185-473: Grant Morrison MBE (born 31 January 1960) is a Scottish comic book writer , screenwriter , and producer. Their work is known for its nonlinear narratives , humanist philosophy and countercultural leanings. Morrison has written extensively for the American comic book publisher DC Comics , penning lengthy runs on Animal Man , Doom Patrol , JLA , Action Comics , and Green Lantern as well as
370-628: A Doom Patrol spin-off with art by Frank Quitely , and returned briefly to DC Universe superheroics with the short-lived Aztek , co-written with Mark Millar. In 1996, Morrison was given the Justice League of America to revamp as JLA , a comic book that gathered the "Big Seven" superheroes of the DC universe into one team. This run was hugely popular and returned the title to best-selling status. Morrison wrote several issues of The Flash with Mark Millar, as well as DC's crossover event of 1998,
555-404: A broad riband or sash, passing from the right shoulder to the left hip. Knights Commander and male Commanders wear the badge from a ribbon around the neck; male Officers and Members wear the badge from a ribbon on the left chest; female recipients other than Dames Grand Cross (unless in military uniform) normally wear it from a bow on the left shoulder. An oval eight-pointed star is worn, pinned to
740-453: A circlet bearing the motto of the Order; the reverse bears George V's Royal and Imperial Cypher. (Prior to 1937 Britannia was shown within the circlet.) The size of the badges varies according to rank: the higher classes have slightly larger badges. The badges of Knights and Dames Grand Cross, Knights and Dames Commander, and Commanders are enamelled, with pale blue crosses, crimson circlets and
925-466: A citizen of a Commonwealth realm can convert their appointment from honorary to substantive, and they then enjoy all privileges of membership of the order, including use of the title of Sir and Dame for the senior two ranks of the Order. (An example of the latter is Irish broadcaster Terry Wogan , who was appointed an honorary Knight Commander of the Order in 2005, and on successful application for British citizenship, held alongside his Irish citizenship,
1110-524: A contractual dispute in which editor Jack Schiff , who had been involved in getting Kirby and the Wood brothers the Sky Masters contract, claimed he was due royalties from Kirby's share of the strip's profits. Schiff successfully sued Kirby. Some DC editors had criticized him over art details, such as not drawing "the shoelaces on a cavalryman's boots" and showing a Native American "mounting his horse from
1295-494: A cosmic purview informed by Kirby's seemingly boundless imagination—one well-matched with the consciousness-expanding youth culture of the 1960s. For almost a decade, Kirby provided Marvel's house style, creating many of the Marvel characters and designing their visual motifs. At the editor-in-chief's request, he often provided new-to-Marvel artists "breakdown" layouts, over which they would pencil in order to become acquainted with
1480-695: A day. His first published work at Atlas was the cover of and the seven-page story "I Discovered the Secret of the Flying Saucers" in Strange Worlds #1 (Dec. 1958). Initially with Christopher Rule as his regular inker, and later Dick Ayers , Kirby drew across all genres, from romance comics to war comics to crime comics to Western comics, but made his mark primarily with a series of supernatural-fantasy and science fiction stories featuring giant, drive-in movie -style monsters with names like Groot ,
1665-531: A division of Universal Studio Group, will also adapt the series for television. The first issue was published by Boom! Studios in March 2021. In March 2021 it was announced that Morrison would write a four issue series entitled Superman and The Authority , illustrated by Mikel Janin, to be published by DC in late 2021. In a 2022 newsletter, Morrison revealed they had pitched ideas for Series 8 of Doctor Who to series showrunner Steven Moffat . These included
1850-520: A fantasy world populated with his toys and other fantasy characters when he stops taking his medication. Following the closure of Virgin Comics, Dynamite Entertainment and Liquid Comics announced a partnership to publish a hardcover of illustrated scripts of Grant Morrison's Mahābhārata-based, animated project 18 Days with illustrations by artist Mukesh Singh, that was released in August 2010. They are
2035-470: A film project with Morrison attached as screenwriter. The following year, Morrison wrote the adaptation of the video game Area 51 home console game for Paramount in development with CFP Productions producing. In 2006 Morrison was voted as the No. 2 favourite comic book writer of all time by Comic Book Resources . That same year, Morrison began writing Batman for DC with issue No. 655 , reintroducing
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#17327721851172220-753: A format that would later be called the trade paperback , which would eventually become standard practice in the industry. However, Infantino and company were not receptive and Kirby's proposals only went as far as producing the one-shot black-and-white magazines Spirit World and In the Days of the Mob in 1971. Kirby later produced other DC series including OMAC , Kamandi , The Demon , and Kobra as well as working on such extant features as " The Losers " in Our Fighting Forces . Together with former partner Joe Simon for one last time, he worked on
2405-443: A gold central medallion. Officers' badges are plain silver-gilt, while those of Members are plain silver. From 1917 until 1937, the badge of the order was suspended on a purple ribbon, with a red central stripe being added for the military division in 1918. Since 1937, the ribbon has been rose-pink with pearl-grey edges (with the addition of a pearl-grey central stripe for the military division). Knights and Dames Grand Cross wear it on
2590-634: A house for his family in Mineola, New York on Long Island . It was the family's home for the next 20 years; Kirby worked out of a basement studio just 10 feet (3.0 m) wide, which the family referred to jocularly as "The Dungeon". He moved the family to Southern California in early 1969, both to live in a drier climate for the sake of daughter Lisa's health and to be closer to the Hollywood studios Jack Kirby believed might provide work. In an interview, Kirby's granddaughter Jillian Kirby said Jack Kirby
2775-507: A hurry because I couldn't take that kind of thing," describing it as "a factory in a sense, like my father's factory. They were manufacturing pictures." Around that time, the American comic book industry was booming. Kirby began writing and drawing for the comic book packager Eisner & Iger , one of a handful of firms creating comics on demand for publishers. Through that company, Kirby did what he remembered as his first comic book work, for Wild Boy Magazine . This included such strips as
2960-418: A lieutenant, learning that comics artist Kirby was in his command, made him a scout who would advance into towns and draw reconnaissance maps and pictures, an extremely dangerous duty. After the war, Simon arranged work for Kirby and himself at Harvey Comics , where, through the early 1950s, the duo created such titles as the kid-gang adventure Boy Explorers Comics , the kid-gang Western Boys' Ranch ,
3145-591: A living as a garment factory worker. Kirby grew up in the Lower East Side neighborhood of New York City . Among his close friends was Leon Klinghoffer , who grew up in the same neighborhood, and who in 1985 was shot, killed and thrown overboard from the cruise ship Achille Lauro by Palestinian Liberation Front hijackers . In his youth, Kirby desired to escape his neighborhood. He liked to draw, and sought out places he could learn more about art. Essentially self-taught, Kirby cited among his influences
3330-466: A magical symbol, or sigil , in an effort to boost sales). When the title was relaunched with volume two, the characters relocated to America. Volume three appeared with issue numbers counting down, signalling an intention to conclude the series with the turn of the new millennium in 2000. Due to the title shipping late, its final issue did not ship until April 2000. The 1999 film The Matrix has numerous elements which have been attributed by critics to
3515-488: A new Green Lantern comic entitled The Green Lantern for DC Comics. Following the success of the first season of The Green Lantern , a second season was announced, to be published in 2020 but beforehand there was a Blackstars mini-series dealing with the ending of Season One , launched in November 2019. "Season Two" of Morrison's Green Lantern series with Liam Sharp began in 2020 and completed in March 2021 alongside
3700-705: A new incarnation of the Sandman . Kirby produced three issues of the 1st Issue Special anthology series and created Atlas the Great , a new Manhunter , and the Dingbats of Danger Street . Kirby's production assistant of the time, Mark Evanier , recounted that DC's policies of the era were not in sync with Kirby's creative impulses. Also Evanier said that he was often forced to work on characters and projects which he did not like. Meanwhile, some artists at DC did not want Kirby there, as he threatened their positions in
3885-404: A number of comics industry guests, including Robert Kirkman , Darick Robertson , Jason Aaron , Jim Lee , Gerard Way , Jonathan Hickman , Frank Quitely , J. H. Williams III , and Chris Burnham. In September 2014, as part of Legendary Comics ' big foray into the industry, Morrison launched another key creator-owned book: Annihilator with Frazer Iving . A six-issue mini-series, Annihilator
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#17327721851174070-479: A rarity, Kirby inked himself. Kirby recast the archer as a science-fiction hero, moving him away from his Batman-formula roots, but, in the process, alienating Green Arrow co-creator Mort Weisinger . He began drawing Sky Masters of the Space Force , a newspaper comic strip, written by the Wood brothers and initially inked by the unrelated Wally Wood . Kirby left National Comics Publications due largely to
4255-714: A series of interlinked titles under the blanket sobriquet " The Fourth World ", which included a trilogy of new titles— New Gods , Mister Miracle , and The Forever People —as well as the extant Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen . Kirby picked the latter book because the series was without a stable creative team and he did not want to cost anyone a job. The three books Kirby originated dealt with aspects of mythology he had previously touched upon in Thor . The New Gods would establish this new mythos, while in The Forever People Kirby would attempt to mythologize
