things worked out this way. Fred Van Lente has world on several comics including The Incredible Hercules and Action Philosophers. Crystal Skillman has written plays such as Rain and Zoe Save the World, Open, and Cut. By the way, that's three plays; Open and Cut are two separate plays. I got confused on this point when I was researching for this review, so I'm just putting that as a point of clarification. Also, the Marvel Comics version of Hercules is yet another Jack Kirby creation. He premiered in The Mighty Thor, also a Kirby creation.

Anyway, it was only natural that Fred and Crystal, who are a married couple, would combine their skill to make an excellent audio drama. This does provide an amusing parallel to the life of Jack Kirby, who famously never made any creative decisions without input from his wife Roz.

Speaking of which, let's talk about the man himself. Jack Kirby came from humble working-class origins in Brooklyn. Yet he always dreamed big and loved to draw. His favorite was always stuff with spaceship and larger than life heroes. He didn't go to college, but that was hardly unusual for the time he lived. One new thing I learned from this audio drama is that one of Kirby's earliest jobs was in animation. He helped to animated Popeye the Sailor Man cartoons. Specifically, he was the guy who draw the transition frames. They're the frames that are necessary to make the characters move around. Unsurprisingly, this is fairly tedious work, and he quickly grew to despite Popeye. It was never outright stated, but we should probably assume his opinion of spinach was also severely soured by the experience. I knew that Kirby did animation work on The Super Friends at Hanna-Barbera later in his life, but I wasn't aware I did work on Popeye.

Another thing I found interesting is that this audio drama really empathized Kirby's relationship with Joe Simon. Usually, it's Kirby's relationship with Stan Lee that gets emphasized. Now, we do eventually get to that, but not til episode four. For reference, the podcast in only four episodes long. It was with Simon that Kirby created the first of his many great superheroes: Captain America. That first iconic cover of Captain America socking Hitler came out in March of 1941, a good nine months before America officially entered World War II. Of course, once America entered the war, Kirby did not hesitate to enlist. But before he did, he left a mass backlog of comics just so that things wouldn't fall behind in his absence. Seriously, the man was a comic book drawing machine. Kirby fought the forces of evil both in the pages of comic books and on the battlefield. It is safe to say that the man lived a life.

Of course, once the war is over, it is time for the Marvel Age to begin. When we first meet Stan Lee, he's a sweet, if slightly quirky, teenager. By the fourth episode, however, he's metamorphosed into a far more familiar, if rather sleazy, form. I would say that, overall, King Kirby's depiction of Stan Lee was reasonably fair. The famous Marvel Method was where Stan came out with an outline, sometimes merely an idea, for a story and had Jack draw art based around that. After that, Stan came up with the dialogue and filled-in the word balloons. In practice, however, this meant Kirby did most of the heavy lifting in terms of storytelling. Many times, Kirby would even write suggested dialogue on the sides of the page. There were also times when the "outline" was pretty much just a single sentence. The famous Galactus trilogy of The Fantastic Four came from Stan going "Hey, wouldn't it be cool if the Fantastic Four fought God?" As such, Kirby wrote the whole thing, plot and dialogue, all by himself. An unofficial part of the Marvel Method was that Stan always wrote his name first and biggest on the cover.

Jack Kirby made Marvel Comics as in the characters, but Stan Lee made Marvel Comics the company. Stan's real strength wasn't in his storytelling, but in his ability as a businessman. Well, that's not completely true; he was a slick talker, and he was very good had crafting a public persona. He was also young, hip, and photogenic. Kirby, by contrast, looked like a longshoreman. This often caused the media to assume that Kirby was dumber than he actually was. That really was unfair of them; as I said, Kirby only had a high school education, but he wasn't stupid. In fact, he was quite intelligent and well-read on numerous subjects such as history, mythology, religion, and science. Stan did try to correct the media on this point, but many argue he didn't do it as much as he could and/or should have.

