Axiom's Edge Science Fiction and Fantasy

By John J. Joex

During his career, Jack Kirby worked on several comics that had their origins in mythology such as Thor (Norse Mythology) and The Eternals (various mythologies combined) and he even created his own mythological ethos with his Fourth World series. These settings were quite fitting for the King, as they provided the grand, epic scale for a boundless imagination that demanded an expanded palette to work from. Even when working on comics that had no direct ties to mythology, he still managed to bring that same, grand scale to many of his stores. The Fantastic Four, Kamandi, his later work on Captain America, and even the more grounded world of the Losers all took on an epic feel when he worked on them.

Jack Kirby was a story-teller first and foremost, and even if you think the dialogue that he penned himself was stilted and a bit corny, you have to acknowledge that he was the master at unfolding epic larger-than-life tales. Like some animated raconteur extolling the exploits of heroes and gods around a primal campfire, he carried on the same tradition that kept folklore and mythology alive through times past. And just like those stories of old did, Kirby’s tales speak to his modern day readers. As renowned mythologist Joseph Campbell noted in his studies on heroes and the monomyth, these stories conveyed universal truths while at the same time exploring deep-rooted, personal meanings.

The characters in Kirby’s works often took second importance to the story itself, often a criticism from Kirby detractors but I believe this springs from a failure to recognize his true intentions. For Kirby, especially when did his own writing, the characters were simply another facet of the tale and he was less interested in fleshing out their particular character traits as he was with using these people to carry forward the overall story. He often gave us caricatures and archetypes, the same ilk you would find populating mythology and folklore. He did not necessarily create three-dimensional characters, but he did give us people that exemplified various traits and emotions that we find within ourselves.

Take for example Orion from the Fourth World series. Here we have a character locked in inner-turmoil between the side of himself that wants to follow the way of peace and the New Gods and the bestial inner demon linked to his Apokolips roots. Then you have one of his closest friends, Lightray, who is the eternal optimist. Throughout the Fourth World books that Kirby wrote, we are given little more character development than this for either of these two, yet for some reason they resonate with us and come alive in his stories. That is because they represent traits that we see within ourselves or strive to possess and Kirby uses this to touch on our own inner feelings. Take Kamandi as another example. What do we ever really find out about him as a person other than he grew up in an underground bunker with his grandfather? What does he like or dislike, what did he learn while there, what were his aspirations? We never learn any of this, but it never detracts from the story. Instead, somehow Kirby gets us to identify with this person as an everyman thrown into a post-apocalyptic world turned upside down and we never even think to ask those questions.

As I mentioned above, many have derided the dialogue that Kirby gave us when he wrote his own stories. And I have to admit it could get pretty whacky at times, especially when he threw in his rather clunky attempts at hip dialogue. But typically, what he gave us was grand, operatic speech that befitted the stories it appeared in. His characters spoke the way you expected someone from mythology or folklore to speak. Not in the manner of realistic discourse, but delivering lines that conveyed grand ideas or hit upon a primal nerve.

So if you are new to Jack Kirby’s work, or previously dismissed him, or are in the process of revisiting his archives, then approach his stories (especially those he wrote himself) with his tendency toward mythological story-telling in mind. If you ever saw the opening to the 80’s series Amazing Stories (which was actually one of the most un-amazing television shows ever) which showed the animated shaman-like character reciting stories to eager listeners by a roaring fire, know that Jack Kirby is that person. Recounting marvelous chronicles of bigger-than-life characters that will unleash your imagination while at the same time touch upon some deep, inner-feelings; the true sign of a master story-teller.  Ultimately Kirby did more than just draw comic books, he created mythologies and folktales that spoke to his present-day readers yet would also live on to inspire future generations.

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August 7 – Who Created What?

The Jack Kirby Store: Offering a comprehensive selection of compilations of The King’s work available on Amazon.com including the Fourth World, Fantastic Four, Kamandi, Thor, Captain America, The Eternals, and many more.