4440-656: A significant part of the DC Universe . Kirby returned to Marvel briefly in the mid-to-late 1970s, then ventured into television animation and independent comics . In his later years, Kirby, who has been called "the William Blake of comics", began receiving great recognition in the mainstream press for his career accomplishments, and in 1987 he was one of the three inaugural inductees of the Will Eisner Comic Book Hall of Fame . In 2017, Kirby
4625-578: A small tabloid press reaction and a complaint from Conservative Member of Parliament (MP) Teddy Taylor . The controversy continued with the publication of The New Adventures of Hitler in Scottish music and lifestyle magazine Cut in 1989, due to its use of Adolf Hitler as its lead character. The strip, unfinished when Cut folded, was reprinted and completed in Fleetway 's 2000 AD spin-off title Crisis . Two plays staged by Oxygen House at
4810-481: A special announcement to make. As I started telling about Jack's return, to a totally incredulous audience, everyone's head started to snap around as Kirby himself came waltzin' down the aisle to join us on the rostrum! You can imagine how it felt clownin' around with the co-creator of most of Marvel's greatest strips once more." Back at Marvel, Kirby both wrote and drew the monthly Captain America series as well as
4995-572: A staggering 92% of its print run, inspiring Crestwood to increase the print run by the third issue to triple the initial number of copies. Initially published bimonthly, Young Romance quickly became a monthly title and produced the spin-off Young Love —together the two titles sold two million copies per month, according to Simon —later joined by Young Brides and In Love , the latter "featuring full-length romance stories". Young Romance spawned dozens of imitators from publishers such as Timely, Fawcett , Quality , and Fox Feature Syndicate . Despite
5180-577: A story featuring a child version of the Doctor , as well as a new potential villain. None were commissioned, though the BBC offered to buy the rights to Morrison's villains. (The latter declined). Later that year, Morrison published Luda , their debut prose novel . In a 2011 interview, Morrison stated that they and their wife Kristan had no children. When asked if they regretted this, Morrison replied, "Slightly but I don't know. Every time I think of it I think of
5365-493: A then-reasonable $ 15-a-week salary. He began to explore superhero narrative with the comic strip The Blue Beetle , published from January to March 1940, starring a character created by the pseudonymous Charles Nicholas , a house name that Kirby retained for the three-month-long strip. During this time, Kirby met and began collaborating with cartoonist and Fox editor Joe Simon , who in addition to his staff work continued to freelance. Simon recalled in 1988, "I loved Jack's work and
5550-450: A western style for people raised on movies, comics, and video games." In August 2009, Morrison and Frank Quitely launched the Batman and Robin series. Batman No. 700 (Aug. 2010) saw the return of Morrison to the title and a collaboration with an art team that consisted of Tony Daniel , Frank Quitely, Andy Kubert , and David Finch . The separate stories tied together to illustrate that
5735-467: A year's worth of material. Kirby was drafted into the U.S. Army on June 7, 1943. After basic training at Camp Stewart , near Savannah, Georgia, he was assigned to Company F of the 11th Infantry Regiment . He landed on Omaha Beach in Normandy on August 23, 1944, 2 + 1 ⁄ 2 months after D-Day , although Kirby's reminiscences would place his arrival just 10 days after. Kirby recalled that
Grant Morrison - Misplaced Pages Continue
5920-516: Is an image of Britannia surrounded by the motto, with the words "For Meritorious Service" at the bottom; on the reverse is George V's Imperial and Royal Cypher, with the words "Instituted by King George V" at the bottom. The name of the recipient is engraved on the rim. This medal is nicknamed "the Gong", and comes in both full-sized and miniature versions – the latter for formal white-tie and semi-formal black-tie occasions. A lapel pin for everyday wear
6105-525: Is considered Marvel's first graphic novel . Still dissatisfied with Marvel's treatment of him, and with an offer of employment from Hanna-Barbera , a job located in nearby Hollywood, Kirby left Marvel to work in animation. In that field for Ruby-Spears Productions he did designs for Turbo Teen , Thundarr the Barbarian and other animated series for television. In addition to a superior pay to his comics work, Kirby enjoyed excellent relations with
6290-973: Is not a member of the College of Arms , as are many other heraldic officers; and the Lady Usher of the Purple Rod does not – unlike the Order of the Garter equivalent, the Lady Usher of the Black Rod – perform any duties related to the House of Lords . Since the Second World War, several Commonwealth realms have established their own national system of honours and awards and have created their own unique orders, decorations and medals. A number, though, continue to make recommendations for appointments to
6475-534: The Batman ongoing series and continued through Final Crisis , Batman and Robin , Batman: The Return of Bruce Wayne and two volumes of Batman Incorporated . They also co-created the DC character Damian Wayne . Morrison's creator-owned work, the bulk of which was published through DC Comics' Vertigo imprint, includes Flex Mentallo and We3 with Scottish artist Frank Quitely , Seaguy with artist Cameron Stewart , The Filth with Chris Weston , and
6660-552: The BBC Morrison pitched with director Paul McGuigan and Stephen Fry . In June 2011, as part of DC Comics' massive revamp of its entire superhero line, Morrison was announced as the writer on the new Action Comics No. 1, teaming with artist Rags Morales , marking Morrison's return to the Superman character after the end of All Star Superman . In July 2011, Morrison's analysis of superheroes, Supergods: Our World in
6845-600: The British Empire Medal , and the following year its recipients were granted the right to use the postnominal letters BEM. During the war, the BEM came to be used to recognise acts of bravery which did not merit the award of a George Cross or George Medal , a use which continued until the introduction of the Queen's Gallantry Medal in 1974. The designs of insignia of the order and medal were altered in 1937, prior to
7030-644: The CIA 's " Canadian Caper ", in which some members of the U.S. embassy in Tehran , Iran, who had avoided capture in the Iran hostage crisis , were able to escape the country posing as members of a movie location-scouting crew. In the early 1980s, Kirby and Pacific Comics , a new, non-newsstand comic-book publisher, made one of the industry's earliest deals for creator-owned series, resulting in Captain Victory and
7215-573: The Captain America's Bicentennial Battles one-shot in the oversized treasury format . He created the series The Eternals , which featured a race of inscrutable alien giants, the Celestials , whose behind-the-scenes intervention in primordial humanity would eventually become a core element of Marvel Universe continuity. He produced an adaptation and expansion of the film 2001: A Space Odyssey , as well as an abortive attempt to do
7400-630: The Damian Wayne character in Batman Incorporated No. 8 (April 2013) and their final issue was No. 13 (Sept. 2013). Morrison returned to creator-owned work in 2010 with the eight issue Vertigo series Joe the Barbarian , launched in January with artist Sean Murphy . Originally a six issue series, Morrison felt that the story would benefit from an extra two issues. The titular Joe is a diabetic young boy who begins to hallucinate
7585-680: The Edinburgh Fringe had scripts by Morrison. Red King Rising (1989) concerned an imagined relationship between Lewis Carroll and Alice Liddell . The other, Depravity (1990) concerned the British occultist Aleister Crowley . The plays won between them a Fringe First Award, the Independent Theatre Award for 1989 and the Evening Standard Award for New Drama. Morrison returned to Batman with
Grant Morrison - Misplaced Pages Continue
7770-592: The Empire Gallantry Medal , were given permission to use the postnominal letters EGM (and at the same time to add a laurel branch emblem to the ribbon of the medal); however, in 1940, awards of the EGM ceased and all holders of the medal were instructed to exchange it for a new and more prestigious gallantry award: the George Cross . In 1941, the medal of the order 'for meritorious service' was renamed
7955-743: The Hulk , Thor , the X-Men and Magneto , Doctor Doom , Uatu the Watcher , Ego the Living Planet , the Inhumans and their hidden city of Attilan, and the Black Panther (comics' first black superhero) and his Afrofuturist nation, Wakanda . Kirby initially was assigned to pencil the first Spider-Man story, but when he showed Lee the first six pages, Lee recalled, "I hated the way he
8140-559: The Order of Canada . On the other hand, the Australian Honours System unilaterally created in 1975 did not achieve bi-partisan support until 1992, which was when Australian federal and state governments agreed to cease Australian recommendations for British honours; the last Australian recommended Order of the British Empire appointments were in the 1989 Queen's Birthday Honours . New Zealand continued to use
8325-628: The Pratt Institute in Brooklyn , leaving after a week. "I wasn't the kind of student that Pratt was looking for. They wanted people who would work on something forever. I didn't want to work on any project forever. I intended to get things done". Kirby joined the Lincoln Newspaper Syndicate in 1936, working there on newspaper comic strips and on single-panel advice cartoons such as Your Health Comes First!!! (under
8510-535: The Sandman feature in Adventure Comics and created the superhero Manhunter . In July 1942 they began the Boy Commandos feature. The ongoing "kid gang" series of the same name, launched later that same year, was the creative team's first National feature to graduate into its own title. It sold over a million copies a month, becoming National's third best-selling title. They scored a hit with
