Top Ten Thoughts About Jack Kirby

[Gerry]

A sort-of review of "Hand of Fire: The Comics Art of Jack Kirby" by Charles Hatfield, compiled as a top-ten list. Some interesting observations about a complicated genius.

http://www.comicsbulletin.com/columns/5929...out-jack-kirby/

[Dpendleton77]

I aped his style for years. I loved the guys work.

[largento]

I grew up not truly appreciating Kirby's work. I sort of thought of him like Bob Dylan. Dylan was a great song writer, but there were better singers. Kirby, I thought was a great designer, but not a great penciller.

 

I thought Kirby's stuff was largely ugly and harsh. Of course, I was viewing the work he was doing at the end of his career/life.

 

It was only years later, that I went back and started reading a lot of golden age/silver age comics and could see just how dynamic his work was. Kirby broke out of panels, he went for dramatic dutch angles and would cheat anatomy to show action. He's still not at the top of my list of favorite pencillers, but I have a huge respect for what he did.

 

Knowing that I was going to need futuristic sci-fi stuff for "The Amulet of the Apes" storyline I was doing in The Wannabe Pirates, I decided to give as much of a nod towards Kirby as possible.

 

The buildings in Apeopolis are a hodge-podge of Kirby-esque designs and I even incorporates the Kirby krackle into the ceiling of the first chamber.

[Gerry]

Back when I was actively reading Marvel comics, I was a much bigger fan of Ditko's. My reaction to Kirby was much like yours, Mark. But in later years when I understood what comic book art was really about, I had a greater appreciation for his approach, which was more about pure crackling energy than, e.g., accurate anatomy.

 

Also very interesting was the comment about Simon and Kirby creating the whole romance genre, and how that influenced the tone of Marvel's superhero stories. Superheroes falling in love and having their hearts broken! It was radical at the time.