Jack Kirby's William Shakespeare's Julius Caesar
January 17, 2010 10:29 AM Subscribe
"In 1969, Sheldon Feldner contacted Marvel Comics, asking if one of Marvel's artists would be interested in designing costumes for a production of William Shakespeare's play Julius Caesar by the University Theatre Company at Santa Cruz. As luck would have it, the Kirby family had recently moved to California..." Jack Kirby's designs for the production.
Oh man... what a find!
posted by Artw at 10:35 AM on January 17, 2010 [2 favorites]
posted by Artw at 10:35 AM on January 17, 2010 [2 favorites]
I forgot to mention that I saw this first here. Or that the accompanying article (from a local newspaper of the time) is wonderfully satisfying to Kirby buffs, as it cites Kirby as the creator of various characters over and over and over.
posted by kittens for breakfast at 10:43 AM on January 17, 2010 [1 favorite]
posted by kittens for breakfast at 10:43 AM on January 17, 2010 [1 favorite]
Did we just kill it? I got up to Portia and it's gone...
posted by Lizc at 10:45 AM on January 17, 2010
posted by Lizc at 10:45 AM on January 17, 2010
Did we just kill it? I got up to Portia and it's gone...
Yeah, I'm finding that you already have to reload some images (and that some don't seem to appear at all), but it's not gone-gone.
posted by kittens for breakfast at 10:49 AM on January 17, 2010
Yeah, I'm finding that you already have to reload some images (and that some don't seem to appear at all), but it's not gone-gone.
posted by kittens for breakfast at 10:49 AM on January 17, 2010
So the other day I found out that it's total BS that the Masters Of The Universe film was based on a rejected New Gods script, which makes the world a slightly duller place, though it did take a lot of inspiration from Kirby.
posted by Artw at 10:49 AM on January 17, 2010
posted by Artw at 10:49 AM on January 17, 2010
What I find really cool are the photos at the end, where the Kirby drawings are converted into real costumes. Not an easy task.
Living up to those drawings must have been quite a job for the actors, too.
posted by Jimmy Havok at 10:58 AM on January 17, 2010
Living up to those drawings must have been quite a job for the actors, too.
posted by Jimmy Havok at 10:58 AM on January 17, 2010
Artw--
Have you seen the remake of He-Man? It was all sorts of epic.
posted by effugas at 11:01 AM on January 17, 2010
Have you seen the remake of He-Man? It was all sorts of epic.
posted by effugas at 11:01 AM on January 17, 2010
Friends, Romans, Countrymen
I come to bury Caesar, not to praise him...*BLA-KOW!*
posted by TheWhiteSkull at 11:19 AM on January 17, 2010 [1 favorite]
I come to bury Caesar, not to praise him...*BLA-KOW!*
posted by TheWhiteSkull at 11:19 AM on January 17, 2010 [1 favorite]
This is so fantastic. Thank you, KFB!
posted by EatTheWeek at 11:28 AM on January 17, 2010
posted by EatTheWeek at 11:28 AM on January 17, 2010
See also Kirby's sketches for a Lord of Light theme park.
Thanks, kittens for breakfast.
posted by Zed at 11:31 AM on January 17, 2010
Thanks, kittens for breakfast.
posted by Zed at 11:31 AM on January 17, 2010
Brilliant! Of course, now I shall be unable to watch any production of Shakespeare without costume design by Jack Kirby.
posted by fallingbadgers at 11:35 AM on January 17, 2010 [2 favorites]
posted by fallingbadgers at 11:35 AM on January 17, 2010 [2 favorites]
I don't think I'm the only one to think that more kids would appreciate Shakespeare if more Shakespeare was this bad-ass.
posted by Civil_Disobedient at 11:52 AM on January 17, 2010
posted by Civil_Disobedient at 11:52 AM on January 17, 2010
It's dead for me, saying that I need a password to access the database. I really want to see it too.
posted by codacorolla at 12:35 PM on January 17, 2010
posted by codacorolla at 12:35 PM on January 17, 2010
I really wish that more photos of the actual costumes existed.
Some current production of Hamlet needs to use these designs.
posted by painquale at 12:42 PM on January 17, 2010
Some current production of Hamlet needs to use these designs.
posted by painquale at 12:42 PM on January 17, 2010
This is so cool, thanks!
posted by Alvy Ampersand at 12:51 PM on January 17, 2010
posted by Alvy Ampersand at 12:51 PM on January 17, 2010
Hamlet is the original emo Doctor Who!
