Jack Kirby was a force of nature. I like how the guy describes Kirby as "like a Ouija board". I think he was channeling information and ideas from deeper realms of consciousness, like a shaman. He was definitely tapped in.
I love his work ever since i could remember ,i say around six or seven way back in the early seventies. i used to draw a lot in the eighties and Jack King Kirby was my idol and still . He actually motivated me by his art work . He inspired me to the point i adapted a lot of his drawing style as an artist. R.I.P. Jack we love you . i really love his work.
Aside from both my parents being artists, Jack "The King" Kirby inspired me to become an artist today. Even before I learned human anatomy, I was already mimicking the Jack Kirby style artwork. Long live the King!!
it's always sad when these great comics legends pass away like jack kirby,joe simon, gene colan and some of the other greats.that has to be the greatest job in the world,working in the comics industry.i know those men and woman work hard,but i would never miss a day of work.i still can't believe how much energy that stan lee has at almost 90,he's amazing !!!
Yes, He used his irreplaceable time at the feet of the world's greatest comic creator to produce such epic tales as "Groo" and "The Mighty Magnor" Go Mark!
Because of the fact that Marvel never provided any security for Kirby and his family, he got far more in the way of basic health insurance from Ruby Spears animation in the 1980s than he ever got from Marvel from the 1940's to the 1970's. Kirby's goal was to leave his family a nest egg insofar from his original art which Marvel tried to hold onto despite lawsuit after lawsuit. A little of the money out of the millions that the mouse has made off of Kirby's characters isn't unreasonable.
The writers at the time when Jack left Marvel were the most JEALOUS of him. Jack's self-written work in the 70's could have used an editor or script-writer(working from Jack's original writing), ala Stan, to make it more 'fresh', but, the concepts were so ingenius, WHO CARES? The writers felt they could get more from the stories but the fact is, as with Stan, they wouldn't have had a thing to write over without Kirby. Much of Kirby's post-Marvel writing is at a level beyond Stan and the rest.
It's a goddamn shame, that Jack never got any credit for HIS work on all the iconic characters, stan is such a greedy atentiongetter, always loved stan, but thinking the credit is souly yours because you told a cartoonist to draw 4 guys and make it look cool, that's just terrably heart wrenching.. i would loved for jack that he got the recognition he deserves when the man was alive..
Stan Lee has always made sure to give credit to Jack Kirby for his part in contributing to many of the Marvel superheroes that have been a part of our culture for decades. It's just a shame that Jack's family cannot benefit from the hundreds of millions of dollars that these movies have generated for the various movie studios over the last 10 years. Marvel/Disney should do something financially for the family because it's just the "right thing" to do for the family of the King Of Comics ....
Good piece. The reprinted Trade Paperbacks prove that his work is timeless. Different splash pages from the Challengers of the Unknown, the FF and Thor show how far ahead he was even then. FF 39 - 51, from 1965 featuring the Frightful, introducing, the Inhumans, Galactus and the Silver Surfer,and concluding with "This Man, This Monster", to me, is still one of the pinnacles for comics. It's a shame that Marvel still refuses to pay his family properly.
Also, if you saw the extras on the ff2 dvd, there is a documentary on the comics where Starlin comes off as extremely jealous of Jack's work, in that he somehow thinks he is so much better. Funny, since Warlock, which made his career, is ALSO a Kirby creation. Starlin stinks.
Not to mention working like hell (along with a fair number of other people) to try and get Kirby's original art returned to him and seeing that Roz Kirby (Jack's wife) actually got a bit of money from Marvel after Kirby's death, as opposed to what Kirby and his family got from Marvel during his lifetime, almost nothing.
Yes it is, sadly however Kirby's family doesn't get a dime from the merchandizing of that film, Blu-Ray sales of that film, or from Marvel reprints of Kirby's art ala the Marvel Masterworks, videogames of his characters, toys etc.
Mark Evanier, Jack's "Assistant" and friend since 1969. A comic book writer in his own right, He recently wrote "Kirby: King of Comics". Google the book, it's got some great images.
"Starlin is good but will NEVER be at the level of THE KING. I'm sorry that he was arrogant enough to think he was somehow better than THE KING." Starlin never said anything of the sort! Again, you owe him an apology.
You are right. Jim Starlin never said such a thing, in fact, he was a great fan of Jack Kirby and Steve Ditko. And here is the proof... ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-SGzUnhvcROs.html
BTW... JACK CREATED IRON MAN and helped create Spider-man which was based on his character THE FLY... Daredevil, I'll grant you, but BILL EVERETT is the guy who really CREATED HIM as he did Sub-mariner... NOT STAN. Stan just told the artists he wanted something like Spider-man. As for Doc Strange... lol... He is nothing more than Dr. Fate. No originality at all, though I love him too.
