What I Learned about Art from Jack Kirby (Steve Rude's Influences Ep2) 

Whenever I run into younger fans who wonder what the "big deal" is about Kirby, I always tell them: "Whatever you like about action-adventure comics (and a lot of other types as well), it probably wouldn't be there if it weren't for Kirby."

I gotta say Alex Toth was a massive game changer for me.

My favorite Jack Kirby was the first appearance of Captain America with Joe Simon. I met him with Don Heck. Not many people met Don Heck, he stayed away from comic cons.

I'm in my 60's and fell in love with Jack's work in 1970 when he landed at DC and took over Jimmy Olsen and created in my opinion, the most amazing thing in comics I'll ever see in my life. The Fourth World series. This was the only series of comics I actually cried when they were cancelled. The writing, art and world building were breathtaking. "The Pact" is a masterpiece. It made me seek out more of this man's work. His Golden Age, his Atlas work. The man could do humor, westerns, romance, war...you name it. He truly was the King.

I'm 31 years old here. I'm from Brazil. I started reading comics very late, at age 20. What I can say is that the more I read, learned and discovered, the more Jack Kirby became my favorite artist, not only for the art, but mainly for the construction of the narrative and ideas. And of course, for the unique look he managed to give to the characters and scenarios. I remember when I read Omac and was absolutely shocked at the depth of this story, not just in the comics media, but being released in 1975. Just like when I first read The New Gods and thought: "This doesn't look like anything from the '70s. But it doesn't look like anything from the '80s either. And it definitely has nothing to do with what was produced in the '90s." Despite the flat colors and the knowledge that I was reading something released 20 years before I was born, it felt like something far beyond that time. I've always drawn very poorly, but I've made an effort to study and I feel inspired to follow Kirby's line of art precisely because of the wonders he has built throughout his career. Not only with drawings but with the amazing collages he made.

Yes, ... nice tribute to Jack.!! He was THE KING.!! Nobody... and I mean NOBODY ...did it as well as Jack.!! I came to him a little late... Fantastic Four #4 ... but I looked forward every month to those Masterpieces flowing from his pencil....!! He was just the Best.!! Thanks, Steve.!!

Great overview tribute. Jack, JR SR, J Buscema, Gil Kane, Ditko, Steranko, Adams, and many others have amazed me in many ways. I really enjoy the artistic versatility and knowledge of the Dude guy also.

Kirby masterfully depicted action and drama by bringing the "camera" or POV into a scene like the Cossacks' massacre on the Odessa steps in Eisenstein's Battleship Potemkin. Chaos! It's incumbent on the new generation to build and surpass their inspirations. Dude! Kirby is alive within your work. I wish I could jump into the Nexus First run to find the issue numbers (alas, my collection is gone) for scenes I can picture in my mind's eye still to this day. I can recall splash pages where we're not just in the action, but the POV is a brain-bending fly eye's view. Of course! It's artwork and not a film camera run by humans who must obey gravity. Your POVs defy gravity!

Mr. Rude WORD FOR WORD I feel the EXACT SAME WAY about JACK KIRBY! The first time I saw his art, my MIND WAS BLOWN and I knew that I wanted to be a cartoonist! Mr. Rude you're on a level that most aren't, so I ask a question, WHY ON EARTH isn't DC/WB bringing the NEW GODS and many of Kirby's other characters to the big screen? Don't they realize they are SITTING ON A GOLDMINE? Imagine PIXAR doing KAMANDI with their fantastic CGI, I just don't understand how those in charge don't see the potential in Kirby's characters?! Love your art, you're Mister Miracle is one of my absolute favorites!

Too young to have grown up with kirby but we see his influence not just in comic books but in film and design down to this day. My favorite artists, well thats a difficult question. There are many I've taken influence from from the musculature of esad ribic and frank frazetta to the avante guard and experimental and meticulous brush work of Bill sienkewicz to the brilliant iconography of Alex Ross I take from many sources for my inspiration and all have influenced my personal style. I enjoy watching you paint as well, and intend to learn much from your body of work!

Holy crap your hero/icon list is perfect. Same, same my man.

This was a fantastic tribute to an amazing artist! And the influence is one of the things I always loved about your artwork.

Whenever I really think about it through the haze of childhood memory, it was mostly animated cartoons that were THE biggest influences especially any that were "serious" as well as funny, like SPEED RACER or UNDERDOG! Still, reading CARL BARKS comics led me to appreciate the comic book format!