8695-622: The Sub-Mariner and Captain America. In later years, Lee and Kirby disputed over who deserved credit for such creations as The Fantastic Four . The story frequently cited as Lee and Kirby's finest achievement is " The Galactus Trilogy " in Fantastic Four #48–50 (March–May 1966), chronicling the arrival of Galactus , a cosmic giant who wanted to devour the planet, and his herald, the Silver Surfer . Fantastic Four #48
8880-714: The U.S. Army and serving in the European Theater in World War II , Kirby corresponded with his wife regularly by v-mail , with Roz sending daily letters while she worked in a lingerie shop and lived with her mother at 2820 Brighton 7th Street in Brooklyn. During the winter of 1944, Kirby suffered severe frostbite and was taken to a hospital in London for recovery. Doctors considered amputating Kirby's legs, which had turned black, but he eventually recovered and
9065-504: The X-Men , among many others. Kirby's titles garnered high sales and critical acclaim, but in 1970, feeling he had been treated unfairly, largely in the realm of authorship credit and creators' rights, Kirby left the company for rival DC. At DC, Kirby created his Fourth World saga which spanned several comics titles. While these series proved commercially unsuccessful and were canceled, the Fourth World's New Gods have continued as
9250-708: The comic strip artists Milton Caniff , Hal Foster , and Alex Raymond , as well as such editorial cartoonists as C. H. Sykes , "Ding" Darling , and Rollin Kirby . He was rejected by the Educational Alliance because he drew "too fast with charcoal", according to Kirby. He later found an outlet for his skills by drawing cartoons for the newspaper of the Boys Brotherhood Republic, a "miniature city" on East 3rd Street where street kids ran their own government. At age 14, Kirby enrolled at
9435-444: The coronation of King George VI , 'in commemoration of the reign of King George V and Queen Mary, during which the Order was founded'. The figure of Britannia at the centre of the badge of the order was replaced with an image of the crowned heads of the late King and Queen Mary, and the words 'Instituted by King George V' were added to the reverse of the medal. The colour of the riband was also changed: twenty years earlier, prior to
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#17327721851179620-474: The pseudonym Jack Curtiss ). He remained until late 1939, when he began working for the theatrical animation company Fleischer Studios as an inbetweener (an artist who fills in the action between major-movement frames) on Popeye cartoons at the same time in 1935. He left the studio before the Fleischer strike in 1937. "I went from Lincoln to Fleischer," he recalled. "From Fleischer I had to get out in
9805-441: The " British Invasion " of American comics, along with such writers as Neil Gaiman , Peter Milligan , Jamie Delano , and Alan Moore , who had launched the "invasion" with his work on Swamp Thing . After impressing with Animal Man , Morrison was asked to take over Doom Patrol , starting their surreal take on the superhero genre with issue No. 19 in 1989. Morrison's Doom Patrol introduced concepts such as dadaism and
9990-624: The " Gothic " story arc in issues 6–10 of the Batman title Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight . The early 1990s saw Morrison revamping Kid Eternity for DC with artist Duncan Fegredo , and Dan Dare , with artist Rian Hughes . Morrison coloured Dare's bright future with Thatcherism in Fleetway's Revolver . In 1991 Morrison wrote Bible John-A Forensic Meditation for Fleetway's Crisis , based on an analysis of possible motivations for
10175-465: The 1980s, including a brief revival of his "Fourth World" saga in the 1984 and 1985 Super Powers miniseries and the 1985 graphic novel The Hunger Dogs . DC executives Jenette Kahn and Paul Levitz had Kirby re-design the Fourth World characters for the Super Powers toyline as a way of entitling him to royalties for several of his DC creations. In 1985, Kirby and Gil Kane helped to create
10360-473: The 21st century quotas were introduced to ensure consistent representation among recipients across nine categories of eligibility: with the largest proportion of awards being reserved for community, voluntary and local service. Non-military awards of the British Empire Medal resumed in 2012, starting with 293 BEMs awarded for Queen Elizabeth II's Diamond Jubilee . In 2017 the centenary of
10545-664: The Age of the Superhero , was published by Random House Spiegel & Grau in the United States and Jonathan Cape in the UK. Morrison has written a screenplay for a film entitled Sinatoro . In 2011 they worked on the screenplay Dinosaurs vs Aliens for Sam Worthington 's production company, Full Clip Production, and said they planned to work with them again on a screenplay based on the 2000 AD story " Rogue Trooper ". Morrison
10730-497: The Bible, made for a heady brew, but the scope of his vision has endured." In 2007, comics writer Grant Morrison commented that "Kirby's dramas were staged across Jungian vistas of raw symbol and storm ... The Fourth World saga crackles with the voltage of Jack Kirby's boundless imagination let loose onto paper." In addition to his artistic efforts, Kirby proposed a variety of new formats for comics such as planning to collect his published Fourth World stories into square-bound books,
10915-739: The British Empire . Rather than using this chapel, the Order now holds its great services upstairs in the nave of the cathedral. In addition to the Chapel of the Order of the British Empire, St Paul's Cathedral also houses the Chapel of the Order of St Michael and St George . Religious services for the whole Order are held every four years; new Knights and Dames Grand Cross are installed at these services. Knights Grand Cross and Knights Commander prefix Sir , and Dames Grand Cross and Dames Commander prefix Dame , to their forenames. Wives of Knights may prefix Lady to their surnames, but no equivalent privilege exists for husbands of Knights or spouses of Dames. Such forms are not used by peers and princes, except when
11100-443: The British Empire for Gallantry. Any individual made a member of the order for gallantry after 14 January 1958 wears an emblem of two crossed silver oak leaves on the same ribbon as the badge, with a miniature version on the ribbon bar when worn alone. When the ribbon only is worn the emblem is worn in miniature. It could not be awarded posthumously , and was replaced in 1974 with the Queen's Gallantry Medal (QGM). If recipients of
11285-454: The DC Universe in the wake of the Infinite Crisis . Morrison was one of the writers on 52 , a year-long weekly comic book series that started in May 2006 and concluded in May 2007. Starting in November 2005, DC published All-Star Superman , a twelve-issue story arc by Morrison and Frank Quitely. Not so much a revamp or reboot of Superman, the series presents an out-of-continuity "iconic" Superman for new readers. All-Star Superman won
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#173277218511711470-623: The Eisner Award for Best New Series in 2006, the Best Continuing Series Eisner Award in 2007 and several Eagle Awards in the UK. It won three Harvey Awards in 2008 and the Eisner Award for Best Continuing Series in 2009. In the same year, Morrison and Quitely worked on pop star Robbie Williams ' album Intensive Care , providing intricate Tarot card designs for the packaging and cover of the CD. Morrison provided outline story and script work for two video games, Battlestar Galactica (2003) and Predator: Concrete Jungle (2005), both by Vivendi Universal . In 2006, New Line Cinema optioned We3 as
11655-409: The Galactic Rangers , and the six-issue miniseries Silver Star (later collected in hardcover format in 2007). This, together with similar actions by other independent comics publishers as Eclipse Comics (where Kirby co-created the character Destroyer Duck in a benefit comic-book series published to help Steve Gerber fight a legal case against Marvel), helped establish a precedent to end
11840-477: The Manhattan Guardian , Mister Miracle , Klarion the Witch Boy , Bulleteer , Frankenstein , Zatanna and Shining Knight . The series consists of seven interlinked four-issue mini-series with two "bookend" volumes – 30 issues in all. Dan DiDio , the editorial vice president of DC Comics, was impressed with Morrison's ideas for revitalising many of DC's redundant characters. Giving them the unofficial title of "revamp guy", DiDio asked them to assist in sorting out
12025-415: The Marvel look. As artist Gil Kane described: Jack was the single most influential figure in the turnaround in Marvel's fortunes from the time he rejoined the company ... It wasn't merely that Jack conceived most of the characters that are being done, but ... Jack's point of view and philosophy of drawing became the governing philosophy of the entire publishing company and, beyond the publishing company, of
12210-419: The Military Division of the order from the UK and across the Empire. Recommendations for all appointments to the Order of the British Empire were originally made on the nomination of the King's United Kingdom ministers (recommendations for overseas awards were made by the Foreign Office , the Colonial Office , the India Office and the Dominions Office ); but in the early 1940s the system was changed to enable
12395-436: The Order of the British Empire for Gallantry received promotion within the order, whether for gallantry or otherwise, they continued to wear also the insignia of the lower grade with the oak leaves; however, they used only the post-nominal letters of the higher grade. When the order was founded in 1917, badges, ribands and stars were appointed for wear by recipients. In 1929 mantles, hats and collars were added for recipients of
12580-456: The Order of the British Empire. In 2024 appointments to the order were made by the governments of: Most members of the order are citizens of the United Kingdom or Commonwealth realms that use the UK system of honours and awards. In addition, honorary awards may be made to citizens of nations where the monarch is not head of state ; these permit use of post-nominal letters, but not the title of Sir or Dame . Honorary appointees who later become
12765-404: The Order, however, are not assigned any special precedence. As a general rule, only wives and children of male recipients are afforded privileges. Knights and Dames Grand Cross are also entitled to be granted heraldic supporters . They may, furthermore, encircle their arms with a depiction of the circlet (a circle bearing the motto) and the collar; the former is shown either outside or on top of
