Jack Kirby is a bona fide legend in the world of comic book artists. His career spanned decades. His work transcended genres. His style and imagination created worlds that we still enjoy to this day. In honor of what would have been his 100th birthday, I want to talk about the career of Jack Kirby.
Jack Kirby was born in 1917 in New York. He started drawing comic books in the 30’s and eventually he would team up with writer Joe Simon to create the character Captain America for Timely Comics. He worked their until the 50’s when he left to co-create the Challengers of the Unknown for DC Comics. When he returned to Timely, now called Marvel Comics, he began working with Stan Lee on some of the most memorable characters in history.
He and Lee co-created The Fantastic Four, The Hulk, Iron Man, the original X-Men, the Inhumans and Black Panther to name a few. He created his own visual style when he was drawing and he brought that style with him when he went back to DC Comics to create his Fourth World series which featured DC Comics staples Darkseid and the New Gods. He returned to Marvel again to help create the Celestials and the Eternals.
He also worked in television doing designs for Hannah Barbera series including Thundarr the Barbarian and Centurions. He died in 1994 in Thousand Oaks, California, but his legacy in the field is long and fondly remembered.
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