Jack Kirby (born Jacob Kurtzberg; August 28, 1917 – February 6, 1994) was an American comic book artist, writer and editor, widely regarded as one of the medium's major innovators and one of its most prolific and influential creators. He grew up in New York City and learned to draw cartoon figures by tracing characters from comic strips and editorial cartoons. He entered the nascent comics industry in the 1930s, drawing various comics features under different pen names, including Jack Curtiss, before ultimately settling on Jack Kirby. In 1940, he and writer-editor Joe Simon created the highly successful superhero character Captain America for

Timely Comics Timely Comics is the common name for the group of corporations that was the earliest comic book arm of American publisher Martin Goodman, and the entity that would evolve by the 1960s to become Marvel Comics. "Timely Publications became the name ...

, predecessor of

Marvel Comics Marvel Comics is an American comic book publishing, publisher and the flagship property of Marvel Entertainment, a divsion of The Walt Disney Company since September 1, 2009. Evolving from Timely Comics in 1939, ''Magazine Management/Atlas Co ...

. During the 1940s, Kirby regularly teamed with Simon, creating numerous characters for that company and for

National Comics Publications National Comics Publications, Inc. (also known as NCP or simply National) was an American comic book publishing company, and the direct predecessor of modern-day DC Comics. History The corporation was originally two companies: National Allied P ...

, later to become

DC Comics DC Comics, Inc. (doing business as DC) is an American comic book publisher and the flagship unit of DC Entertainment, a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery. DC Comics is one of the largest and oldest American comic book companies, with thei ...

. After serving in the

European Theater The European theatre of World War II was one of the two main theatres of combat during World War II. It saw heavy fighting across Europe for almost six years, starting with Germany's invasion of Poland on 1 September 1939 and ending with the ...

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

, Kirby produced work for DC Comics,

Harvey Comics Harvey Comics (also known as Harvey World Famous Comics, Harvey Publications, Harvey Comics Entertainment, Harvey Hits, Harvey Illustrated Humor, and Harvey Picture Magazines) was an American comic book publisher, founded in New York City by A ...

Hillman Periodicals Hillman Periodicals, Inc., was an American magazine and comic book publishing company founded in 1938 by Alex L. Hillman, a former New York City book publisher. It is best known for its true confession and true crime magazines; for the long-runni ...

and other publishers. At

Crestwood Publications Crestwood Publications, also known as Feature Publications, was a magazine publisher that also published comic books from the 1940s through the 1960s. Its title ''Prize Comics'' contained what is considered the first ongoing horror comic-book fea ...

, he and Simon created the genre of

romance comics Romance comics is a comics genre depicting strong and close romantic love and its attendant complications such as jealousy, marriage, divorce, betrayal, and heartache. The term is generally associated with an American comic books genre published t ...

and later founded their own short-lived comic company,

Mainline Publications Mainline Publications, also called Mainline Comics, was a short-lived, 1950s American comic book publisher established and owned by Jack Kirby and Joe Simon. Foundation With the 1950s backlash against comics, led by the psychiatrist Fredric Wer ...

. Kirby was involved in Timely's 1950s iteration, Atlas Comics, which in the next decade became Marvel. There, in the 1960s, Kirby created many of the company's major characters, including the Fantastic Four, the Hulk,

Ant-Man Ant-Man is the name of several superheroes appearing in books published by Marvel Comics. Created by Stan Lee, Larry Lieber and Jack Kirby, Ant-Man's first appearance was in ''Tales to Astonish'' #27 (January 1962) but first appeared in cost ...

Thor Thor (; from non, Þórr ) is a prominent god in Germanic paganism. In Norse mythology, he is a hammer-wielding god associated with lightning, thunder, storms, sacred groves and trees, strength, the protection of humankind, hallowing, an ...

, Iron Man, the

X-Men The X-Men are a superhero team appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics, first appearing in ''The X-Men'' #1 by artist/co-plotter Jack Kirby and writer/editor Stan Lee in 1963. Although initially cancelled in 1970 due to lo ...

, the

Silver Surfer The Silver Surfer is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character also appears in a number of movies, television, and video game adaptations. The character was created by Jack Kirby and first a ...

and the Black Panther, among numerous others. Kirby's titles garnered high sales and critical acclaim, but in 1970, feeling he had been treated unfairly, largely in the realm of authorship credit and creators' rights, Kirby left the company for rival DC. At DC, Kirby created his Fourth World saga which spanned several comics titles. While these series proved commercially unsuccessful and were canceled, the Fourth World's New Gods have continued as a significant part of the

DC Universe The DC Universe (DCU) is the fictional shared universe where most stories in American comic book titles published by DC Comics take place. Superheroes such as Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Robin, Martian Manhunter, The Flash, Green Lant ...

. Kirby returned to Marvel briefly in the mid-to-late 1970s, then ventured into television animation and

independent comics Alternative comics cover a range of American comics that have appeared since the 1980s, following the underground comix movement of the late 1960s and early 1970s. Alternative comics present an alternative to mainstream superhero comics which ...

. In his later years, Kirby, who has been called "the

William Blake William Blake (28 November 1757 – 12 August 1827) was an English poet, painter, and printmaker. Largely unrecognised during his life, Blake is now considered a seminal figure in the history of the poetry and visual art of the Romantic Age. ...

of comics", began receiving great recognition in the mainstream press for his career accomplishments, and in 1987 he was one of the three inaugural inductees of the Will Eisner Comic Book Hall of Fame. In 2017, Kirby was posthumously named a

Disney Legend The Disney Legends Awards is a Hall of Fame program that recognizes individuals who have made an extraordinary and integral contribution to The Walt Disney Company. Established in 1987, the honor was traditionally awarded annually during a speci ...

for his creations not only in the field of publishing, but also because those creations formed the basis for

The Walt Disney Company The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment industry, entertainment conglomerate (company), conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios (Burbank), Walt Disney Stud ...

's financially and critically successful media franchise, the

Marvel Cinematic Universe The Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) is an American media franchise and shared universe centered on a series of superhero films produced by Marvel Studios. The films are based on characters that appear in American comic books published by ...

. Kirby was married to Rosalind Goldstein in 1942. They had four children and remained married until his death from heart failure in 1994, at the age of 76. The Jack Kirby Awards and

Jack Kirby Hall of Fame The following is a list of winners of the Harvey Award, sorted by category. In 2017, the Harvey Awards decided to skip the 2017 awards ceremony and to reboot the ceremony for 2018 in order to give fewer awards by focusing on works instead of indivi ...

were named in his honor, and he is known as "The King" among comics fans for his many influential contributions to the medium.

Early life (1917–1935)

Jack Kirby was born Jacob Kurtzberg on August 28, 1917, at 147 Essex Street on the Lower East Side of

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

in New York City, where he was raised. His parents, Rose (Bernstein) and Benjamin Kurtzberg, were Austrian-Jewish immigrants, and his father earned a living as a

garment Clothing (also known as clothes, apparel, and attire) are items worn on the body. Typically, clothing is made of fabrics or textiles, but over time it has included garments made from animal skin and other thin sheets of materials and natural ...

factory worker.Hamilton, Sue L. ''Jack Kirby''. ABDO Group, 2006. , p. 4 In his youth, Kirby desired to escape his neighborhood. He liked to draw, and sought out places he could learn more about art. Essentially self-taught, Kirby cited among his influences the comic strip artists

Milton Caniff Milton Arthur Paul Caniff (; February 28, 1907 – April 3, 1988) was an American cartoonist famous for the ''Terry and the Pirates'' and ''Steve Canyon'' comic strips. Biography Caniff was born in Hillsboro, Ohio. He was an Eagle Scout and a r ...

Hal Foster Harold Rudolf Foster, FRSA (August 16, 1892 – July 25, 1982) was a Canadian-American comic strip artist and writer best known as the creator of the comic strip '' Prince Valiant''. His drawing style is noted for its high level of draftsmanship ...

, and

Alex Raymond Alexander Gillespie Raymond Jr. (October 2, 1909 – September 6, 1956) was an American cartoonist who was best known for creating the ''Flash Gordon'' comic strip for King Features Syndicate in 1934. The strip was subsequently adapted into many ...

, as well as such editorial cartoonists as C.H. Sykes, "Ding" Darling, and Rollin Kirby. He was rejected by

the Educational Alliance Educational Alliance is a leading social institution that has been serving communities in New York City’s Lower Manhattan since 1889. It provides multi-generational programs and services in education, health and wellness, arts and culture, and ...

because he drew "too fast with charcoal", according to Kirby. He later found an outlet for his skills by drawing cartoons for the newspaper of the Boys Brotherhood Republic, a "miniature city" on East 3rd Street where street kids ran their own government. At age 14, Kirby enrolled at the Pratt Institute in

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

, 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".

Career

Entry into comics (1936–1940)

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 A pseudonym (; ) or alias () is a fictitious name that a person or group assumes for a particular purpose, which differs from their original or true name (orthonym). This also differs from a new name that entirely or legally replaces an individua ...

Jack Curtiss). He remained until late 1939, when he began working for the theatrical animation company Fleischer Studios as an inbetweener (an artist who fills in the action between major-movement frames) on ''

Popeye Popeye the Sailor Man is a fictional cartoon character created by Elzie Crisler Segar.
at Cartoon Research.com. "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."Interview, ''The Comics Journal'' #134, reprinted in George 2002, p. 24 Around that time, the American comic book industry was booming. Kirby began writing and drawing for the comic-book packager

Eisner & Iger Eisner & Iger was a comic book "packager" that produced comics on demand for publishers entering the new medium during the late-1930s and 1940s period fans and historians call the Golden Age of Comic Books. Many of comic books' most significant c ...

, one of a handful of firms creating comics on demand for publishers. Through that company, Kirby did what he remembered as his first comic book work, for ''Wild Boy Magazine''. This included such strips as the science fiction adventure "The Diary of Dr. Hayward" (under the pseudonym Curt Davis), the

Western Western may refer to: Places *Western, Nebraska, a village in the US *Western, New York, a town in the US *Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western world, countries that id ...

crimefighter feature "Wilton of the West" (as Fred Sande), the

swashbuckler A swashbuckler is a genre of European adventure literature that focuses on a heroic protagonist stock character who is skilled in swordsmanship, acrobatics, guile and possesses chivalrous ideals. A "swashbuckler" protagonist is heroic, daring, ...

adventure "The Count of Monte Cristo" (again as Jack Curtiss), and the humor features "Abdul Jones" (as Ted Grey) and "Socko the Seadog" (as Teddy), all variously for ''

Jumbo Comics ''Jumbo Comics'' was an adventure anthology comic book published by Fiction House from 1938–1953. ''Jumbo Comics'' was Fiction House's first comics title; the publisher had previously specialized in pulp magazines. The lead feature for ''Jumbo C ...

'' and other Eisner-Iger clients.Jack Kirby
at the Grand Comics Database. He first used the surname Kirby as the pseudonymous Lance Kirby in two "Lone Rider" Western stories in

Eastern Color Printing The Eastern Color Printing Company was a company that published comic books, beginning in 1933. At first, it was only newspaper comic strip reprints, but later on, original material was published. Eastern Color Printing was incorporated in 19 ...

