Tales To Astonish (Kirby bio)... opinions?

[Will Dockery]

Agent Smith wrote:
> mut...@yahoo.com wrote in
> news:1142421081....@z34g2000cwc.googlegroups.com:
>
> > Agent Smith wrote:
> >
> >> That is a fascinating article. Sadly, this business about creators
> >> owning their own work seems to be a curse on the entire comics
> >> industry.
> >> It's been going on since Jack Kirby and Steve Ditko, and apparently
> >> it
> >> will never end.
> >
> > It would be great if a publisher anthologized essays like these.
> >
> > The wackiest authorial experience of all--no one will convince me it's
> > not fictionalized: Ellison's Exogenesis. Anyway, *someone* should get
> > together a compendium of real-life experiences from writers' first
> > novel to book deal to Academy Award-nominated film. The book should
> > be required reading for starry-eyed nineteen year olds taking their
> > first creative writing class.
>
> That's a good idea. If I were you, I'd add it to my list of ongoing
> projects and start trying to track down the authors. I couldn't find
> "Exogenesis" at Amazon or Abebooks, and it sounds like a great read.
> Can you tell me where it was published? I've read some of Ellison's
> other non-fiction, specifically, "The Other Glass Teat," and I found it
> rivetting.
>
> If you want to hear another amazing story of how a great storyteller was
> exploited by the publishing industry, read "Tales to Astonish" by Ronin
> Ro. It's Jack Kirby's brand new biography, and it presents, in grisly
> detail, the legendary, long-term, career conflict between Stan Lee and
> Jack Kirby.
>
> Not to excuse Stan's grasping behavior, what stunned me was the role
> Jack played in his own exploitation. Much as he hated his situation, he
> was continually willing to swallow his pride for fear of losing his job.
> As the years passed, he never hinted once that Stan might renegotiate
> his contract or give him more creative rights. Thus history will never
> know whether Stan would have retreated if Jack had confronted him.
>
> Jack was a tough guy and a street fighter, and it blows my mind that
> such a physically strong man would suffer under the bridles of an effete
> leadership.

Just picked this book up from the Library, a great read for a longtime,
lifelong fan of Kirby, Lee and all the related areas, and for Jack to have
what looks like just quietly waited hoping Marvel would eventually "do the
right thing" is a sad, frustrating story as I make by way through the 1960s
portion of the book.