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Jack Kirby (August 28, 1917 – February 6, 1994) was one of the most influential, recognizable, and prolific artists in American comic books. Born Jacob Kurtzberg to Jewish Austrian parents in New York City, he was also a comic book writer and editor. His most common nickname is The King.

Biography

Early life

Jacob Kurtzberg grew up on Suffolk Street in New York's Lower East Side, attending elementary school at P.S. 20. His father, a garment-factory worker, was a Conservative Jew, and Jacob attended Hebrew school. Jacob's one sibling, a brother five years younger, predeceased him. After a rough-and-tumble childhood with much fighting among the kind of kid gangs he would render more heroically in his future comics, Kirby enrolled at the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, at what he said was age 14, leaving after a week. "I wasn't the kind of student that Pratt was looking for. They wanted people who would work on something forever. I didn't want to work on any project forever. I intended to get things done."Interview, The Comics Journal #134 (Feb. 1990), reprinted in The Comics Journal Library, Volume One: Jack Kirby (2002) ISBN 1560974664, p. 22

Essentially self-taught, Kirby cited among his influences the comic strip artists Alex Raymond and Milton Caniff.

The Golden Age of Comics

Per his own sometimes-unreliable memory, Kirby joined the Lincoln Newspaper Syndicate in 1936, working there on newspaper comic strips and on single-panel advice cartoons such as Your Health Comes First (under the pseudonym "Jack Curtiss"). He remained until the firm went out of business in 1938, then worked for the movie animation company Fleischer Studios as an "in-betweener" (an artist who fills in the action between major-movement frames,) on Popeye cartoons. "I went from Lincoln to Fleischer," he recalled. "From Fleischer I had to get out in a hurry because I couldn't take that kind of thing," describing it as "a factory in a sense, like my father's factory. They were manufacturing pictures."Ibid., p. 24

Around this time, "I began to see the first comic books appear."Ibid. The first American comic books were reprints of newspaper comic strips; soon, these tabloid-size, 10-inch by 15-inch "comic books" began to include original material in comic-strip form. Kirby began writing and drawing such material for the comic book packager Eisner & Iger, one of a handful of firms creating comics on demand for publishers. Through that company, Kirby did what he remembers as his first comic book work, for Wild Boy Magazine.Interview, The Nostalgia Journal #30 (Nov. 1976), reprinted in The Comics Journal Library, Volume One: Jack Kirby (2002) ISBN 1560974664, p. 3 This was followed by such strips as the science fiction adventure The Diary of Dr. Hayward (under the pseudonym "Curt Davis"), the modern-West crimefighter strip Wilton of the West (as "Fred Sande"), the swashbuckler strip "The Count of Monte Cristo" (again as "Jack Curtiss"), and the humor strips Abdul Jones (as "Ted Grey)" and Socko the Seadog (as "Teddy"), all variously for Jumbo Comics and other Eisner-Iger clients.

Kirby moved on to comic-book publisher and newspaper syndicator Fox Feature Syndicate, earning a then-reasonable $15 a week salary. He began exploring superhero narrative with the comic strip The Blue Beetle (January–March 1940), starring a character created by Chuck CuideraTwo early comics creators in addition to Jack Kirby used the pseudonym "Charles Nicholas", and whom historians often confuse. According to Chuck Cuidera (c. 1915–2001) on a panel at the 1999 San Diego ComicCon, (transcription published in column "POV Online" (Sept. 1, 2000) by Mark Evanier, he is the Charles Nicholas who created the Blue Beetle and was the first artist of Blackhawk. Will Eisner, at that same panel, said an artist named Charles Wojtkowski (1921–1982) later took up the Charles Nicholas pen namein Mystery Men Comics #1 under the pseudonym "Charles Nicholas", which Kirby retained.

Simon & Kirby

During this time, Kirby met and began collaborating with cartoonist and Fox editor Joe Simon, who in addition to his staff work continued to freelance. Speaking at a 1998 Comic-Con International panel in San Diego, California, Simon recounted the meeting: and remained a team across the next two decades. Collectors have shown what is purported to be original art for an unpublished, five-page Simon & Kirby collaboration titled "Daring Disc", which may predate the duo's Blue Bolt."The First Simon and Kirby Story?", Hoohah! (no date) Autobiographical material by, and interviews with, either of the duo do not appear to mention this story, however.

After leaving Fox and landing at pulp magazine publisher Martin Goodman's Timely Comics (the future Marvel), the new Simon & Kirby team created the seminal patriotic hero Captain America in late 1940. Kirby's dynamic perspectives, groundbreaking use of centerspreads, cinematic techniques and exaggerated sense of action made the title an immediate hit and rewrote the rules for comic book art. Captain America Comics is credited with comics' first full-page panel and the first two-page spread. Simon and Kirby also produced the first complete comic book starring Captain Marvel for Fawcett Comics.

