Jack Kirby San Diego Comic Con

This was my most cherished memory from the San Diego Comic Con. This was the day I met Jack Kirby. (I think this was 1993.) He was just standing there in lobby by himself. I hesitated, then asked if I could get a picture. He seemed more than happy about it. I was surprised that he didn't have a whole crowd around him. I said thank you to him, but beyond that, we didn't say much. It didn't occur to me much, much later that he might have wanted to have been left alone.

(Photo taken by Mark Evanier for the L.A. Weekly  Suzy Skaar for "The Art of Jack Kirby" (Blue Rose Press, 1993)

This is a collage I put together in tribute to Jack. The newsprint article is from the 1994 L.A. Weekly.

Later that year, In August 1995, I met Joe Sinnott on a train ride going east. Sinnott was Kirby's inker during the Silver Age, I believe. He saw me sketching, and gave me a sketch of Ben Grimm.  Whatta year. Long live the King!