Tripwire Review of The Unseen Jack Katz

Tripwire’s contributing writer Tim Hayes takes a look at The Unseen Jack Katz published by Liam Sharp and funded through kickstarter… (read more)

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CBR Looking Forward to The Unseen Jack Katz

A glimpse of The Unseen Jack Katz published by CBR.

Kickstarter for legendary artist Jack Katz is still underway, with contributions from some of comics’ current superstars, including Liam Sharp, Sandra Hope, Mike Perkins and more. (read more)

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Jack Katz Unseen – A Kickstarter Book Project

Liam Sharp and Steve Morger have launched a Kickstarter project on behalf of Jack Katz. The principal reward will be a book of Jack’s previously unseen and unpublished works, especially a 22 page story. Jack’s unbelievable pencils will be featured in high resolution scans alongside the same panels inked by some of the top names in the trade, including Bill Sienkiewicz, Liam Sharp, Sandra Hope, Mike Perkins, Bill Sienkiewicz, Bryan Hitch, Joe Prado, Michael Cho, Andy Curry, Bill Reinhold and many more! Having stretched way beyond their original goal of $5,000 USD, this very successful project will be produced in a hardback book, “The Unseen Jack Katz,”  and will only be available to Kickstarter supporters who contribute at certain reward levels. The book is slated to be delivered in the Summer of 2021. See more details on this amazing project here.

 

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Jack Katz Comic Art is on Facebook

Many hidden treasures, some never before seen, can be found on a Facebook Group called Jack Katz Comic Art. Frequent contributors like Comic Historian, Ted Jalbert and supporters like legendary comic artist Liam Sharp are uncovering Jack’s previously unpublished works.

 

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Jack Katz: The Golden Age and Beyond, a Jack Katz Retrospective

In the tradition of Indie and DIY, some of Jack Katz’s students and supporters got together and created a retrospective show of Jack’s art. Aptly titled, Jack Katz: The Golden Age and Beyond, the show captures everything from Jack’s early work for publishers like Timely, Warren, and EC to his latest work, a graphic novel called “Beyond the Beyond.”

Organizers Deanna Horvath, Cindy Mosca rented a pop up space at 2037 4th Street in Berkeley for the two day show. Ted Jalbert and Brian Miller helped to provide materials and install the show. Since Jack’s most famous work, his magnum opus, The First Kingdom was independently published in Berkeley by Bud Plant and initially by Comics and Comix, it seemed appropriate to do the show there. Also Jack has been teaching figure drawing in Albany (North Berkeley) for many years and his students and former students all live in the area.

The show features enlargements of full color covers Jack did the early years that he refers to as “the factory years,” when artists like himself worked like cogs in a machine, each being able to draw in “the house style” so that if any artist passed out from exhaustion, another could step in to make sure they could complete the pages before the deadline.

After years of working with every major publishing house of the time, Jack decided with his then wife and longtime supporter Caroline Katz to publish his own work, The First Kingdom. The work, often hailed as the first graphic novel, would take some 15 years to complete, though they didn’t know that at the time.

There are also enlargements of Jack’s oroginal art boards. Unlike many comic artists and graphic novelists, not one single art board was sold off. It was always understood that this work should not be sold off piecemeal. It was too important and significant as a whole to be broken up in any way.

There is a room in which a slideshow is projected on the walls which shows various artists through the ages who have influenced Jack’s work or which have inspired him. Jack is fond of saying, “Excellence is the only authority.” It has become his motto and a recurring theme in his teaching, where he often cites the works of what he considers the greats. Among these are his heroes in comic art, Hal Foster and Alex Raymond, but you will also find great illustrators like Dean Cornwell, the so-called Dean of Illustrators. And there are painters like Fernand Cormon, particularly his painting, “Cain (1880),” which depicts Cain, the elder son of Adam and Eve, who, after the murder of his younger brother Abel was condemned to perpetual wandering. A haggard Cain is seen doggedly leading his tribe, some being carried on a wooden stretcher, through the desert. Like many of Jack’s illustrations and paintings, the human condition is depicted in almost rococo detail with great attention to anatomy and the figures are palpable in the way they succumb to gravity. If you look at the shadows, you can also see they are traveling across th desert in the blazing mid-day sun.

Jack describes his own style as “imaginitive realism.” Much of Jack’s own work he views as something beyond art pieces as a commodity or pretty pictures that serve to tell a story. Thier greater purpose and intention is to serve as teaching tools – to help his students master the kind of excellence that could only be found in the past. A past that Jack is happy to curate. He doesn’t believe in the institutions which he says are often corrupted by the vagueries and vicissitudes of the art world. So here we get a glimpse of the masters as Jack sees them, everyone from sculptors to painters to comics artists. “It doesn’t matter what means of expression you choose,” says Jack, “that means of expression may not yet even exist yet, but it is up to you, as an artist, to discover it.” This was the case for Jack when he had the idea that he wanted to creat a “graphic novel,” an art form wherein a novel could be illustrated and would be visual literature. He tossed the idea around with his mentors, the aforementioned Alex Raymond and Hal Foster, but also with Will Eisner who is often credited as the inventor of “the graphic novel.” Recently correspondence between Katz and Eisner reveals that the idea may have fomented through thier discussions about the idea.

