Nate Pritts
In One Note, Gabriel Blackwell asks writers to talk about the book they are currently reading and why. One Note 007: Nate Pritts, Mark Evanier, Kirby: King of Comics.
In One Note, I ask writers for just that: one note, a single paragraph, on what they’re reading right now.
Today’s note comes courtesy of Nate Pritts.
I’m just finishing up reading Kirby: King of Comics by Mark Evanier. It’s a huge book equal to Kirby’s dynamic sense of energy & action & vitality. But even with that as his core quality, he was able to generate an amazing range of material. I love his work for that reason; Evanier was one of his assistants for a time, & so this book is part memoir, part biography, & part treasure trove (there are tons of reproduced full comics pages & standalone drawings). I guess what comes out in this book, what I get out of it, has to do with seeing a clear picture of a man who was driven, but who found a way to channel that into extreme, & extremely high-level, productivity. Apparently he was as wild & powerful a talker as he was a thinker as he was an artist. One story, from near the end of the book: a librarian asks Jack if comics mirrored reality. He said no; they transcend reality. The librarian says “If you were to mirror reality, then perhaps others could begin to understand it.” Kirby responds, “When you mirror reality, you see it all backwards. When you start transcending it, that’s when you have a real good shot at figuring out what’s going on.”
Nate Pritts is the author of four books of poems – most recently Big Bright Sun (BlazeVOX) & The Wonderfull Yeare (Cooper Dillon Books). His fifth, Sweet Nothing, is forthcoming from Lowbrow Press in late 2011. His poetry has appeared in journals such as The Southern Review, Black Warrior Review, Columbia Poetry Review & Forklift, Ohio among many others. He is the founder & principal editor of H_NGM_N & H_NGM_N BKS. Find him online at www.natepritts.com.
