Robot 6
Comics College: Jack Kirby
- Posted on October 19, 2009 - 02:00 PM by Chris Mautner
Welcome to Comics College, a (sort of) monthly feature here at Robot 6 where we provide an introductory guide to some of the most significant artists, writers and creators in comics and offer our best educated suggestions on how to become familiar with their body of work.
Little did I know when I chose Jack Kirby as my second entry more than a month ago that his name would be splayed across the headlines of comics blogs and message boards as his family announced their intention to attempt to win back the copyrights to various Marvel characters. Despite the questionable rancor from some parties, the news provides a perfect opportunity to revisit Kirby's work, as he remains one of the great colossi of American Comics, perhaps its most significant creator, depending upon who you talk to. He's certainly one of the most prolific.
But Kirby can be tough for some folks. Modern readers used to the Image school of exaggeration or a more photorealistic (or PhotoShopped at any rate) style of superhero comics tend to balk at Kirby's blocky, dynamic style, especially in his later period when it verged on outright expressionism. What's more, he was always a better artist and idea man than a writer, and his dialogue when working solo can come off as turgid and forced, especially when he's trying to sound "hip" and "with it." I know as a teenager and young adult I found Kirby's work initially too odd and different from what I was used to as a comic reader to enjoy. It wasn't until I forced myself to sit down and immerse myself into his world that I learned to appreciate his oeuvre and became a devotee.
Keep in mind: Kirby's output was so vast that to try to encapsulate it here in a simple blog post is a mug's game. In other words, there are going to be omissions -- volumes left out and series ignored, either due to the fact that I simply haven't read them yet or because I just didn't have the time and space to include them here. I feel confident enough in my recommendations, but feel free to pick on my negligence in the comments section.
Why he's important
Do I really have to explain this one? The man's biography and bibliography follows the entire history of American comic books to the present day. You name it -- romance comics, war sagas, the early Golden Age, the later Silver and Bronze periods -- he had a hand in it, especially in the development of the superhero genre. Only Robert Crumb and Charles Schulz have had as wide, diverse and lasting an influence, and neither of them has produced as varied a resume as Kirby did.
But even beyond his considerable influence, or the fact that he helped create some of the most beloved comic characters around, Kirby's work remains as vital and alive as it was when it first appeared decades ago. To read Kirby is to visit a universe that crackles (sometimes literally) with energy and motion, where violence is the most intricate of ballets and one's sense of scale and grandeur is only limited by your imagination. And Kirby's imagination was boundless.
Where to start
Jack Kirby's Fourth World Omnibus Vol. 1
The best place to be introduced to Kirby is with his arguably most famous series, The Fantastic Four. I wouldn't recommend picking up at the beginning with FF #1, however. The early issues are certainly entertaining, but the series doesn't come into full flower until about midway through, say, after issue #30. The most obvious introductory point for newcomers then would be the "Galactus trilogy" (issues #48-50) in which we are introduced to the planet-eating galoot himself and the Silver Surfer. It was here that Kirby truly showed the sort of epic storytelling he was capable of. You can find those tales collected in either the massive Fantastic Four Omnibus Vol. 2, Vol. 5 in the Marvel Masterworks series or Vol. 3 of the Essential Fantastic Four line.
After the FF, Kirby's most acclaimed work is easily the "Fourth World" saga he did for DC in the early 1970s, after an ugly falling out with Marvel. The saga spread across four comics -- The New Gods, The Forever People, Mister Miracle and, yes, Jimmy Olsen -- until DC got skittish and pulled the plug. The company has recently reprinted these comics in four $50 volumes. You'll definitely want these instead of the earlier paperback versions, as they are in full color, print the comics in the order they appeared on the newsstand and includes The Hunger Dogs, Kirby's attempt at a conclusion many years later. Feel free to start with Vol. 1, but you may be better off using Vol.2, or Vol. 3 as a taste test, since they has some of the very best stories from that saga, including "Happyland," "The Glory Boat," "The Pact" and yes, an appearance by comedian Don Rickles. Starting in the middle is also a good way to get a feel for the mythos Kirby was attempting to create and get used to the, admittedly stilted, dialogue. Don't worry, you won't get that confused, jumping in midstream.
