Today is the 75th anniversary of the famed English physicist Stephen Hawking! Best known for his groundbreaking cosmology book, A Brief History of Time, as well as his numerous appearances in pop cultural institutions like Star Trek: The Next Generation and The Simpsons, perhaps the strangest homage to the scientist came in the form of A Brief History of Rhyme, a 2004 album produced by web developer and nerdcore hip hop artist Ken Lawrence under the alias of MC Hawking. Here’s a music video for my favorite track from the album, “What We Need More of is Science”.
Today marks the 99th birthday of comic book virtuoso Jack Kirby (1917-1994), creator of the Fourth World saga and co-creator of many popular and influential superhero titles, including CaptainAmericaand The FantasticFour. Here are a couple of videos showing that his real life experiences were just as extraordinary as the characters and events he depicted on the page.
First, here’s a clip from an interview where Kirby details a chilling account of his involvement as a soldier in World War II:
Finally, here is a clip from the 1987 documentary The Masters of Comic Book Art featuring Kirby discussing his approach to storytelling (with an introduction by HarlanEllison):
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