"Actually, I went back and looked at that book again, and the person who made the comment about Kirby wasn't Joe Starlin; it was another guy... I can't remember who, but I think it was someone who's strictly a writer." You are correct! Jim Starlin would never demean Kirby.
@16JAM77 Yes they were both Jewish, Stan Lee (Stanley Lieber) and Jack Kirby (Jacob Kurtzberg) as were a large number of the early comic creators Bob Kane (Robert Kahn) Will Eisner, Siegel & Shuster, Joe Simon, Joe Kubert, Sheldon Moldoff and many others. Most of them were the children of Jewish immigrants who lived in N.Y.C. immigrant communities like The Bronx, The Lower East Side, East Brooklyn, many of these artist started working in their teens, Gil Kane was 13 years old when he started up.
awesome. i cannot believe anyone could think that stan lee created most of the characters at marvel. it was CLEARLY Jack Kirby. why else did stan call him THE KING? stan is very important. his position as editor allowed jack kirby and the other artists to really stretch out and do more realistic stories. BUT as far as the marvel universe of characters, it almost all comes back to jack. what did stan lee ever create before or after jack was with marvel? NADA!!!
Both are very important for Marvel in different ways and you know it. Jack Kirby did the product, Stan Lee promoted it and sold it. Unfortunately by promoting those comics was the reason Stan Lee became famous. He was the face of the company, in few words the MASCOT of Marvel Comics.
stan is great but most of the ideas for characters in their comics, all the awesome character designs and, of course, all the wild ways they use their abilities come from jack. the visual aspect of marvel comics is why they make such great movies and, according to artists at the time, they were told to tell stories LIKE JACK.
@DoctorLawyerWhatever The "Dream Machine" painting is a diptych measuring over five feet wide that Kirby started on in 1970 and finished in 1975, you can find a reproduction of it in the remastered "Kirby Unleashed" book. I leave it up to others to determine wheither it's gallery worthy or not, IMHO it is. Some of Kirby's most personal art works although not paintings would IMO be his drawings of God, or his interpretation of God in several drawings he did in the 1970s which are memorable.
I believe JACK KIRBY will be remembered long after Andy Warhol has been forgotten by all but the generally TASTELESS art 'afficionados'. In fact, it is likely that MANY MORE people have heard of Jack Kirby TODAY. Andy Warhol's 'art' is basically dead, whereas Jack's work is spreading across the globe faster than I can type this! It is a testament to his vision that his FANTASTIC ideas are now major motion pictures. The characters he created will likely NEVER DIE. He will be in the Louvre.
Captain America came out after a similar character called the Shield with similar red, white and blue striped costume. (Pep Comics # 1 Jan. 1940, and Shield-Wizard #1 origin story) who received power from a super strength formula before Capt. America had a similar origin in 1941 but called it super soldier formula. Hulk's look somewhat resembled the Frankenstein movie monster played by Boris Karloff and transformed similar to Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. So don't give Jack all the credit either.
Considering how much MONEY he made then off those characters and HOW RIDICULOUSLY MUCH Marvel is making STILL off his work, it is hardly a fair comparison. Why is it executives like Stan got more money and credit from successes yet the TRUE CREATORS got JACK? Besides, Jack's company was in the 50's with JOE SIMON and Simon handled all the business affairs. Blame Joe.
?!? :-/ Superman was inspired by Edgar Rice Burroughs 'John Carter Warlord of Mars' and Philip Wylee's novel 'Gladiator' Batman was inspired by 'The Shadow' & Zorro and a villain known as 'The Bat' The Joker as a villain was inspired by a 1927 silent movie called 'The Man Who Laughs' with Conrad Viedt about a man who a permanent grin carved on his face as a child The whole concept of the superhero's secret identity was taken from a 19th century novel known as 'The Scarlett Pimpernell'
@DoctorLawyerWhatever Well I don't think he ever really went in that direction as far as painting goes although there were a few hand painted works he did like his "Tribes Trilogy" and his "Dream Machine" painting which IMHO wouldn't be out of place in some galleries, (see 'Kirby Five-Oh from Tommorow Press for an example) also some of his "comics collages" are really complex and he made them with only scissors and glue and bits from old magazines.
it is OBVIOUS that the art is better than the scripting. Study more and you will find that the artists did most of the plotting as well as character creating and designing. Kirby created Iron Man BTW and spidey was an old Kirby concept. Doctor Strange is a Doctor Fate rip-off and Daredevil is also a re-creation of an existing character prompting Kirby to tell Stan Lee on an official Marvel record that Stan was always using 'the same gags as the old days'. Stan, naturally, agrees. KIRBY IS GOD.
I don't think even the most prestigious comic art award is big enough for him. It's a scandal that you Yanks promoted the rip-off 'pop'artist Lichtenstein over Kirby. As a son of NY, he should at least get a retrospective of his work on at the MOMA (and Stan Lee should cough up the cash for it).