From there you should read
Kamandi Archives Vol. 1
Once you've had a taste, feel free to go back and explore the rest of Kirby's Fourth World and FF. When you're finished though, you'll want to move on to Kamandi. This Planet-of-the-Apes-style, "boy in a apocalyptic world ruled by animals" is, in my opinion, the best of Kirby's post-Darkseid material. DC has put two Archive editions of Kamandi so far and they remain one of the best ways to get ahold of the series, barring digging through longboxes for musty back issues. Hopefully they'll re-release the series in updated hardcover editions similar to the Fourth World books, in the near future.
Kirby created a lot of great characters for Marvel with Stan Lee, including the Hulk and the X-Men, but easily his best work for the House of Ideas after FF is The Mighty Thor. Again, it's the sense of scale and mythology that Kirby brings to the material that makes it sing. You can best available in the Marvel Masterworks or Essential collections. As with Fantastic Four, though, you'll want to start with the later volumes. It doesn't really get cooking until after the whole Jane Foster/Don Blake romance is tossed aside and Kirby and Lee start really exploring the whole Norse mythology angle. At the very least begin with Vol. 2 of either collection.
Further research
For a long time, Kirby's early collaborations with Joe Simon have been ignored by fans and historians in favor of focusing on his more recent and celebrated work with Marvel and DC. That's thankfully starting to change now as a number of publishers are re-releasing material from those early days.
Captain America fans will no doubt want to start with the Golden Age Marvel Masterworks collections that have been coming out at a steady clip (three volumes so far). The more casual fan, however, may be happy with The Best of Simon & Kirby from Titan Books or the even recent Sandman collection from DC. Titan plans to release a number of Simon and Kirby collections showcasing their work in romance, crime and other genres apart from superheroes.
As seminal as those early Captain America stories were, Kirby's much later run on Captain America has justly earned plaudits as well. I'd recommend picking up Bicentennial Battles as a starting point, which finds Steve Rogers traversing across American history thanks to a puckish Buddhist.
Ancillary material
OMAC: One Man Army Corps
Kirby's run on Black Panther, collected in two volumes, is fun little ride, with the Wakandan prince getting into one nail-biting scrape after another. Devil Dinosaur, which dares to tell the tender story of a vicious red dinosaur and his tender friendship with a cro-magnon tween, is amusing and full of high melodrama, but remains perhaps a bit too silly, even by Kirby's standards, to be regarded as essential. OMAC: One Man Army Corps offers an interesting flip-side perspective to Kamandi, but lacks the latter's spark and feels a trifle rote at times. Unfortunately, as with a lot of Kirby's DC work, it ends just as things start to get interesting.
The Eternals and The Demon have both, as of yet, been unread by me, but I know plenty of folks that regard them very highly.
Avoid
Stan and Jack's initial run on the X-Men is rather uninspired and devoid of the spark and joie de vivre that graced their other work from the same period. It would take Chris Claremont and Dave Cockrum to breathe life into the material.
Honestly, there's very little of Kirby's work that's not worth at least a sideways glance. Having said that, a lot of the material he did towards the end of his life is rather weak and feels at times recycled or ill thought-out. Thus, comics like the Super-Powers mini-series or Captain Victory are really only for the dedicated Kirby fan.
(Thanks to Tom Spurgeon, Tim O'Shea and Tom Bondurant for their help with this entry.)
Next month: Osamu Tezuka
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28 Comments
R. Crumb Comics
October 19, 2009 at 2:46 pm
Kirby's status is of course iconic. Unbelievable. Little did he and his predecessors know they were setting the foundation for books now becoming more and more popular and known as the "graphic novel" genre. Robert Crumb's illustrating the Book Of Genesis recently....over a 4 year period is one example - and Robert is mentioned in this article along side the great names like Schulz and the great action illustrator Kirby. Great profile, and an excellent read. Thank you!
ADD
October 20, 2009 at 5:52 am
"It would take Chris Claremont and Dave Cockrum to breathe life into the [X-Men]."
Or Roy Thomas and Neal Adams quite a few years before that...
deco
October 20, 2009 at 11:17 am
I have only 2 old marvel collections I absolutely treasure and feel were worth the price ($100!): the Lee-Ditko Spider-man and the Lee-Kirby FF v2. Pure gold (and each weighs like a bar of gold, too)
Bucky Sinister
October 20, 2009 at 6:56 pm
Thanks to 50-cent and dollar boxes, I've become quite a fan of Kirby's 2001: A Space Odyssey series. Done for Marvel in his 70s return to the company, it features some of his most undiluted "Chariots of the Gods" material, some of his best artwork, and an incredible range of genres, all in about 12 issues. I'd love to see it collected, though I'm sure the liscensing issues would make that unlikely.
