Jack Kirby, the abandoned hero of Marvel's grand Hollywood adventure, and his family's quest [updated]

This is a longer version of my story that will run Sunday in the Los Angeles Times Calendar section...

You’d be hard-pressed to find a recent comic book that didn’t have the stylish scrawl of the artists somewhere on the cover, but that was not the case when Jack Kirby was making pop culture history back in the 1960s with his wildly kinetic drawings of the X-Men, Hulk and the Fantastic Four. “I think I have a highly unique and unusual style, and that’s the reason I never sign my drawings,” the proud Kirby told an interviewer in 1987, seven years before his death. “Everybody could tell any of my covers a mile away on the newsstand, and that satisfied me.”

The satisfaction was fleeting. The artist may be reverently referred to as “King” Kirby by the pop scholars and younger artists who celebrate his genre-defining work but Kirby is, in some ways, an overlooked figure in the broader view of American culture. He didn’t live to see his creations fly across the movie screen over the last decade and his four children made nothing from those lucrative films, although they are now pursuing legal action to claim some of the future Hollywood wealth. “There is,” daughter Lisa Kirby says, “a bittersweet legacy to my father’s work.”

On a recent afternoon, in Beverly Hills, a different man was autographing a giant lithograph reproducing one of Kirby’s classic Fantastic Four covers. It was Stan Lee, the writer who was Kirby’s most famous collaborator until they became estranged over creative credit, artwork custody and money. An art dealer had brought stacks of limited-edition lithos, some to be priced at $850, to Lee’s Santa Monica Boulevard office along with a check in his pocket to pay the 86-year-old Lee for his autographs.

Lee had written the stories for the classic comics, of course, but considering all the history, it was still odd to see his name etched on the cosmic Kirby tableau from 1966.

“Yes, there was a time when there was some hard feeling on his part ... but he got over that and we were friends,” Lee said. “It really is sad that he didn’t get to see all the big movies. None of us could predict that we would get to this point with the films. I don’t dwell on it too much because I’m always so busy doing what I am doing today. Unfortunately the guys back in the day did not make as much as they do today. Years ago also you had artists doing these comics who, well, there was nothing else they could have done. Their style wasn’t right for advertising or magazines like Saturday Evening Post or Collier’s. And as for us writers, well, we weren’t qualified to write for the New Yorker. Comic book writers were considered hacks, and artists weren’t really thought of as much beyond that.”

Lee studied one of the other art pieces, a dazzling revisiting of a Kirby cover for Captain America. "Wow, look at this one." The pieces are being sold by the Santa Monica gallery called Every Picture Tells a Story as part of a new licensing deal with Marvel to create high-end wall art from illustrations that were, in their day, the most gaudy and disposable entertainment imaginable. “As far as I’m concerned,” Lee said with his endless zeal, “it is fine art."

The story of two “hacks,” as Lee would frame it, will be scrutinized much more considering recent events. Last month, the Walt Disney Co. paid $4 billion to scoop up Marvel Entertainment and its vault of florid characters who over the last decade have become Hollywood box-office heroes. Many of the most valuable properties in that vault were created by the wildly prolific tandem of Lee and Kirby in the 1960s; there are two big-budget movies now in the pipeline for Marvel Studios that are based on Lee-Kirby creations (“The Mighty Thor" and “The Avengers”) and a third (“First Avenger: Captain America”) based on the work of Kirby and writer Joe Simon. The Kirby brood watched the Disney deal happen and within days were conferring with attorneys and accelerating their bid to reclaim copyright.

A day after Lee sat signing that artwork, attorneys representing the four children of Kirby sent out 45 notices of termination to Hollywood studios and players with an interest in assorted Marvel films; it was the opening salvo in a legal battle to gain copyright control of certain characters and the name on the legal letterhead was Toberoff & Associates, the same firm that last year won a intriguing victory by reclaiming a share of the copyright for the first Superman story for heirs of that character's co-creator, Jerry Siegel.

Under copyright law, creators or their heirs can seek to regain copyrights they previously assigned to a company 56 years after first publication, so the Kirby family is starting that process now with hopes of gaining an interest or, perhaps, a settlement. Lee, meanwhile, struck assorted deals through the years with Marvel and has been an executive producer on every Marvel film made to date, movies with worldwide box office now in the billions of dollars, and has had prominent cameos in many of them.