12950-435: The Thing from Planet X; Grottu, King of the Insects; and Fin Fang Foom for the company's many anthology series, such as Amazing Adventures , Strange Tales , Tales to Astonish , Tales of Suspense , and World of Fantasy . His bizarre designs of powerful, unearthly creatures proved a hit with readers. Additionally, he freelanced for Archie Comics around this time, reuniting briefly with Joe Simon to help develop
13135-486: The UK continue to make appointments to the order. Honorary awards may be made to citizens of other nations of which the order's sovereign is not the head of state. The five classes of appointment to the Order are, from highest grade to lowest grade: The senior two ranks of Knight or Dame Grand Cross and Knight or Dame Commander entitle their members to use the titles Sir for men and Dame for women before their forenames, except with honorary awards. King George V founded
13320-527: The United Kingdom; those who would formerly have met the criteria for the medal were instead made eligible for the MBE. In 2004, a report entitled A Matter of Honour: Reforming Our Honours System by a Commons select committee recommended phasing out the Order of the British Empire, as its title was "now considered to be unacceptable, being thought to embody values that are no longer shared by many of
13505-511: The Western Bullseye: Western Scout ; the war comic Foxhole because EC Comics and Atlas Comics were having success with war comics, but promoting theirs as being written and drawn by actual veterans; In Love because their earlier romance comic Young Love was still being widely imitated; and the crime comic Police Trap , which claimed to be based on genuine accounts by law-enforcement officials. After
13690-571: The Word and the Fool, with many others. Morrison also penned several editorials for the magazine during this period, whilst writing occasional prose stories for Ahoy Comics backup features. In 2017, Morrison co-created the Syfy TV series Happy! , which starred Christopher Meloni and Patton Oswalt . It commenced its second season in 2019. In November 2018, Morrison and artist Liam Sharp launched
13875-452: The X-Men in the guise of new character Xorn and developing an addiction to the power-enhancing drug "Kick". In 2002, Morrison launched their next creator-owned project at Vertigo: The Filth , drawn by Chris Weston and Gary Erskine , a 13-part mini-series. That same year, Morrison sold the screenplay Sleepless Knights to DreamWorks with Guillermo del Toro attached to direct. Around
14060-587: The age of 76. The Jack Kirby Awards and Jack Kirby Hall of Fame were named in his honor, and he is known as " The King " among comics fans for his many influential contributions to the medium. Jack Kirby was born Jacob Kurtzberg on August 28, 1917, at 147 Essex Street on the Lower East Side of Manhattan in New York City ; he grew up there. His parents, Rose (Bernstein) and Benjamin Kurtzberg, were Austrian-Jewish immigrants, and his father earned
14245-432: The agreement, but reserved the right to reclaim the art if Kirby violated the deal. After Kirby publicly slammed Marvel, calling the company thugs and claiming they were arbitrarily holding his creations, Marvel finally returned (after two years of deliberations) approximately 1,900 or 2,100 pages of the estimated 10,000 to 13,000 Kirby drew for the company. For the producer Charles Band , Jack Kirby made concept art for
14430-414: The anthology title Chamber of Darkness , and received full credit for doing so; but in 1970, Kirby was presented with a contract that included unfavorable terms such as a prohibition against legal retaliation. When Kirby objected, the management refused to negotiate any contract changes, bluntly dismissing his contribution to Marvel's success since they considered Lee solely responsible. Kirby, although he
14615-537: The art for the remaining issues of the series after Kirby died. In the early 1940s, Kirby and his family moved to Brooklyn . Kirby met Rosalind "Roz" Goldstein, who lived in the same Brooklyn apartment building. The pair began dating soon afterward. Kirby proposed to Goldstein on her 18th birthday, and the two became engaged. They married on May 23, 1942. The couple had four children: Susan (b. December 6, 1945), Neal (b. May 1948), Barbara (b. November 1952), and Lisa (b. September 1960). After being drafted into
14800-403: The arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service . It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two of which make the recipient either a knight if male or a dame if female. There is also the related British Empire Medal , whose recipients are affiliated with, but not members of,
14985-475: The attention of DC Comics, who asked Morrison to work for them. They accepted Morrison's proposals for Animal Man , a little-known character from DC's past whose most notable recent appearance was a cameo in the Crisis on Infinite Earths limited series , and for a 48-page Batman one-shot that would eventually become Arkham Asylum: A Serious House on Serious Earth . Animal Man put Morrison in line with
15170-402: The award of medal of the order to Lizzie Robinson, a munitions worker. The order had been established primarily as a civilian award; in August 1918, however, not long after its foundation, a number of awards were made to serving naval and military personnel. Four months later, a 'Military Division' was added to the order, to which serving personnel would in future be appointed. The classes were
15355-580: The by-then-defunct Pacific Comics, and then licensed to Topps for what became the " Jack Kirby's Secret City Saga " mythos. Phantom Force was the last comic book Kirby worked on before his death. The story was co-written by Kirby with Michael Thibodeaux and Richard French, based on an eight-page pitch for an unused Bruce Lee comic in 1978. Issues #1 and 2 were published by Image Comics with various Image artists inking over Kirby's pencils. Issue #0 and issues #3–8 were published by Genesis West, with Kirby providing pencils for issues #0 and 4. Thibodeaux provided
15540-474: The cathedral. That year, Commonwealth awards made up 40% of all OBEs and MBEs awarded (and 35% of all living recipients of the higher awards). Gradually that proportion reduced as independent states within the Commonwealth established their own systems of honours . The last Canadian recommendation for the Order of the British Empire was an MBE for gallantry gazetted in 1966, a year before the creation of
15725-402: The centre for awards in the military division). From time to time the order was expanded: there was an increase in the maximum permitted number of recipients in 1933, and a further increase in 1937. During the Second World War, as had been the case during and after World War I, the number of military awards was greatly increased; between 1939 and 1946 there were more than 33,000 appointments to
15910-430: The character of Damian Wayne and signalling the beginning of a seven-year-long run on the character across multiple titles. They wrote relaunches of The Authority and Wildcats , with the art of Gene Ha and Jim Lee respectively, for DC's Wildstorm imprint. WildC.A.T.S. went on hiatus after one issue, The Authority was discontinued after two. The scheduling of The Authority conflicted with 52 and Morrison
16095-418: The circlet. In 1929, to bring the order into line with the other orders of chivalry, members of the first class of the order (GBE) were provided with mantles, hats and collars. Only Knights/Dames Grand Cross wear these elaborate vestments; the hat is now rarely, if ever, worn. Use of the mantle is limited to important occasions (such as quadrennial services and coronations ). The mantle is always worn with
16280-492: The civil division were to be divided equally between UK and overseas awards. With regard to the Medal of the Order (but not the order itself), a distinction was made in 1922 between awards 'for gallantry' and awards 'for meritorious service' (each being appropriately inscribed, and the former having laurel leaves decorating the clasp, the latter oak leaves). In 1933 holders of the medal 'for gallantry', which had come to be known as
16465-444: The collar. Although the mantle was introduced in 1929, very few mantles would have been produced prior to the 1937 design changes, as there were few occasions for wearing them in the intervening years. On certain days designated by the sovereign, known as " collar days ", members attending formal events may wear the order's collar over their military uniform, formal day dress, evening wear or robes of office. Collars are returned upon
16650-529: The comics anthology Heavy Metal . Their involvement lasted until 2018. During the period, they penned such strips as Industria , The Rise and Fall of Empires , both with frequent collaborator and old friend Rian Hughes. Other strips included The Smile of the Absent Cat with artist Gerhard , as well as Mythopia , Beachhead , Option 3 , Nihilophilia , Ten Sounds That Represent a Kind of Person: A Historical Parody, The House of Heart's Desire, and Beyond
16835-557: The company; they also had bad blood from previous competition with Marvel and legal problems with him. Since he was working from California, they were able to undermine his work through redesigns in the New York office. At the comic book convention Marvelcon '75, in 1975, Stan Lee used a Fantastic Four panel discussion to announce that Kirby was returning to Marvel after having left in 1970 to work for DC Comics. Lee wrote in his monthly column, "Stan Lee's Soapbox", "I mentioned that I had
17020-609: The concept and designs for the Ruby-Spears animated television series The Centurions . A comic-book series based on the show was published by DC and a toy line produced by Kenner . In the twilight of his life, Kirby spent a great deal of time sparring with Marvel executives over the ownership rights of his original page boards. At Marvel, many of these pages owned by the company (due to outdated and legally dubious copyright claims) were given away as promotional gifts to Marvel clients or simply stolen from company warehouses. After
17205-419: The controversial Big Dave with Millar. DC Comics launched its Vertigo imprint in 1993, publishing several of Morrison's creator-owned projects, such as the steampunk mini-series Sebastian O and the graphic novel The Mystery Play . 1995 saw the release of Kill Your Boyfriend , with artist Philip Bond , originally published as a Vertigo Voices one-shot. In 1996 Morrison wrote Flex Mentallo ,
