On April 15, a live event called “Live From Kirby Plaza” will take place in England, celebrating Jack Kirby’s life and career. Hosted by Paul Gravett, director of the Comica Festival held every year at the UK’s Institute of Contemporary Arts, the event kicks off with an audio-visual presentation including sound extracts from a 1993 interview with Kirby, followed by a panel discussion with TV/radio presenter and collector Paul Gambaccini, Kim Newman (writer, broadcaster, journalist and critic specialising in horror and fantasy), and Chrissie Harper, editor of Jack Kirby Quarterly. Mark Evanier and yours truly will take part via a live Internet link-up, discussing Mark’s KIRBY: KING OF COMICS book, and our own KIRBY FIVE-OH!. A selection of original artwork will also be on display courtesy of Chrissie and Jonathan (“In Search of Steve Ditko”) Ross, which will include pages from the Fourth World, Kamandi, Street Code and much more.

The event takes place at 7pm UK time, and is completely sold out. Chrissie Harper be recording it and transcribing for a special upcoming edition of JKQ, and some film clips of it will hopefully make their way to YouTube shortly after the event.

Kirby Artwork that will be on display includes:

From Chrissie Harper:
Street Code page 2
Battle For a 3-D World poster (Royer inks)
Devil Dinosaur #1 page 26
Black Panther #10 page 23

From Jonathan Ross:
Full comics page of Cap battling Fourth Sleeper
New Gods #2 cover
Stuntman #2 cover
Insect Man – Marvel monster splash page inked by Ayers
Questions & Answers – 2 pages from FF Annual
Devil Dinosaur #1 DPS
Black Bolt, two pages framed together, first time he ‘speaks’ from FF #59
Illustration spread from Ariel Magazine
Kamandi #12 cover
Mr Miracle #9 cover
The Gods colour presentation piece
Silver Star #6 DPS