Stan also took the lion's share of the money earned from the comics, while Kirby and the other artists only got pennies by comparison. Unsparingly, Kirby eventually reached his breaking point and went to work for the Distinguished Competition. Of course, much as Kirby would hate to admit it, he needed someone like Stan to convince editors that his ideas could work. The fact that most of Kirby's work at DC Comics got canceled after only a few issues does lend support to this. The main exception being Kamandi: The Last Boy on Earth. Kirby's work at DC does, I think, show that he was the main creative driver at Marvel. I've read his DC work, and I can easily see it being published at Marvel.

Anyway, getting back on track, episode four really climaxes with Kirby deciding to leave Marvel after Stan Lee screws him over. We do get glimpses into Kirby's post-Marvel life, but they're fairly brief, as the show needed to wrap things up. As previously mentioned, the original stage play was part of a theatre festival. The festival rules stated that all entries must be no longer than seventy-five minutes. This necessitated that certain aspects of the story being condensed for the sake of time. And to be fair, it is possible that a lot of Kirby's post-Marvel life wouldn't translate very well onto stage.

That having been said, I still found the ending to be a bit rushed. I also think there was still plenty of interesting material that could be mined. You can talk in-depth about Kirby jumping ship to DC Comics, and how he eventually had to come back to Marvel. You can talk about the time he worked at Hanna-Barbera, or the time he cameoed on The Incredible Hulk television show. Yeah, Stan Lee wasn't the first to make cameos in Marvel adaptions. Specifically, Kirby played a police sketch artist, who drew a picture of Hulk in the style of the comics. You could talk about his participation in the Iranian Hostage Crisis. And you can talk about how, towards the end of his life, he kick-started the creator-owned comics movement with his work at Pacific Comics.

I don't want to sound overly negative here. It was clear to me, from that very first episode, that a lot of love and dedication went into King Kirby. They referenced more than just the typical well-known Marvel stuff Kirby worked on. For example, at one point they mention Tiger 21. He was an idea Kirby worked on, but never got around to publishing. Not too many people, outside of hardcore Kirby fans, tend to know that one. I only knew that because I read the comic Kirby: Genesis. Excellent comic; a true love letter to the works of Jack Kirby. I will have to review it sometime. There was also brief mention of New Gods, and how it didn't sell as well as Kirby hoped. I always thought that was a damn shame, because New Gods is excellent. The point is, Fred and Crystal clearly knew their Kirby history.

An audio drama is nothing without a talented team of voice actors. I once looked up a news clip of Jack Kirby from the 1980s out of curiosity. I don't know what I was expecting. I guess I maybe expected him to have a deep authoritative voice. Instead, he just sounded like a regular guy. In fact, he kind of reminded me of Martin Crain from Frasier. I really felt that Steven Rattazzi captured Kirby's personality. He doesn't try to do an impression of Kirby, but he was reasonably close. He captures the essence of who Kirby was as a person. Likewise, Nat Cassidy doesn't sound quite like Stan Lee, but he was at least ballpark correct. He really nailed the sleazy businessman depiction the play was going for. And sounding a little off kind of worked out. It, if unintentionally, hints that Stan's publish persona is a sham, and not reflective of who he truly is.

Amy Lee Pearsall voices Roz Kirby with almost stereotypically Jewish New Yorker accent. But again, she really captures Roz's stand-willed and independent personality. And hey, for all I know, Roz Kirby really did sound like that. Really, all the actors did an excellent job bringing the characters to life. I also really appreciated that the team added music and sound effects to the audio drama. I always appreciate those who go the extra mile to create a truly immersive audio experience.

I concede that a play has to end somewhere. Ending the audio drama where it does ties into the themes and framing device. I should have mentioned this earlier, but the show begins with a framing device of an auction of Kirby's original drawings. The sounds of the auction fade away and we get a monologue from Kirby himself, presumable from beyond the grave. He muses on the nature of legacy, and about his life, and what it all means in the end. By the end of the last episode, we return to the auction and Kirby's musings. As Roz notes, Kirby is everywhere. His art is on lunch boxes, backpacks, and of course on the newsstands. And yet he is also nowhere, because he receives no credit, and hardly any payment.

