To celebrate the legends birthday, some local creators and the Shmaltz Brewing Company teamed up for the “2nd Annual King Kirby Birthday Party” which featured an impressive list of comic creators, such as Steve Niles, Andy Lanning, Ron Marz, Lee Moder, Paul Harding, Tom Raney, Joe Staton, Mark McKenna, Steve Orlando, Nikkol Jelenic and many more. (Click Here For More)
“Proceeds from the event went to “the Hero Initiative and the Kirby4Heroes”,
The ticket cost was $20 and included “five samples of Shmaltz beers, a complimentary glass, a piece of Kirby birthday cake, and a chance at door prizes.”
There was also “a silent auction of special comic items donated by creators.”
For more information check out the Facebook Event Page: King Kirby Birthday Party at Shmaltz Brewing Company
"The Hero Initiative is a publicly supported not-for-profit corporation that provides a financial safety net for comic creators who may need emergency medical aid, financial support for essentials of life, and an avenue back into paying work. To date the Hero Initiative has been able to benefit more than 50 creators and their families with over $500,000 of much-needed aid, raised through contributions from both creators and fans."
"Kirby4Heroes is a charity to support the Hero Initiative that was founded by Jillian Kirby, granddaughter of legendary creator Jack Kirby.”
If you missed the event this year, there’s always next year….
C. Anthony Burdette had the opportunity to interview a few of the creators attending the even about the influence Jack Kirby on the industry and on their careers.
JOE STATON
1) What was your first introduction to Jack Kirby’s work?
“That’s hard to say. Maybe his cool take on Green Arrow in ‘57. His work on the Challengers of the Unknown also from ‘57 was what really impressed me with their bizarre alien opponents. Also an early Kid Colt where the Kid was involved with a pretty schoolmarm. The Challengers was what stuck.”
2) How has Jack Kirby influenced you as a creator?
“As much as I admire Jack’s contributions, I’ve had very little direct influence from Jack’s work.”
3) What would you say is Kirby’s most lasting contribution to the comic industry?
“Well, he did create the Marvel Universe. That’s pretty significant. He also left us with a fine example of that motto, “Always have your own lawyer.””
4) If you could work on any project with Kirby what would that be?
“My favorite Kirby work is when he was inked by Wally Wood, so I would have liked to have been Woody’s assistant when he was inking Jack’s SKY MASTERS strip in ‘58.”
STEVE ORLANDO
1) What was your first introduction to Jack Kirby’s work?
“For me, I think the introduction, even if i didn’t know it, was with the X-Men. Some of the first books I bought were X-Men comics, a line called Professor Xavier and the X-Men, which featured Stan the Man scripts refreshed by Fabian Nicieza, drawn by Jan Duursema. Now, these issues were originally drawn by Jack, featured characters created by Jack, and stories he most likely strongly influenced. And it’s where my love affair with a no-hair version of Hank McCoy/Beast began — and that’s a Kirby design!”
2) How has Jack Kirby influenced you as a creator
“Unbridled energy and ideas. Jack was a creator the page could barely contain, and even though I’ll never match that, it’s something I strive for. Put as much into every story as you can. Never hold back your ideas, in fact, foster the crazy ones! Comics are the place to do it, where the only limit is your imagination. Jack was a fountain of creativity, and the energy, the need to put these ideas on the page, to ground them in ink and paper — that’s what inspires me.”
3) What would you say is Kirby’s most lasting contribution to the comic industry?
“A wider majority of iconic comic book characters than any creator living or dead. The sheer fact that if you read a book at Marvel or DC, it will more often than not involve directly or indirectly something Jack created, is astounding. And if you’re at a creator-owned publisher, odds are they’re fans of Jack. I have no problem saying in many way’s Jack’s lasting contribution IS the backbone of the modern comics industry.”
4) If you could work on any project with Kirby what would that be?
“WELL, there actually is a public domain Kirby character, the VAGABOND PRINCE, which anyone could work on. And someday I hope to. And shocking and amazing to me is that I WILL be able to play with Jack’s Fourth World characters in October when I work on Justice League: Gods and Men. But my secret love in the Kirby line is actually his out there, totally weird reinvention of The Sandman — protector of the Dream Stream!”
NIKKOL JELENIC
1) What was your first introduction to Jack Kirby’s work?
