kayshapero

Not sure how I missed this Wired article* in 2007, but I didn't hear about this until someone pointed out the following article (with pictures!)

*[FYI - if you get the "error occurred" message at the top of the Wired article, just ignore it and scroll on down "How the CIA Used a Fake Sci-Fi Flick to Rescue Americans from Tehran"...]

Comics Alliance

How Jack Kirby's Art Helped the CIA Rescue Diplomats in 1979

Jan 5th 2012 By: Chris Sims


I don't think I'm overstating things when I say that I'm a pretty big fan of Jack Kirby, the legendary artist who co-created Captain America, Thor, the Avengers, the Marvel Universe, romance comics, and... well, pretty much everything in modern comic books except the staples. He's my all-time favorite. I've got a ton of Kirby comics, and I've even got a full set of the trading cards they made of his unproduced animation concepts that he worked on in the '80s.

That's why I was so surprised that I'm apparently one of the last people on Earth to find out about Kirby's connection to a CIA operation to extract six diplomats from Iran during the famous hostage crisis of 1979 -- and even more so when I found out from my pal Chad Bowers when he found out because Michael Parks, the guy who played the aviator-sporting sheriff in Kill Bill had been cast as Kirby in an upcoming movie directed by Ben Affleck about the whole affair. Either way, I'm glad I did, because it turns out to be one of the strangest and most fascinating real-life stories I've ever heard.

Then again, you may have heard this story before. It made a few headlines back in 2007, when the CIA released a compelling retrospective from one of the men behind the operation, Antonio J. Mendez. It was also covered in an extensive piece in Wired and, of course, The Jack Kirby Collector. There's a good reason for all the attention, and it all starts with Roger Zelazny.
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