D.J. Coffman - Sequential Artist, Thinker

I try to make a point, somewhere every year, to say Happy Birthday to Jack Kirby. Every year in late August, I know he was born, and people asked me how I remembered– it was pretty simple. In some grade or other, I had to learn that August 28th was the day that Martin Luther King Jr. gave his “I have a dream speech”– I learned at one point that this was the same day of Jack’s birthday, and it made it incredibly easy to remember after that.

Now this date will have THREE important markers in history… not only is it the day that the KING OF COMICS FOREVER was born, AND the day Martin Luther King gave his speech on the steps of the Lincoln monument… but now it will be the day that the first African American nominee for president, Barack Obama, gives his acceptance speech. I’m really proud of that… something tells me that Jack would have been to. He wrote stories beyond their time as far as civil rights and equality, and above all, there was a sense of HOPE in his work. It just makes me proud to think of all these GOOD people on this day.

Last month, my wife and I stood where MLK gave his speech. I looked down and thought of Jack, then across to the Washington monument which was pointing up into the sky, like some magnificent beacon of hope…

nuff said!