's ''

Famous Funnies ''Famous Funnies'' is an American comic strip anthology series published from 1934 to 1955. Published by Eastern Color Printing, ''Famous Funnies'' is considered by popular culture historians as the first true American comic book, following semin ...

'' #63–64 (Oct.–Nov. 1939). He ultimately settled on the pen name Jack Kirby because it reminded him of actor James Cagney. However, he took offense to those who suggested he changed his name in order to hide his Jewish heritage.

Partnership with Joe Simon

Kirby moved on to comic-book publisher and newspaper syndicator Fox Feature Syndicate, earning a then-reasonable $15-a-week salary. He began to explore superhero narrative with the comic strip ''The

Blue Beetle Blue Beetle is the name of three fictional superheroes who appear in a number of American comic books published by a variety of companies since 1939. The most recent of the companies to own rights to Blue Beetle is DC Comics, which bought the ri ...

'', published from January to March 1940, starring a character created by the pseudonymous Charles Nicholas, a house name that Kirby retained for the three-month-long strip. 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. Simon recalled in 1988, "I loved Jack's work and the first time I saw it I couldn't believe what I was seeing. He asked if we could do some freelance work together. I was delighted and I took him over to my little office. We worked from the second issue of

Blue Bolt Blue Bolt is a fictional American comic book superhero created by writer-artist Joe Simon in 1940, during the period fans and historians refer to as the Golden Age of Comic Books. Publication history Initially published by Novelty Press, ...

through ... about 25 years." After leaving Fox and collaborating on the premiere issue of

Fawcett Comics Fawcett Comics, a division of Fawcett Publications, was one of several successful comic book publishers during the Golden Age of Comic Books in the 1940s. Its most popular character was Captain Marvel (DC Comics), Captain Marvel, the alter ego of ...

' '' Captain Marvel Adventures'' ( arch1941), the first solo title for the previously introduced superhero, and for which Kirby was told to mimic creator C.C. Beck's drawing style, the duo were hired on staff at pulp magazine publisher Martin Goodman's

(later to become Marvel Comics). There Simon and Kirby created the patriotic superhero Captain America in late 1940. Simon, who became the company's editor, with Kirby as art director, said he negotiated with Goodman to give the duo 25 percent of the profits from the feature. The first issue of ''Captain America Comics'', released in early 1941, sold out in days, and the second issue's print run was set at over a million copies. The title's success established the team as a notable creative force in the industry. After the first issue was published, Simon asked Kirby to join the Timely staff as the company's art director. With the success of the Captain America character, Simon said he felt that Goodman was not paying the pair the promised percentage of profits, and so sought work for the two of them at

(later renamed

). Kirby and Simon negotiated a deal that would pay them a combined $500 a week, as opposed to the $75 and $85 they respectively earned at Timely. The pair feared Goodman would not pay them if he found they were moving to National, but many people knew of their plan, including Timely editorial assistant Stan Lee. When Goodman eventually discovered it, he told Simon and Kirby to leave after finishing work on ''Captain America Comics'' #10. Kirby was bitterly convinced it was specifically Lee who betrayed them, ignoring Simon's willingness to give him the benefit of the doubt. Kirby and Simon spent their first weeks at National trying to devise new characters while the company sought how best to utilize the pair. After a few failed editor-assigned ghosting assignments, National's

Jack Liebowitz Jacob S. Liebowitz (; born Yacov Lebovitz October 10, 1900 – December 11, 2000)Sandman The Sandman is a mythical character in European folklore who puts people to sleep and encourages and inspires beautiful dreams by sprinkling magical sand onto their eyes. Representation in traditional folklore The Sandman is a traditional charact ...

feature in '' Adventure Comics'' and created the superhero Manhunter. In July 1942 they began the ''

Boy Commandos Boy Commandos is a fictional organization from DC Comics first appearing in ''Detective Comics'' #64 (June 1942) by Joe Simon and Jack Kirby. They are a combination of "kid gang" characters, an international cast of young boys fighting Nazis — ...

'' feature. The ongoing "kid gang" series of the same name, launched later that same year, was the creative team's first National feature to graduate into its own title. It sold over a million copies a month, becoming National's third best-selling title. They scored a hit with the homefront kid-gang team, the

Newsboy Legion The Newsboy Legion is a teenage vigilante group in the DC Comics Universe. Created by Joe Simon and Jack Kirby, they appeared in their own self-titled feature which ran from ''Star-Spangled Comics'' #7 (April 1942) to #64 (January 1947). In 1970, ...

, featuring in ''

Star-Spangled Comics ''Star Spangled Comics'' was a comics anthology published by DC Comics which ran for 130 issues from October 1941 to July 1952. It was then retitled ''Star Spangled War Stories'' and lasted until issue #204 (February–March 1977). Publication his ...

''. In 2010, DC Comics writer and executive Paul Levitz observed that "Like

Jerry Siegel Jerome Siegel ( ; October 17, 1914 – January 28, 1996) Roger Stern. ''Superman: Sunday Classics: 1939–1943'' DC Comics/ Kitchen Sink Press, Inc./Sterling Publishing; 2006 was an American comic book writer. He is the co-creator of Superman, i ...

and

Joe Shuster Joseph Shuster (; July 10, 1914 – July 30, 1992), professionally known simply as Joe Shuster, was a Canadian-American comic book artist best known for co-creating the DC Comics character Superman, with Jerry Siegel, in ''Action Comics'' #1 (c ...

, the creative team of Joe Simon and Jack Kirby was a mark of quality and a proven track record."

World War II (1943–1945)

With World War II underway, Liebowitz expected that Simon and Kirby would be drafted, so he asked the artists to create an inventory of material to be published in their absence. The pair hired writers, inkers, letterers, and colorists in order to create a year's worth of material. Kirby was drafted into the

U.S. Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cl ...

on June 7, 1943. After basic training at

Camp Stewart Fort Stewart is a United States Army post in the U.S. state of Georgia. It lies primarily in Liberty and Bryan counties, but also extends into smaller portions of Evans, Long and Tattnall counties. The population was 11,205 at the 2000 census. ...

, near Savannah, Georgia, he was assigned to Company F of the 11th Infantry Regiment. He landed on Omaha Beach in

Normandy Normandy (; french: link=no, Normandie ; nrf, Normaundie, Nouormandie ; from Old French , plural of ''Normant'', originally from the word for "northman" in several Scandinavian languages) is a geographical and cultural region in Northwestern ...

on August 23, 1944, months after D-Day, although Kirby's reminiscences would place his arrival just 10 days after. Kirby recalled that a lieutenant, learning that comics artist Kirby was in his command, made him a scout who would advance into towns and draw

reconnaissance In military operations, reconnaissance or scouting is the exploration of an area by military forces to obtain information about enemy forces, terrain, and other activities. Examples of reconnaissance include patrolling by troops (skirmisher ...

maps and pictures, an extremely dangerous duty.

Postwar career (1946–1955)

After the war, Simon arranged work for Kirby and himself at

, where, through the early 1950s, the duo created such titles as the kid-gang adventure ''Boy Explorers Comics'', the kid-gang

Boys' Ranch ''Boys' Ranch'' was a six-issue American comic book series created by the veteran writer-artist team of Joe Simon and Jack Kirby for Harvey Comics in 1950. A Western in the then-prevalent "kid gang" vein popularized by such film series as "Our ...

'', the superhero comic ''Stuntman'', and, in vogue with the fad for

3-D movies 3D films are motion pictures made to give an illusion of three-dimensional solidity, usually with the help of special glasses worn by viewers. They have existed in some form since 1915, but had been largely relegated to a niche in the motion pict ...

, '' Captain 3-D''. Simon and Kirby additionally freelanced for

(the crime-fiction comic ''Real Clue Crime'') and for

('' Justice Traps the Guilty''). The team found its greatest success in the postwar period by creating

. Simon, inspired by

Macfadden Publications Macfadden Communications Group is a publisher of business magazines. It has a historical link with a company started in 1898 by Bernarr Macfadden that was one of the largest magazine publishers of the twentieth century. History Macfadden Publ ...

' romantic-confession magazine ''True Story'', transplanted the idea to comic books and with Kirby created a first-issue mock-up of ''

Young Romance ''Young Romance'' is a romantic comic book series created by Joe Simon and Jack Kirby for the Crestwood Publications imprint Prize Comics in 1947. Generally considered the first romance comic,Ro, Ronin. ''Tales to Astonish: Jack Kirby, St ...

''.Simon, Joe, with Jim Simon. ''The Comic Book Makers'' (Crestwood/II, 1990) ; reissued (Vanguard Productions, 2003) , pp. 123–125 Showing it to Crestwood general manager Maurice Rosenfeld, Simon asked for 50% of the comic's profits. Crestwood publishers Teddy Epstein and Mike Bleier agreed, stipulating that the creators would take no money up front. ''Young Romance'' #1 (cover-date Oct. 1947) "became Jack and Joe's biggest hit in years". The pioneering title sold a staggering 92% of its print run, inspiring Crestwood to increase the print run by the third issue to triple the initial number of copies. Initially published bimonthly, ''Young Romance'' quickly became a monthly title and produced the spin-off '' Young Love''—together the two titles sold two million copies per month, according to Simon—later joined by ''Young Brides'' and ''In Love'', the latter "featuring full-length romance stories". ''Young Romance'' spawned dozens of imitators from publishers such as Timely, Fawcett,

Quality Quality may refer to: Concepts *Quality (business), the ''non-inferiority'' or ''superiority'' of something *Quality (philosophy), an attribute or a property *Quality (physics), in response theory * Energy quality, used in various science discipl ...

, and Fox Feature Syndicate. Despite the glut, the Simon and Kirby romance titles continued to sell millions of copies a month. Bitter that

' 1950s iteration, Atlas Comics, had relaunched Captain America in a new series in 1954, Kirby and Simon created ''

Fighting American Fighting American is a superhero created in 1954 by the writer-artist team of Joe Simon and Jack Kirby. Published by the Crestwood Publications imprint Prize Comics, it was, contrary to standard industry practices of the time, creator-owned. Harv ...

''. Simon recalled, "We thought we'd show them how to do Captain America". While the comic book initially portrayed the protagonist as an anti-Communist dramatic hero, Simon and Kirby turned the series into a superhero satire with the second issue, in the aftermath of the Army-McCarthy hearings and the public backlash against the Red-baiting U.S. Senator Joseph McCarthy.

After Simon (1956–1957)

At the urging of a Crestwood salesman, Kirby and Simon launched their own comics company,

, securing a distribution deal with Leader News in late 1953 or early 1954, subletting space from their friend Al Harvey's Harvey Publications at 1860 Broadway. Reissued (Vanguard Productions, 2003) . Page numbers refer to 1990 edition. Mainline, which existed from 1954 to 1955, published four titles: the Western ''Bullseye: Western Scout''; the

war comic War is an intense armed conflict between states, governments, societies, or paramilitary groups such as mercenaries, insurgents, and militias. It is generally characterized by extreme violence, destruction, and mortality, using regular o ...