17390-479: The country's population". The committee further suggested changing the name of the award to the Order of British Excellence, and changing the rank of Commander to Companion (as the former was said to have a "militaristic ring"), as well as advocating for the abolition of knighthoods and damehoods; the government, however, was not of the opinion that a case for change had been made, and the aforementioned suggestions and recommendations were not, therefore, pursued. In
17575-485: The creator-owned title Nameless , with frequent collaborator Chris Burnham . A tale of apocalyptic cosmic horror, Nameless sought to approach the genre from a new lens, with different influences, rather than lean to its iconic founder H.P Lovecraft , drawing on everything from the Tarot to The Qlippoth. In November 2015, Morrison began their biggest creator-owned project of the decade, collaborating with BOOM! Studios for
17760-479: The crimes of the serial killer Bible John . Covering similar themes to Alan Moore and Eddie Campbell 's From Hell , the work utilised cut-up techniques, a Ouija board and collage rather than conventional panels to tell the story. In 1993 Morrison, fellow Glaswegian comic writer Mark Millar and John Smith were asked to reinvigorate 2000 AD for an eight-week run called "The Summer Offensive". Morrison wrote Judge Dredd and Really and Truly , and co-wrote
17945-403: The death of their owners, but other insignia may be retained. The six office-holders of the order wear pearl-grey mantles lined with rose-pink, having on the right side a purple shield charged with the roundel from the badge. Each of these office-holders wears a unique badge of office, suspended from a gold chain worn around the neck. The British Empire Medal is made of silver. On the obverse
18130-626: The distinction between ranks in military operational gallantry awards will cease'. The reforms affected the order at various levels: for example the automatic award each year of a GBE to the Lord Mayor of London ceased; the OBE replaced the Imperial Service Order as an award for civil servants and the number of MBEs awarded each year was significantly increased. As part of these reforms the British Empire Medal stopped being awarded by
18315-530: The duo 25 percent of the profits from the feature. The first issue of Captain America Comics , released in early 1941, sold out in days, and the second issue's print run was set at over a million copies. The title's success established the team as a notable creative force in the industry. After the first issue was published, Simon asked Kirby to join the Timely staff as the company's art director. With
18500-479: The duo rearranged and republished artwork from an old Crestwood story in In Love , Crestwood refused to pay the team, who sought an audit of Crestwood's finances. Upon review, the pair's attorneys stated the company owed them $ 130,000 for work done over the past seven years. Crestwood paid them $ 10,000 in addition to their recent delayed payments. The partnership between Kirby and Simon had become strained. Simon left
18685-515: The early 1980s touring and recording with their band The Mixers, occasionally writing Starblazer for D. C. Thomson and contributing to various UK indie titles. In 1982, Morrison submitted a proposal involving the Justice League of America and Jack Kirby 's New Gods entitled Second Coming to DC Comics , but it was not commissioned. After writing The Liberators for Dez Skinn 's Warrior in 1985, Morrison started work for Marvel UK
18870-553: The entire field ... [Marvel took] Jack and use[d] him as a primer. They would get artists ... and they taught them the ABCs, which amounted to learning Jack Kirby ... Jack was like the Holy Scripture and they simply had to follow him without deviation. That's what was told to me ... It was how they taught everyone to reconcile all those opposing attitudes to one single master point of view. Highlights of Kirby's tenure also include
19055-591: The films Doctor Mortalis and Mindmaster , which were later released as Doctor Mordrid (1992) and Mandroid (1993), respectively. Doctor Mordrid began as a planned adaptation of the Marvel Comics character Dr. Strange , but Band's option expired. For Topps Comics , founded in 1993, Kirby retained ownership of characters used in multiple series of what the company dubbed " The Kirbyverse ". These titles were derived mainly from designs and concepts Kirby had kept in his files, some intended initially for
19240-552: The first British alternative comics. Their work appeared in four of the five issues of Near Myths and they were suitably encouraged to find more comic work. This included a weekly comic strip, Captain Clyde , an unemployed superhero based in Glasgow, for The Govan Press , a local newspaper, plus various issues of DC Thomson 's Starblazer , the science fiction counterpart to that company's Commando title. Morrison spent much of
19425-469: The first time I saw it I couldn't believe what I was seeing. He asked if we could do some freelance work together. I was delighted and I took him over to my little office. We worked from the second issue of Blue Bolt through... about 25 years." After leaving Fox and collaborating on the premiere issue of Fawcett Comics ' Captain Marvel Adventures ([March] 1941), the first solo title for
19610-570: The follow-up to 2004's Seaguy called Seaguy 2: The Slaves of Mickey Eye , the second part of a planned three part series. At the 2008 New York Comic Con , Morrison announced they would be working with Virgin Comics to produce "webisodes" (short animated stories) based on the Mahābhārata ; it would not be a direct translation but, "Like the Beatles took Indian music and tried to make psychedelic sounds... I'm trying to convert Indian storytelling to
19795-590: The following year. There they wrote comic strips for Doctor Who Magazine , the final one a collaboration with a then-teenage Bryan Hitch , as well as a run on the Zoids strip in Spider-Man and Zoids . 1986 also saw publication of Morrison's first of several two- or three-page Future Shocks for 2000 AD . Morrison's first continuing serial began in 2000 AD in 1987, when they and Steve Yeowell created Zenith . Morrison's work on Zenith brought them to
19980-529: The former was to be responsible for recording all proceedings connected with the order, issuing warrants under the seal of the order and making arrangements for investitures, while the latter (at that time the Permanent Secretary to the Treasury ) was responsible for collecting and tabulating the names of those who were to receive an award. The office of Dean was added in 1957. The King of Arms
20165-615: The four-issue mini-series DC One Million , in addition to plotting many of the multiple crossovers. With the three volumes of the creator-owned The Invisibles , Morrison started their largest and possibly most important work. The Invisibles combined political, pop- and sub-cultural references. Tapping into pre-millennial tension, the work was influenced by the writings of Robert Anton Wilson , Aleister Crowley and William Burroughs , and Morrison's practice of chaos magic in Thee Temple ov Psychick Youth . In 1998 Morrison published
20350-680: The future DC Comics , Kirby drew 20 stories for Atlas from 1956 to 1957: Beginning with the five-page "Mine Field" in Battleground #14 (Nov. 1956), Kirby penciled and in some cases inked (with his wife, Roz ) and wrote stories of the Western hero Black Rider , the Fu Manchu -like Yellow Claw , and more. But in 1957, distribution troubles caused the "Atlas implosion" that resulted in several series being dropped and no new material being assigned for many months. The next year Kirby returned to
20535-482: The genre of romance comics and later founded their own short-lived comic company, Mainline Publications . Kirby was involved in Timely's 1950s iteration, Atlas Comics , which in the next decade became Marvel. There, in the 1960s, Kirby cocreated many of the company's major characters, including Ant-Man , the Avengers , the Black Panther , the Fantastic Four , the Hulk , Iron Man , the Silver Surfer , Thor , and
20720-500: The glut, the Simon and Kirby romance titles continued to sell millions of copies a month. Bitter that Timely Comics ' 1950s iteration, Atlas Comics , had relaunched Captain America in a new series in 1954, Kirby and Simon created Fighting American . Simon recalled, "We thought we'd show them how to do Captain America". While the comic book initially portrayed the protagonist as an anti-Communist dramatic hero, Simon and Kirby turned
20905-401: The governments of overseas dominions to make their own nominations; Canada and South Africa began doing so in 1942, followed by Australia, New Zealand and other Commonwealth realms. In May 1957, forty years after the foundation of the order, it was announced that St Paul's Cathedral was to serve as the church of the order, and in 1960 a chapel was dedicated for its use within the crypt of
21090-423: The graphic novels Arkham Asylum , JLA: Earth 2 , and Wonder Woman: Earth One , the meta-series Seven Soldiers and The Multiversity , the mini-series DC One Million and Final Crisis , both of which served as centrepieces for the eponymous company-wide crossover storylines, and the maxi-series All-Star Superman . Morrison's best known DC work is the seven-year Batman storyline which started in
21275-450: The highest class of the order (GBE). The designs of all these items underwent major changes in 1937. The badge is worn by all members of the order; the size, colour and design depends on the class of award. The badge for all classes is in the form of a cross patonce (having the arms growing broader and floriated toward the end) with a medallion in the centre, the obverse of which bears a crowned image of George V and Queen Mary within
21460-489: The highly successful superhero character Captain America for Timely Comics , predecessor of Marvel Comics . During the 1940s, Kirby regularly teamed with Simon, creating numerous characters for that company and for National Comics Publications , later to become DC Comics . After serving in the European Theater in World War II , Kirby produced work for DC Comics, Harvey Comics , Hillman Periodicals and other publishers. At Crestwood Publications , he and Simon created