Andrew Wahl
October 24, 2009 at 11:59 am
I’m a huge fan of Kirby’s sometimes less-well-regarded ’70s work. From an essay I wrote earlier this month on underrated comics and creators of the Bronze Age:
”Kirby’s 1970s oeuvre: How can anything by The King be underrated? Well, his post-New-Gods work during the ’70s certainly has its share of detractors. But this work is due for a serious reevaluation. Much like his art, Kirby’s stories grew bolder, simpler and more abstract during this period. Conflict was reduced to its essence, as The King crafted tales in big strokes. Though not well received at the time, this work crackles with power and imagination. Taken for what they are, books from Kamandi to The Eternals are classics. Heck, even Devil Dinosaur is deserving of its recent collected-in-hardcover treatment.”
Long live the King!
Jose Ulloa
October 24, 2009 at 12:30 pm
"Only Robert Crumb and Charles Schulz have had as wide, diverse and lasting an influence,"...hmmm...seems to me you are forgetting Will Eisner, who may not have had such a varied resume as Kirby, but I`d bet has even a greater influence in the visual storytelling field than Crumb or Schulz.
Kick-Ass
October 24, 2009 at 1:19 pm
"I wouldn't recommend picking up at the beginning with FF #1, however. The early issues are certainly entertaining, but the series doesn't come into full flower until about midway through, say, after issue #30."
I couldn't disagree more. The early issues were extremely strong, issues #1-10 being some of the best of the bunch. This is the kind of talk that comes from people who don't know what they're talking about or haven't read it.
"Stan and Jack's initial run on the X-Men is rather uninspired and devoid of the spark and joie de vivre that graced their other work from the same period. It would take Chris Claremont and Dave Cockrum to breathe life into the material."
Wrong again completely. Their 20 issue run is among the best X-Men runs ever, creating the Magneto, Scarlet Witch, Quicksilver dynamic in it's entirety and introducing some of the best team, romance dynamics ever to be seen and copied in comics. These plot threads were followed up on excellently by Jim Steranko and Neal Adams, long before Claremont.
ALEX R.
October 24, 2009 at 1:51 pm
My mom got me a hardcover of the first 10 issues of the X-Men by Lee and Kirby and I couldn't of loved it more. Even though the cover was ripped I just disgarded it and enjoyed.
azjohnson5
October 24, 2009 at 5:19 pm
" Thus, comics like ... Captain Victory are really only for the dedicated Kirby fan."
I disagree. Much like the DC Kirbytverse of the 70's, both Cap Victory and Silver Star were simply Kirby's attempt to push the para-meta-super-human genre to the next logical(?) step. They are the next step in the evolution of in the species. 80's Kirby rocks!
Kevin
October 24, 2009 at 6:50 pm
"I wouldn't recommend picking up at the beginning with FF #1, however. The early issues are certainly entertaining, but the series doesn't come into full flower until about midway through, say, after issue #30."
Also disagree. Much like I disagree with the previous Comic College on Los Bros Hernandez, where the writer suggested skipping the first collection of Jaime's work (Maggie the Mechanic) and heading straight to the second volume (Girl from HOPPERS).
Just because the first issues/collections aren't the absolute strongest of the series doesn't mean they're worth skipping. Chances are you'll appreciate the stronger work more once you get to to it. Going back and reading backwards doesn't make sense because you'll probably be let down since you started with the "best" part. F4 and Locas are epic series that should be read all the way, from beginning to end.
No one suggests skipping the first half hour of a movie just to get the best parts.
John
October 24, 2009 at 7:38 pm
What about Thor?, man that is some great stuff. Kirby and his work is Huge, this is to small a sample for Mr. Kriby's work.
Mr Mike
October 24, 2009 at 7:44 pm
When there is so much Kirby, and such detailed examinations going on, how someone could position themselves as some sort of authority, yet write:
The Eternals and The Demon have both, as of yet, been unread by me, but I know plenty of folks that regard them very highly.
leaves me stunned by your shallowness. Go back to teaching high school!
roshambo
October 24, 2009 at 8:04 pm
ach, he left out "Machine Man"....my first real intro to Kirby before i read the early FF. It was a fun little book.