''Foxhole'' because

EC Comics Entertaining Comics, more commonly known as EC Comics, was an American publisher of comic books, which specialized in horror fiction, crime fiction, satire, military fiction, dark fantasy, and science fiction from the 1940s through the mid-1950 ...

and Atlas Comics were having success with war comics, but promoting theirs as being written and drawn by actual veterans; ''In Love'' because their earlier

romance comic Romance comics is a comics genre depicting strong and close romantic love and its attendant complications such as jealousy, marriage, divorce, betrayal, and heartache. The term is generally associated with an American comic books genre published t ...

'' Young Love'' was still being widely imitated; and the crime comic ''Police Trap'', which claimed to be based on genuine accounts by law-enforcement officials. After the duo rearranged and republished artwork from an old Crestwood story in ''In Love'', Crestwood refused to pay the team, who sought an audit of Crestwood's finances. Upon review, the pair's attorneys stated the company owed them $130,000 for work done over the past seven years. Crestwood paid them $10,000 in addition to their recent delayed payments. The partnership between Kirby and Simon had become strained. Simon left the industry for a career in advertising, while Kirby continued to freelance. "He wanted to do other things and I stuck with comics," Kirby recalled in 1971. "It was fine. There was no reason to continue the partnership and we parted friends." At this point in the mid-1950s, Kirby made a temporary return to the former

, now known as Atlas Comics, the direct predecessor of

. Inker

Frank Giacoia Frank Giacoia (July 6, 1924 – February 4, 1988) was an American comics artist known primarily as an inker. He sometimes worked under the name Frank Ray, and to a lesser extent Phil Zupa, and the single moniker Espoia, the latter used for collab ...

had approached editor-in-chief Stan Lee for work and suggested he could "get Kirby back here to pencil some stuff. While freelancing for National Comics Publications, the future

, Kirby drew 20 stories for Atlas from 1956 to 1957: Beginning with the five-page "Mine Field" in ''Battleground'' #14 (Nov. 1956), Kirby penciled and in some cases inked (with his wife, Roz) and wrote stories of the

hero Black Rider, the

Fu Manchu Dr. Fu Manchu () is a supervillain who was introduced in a series of novels by the English author Sax Rohmer beginning shortly before World War I and continuing for another forty years. The character featured in cinema, television, radio, com ...

-like Yellow Claw, and more. But in 1957, distribution troubles caused the "Atlas implosion" that resulted in several series being dropped and no new material being assigned for many months. It would be the following year before Kirby returned to the nascent Marvel. For DC around this time, Kirby co-created with writers Dick and Dave Wood the non-superpowered adventuring quartet the

Challengers of the Unknown The Challengers of the Unknown is a fictional group of adventurers appearing in comic books published by DC Comics. The quartet of adventurers explored paranormal occurrences while facing several fantastic menaces. The characters' provenance is ...

in ''

Showcase Showcase or vitrine may refer to: *Cabinet (furniture) *Display case Music * ''Showcase'' (Bill Anderson album), 1964 * ''Showcase'' (Patsy Cline album), 1961 * ''Showcase'' (Buddy Holly album), 1964 * ''Showcase'' (Philly Joe Jones album), 1959 ...

'' #6 (Feb. 1957), while contributing to such anthologies as ''

House of Mystery ''The House of Mystery'' is the name of several horror, fantasy, and mystery Mystery, The Mystery, Mysteries or The Mysteries may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Fictional characters *Mystery, a cat character in ''Emily the Strang ...

''. During 30 months freelancing for DC, Kirby drew slightly more than 600 pages, which included 11 six-page Green Arrow stories in ''

World's Finest Comics ''World's Finest Comics'' was an American comic book series published by DC Comics from 1941 to 1986. The series was initially titled ''World's Best Comics'' for its first issue; issue #2 (Summer 1941) switched to the more familiar name. Michael ...

'' and '' Adventure Comics'' that, in a rarity, Kirby inked himself. Kirby recast the archer as a science-fiction hero, moving him away from his Batman-formula roots, but in the process alienating Green Arrow co-creator

Mort Weisinger Mortimer Weisinger (; April 25, 1915 – May 7, 1978) was an American magazine and comic book editor best known for editing DC Comics' ''Superman'' during the mid-1950s to 1960s, in the Silver Age of comic books. He also co-created such features a ...

. He began drawing '' Sky Masters of the Space Force,'' a newspaper comic strip, written by the Wood brothers and initially inked by the unrelated

Wally Wood Wallace Allan Wood (June 17, 1927 – November 2, 1981) was an American comic book writer, artist and independent publisher, widely known for his work on EC Comics's titles such as '' Weird Science'', '' Weird Fantasy'', and ''MAD Magazine'' fr ...

. Kirby left National Comics Publications due largely to a contractual dispute in which editor Jack Schiff, who had been involved in getting Kirby and the Wood brothers the ''Sky Masters'' contract, claimed he was due royalties from Kirby's share of the strip's profits. Schiff successfully sued Kirby. Some DC editors had criticized him over art details, such as not drawing "the shoelaces on a cavalryman's boots" and showing a Native American "mounting his horse from the wrong side."

Marvel Comics in the Silver Age (1958–1970)

Several months later, after his split with DC, Kirby began freelancing regularly for Atlas despite harboring negative sentiments about Stan Lee (the cousin of Timely publisher Martin Goodman's wife), who Kirby believed had disclosed to Timely back in the 1940s that he and Simon were secretly working on a project for National. Because of the poor page rates, Kirby would spend 12 to 14 hours daily at his drawing table at home, producing four to five pages of artwork a day. His first published work at Atlas was the cover of and the seven-page story "I Discovered the Secret of the Flying Saucers" in '' Strange Worlds'' #1 (Dec. 1958). Initially with Christopher Rule as his regular inker, and later

Dick Ayers Richard Bache Ayers (; April 28, 1924 – May 4, 2014) was an American comic book artist and cartoonist best known for his work as one of Jack Kirby's inkers during the late-1950s and 1960s period known as the Silver Age of Comics, including on s ...

, Kirby drew across all genres, from romance comics to war comics to crime comics to Western comics, but made his mark primarily with a series of supernatural-fantasy and science fiction stories featuring giant,

drive-in movie A drive-in theater or drive-in cinema is a form of cinema structure consisting of a large outdoor movie screen, a projection booth, a concession stand, and a large parking area for automobiles. Within this enclosed area, customers can view movi ...

-style monsters with names like

Groot Groot () is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by Stan Lee, Larry Lieber and Jack Kirby, the character first appeared in '' Tales to Astonish'' #13 (Nov. 1960). An extraterrestrial, senti ...

, the Thing from Planet X; Grottu, King of the Insects; and

Fin Fang Foom Fin Fang Foom is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character has been depicted as an extraterrestrial creature resembling a dragon. The character first appeared in ''Strange Tales'' #89 (cover ...

for the company's many anthology series, such as ''

Amazing Adventures ''Amazing Adventures'' is the name of several anthology comic book series, all but one published by Marvel Comics. The earliest Marvel series of that name introduced the company's first superhero of the late-1950s to early-1960s period fans and h ...

,'' ''

Strange Tales ''Strange Tales'' is a Marvel Comics anthology series. The title was revived in different forms on multiple occasions. Doctor Strange and Nick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. made their debuts in ''Strange Tales''. It was a showcase for the science ...

,'' ''

Tales to Astonish ''Tales to Astonish'' is the name of two American comic book series and a one-shot comic published by Marvel Comics. The primary title bearing that name was published from January 1959 to March 1968. It began as a science-fiction anthology tha ...

,'' ''

Tales of Suspense ''Tales of Suspense'' is the name of an American comic book anthology series and two one-shot comics published by Marvel Comics. The first, which ran from 1959 to 1968, began as a science-fiction anthology that served as a showcase for such arti ...

,'' and '' World of Fantasy.'' His bizarre designs of powerful, unearthly creatures proved a hit with readers. Additionally, he freelanced for Archie Comics around this time, reuniting briefly with Joe Simon to help develop the series '' The Fly'' and '' The Double Life of Private Strong''. Additionally, Kirby drew some issues of ''

Classics Illustrated ''Classics Illustrated'' is an American comic book/magazine series featuring adaptations of literary classics such as ''Les Misérables'', '' Moby-Dick'', ''Hamlet'', and '' The Iliad''. Created by Albert Kanter, the series began publication ...

''. It was at Marvel that Kirby hit his stride once again in superhero comics, beginning with ''

The Fantastic Four The Fantastic Four is a superhero team appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The team debuted in '' The Fantastic Four'' #1 ( cover dated Nov. 1961), helping usher in a new level of realism in the medium. It was the fir ...

'' #1 (Nov. 1961), which some have observed shares many elements of Kirby's ''Challengers of the Unknown''. The landmark series became a hit that revolutionized the industry with its comparative naturalism and, eventually, a cosmic purview informed by Kirby's seemingly boundless imaginationone well-matched with the consciousness-expanding

youth culture Youth culture refers to the societal norms of children, adolescents, and young adults. Specifically, it comprises the processes and symbolic systems that are shared by the youth and are distinct from those of adults in the community. An emphasi ...

of the 1960s. For almost a decade, Kirby provided Marvel's house style, creating many of the Marvel characters and designing their visual motifs. At the editor-in-chief's request, he often provided new-to-Marvel artists "breakdown" layouts, over which they would pencil in order to become acquainted with the Marvel look. As artist

Gil Kane Gil Kane (; born Eli Katz ; April 6, 1926 – January 31, 2000) was a Latvian-born American comics artist whose career spanned the 1940s to the 1990s and virtually every major comics company and character. Kane co-created the modern-day versio ...

described: Highlights of Kirby's tenure also include the Hulk,

, the

and

Magneto A magneto is an electrical generator that uses permanent magnets to produce periodic pulses of alternating current. Unlike a dynamo, a magneto does not contain a commutator to produce direct current. It is categorized as a form of alternator, ...

, Doctor Doom, Uatu the Watcher,

Ego the Living Planet Ego the Living Planet is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character first appeared in ''Thor'' #132 (September 1966) and was created by writer Stan Lee and artist Jack Kirby. The character ha ...

, the

Inhumans The Inhumans are a fictional superhuman race of superheroes appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The comic book series has usually focused more specifically on the adventures of the Inhuman Royal Family, and many peop ...

DeFalco "1960s" in Gilbert (2008), p. 111: "The Inhumans, a lost race that diverged from humankind 25,000 years ago and became genetically enhanced." and their hidden city of Attilan, and the Black Panther, comics' first black superhero, and his

Afrofuturist Afrofuturism is a cultural aesthetic, and philosophy of science and history that explores the intersection of the African diaspora culture with science and technology. It addresses themes and concerns of the African diaspora through technocultur ...

nation,

Wakanda Wakanda () is a fictional country appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Wakanda has been depicted as being in East Africa. It is located in sub-Saharan Africa, and is home to the superhero Black Panther (comics), Black Pa ...