21645-685: The homefront kid-gang team, the Newsboy Legion , featuring in Star-Spangled Comics . In 2010, DC Comics writer and executive Paul Levitz observed that "Like Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster , the creative team of Joe Simon and Jack Kirby was a mark of quality and a proven track record." With World War II underway, Liebowitz expected that Simon and Kirby would be drafted , so he asked the artists to create an inventory of material to be published in their absence. The pair hired writers, inkers, letterers, and colorists in order to create
21830-641: The honours system, calling it "a preposterous charade". The order has attracted some criticism for its naming having connection with the idea of the now-extinct British Empire . Benjamin Zephaniah , a British poet of Jamaican and Barbadian descent, publicly rejected appointment as an Officer in 2003 because, he asserted, it reminded him of "thousands of years of brutality". He also said that "it reminds me of how my foremothers were raped and my forefathers brutalised". Jack Kirby Jack Kirby (born Jacob Kurtzberg ; August 28, 1917 – February 6, 1994)
22015-425: The idea to comic books and with Kirby created a first-issue mock-up of Young Romance . Showing it to Crestwood general manager Maurice Rosenfeld, Simon asked for 50% of the comic's profits. Crestwood publishers Teddy Epstein and Mike Bleier agreed, stipulating that the creators would take no money up front. Young Romance #1 (cover-date Oct. 1947) "became Jack and Joe's biggest hit in years". The first title sold
22200-599: The industry for a career in advertising, while Kirby continued to freelance. "He wanted to do other things and I stuck with comics," Kirby recalled in 1971. "It was fine. There was no reason to continue the partnership and we parted friends." At this point in the mid-1950s, Kirby made a temporary return to the former Timely Comics , now known as Atlas Comics, the direct predecessor of Marvel Comics . Inker Frank Giacoia had approached editor-in-chief Stan Lee for work and suggested he could "get Kirby back here to pencil some stuff. While freelancing for National Comics Publications,
22385-508: The influence of Morrison's The Invisibles . Morrison was immediately struck by the similarities to their own work upon first seeing the film. In 2000, Morrison's graphic novel JLA: Earth 2 was released with art by Frank Quitely . It was Morrison's last mainstream work for DC for a while, as they moved to Marvel Comics . While at Marvel, Morrison wrote the six-part Marvel Boy series, and Fantastic Four: 1234 , their take on another major superhero team. In July 2001, they began writing
22570-446: The insignia to Buckingham Palace and by ceasing to make reference to their honour, but they still hold the honour unless and until annulled by the monarch. In 2003, The Sunday Times published a list of the people who had rejected the Order of the British Empire, including David Bowie , John Cleese , Nigella Lawson , Elgar Howarth , L. S. Lowry , George Melly , and J. G. Ballard . In addition, Ballard voiced his opposition to
22755-638: The insult when confronted about it by Lee's protege, Roy Thomas , who was similarly insulted with Flashman's sidekick, Houseroy. The central villain of the Fourth World series, Darkseid , and some of the Fourth World concepts, appeared in Jimmy Olsen before the launch of the other Fourth World books, giving the new titles greater exposure to potential buyers. The Superman figures and Jimmy Olsen faces drawn by Kirby were redrawn by Al Plastino , and later by Murphy Anderson . Les Daniels observed in 1995 that "Kirby's mix of slang and myth, science fiction and
22940-640: The junior post-nominal letters. The British sovereign is the sovereign of the order and appoints all other officers of the order (by convention, on the advice of the governments of the United Kingdom and some Commonwealth realms ). The second-most senior officer is the Grand Master (a 'Prince of the Blood Royal, or other exalted personage' appointed by the sovereign, who, by virtue of their appointment, becomes 'the First or Principal Knight Grand Cross of
23125-528: The latter. Knights and Dames Commander and Commanders may display the circlet, but not the collar, surrounding their arms. The badge is depicted suspended from the collar or circlet. See List of current honorary knights and dames of the Order of the British Empire Only the monarch can annul an honour. The Honours Forfeiture Committee considers cases and makes recommendations for forfeiture. An individual can renounce their honour by returning
23310-516: The left breast, by Knights and Dames Grand Cross; Knights and Dames Commander wear a smaller star composed of 'four equal points and four lesser'. The star is not worn by the more junior classes. Prior to 1937 each star had in the centre a gold medallion with a figure of Britannia, surrounded by a crimson circlet inscribed with the motto of the order ('For God and the Empire'); since 1937 the effigies of King George V and Queen Mary have been shown within
23495-697: The legacy of Batman is unending, and will survive into the future. At San Diego Comic-Con in 2010 it was announced that Grant Morrison would be leaving Batman and Robin with No. 16 and launching a new series entitled Batman Incorporated with revolving artists starting with Yanick Paquette . A more team-oriented Batman book inspired by the Batman: The Brave and the Bold animated series, Batman Incorporated builds on Morrison's work dating back to " Batman and Son " and Final Crisis , with Bruce Wayne creating an international Batman franchise all over
23680-443: The lives of the young people he observed around him. The third book, Mister Miracle was more of a personal myth. The title character was an escape artist, which Mark Evanier suggests Kirby channeled his feelings of constraint into. Mister Miracle's wife was based in character on Kirby's wife Roz, and he even caricatured Stan Lee within the pages of the book as Funky Flashman , a depiction Lee found hurtful while Kirby tried to downplay
23865-481: The main X-Men title, renamed New X-Men for their run, with Quitely providing much of the art. Again, Morrison's revamping of a major superhero team proved to be a commercial success, with the title jumping to the No. 1 sales spot and established Morrison as the kind of creator whose name on a title would guarantee sales. Their penultimate arc " Planet X " depicted the villain Magneto infiltrating and defeating
24050-439: The monopoly of the work-for-hire system, wherein comics creators, even freelancers, had owned no rights to characters they created. In 1983 Richard Kyle commissioned Kirby to create a 10-page autobiographical strip, " Street Code ", which became one of the last works published in Kirby's lifetime. It was published in 1990, in the second issue of Kyle's revival of Argosy . Kirby continued to do periodic work for DC Comics during
24235-473: The names of the former are written out in their fullest forms. Male clergy of the Church of England or the Church of Scotland do not use the title Sir (unless they were knighted before being ordained) as they do not receive the accolade (they are not dubbed "knight" with a sword), although they do append the post-nominal letters ; dames do not receive the accolade, and therefore female clergy are free to use
24420-674: The nascent Marvel. For DC around that time, Kirby co-created with writers Dick and Dave Wood the non-superpowered adventuring quartet the Challengers of the Unknown in Showcase #6 (Feb. 1957), while contributing to such anthologies as House of Mystery . During 30 months freelancing for DC, Kirby drew slightly more than 600 pages, which included 11 six-page Green Arrow stories in World's Finest Comics and Adventure Comics that in
24605-399: The numbers restricted to the order as full members do. Although the Order of the British Empire has by far the highest number of members of the British orders of chivalry, with more than 100,000 living members worldwide, there are fewer appointments to knighthoods than in other orders. From time to time, individuals may be promoted to a higher grade within the Order, thereby ceasing usage of
24790-620: The order alongside its own honours until the establishment of the New Zealand Order of Merit in 1996. Other Commonwealth realms have continued to use the Order of the British Empire alongside their own honours. In 1993 the Prime Minister, John Major , instituted a reform of the honours system with the aim 'that exceptional service or achievement will be more widely recognised; that greater importance will be given to voluntary service; that automatic honours will end; that
24975-581: The order to fill gaps in the British honours system : In particular, George V wished to create an order to honour the many thousands of individuals from across the Empire who had served in a variety of non-combat roles during the First World War . From its foundation the order consisted of five classes (GBE, KBE/DBE, CBE, OBE and MBE) and was open to both women and men; provision was also made for conferring honorary awards on foreign recipients. At
25160-409: The order was celebrated with a service at St Paul's Cathedral. The order is limited to 300 Knights and Dames Grand Cross, 845 Knights and Dames Commander, and 8,960 Commanders. There are no limits applied to the total number of members of the fourth and fifth classes, but no more than 858 officers and 1,464 members may be appointed per year. Foreign appointees, as honorary members, do not contribute to
25345-410: The order's establishment, Queen Mary had made it known that pink would be her preferred colour for the riband of the proposed new order, but, in the event, purple was chosen. Following her appointment as Grand Master of the order in 1936 a change was duly made and since 9 March 1937 the riband of the order has been 'rose pink edged with pearl grey’ (with the addition of a vertical pearl grey stripe in
25530-402: The order. The order was established on 4 June 1917 by King George V , who created the order to recognise 'such persons, male or female, as may have rendered or shall hereafter render important services to Our Empire'. Equal recognition was to be given for services rendered in the UK and overseas. Today the majority of recipients are UK citizens, though a number of Commonwealth realms outside
