Kirby Family Friend Claims Kirby Museum Stole Photocopied Art
Here's a pretty good sign Jack Kirby was one of the greatest comic book artists who ever lived, if not the greatest: The museum that bears his name and a historian who was also a family friend of the Kirbys are in a public spat over photocopies of his pencil work. Not the originals (many of which are more than likely lost). Photocopies.
Here's the long and short of it: Historian and illustrator Greg Theakston says he gave The Jack Kirby Museum and Research Center the 3,000-plus copies as a loan, not as a donation. He has asked for it back. The museum isn't giving it back, saying Theakston provided the art as a donation. So Theakston filed a stolen goods report with the Hoboken, N.J. police.