By John J. Joex

During his career, Jack Kirby worked in two acclaimed partnerships, with Joe Simon then with Stan Lee, and he worked on his own. During that time, some of the best known characters in the world of comics came into existence including Captain America, the Boy Commandoes, The Challengers of the Unknown, The Fantastic Four, Thor, The Hulk, Darkseid and the New Gods, Kamandi, the Eternals, and many, many more. The question often asked, though, is who created what? Was Jack Kirby the primary creative driving force (the answer is yes with the last three mentioned above), or did his partners do more of the creating while Kirby just fleshed out the concepts?

There seems to be little doubt about how it worked with the first team that Kirby participated in. Joe Simon was also a writer and artist and the two appeared to work closely together, bouncing ideas off one another and picking up where the other left off. However, despite their similar talents, it is also often accepted that Jack Kirby focused more of his energies on the creative side while Mr. Simon handled more of the business matters (including negotiating with the publishers for a percentage of the profits for the books they worked on). But really, after they parted ways in the late 50’s, Joe Simon produced little of note in the years that followed. True he had mostly exited from the comics industry to work in advertising, but he still did some work on the Archie Comics line of superheroes in the early 60’s (with an assist from Kirby) and also later produced some long forgotten titles for DC like Brother Power, the Geek and Prez. By 1960, Joe Simon had mostly faded from significance in the comics scene, but Jack Kirby was just getting started.

After the Simon and Kirby team split, Jack Kirby did some work for DC and Atlas (soon to become Marvel) to bide his time. During this period, he worked on an assortment of monster, sci fi, and western titles, but also created for DC the Challengers of the Unknown series (allegedly with some help from Dave Wood). He then went onboard full time at Atlas where he and Stan Lee would eventually team up to create the infamous Marvel Universe beginning with the Fantastic Four.

As this period began, Stan Lee claimed to have devised a process of creating comic books called “The Marvel Method” in which the writer and artist would pow-wow over an idea and come up with a basic summary for a story. The artist (usually Jack Kirby) would then work from this outline and the writer (usually Stan Lee) would then provide the final script for the book. This was how the majority of Marvel titles were produced from the 60’s and on. And this was how Stan Lee was able to attach his name as writer to so many titles during the heyday of Marvel’s rise to fame. And this is also what has led to much controversy over how much creative input Stan Lee had on the Marvel titles he became famous for.

Jack Kirby was already known by this time as a creative dynamo. Stan Lee was known as a hack writer producing mostly second-rate, knock-off stories for the struggling Atlas line of comics. Did the pairing of these two really lead to some of the most renown comics in the history of the industry? And was it just a coincidence that their first collaboration, The Fantastic Four, was really just a re-imagining of Kirby’s recent creation, The Challengers of the Unknown, with superpowers? Many have suggested that the majority of the creative production during the beginning of the Marvel Era came from Jack Kirby while Stan Lee mostly just worked PR and took credit for what happened. In an interview later in his life, Kirby went so far as to claim that Lee never wrote a word and that it was he that created all of the Marvel characters including Spider-Man.

Few people will believe that view of history, but when you start to look at Kirby’s output later in the sixties and how this suggested what would follow from the artist in the seventies, it’s easy to accept him as the dominant creative force in the partnership during that time. When you consider the cosmic themes that began to dominate the Fantastic Four and Thor titles, you see Jack Kirby coming through loud and clear. And it is no secret that as the sales of Marvel titles began to explode during the sixties, Stan Lee become much more pre-occupied with non-creative matters and leaned more heavily on his artists to carry on with the story-telling (Steve Ditko, co-creator of Spider-Man and Doctor Strange, left Marvel in part because of this).

Ultimately, it is difficult not to acknowledge Jack Kirby as co-creator of most if not all of the titles he worked on for Marvel, and it also seems apparent that he heavily influenced the overall tone and direction of the titles he stuck with such as The Fantastic Four and Thor (and I would say that the later issues of those title are mostly Kirby, with Stan just adding some dialogue). And you also have to acknowledge that once Kirby left Marvel in 1970, Stan Lee created little of note from that point forward. Kirby, on the other hand, just moved on into the next phase of his career where he produced such renowned books as the Fourth World series, Kamandi, The Demon, and The Eternals. And while these may not have been the commercial successes of the Marvel titles he worked on during the previous decade, they have gone on to be well remembered titles and the characters have become integral to the companies that produced them.

