Jack Kirby (28 August, 1917-6 February, 1994) was, and still is, a legend among the comic book community Even though he’s primarily known as an artist, he was a very prolific writer and visual storyteller.
Fun Facts about Jack Kirby:
1. Jacob Kurtzberg was born on the Lower East Side of Manhattan. His parents Benjamin and Rose Kurtzberg were Jewish immigrants from Austria. His father worked as a garment factory worker.
2. For all intents and purposes, he taught himself to draw. He drew inspiration from such legends as Hal Foster, Alex Raymond, and Rollin Kirby (winner of the first Pulitzer Prize for Editorial Cartooning, he won twice more).
3. In 1936 Jack Kirby joined the Lincoln Newspaper Syndicate under the name Jack Curtiss. He stayed with the company for three years before finding a job with Fleischer Studios working as an inbetweener (drawing cells in between major motions) for Popeye. During his early career, he used many pseudonyms including Jack Curtiss, Curt Davis, Lance Kirby, Ted Grey, Charles Nicholas, and Bob Kane (before the creator of Batman used it).
4. By the time he left Fleischer Studios, in 1939, the comic book industry was experiencing a huge source, thanks in large part to Superman, the creation of two Jewish kids from Cleveland, Schuster & Sigel. Jack Kirby found a job with Eisner & Iger creating comics on demand. Mr. Kirby drew science fiction stories, adventure stories and humor.
5. Jack Kirby started working for Marvel Comics in 1941, when he was already partnered with another to-be legend, Joe Simon. He co-created Captain America around 1940 to create a political statement against Nazi Germany. Their cover of Cap punching Hitler is well known and considered a classic. However, many don’t realize that he also pioneered the romance comic genre in 1947 (also with Joe Simon), kicking off a massive trend that sold millions of copies and brought in a whole new type of reader,
6. In 1943 Jack Kirby was drafted into the U.S. Army and served in the European theatre as a scout. His combat experience during the war changed the way he wrote and drew
7. During his time at both Marvel and DC Comics he laid the foundation to American mythology helping create such iconic characters as the X-Men, Thor, The Hulk, and many more.
8. When Marvel Comics ramped up production demand, Jack Kirby and Stan Lee came out with a new way of writing. They would brainstorm a plot, then Mr. Kirby would draw the entire story and create the pacing, handing the package back to Mr. Lee would fill in the dialogue. In this way Jack Kirby drove the narrative of almost every book he had his name on it.
9. In the 1970s, Jack Kirby was hired to create conceptual art design for an unproduced sci-fi movie attempting to adapter Roger Zelany’s Lord of Light. The whole project was bought by the CIA and used to by a fake Hollywood production company, Argo, to rescue six American diplomats trapped in Iran during the 1979 hostage crisis.
10. Jack Kirby’s Kamandi, a post-apocalyptic novel is considered to be a dystopian masterpiece and one of his most successful ventures with DC solo books.
Zohar — Man of la Book
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Sources:
Jack Kirby | Wikipedia
Jack Kirby Biography | Jack Kirby Museum & Research
Jack Kirby: Biography, Characters, & Influence | Britannica
THE KING!!!
Great fun facts, I had no idea Kirby was such a prolific writer too and not just an artist. I actually read this while waiting at a […] appointment this morning, and it made the wait fly by. The King really doesn’t get enough credit.