ComicMix Radio: Mark Evanier Knows Jack

One of the best surprises in the stores this week was Mark Evanier’s long-awaited Kirby: King Of Comics biography of Jack Kirby, which is the latest step in his longtime association with the King. Mark gives us the story behind the book in an excerpt from an interview you can read on Monday here at ComicMix, plus:

— Wizard #200 – confusing? We set you straight! — Marvel sells out and DC reduces prices —  NY ComicCon’s Guest List grows — Stan Lee recreates some old magic —  Not to be outdone, there’s a brand new trivia question and another chance to grab an exclusive Graham Crackers Comics variant by e-mailing us at: podcast [at] comicmix.com Kirby Sez Don’t Ask – Just Press The Button     And remember, you can always subscribe to ComicMix Radio podcasts via or RSS!  

Transcript

Broadcast. 173. ComicMix.com. ComicMix with you. Alright, we're on our way. It's one of those great stories that could only happen in comics. Hi, it's Mike Raub, ComicMix Radio.

So you're a rabid comic book fan. And by luck you get to visit the home of not only your favorite artist, but everybody's favorite. You end up forming a friendship that lasts decades. And after the artist's passing, you become the person chosen to write his legacy. It happened. We'll tell you about it coming up on…

Moshi 2008 ComicMix News. The Wizard is celebrating their 200th anniversary, but I gotta tell you it's gonna be a little confusing. But let us try and straighten it out for you. There will be two editions of Wizard number 200. There's a gold and there's a platinum.

Now, conventional comic book wisdom means that those are pretty much the same issue with a couple of different tweaks here and there. Not the case here. Wizard number 200 gold is completely different from Wizard number 200 platinum. And there's unique stuff in each one. Some of the things you'll be looking forward to…

Well, the 200 greatest comics in Wizard's history, the 50 events to rock comic book history, the 10 most controversial people in comics, and the 20 most collectible comics published from 1991 until today. If you want to be sure you get both issues, you better check with your retailer because right now they're placing the orders for Wizard 200 and they need to know what you want. Again, two different issues. Gold and platinum, Wizard 200.

In stores not far from right now. They'll be there on the 9th of April. In a uniquely unprecedented move, DC has dropped the price of the upcoming Batman Death Mask miniseries. Done in the manga style that we've heard so much about, especially with the upcoming Batman Direct DVD animated feature. Batman Death Mask number one features a new serial killer in Gotham City who may have ties to the original training that Bruce Wayne acquired as a young man in Japan. And now it's only $2.99.

First issue to hit the stores in the early part of April and again the price reduced to $2.99. Couple of interesting sellouts from Marvel. Ultimate's number three blew out this week and of course there's going to be a second printing variant featuring some new art on the new wraparound cover that should be in stores later during this month. Thor number six has sold out from Marvel as well, though right now there's no plans to go back to press on that one. And interestingly enough, kick-ass number one. A book that a lot of people have been talking about.

Mark Bellar and John Romita Jr. has sold completely out at Diamond. And right now there's going to be a kick-ass second printing variant that should be in stores right around the first week of April. Steven Grant, who you know from The Punisher and Tom Mandrake, a great artist from DC for a long time, has done some great work there. I've all teamed up together with a gentleman named Victor Riches and they've gone to 12 Gate Publishing to do something new called The Safest Place. It is an adaptation of Riches' book. It is a huge graphic novel, about 112 pages or so.

The story follows war photographer Matthew Castle, who suffered a brutal event in his past and closed him off emotionally but granted him an unusual special gift. He cannot feel physical pain. Look for Safest Place from 12 Gage to hit comic book stores in the late spring of this year. The dates are getting closer for the New York Comic Con. Take a place from April 18th to the 20th in of course New York City. Announcements have been made about some of the people you can look for in the Artist Alley part of the convention this year. Some big names there.

Mark Buckingham, Colleen Duran, Danny Fingerup, Keith Giffen, Bob Layton, Jim Lee, Rob Liefeld, John Romita Jr. and so many more. From the authors side there's some great names here as well, including Danielle Bennett, Terry Brooks, Peter David, Nina Harper, David Keck and F. Paul Wilson among others. Of course there's some major guests of honor at the show as well, including Mike Mignola, Grant Morrison and a lot more. Get a complete list of everybody they add and they do change it a lot so keep this link handy on your computer at NewYorkComicon.com. It's always been one of Stan's more little appreciated talents but I always thought it was great.

Those little magazines filled with photos and funny captions on them. He did a bunch back in the 1960s and now he's back doing a new one that just hit the book stores called Stan's Lee's Election Days. It's a 96 page collection of photographs done by Capitol Hill photographer Lauren Victoria Burke with word balloons of course by Stan. Kind of funny, a little wacky and again it's in bookstores now for $9.95. Hi everybody, this is your cousin Bruce and you know what you're listening to right now? Comic fix. Comic fix radio.

One of the big joys in the comics and the bookstores this week was Kirby King of Comics. And the man behind the book is not only a Jack Kirby fan but he was a good friend as well. I worked with him for a couple years and then I left and I'm a straight friend and then we had a fight and then we said four times again. But Jack was just kind of my brilliant eccentric uncle for a while there. As Mark Evanier and boy what a list of things for us to tell you that he has done.

I mean today he's a current co-writer on this spirit. He co-created Gru both of those things with the artist Sergio Aragonis. He's written countless TV shows, cartoons and comics as well. But when Mark first met Jack he was just a major comic fan standing in awe of Jack's huge volume of work and talent. But you know it wasn't long until Jack saw something equally as impressive in Mark as well. Early on, very early on in our association, he made a clear to me that he wanted me to be a historian of his also.