In any case, you cannot deny that Jack Kirby was a creative force to reckon with. Whether the partnerships he worked in energized his creative muse or whether he commanded the driver’s seat when producing stories, his vigor is renown. And you have to acknowledge that his period of creative output well outlasted both partnerships.  Jack Kirby’s imagination is boundless and whether working alone or in a team, he has managed to touch a nerve with his creations time and time again.

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From American Dream to American Dissolution, Part 2

John J. Joex is looking for Comic Book Artists to collaborate on one or more ideas he has developed. Click here for more info.

The Jack Kirby Store: Offering a comprehensive selection of compilations of The King’s work available on Amazon.com including the Fourth World, Fantastic Four, Kamandi, Thor, Captain America, The Eternals, and many more.

By John J. Joex

Jack "The King" Kirby

American Dissolution: You might think that in 1965, Jack Kirby would have been on top of the world. By that time, a kid who had grown from a life of poverty in the New York streets dreaming of drawing comics had become one of the most recognized names in the industry. “The King”, as his credits on the Marvel pages he drew during the 60’s lauded, had gone from a boy who could barely afford paper to draw on to a man who had created or co-created some of the most memorable comics in history including Captain America, The Boy Commandos, Black Magic, The Fantastic Four, The Mighty Thor, and many more. However, despite his stature in the world of comics, Jack Kirby was not pleased with his situation.

Even though he had co-created much of the Marvel Universe with Stan Lee, he felt he did not receive the credit and compensation that he deserved from the titles he worked on. The “Marvel Process” of creating comics involved the writer and artist coming up with a basic story for an issue which the artist would then draw followed by the writer adding the dialogue. Since Stan Lee “wrote” almost every Marvel title during the 60’s, he took the writer credit while the penciller took the artist credit. Kirby, as with many other artists working for Marvel, felt he deserved to share in the credit as writer because he did much of the work of crafting and fleshing out the story. However, the company was not willing to extend him these credentials.

Kirby, along with others, began to feel like labor-for-hire as they watched Stan Lee bask in the glory of Marvel’s unlikely rise to fame and often receive the full credit for creations that he collaborated on with others. To make matters worse, Jack Kirby felt he had little job security as the contracts the artists were asked to sign treated them like contract workers and as an impending sale of the company loomed. He had already seen Steve Ditko, co-creator of Spider-Man and Doctor Strange, depart from the company as the result of bad blood with Stan Lee. And Kirby had come up with an entire new line of characters that he preferred not to share with Marvel because he knew he would not have editorial control over their titles nor would he retain the rights to his creations (at that time, all characters created by artists and/or writers were owned by the companies they worked for).

So when an opportunity to jump ship to Marvel’s main competitor, DC, presented itself, Jack Kirby decided the time was right. Then editor-in-chief Carmine Infantino promised “The King” that he could work on whatever he wanted to at DC and that he would retain creative and editorial control over his books (though he still would not own the characters he created). With renewed enthusiasm for his craft, Kirby headed to DC at the beginning of the 70’s and created the Fourth World series (which introduced Darkseid and the New Gods) that would go on to become legendary in comics (more on that in a future column). However, the company that had made many promises to lure an industry icon to their fold started to have some buyer’s remorse. Some members of the DC editorial staff were not thrilled with Jack Kirby’s creations as they felt the new titles did not fit in well with the company’s stable of characters. Then, just as the Fourth World series was really picking up steam, DC cancelled it. Not because the sales of the titles were bad, but because a recent price-war with Marvel had caused a shake-up within the company, and the Fourth World comics had not sold well enough to justify their continuation in the mind of the DC executives.

