Be sure to visit our social media feeds, as we have been posting regular Jack Kirby Today items that feature Kirby comic book release dates! Twitter – Facebook – Instagram
We’ve also been trying some livestreaming! If things go as planned, we’ll be inviting some guests to join us. Make sure you subscribe to our YouTube channel!
Once again, we’ll be set up at NYCC, but this time at a new location! We’ll be at an EXPANDED CORNER BOOTH #970! Come by to view Kirby artwork, talk Kirby with Museum volunteers, and, of course, buy posters, pins, t-shirts, stickers, portfolios, books, magazines, and more to help us keep our archives safe and secure!
Not only that, we’re sponsoring a panel on Thursday at 1:30pm! Titled ” Gangsters, Lovers, Heroes, Warriors, Gods: Jack Kirby’s Women”, Elana Levin, Heidi MacDonald, Jay Justice, Cecil Castellucci , Adrian Melo and Meg Downey will discuss Kirby’s female characters. Room 1A02
Are you in NYC? Please join the Jack Kirby Museum at 6:30pm Wednesday August 28th on Delancey Street just east of the corner of Essex St. (near Richie’s and Fabco Shoes) Lower East Side for a walking tour including a visit to Jack’s birthplace, a guerrilla street theater reading of his autobiographical story Street Code near where he grew up, trivia questions (with prizes), and ending with a mixer at a local haunt (TBD!)
This is a free, non-ticketed event. Donations welcome! Show up and celebrate with us!
Contrary to what you may have seen here on on our homepage, we have been busy for the past year.
We’ve set up at the Comic Art Show in September 2018, New York Comic Con in October 2018, Comic Art Show in April 2019, Big Apple Con in March 2019, WonderCon in March 2019, LA Comic Art Show in May 2019, Heroes Con in June 2019 and San Diego Comic-Con in Jul 2019!
Many thanks to the Comic Art Show, Big Apple Con, LA Comic Art Show, HeroesCon, and Comic-Con International for their support of our efforts!
We’ve added new merchandise to our line: the Galactic Head pin, the NY Warrior t-shirt, the Rainbow Flyer t-shirt.
We now have upwards of 4500 pieces of original art scanned in our Digital Archive. Thanks so much to all the collectors, especially Jack’s grandson Jeremy Kirby, for allowing us to scan your Kirby art!
Today would have been Jack Kirby’s 101st birthday. From his tough Jewish immigrant beginnings on New York City’s Lower East Side, to the comic book publishing houses of Midtown Manhattan, to Brooklyn and the suburbs of Nassau County, to Thousand Oaks in Ventura County, California, Jack Kirby’s mind and hand brought us countless visually powerful stories and images. His work ethic, timeless ideas, and iconic visualizations continue to influence the storytellers of today, whether on the comic book page or the silver screen. Characters and scenarios that first came from his simple drawing board are household names worldwide, remain the cornerstone of the comic book industry, and are now the foundation of billion dollar blockbuster films.
Having seen the horrors of war firsthand, Kirby understood both the consequences of violence and the meaning of sacrifice, and his experiences informed the heroic ideals exemplified not just in his work but in his everyday life. Kirby’s kindness and general decency towards his fellows, fans, and friends remains the backbone for the culture of comic books, pop culture fandom, and conventions that attract millions of devotees each year. It’s easy to see the impact of Kirby’s creations, but don’t forget the legacy of Kirby the man.
We here at the Jack Kirby Museum are humbled and honored to do the work we do, to educate the world about Jack Kirby, his life, his images, and his stories. We look forward to continuing our work, and thank everyone for their support, especially The Kirby Estate.
We have some exciting projects in the works! Thank you, Jack!
Heroes Con starts tomorrow! The Kirby Museum will be set up at booth 1322 to 1421 with displays from our “A Jack Kirby Odyssey” exhibit we held in May including enlarged pencil copies of several complete 2001: A Space Odyssey issues. We will have our scanner to scan and archive Kirby art for the Kirby Digital Archive. If you have original art or photos of Jack, please bring them, we would love to add them for the archive.
We will also host a landmark 3-part panel at Heroes Con on Saturday called KING-SIZED KIRBY ANNUAL # 101, moderated by RAND HOPPE AND TOM KRAFT:
1: KIRBY 101—That’s right! An introduction to Jack Kirby – with no prerequisites! Essential for novices and devotees alike!
