Professor Zucman's Art 110-02
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Artist Background
Born Jacob Kurtzberg in New York’s Lower East Side, Jack “King” Kirby (1917-1994) rose to prominence drawing and co-creating Captain America alongside writer Joe Simon for Timely Comics in the 1940s which would later become Marvel Comics in the 1960s. Kirby was at the forefront of the revitalizing of Marvel Comics in the early 1960s, which led to not only a rebirth but a complete reimagining of the superhero genre. Kirby, along with writer Stan Lee, lent his colossal talent and boundless imagination to the creation of such hugely popular titles as the Fantastic Four, the Incredible Hulk, the Mighty Thor, the Amazing Spider-Man, the Avengers, the X-Men, Captain America, Black Panther, and many others. While most known for his contributions to Marvel Comics, he produced many legendary titles for DC including the Challengers of the Unknown, the New Gods, Mister Miracle, and Kamandi, the Last Boy on Earth.
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Formal Qualities
Kirby’s style is known for its explosive, dynamic, kinetic action sequences, his famous splash pages and double splash pages, and his unconventional approach to layout design and format. Kirby was nicknamed the King of Comics, and with his considerable list of significant contributions to the medium it is undeniable. Kirby’s line work was considered the best, and it’s not hard to understand why when viewing the slick, perfected quality of two of his greatest creations, the Fantastic Four and the Mighty Thor. Lee and Kirby created some of the most colorful and beloved superheroes in comics with the Fantastic Four, the Inhumans (here featured to the left), and the X-Men to name but a few.
Ideas
Not only was the art of Jack Kirby considered the best in the business, but the ideas he was working with in the 1940s with Joe Simon and particularly his work with Stan Lee in the 1960s were also among the strongest conceptually. With Captain America in the 1940s, Kirby co-created two of comicdom’s greatest creations, the villainous Red Skull and the hero sidekick Bucky Barnes, which still feature prominently today. In the 1960s, Lee and Kirby reinvented the superhero genre with Fantastic Four by creating a superhero team that was not infallible. In fact, they were ordinary people who just happened to become heroes, they often fought amongst each other, and even sometimes lost to the villain. This was a complete shift away from the all-too-perfect heroes of before. This formula was replicated for other off-beat and humanized heroes like the Incredible Hulk, the Amazing Spider-Man, the Black Panther, and the Uncanny X-Men. Not only did Lee and Kirby create some of the most popular superheroes of all time, but also some of the most memorable super villains as well in Galactus, Loki, Dr Doom, and the anti-hero Silver Surfer.
Conclusion
While comic books can often be seen as an unimportant, disposable medium deserving of little attention and even less acclaim, the drawings of Jack Kirby have gone on to inform the highest grossing blockbuster films of all time. The hugely successful films that owe a tremendous debt to the work of Jack Kirby include the Iron Man films, the Spider-Man films, The Incredibles films, Black Panther (2018), The Avengers films, and specifically Avengers: Endgame (2019), which is currently the highest grossing film of all time. When viewed in this context, the legendary achievements of Jack Kirby take on an even more mind-staggeringly significant aspect.