Jack Kirby and his Mythological Rise in Comics

A crossing of styles that have, in the past, been on opposing sides like Jack Kirby and Stan Lee over comic book rights. Broadway and comic books didn’t mesh well in the 20th century or even the early 21st. At the very least there was a stigma against the geeky and theater culture of the time that has quieted down considerably. With shows like Marvel Studio’s “Hawkeye” having an in-universe musical of Captain America as a joke, it proves how far the broadway musical has come in the mainstream.

The story is a nice chronicling for non-comic book history fans. It tackles the big moments of the industry, like the Comics Code Authority, but doesn’t do much with them. They serve the same function as cameos for comics fans. For the broadway enthusiast, there’s no singing and the instrumental music sounds like it’s from an overused stock collection. That said, singing would feel out of place in this story.

The Same Song and Dance of Art vs Business

The theme of this is best boiled down to the essence of business or creativity. It’s something all artists deal with if they want to be successful. A badly written book will sell better if it’s marketed well, than a great book marketed poorly. This dichotomy is nothing new for stories about writers and artists, but here it’s both a subtext and a backdrop. It works, but it has more in common with the abridging of important moments from comic book history. It’s not as effective and feels like preaching to the choir.

Jack Kirby and Jonathan Larson: Tick, Tick, Boom. Pow?

On the subject of a choir, the similarities between the Netflix Original film “Tick, Tick, Boom” are quite apparent. Both are stories of the starving artist archetype, but handle it in different ways—excluding the musical numbers. If you were to ask a theater person whether they knew who Jonathan Larson was, they’d say yes. Jack Kirby is the equivalent from the comic book side.

Lin-Manuel Miranda combined hip-hop, R&B, and showtunes with “In The Heights” and “Hamilton” popularizing that genre of music to a new audience. “King Kirby” does the same thing. It’s not as effective but it still works on multiple levels, just not all of them.

7.5/10+ Stars

Social Media

https://Twitter.com/AudioDramaNews

https://Facebook.com/AudioDramaDigest

Donations 

https://Ko-Fi.com/AudioDramaReviews or https://Paypal.me/MikeBergonzi

Podcasts

http://AudioDramaReviews.com/Media

Next Time

Blackbirds: Volume 1