Sadly, it really wasn't until relatively recent times that Jack Kirby received the recognition that he rightful deserves. Well, outside of diehard comics fans, that is. Jack Kirby was officially declared a Disney Legend, alongside Stan Lee, in 2017. Fittingly enough, this would have been Kirby's 100th birthday. People have also slowly begun to reassess both the founding myth of Marvel Comics, and of Stan Lee's more questionable business practices. This is especially true now that Stan Lee is dead, and isn't around to defend himself.

I always founded it sad that Jack Kirby never lived to see the rise of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. And yet the legacy of Jack Kirby, and his work, surrounds us. So, here's to Jack Kirby. One of the few people who can truly be called a Renaissance Man, and one who will hopefully get more of the credit he deserves someday.

And here's to everyone who worked to make King Kirby possible. It was an absolute joy to listen to from start to finish, and I loved every minute of it. Give it a listen today, you'll be very glad that you did.

Well, I think that should do it from me for now. I will see you guys next time.

Comic Review: Figment

I'm sure I've brought this up before, but I love the creativity and storytelling that go into the creation of Disney Theme Park attractions.  As you can well imagine, I'm also quite fond of the Disney Kingdoms comics line that is being produced by Marvel Comics.  It is easily the best series Marvel is currently producing.  As I'm sure you guessed by now, we're going to be reviewing one of the additions to the Disney Kingdoms line today.  Specifically, we're taking a look at Figment. 

Figment takes place in London in the year 1910.  It follows an aspiring inventor named Blarion Mercurial.  He might not look it, but he is destined to become The Dreamfinder.  Blarion works for The Academy Scientifica Lucidus.  He's always been a dreamer and he wants to harness the power of imagination and creativity.  Unfortunately, his boss, Chairman Illocrant, is only interested in creating a device that can during thought into energy.  While working on the device, Blarion brings Figment, his childhood imaginary friend, to life.  He also opens a portal into a realm of pure imagination.  Before long, our heroes embark on a journey into imagination.

This comic is based on the beloved EPCOT ride Journey into Imagination.  As such, why don't we talk a little about the ride.  A ride/pavilion dedicated to imagination might seem out of place in a theme park dedicated to science, technology and world culture.  I, however, would argue that it was a perfect fit.  As Dreamfinder famously reminded us all, one little spark of inspiration is at the heart of all creation.  Submarines started out as an imaginary machine dreamed up by Jules Verne.  Then they became real, and today hundreds of Nautilus' prowl the depths of the oceans.  Similarly, Robert Goddard was inspired to create rockets after he read War of the Worlds.  Dozens of scientists and inventors have been inspired by what they saw on Star Trek.

The point being, all of these inventions wouldn't have been possible without someone dreaming them up and imagining them first.  Imagination is the spark that leads to several scientific discoveries, and many wonderful artistic creations.  In fact, you could even go as far as to say that without imagination EPCOT, and Disney World as a whole, wouldn't exist.

Journey into Imagination debuted in 1983 and delighted guests of all ages with a whimsical journey into...well, into imagination of course.  Dreamfinder and Figment delighted guests by showing them all of the wonderful things imagination is capable of doing.  Throughout the ride there was a bit of a theme of "science and imagination can work together to solve the world's problems" which is a pretty great, and fairly timeless, lesson to impart.  Dreamfinder and Figment are notable for being one of the few walk-around characters early EPCOT had.  When it first started out, EPCOT had a strict policy of not incorporating pre-existing Disney characters into the park.  For a while, Dreamfinder and Figment were the unofficial mascots of EPCOT.

Unfortunately, in 1998 the ride closed down are part of a contract with the ride's sponsor Kodak.  EPCOT had a policy of having rides sponsored by various companies.  This was to provide the companies with free advertising in the hopes that they would help pay for the upkeep of the rides.  This model...didn't quite work out, to put it succinctly.  By the late 1990s Kodak was in some serious financial trouble as digital cameras began to replace convention film.  They didn't want anything to do with Journey into Imagination, but were contractually obligated to renovated.  So, they went with the cheapest solution they could find.

