Interview with Charles Hatfield About the Jack Kirby Exhibit at CSUN

August 25, 2015

August 23, 2015, The Comics Reporter Sunday Interview: Charles Hatfield

I've known Charles Hatfield for a little over 20 years, starting when he as a prolific writer for The Comics Journal while still a student at the University of Connecticut. Hatfield was part of a new breed of academic that bridged the gap between academic writing about comics and popular for fan and paid sources. I always enjoy when I get to read new writing from Hatfield, now firmly ensconced at the California State University at Northridge, at roughly the midpoint of his professional career. He is also a significant driving force and first president of the newly-formed Comic Studies Society.

Hatfield won the first academically-oriented, book-about-comics Eisner Award for his 2011 work on Jack Kirby: Hand Of Fire. I greatly enjoyed many of the essays in that book. I was pleased to hear he was organizing an art show featuring Kirby's work, Comic Book Apocalypse. It opens this week. I stood outside his home holding a boom box over my head playing the Merry Marvel Marching Society song until he agreed to do this interview. -- Tom Spurgeon

TOM SPURGEON: Charles, let me ask you the basic question: where did this exhibit come from in practical terms, and how did you get involved?

CHARLES HATFIELD: The show came about when I wised up and stopped ignoring our splendid Art Galleries on campus!

To be precise, it came about when I met CSU Northridge's Gallery Director, Jim Sweeters, who's always on the lookout for interested faculty who might want to curate a show. As soon as I met Jim, about five years back, he... HATFIELD INTERVIEW CONTINUES