. Kirby initially was assigned to pencil the first Spider-Man story, but when he showed Lee the first six pages, Lee recalled, "I ''hated'' the way he was doing it! Not that he did it badly—it just wasn't the character I wanted; it was too heroic". Lee then turned to

Steve Ditko Stephen John Ditko Page contains two reproductions from school yearbooks. A 1943 Garfield Junior High School yearbook excerpt lists "Stephen Ditko". A 1945 Johnstown High School yearbook excerpt lists "Stephen J. Ditko" under extracurricular act ...

to draw the story that would appear in '' Amazing Fantasy'' #15, for which Kirby nonetheless penciled the cover. Lee and Kirby gathered several of their newly created characters together into the team title '' The Avengers'' and would bring back old characters from the 1940s such as the Sub-Mariner and Captain America. In later years, Lee and Kirby would contest who deserved credit for such creations as ''The Fantastic Four''. The story frequently cited as Lee and Kirby's finest achievement is " The Galactus Trilogy" in ''Fantastic Four'' #48–50 (March–May 1966), chronicling the arrival of

Galactus Galactus () is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Formerly a mortal man, Galactus is a cosmic entity who consumes planets to sustain his life force, and serves a functional role in the upkeep of t ...

, a cosmic giant who wanted to devour the planet, and his herald, the

. ''Fantastic Four'' #48 was chosen as #24 in the 100 Greatest Marvels of All Time poll of Marvel's readers in 2001. Editor Robert Greenberger wrote in his introduction to the story that "As the fourth year of the ''Fantastic Four'' came to a close, Stan Lee and Jack Kirby seemed to be only warming up. In retrospect, it was perhaps the most fertile period of any monthly title during the Marvel Age." Comics historian

Les Daniels Leslie Noel Daniels III, better known as Les Daniels (October 27, 1943 – November 5, 2011), was an American writer. Background Daniels attended Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island, where he wrote his master's thesis on ''Frankenstei ...

noted that " e mystical and metaphysical elements that took over the saga were perfectly suited to the tastes of young readers in the 1960s", and Lee soon discovered that the story was a favorite on college campuses. Kirby continued to expand the medium's boundaries, devising photo-collage covers and interiors, developing new drawing techniques such as the method for depicting energy fields now known as " Kirby Krackle", and other experiments. In 1968 and 1969, Joe Simon was involved in litigation with Marvel Comics over the ownership of Captain America, initiated by Marvel after Simon registered the copyright renewal for Captain America in his own name. According to Simon, Kirby agreed to support the company in the litigation and, as part of a deal Kirby made with publisher Martin Goodman, signed over to Marvel any rights he might have had to the character. At this same time, Kirby grew increasingly dissatisfied with working at Marvel, for reasons Kirby biographer Mark Evanier has suggested include resentment over Lee's media prominence, a lack of full creative control, anger over breaches of perceived promises by publisher Martin Goodman, and frustration over Marvel's failure to credit him specifically for his story plotting and for his character creations and co-creations. He began to both write and draw some secondary features for Marvel, such as "The Inhumans" in ''Amazing Adventures'' volume two, as well as horror stories for the anthology title '' Chamber of Darkness,'' and received full credit for doing so; but in 1970, Kirby was presented with a contract that included unfavorable terms such as a prohibition against legal retaliation. When Kirby objected, the management refused to negotiate any contract changes, bluntly dismissing his contribution to Marvel's success since they considered Lee solely responsible. Kirby, although he was earning $35,000 a year freelancing for the company (adjusted for inflation, the equivalent of almost $234,000 in 2021), subsequently left Marvel in 1970 for rival DC Comics, under editorial director Carmine Infantino.

DC Comics and the Fourth World saga (1971–1975)

Kirby spent nearly two years negotiating a deal to move to DC Comics, where in late 1970 he signed a three-year contract with an option for two additional years. He produced a series of interlinked titles under the blanket

sobriquet A sobriquet ( ), or soubriquet, is a nickname, sometimes assumed, but often given by another, that is descriptive. A sobriquet is distinct from a pseudonym, as it is typically a familiar name used in place of a real name, without the need of expla ...

" The Fourth World", which included a trilogy of new titles — '' New Gods,'' ''

Mister Miracle Mister Miracle (Scott Free) is a fictional superhero appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. He first appeared in ''Mister Miracle'' #1 (April 1971) and was created by Jack Kirby. Publication history Mister Miracle debuted in ...

,'' and '' The Forever People'' — as well as the extant ''

Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen ''Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen'' is an American comic book series published by DC Comics from September–October 1954 until March 1974, spanning a total of 163 issues. Featuring the adventures of Superman supporting character Jimmy Olsen, it co ...

.'' Kirby picked the latter book because the series was without a stable creative team and he did not want to cost anyone a job. The three books Kirby originated dealt with aspects of mythology he had previously touched upon in ''Thor''. ''The New Gods'' would establish this new mythos, while in ''The Forever People'' Kirby would attempt to mythologize the lives of the young people he observed around him. The third book, ''Mister Miracle'' was more of a personal myth. The title character was an escape artist, which Mark Evanier suggests Kirby channeled his feelings of constraint into. Mister Miracle's wife was based in character on Kirby's wife Roz, and he even caricatured Stan Lee within the pages of the book as Funky Flashman, a depiction Lee found hurtful while Kirby tried to downplay the insult when confronted about it by Lee's protege, Roy Thomas, who was similarly insulted with Flashman's sidekick, Houseroy. The central villain of the Fourth World series, Darkseid, and some of the Fourth World concepts, appeared in ''Jimmy Olsen'' before the launch of the other Fourth World books, giving the new titles greater exposure to potential buyers. The Superman figures and Jimmy Olsen faces drawn by Kirby were redrawn by Al Plastino, and later by

Murphy Anderson Murphy C. Anderson Jr. (July 9, 1926 – October 22, 2015) was an American comics artist, known as one of the premier inkers of his era, who worked for companies such as DC Comics for over fifty years, starting in the Golden Age of Comic Books in ...

. Les Daniels observed in 1995 that "Kirby's mix of slang and myth, science fiction and the Bible, made for a heady brew, but the scope of his vision has endured." In 2007, comics writer

Grant Morrison Grant Morrison, MBE (born 31 January 1960) is a Scottish comic book writer, screenwriter, and producer. Their work is known for its nonlinear narratives, humanist philosophy and countercultural leanings. Morrison has written extensively for th ...

commented that "Kirby's dramas were staged across Jungian vistas of raw symbol and storm ... The Fourth World saga crackles with the voltage of Jack Kirby's boundless imagination let loose onto paper." In addition to his artistic efforts, Kirby proposed a variety of new formats for comics such as planning to collect his published Fourth World stories into square-bound books, a format that would later be called the trade paperback, which would eventually become standard practice in the industry. However, Infantino and company were not receptive and Kirby's proposals only went as far as producing the one-shot black-and-white magazines ''Spirit World'' and ''In the Days of the Mob'' in 1971. Kirby later produced other DC series such as '' OMAC'', '' Kamandi'', '' The Demon'', and '' Kobra'', and worked on such extant features as " The Losers" in '' Our Fighting Forces''. Together with former partner Joe Simon for one last time, he worked on a new incarnation of the

Sandman The Sandman is a mythical character in European folklore who puts people to sleep and encourages and inspires beautiful dreams by sprinkling magical sand onto their eyes. Representation in traditional folklore The Sandman is a traditional charact ...

. Kirby produced three issues of the ''

1st Issue Special ''1st Issue Special'' was a comics anthology series from DC Comics, done in a similar style to their ''Showcase (comics), Showcase'' series. It was published from April 1975 to April 1976. The goal was to showcase a new possible first issue of an ...

'' anthology series and created Atlas the Great, a new Manhunter, and the Dingbats of Danger Street. Kirby's production assistant of the time, Mark Evanier, recounted that DC's policies of the era were not in sync with Kirby's creative impulses, and that he was often forced to work on characters and projects he did not like. Meanwhile, some artists at DC did not want Kirby there, as he threatened their positions in the company; they also had bad blood from previous competition with Marvel and legal problems with him. Since he was working from California, they were able to undermine his work through redesigns in the New York office.

Return to Marvel (1976–1978)

At the

comic book convention A comic book convention or comic-con is an event with a primary focus on comic books and comic book culture, in which comic book fans gather to meet creators, experts, and each other. Commonly, comic conventions are multi-day events hosted at co ...

Marvelcon '75, in 1975, Stan Lee used a Fantastic Four panel discussion to announce that Kirby was returning to Marvel after having left in 1970 to work for DC Comics. Lee wrote in his monthly column, "Stan Lee's Soapbox", "I mentioned that I had a special announcement to make. As I started telling about Jack's return, to a totally incredulous audience, everyone's head started to snap around as Kirby himself came waltzin' down the aisle to join us on the rostrum! You can imagine how it felt clownin' around with the co-creator of most of Marvel's greatest strips once more." Back at Marvel, Kirby both wrote and drew the monthly ''Captain America'' series as well as the ''Captain America's Bicentennial Battles'' one-shot in the oversized treasury format. He created the series '' The Eternals'', which featured a race of inscrutable alien giants, the Celestials, whose behind-the-scenes intervention in primordial humanity would eventually become a core element of Marvel Universe continuity. He produced an adaptation and expansion of the film '' 2001: A Space Odyssey'', as well as an abortive attempt to do the same for the classic television series ''

The Prisoner ''The Prisoner'' is a 1967 British television series about an unnamed British intelligence agent who is abducted and imprisoned in a mysterious coastal village, where his captors designate him as Number Six and try to find out why he abruptl ...

''. He wrote and drew ''Black Panther'' and drew numerous covers across the line. Kirby's other Marvel creations in this period include Machine Man and Devil Dinosaur. Kirby's final comics collaboration with Stan Lee, ''The Silver Surfer: The Ultimate Cosmic Experience'', was published in 1978 as part of the

Marvel Fireside Books ''Marvel Fireside Books'' were a series of full-color trade paperbacks featuring Marvel Comics stories and characters co-published by Marvel and the Simon & Schuster division Fireside Books from 1974 to 1979. The first book, 1974's '' Origins of M ...

series and is considered Marvel's first

graphic novel A graphic novel is a long-form, fictional work of sequential art. The term ''graphic novel'' is often applied broadly, including fiction, non-fiction, and anthologized work, though this practice is highly contested by comic scholars and industry ...

Film and animation (1979–1980)

Still dissatisfied with Marvel's treatment of him, and with an offer of employment from Hanna-Barbera, aided by the fact that he lived close in the same city Kirby left Marvel to work in animation. In that field for

Ruby-Spears Productions Ruby-Spears Productions (also known as Ruby-Spears Enterprises) was a Burbank, California–based American entertainment production company that specialized in animation with another branch in Rome, Italy. This company was founded in 1977 by vete ...

he did designs for '' Turbo Teen'', ''

Thundarr the Barbarian ''Thundarr the Barbarian'' is an American Saturday morning animated series, created by Steve Gerber and produced by Ruby-Spears Productions. The series ran for two seasons on ABC from October 4, 1980, to October 31, 1981, and was rerun on NBC ...

'' and other animated series for television. In addition to a superior pay to his comics work, Kirby enjoyed excellent relations with the staff, especially with the younger artists who typically credited him as their inspiration. He worked on ''

The New Fantastic Four ''The New Fantastic Four'' (on-screen title: ''The Fantastic Four'') is an animated series produced by DePatie–Freleng Enterprises and Marvel Comics Animation in 1978. It is the second animated series based on Marvel's comic book series ''Fanta ...

