Saturday, April 2, 2022

Kirby at War: La Guerre de Kirby (2017)

directed by Marc Azéma and Jean Depelley
54 minutes

This French documentary examines the effects of Jack Kirby's experiences in World War II on his work in comic books. Roughly half of this documentary is focused on the time Kirby spent in the army. It looks at where he went, what battles he was involved in, and what happened to him. The story is told through his letters to his wife, interviews with people who have studied him, and uses Kirby's comic art in telling the story.

The documentary is made by a French company so presumably the original version was all in French or subtitled in French. The version that I saw is mostly in English. All the voice overs are in English. The only parts that are still in French (with English subtitles) are the parts where someone is talking in French on camera.

Thoughts

There are a few people in this documentary that I have seen on panels at either Baltimore Comic Con or Heroes Con: Mark Evanier, Jon Morrow, and Rand Hoppe.

I like this documentary for a couple reasons. First I like the presentation of Kirby's experiences in World War II. I had heard stories which weren't terribly specific and sometimes contradicted one another about where exactly he served. This seems to set the record straight on that score. Second, the documentary gives some context to the impact that Kirby's experiences had on his art and his storytelling.

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