Comments on: Comic Book Urban Legends Revealed #158

By: Argo Is Coming | Mah Two Cents

Argo Is Coming | Mah Two Cents — Tue, 27 Dec 2011 14:46:36 +0000

[...] fact an interesting element was revealed: the cover story used for the smuggled hostages was that they were advance scouts for a motion picture that included designs done by Jack Kirby based on Roger Zelaney’s novel “Lord Of Light”, renamed “Argo”. I [...]

By: M-Wolverine

M-Wolverine — Sat, 18 Jun 2011 04:53:30 +0000

Maybe I missed it, but I’m not sure how we got this far and no one has said that Galactus saved the hostages. Because if it had been real, Marvel never would have let THAT design be used in a movie.

By: Dalton Silva

Dalton Silva — Sat, 28 Feb 2009 05:38:09 +0000

I’ve always thought that the Sting thing on John Constatine was a pum over the fact that Mr. Summer was engaged on Ecological Debates through the 80′s, always visiting the Rain Forest and taking a Brazilian Indian to travel all over he world.

For me, John was a distorted Sting taking care of Exoteric Ecological issues with Mr. Alec Holland.

By: Brian Lyon Maged

Brian Lyon Maged — Sat, 27 Sep 2008 16:14:35 +0000

This CIA STUFF is upsetting. I was taken hostage by DR. CAMERON type doctors and subjected to various
interrogations about my creative deviency. Not funny stuff. Life messed up for a time but I rebounded out of such. Barry Geller is upset about this mischievous stuff and crap from this other scammer Canadian businessman Howard Halpenny who conveniently fired all his staff and replaced them by computers. Talk about science fiction!

We may be planning a conference on the idea of theme parks and the behind the scenes events at next year’s WORLDCON. We’ll mention some other Americans who tried a similiar thing in 1901 in Montreal and created Dominion Park. What happened to that and its connections with politics, the police, and the Trudeau
administration is also significant.

By: Barry Ira Geller

Barry Ira Geller — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 23:47:40 +0000

Thanks Marty, for you CIA link above. The story — as it related to Kirby and Lord of Light — is completely erroneous. In fact, a complete “deception.” After he admitted to ripping off my script and Jack’s art on public TV, he has since toned down all references. It was in fact, John Chambers who gave him the idea of doing a film company, as there was sudden turmoil with the LOL project and, rather than pull it (my script) off a pile of manuscripts, John expressly gave him my script as perfect as it was already being shot next door to Iran. Credit to Mendez for pulling it off, but the entire Film idea was John Chambers’ — who then later realized the project wasnt “dead” at all — and this was probably the reason for the break in our friendship at the time.

I wonder, perhaps armed with the Errol Gardner Interview video and the Wired Article, I can give Jack the last shit-eating grin, where ever he is — by getting the CIA to place his artwork done for the Lord of Light Project, into the CIA Museum? Whatcha think? I like it.

Barry Ira Geller

By: Rich Handley

Rich Handley — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 12:44:30 +0000

<> I’ll try not to be hurt that my site didn’t get mentioned as a Swamp Thing resource. <>

Rich Handley
Roots of the Swamp Thing
ttp://www.swampthingroots.com

By: Marty Busse

Marty Busse — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 00:51:23 +0000

The CIA's in house journal, Studies in Intelligence, put together an unclassified article on the Canadian facilitated escape from Iran back in late 1999. it doesn't mention Jack Kirby, but it has some other details you might find interesting.

By: Johnathan Munroe

Johnathan Munroe — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 02:32:52 +0000

Oh, lord. RR Duran mentions Wild Rose and I’m filled with regret that Gaimen didn’t get to do the Phantom Stranger. I can’t even imagine what might have happened to Mister Square. And Dr. Thirteen might have finally gotten his comeuppance!

What might have been…

By: Barry Ira Geller

Barry Ira Geller — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 20:00:19 +0000

Thanks, Comic Urban for a level-headed approach on the story of Jack Kirby’s involvement — in fact Jack never knew of it (neither did any of us) until about 8 years ago when the Mendez book came out and I gave the OK to a documentary TV show in Boston who was interviewing Mendez — who blatantly stated he stole the drawings and script from the my film. Pretty amazing — he thought no one would ever think twice, or even knew who Jack Kirby was! As you said, the full story of the background — including about John Chambers who gave my script and production drawings to the CIA, is found on the Lord of Light website http://www.lordoflight.com.

