iSteve
04-20-2007, 03:14 PM
I've been posting threads about current writers and artists, but today I thought I would give a shout-out to my all-time favorite comic creator - Jack Kirby, one of the greatest artists in comics history.
http://kirbymuseum.org/media/1976.jpg
Biographical Sketch from the Jack Kirby Museum Website:
Like many of today’s success stories, it all begins with a birth date on the Lower East Side of New York City. The birth date was August 28, 1917, and the Kurtzberg family was one more strong. And the growing up period is not entirely atypical, either: Street-fighting, the usual childhood activities, and the burgeoning instinct of self-preservation were all a part of it. And, too, there was the foreshadowing of what was to come—the doodles cluttering every available scrap of paper, the “wasted” afternoons at the movies... the profound interest in stories. That, more than anything else, occupied young Jack’s time. Schooling was not the best and certainly inadequate in the field of creative writing and art.
Jack Kirby was, then, the student without an official teacher. He learned from anyone who had something to offer, adopting the virtues and making them his own. An early source of art-inspiration, for example, was Alex Raymond’s Flash Gordon newspaper strip. Splendidly illustrated, it has served as the model for a majority of today’s panel-artists. Some of them have adopted its techniques with little reservations and others, like Kirby, now boast very little of the then-important Raymond influence. He learned techniques, not styles, and then went on to make them his own.
The storytelling sense grew, as well, and it was to be important... for it was most likely what led the youthful Kirby into comics instead of into serious illustration. From the start, his drawing style was never intended to emulate reality or to provide any sort of photographic representation. Rather, it was to tell exciting, interesting stories—the Kirby conception of anatomy, for example, defies all manner of real physiology. It does, however, perfectly convey the idea of figures in motion. A semi-realistic caricature—realistic to be identifiable and exaggerated for effect.
Remaining sketchbooks from Kirby’s earlier days are filled with pencil renderings of expertly-formed, carefully-shaded figures and scenes. With such potential, it came as no surprise that Kirby should enroll in the famed Pratt Institute to refine his abilities.
At the N.Y. World's Fair - 1939
It did, however, come as a surprise when he dropped out the afternoon of his first day at Pratt. Family financial pressures necessitated such and it wasn't long before Kirby was searching for practical applications of his talents—those which would be both financially rewarding and self-satisfying. Earlier attempts at submitting his work to various markets had yielded an endless series of rejection slips from every market from The New Yorker right on down.
Ultimately, Kirby began his career not in comics but in the other media where drawings are used to tell a story: animated cartoons.
As an “in-betweener” at the Max Fleischer studios, Jack worked on Popeye cartoons. After a few months however, labor unrest erupted at the studio and Kirby decided to get out before he found himself on strike and to seek employment elsewhere.
That employment was found at the Lincoln Newspaper Syndicate, where he began his 3 1/2 year tenure as a political, gag, and strip cartoonist.
While working for Lincoln, Kirby produced a huge volume of work, including ongoing strips, panel gags, and “fact” panels. Lincoln was a small operation with few clients, and some of the strips Kirby created only appeared in a few newspapers while others may not have been published at all. All were penciled, inked and lettered, and most were written by him and the different styles reflect Kirby’s own experimentation at this stage. Whereas The Black Buccaneer strived for a “wood-cut” effect, Abdul Jones was more in keeping with the style of contemporary humor strips. Cyclone Burke was among his first ventures into science-fiction. Socko the Seadog, created by a Lincoln co-worker as an obvious Popeye emulation, proved to be Kirby’s most popular strip of the period.
Even while producing for Lincoln, Kirby worked as part of the large artists' studio of Will Eisner and Jerry Iger on a number of weekly comic strips. Under the pseudonym of Curt Davis, Kirby did Diary of Dr. Hayward, a science fiction serial. Kirby also drew an adaptation of the Count of Monte Cristo as Jack Curtiss. His first Western, Wilton of the West was produced by Kirby under the name Fred Sande. These strips were published in an oversize comic called Jumbo after Kirby was no longer working for Eisner & Iger.
Finally, Kirby got into the super-hero line when he went to work for Victor Fox, a notoriously low-paying publisher of comic books. Fox’s big star was the Blue Beetle, one of the earliest costumed heroes, and Kirby worked on a short-lived newspaper strip of the character and drew other features for the outfit. Given a small drawing board in the shop, Kirby worked next to another new artist in this new field, Bill Everett, who would later create the Sub-Mariner.