Captain America became the first and largest of many hit characters the duo would produce. The Simon & Kirby name soon became synonymous with exciting superhero comics, and the two became industry stars whose readers followed them from title to title. A financial dispute with Goodman led to their decamping to National Comics, one of the precursors of DC Comics, after ten issues of Captain America. Given a lucrative contract at their new home, Simon & Kirby took over The Sandman in Adventure Comics, and scored their next hits with the "kid gang" teams the Boy Commandos and the Newsboy Legion, and the superhero Manhunter.

Kirby married Rosalind "Roz" Goldstein (September 25, 1922–December 22, 1998) on May 23, 1942. That same year he changed his name legally from Jacob Kurtzberg to Jack Kirby. The couple was living in Brighton Beach, Brooklyn, when Kirby was drafted into the U.S. Army in the late autumn of 1943. Serving with the Third Army combat infantry, he landed in Normandy, on Omaha Beach, 10 days after D-Day.

As superhero comics waned in popularity after the end of World War II, Kirby and his partner began producing a variety of other genre stories. They are credited with the creation of the first romance title, Young Romance Comics at Crestwood Publications, now renamed Prize Comics. In addition, Kirby and Simon produced crime, horror, western and humor comics.

The Kirby & Simon partnership ended amicably in 1955 with the failure of their own Mainline Publications. Kirby continued to create comics, drawing Green Arrow in DC's Adventure Comics and World's Finest Comics and co-creating (with Joe Simon) the well-received feature about a group of death-defying adventurers, the Challengers of the Unknown.

Stan Lee and Marvel Comics

Kirby also worked for Marvel during its 1950s iteration as Atlas Comics on the Yellow Claw and The Black Rider. He also began a newspaper comic strip called Sky Masters of the Space Force. He was instrumental in the creation of Archie Comics' the Fly and the feature "Double Life of Private Strong". He also drew some issues of Classics Illustrated. After departing from National Comics in a contract dispute, he returned to Marvel once again in 1959. There he drew a series of imaginative monster, horror and science fiction stories for its many anthology series, such as Strange Tales, Tales to Astonish and Tales of Suspense. His bizarre designs of powerful, unearthly creatures proved a hit with readers. Then, with Marvel editor Stan Lee, Kirby began working on superhero comics again, beginning with The Fantastic Four #1 (Nov. 1961). The landmark series became a hit that revolutionized the industry with its true-to-life naturalism and, eventually, a cosmic purview informed by Kirby's seemingly boundless imagination — one coincidentally well-matched with the consciousness-expanding youth culture of the 1960s.

Over the next several years, Kirby provided Marvel's house style, co-creating/designing many of the Marvel characters and providing layouts for new artists to draw over. (When, in the early seventies, he left Marvel to work for Carmine Infantino at Marvel rival DC Comics, Kirby quipped he was "basically competing against myself".) Highlights besides the Fantastic Four include Thor, the Incredible Hulk, Iron Man, the original X-Men, the Silver Surfer, Doctor Doom, Galactus, The Watcher, Magneto, Ego the Living Planet, the Inhumans and their hidden city of Attilan, and the Black Panther — comics' first known Black superhero — and his African nation of Wakanda. Simon & Kirby's Captain America was also incorporated into Marvel continuity.

Kirby continued to expand the medium's boundaries, devising photo-collage covers and interiors, and other experiments. Yet he grew increasingly frustrated by Marvel's refusal to credit him specifically for his story plotting and for his character creations and co-creations.

Later career

After falling out with Lee, Kirby returned to DC in the early 1970s, where he produced a series of titles under the blanket sobriquet The Fourth World including New Gods, Mister Miracle, and The Forever People. In addition, he worked on the Superman title, Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen at the publisher's request. Kirby picked this Superman family book because the series was between artists and he did not want to cost anyone a job. Kirby also produced other DC titles such as OMAC, Kamandi, The Demon, and (together with former partner Joe Simon for one last time) a new incarnation of the Sandman. Several characters from this period have since become fixtures in the DC universe, including the demon Etrigan and his human counterpart Jason Blood; Scott Free (Mister Miracle), and the cosmic villain Darkseid.

Kirby then returned to Marvel Comics where he both wrote and drew Captain America and created the series The Eternals, which featured a race of inscrutable alien giants, the Celestials, whose behind-the-scenes intervention influenced the evolution of life on Earth. Kirby's other Marvel creations in this period include Devil Dinosaur, Machine Man, and an adaptation and expansion of the movie A Space Odyssey (comics). He also wrote and drew The Black Panther and did numerous covers across the line.

