No, it's not April Fools Day -- Wednesday's The Arts Section of the New York Times did actually contain two articles celebrating superhero comics.  With all the current interest in graphic novels it certainly isn't surprising that the Times would praise Marjane Satrapi's Persepolis or Chris Ware's Jimmy Corrigan, or even Craig Thompson's Blankets -- but did you really expect to see the X-Men centered under 'The Arts' logo in the New York Times?  Not only did the Times celebrate superhero comics, film critic Elvis Mitchell got it right by featuring Jack 'King' Kirby in a perceptive article entitled 'One Vision From 1940's Still Rocks.'  Mitchell quotes author Michael Chabon (The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay) to great effect on Kirby's pervasive influence on comics, and then adds his own insights concerning Kirby's influence on contemporary movies, both in terms of the characters he helped create (The X-Men, Hulk), and in the subtle ways Kirby's creations influenced (or prefigured) elements of The Matrix and Star Wars.

Every bit as enjoyable as Mitchell's article on Kirby is an autobiographical essay by Dana Jennings, a comic book fan in his youth, who returns to a comic shop and finds that he 'still gets a visceral thrill as the Hulk levels a city or Batman broods through the Gotham City nightscape.'  While noting that comic book heroes are now available in the movies, on television, and in a twisted form in heavy metal music, Jennings nevertheless concludes: 'But none of those things can replace the glossy moveable fantasy feast of comic books. Sure, there are looks I put up with on the train to work.  But I don't care.  It's good to be back in my old four-color home.'