Another Fox staffer at the time was a tall writer-artist who worked as the company’s editor for a time. His name was Joe Simon, and he and Jack struck up a good friendship and working relationship. When Simon went off to other companies, he called on Kirby to be his lead artist. Soon, the two men formed a team which would unleash, for the next decade and a half, a battalion of comic books, stories and characters.
The partnership of Simon and Kirby was hired to work the newly formed Timely Comics Company. The Timely line was, then, distinguished only by its two star-characters: The Human Torch and the Sub-Mariner. More stars were needed then, and Simon & Kirby set about to create likely prospects, such as Hurricane, Tuk the Cave-Boy, Mercury, the Vision, Red Raven, Comet Pierce and, finally, the character whose creation was to bring the team into prominence—Captain America. (Moonlighting for another company, they also produced the first full issue of Captain Marvel Adventures.)
Captain America was an immediate success and it was due to the great demand for his adventures that Simon and Kirby began to produce material at a fast pace... one which would gain even greater momentum later. In a short time, they had produced ten issues of their star-spangled creation and the basic outlines for a companion book to star Cap’s partner, Bucky, as one of the Young Allies. This was to be the end of their creations for Timely, as it became evident that, despite a deal that promised them a share of the profits, they were not sharing in the gold mine that Captain America had become. Convinced they were being swindled, they decided to go elsewhere...
To read the rest of this bio (it's rather long), click here (http://kirbymuseum.org/biography.jkm).
1) Jack Kirby Wikipedia Article (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Kirby)
2) Jack Kirby Museum and Archive (http://www.kirbymuseum.org/index.jkm)
3) Simon and Kirby Blog (http://www.kirbymuseum.org/blogs/simonandkirby/)
4) The Jack F.A.Q. Page (http://www.povonline.com/jackfaq/JackFaq1.htm)
5) Jack Kirby Heroes Thrive in Comic Books and Film (http://home.att.net/~mrmorse/nytimes20030827kirb.html)
http://www.kirbymuseum.org/media/marvel_crop.jpg
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/c/c7/Captainamerica1.jpg/445px-Captainamerica1.jpg
http://content.answers.com/main/content/wp/en/4/45/Ff1kirby.jpg
http://kirbymuseum.org/media/1976.jpg
Biographical Sketch from the Jack Kirby Museum Website:
Like many of today’s success stories, it all begins with a birth date on the Lower East Side of New York City. The birth date was August 28, 1917, and the Kurtzberg family was one more strong. And the growing up period is not entirely atypical, either: Street-fighting, the usual childhood activities, and the burgeoning instinct of self-preservation were all a part of it. And, too, there was the foreshadowing of what was to come—the doodles cluttering every available scrap of paper, the “wasted” afternoons at the movies... the profound interest in stories. That, more than anything else, occupied young Jack’s time. Schooling was not the best and certainly inadequate in the field of creative writing and art.
Jack Kirby was, then, the student without an official teacher. He learned from anyone who had something to offer, adopting the virtues and making them his own. An early source of art-inspiration, for example, was Alex Raymond’s Flash Gordon newspaper strip. Splendidly illustrated, it has served as the model for a majority of today’s panel-artists. Some of them have adopted its techniques with little reservations and others, like Kirby, now boast very little of the then-important Raymond influence. He learned techniques, not styles, and then went on to make them his own.
The storytelling sense grew, as well, and it was to be important... for it was most likely what led the youthful Kirby into comics instead of into serious illustration. From the start, his drawing style was never intended to emulate reality or to provide any sort of photographic representation. Rather, it was to tell exciting, interesting stories—the Kirby conception of anatomy, for example, defies all manner of real physiology. It does, however, perfectly convey the idea of figures in motion. A semi-realistic caricature—realistic to be identifiable and exaggerated for effect.
Remaining sketchbooks from Kirby’s earlier days are filled with pencil renderings of expertly-formed, carefully-shaded figures and scenes. With such potential, it came as no surprise that Kirby should enroll in the famed Pratt Institute to refine his abilities.
At the N.Y. World's Fair - 1939
It did, however, come as a surprise when he dropped out the afternoon of his first day at Pratt. Family financial pressures necessitated such and it wasn't long before Kirby was searching for practical applications of his talents—those which would be both financially rewarding and self-satisfying. Earlier attempts at submitting his work to various markets had yielded an endless series of rejection slips from every market from The New Yorker right on down.