Lee is by far the most famous creator in comics history thanks to his longevity, success and a Barnum-like flair for self-promotion. He became a media figure in the 1960s when journalists jotted down his dizzying hyperbole about Marvel’s brightly hued, counterculture ethos. Kirby, laboring at home with far less credit, looked on and chafed about his status as a freelancer, essentially working for Lee, whose family connections by then had taken him to the top of the small and scruffy publishing venture. By 1970, Kirby had had enough and defected to rival DC Comics. Lee would go on to accumulate considerable wealth and fame, sometimes selling comics, sometimes selling his own persona with a long list of splashy but short-lived ventures. Kirby’s fortunes were not as grand; when he talked about his old creations he had the weary tone of a man who long ago watched the family coin collection scatter on a crowded street.

Lee knows that fans like to set up the partners as rivals. Kirby is portrayed as the irascible purist with staggering imagination and Lee reduced to the tireless huckster -- the pop-culture prophet versus the corporate profiteer. From Lee's present vantage point, though, he prefers to look back on their shared tale as the unexpected odyssey of two kids who grew up in a business of cruel deadlines and lowbrow aspirations and found in each other a go-to guy.

“My favorite thing about Kirby’s artwork was his storytelling,” Lee said. “He was really a film director doing comics.”

In that, Kirby was certainly ahead of his time. Comics are a huge part of Hollywood now, thanks to the modern era of computer-generated special effects that, finally, can match the galactic visions and super-powered mayhem that Kirby put to paper in the 1960s. Kirby’s influence is nothing less than massive on several generations of artists and filmmakers.

“There was power in the work of Jack Kirby that changed the way I looked at things,” said Guillermo del Toro, writer-director of “Pan’s Labyrinth.” "There was no one else like him and there never will be."

Nevertheless, Kirby remains a distant second to Lee in name recognition, which Lisa Kirby said rankles. “A lot more people know the name Stan Lee than the name Jack Kirby,” she said. “I’m not putting down Stan Lee’s talents but it’s difficult for us to see that he does dominate the credit. That doesn’t reflect the work or the reality. To see Jack Kirby in small letters and Stan Lee in big letters, that’s hard for us.”

Mike Richardson grew up under the thrall of Kirby's drawings and was inspired to found his own comic-book company, Dark Horse, which has grown into a Hollywood player after seeing titles such as "The Mask,"  "Hellboy" and "300" jump to the screen. Through the years, he reached out to the Kirby family to help them find some sort of compensation.

"There was a lot of anger in the Kirby family with the way that Jack was treated, more than they will express in public," Richardson said. "There's no way you can say enough about the impact of those Marvel comics in the 1960s. They changed the rules. Lee and Kirby were the Lennon and McCartney of comics and Stan Lee became a well-known figure in popular culture and Jack did not. Neither were as great on their own, it's true, but Jack had decades of work that was really special. To me, there's no doubt that Jack Kirby was the truly brilliant creative genius behind the success of Marvel."   

If there’s a battle to come, it’s one Kirby never took on in life.

“Jack didn’t have the resources or the stomach lining to fight Marvel over copyrights, character ownership or past contractual sleights that he believed he suffered,” says Mark Evanier, who was Kirby’s assistant in the early 1970s and later his biographer. “He fought to get back his pages of original art. That was the fight he believed he could win.”

Evanier, now a comics historian and creator, testified in the Siegel suit and it seems certain that he would be in the deposition seat for any Kirby legal case. A longtime friend to Kirby and respectful acquaintance of Lee, he spoke glowingly of the partnership as lightning in a bottle, the zenith of each man’s career.

Kirby contributed mightily to the plots and character creation; the workload at Marvel was so intense in the 1960s that there were no “scripts” handed to Kirby, he would just draw the story and Lee would go back and craft dialogue that fit the action. Still, Evanier said, while it’s now fashionable to view Lee as the lesser figure, he also had the separate success of Spider-Man (with artist Steve Ditko) and set the singular tone and culture of Marvel.

The pair had met in the Roosevelt years. In late 1940, Jacob Kurtzberg, 23, drawing under the name Kirby, had his first taste of real success in the young comics industry, which soared after the debut of Superman in 1938. Kirby and writer Simon’s Captain America was a hit for Timely Comics, which would later morph into Marvel. There was an eager assistant in the office named Stanley Lieber, just 18, who had gotten the job through a family connection (and would later shorten his name).