'' animated series, reuniting him with scriptwriter Stan Lee and they kept their relations sufficiently cordial on a professional level. He illustrated an adaptation of the Walt Disney movie ''

The Black Hole ''The Black Hole'' is a 1979 American science fiction film directed by Gary Nelson and produced by Walt Disney Productions. The film stars Maximilian Schell, Robert Forster, Joseph Bottoms, Yvette Mimieux, Anthony Perkins and Ernest Borgnin ...

'' for '' Walt Disney's Treasury of Classic Tales'' syndicated comic strip in 1979–80. In 1979, Kirby drew concept art for film producer Barry Geller's script treatment adapting

Roger Zelazny Roger Joseph Zelazny (May 13, 1937 – June 14, 1995) was an American poet and writer of fantasy and science fiction short stories and novels, best known for ''The Chronicles of Amber''. He won the Nebula Award three times (out of 14 nomin ...

's science fiction novel, ''

Lord of Light ''Lord of Light'' (1967) is a science fantasy novel by American author Roger Zelazny. It was awarded the 1968 Hugo Award for Best Novel, and nominated for a Nebula Award in the same category. Two chapters from the novel were published as novel ...

'', for which Geller had purchased the rights. In collaboration, Geller commissioned Kirby to draw set designs that would be used as architectural renderings for a Colorado

theme park An amusement park is a park that features various attractions, such as rides and games, as well as other events for entertainment purposes. A theme park is a type of amusement park that bases its structures and attractions around a central ...

to be called Science Fiction Land; Geller announced his plans at a November press conference attended by Kirby, former American football star

Rosey Grier Roosevelt "Rosey" Grier (born July 14, 1932) is an American actor, singer, Protestant minister, and former professional football player. He was a notable college football player for Pennsylvania State University who earned a retrospective plac ...

, writer

Ray Bradbury Ray Douglas Bradbury (; August 22, 1920June 5, 2012) was an American author and screenwriter. One of the most celebrated 20th-century American writers, he worked in a variety of modes, including fantasy, science fiction, horror, mystery fictio ...

, and others. While the film did not come to fruition, Kirby's drawings were used for the

CIA The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA ), known informally as the Agency and historically as the Company, is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States, officially tasked with gathering, processing, ...

's "

Canadian Caper The "Canadian Caper" was the joint covert rescue by the Canadian government and the CIA of six American diplomats who had evaded capture during the seizure of the United States embassy in Tehran, Iran, on November 4, 1979, after the Iranian ...

", in which some members of the

U.S. embassy in Tehran The Embassy of the United States of America in Tehran was the American diplomatic mission in the Imperial State of Iran. Direct bilateral diplomatic relations between the two governments were severed following the Iranian Revolution in 1979, and ...

, Iran, who had avoided capture in the

Iran hostage crisis On November 4, 1979, 52 United States diplomats and citizens were held hostage after a group of militarized Iranian college students belonging to the Muslim Student Followers of the Imam's Line, who supported the Iranian Revolution, took over ...

, were able to escape the country posing as members of a movie location-scouting crew.

Final years (1981–1994)

In the early 1980s, Kirby and

Pacific Comics Pacific Comics (PC) was an American comic book publisher that was active from 1981 to 1984. It was also a chain of comics shops and a distributor. It began at a San Diego, California, comic book shop owned by brothers Bill and Steve Schanes. Alo ...

, a new, non-newsstand comic-book publisher, made one of the industry's earliest deals for

creator-owned In the United States, creator ownership in comics is an arrangement in which the comic book creator retains full ownership of the material, regardless of whether the work is self-published or published by a corporate publisher. In some fields of ...

series, resulting in '' Captain Victory and the Galactic Rangers'', and the six-issue miniseries '' Silver Star'' (later collected in hardcover format in 2007). This, together with similar actions by other

publishers as

Eclipse Comics Eclipse Comics was an American comic book publisher, one of several independent publishers during the 1980s and early 1990s. In 1978, it published the first graphic novel intended for the newly created comic book specialty store market. It was ...

(where Kirby co-created the character Destroyer Duck in a benefit comic-book series published to help

Steve Gerber Stephen Ross Gerber (; September 20, 1947 – February 10, 2008) was an American comic book writer and creator of the satiric Marvel Comics character Howard the Duck. Other works include '' Man-Thing'', '' Omega the Unknown,'' '' Marvel Spotlig ...

fight a legal case against Marvel), helped establish a precedent to end the monopoly of the work-for-hire system, wherein comics creators, even freelancers, had owned no rights to characters they created. In 1983 Richard Kyle commissioned Kirby to create a 10-page autobiographical strip, " Street Code", which became one of the last works published in Kirby's lifetime. It was published in 1990, in the second issue of Kyle's revival of '' Argosy''. Kirby continued to do periodic work for DC Comics during the 1980s, including a brief revival of his "Fourth World" saga in the 1984 and 1985 '' Super Powers'' miniseries and the 1985 graphic novel ''The Hunger Dogs''. DC executives

Jenette Kahn Jenette Kahn (; born May 16, 1947) is an American comic book editor and executive. She joined DC Comics in 1976 as publisher, and five years later was promoted to president. In 1989, she stepped down as publisher and assumed the title of editor ...

and

Paul Levitz Paul Levitz (; born October 21, 1956) is an American comic book writer, editor and executive. The president of DC Comics from 2002–2009, he worked for the company for over 35 years in a wide variety of roles. Along with publisher Jenette Kahn ...

had Kirby re-design the Fourth World characters for the ''Super Powers'' toyline as a way of entitling him to royalties for several of his DC creations. In 1985, Kirby and

helped to create the concept and designs for the

Ruby-Spears Ruby-Spears Productions (also known as Ruby-Spears Enterprises) was a Burbank, California–based American entertainment production company that specialized in animation with another branch in Rome, Italy. This company was founded in 1977 by vete ...

animated television series '' The Centurions''. A comic-book series based on the show was published by DC and a toy line produced by

Kenner Kenner Products, known simply as Kenner, was an American toy company founded in 1946. Throughout its history, the Kenner brand produced several highly recognizable toys and merchandise lines including action figures like the original series of ' ...

. In the twilight of his life, Kirby spent a great deal of time sparring with Marvel executives over the ownership rights of his original page boards. At Marvel, many of these pages owned by the company (due to outdated and legally dubious copyright claims) were given away as promotional gifts to Marvel clients or simply stolen from company warehouses. After the passage of the Copyright Act of 1976, which greatly expanded artist copyright capabilities, comics publishers began to return original art to creators, but in Marvel's case only if they signed a release reaffirming Marvel's ownership of the copyright. In 1985, Marvel issued a release that demanded Kirby affirm that his art was created for hire, allowing Marvel to retain copyright in perpetuity, in addition to demanding that Kirby forego all future royalties. Marvel offered him 88 pages of his art (less than 1% of his total output) if he signed the agreement, but reserved the right to reclaim the art if Kirby violated the deal. After Kirby publicly slammed Marvel, calling the company thugs and claiming they were arbitrarily holding his creations, Marvel finally returned (after two years of deliberations) approximately 1,900 or 2,100 pages of the estimated 10,000 to 13,000 Kirby drew for the company. For the producer

Charles Band Charles Robert Band (born December 27, 1951) is an American film producer and director, known for his work on horror comedy movies. Career Band entered film production in the 1970s with Charles Band Productions. Dissatisfied with distributo ...

, Jack Kirby made concept art for the films ''Doctor Mortalis'' and ''Mindmaster'', which would later be released as ''

Doctor Mordrid ''Doctor Mordrid'' is a 1992 American superhero film directed by the team of Albert and Charles Band and starring Jeffrey Combs. Plot Anton Mordrid (Combs) is a wizard sent to Earth by a being called the Monitor, to stop the evil wizard Kabal ...

'' (1992) and ''Mandroid'' (1993), respectively. ''Doctor Mordrid'' began as a planned adaptation of the Marvel Comics character Dr. Strange, but Band's option expired. For

Topps Comics Topps Comics was a division of Topps, Topps Company, Inc. that published comic books from 1993 to 1998, beginning its existence during a short comics-industry boom that attracted many investors and new companies. It was based in New York City, at ...

, founded in 1993, Kirby retained ownership of characters used in multiple series of what the company dubbed " The Kirbyverse". These titles were derived mainly from designs and concepts Kirby had kept in his files, some intended initially for the by-then-defunct Pacific Comics, and then licensed to Topps for what became the " Jack Kirby's Secret City Saga" mythos. ''Phantom Force'' was the last comic book Kirby worked on before his death. The story was co-written by Kirby with Michael Thibodeaux and Richard French, based on an eight-page pitch for an unused Bruce Lee comic in 1978. Issues #1 and 2 were published by Image Comics with various Image artists inking over Kirby's pencils. Issue #0 and issues #3-8 were published by Genesis West, with Kirby providing pencils for issues #0 and 4. Thibodeaux provided the art for the remaining issues of the series after Kirby died.

Personal life and death

In the early 1940s, Kirby and his family moved to Brooklyn. There, Kirby met Rosalind "Roz" Goldstein, who lived in the same apartment building. The pair began dating soon afterward. Kirby proposed to Goldstein on her 18th birthday, and the two became engaged. They married on May 23, 1942. The couple had four children together: Susan (b. December 6, 1945), Neal (b. May 1948), Barbara (b. November 1952), and Lisa (b. September 1960). After being drafted into the

and serving in the

, Kirby corresponded with his wife regularly by

v-mail V-mail, short for Victory Mail, was a hybrid mail process used by the United States during the Second World War as the primary and secure method to correspond with soldiers stationed abroad. To reduce the cost of transferring an original letter t ...

, with Roz sending daily letters while she worked in a lingerie shop and lived with her mother at 2820 Brighton 7th Street in Brooklyn. During the winter of 1944, Kirby suffered severe

frostbite Frostbite is a skin injury that occurs when exposed to extreme low temperatures, causing the freezing of the skin or other tissues, commonly affecting the fingers, toes, nose, ears, cheeks and chin areas. Most often, frostbite occurs in the ha ...

and was taken to a hospital in London for recovery. Doctors considered amputating Kirby's legs, which had turned black, but he eventually recovered and was able to walk again. He returned to the United States in January 1945, assigned to

Camp Butner Camp Butner was a United States Army installation in Butner, North Carolina during World War II. It was named after Army general and North Carolina native Henry W. Butner. Part of it was used as a POW camp for German prisoners of war in the Unite ...

in North Carolina, where he spent the last six months of his service as part of the motor pool. Kirby was

honorably discharged A military discharge is given when a member of the armed forces is released from their obligation to serve. Each country's military has different types of discharge. They are generally based on whether the persons completed their training and th ...

as a private first class on July 20, 1945, having received a

Combat Infantryman Badge The Combat Infantryman Badge (CIB) is a United States Army military decoration. The badge is awarded to infantrymen and Special Forces soldiers in the rank of colonel and below, who fought in active ground combat while assigned as members of e ...

, a European/African/Middle Eastern Campaign Medal with a bronze

Battle Star A service star is a miniature bronze or silver five-pointed star inch (4.8 mm) in diameter that is authorized to be worn by members of the eight uniformed services of the United States on medals and ribbons to denote an additional award or ser ...