After Kirby saw the creation that he had poured his heart and soul into cancelled by the company that had promised him so much, he swallowed his pride and worked on several more titles for them (one of which, Kamandi, is a personal favorite). But he became more and more disillusioned with his situation and eventually elected not to stay on with DC, but to return to the Marvel bullpen. While there in the mid to late 70’s he created and worked on several more titles, but his enthusiasm had waned. What was worse, he got into a tiff with Marvel over the return of his original artwork that would go on for years and would eventually become a renowned battle in the comics industry.

By the late 70’s, Jack Kirby, who had become in legend in comics, had been made to feel like a has-been by the industry in which he had played such a pivotal role. As he grew older, he looked at a future of demanding hours with inadequate compensation. It was only his chance move into the world of animation that made his twilight years (he passed in 1994) more bearable. He first ventured in that direction when assisting with the late-70’s Fantastic Four cartoon. He then went on to work on Thundarr the Barbarian and other shows and started to receive a salary much higher than what he had ever seen from his comic book work. He also finally received health insurance benefits, which was very important for him and his wife at their advanced age. He dabbled a bit more in comics in the early to mid 80’s with Pacific Comics and DC, but eventually turned away from the industry he helped make famous to focus primarily on animation in his later years.

As the independent publishers that rose in the 80’s like Pacific Comics and First Comics shepherded changes to the industry, artists and writers started receiving much larger compensation for their work (often tied closely to the sales of the books they worked on), and many companies started to allow them to keep the rights to the characters they created. Sadly, though, Jack Kirby participated only in the very beginning of this movement as by then he had already soured on the industry because of his experiences over the prior two decades. Kirby had experienced the American Dream by making is living drawing comics and becoming a legendary artist in that field. Then he suffered the American Dissolution as the corporate attitude that had developed a stranglehold on the industry treated him as a contract laborer and showed little respect for the creations he relished in producing. Still, he is well remembered by comic book fans for how he changed and revitalized the industry (time and time again), and he has left an extensive volume of work from which we can all revel in his memory.

Previous: Part 1 – American Dream

Mini-Review – Tales to Astonish: Jack Kirby, Stan Lee, and the American Comic Book Revolution

Rating: 3 out of 5 Stars

This book by Ronin Ro is ostensibly the story of Jack Kirby, Stan Lee, and Joe Simon and their part in changing the comic book industry. However, he focuses primarily on Kirby with Lee and Simon taking second-banana roles. He keeps his sight on their professional careers, which ends up giving us a biography of sorts for Kirby because that period covered the majority of his living years. The book is not as comprehensive a look at Kirby’s life nor as well written as Mark Evanier’s Kirby: King of Comics (see review from the last column), and I do question some of Ro’s facts. It also lacks any pictures other than the cover (probably an issue of rights and the publisher not willing to shell out the money to include artwork). Still, it is a quick read and goes into more depth on Kirby’s partnerships with Stan Lee and Joe Simon. I picked it up at a bargain-bin price and was quite pleased with the book. If you want read about the life of “The King”, start with Evanier, but pick up this one as well for supplemental reading.

John J. Joex is looking for Comic Book Artists to collaborate on one or more ideas he has developed. Click here for more info.

The Jack Kirby Store: Offering a comprehensive selection of compilations of The King’s work available on Amazon.com including the Fourth World, Fantastic Four, Kamandi, Thor, Captain America, The Eternals, and many more.

By John J. Joex

American Dream: The story of Jack Kirby’s life starts out much like the stereotypical American Dream tale. He was born in 1917 to a family of immigrants who lived a life of subsistence in the rough, tenement districts of New York City. Jack did would he could, such as selling papers, to supplement his family’s meager income, but he longed to draw. He would scribble his creations, inspired by the works of Milton Caniff, Hal Foster, and Alex Raymond, on whatever scraps he could find and dreamed of one day making a living from his talent even though it promised only a barely livable wage.

Through his determination, he managed to do just what he wanted and landed a job with the Fleischer Studios where he drew “inbetweener” cells on the cartoons they produced like Popeye. He then graduated from this to the Lincoln Newspaper Syndicate working on knock-off comic strips. Ultimately, by around 1940, he moved from this work to the then burgeoning industry of comic books. He produced a few strips on his own at first, but then he met up with Joe Simon and formed a partnership that would become legendary in comics (the first, in fact, of two such partnerships he would participate in).