25715-617: The passage of the Copyright Act of 1976 , which greatly expanded artist copyright capabilities, comics publishers began to return original art to creators, but in Marvel's case only if they signed a release reaffirming Marvel's ownership of the copyright. In 1985, Marvel issued a release that demanded Kirby affirm that his art was created for hire, allowing Marvel to retain copyright in perpetuity, in addition to demanding that Kirby forego all future royalties. Marvel offered him 88 pages of his art (less than 1% of his total output) if he signed
25900-487: The previously introduced superhero, and for which Kirby was told to mimic creator C.C. Beck 's drawing style, the duo were hired on staff at pulp magazine publisher Martin Goodman 's Timely Comics (later to become Marvel Comics). There Simon and Kirby created the patriotic superhero Captain America in late 1940. Simon, who became the company's editor, with Kirby as art director, said he negotiated with Goodman to give
26085-604: The prose piece "I'm A Policeman" in Sarah Champion's millennial short story collection Disco 2000 ; though no explicit connection to The Invisibles is made, there are strong thematic links between the two works. At DisinfoCon in 1999, Morrison said that much of the content in The Invisibles was information given to them by aliens that abducted them in Kathmandu , who told them to spread this information to
26270-515: The reality of it. I really like kids and I get on with them and it's that aspect of it but I see people with actual kids. The trauma and the trouble. And if I'm worried that my cat is sick it's the thought of everyday worrying about a kid would be even more hellish." Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry , rewarding contributions to
26455-585: The release of their third and final volume of the Wonder Woman: Earth One series. Morrison co-created and worked as a writer and producer on the 2020 TV series Brave New World for the Peacock Streaming Service , having developed it for adaptation. In early 2021, it was announced that a new comic called Proctor Valley Road would be released, developed by Morrison in partnership with NBCUniversal. NBCUniversal's UCP,
26640-414: The rights. In collaboration, Geller commissioned Kirby to draw set designs that would be used as architectural renderings for a Colorado theme park to be called Science Fiction Land; Geller announced his plans at a November press conference attended by Kirby, former American football star Rosey Grier , writer Ray Bradbury , and others. While the film did not come to fruition, Kirby's drawings were used for
26825-415: The saga were perfectly suited to the tastes of young readers in the 1960s", and Lee soon discovered that the story was a favorite on college campuses. Kirby continued to expand the medium's boundaries, devising photo-collage covers and interiors, developing new drawing techniques such as the method for depicting energy fields now known as " Kirby Krackle ", and other experiments. In 1968 and 1969, Joe Simon
27010-654: The same Order'). The position of Grand Master has been held by the following people: In addition to the sovereign and the grand master , the order has six further officers: At its foundation the order was served by three officers: the King of Arms, the Registrar & Secretary and the Gentleman Usher of the Purple Rod. In 1922 the Prelate was added, and the office of Registrar was separated from that of Secretary:
27195-466: The same as for the Civil Division (as it was now termed), but military awards were distinguished by the addition of a central vertical red stripe to the purple riband of the civil awards. In 1920 appointment as an MBE 'for an act of gallantry' was granted for the first time, to Sydney Frank Blanck Esq, who had rescued an injured man from a burning building containing explosives. In December 1922
27380-479: The same for the classic television series The Prisoner . He wrote and drew Black Panther and drew numerous covers across the line. Kirby's other Marvel creations in this period include Machine Man and Devil Dinosaur . Kirby's final comics collaboration with Stan Lee, The Silver Surfer: The Ultimate Cosmic Experience , was published in 1978 as part of the Marvel Fireside Books series and
27565-649: The same time, Kirby grew increasingly dissatisfied with working at Marvel, for reasons Kirby biographer Mark Evanier has suggested include resentment over Lee's media prominence, a lack of full creative control, anger over breaches of perceived promises by publisher Martin Goodman, and frustration over Marvel's failure to credit him specifically for his story plotting and for his character creations and co-creations. He began to both write and draw some secondary features for Marvel, such as "The Inhumans" in Amazing Adventures volume two , as well as horror stories for
27750-507: The same time, Morrison was working on the script for the sequel to the Marvel Boy mini-series, but the project ultimately failed to materialize. In 2004, Vertigo published three Morrison mini-series. Seaguy , We3 , and Vimanarama . Morrison returned to the JLA with the first story in a new anthology series, JLA Classified . In 2005 Morrison wrote Seven Soldiers , which featured
27935-518: The same time, alongside the order, the Medal of the Order of the British Empire was instituted, to serve as a lower award granting recipients affiliation but not membership. The first investiture took place at Ibrox Stadium , as part of a royal visit to the Glasgow shipyards, with the appointment of Alexander Ure, 1st Baron Strathclyde as a GBE (in recognition of his role as chairman of the Scottish War Savings Committee) and
28120-524: The science fiction adventure "The Diary of Dr. Hayward" (under the pseudonym Curt Davis ), the Western crimefighter feature "Wilton of the West" (as Fred Sande ), the swashbuckler adventure "The Count of Monte Cristo" (again as Jack Curtiss), and the humor features "Abdul Jones" (as Ted Grey ) and "Socko the Seadog" (as Teddy ), all variously for Jumbo Comics and other Eisner-Iger clients. He first used
28305-461: The series The Fly and The Double Life of Private Strong . Additionally, Kirby drew some issues of Classics Illustrated . At Marvel Kirby hit his stride once again in superhero comics, beginning with The Fantastic Four #1 (Nov. 1961), which some have observed, shares many elements of Kirby's Challengers of the Unknown . The landmark series became a hit that revolutionized the industry with its comparative naturalism and, eventually,
28490-659: The series into a superhero satire with the second issue, in the aftermath of the Army-McCarthy hearings and the public backlash against the Red-baiting U.S. Senator Joseph McCarthy . At the urging of a Crestwood salesman, Kirby and Simon launched their own comics company, Mainline Publications , securing a distribution deal with Leader News in late 1953 or early 1954, subletting space from their friend Al Harvey 's Harvey Publications at 1860 Broadway. Mainline, which existed from 1954 to 1955, published four titles:
28675-673: The staff, especially with the younger artists who typically credited him as their inspiration. He worked on The New Fantastic Four animated series, reuniting him with scriptwriter Stan Lee and they kept their relations sufficiently cordial on a professional level. He illustrated an adaptation of the Walt Disney movie The Black Hole for Walt Disney's Treasury of Classic Tales syndicated comic strip in 1979–80. In 1979, Kirby drew concept art for film producer Barry Geller's script treatment adapting Roger Zelazny 's science fiction novel, Lord of Light , for which Geller had purchased
28860-461: The standard of the George Medal (even though, as appointments to an order of chivalry, they were listed before it on the Order of Wear . In contrast to awards for meritorious service, which usually appear without a citation, there were often citations for gallantry awards, some detailed and graphic. From 14 January 1958, these awards were designated Commander, Officer or Member of the Order of
29045-484: The statutes of the order were amended; there having been a large number of awards for war work prior to this date, these amended statutes placed the order on more of a peacetime footing. For the first time numbers of appointments were limited, with the stipulation that senior awards in the Civil Division were to outnumber those in the Military Division by a proportion of six to one. Furthermore appointments in
29230-451: The subject of a feature-length documentary titled Grant Morrison: Talking with Gods . The documentary features extensive interviews with Morrison as well as a number of comic artists, editors and professionals they have worked closely with. Talking with Gods was produced by Sequart Organization and was released in 2010 at San Diego Comic-Con. Another 2010 project was Bonnyroad , a science fiction television series pitched by Morrison to
29415-753: The success of the Captain America character, Simon said he felt that Goodman was not paying the pair the promised percentage of profits, and so sought work for the two of them at National Comics Publications (later renamed DC Comics ). Kirby and Simon negotiated a deal that would pay them a combined $ 500 a week, as opposed to the $ 75 and $ 85 they respectively earned at Timely. The pair feared Goodman would not pay them if he found they were moving to National, but many people knew of their plan, including Timely editorial assistant Stan Lee . When Goodman eventually discovered it, he told Simon and Kirby to leave after finishing work on Captain America Comics #10. Kirby
29600-513: The superhero comic Stuntman , and, in vogue with the fad for 3-D movies , Captain 3-D . Simon and Kirby additionally freelanced for Hillman Periodicals (the crime-fiction comic Real Clue Crime ) and for Crestwood Publications ( Justice Traps the Guilty ). The team had its greatest success in the postwar period by creating romance comics . Simon, inspired by Macfadden Publications ' romantic-confession magazine True Story , transplanted
29785-542: The surname Kirby as the pseudonymous Lance Kirby in two "Lone Rider" Western stories in Eastern Color Printing 's Famous Funnies #63–64 (Oct.–Nov. 1939). He ultimately settled on the pen name Jack Kirby because it reminded him of actor James Cagney . However, he took offense to those who suggested he changed his name in order to hide his Jewish heritage. Kirby moved on to comic-book publisher and newspaper syndicator Fox Feature Syndicate , earning