. In 1949, Kirby bought a house for his family in

Mineola, New York Mineola is a village in and the county seat of Nassau County, on Long Island, in New York, United States. The population was 18,799 at the 2010 census. The name is derived from an Algonquin Chief, Miniolagamika, which means "pleasant village". ...

, on Long Island. This would be the family's home for the next 20 years, with Kirby working out of a basement studio just wide, which the family referred to jocularly as "The Dungeon". He moved the family to Southern California in early 1969, both to live in a drier climate for the sake of daughter Lisa's health, and to be closer to the Hollywood studios Kirby believed might provide work. In an interview, Kirby's granddaughter Jillian Kirby said Kirby was a "liberal Democrat". On February 6, 1994, Kirby died at age 76 of heart failure in his

Thousand Oaks, California Thousand Oaks is the second-largest city in Ventura County, California, United States. It is in the northwestern part of Greater Los Angeles, approximately from the city of Los Angeles and from Downtown. It is named after the many oak tr ...

, home. He was buried at Valley Oaks Memorial Park in

Westlake Village, California Westlake Village is a city in Los Angeles County on its western border with Ventura County. The City of Westlake Village incorporated in 1981 becoming the 82nd municipality of Los Angeles County.Baker, Pam (2002). ''Thousand Oaks Westlake Vil ...

Artistic style and achievements

Brent Staples wrote in the ''New York Times'': Jack Kirby has been referred to as the "superhero of style", his artwork described by John Carlin in ''Masters of American Comics'' as "deliberately primitive and bombastic", and elsewhere has been compared to

Cubist Cubism is an early-20th-century avant-garde art movement that revolutionized European painting and sculpture, and inspired related movements in music, literature and architecture. In Cubist artwork, objects are analyzed, broken up and reassemble ...

Futurist Futurists (also known as futurologists, prospectivists, foresight practitioners and horizon scanners) are people whose specialty or interest is futurology or the attempt to systematically explore predictions and possibilities abo ...

, Primitivist and

outsider art Outsider art is art made by self-taught or supposedly naïve artists with typically little or no contact with the conventions of the art worlds. In many cases, their work is discovered only after their deaths. Often, outsider art illustrate ...

. His contributions to the

comic book A comic book, also called comicbook, comic magazine or (in the United Kingdom and Ireland) simply comic, is a publication that consists of comics art in the form of sequential juxtaposed panels that represent individual scenes. Panels are of ...

form, including the many characters he created or co-created and the many

genre Genre () is any form or type of communication in any mode (written, spoken, digital, artistic, etc.) with socially-agreed-upon conventions developed over time. In popular usage, it normally describes a category of literature, music, or other for ...

s he worked on have led to him being referred to as the definitive comic book artist. Given the number of places Kirby's artwork can now be found, the toys based on his designs, and the success of the

movies A film also called a movie, motion picture, moving picture, picture, photoplay or (slang) flick is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, feelings, beauty, or atmosphere ...

based upon his work, Charles Hatfield and Ben Saunders declare him "one of the chief architects of the American imagination." He was regarded as a hard working artist, and it has been calculated that he drew at least 20,318 pages of published art and a further 1,385 covers in his career. He published 1,158 pages in 1962 alone. Kirby defined comics in two periods. His work in the early 1940s with Joe Simon on the Captain America strip, and then his superhero comics of the 1960s with Stan Lee at

and on his own at

. Reprinted in George 2002, p. 61-73 Kirby also created stories in almost every genre of comics, from the autobiographical '' Street Code'' to the apocalyptic science fiction fantasy of Kamandi.

Narrative approach to comics

Like many of his contemporaries, Kirby was hugely indebted to

and

, who codified many of the tropes of narrative art in adventure comic strips. It has also been suggested that Kirby drew from Burne Hogarth, whose dynamic figure work may have informed the way Kirby drew figures; "his ferocious bounding, and grotesquely articulated figures seem directly descended from Hogarth's dynamically contorted forms." His style drew on these influences, all major artists at the time Kirby was learning his craft, with Caniff, Foster and Raymond between them imparting to the sequential adventure comic strip a highly illustrative approach based on realizing the setting to a very high degree. Where Kirby diverged from these influences, and where his style impacted on the formation of comic book art, was in his move away from an illustrated approach to one that was more dynamic. Kirby's artistic style was one that captured energy and motion within the image, synergizing with the text and helping to serve the narrative. In contrast, successors to the illustrative approach, such as

, found their work eventually reach an impasse. The art would illustrate, but in lacking movement caused the reader to contemplate the art as much as the written word. Later artists such as

Bryan Hitch Bryan Hitch (born 22 April 1970) is a British comics artist and writer. Hitch began his career in the United Kingdom for Marvel UK, working on titles such as ''Action Force'' and ''Death's Head'', before gaining prominence on American titles ...

and Alex Ross combined the Kirby and Kane approaches, using highly realistic backgrounds contrasted with dynamic characters to create what became known as a widescreen approach to comics. Kirby's dynamism and energy served to push the reader through the story where an illustrative, detailed approach would cause the eye to linger. His reduction of the presentation of a given scene down to one that represents the semblance of movement has led Kirby to be described as cinematic in his style. Having worked at Fleischer Studios before coming to comics, Kirby had a grounding in animation techniques for producing motion. He also realized that comic books were not subject to the same constraints as the newspaper strip. While other comic book artists recreated the layouts that format used, Kirby swiftly utilized the space a whole comic book page created. As Ron Goulart describes, "(h)e broke up the pages in new ways and introduced splash panels that stretched across two pages." Kirby himself described the creation of his dynamic style as a reaction both to the cinema and to the urge to create and compete: "I found myself competing with the movie camera. I had to compete with the camera. I felt like John Henry ... I tore my characters out of the panels. I made them jump all over the page. I tried to make that cohesive so that it would be easier to read ... I had to get my characters in extreme positions, and in doing so I created an extreme style which was recognizable by everybody."

Style

In the early 1940s Kirby would at times disregard panel borders. A character would be drawn in one panel, but their shoulder and arm would extend outside the border, into the gutter and sometimes on top of a nearby panel. A character may be punched out of one panel, feet being in the original panel and body in the next. Panels themselves would overlap, and Kirby would find new ways to arrange panels on a comic book page. His figures were depicted as lithe and graceful, although Kirby would place them thrusting from the page towards the reader. The late 1940s and 1950s saw Kirby move away from superhero comics and, working with Joe Simon, try his hand at a number of genres. Kirby and Simon created the

genre, and working in this as well as the war, Western and crime genres saw Kirby's style change. He left behind the diverse panel framing and layouts. The nature of these genres enabled him to channel the energy into the posing and blocking of characters, forcing the drama into the constraints of the panel. When Kirby and Stan Lee came together at

, his art developed again. His characters and representations became more abstract, less anatomically correct. He would place figures across three planes of a panel's depth to suggest three dimensions.Hatfield (2005), pp. 54–55 His backgrounds would be less detailed where he did not want the eye to be drawn. His figures would move actively along diagonals, and he utilized

foreshortening Linear or point-projection perspective (from la, perspicere 'to see through') is one of two types of graphical projection perspective in the graphic arts; the other is parallel projection. Linear perspective is an approximate representation, ...

to make a character appear to recede more deeply into the panel, so that they appeared to move towards the reader, off the page. During the 1960s Kirby also developed a talent for creating collages, initially utilizing them within the pages of ''

''. He introduced the

Negative Zone The Negative Zone is a fictional setting, an antimatter universe appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The location is depicted in various publications from Marvel, most frequently in ''Fantastic Four'' and '' Captain Mar ...

as a place within the Marvel Universe that would only be illustrated via collage. However, the reproduction within the published comics of the collages, coupled with the low page rate he was being paid and the time they took to develop saw their use discarded. Kirby would later return to the use of collage in his Fourth World work at

. Here he used them most often in the pages of '' Superman's Pal, Jimmy Olsen''. Kirby's style in the late 1960s was regarded so highly by Stan Lee that he instituted it as Marvel's house style. Lee would instruct other artists to draw more like Jack, and would also assign them books to work on using Kirby's breakdowns of the story so that they could more closely hew to Kirby's style. Over time, Kirby's style has become so well known that imitations, homages and pastiche are referred to as Kirbyesque. Kirby Krackle, also referred to as Kirby Dots, is Kirby's artistic convention of depicting the effect of energy. Within the drawing, a field of black, pseudo- fractal images is used to represent

negative space Negative space, in art, is the empty space around and between the subject(s) of an image. Negative space may be most evident when the space around a subject, not the subject itself, forms an interesting or artistically relevant shape, and s ...

around unspecified kinds of

energy In physics, energy (from Ancient Greek: ἐνέργεια, ''enérgeia'', “activity”) is the quantitative property that is transferred to a body or to a physical system, recognizable in the performance of work and in the form of hea ...

. Kirby Krackles are typically used in illustrations of explosions, smoke, the blasts from

ray guns A raygun is a science-fiction directed-energy weapon that releases energy, usually with destructive effect.Jeff Prucher, ''Brave New Words: The Oxford Dictionary of Science Fiction,'' Oxford University Press, 2007, page 162 They have various ...

, "cosmic" energy, and outer space phenomena. The advanced technology Kirby drew, from the Afrofuturistic state of

through the

Mother Box Mother Boxes are fictional devices in Jack Kirby's ''Fourth World'' setting in the DC Universe. The Mother Boxes appeared in the feature films ''Justice League'' and ''Zack Snyder's Justice League'' of the DC Extended Universe. History Created b ...

es of the New Gods to the spaceships and design of the Celestials is gathered together under the collective term "Kirby Tech".

John Paul Leon John Paul Leon (April 26, 1972 – May 2, 2021) was an American comic book artist, known for his work on the Milestone Comics series ''Static'', and the Marvel Comics limited series ''Earth X''. Leon also provided artwork for a number of style g ...

has described it as "It's tech; it's mechanical even if it's alien, but it's drawn in such an organic way that you don't question it. It's just an extension of his world. I'm not sure who else you could say did that." Kirby's depiction of technology is linked by Charles Hatfield to Leo Marx's idea of the technological sublime, specifically utilizing

Edmund Burke Edmund Burke (; 12 January NS.html"_;"title="New_Style.html"_;"title="/nowiki>New_Style">NS">New_Style.html"_;"title="/nowiki>New_Style">NS/nowiki>_1729_–_9_July_1797)_was_an_NS.html"_;"title="New_Style.html"_;"title="/nowiki>New_Style">N ...

's definition of the Sublime. Using this definition, Kirby's view and depiction of technology is that of it as something to be feared.

Working method

Unlike many of his contemporaries, Kirby did not use preliminary sketches, rough work or layouts. He would instead start with the blank board and draw the story onto the page from top to bottom, start to finish. Many artists, including Carmine Infantino, Gil Kane and Jim Steranko have remarked on the unusual nature of his method. Kirby would rarely erase while working; the art, and therefore the story, would flow from him almost fully formed. Kirby's pencils had a reputation for being detailed, to the point that they were difficult to ink.