And also one of the interesting things that was intriguing was he wasn't telling me what to write or what not to write because Jack was very committed to the truth. He was kind of obsessive about the truth and he always thought that he would come off well in any history if people just wrote the truth. After Jack's passing in 1994 it seemed obvious that a book was in order. I always knew I was going to write stuff about him. I just didn't know which one would take or when. And after he passed away his little laws said to me, oh well listen what do you have a big book about Jack?

Well you know you think this is the time and she said yes, you know yes please do it. And so I went okay and she helped me a lot. And she gave me all of Jack's personal papers and effects and such. And I've been working for since Jack Pepper just 14 years now on a humongous sized book about his life. And it's still a few years in the future so I decided when Harry and Abel's company asked me to do a kind of interim book to hide people over.

Also because the book I'm writing was getting too mired in minutiae to the point where I thought a lot of ordinary civilians wouldn't be able to make their way through it. So I thought I ought to put out the simplified version first. I can't tell you again how much the Kirby King of Comics is an amazing work. So even if you have a bunch of other pieces of Kirby in your collection this one is not to be missed. Make a place on the shelf right now.

I'm very proud of this book and happy that people have a chance to hold in their hands kind of an overview of Jack's life and such. I'm very happy that it came out from a very prestigious art book publisher because those same people have published Picasso. And I think Jack deserves to be on the same shelf as Picasso. Grab Kirby King of Comics in bookstores or on Amazon or right now. Good comic stores should carry it as well.

You'll see a review plus a lot more with Mark coming up here on ComicMix dot com in just a few days. We've got a winner! ComicMix Radio! Let's get into it again as we give you another trivia question and you give us another answer and together we get to hand you a limited edition, variant issue comic from Graham Crackers Comics with nine stores all over the Chicagoland area. And if you want to still shop there, well wherever you are on the planet it's real easy.

Just go to GrahamCrackers.com. These limited edition comics have exclusive covers done just for Graham Crackers. They include great titles like Transformers Masters of the Universe, GI Joe, Doctor Who, Captain America, and a lot more. And the rules to get it are very simple. You have to get your answer to us for the trivia question by the deadline we set in every broadcast.

We choose one winner from all the correct emails we get at duplicateemails.com. Alright, who won this one? Our question was that the Hulk TV series ran in the late 70s and even with some reunion movies into the 80s. Can you name the two other Marvel superheroes who made their live action TV debut during the Hulk series? That confusion wasn't whether or not these characters appeared during the series or are in the movies made for TV afterwards.

A lot of people just had the impression that She-Hulk was in there somewhere. But the two actual Marvel superheroes who made their live action debut were Thor. And please don't even think about what a job that was. And Daredevil played by teen idol of the time, Rex Smith. Congratulations to Greg Hatcher. He got it right. Got himself a Graham Crackers limited edition variant issue.

That's on the way to you, Greg. Meanwhile, time for somebody else to be a winner. Here's our new question. Jack Kirby's contributions to Marvel and even DC are endless. You know that. But can you name any hero that he created over his career for any other company beyond the big two?

A lot of room to play there. Get us your answer by Tuesday, the 11th of March at 9 a.m. Eastern Standard Time. Where do you send it? Podcast at ComicMix.com. Get it out right now. Podcast at ComicMix.com. Type carefully and good luck.

In comics this week, DC was right in the middle of those big treasury sized editions. This week we got the limited collector's edition of the Bible. Don't knock it though. It had some beautiful Joe Kubernetes artwork in there. We also got Phantom Stranger number 37, Secrets of the Haunted House number two, Shadow number 11 and the first issue of the Steve Ditko Wally Wood stalker,

as well as Superboy in the Legion number 209 and Wonder Woman number 218. Marvel had some interesting titles. They were either Scary or Giant Size. We got War as Hell number 13, Vampire Tales magazine number 11, Giant Size Invaders number one, as well as Giant Size Avengers number four and regular sized Daredevil number 122.

In the news, Rebel Forces in Cambodia shelled an airport during a U.S. financed airlift of food and medical supplies. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger opened a new round of Mideast peace talks and the GOP threatened to split into a new third party with rumors circulating that California Governor Ronald Reagan would lead that new group. In the movies we had George Segal in Going Ape, we had Bruce Leary packaged in the Dragon Dies Hard.

We had Earthquake, but the best ticket money was spent on a timeless classic. Open this goddamn door, kick your ass in the head, Dan. Mommy! Hello, would you like to have a hold and say hey? It's fun! If you're blue and you don't know where to go to, why don't you go where fashion sits?

We're in the movie! Mel Brooks' incredible young Frankenstein. TV tonight had episodes of Kung Fu, Hee Haw, The Bob Newhart Show, and of course, Marion. Who can turn the world down a winter's smile? So you're a Vona Morgenstern, and I'm Mary Richards.

Hello, get out of my apartment! On the radio was a performer who studied music, drama and dance at the prestigious Lincoln Center in Chicago. Her early work is well remembered and her short-lived career included one trip to the top with beautiful vocals. Here's Lovin' You and Minnie Riperton. Easy cause you're beautiful.

Making love with you is all I wanna do. ComicMix da da da.com. I cannot stay here too long before my machine friends will become nervous and do something rash. Busy, busy week ahead. New comics and DVDs, of course.

We have some exclusive news on the way about the end of Countdown. A whole bunch of news from Mega Con and comic books on the radio too. Plus more Graham Crackers comics winners and you can get it all on iTunes. You don't have to miss a thing. Don't forget there's also lots of free comics you don't want to miss on ComicMix.com every day.

Including some brand new GrimJack and Simone & Ajax in color this weekend. And Bundy means another installment of Easy Street. Don't forget by the way, write us, let us know what you think about things, and enter the contest as well. At podcast at ComicMix.com. Talk to you in a couple of days. Bye!

ComicMix da da da.com. ComicMix radio.