“In those days they dipped the pen in ink, I had to make sure the inkwells were filled,” said Lee. “I went down and got them their lunch, I did proofreading, I erased the pencils from the finished pages for them.

Whatever had to be done. I remember Jack would always be sitting at a table puffing on his cigar, kind of talking to himself as he was doing those pages.”

Lee’s first credited work was a 1941 Captain America story where the hero threw his shield for the first time. That would become a trademark for decades, suggesting an instant flair for the medium. Kirby left Timely not long after. Years later, with comics in the doldrums, Lee and Kirby would reunite and create a new sort of comic book, with frenetic energy, mutant outsiders and misunderstood monsters. Superman and DC Comics instantly seemed like boring old Pat Boone; Marvel felt like the Beatles and the British Invasion. It was Kirby’s artwork with its tension and psychedelia that made it perfect for the times — or was it Lee’s bravado and melodrama, which was somehow insecure and brash at the same time?

“Jack was the best partner you could ask for, dependable and imaginative,” Lee said, sitting in an office cluttered with all those old heroes and villains. “And it was never dull. Nothing with us was ever dull.”

-- Geoff Boucher

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Photos: Jack Kirby at work in 1965; Credit: The Jack Kirby Museum. Stan Lee in his office in 2009; Barbara Davidson/Los Angeles Times. Stan Lee in 2006 with Marvel characters; Robin Beck\Getty Images. All artwork: Marvel

UPDATE: An earlier version of this post had the word "narrow" in the description of the Siegel copyright victory but in delving further into that victory I decided to delete the misleading adjective. It also will not appear in the abridged print version of this story.  

Hannah Montana on the Avengers? Reactions to the Disney/Marvel deal

The mouse has eaten the spider, and there's been strong industry and fan speculation as to what the Disney-Marvel deal could mean (Demi Lovato as She Hulk was not one of the ideas), but most seem to be giving the move a "wait-and-see" reaction.

Analysts are saying that Marvel didn't have to do it, but obviously it will have more money to make the new reboot of "The Fantastic Four" everyone's talking about, "Ant-Man," "Thor,"Ang Lee's "Shang Chi" (yep!) and other long-languishing projects -- though Marvel does have lots of characters already tied up.  But, as David Pollard says in the video below from G4, it also means that the mouse may decide, "Hey, 'Thor's' too expensive to make with Kenneth Branagh. Nix it." Fans would probably be mad ("I say thee nay!"), but even they have to admit that the Magic Kingdom does know how to make money.

Comic Book Resources asked many of comicbookdom's voices what they thought of the deal and its possible effects on the publishing arm.  A few of the comments included:

Kurt Busiek, writer of "Astro City," "JLA/Avengers," "Marvels"

I see the fan community already salivating over Pixar X-Men (has Pixar done any adaptations, guys?) or dreading Hannah Montana joining the Avengers.

Rick Remender, writer of Marvel's "Punisher"

I just got off the phone with my editor at Marvel and was told this deal guarantees everyone currently at Marvel will get [a] helium-filled rocket balloon car covered in gold leaf and powered by the dreams of children.

Dan Vado of SLG Publishing, home of Disney properties “Haunted Mansion,” “Tron,” and “Gargoyles,” among others

It could be, again strictly conjecture here, that Marvel will end up being reduced to a licensing company and that its publishing will be scaled back dramatically as emphasis is put on content like movies and video games and less emphasis on things like publishing.

Marv Wolfman, former Marvel Comics Editor in Chief and former "Disney Adventures" editor

As far as the comics go, hopefully, they will leave Joe Quesada and company where they are and not interfere; they've creatively improved the Marvel Comics. Based on most of their Marvel Studios movies, they seem to have good people there, too. I'm not completely sure it was a wise purchase, but Disney is in the branding/franchise business and the Marvel brand is one of the largest in the world.