2: A celebration of the influence of Kirby with Michael Royer and Ed Piskor and John Morrow
3: Finally, a discussion and tour of the Kirby Museum
Attend the event at 3:00 pm in room 209. Don’t miss this!
Don’t forget, the show is at
One Art Space
23 Warren St., Manhattan (near Church St.)
Hours
Friday, May 11th: Noon – 7pm
Saturday, May 12th: Noon – 8pm
Sunday, May 13th: Noon – 6pm
Friday:
5pm – Opening Celebration
Saturday:
1pm – The Jack’d Kirby podcast live!
5pm – Kubrick and Kirby: Mind-Breakers. Hoppe and Romberger in Conversation
7pm – Fake Church with Geoff Grimwood. Improv Comedy!
Sunday:
2pm – Norton’s Odyssey – audio-visual dramatic reading of issues #5&6
4pm – The New Seed! – audio-visual dramatic reading of issue #7
5pm – Closing Celebration
There is no admission fee for “A Jack Kirby Odyssey”, but we’d love to receive a small donation of something like $5. If you can’t afford to donate, that’s cool.
The Jack Kirby Museum is proud to announce our first pop-up event of 2018. A Jack Kirby Odyssey will celebrate the King of Comics’ visionary work adapting and expanding on Arthur C. Clarke and Stanley Kubrick’s sci-fi classic, 2001: A Space Odyssey. The Kirby Museum’s A Jack Kirby Odyssey will take place at One Art Space, located at 23 Warren Street in New York City, from May 11 through May 13.
Just in time to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Kubrick’s cinematic masterpiece, the Jack Kirby Museum will present an oversized reproduction Kirby’s adaptation of the movie, compilations of the photocopies of Kirby’s pencil art for his subsequent stories, which have never been reprinted, as well as dramatic, multimedia performances of three of these stories.
“Jack Kirby’s 2001: A Space Odyssey comics were pure Kosmic Kirby at the top of his craft, expanding on the 2001 story in ways not even masters like Kubrick or Clarke could have imagined,” says Kirby Museum Acting Director, Rand Hoppe. “We can’t wait for fans to have their minds blown by the stories AND the visuals.”
“The comics on display for A Jack Kirby Odyssey were painstakingly reproduced from the photocopies of Kirby’s pencil art,” adds Kirby Museum President, Tom Kraft. “The oversized comics at our Kirby 100 birthday celebration at One Art Space were big hits. We expect people will love seeing Kirby’s cosmic pencil art at large size, too.”
More programming will be announced shortly. For ongoing updates, check kirbymuseum.org, follow @JackKirbyMuseum on Twitter, and like facebook.com/KirbyMuseum.
We’d like to thank everyone who came out to our Jack Kirby: 100 Years celebration of Kirby’s centenary in New York City last month. The event, which ran from August 27 through August 30, was our humble attempt to pay tribute to the scope and breadth of Kirby’s career, and to allow fans a place to celebrate together.
For Kirby’s birthday on the 28th, we served cake and refreshments to attendees, and presented Kirby Museum director Randolph Hoppe’s biographical talk/visual presentation on Kirby’s life. All profits from that day’s fundraising efforts were donated to The Hero Initiative, in honor of Jillian Kirby’s ongoing Kirby4Heroes campaign.
We were overwhelmed by the support we received both from attendees, and our hosts, the One Art Space gallery in Manhattan’s Tribeca neighborhood, who were gracious, helpful, and generous with not only the wonderful gallery space they provided for us, but with their time and personal attention to our needs.
One Art Space, 23 Warren St, NYC
Open from Noon until 7pm – Opening Celebration All Day
3pm – “Explore Kirby Original Art” with Collector/Museum Trustee Tom Kraft
5pm – Silent Auction starts – (original art will not be offered). Telephone bids MAY be available. Stay tuned.
6pm – “What is the Jack Kirby Museum?” with Tom Kraft and Founding Trustee Rand Hoppe
7pm – Silent Auction ends.
One Art Space, 23 Warren St, NYC
Open from Noon until 7pm – Birthday Celebration All Day
All profits from T-shirt sales today will go to the Kirby4Heroes campaign for the Hero initiative
6pm – “Jack Kirby – 100 years” talk by Rand Hoppe
One Art Space, 23 Warren St, NYC
Open from Noon until 7pm
One Art Space, 23 Warren St, NYC
6pm – “The Science Fiction Work of Jack Kirby” talk with Writer Adam McGovern and Rand Hoppe