Boomtuber
October 24, 2009 at 10:05 pm
Nice read here, a rapid overview of Kirby's masterwork mostly from the sixties up. One have to read the early Marvel stuff with an open mind and a minimum of knowledge of the era. Comic book publishing was coming out of a bleak period, business was good again after the big fifties "Wertham" uproar. These early FF's, Hulks, Avengers, Iron Man's, Cap's, X-men's, Thors and numerous others were the foundations of this multi-billion business that has been called Marvel since. They were wildly imaginative tales meant to be a fun read and make sure one bought the next issue on stand. They were not dark and broody, no. They were exciting and often times thought challenging. They had vocabulary; they were written by a Shakespeare buff, Stan Lee. You could see that in Thor, mainly.
Modern readers may find Stan Lee unbearable to read, but his books were solid sellers, and the work shall remain. The writing was very methodic. Stan, the writer AND editor-in-chief always kept in mind that new readers were jumping aboard whichever the 15 monthlies he was publishing mostly alone until around 1965. Of course, you can't write like that anymore in the comic field. A lot of water has passed under the bridge.
But Kirby's imaginative, at times naive tales remain solid, classic superhero storytelling. Also keep in mind that Kirby beefed up the superhero as he augmented and rounded out the muscle volume of his heroes, changing from the lean, athletic type of DC heroes. The dynamism of his splash pages is a lesson in drawing and page composition. Heck, Kirby IS a storytelling school in itself.
To get to know Kirby better, one should get acquainted with The Jack Kiby Collector (TJKC), acclaimed fanzine published by Tomorrows. There are 53 issues now published and most have been collected.
As for Will Eisner; he hired Kirby in the late thirties at Eisner & Igor, after Jack had left the animation industry (he was an "inbetweener" on Popeye cartoons). So in my book, Eisner is as much a giant as Jack, Shulz and many others who deserve the label of "founding fathers" of this american art form, the comic book.
Patrick Rawley
October 25, 2009 at 3:32 am
Eisner, while no doubt a genius, will get his own entry, I'm sure. This one is about KIRBY!
As a kid, I hated Kirby, while being strangely attracted by him. I only saw reprints of his FF but the cover of OMAC #1 SCARED THE HELL out of me. Kamandi is a CLASSIC. (I only read Machine Man when Ditko was drawing it.)
In any other artistic field, a guy like Kirby would have streets, towns and stadiums named after him. When Stan Lee FINALLY dies and every obituary calls him "The Creator Of The Marvel Universe:, I'm afraid I'm going to have to stab a lot of obituary writers.
tallrobert
October 25, 2009 at 7:41 am
It always amazed me how different inkers would mesh with Jack Kirby's artwork in different ways.
Don Heck, Vince Colletta, Dick Ayers and Joe Sinnott each brought out different qualities of his work.
And what always impressed me about Kirby was his ability to draw the common man on the street.
During the heydays of his work on The Fantastic Four and Thor, Kirby did crowded street scene of a cross section of people, often commenting and interacting with the characters.
Does anyone do that these days?? I thought of that during a scene during the Civil Wars run when Reed Richards and Johnny Storm met in a coffee house. Kirby would have drawn that coffeehouse crowded with people, including a very attractive woman in the foreground. The clothing and hairstyles would have been researched and would show a cross section of people of different ages and classes. Instead, the coffee house was deserted with only Reed and Johnny in the panels...very disappointing.
Ninjazilla
October 25, 2009 at 9:02 am
looking forward to Tezuka next montH!
Patent Dragon
October 25, 2009 at 9:03 am
Just added the Fourth World Omnibus volumes to my Amazon wish-list. Seventies Kirby Cap and The Falcon played an important role in my early interest in comics, so unlike some more recent creators I appreciate the adulation for Kirby. Long may it continue!
Brian
October 25, 2009 at 9:21 am
I love Jack Kirby's work. I also think Gil Kane was a titan not to be trifled with! Be sure to read Steven Grant's ongoing discussion in his column (also here at CBR) for a discussion of Kirby, Kane, and Ditko. Good stuff!
Chris Schillig
October 25, 2009 at 11:43 am
I second the recommendation for 2001: A Space Odyssey, which lasted for ten issues and blew my 10-year-old mind monthly as I was buying it. It also introduced Mister Machine (who had a name change to Machine Man when he got his own series) in the last three issues. If Marvel could ever work something out with MGM, I would buy a trade collection of this book in a heartbeat.
