‘Black Panther’ creator Jack Kirby’s grandson Jeremy Kirby has congratulated everyone who worked on the movie for earning seven Oscar nominations.
The 2018 Marvel Cinematic Universe movie earned a host of nominations at the upcoming Academy Awards including being named in Best Picture category, the first time a superhero flick has been in contention for the prestigious prize.
The Black Panther character was created by late creative duo, writer-and-artist Jack and writer-and-editor Stan Lee, and became the first superhero of African descent to appear in a mainstream American comic when he made his debut in the pages of Fantastic Four #52 in July 1966.
Now, Jack – who is the curator of the Jack Kirby: King of Comics website – has taken to his Twitter page to praise director Ryan Coogler and the cast, which includes Chadwick Boseman as the titular hero, Michael B. Jordan and Lupita Nyong’o, for carrying on his grandfather’s vision onto the big screen.
Uploading Jack’s first ever sketch of Black Panther, he tweeted:
When my grandfather first put pencil to paper on @theblackpanther he had no idea a simple sketch would change so many lives. He wanted to make a small contribution to equality and give readers a hero who looked like them. Congratulations team for an amazing movie! First BP sketch pic.twitter.com/GJZeK1pfVr
— Jeremy Kirby (@jackkirbycomics) January 22, 2019
Jeremy’s joy was also shared by President of Marvel Studios Kevin Feige who is delighted that the cultural impact the film made has been recognized by the Academy.
He said: “The only way we ever wanted to do this project was the right way and that meant finding a filmmaker who had something personal to say, who had a vision and could take this character into another arena and showcase the power of representation on a canvas of this size.
“We’re very, very proud of what this film has done. The movie has made a cultural impact that is just humbling and gratifying to see. And we’re very grateful to the Academy for this recognition.
“From day one the project was announced there was special energy. It was on the set, too, every day from all of the crew and the cast, you could feel how personal this was and how special it could be. And then certainly when the poster and trailers started to come out and people who hadn’t seen themselves in a film of this size in this way, it became a celebration of heritage and culture and that is very, very unusual for a film.”
