Kirby Lives!
Yesterday was the 95th birthday of Jack "King" Kirby. Lots of people have done a far better job than I could talking about the King, and his influence on pop culture, and I'm not going to try to out do them here. I don't feel like I know the man's work nearly well enough to talk accurately about the scope of his accomplishments. It's not my place, really. Of the work that I do know, there's very little of it that I can easily describe in less than several hundred words. The exception being Devil Dinosaur, which I can explain in two: BEYOND AWESOME.
Anyway, last night I was laying in bed, getting ready to read, when it occurred to me that both of the two comic book collections I'm currently working on are all Kirby, all the time. The one is Walt Simonson's run on Orion. Of all the sequels to Kirby's original New Gods story (which I read a couple years back) that I've read, it feels the most in-tune to what Kirby was really trying to say, the most that seemed to represent the true meaning behind his cosmology. And the other, the next book I'm reading for my Making Marvel Mine series, is the Masterworks collection of the Golden Age Captain America, the first 4 issues of the earliest Captain America stories.
It hadn't even occurred to me until just then. Somehow, though, it seemed appropriate to celebrate his birthday with these stories- one of his earliest brilliant creations, and the best follow-up to one of his later, mind-blowing works. And it's weird to think about- just a few months after the Kirby-co-created "Avengers" rocked the cinematic world- but without even meaning to, Jack Kirby changed the world, in a way few others ever could. Not just because of the sheer mountain of ideas the man had, but the way he executed them, the dynamic style, the in-your-face attitude, the "demon-dinosaurs fighting space monsters and sort of accidentally being involved with Adam and Eve" nature of it all (did I mention that Devil Dinosaur is beyond awesome?).
It's easy to say that the man's work stands on it's own, because it clearly does. I was 8 years old when he died, and still, he's been a huge influence on me and the world around me, in ways I can't begin to fully describe. It's a strange and beautiful thing to think about. Jack Kirby's youngest granddaughter is using the occasion of his birthday to raise money for the Hero Initiative, a foundation that helps struggling comic book creators with financial support to pay off medical and living expenses. Please, if you can, help support these people. Odds are, Jack Kirby influenced your life in ways you didn't know about too.
Plus, that one time he helped saved American civilians from being gunned down in Iran. No, really. They're making a movie about it right now. So, if you want, give money because of that, too.
All hail the King!
Anyway, last night I was laying in bed, getting ready to read, when it occurred to me that both of the two comic book collections I'm currently working on are all Kirby, all the time. The one is Walt Simonson's run on Orion. Of all the sequels to Kirby's original New Gods story (which I read a couple years back) that I've read, it feels the most in-tune to what Kirby was really trying to say, the most that seemed to represent the true meaning behind his cosmology. And the other, the next book I'm reading for my Making Marvel Mine series, is the Masterworks collection of the Golden Age Captain America, the first 4 issues of the earliest Captain America stories.
It hadn't even occurred to me until just then. Somehow, though, it seemed appropriate to celebrate his birthday with these stories- one of his earliest brilliant creations, and the best follow-up to one of his later, mind-blowing works. And it's weird to think about- just a few months after the Kirby-co-created "Avengers" rocked the cinematic world- but without even meaning to, Jack Kirby changed the world, in a way few others ever could. Not just because of the sheer mountain of ideas the man had, but the way he executed them, the dynamic style, the in-your-face attitude, the "demon-dinosaurs fighting space monsters and sort of accidentally being involved with Adam and Eve" nature of it all (did I mention that Devil Dinosaur is beyond awesome?).
It's easy to say that the man's work stands on it's own, because it clearly does. I was 8 years old when he died, and still, he's been a huge influence on me and the world around me, in ways I can't begin to fully describe. It's a strange and beautiful thing to think about. Jack Kirby's youngest granddaughter is using the occasion of his birthday to raise money for the Hero Initiative, a foundation that helps struggling comic book creators with financial support to pay off medical and living expenses. Please, if you can, help support these people. Odds are, Jack Kirby influenced your life in ways you didn't know about too.
Plus, that one time he helped saved American civilians from being gunned down in Iran. No, really. They're making a movie about it right now. So, if you want, give money because of that, too.
All hail the King!
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