Hail Caesar, Hail Kirby, Hail History
I admire Jack Kirby. He had his own style, a wild imagination, and created so many well-known and obscure great ideas. He blazed trails in storytelling, and paired that with a sense of humor that gave us characters like a league of underwater assassins called “The Deep Six.”
Also, he did some design work on a production of “Julius Caesar”
No, really. Check out this link and witness a total early Kirbyization of “Julius Caesar” that is mind-blowingly awesome.
Now I’d never heard of this, and now I desperately hope some cosplayers out there do these as outfits. You know. Cosplayers like you. That’s, you know, a hint.*
It’s humbling to see the man’s work this early in his life. Now, yes, I’m biased, I’m a fan, but I think the outfits show incredible imagination. It’s also humbling to think how this could have been lost or hidden to us if it hadn’t been for fans and researchers doing what they do.
We sit on a huge pile of history, we nerds, an often an influential pile it is. Our culture is in movies and books, nerd/geek pop culture is big right now, and of course science and engineering is pretty much powering the world. It’s important to remember our history, because there’s so much out there we may miss the little things.
I love these little corners of geek, nerd, and fan culture. They’re what help us understand the big picture of who we are and what we love.
- We can see Jack Kirby doing things we’d never assumed he’d be doing, like making it look like Julius Caesar should be face-punching Darkseid.
- Or enjoy tales of how games like Borderlands changed over time (even in this case how a minor character once wasn’t).
- Perhaps we can wonder what it would have been like if Mr. Spock had been even more demonic looking.
I’m sure we all have piles of trivia we enjoy aobut nerd culture. I think it’s something to appreciate.
When we know trivia we can put together the big picture of our “inheritance” as nerds, geeks, and fans.
When we know our history, including it’s musty corners, we can better understand how our own minds work – seeing how others like us think can lead to deeper understanding of ourselves and what we can do.
When we know these little things we can find new inspirations. Seeing things anew helps us get new ideas.
And besides, it might lead to cosplay.
You know . . . that’s a hint.
Come on, LOOK at those outfits!
Steven Savage is a Geek 2.0 writer, speaker, blogger, and job coach for professional and potentially professional geeks, fans, and otaku. He can be reached at http://www.stevensavage.com/
