1. So I have a few thoughts on Jack Kirby, the Kennedy assassination, @aoscott, @tnyfrontrow, movie franchises and open narratives.
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7. How did JFK's assassination change Kirby's work? As Kevin Ainesworth argued in Jack Kirby Collector, it changed Kirby's narrative strategy. Pre-1963, Kirby's stories were tight, one-and-done. After, he moved to open-ended, sprawling stories.
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8. According to Evanier, this is likely the comic Kirby was working on when he heard JFK died. Notice plot point is Mr. Fantastic (JFK stand-in) wounded.pic.twitter.com/CclhyJloAp
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9. JFK's assassination seems to have turned Kirby away from classic beginning-middle-end narratives to open-ended, unresolved soap operas where it is just one-thing-after another. Life goes on narratives.
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10. In JFK's death was the seeds of what Sean Howe calls "the snowballing Marvel Universe, which expanded to become the most intricate fictional narrative in the history of the world: thousand upon thousands of interlocking characters & episodes."
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11. The smartest reviews of new Avengers flick (by
@aoscott &@tnyfrontrow) have keyed into the sprawling overstuffed nature of Marvel Universe, and demands it makes on audience comprehension & narrative coherence.Show this thread -
12. Of course, Kirby's narrative shift, a product of an artist reacting to the chaos of the 1960s, has now turned into a perfect tool for capitalist Hollywood to make endless films about the same characters; franchising.
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13. Opened ended narratives & universal franchising do pose problems for art, which I explore with my colleagues
@Jo_Livingstone &@alex_shephard here: https://newrepublic.com/article/148198/comics-killing-movies …Show this thread
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