The amazing life story of Jack Kirby, The King of Comics, is rendered in a thoroughly engrossing graphic novel by Tom Scioli, Jack Kirby: The Epic Life of the King of Comics. Kirby’s publishing accomplishments are renowned, but one of the many strengths of Scioli’s graphic novel is how it brings an immediacy and humanizes the legend. Scioli uses first-person narration captions, often taken from direct interview comments, lending the narration an authentic feel - transmitting an experience just not of Kirby the Icon, but Jacob Kurtzberg the man.
Radar Pings
The Sandman Audiobook on Audible is a triumphant adaptation. I never would’ve imagined a comic series known as much for its brilliant artwork as for its writing could adapt so readily to a strictly aural medium. James McAvoy faces a daunting challenge in portraying Dream, a character whose signature blackened speech bubbles always lent such force and dark poetry to every word he spoke. McAvoy’s mellifluous voice fits the role perfectly. I’ve only listened to the first episode. I’m enjoying immersing in this slowly.
The Go-Go's documentary now on Showtime, directed by Alison Ellwood, is a thrilling rock doc about the only all-girl band in rock ‘n roll history to write their own songs and play their own instruments to score a #1 album on the charts. Filled with many recognizable arcs and tropes of the rock-doc genre, this doc surprises in several respects and presents a compelling argument to induct the group into the Rock ‘n Roll Hall of Fame.
Portrait of a Lady on Fire was one my cinematic sins of omission in 2019 - I didn’t get around to seeing it in the theater, but now thanks to the recent Criterion Blu-Ray, I’m able to gaze in wonder at the rich, lushly photographed images captured by director Céline Sciamma and cinematographer Claire Mathon. It’s a journey that is, among many things, about imagery itself. It’s one of those films that lends itself well to analysis and interpretation, and I’m looking forward to studying the extras on the disc.
I Used to Go Here is a mid-life ennui movie about a novelist returning to her college for an appearance to discuss her recently published book. Gillian Jacobs brings a subtle and simmering dissatisfaction as the writer, and Jemaine Clement plays a professor with much of his trademark charm, but in this performance his charismatic side is tempered with a compelling and lingering darkness.
Tweets of the Week
Too many to choose from so I’m gonna include several this week, starting with one about the aforementioned Go Go’s documentary:
The “Thompson Heller” promotional tour continues!
This week, I was a guest on the Constructing Comics Podcast. Matt Kund, the main host of this show, and his co-host Noah, do a great job delving deep into “constructing” comics, and have a knack for engaging discussions about the minutia of making comics. Matt is a comics creator too, just recently delivering the crowd-funded comic The Reset.
Promo flyers and posters for “Heller” are ready to send out to retailers:
One more thing…
So, it’s actually been years since I wrote the scripts for Thompson Heller. But this week, I got back on the horse, writing a new script for a bonus short story to be included in the trade paperback edition of the mini-series. I was worried it might be a challenge to return after all this time between scripts, but once I got started, it was like I’d just been writing the character yesterday. And I’m keen on the title for this one: