Michael Chabon Creates Citizen Conn; Tale Based On Stan Lee And Jack Kirby
By Comic Book Therapy on Feb 08, 2012 with Comments 0
The latest edition of the New Yorker brings a tale from novelist Michael Chabon called “Citizen Conn“. In it the author returns to its optimal formula Adventures of Kavalier & Clay: fiction, but with strong foundations in the history of comics in the U.S..
The story is told from the point of view of a rabbi who tries to reconcile two legends of the comics, Feather Mort and Artie Conn that find themselves in the end of their days. The two man fight is legendary in the comic scenes, and recalls various partnerships that have become real strife in the industry.
“It is obvious that the characters are indeed Stan Lee and Jack Kirby,”
Chabon says in an interview with The New Yorker. The author explain however that the personalities and biographies of the characters are different from those on which they rely – Kirby died in 1994 but Lee is still alive and active, for example – but the rest is heavily influenced by the partnership.
“Stan and Jack met in the forties, began working together in the fifties, and together revived the fortunes of Marvel Comics in the sixties and then went through a divorce that seems have resulted in some bitterness on the part of the Kirby estate.”
Chabon tells that he began writing the tale years ago and just recently rediscovered it on his computer, taking a few days to finalize it. The author did not write any stories for years, due to the accumulated backlog: he launched an illustrated book; he is one of the writers on John Carter: A Princess of Mars and is developing a series called Hobgoblin for HBO.
You can purchase the digital version of the New Yorker to read “Citizen Conn” here.
Source : New Yorker
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