Designing the pix with Jack was one of the great experiences I have had. On the website there are also stories about how each painting came into existence — should anyone on this forum be interested.

Barry Ira Geller

By: Hondo

Hondo — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 05:10:42 +0000

Daredevil by Miller & Simonson ! WHY does stuff like this happen ?

I hadn’t known about that Kirby Lord of Light thing until the last year. How wild !

By: Michael-Sensei

Michael-Sensei — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 11:49:38 +0000

If you want to delve deeper into the into the Canadian Caper to free the hostages, check out Escape from Iran from 1981. I never knew about the Kirby connection though…COOL!

I fondly remember Sting as Feyd-Rautha in DUNE. (And the Police were great when I was in high school!)

I too wish to add my kudos to this site. Great stuff.

By: RR Duran

RR Duran — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 05:22:46 +0000

Glad to see that question of mine clarified. Maybe I was reading too much into the similarity of the plots: Broderick Rune, Roderick Burgess; stolen heart, stolen power items; magic circles, magic societies; storytellers, Prince of Stories; Rose Walker, Wild Rose; wearing black, shining shadowed eyes, appearances changing according to the times, etc.

But, hey, wouldn’t it have been also great if it had the Phantom Stranger all along?

By: Jim Kosmicki

Jim Kosmicki — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 03:37:53 +0000

the best part about the Matt Wagner Demon being reprinted in a trade paperback would be to finally see that art printed decently. The original is so dark and muddy that it’s often very difficult to make out. IIRC, some of the fonts were ornate and printed poorly as well.

C’mon DC — it’s Matt Wagner. surely the sales on his Mage and Grendel books (not to mention Trinity for DC itself) would give you some sense that this TPB would do well?

By: taylor shawver

taylor shawver — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 12:25:55 +0000

these comic books are very exciting and can tell you alot about the past and how people changed there wrighting froms…

By: Brian Cronin

Brian Cronin — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 07:12:21 +0000

Basically – except not so much “deleted” as much as “put away until after the column goes up, then they’ll be back!”

You guys both mentioned something that I figured WOULD be brought up if I mentioned one of the stories above, which is actually why I have held that story back until now, but it just fit this week’s theme far too well not to use!

By: Matt Bird

Matt Bird — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 07:00:26 +0000

Just so’s I get it, Brian, it seems you deleted comments by myself and “American Hawkman” (wouldn’t that be awesome if that were his legal name as well?) because we mentioned an aborted storyline that you plan to write about in an upcoming column? If so, that’s cool with me! I look forward to reading the column!

By: Brian Cronin

Brian Cronin — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 22:08:02 +0000

Brian, over the past week and a half or so Iâ€™ve read through the entire archive and learned not only lots of new things, but have had many things I was confused about clarified. You do a great job.

That being said, any truth to the rumors that one day, obnoxious people will stop replying to your well-research articles saying something to the effect of â€œI already knew that, so itâ€™s not really an urban legendâ€? Just curious.

Thanks for the kind words, Stephen (and all the other folks who said nice stuff!!).

That stuff is fine – critiques like that or a standard “I did not like this week’s column” are to be expected if you’re doing a column. The only stuff I ever chafe at is the belligerent stuff, which is thankfully quite rare!

By: Brian Cronin

Brian Cronin — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 22:05:32 +0000

American Hawkman and Matt, you’ll have to forgive me – I was carefully choosing my words to avoid stepping on the toes of future installments, and that was exactly the route I was going.

By: Matt Bird

Matt Bird — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 21:27:23 +0000

Um, you’d rather have seen DD join Englehart’s West Coast Avengers than have the Nocenti run? Really? Really really?

I’ll agree there was a very awkward gap before Nocenti came on. If I remember correctly, there was a full year of fill ins. As a matter of fact, around the time Shooter was fired, it seemed like several titles went through almost a year of fill-ins, including Amazing Spider-Man. Ugh.

By: American Hawkman

American Hawkman — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 15:33:58 +0000

Marvel REALLY mishandled Daredevil around the time after Born Again. After Miller’s two-parter was canned, Steve Englehart was supposed to take over the book regularly. He intended to send Daredevil out back to San Francisco, where he’d end up on Englehart’s West Coast Avengers alongside the Black Widow again (which was set up in WCA Annual #1 and previewed in a Marvel Age Annual), but, after his first issue (#237), Englehart got booted by the editor because she wanted to be the new regular writer. Sigh.

(Source: Steve Englehart’s website!)