New To The Works Of Jack Kirby?

Then Take A Look At 'The Jack Kirby Collector'!

Jack Kirby Worked For...

Joe Ruby and Ken Spears, Of Ruby-Spears Productions

As Explained  At The 2008 SDCC Comic Con International!

I had the pleasure of seeing Joe Ruby and Ken Spears at the last San Diego Comic Con International
in July 2008.

They were both in two of Mark Evanier's programs that he conducted at the Con.

One program was spotlighting their achievements and history in the animation field.

The other program was their attendance at the Annual Jack Kirby Tribute.

As explained at both programs... During the years of 1978 - 87, Jack Kirby worked for the Ruby-Spears Productions by coming up with concepts. Several of these were shown on TV.

Those included:

Thundarr The Barbarian 1980-82 on ABC

Mr. T (yes, THAT Mr. T!) 1983-86 on ABC

Turbo Teen 1984-85 on ABC

Centurion, syndicated show with 64 episodes

Rambo, syndicated show in 1986

Sectaurs, syndicated show in 1985

Chuck Norris' Karate Kommandos, syndicated show in 1986

Lazer Tag Academy, 1986-87 on NBC

There were others concepts and ideas that did not make it to the small screen.

BTW, Jack also worked on DePatie- Freling's The New Fantastic Four cartoon shown on NBC from 1978-79 with 12 episodes.

He also worked on the All-New Scooby and Scrappy-Doo Show that ran from 1983-84.

This part of Jack Kirby's life is not well known by many. With Jack's long history in comics, there are many fans of the different periods that he worked in.

I for one am a fan of his MoNSter work at 'Marvel Comics', and of course the Fantastic Four, my favorite of his works.

Others came in the early 1970's when Jack was working for DC Comics and created his Fourth World series of New Gods, Mister Miracle and The Forever People.

Others came in when Jack came back to Marvel in 1975 and worked on the Black Panther series, Captain America, etc.

However a lot of readers are not aware of his work in the animation field in the late 1970's in the mid 1980's.  Funny thing is... Jack started as an 'in-betweener' for the Fleischer Studios that produced the early Popeye Cartoons in the mid 1930's!

Thanks for reading this blog post, and join us again for more!

~ Michael

Spotlight On

 Warren Sattler

Comic Strip and Comic Book Artist!

'Greatest American Hero'

 Program

At The 2008 SDCC Comic Con International!

I walked into the program on the Greatest American Hero already in progress. (It takes a while to go from one end of Convention Center to the other!)

Being that I was by myself, it was easy enough to get a single seat up close
to the panel on the stage at the San Diego Comic Con International.

I was totally blown away when I saw who was there! I was expecting only those that
were involved in the production of the comic book.

One of my favorite actresses, Connie Selleca was there! She and Robert Culp, who
was the other actor of the main three on the TV Show were there with William Katt!

Since Tina was going to rub it in that she was seeing Jennifer Connelly at the same time
this program was being held, I was very pleased to see Connie Selleca in person!

Of course the fans in the audience weren't going to give William Katt the whole program
to promote his new comic book series.

A few of the questions asked about the TV Show were:

"What killed the show?" - Answer, "Greatest American Hero was put against Dallas for
5 weeks!".

A young kid asked Katt if he had one of the original GAH suits? William said no, and was
amazed when Connie said she had one!!

Why was his name changed to 'Mister H'?  William said his role's civilian i.d. was David Hinckley until President
Reagan was shot. Then he ended up being called 'Mister H'...

(continued top of next column...)

Noel Neill  

'Lois Lane'

At The 2008 SDCC Comic Con International!

I had the pleasure of seeing Noel Neill at the last San Diego Comic Con International
in July 2008.

The following are some excerpts from notes that I took in between taking photographs
of her at the panel where she was the special guest.

Noel started her career singing at the Del Mar Racetrack in SoCal, which Bing Crosby
then owned!

Noel did 15 serials with Kirk Alyn. Those lasted a week or two to film.

After Noel's agent first contacted her that she would be Lois Lane, she went to a store and bought
a comic book to find out more about her role. "Comics were for boys" she said!

Noel never met Phyllis Coates, the other Lois Lane during the same time period!

Kellogg's advertised on the show so they had to keep the show 'clean'.

Noel started playing Lois Lane in the Adventures of Superman in the second season. The
director was a little rough on her. George Reeves spoke to the director and then everything
clicked!

The scripts were all the same she said, "Only the names of the heavies were different!".

Noel has been doing conventions and programs for several years. She did the college shows
in the 1970's. Questions at that time were 'no holds barred'. She mentioned that she was asked
"Did you and George 'do it'!" She said no. He was so nice and so good.

Noel was shocked that Lois Lane had a baby and no husband  in the recent Superman movie that she
had a cameo in.

That brought up the subject of the film 'Hollywoodland'. Noel explained that she did not feel that
film gave an accurate account of George's life. The characters shown in the film were all dead. Since
she and Jack Larson were not dead, they were not used in the film, and the film's production
did what they wanted to do in showing George's life in the way that they did.

An ending question was asked, "How was it working with Kirk Alyn vs George Reeves?" Noel answered
"Kirk Alyn was a dancer, ballet dancer in New York. He wasn't as talented as George but a quick learner."