Who are these people in the film? I need to know if there opinions mean anything or not. If blue-shirt-fatty is Mark Evanier I can believe that. Everything he writes or says about Jack comes with a gigantic shoulder-chip. But who is the redhead?
Another KIRBY CREATION, 'Iron Man', came out tonight and it was awesome. The artists from the time unilaterally profess that JACK KIRBY came up with almost all the ideas for characters. Still, Jack's name was not mentioned until the end credits in SMALL PRINT! It is pathetic and I believe will soon backlash more than ever considering the amount of KIRBY MOVIES in the past 7 or 8 years and the MANY YET TO COME. It was an improvement from X-men though who acted like Jack was a CATERER!
Stan created nothing. He was the president of the company that eventually became Marvel comics is what I'm hearing here and because of that he put his name on things or paraphrased words over finished art so he could put his name on the comics as a co-creator. Stan cannot write prose. Anything that's good has Jack's name on it. It's clear to me that Jack created it all. Also I heard him say that he did and I believe him. More and more people are starting to realize what a slime ball Stan Lee is. Mark, dude, why would Jack say Stan created nothing? If Stan was so creative you'd think he'd have one good idea after Jack? Anyone wanna enlighten me and tell me what that idea was? Excelsior makes for a good interview? Yah if your 3 and Stan is your uncle it does, otherwise it's lame. Every interview I've seen of Stan he comes across as a carpet bagger. There isn't a creative, or thoughtful idea in the man.
all you have to do is watch like hundreds of interviews with stan lee since he was young up to now the guy's stories are just amazing and full of details and he used to tell them way back when kirby was alive. watch the man without prejudice in your head and see the genius he is. even today in his 90 smth he is so damn catchy and he admits he had the ideas but gave jack the freedom to do whatever he felt like doing. I've seen enough of them both to understand that marvel became what it is because the lightning stroke their studios twice.
wellington albuquerque I wasn't there and neither were you. Yah like I believe you've watched hundreds of Stan Lee interviews. Stan had a hand in the dialogue to stories that were already created. If he did more it sure seems odd that there isn't much creativity with Stan Lee after Jack Kirby yet Jack went on to create a tonne of characters and a whole new mythos at DC. I'm starting to read what he did over there namely the New God and Mr Miracle and I'm amazed by Jack's ability to constantly create worlds. If you had bothered to read either of the books I'd mentioned you'd be aware of what Jack thought of Stan Lee's creative power. Stan Lee was at the right place at the right time in the right position with the ability to manipulate the situation to get himself in on something creative. The doesn't make you a co-creator in my book. His name is on it but I don't believe it. That he wrote the dialogue to stories and plotted some as well, ok, I believe that but the creative force was not his. Give me a list of the books Stan wrote after Kirby where he created the mythos from the bottom up? You can't because they don't exist.
Joe Scorpion and The Inspectoids ok man, that's your opinion. besides having participated on the creation of all those characters, stan does know how to play the game and that is genius. walt disney didnt draw any of his characters but people dont know who the artists were besides those that really dig deep. I'm not preaching any religion here. I'm 35 and I've been involved with this my entire life so I'm ok and pretty secure of my convictions. stan's the man, so was jack.
wellington albuquerque You hit it right on the head with the comparison to Disney. Your age means nothing if it did the majority of old people would be wise. I have also been involved in this my whole life and I'm older than you so what? If you dig deep and you should with anything you have an opinion on you will discover for yourself some murky remnant of truth. Stan was there he was involved. That the dialogue was his is clear but based on what I've read, what I've heard Kirby say and what both men did apart the argument can be made that Stan wasn't much of creator. Religion? No you're not preaching religion but you are enamoured with money and power and manipulation to get what you want and you think it's ok to use people and call something yours even though it's not. Every religion I know of says that's not a good thing. I ask you again to name one thing that Stan Lee created on his own from the bottom up without the help of an artist? This creation doesn't exist. He dried up after working with the greats and I find that very interesting. I could be wrong the greatest story ever with only Stan's name on it could be out there but I would be seriously surprised if it exists. Read Kirby's "New Gods" and "Mr. Miracle" you will see what genius is. You will so what true creativity is. Excelsior Smelsior the dialogue ruins those old comics and you can almost see what they would have been if Stan wasn't involved. And as shitty as it is for me to try and take Stan's involvement in that early creative process away- not matter how small I believe it to be- it's 1000 times more shitty for Stan to not correct people when he's interviewed and introduced as "The Creator of" and he doesn't immediately correct them and mention Jack. Everything Stan is he owes to Jack I don't think the opposite is also true. Look at what Kirby did without Stan wellington! Again I ask you what did Stan do without Kirby? I'm asking you this seriously I want to read it.
