Comic Book Legend's Lost Works Becoming Videogames

[Tom Goldman]

Comic Book Legend's Lost Works Becoming Videogames

Treasure can take many forms, and in this case it's in the undiscovered works of Jack Kirby.

Jack Kirby may have passed away in 1994, but just like Biggie and Tupac his work will continue to live on. Kirby is a comic book industry legend, having co-created many popular characters from the Marvel Comics universe including the Fantastic Four and the Hulk. Today, undiscovered original creations of Kirby's that were hidden away in an animation studio are planned for revival.

Though the rights to ownership of many Kirby properties are currently under dispute [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/94923-Jack-Kirby-Heirs-Send-Notices-of-Copyright-Termination-to-Marvel-Disney], these never before seen works are said to be the clear property of the animation company Kirby worked for in the 1970s when he was taking a break from comic books. When work at the studio was slow, Kirby would sketch out his own concepts, to the tune of around 600 storyboards.

Animation studio founders Joe Ruby and Ken Spears brought Kirby's works to children's entertainment producers Sid and Marty Krofft, and both groups plan to bring the unseen material to every form they possibly can including movies, television shows, video games, and even comic books believe it or not. As written in a New York Times [http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/13/movies/13kirby.html] article on the discovery, some of the characters amongst Kirby's hidden creations include: "'Roxie's Raiders,' an Indiana Jones-style serial about a female adventurer and her allies; 'Golden Shield,' about an ancient Mayan hero seeking to save earth in the apocalyptic year 2012; and 'The Gargoids,' about scientists who gain superpowers after being infected by an alien virus."

Marty Krofft sees this material as a "20-year business." Ariel Z. Emanuel, the executive representing the material to Hollywood and the rest of the world, likens the unearthing of Kirby's concepts to finding treasure. "It's like a boat sank at the bottom of the ocean, and all of a sudden you've uncovered it," he said. For fans of comic books at least, he seems to be correct. How well Kirby's works will translate into a current day videogame or television show remains to be seen, but the discovery and potential is certainly exciting.

Source: New York Times [http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/13/movies/13kirby.html]

Image via New York Times

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[Luke5515]

I'll have to stay updated on the end result. Seems very interesting. I'll have to check it out.

 

[thenumberthirteen]

While I'm overjoyed to see some of the great Jack Kirby's work found again they look... well lets just say they look 70's. More Adam West than Christian Bale.

 

[Jared]

Great to see that his works can still be fund and surprise us all! Love it!

Its amazing what we can find when you look hard enough!

 

[SamElliot'sMustache]

Wow. It would be great if the studio would publish all the art and storyboards that have been found, even if only as a showcase of Kirby's talent and ideas.

 

[FBPH]

Did anyone else feel like that "Roxie's Raiders" thing sounded more akin to a porn film than what ever it said it was?

 

[The Great JT]

Considering he's the same guy who created the New Gods and Captain America (among other heroes and villains), it's hard not to recognize his stuff as "treasure."

 

[laol1999]

thats going to be pretty cool

 

[Yog Sothoth]

Awesome news for comic books geeks like me! I can't wait to see how these new characters and stories are used...

 

[stiffy]

Kirby: the King of Comics.
Now is he the king of pre-production for next gen games, and film? Not specifically.
These designs were created for an animation studio that crapped-out toy driven schlock(think Bravestarr). When HE WAS ALIVE, he helped on production of Thundarr, and it turned out kinda cool. Someone is just raiding his sketch book.
But Sid and Marty Croft????? While these guys are not without their own merits(l.s.d.), they are certainly not known for preserving the artistc integrity of ANYTHING, without the distinct promise of relieving naive 7-13 year old's of their allowances.
How's 'bout a New Gods movie? They could even deploy those 'computer's graphics' I've been hearin so much about........

 

[WorldCritic]

The discovery of this stuff alone sounds interesting.

 

[RedShift]

The 'Golden Shield' one will be particularly interesting. After all, it's almost 2012, they better get on it or it will be a parody rather then a prophecy.

 

[Beardly]

The 'Golden Shield' one will be particularly interesting. After all, it's almost 2012, they better get on it or it will be a parody rather then a prophecy.

I hope they wait til 2013 to make that into something.

Watching episodes of Lost in Space today is so funny because the show takes place in the distant year of 1999.

 

[ninjajoeman]

please hollywood don't screw over a dead guy...PLEASE!