Simon and Kirby actually produced the first issue of Captain Marvel Comics, though they did so uncredited. Shortly after that, though, they would sky-rocket into fame with the creation of Captain America, and while the Captain was not the first patriotic superhero, he quickly became the most popular and helped establish the creative duo as a valuable commodity. And when Simon and Kirby decided that Martin Goodman at Timely (later to become Marvel Comics) was not compensating them well enough, they jumped ship to D.C. where they worked on yet another line of popular titles including The Sandman, The Boy Commandos, and The Newsboy Legion. More importantly, their stature as hit-makers allowed them to negotiate for a percentage of the profits of their books, placing them among the better paid talent in the industry.

Both Simon and Kirby headed off to the war shortly after that, and when they returned home found that comics had changed once superheroes no longer had the Axis enemy to fight. Still the two carried on and took comics in new directions. They created romance comics with Young Romance, and worked on crime, horror, and western books in the days after superheroes had lost their luster. And all the while, the pair continued to receive a pretty decent salary for an industry notorious low wages. Ultimately, the team disbanded, though, when Joe Simon decided to leave comics for advertising after the industry nearly collapsed in the wake of the anti-comics crusade that arose from the notorious condemnations and unsubstantiated links to juvenile delinquency by such “experts” as Dr. Fredric Wertham.

Kirby soldiered on in the comics field though, working for various companies including D.C. in the later fifties before returning to Marvel (then known as Atlas) during a low point in that company’s history. Sales for Atlas’ books had dropped drastically and the company had let most of its staff go. But then editor-in-chief Stan Lee welcomed Kirby back and quickly put him to work on as many titles as possible. They mostly produced bland monster / sci fi throw-away stories that would not offend the newly created Comics Code which shepherded over the industry. But then, on one fateful day, company owner Martin Goodman asked Stan Lee to come up with a superhero team book that would compete with D.C.’s popular Justice League title. Lee sat down with Jack Kirby, and the partnership (which would soon become as famous as the Simon and Kirby team that preceded it) ushered in the Marvel Age and changed the comic book industry.

The Fantastic Four was a huge hit, and in no time Kirby found himself co-creating other titles such as Thor, The Hulk, The Avengers, The X-Men, the revived Captain America, and many more which would provide the foundation for the Marvel Universe.

Jack Kirby may have started out as a boy who could barely afford to pay for the paper to sketch his ideas on, but by the mid-60’s he had become the “King” and was known by practically every fan who bought comics on a regular basis. And while you may think this would have afforded him the carte blanche that he enjoyed with Joe Simon back in the heyday of their partnership, that’s far from the truth. In fact, within a few short years, Kirby would find himself at odds with Marvel and ready to defect to that company’s competitor.

Next: Part 2 – American Dissolution

Mini-Review – Kirby: King of Comics

Rating: 5 out of 5 Stars (Highest Rating)

I have only scraped the surface of the events of Jack Kirby’s life from his childhood to his participation in the birth of the Marvel Universe. You can find many sources with more information on the “King’s” life, but start with Mark Evanier’s Kirby: King of Comics. Evanier spent years as Kirby’s assistant and is the foremost scholar on his life and work. In this book, he gives a full retrospective of Jack Kirby’s life and career, written in an easy to follow, breezy style. The book is also loaded with samples of the “King’s” artwork, including many rare sketches that Kirby aficionados will devour. At full retail of $40, it is a bit pricey, but Amazon.com and other sellers usually have it a pretty deep discount somewhere in the $26 – $32 range. In any case, it is a must have for Kirby fans and a great read for anybody interested in a behind the scenes look at the comic book industry from its nascent years to the mid-80’s.

Previously from The Kirby Files: The Essential Jack Kirby

John J. Joex is looking for Comic Book Artists to collaborate on one or more ideas he has developed. Click here for more info.

Visit The Jack Kirby Store for a comprehensive selection of compilations of his work available on Amazon.com including the Fourth World, Fantastic Four, Kamandi, Thor, Captain America, The Eternals, and many more.

