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Kirby Speaks!
It’s been twenty years this week since the passing of the great Jack Kirby so it is only fitting that this week’s FOOM Friday looks at FOOM #11, which celebrated Kirby’s 1975 return to Marvel Comics.
Central to this issue was a four-page interview with Jack Kirby, and while it is thin on details of the books Jack was doing for Marvel at the time, it does contain a remarkable digression about the nature of man, god, and superheroes:
“What happened; what’s happening; what’s going to happen. Those are the essential questions for anybody, and that’s why we create gods, create myths … And I feel that the gods are only idealized versions of ourselves … We already are super-heroes. When we prove ourselves, at the last analysis, whatever we see around us is us … You’ll find out in the end, when everything gets wiped away and you’re left standing in your underwear, all that’s left is you … And you’re all there is. So when we yearn for gods, we’re merely expressing that kind of feeling … ‘I’m all there is; you’re all there is.”
Read the entire interview, below … and be sure to check out my reviews of Kirby’s mid-70s Marvel work:
Kirby is gone, now, and those mysteries he pondered in this article have long since been revealed to him. As was so often the case during his career, Kirby is out in front of the rest of us — again!
We miss you, Jack! Rest in peace.
Voice of the X-Men!
This week, F.O.O.M. Friday looks at F.O.O.M. #10, which featured the (then) all-new Uncanny X-Men!
The issue is actually pretty thin when it comes to the new X-Men, but a long-winded article about an FBI agent investigating the mutant phenomenon did turn up some interesting trivia by cribbing from what may have been Stan Lee’s original X-Men character descriptions from the 1960s. I don’t know if Stan was thinking about animation, or if he was just being thorough, but the character descriptions reference contemporary 1960s actors for the voices of the X-Men.
For example, did you know that Cyclops was supposed to have the voice of Anthony Perkins? According to F.O.O.M. #10, it’s true!
Hmm. Relationship issues, can be charming or a jerk … I guess it fits. And now we know that when they call Scott, “Cyke,” it’s really short for “Psycho!”
Charles Xavier had the voice of Leslie Howard (“without English accent”); the Angel was to sound like a young Gene Barry; and the fastidious Beast had the voice of the equally-fastidious Tony Randall!
That may or may not fit, but at least the Beast got a voice. Iceman and Marvel Girl were identified only as typical teenagers. Poor Jean was also described as falling “… madly in love at the drop of a hat. Presently has a crush on Professor X, Cyclops, Angel, and Lord-knows-who-else.”
Since Marvel Girl is listed as age 17 1/2 while Professor X was “Thirty-ish” that’s kind of … eww. Maybe Stan the Man was still getting over Stanley Kubrick’s 1962 film, Lolita?
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