 

[CloggedDonkey]

I would read the one about the scientist and the Indiana like one. and on an unrelated note, I'm going to a pig comic convention this weekend, so I might bring back any news I find.

please hollywood don't screw over a dead guy...PLEASE!

wait, you expect them to have decency? ha, ha, ha, don't worry, you'll grow older and wiser soon.

 

[Booze Zombie]

"Roxie's Raiders" sounds a bit cliched, gotta say... but comic have run with cliches before and made them mad fun to behold.

I hope this all goes well, fror the sake of good entertainment, if nothing else.

 

[Crosshead]

Jack "King" Kirby was undoubtedly something of a comics demigod. In the 70's. I know we can only see a small snippet of what is here, but, honestly, it doesn't look good, does it? A female indiana Jones? I'm pretty sure there's quite a succesful character based on that concept already. Started as a computer game as I recall.

And creating good IP's doesn't begin and end with character creation. These characters are going to have to be written, and written well at that, to get interest going outside of the historical relic angle.

In short, I'd love to look through all this stuff, but I think the owner is really overhyping the possibilities. As you'd expect, seeing as he has to drum up interest.

 

[WhiteTiger225]

"Animation studio founders Joe Ruby and Ken Spears brought Kirby's works to children's entertainment producers"

There goes any hope of these movies or games being any good.

 

[Insideout Ink Demon]

While I'm overjoyed to see some of the great Jack Kirby's work found again they look... well lets just say they look 70's. More Adam West than Christian Bale.

Nothing wrong with that. Batman was very dark to start off with in the 1930s, it was only the tv show that made the decision to go so camp.

 

[Therumancer]

While I'm overjoyed to see some of the great Jack Kirby's work found again they look... well lets just say they look 70's. More Adam West than Christian Bale.

Nothing wrong with that. Batman was very dark to start off with in the 1930s, it was only the tv show that made the decision to go so camp.

I think it would be accurate to say that almost ALL of the original "super heroes" were comparitively dark. They had their origins in the "pulp writing" of the time period and things were intentionally very lurid and over the top. People seem to underestimate the sex and violence in some of those works, and political correctness simply did not exist. If you read the original "Fu Manchu" novels and similar works you'd find that they would be considered fairly racist by today's standards for example.

A character like "The Punisher" wasn't an unusually brutal exception, a guy with a chip on his shoulder hitting the streets to clean up crime with guns was pretty typical. Though honestly in the time period you'd probably toss in a domino mask, two piece suit, and a wierd symbol (where Frank only has the latter on his shirt).

The thing that changed comics was the "Comics Code Authority" as comics were the video games of their day. People blamed the lethal behavior of comic characters who solved problems by shooting people (shown in drawings and color) for violence in society, especially amoung the children who read them. The sexed up portrayal of women in these works was also seen as being responsible for moral degeneration as well.

I'm speaking in general here, this isn't intended to be more of an essay on the subject than it already is. The bottom line is that a *LOT* of comic characters changed radically due to society's pressures. Nothing changed since comics weren't responsible for problems to begin with (no more than video games are today), the Comics Code Authority fell, but it had lasted long enough and produced enough material where a lot of people see that as having been the normal state of things as opposed to the changes it was.

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As far as Jack Kirby's work goes, I have mixed opinions. He wrote at a differant time, and was as respected for his artwork as for his writing. Both his ideas and the style he drew in however are rather antiquidated by today's standards. Original artwork by him is rightfully worth something, but honestly I don't see how some of his "lost ideas" can fly today. I mean about the only thing they could probably do is keep some of the names, and stick his name on the product as a selling point, because honestly by the time they changed things for the current era I doubt it would bear much resemblance to the original.

I also look at things like the "Roxie's Raiders" concept above and will point fingers at things like "Relic Hunter" with Tia Carrera as an example of it not only having been done already, but also having become well known/successful enough as a stereotype that you even had "Sydney" show up as a "Relic Hunter" in "Fallout 3" as a sort of nod to fans of the show and genere (it was slightly more subtle than having Lara Croft).

Not to mention the fact that "Roxie's Raiders" sounds *AWFULLY* familiar to me as well, I'm wondering if it was mentioned elsewhere before this (like 10 or so years ago).

At any rate, one point I will also make is that modern political correctness means that you can't do old school "pulp" treasure hunting and adventuring much anymore anyway. Simply put you can't have a guy who raids tombs and finds treasure and such for himself anymore. It's not politically correct. Characters like Lara Croft have gotten tons of flak at times for the concept of a civilized white adventuress despoiling third world countries and being portrayed as a good guy. Strangely I'm a little surprised I haven't heard as much about Nathan Drake yet though.

Ah well, enough rambling.