By John J. Joex

How do you put together a “greatest hits” list of the King’s works?  Basically, just read everything he ever did, it’s all pretty darn good.  But then that could take some time seeing as he first got started in the field in the late thirties and continued to produce comic books up to the mid-eighties.  So I will give a shot at condensing his work to selected “must read” highlights from across his career.  This will hopefully provide a starting place for those new to Jack Kirby’s work or those who might want to go back and revisit the magic.

For this list, I am focusing on Kirby’s comic book work, not biographies or books about what he did (I will cover those in future columns).  I am also focusing on compilations, as those are more accessible than trying to seek out individual issues, and since a great deal of his work has been collected.  Enjoy the list, and send us your selections of things that I might have missed.  Then find yourself a comfortable chair, sit back, pick up these books, and be prepared for a journey through the imagination.

The Fourth World Omnibus Vol 1 – 4: Kirby’s Fourth World series was a masterpiece of comic books and literature that was unfortunately truncated by short-sighted company executives (and you thought that only happened to television shows).  In this series, the King gave an the epic battle of the New Gods of New Genesis vs. Darkseid and his minions from the pits of Apokolips.  These four volumes collect all four titles that Kirby interweaved his cosmic tale through:  Jimmy Olsen, New Gods, The Forever People, and Mister Miracle.  Vol 1 is kind of heavy on Jimmy Olsen, which was least connected to the saga though still great fun, but is just as essential as the others.

The Essential Fantastic Four Vol 1 – 5: Kirby’s stint on the Fantastic Four, from issue #1 to #102, was his longest continuous stay on any one single comic.  And with this comic, he and co-creater / co-author Stan Lee helped revolutionize the comic book industry.  Though it may infuriate diehard FF fans for me to say so, you could probably just skim through Vol 1.  Sure, it established the Fantastic Four and much of the team’s rogue gallery and far surpassed its contemporaries on the comic stands, but those issues do not hold up as well today and actually do not represent some of Kirby’s best artwork.  From Vol 2 forward, though, the series takes a step forward into the more cosmic epics it would become famous for and the King’s pencil work really starts to break loose.  Unfortunately, these volumes are black and white reprints, but the hard cover, full color Marvel Masterworks series editions are mostly out of print and rather pricey for non-diehard fans.  Fortunately, they are redoing those as more economically priced paperbacks, though with half the material of the b&w books.  And they have only made it to Vol 2 of that series which covers up to FF #20.

Kamandi Omnibus Vol 1 – 2: Sure, some might consider Kamandi to be a rip-off of the Planet of the Apes movies, but the fact is that Kirby did a prototype of this concept way back in Alarming Tales #1 in 1957 (six years before the book was even published).  And though the first issue apes some of the concepts of the first two movies, Kirby quickly takes Kamandi in his own direction, creating a fascinating “World After Disaster” in the process.  This one is just plain fun and I can read it over and over.  The collected volumes currently take this series through issue #20 and Kirby drew it through its 40th book so more should be on the way.

The Essential Thor Vol 1 – 4: The Fantastic Four was truly a classic, but The Mighty Thor, which Kirby and Lee worked on concurrently, amazingly managed to rival it.  Though it starts off as somewhat of a rudimentary superhero book, with Thor acting as Superman in a Viking get-up, it quickly takes a cosmic turn just like the FF comics.  And that is where this series really found its strength.  Kirby and Lee gave us an epic tale of the Norse Gods in the modern world and expanded on that already rich mythology.  In addition, the “Tales of Asgard” backup piece, also included in these volumes, acts as a warm-up for the cosmic saga that Kirby would graduate to with the Fourth World series.  Like the Essential Fantastic Four books, these are black and white reprints, but they give you a lot of bang for the buck and Vols 1 – 4 collect his complete run on the series.

Marvel Masterworks Golden Age Captain America Comics 1: Captain America may not have been the first patriotic superhero, but under Joe Simon and Jack Kirby’s guidance he became the best know and most popular super crime-fighter to wear the Stars and Stripes.  This book, though a bit pricey, collects the first four issues of Captain America Comics from the 1940’s.  That may not sound like a lot, but comics had a lot more pages back then, so this gives a good sampling of the character’s early adventures as well as a look at the nascent days of what would become a legendary team in the comics industry, Simon and Kirby.

