Tuesday 28 August 2012

Street Code by Jack Kirby

Today would have been the 95th birthday of the late, great Jack Kirby. As anyone who follows this blog will know I'm a huge fan of the King and his work - from his explosive war-time tales of Captain America and other patriotic scrappers, through his visionary "Kreations" that heralded the Marvel Age Of Comics, on through the early '70s renaissance of the Fourth World, and, yes, even up to late-period lunacy like Destroyer Duck.

In previous years on this day, I've posted pictures of Kirby's great super hero and fantasy creations, but this time I've gone with something a bit different. "Street Code" was Kirby's semi-autobiographical look back at his tough upbringing on the violent, Depression-hit streets of New York's Lower East Side. I'm sorry to say I've never read the whole story but I've come across a few images on t'internet and the one above is a beauty, capturing the vibrant, overcrowded, multicultural milieu of Kirby's tenement roots. Kirby took his experiences of poverty, small time crooks and street gangs and channelled them into his heroes and villains, imbuing them with a real, earthy humanity which grounded their more fantastic qualities.

In his short graphic novel depicting the early years of the comic book industry, The Dreamer, Kirby's contemporary ( and former boss ) Will Eisner included a thinly-veiled fictional version of Kirby, called Jack King. A tough, diminutive, cigar-chomping cartoonist, Jack King stands up to local mobsters who attempt to muscle in on the new comic book studio of the story's Eisner-surrogate. I'll have to paraphrase because I haven't got the GN to hand but, after King boots the mobsters out, Eisner's main character says something like "In the comic book business there are good guys and bad guys...and that's why there's Jack King..."

Friday 24 August 2012

Blogging versus life

Those of you who are kind enough to drop by on a regular basis may have noticed a distinct lack of blogging round these 'ere parts recently. This is due to the usual, boring reasons: lack of time, energy etc. and the fact that our PC's feeling poorly again. ( I'm typing this on Sophie's netbook which is our only link to the space known as cyber at the moment. )

Tomorrow Sarah and I are heading down to Cornwall again ( well, we haven't been there for at least a month ) for a weekend in Penzance, with ( hopefully ) a chance to go dolphin spotting. If all goes well there should be some photos appearing here before long. Until then, hang in there, be kind to each other, keep on keepin' on... and all that kind of stuff :-)

Sunday 5 August 2012

Friday 3 August 2012

Team GB

Victoria Pendleton


Katarina Johnson-Thompson

Louise Hazel
Jessica Ennis


I'm not that shallow ( really! ) that I'd watch the 2012 London Olympics just for all the gorgeous female athletes...
...but it helps :-)

Good luck for tomorrow, Jess!

Thursday 2 August 2012

It's obviously Amy's turn to die this season...


Doctor Who Series 7 - coming soon - and featuring the Special Weapons Dalek! Yay!

And ( deep breath... ) Dinosaurs On A Spaceship!!!! as seen in this new trailer. Enjoy.

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