-- Jevon Phillips

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Natalie Portman will star in 'Thor,' Ryan Reynolds in 'Green Lantern'

The era of superhero cinema is in full swing and everyone in Hollywood wants a piece of the costumed action. Marvel just announced that Natalie Portman, left, will star as Jane Foster opposite Chris Hemsworth in "Thor," which arrives at theaters with a clap of thunder in May 2011. Ryan Reynolds, right, meanwhile, will star in "Green Lantern," which adds to his comics book resume with his "Deadpool" role and his work in "Blade: Trinity." (And his wife is Scarlett Johannson of "Iron Man 2" and "The Spirit.")

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Chris Hemsworth's hammer time -- young star primed for 'Thor' and 'Red Dawn'

On Sunday, the Calendar section of the Los Angeles Times will feature a list of 10 rising names in Hollywood, among them actors, filmmakers and one long-dead author. I'm one of the contributing writers and I did this snapshot of the ramping career of Chris Hemsworth, who will soon play the Odinson on screen. This version is longer than the one that appears in the paper.

In the pages of Marvel Comics there are plenty of magical weapons, but the most famous is an ancient stone hammer with this inscription: "Whosoever holds this hammer, should he be worthy, shall possess the power of Thor."

Considering the fact (and the fiction) that Thor is the Norse god of thunder, that's a lot of pressure on anyone who dares to reach for the mystical mallet. No one knows that better than Australian actor Chris Hemsworth, the just-announced title star of the upcoming "Thor," which will be the fourth movie from upstart Marvel Studios. Hemsworth will be just the third leading man for Marvel, following acting heavyweights Robert Downey Jr. ("Iron Man" and its sequel next summer) and Edward Norton ("The Incredible Hulk").

“As new actors make their way into feature films, it is a rare thing to find someone who is not only immensely watchable and engaging, but can also represent a timeless and key character from the Marvel universe in such a compelling way,” says Kevin Feige, president of Marvel Studios. "We have been watching Chris hone his craft over the last several months, and due to his persistence and talent he rose above everyone else embodying the actor we were looking for."

Hemsworth reached a huge audience this summer with his role in "Star Trek," even though he didn't have much time to do it; the 25-year-old portrayed George Kirk, the doomed father of James T. Kirk, in a brief but powerful opening sequence in the J.J. Abrams space adventure. Alex Kurtzman, one of the screenwriters on "Trek," said Hemsworth's fleeting screen time became a signature moment for the revival of the storied franchise.

"So many people seemed to marvel at the fact that they cried in the first 10 minutes of 'Trek,' and that's directly a result of the amazing work Chris did," Kurtzman said. "As long as he plays the part, there could be an entire 'Star Trek' movie devoted to the heroic adventures of George Kirk."

In February, Hemsworth will have far more screen time with "The Cabin in the Woods," a horror flick written by Joss Whedon and Drew Goddard, with the latter directing. Hemsworth will channel a different sort of rural jeopardy in MGM/United Artists remake of "Red Dawn" that adds post-9/11 shadings to the Reagan-era resistance-fighter fantasy. Hemsworth has the role of Jed, played by Patrick Swayze in the original, released 25 years ago. Then it's hammer time with "Thor" in 2011, with Kenneth Branagh directing.

-- Geoff Boucher

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Photo: Chris Hemsworth at the "Star Trek" premiere. Credit: Getty Images

Images: Marvel Comics

Exclusive images: Marvel's 'Dark Reign'

Out of the ashes of Marvel's "Secret Invasion" storyline rose the Dark Reign.  Norman Osborn, old crazy Green Goblin himself, set things in motion to dethrone Tony Stark as head of SHIELD (actually getting it decommissioned), and taking over as one of the most powerful men in the world.  Legally!  To make sure that he holds on to that power, he enlisted the help of Dr. Doom, Namor, Emma Frost, Loki and the Hood to consolidate his hold over the rest of the superhero community.

Marvel has sent over some exclusive covers as the company gets into high gear with their villain-themed "He lost. They won." ad campaign.  The 'accept change' part on the bottom of the images seems to tie it in to the Secret Invasion plot, but maybe it's just coincidental.

Iron Man is on the run, and will Emma really go back to her dark ways and stab the X-Men in the back? Many more images after the jump.

Harry Potter, Kenneth Branagh's 'Thor' and Christian Bale, all in Everyday Hero headlines

Welcome to a presidential edition of Everyday Hero, a roundup of handpicked headlines from around the fanboy universe...