29970-544: The three-volume series The Invisibles . At Marvel , Morrison wrote a three-year run on New X-Men and created Marvel Boy for the publisher's Marvel Knights imprint. Between 2016 and 2018, Morrison served as the Editor-in-Chief of the Heavy Metal magazine. Morrison's work has drawn critical acclaim. They have won numerous awards, including Eisner , Harvey , and Inkpot awards. In 2012, Morrison
30155-506: The title Dame . Knights and Dames Grand Cross use the post-nominal GBE; Knights Commander, KBE; Dames Commander, DBE; Commanders, CBE; Officers, OBE; and Members, MBE. The post-nominal for the British Empire Medal is BEM. Members of all classes of the order are assigned positions in the order of precedence . Wives of male members of all classes also feature on the order of precedence, as do sons, daughters and daughters-in-law of Knights Grand Cross and Knights Commander; relatives of Ladies of
30340-652: The very first time to do Klaus with Dan Mora and Ed Dukeshire. Morrison's The Multiversity project for DC was published in 2014 and 2015. A metaseries of nine one-shots set in some of the 52 worlds in the DC Multiverse, it included the main Multiversity title which involves the return of President Calvin Ellis, the black Superman from Earth 23 originally seen in Action Comics vol. 2 No. 9, which
30525-491: The world via a comic book. They later clarified that the experience they labelled as the "Alien Abduction Experience in Kathmandu" had nothing to do with aliens or abduction, but that there was an experience that they had in Kathmandu that The Invisibles is an attempt to explain. The title was not a huge commercial hit to start with. (Morrison actually asked their readers to participate in a " wankathon " while concentrating on
30710-489: The world. The series suffered from slow scheduling and was ended after eight issues while the DC Universe was rebooted in 2011; to bridge the gap a prestige book was released that featured two issues together along with a synopsis that recapped the story so far. In mid-2012, a second volume of the comic was launched with Chris Burnham on artwork, scheduled for 12 issues. Morrison left the Batman titles in 2013. They killed
30895-599: The writings of Jorge Luis Borges into the first several issues. DC published Arkham Asylum: A Serious House on Serious Earth in 1989 as a 128-page graphic novel painted by Dave McKean . Comics historian Les Daniels observed in 1995 that " Arkham Asylum was an unprecedented success, selling 182,166 copies in hardcover and another 85,047 in paperback." While working for DC Comics in America, Morrison kept contributing to British indie titles, writing St. Swithin's Day for Trident Comics . St. Swithin's Day ' s anti- Margaret Thatcher themes proved controversial, provoking
31080-461: The wrong side." Several months later, after his split with DC, Kirby began freelancing regularly for Atlas despite harboring negative sentiments about Stan Lee (the cousin of Timely publisher Martin Goodman's wife), who Kirby had always found annoying on top of his aforementioned betrayal he suspected in the 1940s. Because of the poor page rates, Kirby would spend 12 to 14 hours daily at his drawing table at home, producing four to five pages of artwork
31265-529: Was a "liberal Democrat". Jack Kirby held anti-communist views, once saying that "I was against the reds. I became a witch hunter. My enemies were the commies—I called them commies. In fact, Granny Goodness was a commie, Doubleheader was a commie." On February 6, 1994, aged 76, Kirby died of heart failure in his Thousand Oaks, California home. He was buried at Valley Oaks Memorial Park in Westlake Village, California . Brent Staples wrote in
31450-490: Was able to walk again. He returned to the United States in January 1945, assigned to Camp Butner in North Carolina, where he spent the last six months of his service as part of the motor pool. Kirby was honorably discharged as a private first class on July 20, 1945, having received a Combat Infantryman Badge , a European/African/Middle Eastern Campaign Medal with a bronze Battle Star . In 1949, Kirby bought
31635-496: Was an American comic book artist , widely regarded as one of the medium's major innovators and one of its most prolific and influential creators. He grew up in New York City and learned to draw cartoon figures by tracing characters from comic strips and editorial cartoons. He entered the nascent comics industry in the 1930s, drawing various comics features under different pen names, including Jack Curtiss , before settling on Jack Kirby. In 1940, he and writer-editor Joe Simon created
31820-399: Was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 2012 Birthday Honours for services to film and literature. In September 2012, Morrison published their first ever Image Comics creator-owned work: Happy! with Darick Robertson. In the same month, MorrisonCon was held at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino (Las Vegas) . This small-scale convention, curated by Morrison, featured
32005-449: Was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) for services to film and literature. Grant Morrison was born in Glasgow , Scotland , in 1960. They were educated at Allan Glen's School where their first portfolio of art was rejected by their careers guidance teacher, who encouraged them to work in a bank. Their first published works were Gideon Stargrave strips for Near Myths in 1978 (when they were about 17), one of
32190-421: Was bitterly convinced it was specifically Lee who betrayed them, ignoring Simon's willingness to give him the benefit of the doubt. Kirby and Simon spent their first weeks at National trying to devise new characters while the company sought how best to utilize the pair. After a few failed editor-assigned ghosting assignments, National's Jack Liebowitz told them to "just do what you want". The pair then revamped
32375-477: Was chosen as #24 in the 100 Greatest Marvels of All Time poll of Marvel's readers in 2001. Editor Robert Greenberger wrote in his introduction to the story that "As the fourth year of the Fantastic Four came to a close, Stan Lee and Jack Kirby seemed to be only warming up. In retrospect, it was perhaps the most fertile period of any monthly title during the Marvel Age." Comics historian Les Daniels noted that "[t]he mystical and metaphysical elements that took over
32560-413: Was doing it! Not that he did it badly—it just wasn't the character I wanted; it was too heroic". Lee then turned to Steve Ditko to draw the story that would appear in Amazing Fantasy #15, for which Kirby nonetheless penciled the cover. Lee and Kirby gathered several of their newly created characters together into the team title The Avengers and brought back old characters from the 1940s such as
32745-400: Was earning $ 35,000 a year freelancing for the company (adjusted for inflation it was the equivalent of over $ 271,000 in 2024), then left Marvel in 1970 for rival DC Comics, under editorial director Carmine Infantino . Kirby spent nearly two years negotiating a deal to move to DC Comics, where in late 1970 he signed a three-year contract with an option for two additional years. He produced
32930-402: Was first announced at the end of December 2006, and is available to recipients of all levels of the order, as well as to holders of the British Empire Medal . The pin design is not unique to any level. The pin features the badge of the order, enclosed in a circle of ribbon of its colours of pink and grey. Lapel pins must be purchased separately by a member of the order. The creation of such a pin
33115-471: Was informed by the writings of Thomas Ligotti, and other nihilistic philosophers, and played with the idea of the satanic archetype. A work of cosmic horror, it stars a monstrous Hollywood screenwriter named Ray Spass in his attempts to finish the script for the next tentpole blockbuster, while coming into contact with the character he's writing about: the diabolical Max Nomax, The Devil himself. In February 2015, Morrison's second Image project ever launched in
33300-400: Was involved in litigation with Marvel Comics over the ownership of Captain America, initiated by Marvel after Simon registered the copyright renewal for Captain America in his own name. According to Simon, Kirby agreed to support the company in the litigation and, as part of a deal Kirby made with publisher Martin Goodman, signed over to Marvel any rights he might have had to the character. At
33485-469: Was made a substantive member and subsequently styled as Sir Terry Wogan). Although initially intended to recognise meritorious service, the order began to also be awarded for gallantry. There were an increased number of cases in the Second World War for service personnel and civilians including the merchant navy, police, emergency services and civil defence, mostly MBEs but with a small number of OBEs and CBEs. Such awards were for gallantry that did not reach
33670-407: Was posthumously named a Disney Legend for his creations not only in the field of publishing, but also because those creations formed the basis for The Walt Disney Company 's financially and critically successful media franchise, the Marvel Cinematic Universe . Kirby was married to Rosalind Goldstein in 1942. They had four children and remained married until his death from heart failure in 1994, at
33855-404: Was recommended in Sir Hayden Phillips ' review of the honours system in 2004. The Chapel of the Order of the British Empire is in St Paul's Cathedral . It occupies the far eastern end of the cathedral crypt and was dedicated in 1960. The only heraldic banners normally on display in the chapel are those of the Sovereign of the Order of the British Empire and of the Grand Master of the Order of
34040-432: Was the framing for the whole series. Other issues include The Society of Super-Heroes a pulp version of the DC characters; The Just – set on a world of celebrity youngsters; Pax Americana , drawn by Frank Quitely , Thunder World – a Captain Marvel book; the Multiversity Guidebook ; Mastermen – which includes a fascist version of the Justice League . and Ultra Comics . In 2016, Morrison became editor-in-chief of
34225-456: Was unhappy with the reviews: "And then I saw the reviews on issue one and I just thought 'fuck this'.". It eventually concluded without Morrison's involvement in Keith Giffen 's The Authority: The Lost Year . At the 2007 San Diego Comic-Con , DC Comics announced that Morrison would write Final Crisis , a seven-issue mini-series slated to appear in 2008 with J. G. Jones handling the art. Morrison announced that 2008 would see publication of
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