The New Words & Pictures Museum

Ghost Rider illustration by John Romita, Sr. on display at the Lucas Museum

Kevin Eastman’s defunct Words & Pictures museum in Northamption, MA, was funded with Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles montey. Now, George Lucas has his vastly more ambitious Museum of Narrative Art in Los Angeles, funded with Star Wars money.

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/09/02/arts/design/george-lucas-museum-narrative-art-opening.html?unlocked_article_code=1._FA.1xRd.IPy_K3q36n2G&smid=url-share

Great stuff, but I think it should be noted that the market for comic book original art became greatly inflated by the entry of movie star money. There were stories of George Lucas and Steven Spielberg bidding against each other through proxies. It can be said that people are now paying what formerly throwaway art is worth, but far fewer fans can afford it.

Dancing Fools

I continue to watch my way through the replacement Popeye DVD set. ‘Morning, Noon and Night Club’ features superb character animation by Willard Bowsky and George Germanetti. The cartoon is from 1937, when there was a strike at the Fleischer studio.

Something I hope that Mark Evanier will be able to provide in his upcoming, greatly expanded, biography of Jack Kirby, is a fuller understanding of Jack Kirby’s time working at Fleischer. Kirby worked as an inbetweener, most likely between 1935-37. Did he leave before the strike? Because of the strike? These are the questions I hope Mark will be able to answer.