To the editor:
Re: "Thank Jack 'King' Kirby for superhero summers," July 13.
Thanks to Geoff Olson for remembering Jack 'King' Kirby. As a longtime fan whose cat is even named after the King (and who has to explain that regularly), it's good to see someone recognizing that he's getting short shrift while his creations are framed in entertainment pages and magazines everywhere.
In addressing Darkseid and George Lucas (a well-known Kirby fan), it's notable to point out that all Kirby's New Gods derived their abilities from The Source. And that the storyline revolved around red-haired Orion being raised by white-bearded Highfather, only to find out his real father is the stonefaced Darkseid.
The struggle of Kirby's heirs has gone largely untold, as has that of Superman creators Siegel and Shuster. Siegel's pronouncement of a curse on the first Ilya Salkind Superman movie garnered enough bad press that some royalties finally came his way. Still, his family fights on for the reversion of copyright under the laws that existed then but U.S. lawmakers keep changing to allow companies like Disney and Warner longer leases on their "properties."
The Jewish origins of the creators still resound in things like Kal-El's given name, Ben Grimm's rough streets upbringing, and many other aspects, though these were not done overtly. There are huge sweeping stories behind these heroes as well, ones that sadly have been swept under the rug for all too long.
Kyle Hawke, Vancouver