And as much as I like The New Gods, I enjoy The Eternals more. Something about Kirby's second coming at Marvel that really speaks to me -- it's all great stuff!
ChristopherH
October 25, 2009 at 12:55 pm
Being a relatively late returner to comics who read them but didn't really appreciate them when he was younger, I want to say thanks for such an awesome overview. The comments are really helpful too. Given that I know so little about the genre, it is nice to have so many perspectives. I'm going to buck your suggestions, though, and start with Fourth World... looks interesting!
Alvin
October 25, 2009 at 1:41 pm
No disrespect for the earlier issues but for me, Kirbys art on FF really pops in issue 30 on through his run on the title, 30 is one of my all time favorite issues, as a kid Diablo freaked me out I loved his work on the Demon, the design of Etrigin was a tribute to the work of Hal Foster on Prince Valiant and there was so much Frankenstienish movie influence, just crazy. Kirbys work on Thor or The Demon or the FF pretty much every thing he did always had such gradioso backgrounds larger then life gadgets which just added to the story and created its own drama. just plain cool! later!
benday-dot
October 25, 2009 at 3:12 pm
Great recommendations. The thing about Kirby is that his oeuvre is so massive, lengthy and varied that he has not only legions of devoted fans, but specific battalions of fans devoted to specific periods and segments of the colossal output. Thus, we get: "What about Thor?" "Don't discount his 80's stuff." The early Fantastic Four issues were among the King's best." "One start with the Joe Simon collaboration to get at the essence of he work. "
There really is something for everyone. One can still know much love for the part with only glimpsing those bright spots still illuminating the farther horizon.
So yes if you haven't read Demon yet, there is still time and there is still the force of that recommendation of what part, small or large, you have discovered and found devotion for.
I have in the monthly issues everything for which Kirby did interior pencils from 1968 to his death. I have lots of stuff from the earlier years too. Anything reprinted of Kirby's going back to 1939 I have tried to gather and enjoy. The thing is there is always something new to discover and appreciate in Jack Kirby's voluminous output. One day I'll pick up 1976 Black Panther stuff and the next 1952 Boys Ranch and I'll see such a wonderful variance, but also such a common and continuous dynamic strain that is the hallmark of a man who helped define the history of American comic books, and I'll still know that I'll never tire of the wonderful legacy the King of Comics has left us.
Thanks again for a nice overview.
Thad
October 26, 2009 at 9:33 am
Ugh, disagree on X-Men. I far prefer the Kirby era to the Claremont era. A bit cookie-cutter, perhaps, and the characters weren't as well-developed as the Fantastic Four, but I far prefer the fun, colorful Kirby versions to the hamhanded allegory the series has become known for in the years since.
Love the column, though; I'm a guy who does his best to introduce people who don't read comics to reasons they should, and both your entries so far have listed great places to start.
Cole Moore Odell
October 26, 2009 at 12:00 pm
The third Golden Age Captain America Masterworks has the last of the Simon/Kirby issues--they left after #10 for National. I think the first All-Winners Masterworks also has at least one Simon/Kirby Cap story.
I'd love to see Machine Man get the same treatment as Devil Dinosaur, although I assume that's tangled up with 2001: A Space Odyssey rights issues, as a spin-off.
GatewayGeek
October 26, 2009 at 9:30 pm
I think that Kirby's importance to comics is that he was one of the first to identify the characters in the medium as the new pantheon of gods.
Like the residents of Asgard and Olympus before them, the residents of Metropolis, Gotham, and New York all represent a drama of humanity played out by immortal figures.
I have to wonder if there is a simularity between the reception of Kirby's work back then and the reception of Grant Morrison's work now. Some people are calling him such because of the different ways he looks at DC characters. Other people, such as myself, see Morrison's work as highly confusing and steeped in its own mythology that only makes sense to him.
Could you say the same thing about Kirby when the New Gods first debut? Did people see the use of Mother Boxes and Space Deity's too confusing and self involved? I wish I could hear some perspective from someone who didn't like Kirby when he first came out.
Ricardo
October 27, 2009 at 9:03 pm
You should take this column to a book further down the road...
JK Parkin
October 27, 2009 at 9:14 pm
I don't even know what that's supposed to mean.