The new version completely removed Dreamfinder and Figment and stared Eric Idle.  Idle played a scientist who insults the guest for having no imagination, but he fixes that with the power of science...I guess.  Unsurprisingly, this version, called Journey into YOUR Imagination, was universally hated and closed down in 2001.  In 2002 the ride opened again as Journey into Imagination with Figment.  This version starts out similar to the second version, but quickly goes off-the-rails as Figment takes over and brings things, somewhat, back to the original ride.  While better received than the second, fans agree that this version just doesn't have the magic of the original.  Especially since Dreamfinder is still nowhere to be seen.

Okay, now that we've talked about the ride, let's talk about the comic.  So, as you may have surmised, this comic is very much an origin story for Dreamfinder and Figment.  Dreamfinder is very much cut from the same cloth as character such as Willy Wonka or Ms. Frizzle.  They're characters you don't know much about, but you don't need to know much, because they're just that awesome.  As such giving these characters backstories must be handled with great care, because there is a lot that can go wrong.  So, how does it work for this comic?  Quite well, quite well indeed.

Even before Blarion embraces his destiny as Dreamfinder do see little hints of what is to come.  He's good natured, friendly and wants to make the world a better place.  Yet at the same time he's being kept down by various forces in his life, such as his boss, and needs Figment to show him that his dreams aren't in vain.  Or to put it another way, Figment shows him that a dream can be a dream come true.  If you pay attention, you'll spot many references to the original version of Journey into Imagination throughout this comic.  Also, there is an introduction at the beginning of the comic written by famous Disney imagineer Tony Baxter.

The artwork wasn't the best I've ever seen, but it gets the job done.  There were a few touches I did appreciate.  Figment, and everyone else from the realm of imagination, has somewhat more vibrant coloring than the real-world characters.  He's also noticeably more cartoony, which is in keeping with his appearance, and make him standout more.  Blarion also takes on a more whimsical art style once he fully embraces his destiny as The Dreamfinder.

The realm of imagination was a joy to experience.  I loved the Audio Archipelago, home of the Sound Sprites, and all the various sound puns it had.  For example, when Blarion and Figment get arrested they are put in a jail cell at the bottom of the Archipelago known as the Bassment.  They were arrested because, apparently, failing to speak in alliteration is one of the most heinous crimes to the Sound Sprites.  In other puns, our heroes get swept up in the gales of a brainstorm at one point.  The entire realm of imagination was a joy to experience because of how whimsical it was.

I liked that the real-world portions are set during the Edwardian era.  Dreamfinder and his inventions have always had a bit of a steampunk feel to them.  The Edwardian era was a more optimistic time than the Victorian era.  Of course, four years later all of that hope and optimism was dashed by World War I, so good that Blarion become Dreamfinder when he did.

On that note, I feel like the concept of Dreamfinder could have been introduced a bit better.  Now granted, we all know that's what Blarion is destined to become, but within the context of the story, it kind of comes out of left field.  It wouldn't be too hard to fix.  We know Figment was his childhood imaginary friend, so maybe include a few lines/scenes about how he used to play games or tell stories where he went on adventures with Figment as Dreamfinder.

This is really just a minor point, overall this comic was a joy from start to finish.   I'm not the only one who thought this.  Figment went on to be a surprise hit for Marvel, even Disney CEO Bob Iger was taken by surprise, and a sequel was immediately ordered.  Before you ask, yes, I will review that one eventually.

If there is a message to take from this comic I think it is this.  Trying means that you might fail, and that can be scary, but never trying means you never succeed.  You have the power to achieve your dreams within you, even if you don't know it yet.  All in all, an excellent message to impart to readers, and very in keeping with the theme of the ride.  I should mention that this is an excellent all ages comic.  Of course, this is a Disney creation, so that is to be expected.

Well, I think that should do it from me for now.  I hope you all enjoyed this review very much, and I will see you all next time. 

Comic Review: Seekers of the Weird

One of the things I’ve always loved about Disney is the imagination and creativity that goes into their parks. The different lands and attractions all have very intricate back-stories, and I was obsessed with them in my younger days. So what better way for Marvel and Disney to work together than making comics based around Disney Park attractions?

