Jack Kirby’s Lord of Light

Posted on December 24, 2019 by Comicbookscalping Leave a comment

I spoke to Nick over at Key Collector about this book a week or two ago and I realized I should write an article about it. Many people should remember the 2012 Ben Affleck directed film Argo but not a lot of people know the true story that inspired the film or the real life story’s connection to famed comic artist Jack Kirby.

Argo was based on the “Canadian Caper” a joint rescue mission between the Canadian Government and the CIA to help rescue six stranded American diplomats. These diplomats were forced to find sanctuary in the Canadian Embassy in Iran during the Iranian Revolution that sparked off on November 4, 1979 which resulted in the seizure of the United States Embassy buildings. The CIA and Canadian Government came up with new identities for the diplomats and a cover story to get them out of the country. The cover story was that the diplomats would pose as film producers and location scouts working on a film called “Argo” using fake identification provided by the Canadian government.

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To make the story seem believable to Iranian officials the CIA created a Hollywood production office and used parts of an abandoned Hollywood project The Lord of Light based on the 1967 Science Fiction novel of the same name. The Lord of Light project had set designs drawn and designed by famed comic artist Jack Kirby. The budget for the project before it was originally abandoned was $50 million and the set pieces were to be permanent installations that would be turned into a theme park after the films release.

The unused designs by Jack Kirby were used as the basis for the fake Argo movie that helped trick the Iranian government into allowing the diplomats to flee Iran using fake identities which is why they are significant. This artwork was published by Heavy Metal Magazine in Heavy Metal #276 published in September of 2015 this book had two covers. Heavy Metal also printed the artwork as large limited edition prints. While these magazines are great books to be picking up at cover price – they’re not the first time this artwork was published and distributed.

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Before the CIA changed the name of the film for the Canadian Caper the film studio behind The Lord of Light put out a special binder-ring book featuring Jack Kirby’s artwork to help drum up interest for the project. This book is very collectable and in my adventures I have found them in the wild. The last time I found copies was in 2013 and I regret selling the copies I found for $100 each. These books are extremely rare. This exact book was reprinted by the CIA for the Canadian Caper.