Wednesday, May 07, 2008

A Monster At My Window

Jack Kirby, 1962 and Harry Bliss, 2008 (May 12th, New Yorker)

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

That's cover is actually one of the wallpaper backgrounds on my computer. Harry Bliss knows his camp, it seems.

Anonymous said...

Bliss's swipe of Jack Kirby comes more from the splash page of "A Monster At My Window" than from the cover art of Tales to Astonish #34. See http://www.atlastales.com/supersize.zdz?t=s&i=1285

Julie said...

Nice! Thanks for the link, Anonymous.

Fuse, it’s my husband who spotted this. He’s the Kirby fan.

Is it too close to the original to be a swipe? If you quote someone famous, and make it obvious, you get to call it a homage.

Anonymous said...

No accusation intended. "Swipe" is comics industry jargon covering a broad range of activity from homage, through in-joke, to outright plagiarism. It depends on context. See http://comicbooks.about.com/od/glossary/g/swipe.htm .

Given Bliss's background and credentials, it's hard to believe he is unaware of the image's recognizability, so the New Yorker panel can only be taken as a Kirby tribute (with an open invitation for reader/captioners to acknowledge and join in).

Julie said...

That's interesting that "swipe" has a definition specific to comic books. Thanks for the glossary link!

Julie said...

P.S. Maybe the caption should read
"No, Mr. Bliss is out. You say you represent the Kirby estate?"