Still dissatisfied with Marvel's treatment of him, and their refusal to provide health and other employment benefits, Kirby left Marvel to work in animation, where he did designs for Turbo Teen, Thundarr the Barbarian and other animated television series.

In the early 1980s, Pacific Comics, a new, non-newsstand comic book publisher, made a then-groundbreaking deal with Kirby to publish his series Captain Victory and the Galactic Rangers: Kirby would retain copyright over his creation and receive royalties on it. This, together with similar actions by other "independents" such as Eclipse Comics, helped establish a precedent for other professionals and end the monopoly of the "work for hire" system, wherein comics creators, even freelancers, had owned no rights to characters they created. Kirby also retained ownership of characters used by Topps Comics beginning in 1993, for a set of series in what the company dubbed "The Kirbyverse".

Audio

Awards

Jack Kirby received a great deal of recognition over the course of his career, including the 1967 Alley Award for Best Pencil Artist, and a 2nd place for the 1968 Alley Award Best Pencil Artist.

Kirby won a Shazam Award for Special Achievement by an Individual in 1971 for his "Fourth World" series in Forever People, New Gods, Mister Miracle, and Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen. He was inducted into the Shazam Awards Hall of Fame in 1974.

The Jack Kirby Awards and Jack Kirby Hall of Fame have also been named in his honor.

Legacy

Kirby is popularly acknowledged by comics creators and fans as one of the greatest and most influential artists in the history of comics. His output was legendary, with one count estimating that he produced over 25,000 pages during his lifetime, as well as hundreds of comic strips and sketches. He also produced paintings, and worked on concept illustrations for a number of Hollywood films.

In 1985, Mark Evanier revealed that thousands of pages of Kirby's artwork had been lost by Marvel Comics. These pages became the subject of a dispute between Kirby and that company. In 1987, in exchange for his giving up any claim to copyright, Kirby received from Marvel the 2,100 pages of his original art that remained in its possession. The disposition of Kirby's art for DC, Fawcett, and numerous other companies has remained uncertain.

Jacob Kirgstein, a character in The Authority comic books, is inspired by Jack Kirby.

The Kirby Awards were named in honor of Jack Kirby.

Rock music group Monster Magnet referenced Kirby's cultural impact in their song, "Melt", which includes the lyrics, "I was thinking how the world should have cried/On the day Jack Kirby died."

Jazz percussionist Gregg Bendian's group Interzone recorded a tribute album, Requiem for Jack Kirby, in 2001.

In Fantastic Four #511 (May 2004), when the team went to Heaven, God — depicted as an artist sitting at a drawing board — closely resembled Jack Kirby, the characters' co-creator.

In the animated television series, The Animated Series, the supporting character Dan Turpin is modeled visually after Jack Kirby. It should be noted that this character was created by Mr. Kirby himself for the New Gods. The episodes 38-39, titled "Apokolips Now." were also dedicated to the memory of Jack Kirby. Similarly, an episode of the animated series Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2003) entitled "The King" (based on the comic Donatello #1, "Kirby and the Warp Crystal" (1986)) featured a character based on Jack Kirby whose drawings came to life. When the Turtles go into Kirby's fantasy world, they find characters based on The New Gods.

In Kurt Busiek's comic book Astro City, many Kirby references and tributes appear, such as a mountain called Mount Kirby, and the character Silver Agent, who a pastiche of Captain America, the Guardian, and Silver Star.

Alan Moore's final storyline in Supreme: The Return features a character known as King, an inhabitant of Idea Space, who is clearly modeled after Kirby and is heralded by Kirby dots. The storyline features tributes to characters Kirby created or had a hand in defining, such as the Newsboy Legion, Guardian, the New Gods, and Doctor Doom.

The video game Marvel Super Heroes was made in memory of Jack Kirby. It was finished a year after his death.

In Happy Birthday, Martha Washington (by Frank Miller), Martha Washington is sent by the US government to collect a blood sample from the world's only super-hero, the self-created patriot Captain Kurtz. Martha eventually refuses to see his heroic legacy abused.

Lisa Kirby (Jack Kirby's daughter) announced in early 2006 that she and co-writer Steve Robertson, with artist Mike Thibodeaux, plan to published a six-issue miniseries, Jack Kirby's Galactic Bounty Hunters, featuring characters and concepts created by her father.

Selected bibliography

Marvel

DC

Footnotes

References

External links

1917 births | 1994 deaths | Captain America artists | Comics artists | Comics writers | Eisner Award winners | Golden Age comics creators | Jewish American writers | People from Manhattan | Marvel Comics Eternals | Spider-Man artists | X-Men artists

Jack Kirby | Jack Kirby | Jack Kirby | Jack Kirby | Jack Kirby | Jack Kirby

 

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