“Unknown to me, my first intro to Kirby was from sneaking comics from my brothers & other little boys who were into them so that I could draw the characters like Captain America & other Marvel stuff which I didn’t read at all, I only wanted to re-draw the images from the pages & covers. I was more into horror stories which I got my fill from movies & not books until I was in the age years just before the early teens. I remember reading some of his anthology horror stuff & really liked those because they reminded me of Tales From The Crypt, which, of course, were out much later than those comics, but it brought a connection to my love of the genre for both mediums.”
2) How has Jack Kirby influenced you as a creator
“Seeing how those anthologies were made & drawn has definitely had influence on the comics I make today. I know I have way more anthology stories written & drawn for my horror works under my belt than anything else I’ve ever created because of Kirby’s influence of bridging that gap in horror from movies to comics for me when I want a good scare or creepy visual.”
3) What would you say is Kirby’s most lasting contribution to the comic industry?
“Captain America seems to be a very strong character that has & will always stand the test of time. Kirby has created so many characters & I feel that no matter how non-main stream some might have been, they could become an even bigger deal than they were intended to be upon creation… just look at Guardians of the Galaxy. They had to have had a pretty ok fan base but now with the characters being reawakened through film, I can’t do a convention anywhere without seeing Rocket & Groot all over a show room lol! Just such a cool happening for Kirby & I bet it would’ve been so great for him to see this going on with the tech we have now to really bring these characters to life on the big screen.”
4) If you could work on any project with Kirby what would that be?
“If I ever had the opportunity to work on a comic book with Kirby, I would love to collaborate on a horror story that has a bit of Sci-Fi to it. It would be such a great experience to draw up a new monster/creature with a creative mind like Jack Kirby.”
MARK McKENNA
1) What was your first introduction to Jack Kirby’s work?
“When I was a young teen, I didn’t have a specific work that I looked at and thought this is fantastic although I own Avengers #1 and it was a special book for me at the time.”
2) How has Jack Kirby influenced you as a creator
“It hasn’t influenced my work. I revere it and put it high on a pedestal in its uniqueness.”
3) What would you say is Kirby’s most lasting contribution to the comic industry?
“I don’t think there’s just one contribution that we, as a fan or professional, can point out as “the thing” that is his legacy.. Its a massive collection of things…”
4) If you could work on any project with Kirby what would that be?
"I loved his later work on The New Gods and Mister Miracle. Those books would have been a dream to work on for me, although I am a big Silver Surfer fan and when he introduced the Surfer in The Fantastic Four, that’s would have been the coolest”
RON MARZ
1) What was your first introduction to Jack Kirby’s work?
“When I was quite small, even before I learned to read very much, so maybe 4 years old, I discovered a box of my older brother’s comics in the basement. It was a lot of different stuff, mostly Marvels from the ’60s. I looked at all of it, but the stuff I kept coming back to was issues of Fantastic Four and a few others, all drawn by Jack Kirby. To my young eyes, the artwork was kind of grotesque in places, even scary, but I was drawn back to those issues again and again. Obviously it was years later that I figured out I had been looking at Jack Kirby’s classic Marvel work. Some of those images are still burned into my mind all these years later.”
2) How has Jack Kirby influenced you as a creator?
“Look, Jack Kirby has influenced everyone doing comics, whether they realize it or not. The visual language of comics is what it is today because of Jack Kirby. For me, the biggest things about Jack’s work are the boundless energy and the unbridled imagination. There’s never been another creator in comics with the energy and imagination of Jack Kirby, not even close, though all of us try.”
3) What would you say is Kirby’s most lasting contribution to the comic industry?
“Singling out one lasting contribution is a fool’s errand. I could give you a hundred things, and still not scratch the surface. I think in large part we still have a comics industry because of what Jack Kirby brought to it. If there had been no Jack Kirby, comics would be a pale shadow of what they are today.”
4) If you could work on any project with Kirby what would that be?
“Man, that’s such a crazy notion that I’ve never even considered it before. I think working with Jack would be a dream for damn near anybody working in comics. It’s like baseball with Babe Ruth, or writing songs with Lennon and McCartney. But I guess if I had to come up with one thing, it would be a story with Thor and the Asgardians meeting the New Gods. That’s pure Kirby.”