Jack Katz, Pioneer of the Graphic Novel, Is Useless at 97

The volumes have been initially issued by the publishing arm of Comics & Comix, a retailer in Berkeley, and later by Bud Plant, a founding father of Comics & Comix.

After finishing his masterwork, Mr. Katz continued to color and educate artwork. Alongside the way in which, he revealed two books on the artwork of anatomy, two volumes of sketchbooks and one other graphic novel, “Legacy,” concerning the mysterious destiny of a billionaire’s fortune, written with the comics veteran Charlie Novinskie.

Mr. Katz’s survivors embody two sons, Ivan and David, and two daughters, Beth and Laura Katz, in addition to grandchildren and great-grandchildren. His three marriages resulted in divorce.

Round 2013 — the 12 months Titan Comics reissued “The First Kingdom” — Mr. Katz launched into an bold follow-up to his masterwork: a 500-page graphic novel referred to as “Past the Past,” which he financed partly by means of the crowdfunding website Indiegogo, whereas toiling away on it as much as 18 hours a day, usually in his pajamas, he mentioned in a 2015 video interview. He added that he already had the story by the point he was 12, and that “The First Kingdom” was mainly its preamble.

“All of those folks, they have been, ‘Oh, you’re 45, you’re over the hill!’” he informed ICv2, recalling the early days of “The First Kingdom.” “I’m 85 now! I’m able to tackle ‘Past the Past’!”

That work, accomplished in 2019, stays unpublished. Then once more, Mr. Katz understood the challenges moving into.

“For heaven’s sake,” he mentioned, “you recognize, for those who climbed Mount Everest one time, it’s not a snap the second.”