The Fourth Doctor did help transcribe the original manuscript, and the Tenth inspired the idea of the play....
posted by painquale at 12:52 PM on January 17, 2010 [2 favorites]
The Fourth Doctor did help transcribe the original manuscript, and the Tenth inspired the idea of the play....
posted by painquale at 12:52 PM on January 17, 2010 [2 favorites]
This is all kinds of awesome, but I will now not be happy until I do a production of Much Ado About Nothing in which all the members of the Watch are dressed as Uatu.
posted by Mr. Bad Example at 1:22 PM on January 17, 2010 [1 favorite]
posted by Mr. Bad Example at 1:22 PM on January 17, 2010 [1 favorite]
The field soldier one has more than a little Galactus in it. So that's why the Roman Empire lasted so long. The poet is rather super-hero-y. And Portia -- va-va-va-voom!
The Fourth Doctor did help transcribe the original manuscript, and the Tenth inspired the idea of the play....
I hear he was also killed by Arthur Dent a fair number of times.
posted by JHarris at 1:47 PM on January 17, 2010
The Fourth Doctor did help transcribe the original manuscript, and the Tenth inspired the idea of the play....
I hear he was also killed by Arthur Dent a fair number of times.
posted by JHarris at 1:47 PM on January 17, 2010
Wow, I was at Cowell College while at UCSC, and I had no idea this was part of our history. Thanks for the links!
posted by spiderskull at 2:48 PM on January 17, 2010
posted by spiderskull at 2:48 PM on January 17, 2010
On the moebius Dune drawings -- someone oughta do a few animated scenes based on those -- is any of Jodoroski's script left?
posted by empath at 4:19 PM on January 17, 2010
posted by empath at 4:19 PM on January 17, 2010
Off on a tangent now, but wow.
Pink Floyd doing the sound track? Orson Wells as Harkonnen? Salvador Dali as the emperor? Giger and Moebius concept art. HOW DID THIS NOT GET MADE.
posted by empath at 4:27 PM on January 17, 2010 [1 favorite]
Pink Floyd doing the sound track? Orson Wells as Harkonnen? Salvador Dali as the emperor? Giger and Moebius concept art. HOW DID THIS NOT GET MADE.
posted by empath at 4:27 PM on January 17, 2010 [1 favorite]
I also wish there was more photos of the actual costumes--I'd love to see how some of these concepts translated to real life.
All in all, though, this is amazing!
posted by sleeping bear at 4:28 PM on January 17, 2010
All in all, though, this is amazing!
posted by sleeping bear at 4:28 PM on January 17, 2010
empath -wow, I'd seen the concept art, but i didn;t know about the storyboards - man would I love to see those.
posted by Artw at 4:36 PM on January 17, 2010
posted by Artw at 4:36 PM on January 17, 2010
Did he do a Cassius picture? I get the feeling his idea of "lean and hungry" would be something like "Captain America in a slightly different costume."
posted by pracowity at 6:43 AM on January 18, 2010
posted by pracowity at 6:43 AM on January 18, 2010
Pink Floyd doing the sound track? Orson Wells as Harkonnen? Salvador Dali as the emperor? Giger and Moebius concept art. HOW DID THIS NOT GET MADE.
Funny how tastes differ. My own reaction is:
Pink Floyd doing the soundtrack? Orson Welles as Harkonnen? Dali as Shaddam? Giger and Moebius as designers? Thank the Maker, bless his coming and his going, that this never got made. Even the Lynch one with Toto music was bad enough.
posted by ROU_Xenophobe at 9:15 AM on January 18, 2010
Funny how tastes differ. My own reaction is:
Pink Floyd doing the soundtrack? Orson Welles as Harkonnen? Dali as Shaddam? Giger and Moebius as designers? Thank the Maker, bless his coming and his going, that this never got made. Even the Lynch one with Toto music was bad enough.
posted by ROU_Xenophobe at 9:15 AM on January 18, 2010
It would have been glorious, but not coherent, or a success.
posted by Artw at 9:16 AM on January 18, 2010
posted by Artw at 9:16 AM on January 18, 2010
Ron Cobb was involved too.
It's like Alien just stole the entire design team from Dune, but left Pink Floyd, Dali, Welles and Jodorowsky.
posted by Artw at 9:19 AM on January 18, 2010
It's like Alien just stole the entire design team from Dune, but left Pink Floyd, Dali, Welles and Jodorowsky.
posted by Artw at 9:19 AM on January 18, 2010
Zowie. Fantastic.
posted by caseymichael at 9:46 AM on January 18, 2010
posted by caseymichael at 9:46 AM on January 18, 2010
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