Happy Birthday Jack Kirby! To understand how comic books, superhero comics, the work and their appeal, you have to understand Jack Kirby. His extreme poses and action exploding out of the panels are the language of superhero comic books today. The King of Comics, started as an in-betweener at the Fleischer Studios working in animation. Then, he started work at the Eisner & Iger studio creating artwork in many genres for Wild Boy Magazine. Kirby moved to Fox Feature Syndicate working with writer Joe Simon on the Blue Beetle comic strip. The duo worked together on Captain Marvel Adventures #1 (1941) for Fawcett Comics. They joined Timely Comics, which later became Marvel Comics, and created Captain America Comics #1 (1941). It sold out and became an iconic character for Timely/Marvel. Captain America was the subject of a movie serial in 1944, some movies in 1979, a film in 1990, and entered the MCU played by Chris Evans in Captain America: The First Avenger (2011). The Simon and Kirby duo also created romance comics with Young Romance #1 (1947).
Kirby then worked for DC with the Challengers of the Unknown, a quartet of explorers who survive a jet crash to investigate strange dangers in Showcase #6 (1957). In Challengers of the Unknown #3 (1958), written and drawn by Kirby, the group gets super powers including projecting flame and invisibility, hmm, makes me think of another super group. Back at Marvel, he worked with Stan Lee introducing monsters like Groot in Tales to Astonish #13 (1960). The tree-creature made his way to the screen in Guardians of the Galaxy (2014). What launched the Marvel Age of Comics in the Silver Age was Fantastic Four #1 (1961). There have been numerous films that tried to capture the magic of Stan Lee and Jack Kirby’s creation including the recent Fantastic Four (2015). They turned a monster into a hero with The Incredible Hulk #1 (1962) who had his MCU movie debut in Incredible Hulk (2008). Then, Thor first appeared in Journey into Mystery #83 (1962). Upcoming is Thor: Love and Thunder directed by Taika Waititi. Thor’s step brother was introduced in Journey into Mystery #85 (1962) with Lee, Larry Leiber, and Kirby creating the comic book. The God of Mischief has his own show on Disney+ entitled Loki which has a second season!
Lee and Kirby co-created Ant-Man in Tales to Astonish #35 (1962) with Larry Leiber. Also, the Wasp in Tales to Astonish #44 (1963) with Ernie Hart. The next film is Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania set for release in 2023. Next, the team co-created Iron Man in Tales of Suspense #39 (1963). 2008's Iron Man started the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Lee and Kirby brought the heroes together in The Avengers #1 (1963). Avengers: Endgame (2019), featured the characters. The duo also created Black Panther in Fantastic Four #52 (1966). In 1977, Kirby wrote and drew the Black Panther series. The character was featured in his own film in Black Panther (2018) and work has begun on the sequel. The Lee and Kirby duo created the X-Men and villain Magneto in X-Men #1 (1963). The last X-Men movie is Dark Phoenix (2019). When Kirby went to DC Comics, he created the Fourth World drawing and writing New Gods #1 (1970) and also their nemesis Darkseid, whom Kirby introduced in Superman’s Pal, Jimmy Olsen #134 (1970). Kirby returned to Marvel and created his own corner of the Marvel Universe in The Eternals #1 (1976). Their film comes out on November 5th. Jack Kirby was pioneering in comic books, animation, he created film concept art that was used by the CIA seen in Argo (2012). He died in 1994, but his legacy will always be remembered by comic fans and audience members who love DC Comics and the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Happy Birthday Jack Kirby!
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