Will Eisner William Erwin Eisner (March 6, 1917 – January 3, 2005) was an American cartoonist, writer, and entrepreneur. He was one of the earliest cartoonists to work in the American comic book industry, and his series '' The Spirit'' (1940–1952) was no ...

remembers even in the early years that Kirby's pencils were "tight". Working for Eisner, Kirby initially inked with a pen, not confident enough in his ability to use the Japanese brushes Lou Fine and Eisner preferred. By the time Kirby worked with Joe Simon, Kirby had taught himself to use a brush, and would on occasion ink over inked work where he felt it was needed. Due to the amount of work Kirby produced, it was rare for him to ink his own work. Instead the pencilled pages were sent on to an inker. Different inkers would therefore impact on the published version of Kirby's art, with Kirby himself noting that individual inkers were suited to different genres.Interview, ''The Nostalgia Journal'' #30–1, November 1976 – December 1976, reprinted in George 2002, p. 10 For a period during the 1950s, when work had dried up, it's been suggested by Harry Mendryk that Kirby inked himself. By the late 1960s, Kirby preferred to pencil, feeling that "inking in itself is a separate kind of art." Stan Lee recalls Kirby not really being too interested in who inked him: "I cared much more about who inked Kirby than Kirby did ... Kirby never seemed to care who inked him ... I think Kirby felt his style was so strong that it just didn't matter who inked him".

Chic Stone Charles Eber "Chic" Stone (January 4, 1923 – July 28, 2000)Charles E. Stone
at the ...

, an inker of Kirby's during the 1960s at Marvel, recalled "(T)he two best nkersfor Jack were Mike Royer and

Steve Rude Steve Rude (born December 31, 1956) is an Americans, American comics artist. He is best known as the co-creator of ''Nexus (comics), Nexus''. Early life Steve Rude was born on December 31, 1956, in Madison, Wisconsin. He attended the Milwaukee Sch ...

. Both truly maintained the integrity of Jack's pencils." The size of the art board made a difference to Kirby's style. During the late 1960s the industry shrunk the size of the art board artists used. Prior to 1967, art boards were around 14 x 21 inches, being reproduced at 7 x 10 inches. After 1967 the size of the board shrunk to 10 x 15. This affected the way Kirby drew. Gil Kane noted that "the amount of space around the figures became less and less ... The figures became bigger and bigger, and they couldn't be contained by a single panel or even a single page". Professor Craig Fischer asserts Kirby at first "hated" the new size. Fischer argues that it took Kirby around 18 months to negotiate a way of working at the smaller size. Initially he retreated to a less detailed, close up style, as seen in '' Fantastic Four'' #68. In adjusting to the new size, Kirby began utilizing depth to bring the pages to life, increasing his use of foreshortening. By the time Kirby had moved to DC, he started to incorporate the use of two-page spreads into his art more. These spreads helped define the mood of the story, and came to define Kirby's late era work.

Exhibitions and original art

Kirby's art has been exhibited as part of the Masters of American Comics joint exhibition by

The Hammer Museum The Hammer Museum, located in Haines, Alaska, U.S., is the first museum in the world dedicated to hammers. The museum was founded in 2002 and became a non-profit organization in 2004. It features over 1,400 hammers and related tools, ranging fr ...

and

Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles (MOCA) is a contemporary art museum with two locations in greater Los Angeles, California. The main branch is located on Grand Avenue in Downtown Los Angeles, near the Walt Disney Concert Hall. MOCA's ...

from November 2005 to March 2006. In 2015 Charles Hatfield curated the "Comic Book Apocalypse" exhibition at the California State University, Northridge Art Galleries. The exhibition focused on Kirby's work from 1965 onward. In 2018 "A Jack Kirby Odyssey" was organized by Tom Kraft. The exhibition displayed photocopies of unpublished Kirby pencils for stories intended for publication in the '' 2001: A Space Odyssey'' comic book adaptation series as well as reproductions of the published work. In 1994 The Cartoon Art Trust organized an exhibition in

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

of Kirby art, "Jack Kirby: The King of Comic Books", in the wake of Kirby's death. In 2010 Dan Nadel and

Paul Gravett Paul Gravett is a London-based journalist, curator, writer, and broadcaster who has worked in comics publishing since 1981. He is the founder of ''Escape Magazine'', and for many years wrote a monthly article on comics appearing in the UK magaz ...

curated "Jack Kirby: The House That Jack Built", a retrospective of Kirby's career from 1942 to 1985. The exhibition was part of the

Fumetto International Comics Festival The Fumetto International Comics Festival is held annually at Lucerne, Switzerland. The festival was established in 1992 as the Luzern Comix Festival, before growing in size and renaming itself in 2003. The festival has helped Switzerland's comics ...

held in Lucerne, Switzerland. Kirby's original art regularly sells at auction, with

Heritage Auctions Heritage Auctions is an American multi-national auction house based in Dallas, Texas. Founded in 1976, Heritage is an auctioneer of numismatic collections, comics, fine art, books, luxury accessories, real estate, and memorabilia from film, mu ...

listing the cover of ''

'' #84, inked by

as realizing a price of $167,300 in a February 2014 auction. A large portion of Kirby's art remains unaccounted for. Work created around

would have been reused or pulped due to paper shortages.

had a policy of destroying original art in the 1950s.

would also destroy art, up until 1960, when it stored artwork prior to a policy which saw art returned to the artist. In Kirby's case, it's reported he was returned roughly 2,100 pieces of the estimated 10,000 pages drawn. The whereabouts of these missing pages are unknown, although some do turn up for sale, provenance unknown.

Kirby's estate

Subsequent releases

Lisa Kirby announced in early 2006 that she and co-writer Steve Robertson, with artist Mike Thibodeaux, planned to publish via the Marvel Comics

Icon An icon () is a religious work of art, most commonly a painting, in the cultures of the Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, and Catholic churches. They are not simply artworks; "an icon is a sacred image used in religious devotion". The most ...

imprint a six-issue limited series, '' Jack Kirby's Galactic Bounty Hunters'', featuring characters and concepts created by her father for ''Captain Victory''. The series, scripted by Lisa Kirby, Robertson, Thibodeaux, and Richard French, with pencil art by Jack Kirby and Thibodeaux, and inking by Scott Hanna and

Karl Kesel Karl Kesel (born January 7, 1959, Victor, New York) is an American comics writer and inker whose works have primarily been under contract for DC Comics. He is a member of Periscope Studio and is best known for his collaborations with fellow artis ...

primarily, ran an initial five issues (Sept. 2006–Jan. 2007) and then a later final issue (Sept. 2007). Marvel posthumously published a "lost" Kirby/Lee ''Fantastic Four'' story, ''Fantastic Four: The Lost Adventure'' (April 2008), with unused pages Kirby had originally drawn for a story that was partially published in ''Fantastic Four'' #108 (March 1971). In 2011,

Dynamite Entertainment Dynamite Entertainment is an American comic book publisher founded by Nick Barrucci in 2004 at Mount Laurel, New Jersey. It is best known as the owners of '' The Boys'' franchise across several IP medias. Dynamite primarily publishes adaptations ...

published ''Kirby: Genesis'', an eight-issue miniseries by writer

Kurt Busiek Kurt Busiek ( ) (born September 16, 1960) is an American comic book writer. His work includes the '' Marvels'' limited series, his own series titled ''Astro City'', a four-year run on '' The Avengers, Thunderbolts'' and '' Superman.'' Early lif ...

and artists Jack Herbert and Alex Ross, featuring Kirby-owned characters previously published by Pacific Comics and

Copyright dispute

On September 16, 2009, Kirby's four children served notices of termination to The Walt Disney Studios, 20th Century Fox, Universal Pictures, Paramount Pictures, and Sony Pictures to attempt to gain control of various Silver Age Marvel characters. Marvel sought to invalidate those claims. In mid-March 2010 Kirby's children "sued Marvel to terminate copyrights and gain profits from irby'scomic creations." In July 2011, the

United States District Court for the Southern District of New York The United States District Court for the Southern District of New York (in case citations, S.D.N.Y.) is a federal trial court whose geographic jurisdiction encompasses eight counties of New York State. Two of these are in New York City: New ...

issued a

summary judgment In law, a summary judgment (also judgment as a matter of law or summary disposition) is a judgment entered by a court for one party and against another party summarily, i.e., without a full trial. Summary judgments may be issued on the merits of ...

in favor of Marvel, which was affirmed in August 2013 by the

United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit The United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit (in case citations, 2d Cir.) is one of the thirteen United States Courts of Appeals. Its territory comprises the states of Connecticut, New York and Vermont. The court has appellate ju ...

. The Kirby children filed a petition on March 21, 2014, for a review of the case by the Supreme Court of the United States, but a settlement was reached on September 26, 2014, and the family requested that the petition be dismissed. While the settlement has left uncertain the legal right to works governed by the

Copyright Act of 1909 The Copyright Act of 1909 () was a landmark statute in United States statutory copyright law. It went into effect on July 1, 1909. The 1909 Act was repealed and superseded by the Copyright Act of 1976, which went into effect on January 1, 1978; ...

created before the Copyright Act of 1976 came into force, the Kirby children's attorney,

Marc Toberoff Marc Toberoff is an intellectual property attorney specializing in copyright and entertainment litigation. He is known for representing the estates of Superman's co-creators, Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, in ongoing litigation with Warner Bros. ...

, said (in 2014) that the issue of creators' rights to reclaim the work done as independent contractors remains, and other potential claims have yet to become ripe.

Legacy

* Glen David Gold wrote in ''Masters of American Comics'' that, "Kirby elevates all of us into a realm where we fly among the beating wings of the immortal and the omnipotent, the gods and the monsters, so that we, dreamers all, can play host to the demons of creation, can become our own myths. * Michael Chabon, in his afterword to his Pulitzer Prize-winning novel ''The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay'', a fictional account of two early comics pioneers, wrote, "I want to acknowledge the deep debt I owe in this and everything else I've ever written to the work of the late Jack Kirby, the King of Comics." * Director James Cameron said Kirby inspired the look of his film ''Aliens (film), Aliens'', calling it "not intentional in the sense I sat down and looked at all my favorite comics and studied them for this film, but, yeah, Kirby's work was definitely in my subconscious programming. The guy was a visionary. Absolutely. And he could draw machines like nobody's business. He was sort of like A. E. van Vogt and some of these other science-fiction writers who are able to create worlds that — even though we live in a science-fictionary world today — are still so far beyond what we're experiencing." * Several Kirby images are among those on the "Marvel Super Heroes" set of commemorative stamps issued by the U.S. Postal Service on July 27, 2007. Ten of the stamps are portraits of individual Marvel characters and the other 10 stamps depict individual Marvel comic book covers. According to the credits printed on the back of the pane, Kirby's artwork is featured on: Captain America, The Thing, Silver Surfer, ''The Amazing Spider-Man'' #1, ''The Incredible Hulk'' #1, ''Captain America'' #100, ''The X-Men'' #1, and ''The Fantastic Four'' #3. * In the 1990s ''Superman: The Animated Series'' television show, police detective Dan Turpin was modeled on Kirby. * In the 1998 episode "The Demon Within" of ''The New Batman Adventures'', Klarion the Witch Boy, Klarion has Etrigan the Demon, Etrigan break into the Kirby Cake Company. Both characters were created by Kirby. * In 2002, jazz percussionist Gregg Bendian released a seven-track CD titled ''Requiem for Jack Kirby'', inspired by Kirby's art and storytelling. Titles of the instrumental cuts include "Kirby's Fourth World", "New Gods", "The Mother Box", "Teaneck in the Marvel Age" and "Air Above Zenn-La". * The Cartoon Network/Adult Swim series ''Minoriteam'' uses artwork as a homage to Jack Kirby (credited under Jack "The King" Kirby, who is thanked in the show's end credits). * Various comic-book and cartoon creators have done homages to Kirby. Examples include the ''Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (Mirage Studios), Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles'' Mirage Comics series ("Kirby and the Warp Crystal" in ''Donatello'' #1, and its animated counterpart, "The King", from the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2003 TV series), 2003 cartoon series). The episode of ''Superman: The Animated Series'' entitled "Apokolips ... Now!, Part 2" was dedicated to his memory. * As of June 2018, Hollywood films based on characters Kirby co-created have collectively earned nearly US$7.4 billion. Kirby himself is a character portrayed by Luis Yagüe in the 2009 Spanish short film ''The King & the Worst,'' which is inspired by Kirby's service in World War II. He is portrayed by Michael Parks in a brief appearance in the fact-based drama ''Argo (2012 film), Argo'' (2012), about the

