Press Release:
WhatifKirby.com Online Research Archive At New York Comic Con
What if Kirby (“WiK”) is an online research and educational resource dedicated to the imagination and genius of Jack Kirby, comic book artist and guiding inspiration of the genre for over six decades. WiK creator Tom Kraft will be scanning new submissions of Kirby original art and signing up new members at Bechara Maalouf’s Nostalgic Investments booth #2734 at the New York Comic Con from Friday, October 8 through Sunday, October 10, 2010 at the Jacob K. Javits Center, 655 West 34th Street in Midtown Manhattan.
First launched in 2001, WiK was created for Kirby fans, collectors and historians to see “what if” comic art, originally inked for publication, could be recreated and reinked by other inkers. These recreations were lightboxed from Jack Kirby’s pencil copies onto 2-ply Bristol board then reinked by some of The King’s best inkers, including Mike Royer and Joe Sinnott. Relaunched on August 28, 2010 in celebration of the anniversary of Jack Kirby’s 93rd birthday, WiK now has many new features and content to further the site’s mission of increasing awareness of who Jack Kirby was and his significance in inventing the comic book genre. The site now contains a large collection of comic book art scans in the gallery section. Built on a database, comic art can be searched by inker, date, period, character, story or almost any criteria to narrow search results. Detailed pages of each page of comic art display the front and also the backs, which in many cases can yield hidden treasures!
Membership is free and provides access to the “Zoom Art” link, higher resolution views of comic art on this site. Members have a membership page, can leave comments and can rate comic art. Audio commentary of some pages is added to provide additional information by historians or collectors. Studying the original art itself is an invaluable tool for historians and art students, and was formerly the privilege of a select few insiders, collectors, and retailers!
Scanned comic art pages on the site are provided by Original Comic Art Dealers and private collectors in an effort to create a permanent, historical archive of all of Kirby’s existing comic art. This ongoing effort is part of the Jack Kirby Museum’s Original Art Digital Archive.
If you find WiK useful please help support efforts to acquire more scans of Kirby’s comic art, hire help, add more functionality and pay hosting costs. Any amount is welcomed! WiK is not a non-profit organization so donations are not tax deductible, but 10% goes to The Jack Kirby Museum to support their educational and research efforts.
“As a Kirby fan and comics historian, I find What if Kirby to be an invaluable source of knowledge and sheer joy! Tom Kraft is to be heartily commended for his hard work and dedication…these art scans are so huge and detailed you can practically smell Jack’s cigars!
–Dan Fogel, Special Advisor to Overstreet’s Comic Book Price Guide and author of Fogel’s Underground Comix Price Guide
For More Information, Please Go to: http://www.whatifkirby.com/
Write to: spacekraft@whatifkirby.com
And Follow WhatifKirby on Facebook and Twitter!
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