Hey, gang!
Jim Hill here. While the JHM family still mourn the loss of Jim Korkis (who — unfortunately — is still struggling with some financial burdens and other challenges. But is in good spirits and sends his best wishes to all the readers of this website), the world is a funny place.
Why for? Because I now get to welcome two brand new columnists to the site who both have connections to Jim. This really shouldn’t surprise me. Given that — over the years, Korkis has interacted with thousands of people, either in his role as a writer, teacher or performer. Not to mention the countless number of college program students he’s mentored at Walt Disney World over the years.
That said, it really did surprise Jim when I told him about JHM’s two newest columnists because one of them he hasn’t heard from in years and the other is recently married to one of his comic fandom friends and Korkis had no idea she was interested in being a writer. So let’s welcome to the site, Monique Pryor and Jackson “Pop Culture” King.
Let’s let them each introduce themselves …
Jackson “Pop Culture” King: “Hey! Like the rest of you, I really enjoyed reading the columns by my old buddy, Jim Korkis, especially since the last time I saw him was out in Los Angeles where he was teaching an acting class. We performed together in the Occidental College Summer Repetory Theater many years ago and let me tell you that whether Jim was performing in Shakespeare or Gilbert and Sullivan or Moliere or something more modern, he was one of the best comedic actors I have ever worked with and I learned a great deal that I used when I tried to pursue a professional career.
However, it was not to be an actor’s life for me and I ended up doing some teaching and some freelance writing on Pop Culture for a variety of magazines. Just about all of those magazines are defunct now. The funny part of that is that I had writing credits before I was a writer. Jim started writing for the Occidental College newspaper and I think in a month they made him the entertainment editor. He couldn’t find enough writers to turn out material weekly to fill the entertainment section. So he started turning out a variety of articles using pseudonyms and as a gag, he used my name several times. So I tell people the best writing I have ever done in my life was not done by me! Jim was also going to revive FANG, which was the college humor magazine started by Monty Python Terry Gilliam a long time before we got to Oxy. Too bad Jim didn’t do it because I probably would have gotten a credit in that as well!!
Anyway, I am a longtime reader of Jim Hill’s work and figured with Jim Korkis leaving, I might be able to help fill in the gap with some articles on animation and Pop Culture. Have always loved animation bigtime although I have Hanna-Barbera running through my veins rather than Disney. Because of my last name, I jokingly refer to myself as the “Pop Culture King” and in my spare time I have been working on a book filled with oddball facts and stories that I will share in future columns. So, let’s get culture popping!”
Monique Pryor: “I hope Jim Hill decides to include the photo I sent him, because then you will see that it is not just Patrick Hurd and his website that have their own professional model! Yes, that really is me. No computer generated stuff. That is a real Superman t-shirt. And a real Superman thong. And yes, it really, really, really hurt being pulled up my butt. You guys should try it sometime if you think it is so sexy.
I really like being a professional model and it really helped pay my way through college (and my husband is putting together a website soon with my modeling shots so none of you boys reprint this photo because it is copyrighted and Rich will really take great pleasure in really hurting you). There are a lot of models here in Northern California and I know that I should have something else to fall back on. I took some writing classes in college and my dad had a ton of books and comics around the house when I was growing up. And my husband has a ton of Golden Age and Silver Age comic books and was responsible for some of those comic artist portfolios that he published before I was even born. (Just teasing, my big huggy pooh bear!?) And one of Rich’s friends is Jim Korkis who he knows through the comic book apa, K-a, which is something like the very first comic book apa ever.
Rich says that when I write these articles about comic books and children’s books that I can use Jim Korkis as a resource and he’ll send him some rare Wally Wood stuff he has in exchange. Rich has all this really great Wally Wood stuff that we sell for big bucks. Jim is like this super-encyclopedia of comics but I have only met him once at a San Diego Convention and he seemed really, really nice. So with the support of my loving hubby and his friend I hope to be able to write some interesting stuff for this website.”
So there you have JimHillMedia.com’s two new columnists. Look for stories from Monique and Jackson to start turning up on the site later this week.
Welcome aboard, guys … er … guy and lady.