Ultimately, Kirby began his career not in comics but in the other media where drawings are used to tell a story: animated cartoons.
As an “in-betweener” at the Max Fleischer studios, Jack worked on Popeye cartoons. After a few months however, labor unrest erupted at the studio and Kirby decided to get out before he found himself on strike and to seek employment elsewhere.
That employment was found at the Lincoln Newspaper Syndicate, where he began his 3 1/2 year tenure as a political, gag, and strip cartoonist.
While working for Lincoln, Kirby produced a huge volume of work, including ongoing strips, panel gags, and “fact” panels. Lincoln was a small operation with few clients, and some of the strips Kirby created only appeared in a few newspapers while others may not have been published at all. All were penciled, inked and lettered, and most were written by him and the different styles reflect Kirby’s own experimentation at this stage. Whereas The Black Buccaneer strived for a “wood-cut” effect, Abdul Jones was more in keeping with the style of contemporary humor strips. Cyclone Burke was among his first ventures into science-fiction. Socko the Seadog, created by a Lincoln co-worker as an obvious Popeye emulation, proved to be Kirby’s most popular strip of the period.
Even while producing for Lincoln, Kirby worked as part of the large artists' studio of Will Eisner and Jerry Iger on a number of weekly comic strips. Under the pseudonym of Curt Davis, Kirby did Diary of Dr. Hayward, a science fiction serial. Kirby also drew an adaptation of the Count of Monte Cristo as Jack Curtiss. His first Western, Wilton of the West was produced by Kirby under the name Fred Sande. These strips were published in an oversize comic called Jumbo after Kirby was no longer working for Eisner & Iger.
Finally, Kirby got into the super-hero line when he went to work for Victor Fox, a notoriously low-paying publisher of comic books. Fox’s big star was the Blue Beetle, one of the earliest costumed heroes, and Kirby worked on a short-lived newspaper strip of the character and drew other features for the outfit. Given a small drawing board in the shop, Kirby worked next to another new artist in this new field, Bill Everett, who would later create the Sub-Mariner.
Another Fox staffer at the time was a tall writer-artist who worked as the company’s editor for a time. His name was Joe Simon, and he and Jack struck up a good friendship and working relationship. When Simon went off to other companies, he called on Kirby to be his lead artist. Soon, the two men formed a team which would unleash, for the next decade and a half, a battalion of comic books, stories and characters.
The partnership of Simon and Kirby was hired to work the newly formed Timely Comics Company. The Timely line was, then, distinguished only by its two star-characters: The Human Torch and the Sub-Mariner. More stars were needed then, and Simon & Kirby set about to create likely prospects, such as Hurricane, Tuk the Cave-Boy, Mercury, the Vision, Red Raven, Comet Pierce and, finally, the character whose creation was to bring the team into prominence—Captain America. (Moonlighting for another company, they also produced the first full issue of Captain Marvel Adventures.)
Captain America was an immediate success and it was due to the great demand for his adventures that Simon and Kirby began to produce material at a fast pace... one which would gain even greater momentum later. In a short time, they had produced ten issues of their star-spangled creation and the basic outlines for a companion book to star Cap’s partner, Bucky, as one of the Young Allies. This was to be the end of their creations for Timely, as it became evident that, despite a deal that promised them a share of the profits, they were not sharing in the gold mine that Captain America had become. Convinced they were being swindled, they decided to go elsewhere...
To read the rest of this bio (it's rather long), click here (http://kirbymuseum.org/biography.jkm).
1) Jack Kirby Wikipedia Article (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Kirby)
2) Jack Kirby Museum and Archive (http://www.kirbymuseum.org/index.jkm)
3) Simon and Kirby Blog (http://www.kirbymuseum.org/blogs/simonandkirby/)
4) The Jack F.A.Q. Page (http://www.povonline.com/jackfaq/JackFaq1.htm)
5) Jack Kirby Heroes Thrive in Comic Books and Film (http://home.att.net/~mrmorse/nytimes20030827kirb.html)
http://www.kirbymuseum.org/media/marvel_crop.jpg
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/c/c7/Captainamerica1.jpg/445px-Captainamerica1.jpg
http://content.answers.com/main/content/wp/en/4/45/Ff1kirby.jpg