Beautifully said! I was one of those lucky ones that got to see a new Jack Kirby comic book every month while growing up. In fact, the first comic book that I ever bought was a Jack Kirby Fantastic Four issue (actually, Marvel Greatest Comics #31 reprinting F.F. #39 and #40 ). I remember the cover just leapt out at me. I also remember buying Forever People # 2 and an issue of Superman's Pal, Jimmy Olsen. From that point on, I was hooked on comics, and particularly those by Jack King Kirby!

LOVE the ice cream analogy! To be honest, as a youngster, I was not a fan of Kirby’s work. I was more into Byrne, Perez and Rude. Still am! : ) Fortunately, as I got older, I “figured it out” and now do my best to pick up anything from the King which I do not already own. Great vid, Dude. Looking forward to the Captain Kirk vid!

Steve Ditko, Brian Bolland, Kevin Nowlan, Charles Burns, Jim Woodring, and Jean 'Moebius' Giraud. Ditko was amazingly creative and visionary with his amazing backgrounds he came up with for Dr. Strange and later his faceless character doling out justice and business cards. Brian Bolland and Kevin Nowlan for realism. Charles Burns and Jim Woodring for dark and otherworldly vibes. Moebius because he showed me how far you could take your imagination with comics, especially with '40 Days In The Desert.' I also like Daniel Clowes' early work for creepy comics.

Excellent tribute,Steve! My first Marvel comic was Avengers 11 which had a cKirby cover and great house ads(FF 34and an issue of Thor) Later watching FF cartoon in ‘67! Finally FF 76 without a cover and I was hooked ! 50 years ago on my 13th Birthday I received FF 56! Jack is a big influence on my own characters/artwork ! The King’s enthusiasm and vast creativity is very inspiring! I love your artwork channels Jack along with other legendary artists and stands out distinctively and remains a vibrant character designs/narrative! Thanks again and good fortunes to U and Team Dude!🎯🔥😎👍🚀✅😍

Steve, you're a lover of excellence!

I remember Steve Rude when I was in Detroit. Northland mall, where they would sell First comics in a bag.I bought so many bags of comics. Nexus was nice.

I just started collecting Jack Kirby omnibuses. I do have one thing to say...i Really love his outside the superhero stuff such as (War and Romance) and his Horror/Sci Fi/Gangster comics that were released in collected in hardcover fomat!

That was an excellent tribute to Jack Kirby. Well done!!!

I agree…great post!!!!

His name is not Jack Kirby, it's Jack King Kirby.. I was born in 70, and that's the only name I ever knew him by

What if? #11 was my first exposure to Kirby back in the day.... he was the greatest of all time...

I'm no expert on Jack Kirby but what impresses me is how his work from the 60s on seems to be a conceptual leap forward from where he was in the 40s and 50s. I'm not sure what the trigger was but his work just Krackles with the energy that made Marvel comics so successful in the following years. That said, I still think Stan Lee was an important part of his development. I know this is an unpopular opinion these days, but that's my belief.

I love Jack Kirby very much and I have an absolute Respect for him very much. But my No.1 main comic book art influence/artist of all time is gonna have to be Mark Bagley, I and still love his artwork, and storytelling to this very day ever since his runs on Ultimate Spider-Man, The Thunderbolts, Amazing Spider-Man, The New Warriors, Trinity, JLA, Avengers, Fantastic Four and The Hulk. Personally it is my biggest dream to draw and copy just like him, but I’ll eventually change it up later on as my style evolves eventually. Plus Mark Bagley was influenced by Jack Kirby in his career too, like many who are getting into the meduim sequential artwork.

Kirby is someone you need to understand, a bit like Toth. The young fan is excited by busy, realistic art but eventually starts looking at art in a different way, not so much how it looks but what it's saying. I think you also see this in Roy Crane. You then see the thought process of the artist rather than a display of skill. This is also true in early Steranko. Some of his art is crude but the brilliance of his ideas and storytelling compensates for that.

Awesome video!

Ron Lim, Kentaro Miura, Sui Ishida, Jeff Smith, Yasuhisa Hara, and of course, Steve Rude himself are among my favorite artists! Those are a few of my favorite artists and inspirations among many, dude :)

Hi Steve. Beautiful story ❤️

Jack Kirby And John and Sal Buscema

My 1st experience w/ Kirby was Origins of Marvel Comics, a couple of treasury editions and his Black Panther,Eternals, and CA/F stuff in the mid 70's and having "grown up" on Romita/Buscema/Andru it took me a while to appreciate all that he was.