HARRY POTTER SET, BACK IN BUSINESS: After a serious on-set injury, British health and safety officials have cleared the way for work to continue on "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows" near Watford, England, according to the BBC: "The Harry Potter film set in Hertfordshire, where a stuntman was badly injured in an accident last month, has been allowed to reopen. The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) cordoned off the area but has agreed it can be used again, a spokesman said. David Holmes, from Leigh-on-Sea in Essex, a stunt double for star Daniel Radcliffe, remains in hospital with a serious back injury. 'We carried out a site visit and the set has now reopened,' the HSE said. It is understood Mr. Holmes was practising an aerial sequence at the Leavesden Studios, near Watford, when he was injured on 28 January. He is now receiving treatment at the Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital, in Stanmore, north-west London, which counts treatment for acute spinal injuries among its specialities. A spokeswoman for the production team said filming on 'Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows' would begin later this month as planned." [BBC]

KENNETH BRANAGH, HAMMER TIME: MTV had a quick chat with Marvel publisher Joe Quesada, who recounted a meeting with "Thor" director Kenneth Branagh at which Marvel Studios exec Kevin Feige and prolific Marvel scribe Brian Michael Bendis were in the room as well: “'We spent seven or eight hours with Kenneth where he meticulously took us through the beats of the ‘Thor’ movie. ...  We just sat there, and it was almost like he acted out the entire movie.' As Quesada and Bendis shared with fans via Twitter last week, the pair had no shortage of compliments for Branagh’s willingness to get to know the Marvel universe. 'You just thought, ‘Wow. This guy has immersed himself in the Marvel culture — not just in Thor — but in the Marvel universe in general,' said Quesada. 'He knew a lot of stuff — some things that I didn’t even know. He was reciting Thor stuff from the past, continuity events, quotes from different books, little bits and pieces from stories that he really found fascinating — whether they were old [Jack] Kirby and [Stan] Lee stories or [Walter] Simonson stories or modern stuff that we’re doing,' continued Quesada. 'He really got it.' [MTV's Splash Page blog]

BY CROM, PUT ME DOWN!: Bad economic times also push desperate people into a life of crime. How else can you explain the shocking events at Graham Crackers Comics in Naperville, Ill., which has been hit more than once by inventory raiders. The latest theft: A copy of "Conan the Barbarian" No. 1. Police reporter Bill Bird has the facts, just the facts: "A written police report indicated the tape showed four heavyset white women moving about the store in a group. All appeared to be between the ages of 25 and 40, and wore black trench coats and other black clothing, the report read in part. One of the women opened an unlocked case where the comic book and figurines were being displayed, according to the report. Members of the group hid the items inside their clothing and walked out of the store, apparently while employees were busy attending to customers, the report stated. Hoffman said the figurines included one of The Incredible Hulk, a Women of the DC Universe Huntress bust, a Women of the DC Universe Batwoman bust, a Batman black-and-white Ethan Van Sciver and a Super Friend Batman. The comic book was valued at $690 and the figurines had a collective value of $560, for a total estimated loss of $1,250, Hoffman said." [Naperville Sun]

CHRISTIAN BALE ON "FAMILY GUY": Oh, could there possibly be a single iota of humor left in the Christian Bale on-set rant? Why yes, yes there is, thanks to Seth McFarlane and company at "Family Guy." Check it out right here. Warning: explicit language.

-- Geoff Boucher

'The Crow' remake, Frank Miller, Thor and 'Twilight' all in Everyday Hero headlines

As 'The Crow' flies: The director that drove Sean Connery to retirement and ensured that Alan Moore would never give Hollywood another chance wants to remake "The Crow." Reporter Michael Fleming has the announcement story in the trades: "Stephen Norrington has signed on to write and direct a reinvention of "The Crow," based on the comic created by James O’Barr. Ryan Kavanaugh’s Relativity Media is negotiating with producer Ed Pressman to acquire the film franchise and finance the film. Pressman produced the 1994 Alex Proyas-directed screen transfer, in which rock musician Eric Draven is murdered trying to rescue his girlfriend from thugs, and returns from the dead one year later to exact vengeance. Though the original became a gothic-style hit that grossed nearly $100 million worldwide, it is primarily remembered for a tragic accident in which star Brandon Lee was killed during filming. For Norrington, the "Crow" deal marks the end of a long screen sabbatical. After making his breakthrough with the Marvel Comics hero "Blade," Norrington took on a big-budget comic transfer with "The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen." Neither the director nor his star, Sean Connery, has made a film since. Norrington said he felt demoralized by that experience, and the accomplished sculptor spent the next five years writing and working on his art. He made a deal to direct "Clash of the Titans" for Warner Bros., but left the project, he said, because he was "unable to excite Warner Bros. with my take, or influence the screenplay to any comfortable extent...." "Whereas Proyas’ original was gloriously gothic and stylized, the new movie will be realistic, hard-edged and mysterious, almost documentary-style," Norrington told Daily Variety. [Variety]