Ladies and gentlemen, I present Disney Kingdoms. This gem of a series was born when a group of Marvel and Disney executives talking during a baseball game. Among those present was Joe Quesada, the man behind the infamous One More Day arc of Spider-Man. Despite his past misgivings, Disney Kingdoms has partially redeemed Mr. Quesada in my eyes.

Disney Kingdoms is divided into a series of five issue miniseries, each based on a different Disney attraction, that take place in a shared universe. Today we’re going to be talking about to first of these miniseries: Seekers of the Weird, based on The Museum of the Weird.

 It follows two siblings named Max and Mary Keep. They live in New Orleans, where their parents run an occult curio shop. One night the shop is attacked by strange magical creatures. Mad and Mary are saved by their uncle Roland, but their parents are captured. Roland revels that their parents are members of a secret organization that guards a museum of strange and powerful artifacts. This is of course The Museum of the Weird. Now it’s a race against the clock to save Max and Mary’s parents before time runs out.

Some of you might be scratching your heads wondering why you haven’t heard of The Museum of the Weird. Well there’s a reason for that: it was never built. The Museum of the Weird was conceived as a walk-through experience that would be complimentary to The Haunted Mansion in New Orleans Square in Disneyland. For various reason it never got built, but it remains one of the most intriguing “what-ifs” for Disney Park enthusiasts. There was really a lot of planning involved with it, lots of backstory and miniature models, and it’s well worth looking into.

Anyway, let’s talk about the comic itself. Well first of all, if you’re looking for a great all-ages comic book series then Disney Kingdoms has you covered. Hey, it is a Disney series, so of course it’s going to have appeal to all ages. That having been said, this is a horror comic and there are a few scene that might be a little scary for readers on the younger side. Just use your own discretion and it’ll all work out fine.

Now let’s talk about the characters. Max and Mary are your typical yin-yang siblings. Max is intelligent but not much for physical activity; while Mary isn’t the sharpest tool in the shed, but she’s is quite the sports star. So it seemed like the comic was setting things up for moral about the importance of teamwork and how everyone has something to offer, but that’s not quite how it panned out.

The main problem came down to the old adage “show, don’t tell”. We are frequently told that Max is intelligent and knows about the occult and weird thing. We are told this, but we never really see any evidence of this other than his love of reading books. For the most part, Mary seems to get by pretty well just by punching her way through the museum. I’m not sure if it was clumsy writing or maybe it just seemed that way to me.

In other characters we have Uncle Roland. He’s got the outfit of a dashing explorer and he has a gun that shoots ghosts out of it. His main role is to act as the adviser and moral support since he loses his legs early on. He does manage to get in on the heroics towards the end, but I wouldn’t want to spoil that for you.

The villains don’t really have much motivation beyond the typical take over the world for evil’s sake motive. Admittedly, that is rather par for course as far as Disney villains go. Their main goal is to summon their boss, The Reaper King. He’s got a pretty simple design, and he doesn’t appear for very long, but he is a powerful presence for the scenes that he is in. The last time he got loose the Black Death happened and 1/3 of Europe died. Those of you up on your history will remember that this was actually good for Europe in the long run. After all, it did lead to the collapse of feudalism. I will concede, however, that those who lived during the Black Death would beg to differ about it being good for Europe. Though admittedly, that stuck out more to me since I’m a history nerd.

There are plenty of little details and artifacts throughout the museum that are just begging to be elaborated on. I guess the artists and writers were trying to save something for potential sequels. Hey, Dreamfinder and Figment got a sequel to their series, so you never know. The Haunted Mansion has its own series now, so maybe there will be some shout-outs and hints in it. Speaking of art, the artwork itself is that same top-notch work we’ve all come to expect from the artists who work for Marvel.

Well there you have it. Thrills, chills and fun the whole family can enjoy. Seekers of the Weird is the first in the Disney Kingdoms line, but you don’t have to start there. Each miniseries is self-contained so any of them can be your starting point. It’s always refreshing to find a comic book series that isn’t bogged down in years of continuity. I really enjoyed Seekers of the Weird, and I’m sure you will too.