The Best of Simon and Kirby: Speaking of that duo, this book gives a nice sampling of Simon and Kirby’s partnership of almost two decades.  The book ranges from Captain America to The Sandman to their Romance, Crime, and Horror comics, to the final days of their partnership when they worked together on The Fly.  It gives a good retrospective of their career with the one drawback being that each sample only makes you want to read more of the collection that it represents.

Sandman by Kirby and Simon: Yet more of the Simon and Kirby magic, the team jumped ship from Timely to D.C. in the 40’s and took over this existing character yet quickly remade him as their own.  In truth, The Sandman was not too much different than Captain America, he just wore a different type of costume and had slightly different powers, but Simon and Kirby provided him with plenty of memorable stories of his own.  This collected volume is not due out until August, but I have read many of these stories previously and highly recommend this book.

Essential Captain America Vol 1: This book collects Jack Kirby and Stan Lee’s run on the Silver Age revival of Captain America in the 1960’s.  The character first returned to action in The Avengers #4 (he had been in suspended animation in a block of ice in the Arctic since the end of WW II).  He joined that team and also set out on his own adventures in the Tales of Suspense title which eventually was renamed to Captain America.  While not quite as classic as the Kirby and Lee runs on The Fantastic Four and Thor, this one still has its moments.

Showcase Presents: Challengers of the Unknown: Reading the origin of the Challengers of the Unknown and the group’s early adventures could give you a feeling of déjà vu.  That’s because many of the ideas of this late-50’s book that Kirby did for D.C. carried over to his work on the early Fantastic Four issues in the 60’s.  Still, this is completely its own book, focusing on the non-super powered group of adventurers “living on borrowed time”.  Kirby only did the first handful of stories in this compilation, but it is still worth getting because The Challengers of the Unknown was one of D.C.’s underrated titles.

The Eternals Book 1 – 2: Jack Kirby came back to Marvel in 1976 after his defection to D.C. earlier that decade had not proved as rewarding as he had originally thought. This book is one of the highlights of that period from the late 70’s.  Many consider it his attempt to revisit the Fourth World from another perspective, but even though this one dealt with gods and cosmic themes, it followed a very different path than the epic he created several years prior.  However, it also seemed to lack the energy and excitement of the Fourth World stories.  Still, these books are worth a look and they are economically priced to boot.

Marvel Masterworks: Sgt. Fury and his Howling Commandos Vol 1: This hardbound collection may be a bit pricey, but it collects Kirby’s full run (issues #1-7 and #13) on the book he co-created.  The King served in the army in WW II and that experience had a profound effect on his life.  He brought much of that to the stories he did here.  And if you enjoy war comics (or just good comics in general), his run on D.C.’s The Losers in the mid-70’s is worth checking out as well.

Silver Star: Graphite Edition: As the comic book industry braced for change in the early 80’s, the nascent Pacific Comics, which helped pioneer creator-owned comics, lured over Jack Kirby to work on several titles.  Silver Star was one of these, and while the book lacks some of the inspiration of his earlier works, it still provided a good example of his genius at story-telling.  And this edition presents the six issue series in Kirby’s original pencils, without inks and colors, giving us a look at the stories exactly as he drew them.

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Previous: Remembering the King

Next: Jack Kirby, from American Dream to American Dissolution

John J. Joex is looking for Comic Book Artists to collaborate on one or more ideas he has developed. Click here for more info.

Visit The Jack Kirby Store for a comprehensive selection of compilations of his work available on Amazon.com including the Fourth World, Fantastic Four, Kamandi, Thor, Captain America, The Eternals, and many more.