'Wolverine' trailer: Well, 2009 is looking pretty fantastic for film-going fanboys.  "Watchmen" and "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince," not to mention "Terminator Salvation." Oh, and just in case you were worried that "X-Men Origins: Wolverine" might be as sluggish and uninvolving as the third "X-Men" film, the trailer above should inspire some major mutant optimism.   

Sinners and Spartans: Comics icon and newly minted filmmaker Frank Miller is getting ready for this Wednesday night's premiere of "The Spirit" in Los Angeles but he answered (kinda) some questions from Edward Douglas about the next step in the cinematic life of "300" and "Sin City." Douglas writes: "With a lot of rumors swirling about a potential sequel or prequel to Zack Snyder's '300,' which was based on a standalone graphic novel, some have wondered how involved Miller would be, and if he might write or draw another graphic novel based on the subject matter as basis for another movie. 'I've written a story that's not a prequel,' he told us. 'It's definitely a further story in the Greco-Persian Wars, and it involves some of the same characters but I'm not sure exactly how far along it'll get and again, until it's on a marquee, I don't believe in it.' And as far as whether Miller might co-direct [a second 'Sin City' film] with Robert Rodriguez again or direct himself, now that he has 'The Spirit' under his belt: 'I hope to work with Robert. We're talking it over and trying to work out the mechanics of actually getting it made. It's always tricky with movies. I believe that a movie's going to come out as soon as I see its name on a marquee.' 'I'll publish something,' he hinted with a smile, when asked whether there might be a 'Sin City' or '300' comic or graphic novel out before either movie." [Superhero Hype]

Spirited debate: Speaking of Miller, one of the early fanboy-press reviews of "The Spirit" is in and says the film has replaced "Battlefield Earth" as the worst movie ever made. [Ain't it Cool News] ... I've seen the film myself and I don't think it's "Battlefield" bad -- it has too many stylish aspirations -- but I can say that in his attempt to make a film into a comic book (as opposed to, say, "300," which vividly turned a comic book into a film) Miller's produced a tone-jarring movie that isn't always sure what it wants to be. I think Miller has an incredible visual flair and his sensibility has made him the most important comic book artist of the past 25 years, but I don't know if mainstream moviegoers are going to know what to make of "The Spirit."

Hammer time: Actor-director Kenneth Branagh has opened up a bit about his plans for a certain Norse god. Here's his conversation with MTV from a junket for "Valkyrie": "I am directing 'Thor,' or 'The Mighty Thor' as you might like to call it," he said with a smile before clarifying what the title of the film will be. 'I think it will be 'Thor.' " ... So what’s the appeal of 'Thor,' Kenneth? "To work on a story about one of the immortals, Gods, extraordinary beings, inter-dimensional creatures," he enthused. He continued excitedly, "There’s science fiction and science fact and fantasy all woven into one. It’s based on Norse legends which Marvel sort of raided in a brilliant way." So who will play Branagh’s hero? Asked about the rumors of Kevin McKidd being up for the role, the director waved it off as premature speculation. "There’s been lots of talk [about casting] — I sound like a politician — but we are too early at this stage. We’re getting the story and the visual effects together and all of that is very exciting. Someone sensational is going to play the part but it is early days." Just because Branagh hasn’t worked on a project of this scale since 'Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein,' fear not. This 'Thor' promises to be as large as the character would seem to call out for. "It’s a chance to tell a big story on a big scale," said Branagh. "It’s a human story right in the center of a big epic scenario." [MTV]