. * A play based on Kirby's life, ''King Kirby'', by Crystal Skillman and ''New York Times'' bestselling comics writer Fred Van Lente, was staged at Brooklyn's Brick Theater as part of its annual Comic Book Theater Festival. The play was a ''New York Times'' Critics' Pick selection and was funded by a widely publicized Kickstarter campaign. * The 2016 novel ''I Hate the Internet'' frequently mentions Kirby as a "central personage" of the novel. * To mark Jack Kirby's 100th birthday in 2017,

announced a series of One-shot (comics), one-shots involving characters that Kirby had created, including The Newsboy Legion and the Boy Commandos, Manhunter, Sandman, the New Gods, Darkseid, and ending with Black Racer (DC Comics), The Black Racer and Mister Miracle (Shilo Norman), Shilo Norman. * In May 2004, in ''Fantastic Four'' issue #511 (written by Mark Waid and penciled by Mike Weiringo), Reed, Sue, and Johnny travel to Heaven to recover the soul of the deceased Ben Grimm. After passing a trial, they are allowed to meet God himself, who is depicted as Jack Kirby. God explains that he is seen by them as what he is to them, and that he considers the fact that they see him as Kirby to be an honor. * Alan Moore delivers his tribute to Jack Kirby in his next-to-last issue of the Supreme (comics), ''Supreme'' series, ''Supreme'' #62 (The Return #6) "New Jack City" (March 2000), illustrated by Rob Liefeld and, for the Kirbyesque part, Rick Veitch. In this story Supreme enters a realm of pure ideas where he meets a gigantic floating Jack Kirby head, smoking a cigar. "''This gigantic entity explains to him that he used to be a flesh and blood artist but now he is entirely in the realm of ideas, which is much better because flesh and blood has its limitations because he can only do four or five pages a day tops, where now he exists purely in the world of ideas''". * The Disney California Adventure attraction Guardians of the Galaxy – Mission: Breakout!, ''Guardians of the Galaxy'' – Mission: Breakout! is surrounded by markings on the ground that serve as a tribute to the Kirby Krackle.

Filmography

* Kirby guest starred in the episode "Bounty Hunter" of ''Starsky & Hutch'' as an Officer. * Kirby made an un-credited cameo appearance in the episode "No Escape" of ''The Incredible Hulk (1978 TV series), The Incredible Hulk''. He can be spotted in the hospital scene as a police sketch artist who is recreating, from the a witness's description, a picture of the man he claimed to have saved his life. Instead of resembling the live-action Hulk, this illustration is instantly recognizable as the Hulk as he appeared in the original comics. * Kirby appeared as himself in the episode "You Can't Win" of ''Bob (TV series), Bob''.

Awards and honors

Jack Kirby received a great deal of recognition over the course of his career, including the 1967 Alley Award for Best Pencil Artist. The following year he was runner-up behind Jim Steranko. His other Alley Awards were: * 1963: Favorite Short Story – "The Human Torch Meets Captain America", by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, ''

'' #114 * 1964: ** Best Novel – "Captain America Joins the Avengers", by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, from '' The Avengers'' #4 ** Best New Strip or Book – "Captain America", by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, in ''

'' * 1965: Best Short Story – "The Origin of the Red Skull", by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, ''Tales of Suspense'' #66 * 1966: Best Professional Work, Regular Short Feature – "Tales of Asgard" by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, in ''

'' * 1967: Best Professional Work, Regular Short Feature – (tie) "Tales of Asgard" and "Tales of the

", both by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, in ''Thor'' * 1968: ** Best Professional Work, Best Regular Short Feature – "Tales of the Inhumans", by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, in ''Thor'' ** Best Professional Work, Hall of Fame – ''Fantastic Four'', by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby; ''Nick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. (comic book), Nick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D.'', by Jim Steranko 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 received an Inkpot Award in 1974 and was inducted into the Shazam Awards Hall of Fame in 1975. In 1987 he was an inaugural inductee into the Will Eisner Comic Book Hall of Fame. He received the 1993 Bob Clampett Humanitarian Award at that year's Eisner Awards. His work was honored posthumously in 1998: The collection of his New Gods material, ''Jack Kirby's New Gods'', edited by Bob Kahan, won both the Harvey Award for Best Domestic Reprint Project, and the Eisner Award for Best Archival Collection/Project. On July 14, 2017, Jack Kirby was named a Disney Legends, Disney Legend for his part in the creation of numerous characters that would comprise Disney's

. The Jack Kirby Awards and

were named in his honor. He was the posthumous recipient of the Bill Finger Award in 2017. With

, Robert Crumb, Harvey Kurtzman, Gary Panter and Chris Ware, Kirby was among the artists honored in the exhibition "Masters of American Comics" at the Jewish Museum (New York), Jewish Museum in New York City from September 16, 2006, to January 28, 2007. Asteroid 51985 Kirby, discovered September 22, 2001, was named in his honor. Additional on February 6, 2018. A Kirby (crater), crater on Mercury (planet), Mercury, located near the north pole, was named in his honor in 2019.

Bibliography

This is an abridged listing of Kirby's comics work (interior pencil art) for the two main comics publishers, DC Comics and Marvel Comics. For his work at DC it lists any title Kirby worked on for eight or more issues between 1970 and 1976. Of his Marvel Comics work, it lists any title Kirby worked on for eight or more issues between 1959 and 1978.

DC Comics

* ''Etrigan the Demon, Demon'' #1–16 (1972–1974) * ''Forever People'' #1–11 (1971–1972) * ''Kamandi, Kamandi: The Last Boy on Earth'' #1–40 (1972–1976) * ''

'' #1–18 (1971–1974) * '' New Gods'' #1–11 (1971–1972) * ''OMAC (Buddy Blank), O.M.A.C.'' #1–8 (1974–1975) * '' Our Fighting Forces'' (The Losers (comics), The Losers) #151–162 (1974–1975) * ''

'' #133–139, 141–148 (1970–1972)

Marvel Comics

* ''

'' #1–4 (Inhumans) (1970) * ''The Avengers (comic book), Avengers'' #1–8 (full pencils), #14–17 (layouts only, pencils by Don Heck) (1963–1965) * '' Black Panther'' #1–12 (1977–1978) * ''Captain America (comic book), Captain America'' #100–109, 112 (1968–1969); #193–214, ''Annual'' #3–4 (1976–1977) * '' Devil Dinosaur'' #1–9 (1978) * ''Eternals (comics), Eternals'' #1–19, ''Annual'' #1 (1976–1978) * '' Fantastic Four'' #1–102, 108, ''Annual'' #1–6 (1961–1971) * ''The Incredible Hulk (comic book), Incredible Hulk'' #1–5 (1962–1963) * ''Journey into Mystery'' #51–52, 54–82 (1959–1962); (

): #83–89, 93, 97–125, ''Annual'' #1 (1962–1966) * '' Machine Man'' #1–9 (1978) * ''

'' #18 (1970) * ''

'' #67–70, 72–100 (1959–1962); (Human Torch): #101–105, 108–109, 114, 120, ''Annual'' #2 (1962–1964); (Nick Fury): #135, 141–142 (full pencils), 136–140, 143–153 (layouts only, pencils by John Severin, Jim Steranko and others) (1965–1967) * ''

'' #2–4, 7–35 (1959–1962); ( Iron Man): #41, 43 (1963); (Captain America): #59–68, 78–86, 92–99 (full pencils), #69–75, 77 (layouts only) (1964–1968) * ''

'' #1, 5–34; (Hank Pym, Ant-Man): #35–40, 44, 49–51 (1962–1964); (Hulk, The Incredible Hulk): #68–72 (full pencils), #73–84 (layouts only, pencils by Bill Everett and others) (1965–1966); (Sub-Mariner): #82 (1966) * ''

'' #126–177, 179, ''Annual'' #2 (1966–1970) * '' 2001: A Space Odyssey'' #1–10 (1976–1977) * ''Uncanny X-Men, X-Men'' #1–11 (full pencils), #12–17 (layouts only, pencils by Alex Toth and Werner Roth (comics), Werner Roth) (1963–1965)

References

Citations

Bibliography

* * * * * * * * *

External links

The Jack Kirby Museum & Research Center
* * * *
Jack Kirby
at Mike's Amazing World of Comics * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Kirby, Jack Jack Kirby, 1917 births 1994 deaths 20th-century American artists 20th-century American writers American anti-fascists United States Army personnel of World War II American comics artists American comics writers American people of Austrian-Jewish descent American speculative fiction artists American storyboard artists Artists from New York City Atlas Comics Bill Finger Award winners Bob Clampett Humanitarian Award winners Burials at Valley Oaks Memorial Park California Democrats Comic book editors Comic book publishers (people) DC Comics people Golden Age comics creators Inkpot Award winners Jewish American artists Jewish American military personnel Jewish American writers Jewish anti-fascists Marvel Comics people Military personnel from New York City New York (state) Democrats People from Brighton Beach People from the Lower East Side People from Mineola, New York People from Thousand Oaks, California Pulp fiction artists Science fiction artists Silver Age comics creators United States Army soldiers Will Eisner Award Hall of Fame inductees Fleischer Studios people

Early life (1917–1935)

Career

Entry into comics (1936–1940)

Partnership with Joe Simon

World War II (1943–1945)

Postwar career (1946–1955)

After Simon (1956–1957)

Marvel Comics in the Silver Age (1958–1970)

DC Comics and the Fourth World saga (1971–1975)

Return to Marvel (1976–1978)

Film and animation (1979–1980)

Final years (1981–1994)

Personal life and death

Artistic style and achievements

Narrative approach to comics

Style

Working method

Exhibitions and original art

Kirby's estate

Subsequent releases

Copyright dispute

Legacy

Filmography

Awards and honors

Bibliography

DC Comics

Marvel Comics

References

Citations

Bibliography

Further reading

External links