By John J. Joex

Jack Kirby's biography by Mark Evanier

As a life long fan of Science Fiction and Fantasy, the influences on my interest in the genre are vast. From television, obviously Star Trek was the biggest influence along with the original Twilight Zone and Outer Limits (and, I must admit, Land of the Giants). From movies, I have to point to such examples as the first five Planet of the Apes movies, 2001: A Space Odyssey, Silent Running, Them, the Japanese monster movies, and the Wizard of Oz (I was already a lifetime member by the time Star Wars hit the theaters). From books, I was a fan of the pioneers of the genre such as H.G. Wells, Edgar Rice Burroughs, and Jules Verne, and only got into authors such as Arthur C. Clark, Isaac Asimov, and (my favorite) Ray Bradbury a little bit later. Then, another heavy influence came from my early love of comics, and more specifically those drawn and written by Jack Kirby.

Mr. Kirby, accurately dubbed the “King of Comics”, was the first comic book artist whose style I really paid attention to. Not that I didn’t notice the artwork in the comics, I just never paid much attention to the differentiation in styles between artists. However, I do remember noticing Kirby’s square-jawed, stone-faced characters along with the intricate technology and sprawling settings that filled the pages he drew. And while I didn’t pay too much attention to continuity at the time (this was the early seventies), I know that the comics I that I enjoyed the most included the Fantastic Four and Thor (my mom would buy us the bagged sets they sold in stores that often included reprints from the sixties classics). The cosmic, grandiose themes that permeated these titles out-shined the other comics I read and really appealed to my imagination.

Then I remember one year getting issue #16 of a title called Kamandi which set me on the path to becoming a comic fan and collector for the next twenty plus years. In retrospect, that issue was not particularly ground-breaking as far as comics go, but it really grabbed me. I remember reading it over and over again as it drew me into this post-apocalyptic world where animals had replaced humans as the rulers of the world. Next I found issues #18 at the newsstand and snatched it up, and before I knew it I was digging through musty boxes at the flea markets looking for the back issues (not too many comic shops around at that time). That set me on the road to following Kamandi and collecting the back issues that I missed. Which in turn lead me to start seeking out other Kirby creations from that period such as OMAC and The Demon, then the ultimately the Fourth World series which had preceded those titles.

The thing about Jack Kirby’s work was that imagination and creativity just exploded from the pages that he produced (at a pretty fast rate too of around fifteen per week). His mind seemed to know no bounds and he would come up with some of the wildest ideas, yet still manage to pull them off with some degree of credibility. Whether it was the war-time adventures of the Boy Commandos, the cosmic exploits of the Fantastic Four, the post-apocalyptic travels of Kamandi, or the near absurd exploits of Devil Dinosaur, Kirby delivered an experience to his readers. Of course his concepts missed the mark at times, i.e., the previously mentioned Devil Dinosaur, but even when he slipped off into the deep end, he still managed to draw his readers into the worlds he created, no matter how absurd.

His influence is immense as well. Whether working with long-time partners Joe Simon or Stan Lee or on his own, the books he drew have lived on. Characters that he created or helped create as far back as the 1940’s like Captain American and the Guardian still live on today. And he touched creatively almost all of the Marvel stock of characters from the 1960’s that have since gone on to become industry icons like the Fantastic Four and the Avengers. And for years after his initial work on those characters, Marvel showed his work to up and coming artists and told them to follow his lead. Then, during his time at DC in the 1970’s, he created the Fourth World series which, while cut short during his time working on it, has since become an integral part in that company’s pantheon. While Jack Kirby did not create the comic book industry, his work helped move it in new directions and define the look of the medium for many years.

This ongoing column will look at Jack Kirby’s legacy as well as many of his creations. For those familiar with the “King”, sit back and enjoy the trip through memory lane (and hopefully I will pass along some new tidbits you did not know about from time to time). For those not as familiar with Kirby’s work, fasten your seatbelts and prepare yourself for a journey through pure imagination!

Next: The Essential Jack Kirby, a must-read list of compilations of his work

John J. Joex is looking for Comic Book Artists to collaborate on one or more ideas he has developed.  Click here for more info.

Visit The Jack Kirby Store for a comprehensive selection of compilations of his work available on Amazon.com including the Fourth World, Fantastic Four, Kamandi, Thor, Captain America, The Eternals, and many more.