'Twilight' reconsidered: Are too many "Twilight" fans up past their bedtime? Sonja Bolle, who writes a monthly column called Word Play for the Los Angeles Times books pages, says that many of the hot and bothered fans of the books (and the movie) are too young to be, well, hot and bothered. She writes: "When a tide of popularity rises, it erases all boundaries. The first sign that 'Twilight' was a pop-culture phenomenon was that teen girls who hadn't talked to their parents in years were dressing up with their mothers in vampire costumes and attending midnight book parties together. By last summer, when the marketing for the fourth and ostensibly final book in the series reached the proportions of hysteria (and that was a mild dress rehearsal for the movie release), it had become de rigueur for any self-respecting female reader of any age to read the books. Not only to read them, but to swoon over them, to be overwhelmed by them; to find, as 10-year-old Lyla Polon of Santa Monica wrote, 'It's hard for me to face the fact that [the characters] are not real.' Much as I like the novels -- and I devoured all of them happily -- I'm appalled to find that a sizable number of the 25 million copies now in print are going into the hands of 10-year-olds. Why would parents whose children are not yet obsessed with sex encourage their kids to read books that are one long, bodice-ripping romance?" [Word Play, Los Angeles Times]

ON THIS DATE: Kurt Schaffenberger was born on this day in 1920 in Germany and would go on to be one of the enduring comic-book artists of his generation, working on the Captain Marvel titles at Fawcett before jumping over to DC, where he brought his high-clarity style to Superman-related titles, most notably "Superman's Girlfriend Lois Lane." He died in 2002.... Today is also the 45th birthday of Helen Slater, who starred in "Supergirl" on the silver screen.... Comics writer (and television writer and musician) J. M. DeMatteis is 55 today and has tall of stack of funny-book accomplishments, among them "Moonshadow," "Brooklyn Dreams" and memorable runs on Spider-Man, Captain America and  Justice League International.... Julie Taymor, the Tony-winning Broadway director now at work on "Spider-Man: The Musical," is 56 today. To celebrate, let's all think super thoughts and sing a song in public today.

-- Geoff Boucher

Credits: Brandon Lee as "The Crow,"  Miramax Films and the Los Angeles Times archives; Frank Miller's Spartans from "300,"  Dark Horse Comics; "Twilight" image, Summit Pictures.

Thor's cartoon, Stan Lee's medal and Dick Tracy's fate all in Everyday Hero headlines

The Nov. 17, 2008, edition of Everyday Hero, your one-stop spot for handpicked headlines from the fanboy universe...

Asgard, animated: This is turning out to be a unprecedented boom era for superhero animation projects, between all of the straight-to-DVD productions and a flurry of announcements about television projects for Marvel and DC characters. The latest is a certain Norse god, according to a Borys Kit story in the trades today: "Marvel Animation is developing and self-producing a 26 half-hour-episode series based on its long-running comic book, with the series targeted to launch in fall 2010, following Marvel's live-action feature 'Thor." ... The animated series will follow Thor, the Norse god of thunder, as he defends his mythical home of Asgard against fantastical villains, fiendish hordes, winged creatures and angry giants. The show will take place in various worlds -- from mountainous landscapes to places of icy mists and fiery voids -- and will include many of the comic's supporting cast, including Balder the Brave, the Warriors Three and Thor's evil adopted brother, Loki. Marvel president of animation Eric Rollman said the series is part of the company's plan to follow each live-action movie with an animated series and 'offer a continued awareness in the marketplace.'" [Hollywood Reporter] Can you remember the names of the Warriors Three? Find the answer below, by clicking on to the second page...

Stan Lee, national hero?: It's amazing how far you can go working in funny books. President Bush today awarded the 2008 National Medal of Arts and, along with Olivia de Havilland, Hank Jones and the Sherman Brothers, one went to Marvel Comics icon Stan Lee. I'm sure this news went over real well with the heirs of Jack Kirby. The official announcement: "President George W. Bush today announced the recipients of the 2008 National Medals of Arts. Nine medals were presented by the President and Mrs. Laura Bush in an East Room ceremony at the White House. The National Medal of Arts is a White House initiative managed by the National Endowment for the Arts. The NEA organizes and oversees the National Medal of Arts nomination process and notifies the artists of their selection to receive a medal, the nation’s highest honor for artistic excellence. 'These individuals and organizations represent the variety and scope of great American art, from the traditional fine arts to popular culture,' said NEA Chairman Dana Gioia. 'This lifetime honor recognizes their exceptional contributions to our national culture.' [NEA news release]