Jack Katz: The Golden Age and Beyond ran Saturday through Sunday, October 24-25, 2020 with an artist’s reception on Sunday from 2-5pm where jack will do live drawing demos, sign things and greet guests.

Jack Katz performing a live drawing demo as onlookers watch.
Organizers and volunteers for the event pictured L to R: Ted Jalbert, Jack Katz,
Brian Miller, Cindy Mosca, and Deanna Horvath.
Jack Katz does a walk through after the show is hung, before the doors open.
This is the first time Jack has had a retrospective show of his life’s work and he is 93 years old.
Poster for the show, “Jack Katz: The Golden Age and Beyond”
A breif timeline of Jack Katz’s colorful history.
Author and podcaster Christina Kueppers and her daughter hold up a
drawing that Jack Katz gave them after his live drawing demo.
One of Jack’s longtime students, Peter Riddick (left) and
Jack Katz (right) enjoying the artist reception.

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We’re On! JACK KATZ: THE GOLDEN AGE AND BEYOND

Jack Katz is proud to announce that his retrospective show will be free to the public ( small groups to comply with COVID-19 safety ) this October. The event(s) will be held Saturday, October 24 and Sunday, October 25 at 2037 4th Street, Berkeley, Ca.

One of Jack Katz's detailed oil paintings of a bar sceneSaturday is an exhibition from 1-7pm with a live drawing demo at 3pm.

Sunday is a reception for the artist and exhibit from 1pm-7pm.

Masks and social distancing are required and attendance is limited.

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A Celebration of Jack Katz and his stellar contributions to the graphic novel, comic arts, and painting. This gallery show is postponed until further notice, due to health concerns surrounding the COVID-19 virus.

UPDATES on this show will be provided here. All we know at this time is that that the new date will be some time after Spring Break as the entire campus will be closed until that time.

The gallery is located at The Mertes Center for the Arts (bldg. 4000), 3000 Campus Hill Drive, Livermore, CA 94551, on the Las Positas College campus.

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Jack Katz to Appear at East Bay Comic Con 2020

Jack Katz has moved beyond “The Beyond the Beyond” and is now hard at work on his new 300 page graphic novel, “The Void’s Exegesis.” As usual, he is personally filling every page (and we do mean filling) with original writing and artwork.

But Jack always likes to take a break to do convention sketches and meet fans. He will also be signing and selling original merchandise. He will be appearing at East Bay Comic Con one day only, Sunday February 9 at Crowne Plaza Inn – 45 John Glenn Drive, Concord, CA. General admission is only $10 at the door and children under 12 are free.

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Katz Interviewed at Mini Indie Con

On Saturday, September 7, 2019, a bright and sunny, but crisp Autumn day, Flying Colors Comics owner and comics super fan, Joe Field (right) and legendary comic artist, Liam Sharp (left) somehow managed to interview Jack Katz as part of Mini Indie Con, an annual event held at Flying Colors.

As usual, Jack does his best to throw everyone off course and cracking up. And sometimes he gets serious as well, deadly serious. The interview is in two parts. The first covers Jack’s personal philosophy and some advice for people getting started in the comics field. The second part covers some of Jack’s history in the field. Watch both parts on FlyCoJoe’s YouTube channel here.

Thank you to both Joe and Liam and of course you can visit Flying Colors Comic superstore at flyingcolorscomics.com or the actual comics superstore at Treat Blvd. @ Oak Grove Road in Concord, California.

Liam Sharp is a multi-hyphenate beast: a writer, aritst and publisher, mostly drawing Green Lantern these days. He can also be found on Twitter @LiamRSharp or MadeFire, an exciting motion comics and augmented reality comics company where he was a co-founder at madefire.com

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Jack Katz Enjoys Seeing Fans at 8th Annual Creatures Con

Jack Katz at Creatures-Con 2019Jack Katz appeared at one of his favorite local conventions, the eighth annual Creatures Con at the San Ramon Marriott. This is a smallish and friendly show where the fans are really devoted and passionate. You can spend a lot of quality time talking about comics, graphic novels, horror movies and whatever. Jack says, “After nearly two and a half years in my ‘cave,’ telescoping my 7500 page graphic novel into a mere 500 pages, it was good to get out and spend time with comics and graphic novel fans.” And the fans seemed very engaged as well. They got to meet one of the last standing Golden Age Artists. Jack was, of course, drawing all day, including a few convention sketches. The ten hour day flew by fast. Jack took a couple of quick Katz naps when most of the attendees were watching stuff in the screening room. He stays up all night drawing. Why would he make any exception the night before a convention. As they say, “Time waits for no man,” and these days time is one of Jack’s most precious commodities.

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Jack Katz, an East Bay artist from the Golden Age of comics, continues to create

Jack Katz appears in May 24, 2019 article in The Mercury News by Peter Hagarty
RICHMOND — Jack Katz, an artist from the Golden Age of comic books, picks up a pencil, and like a time traveler, returns to an era when the adventures of Bulletman, The Spirit and Captain America kept fans spellbound… (READ MORE)
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