Dick Tracy, still on the job: Last month marked the 77th anniversary of the very first "Dick Tracy" comic strip and, yes, the police detective with the square jaw is still on the job and in print (although not in nearly as many newspapers as he was in his heyday). There was a stir of concern recently among some fans of the venerable strip that it would be canceled after some retirement hints dropped by 79-year-old Dick Locher, the artist since 1983 and its writer since 2006 (as well as a former assistant to the strip's creator, Chester Gould, way back in the 1950s and 1960s). Alan Gardner, who writes about cartooning, got in touch with Mary Elson of Tribune Media Services to get the lowdown: "From Mary, I received an email with the official statement from TMS regarding this rumor: 'TMS has no plans to discontinue the Dick Tracy comic strip; nor is the company seeking a new creator for the strip.'" Whew. [The Daily Cartoonist]

Face-time for Eckhart: Weeks before "The Dark Knight" came out, director Christopher Nolan told me that the title of the film wasn't solely a reference to Batman, that it was also a nod to the fallen "white knight" of Gotham, Harvey Dent. The director said that story of Dent was "the heart" of the film and that he was very happy to have an actor such as Aaron Eckhart in the key role. I'm sure Eckhart is happy too: There's a story in the trades today about his upcoming leading-man role in an action film: "Eckhart is attached to star in 'Battle: Los Angeles,' a sci-fi actioner that Jonathan Liebesman is directing for Columbia. Neal Moritz and his Original Film are producing. The deal puts the actor front and center on an action movie for the first time. Eckhart had made his name working on less mainstream films, among others starring in 'In the Company of Men' and 'Thank You for Smoking' ... The story, written by Chris Bertolini, revolves around a Marine platoon's encounter in the battle on the streets of Los Angeles against an alien invasion. Eckhart will play the platoon leader in the film, which has yet to set a start date." [Hollywood Reporter] UPDATE: Reader Mike Honcho points out that Eckhart was in "The Core," which would certainly qualify as an action film, contradicting the Hollywood Reporter statement that this would be his first starring role in that sort of film.

"Robotech," Smallville-style: The team of Alfred Gough and Miles Millar co-created "Smallville" and stayed on as executive producers until earlier this year. Now they've been signed on to write a feature-film screenplay of "Robotech" for Warner Bros., according to an announcement in the trades: "Akiva Goldsman and Chuck Roven are producing with Tobey Maguire and Drew Crevello. 'Robotech' was a 1980s cartoon series from Harmony Gold USA and Tatsunoko Prods. It was re-edited and re-dialogued to combine three Japanese anime series to give the producers enough episodes to air as a daily syndicated series. A sprawling sci-fi epic, "Robotech" takes place at a time when Earth has developed giant robots from the technology on an alien spacecraft that crashed on a South Pacific isle. Mankind is forced to use the technology to fend off an alien invasion, with the fate of the human race ending up in the hands of two young pilots." [Hollywood Reporter]

-- Geoff Boucher

Photos: (top) Thor image drawn by Walt Simonson. Credit: Courtesy of Marvel Comics. (second from top) A 2006 photo of Stan Lee and friends. Credit: Robin Cook / Getty Images. (second from bottom) A 2008 photo of Aaron Eckhart. Credit: Frederick M. Brown / Getty Images

Can Kenneth Branagh pick up Thor's hammer?

Thor is a Norse god, so I always liked to imagine that he talked like a big, bellowing version of the Swedish Chef, but in Marvel Comics, of course, the God of Thunder has always sounded more like a Shakespearean actor portraying one of the brawnier members of the Danish court from "Hamlet."

Maybe that turned out to be a selling point; Marvel Studios is now trying to lock in (or, according to some sources, already has locked in) Kenneth Branagh to direct a film adaptation of Thor's comics tale. Variety has a story about "negoitations" being underway but I doubt that Marvel Studios, still a very young and reputation-sensitive enterprise, would let this news out to circulate unless it was close to inking the deal.

I think it's a great choice if does happen. I think "Dead Again," "Hamlet" and "Frankenstein" proved the Shakespearean veteran to be a natural storyteller and one with a flair for keeping characters vivid and believable in the midst of sweeping tales.

-- Geoff Boucher

Image of Thor courtesy of Marvel Comics