Celebrating the birthday of Jack "The King" Kirby! The co-creator of legendary hits like the Fantastic Four, Hulk, Thor, and the X-Men, Kirby’s decades-long career built a legacy that stands tall today. His work has and will continue to inspire readers through his characters, forceful action and storytelling. A pivotal pioneer behind the House of Ideas, here’s a few of his greatest contributions!
Two decades before Marvel became a household name, Kirby began a career at its predecessor Timely Comics, working on America’s wartime hero with cartoonist Joe Simon. With this iconic cover, the two creators simply yet powerfully showed the triumph of victory over evil – making Cap a rallying cry for the masses.
Prior to Marvel’s Silver Age, Kirby had established an impressive body of work with Timely and Atlas Comics, gaining particular kudos for his bizarre monsters in the pages of Tales to Astonish, Strange Tales and Journey Into Mystery. Meet extraterrestrial Fin Fang Foom, a menace from another galaxy who resembles a massive Chinese dragon.
Coupled with Stan Lee’s desire to break new ground in super hero comics, Kirby took on the task of designing Marvel’s First Family, ushering in what would later be known as Marvel’s Silver Age. The smash hit of the all-too human Fantastic Four cemented Marvel at the forefront of comic publishing, also putting Kirby’s name on the map as a master of his craft.
With the publication of the Fantastic Four, Kirby and Stan Lee saw meteoric success with the Marvel brand, allowing them to venture into visionary territory. One of their greatest collaborations during their FF run, this issue saw the team grapple with apocalyptic doom after introducing the Silver Surfer – a character still beloved today.
With the introduction of Black Panther, Kirby and Lee established one of the first black super heroes in mainstream comics. T’Challa is the regal king of his nation Wakanda – when he wears the technologically advanced suit of the Panther, he upholds the legacy of his ancestors by being a protector to his people. His proud rule begins here!
Kirby and Lee established yet another Silver Age hit with the Incredible Hulk. Bruce Banner is an irradiated scientist who must constantly repress the monster within. This pathos-driven narrative signaled a shift in the type of stories that comics could tell.
He would rise to the title of ‘Avenger’, but before that, Dr. Hank Pym was the ‘Man in the Ant Hill’! Ant-Man makes his comic debut in this sci-fi spectacle, penciled by Kirby. After toying with a size-reducing serum, Pym ill-advisedly tries it on himself…meeting his future insect sidekicks!
Kirby’s extraordinary knack for character design is apparent in Uncanny X-Men, a team book about young heroes that struggle with their strange and inborn powers. Here, the mutant-hunting Sentinels make their Marvel debut, crashing onto the scene like nightmarish visions from the future.
Enter Thor, God of Thunder! Kirby knocks the Mighty Thunderer’s origin out of the park, pitting Thor against an army of Stone Men in his first appearance.
Not only did ‘The King’ reign over the super hero genre, he also delivered dramatic scenes from the frontlines! In this wartime comic set during WWII, Nick Fury (in his first appearance), and his task force take on a stealth mission in Gestapo-ravaged France.
Kirby and Lee take Captain America out of the ice and plunge him into the modern age! Recovered from an Arctic wasteland, Steve Rogers joins the ranks of Earth’s Mightiest – and soon goes punch for punch with a disgruntled Sub-Mariner!
Kirby pens and draws this splashy adventure featuring the Inhuman Royal Family, originally introduced in the pages of Fantastic Four. Family dysfunction weighs heavily on Black Bolt and Medusa as they face the rumblings of a humanity-waged war.
Kirby’s imagination is in full swing with Eternals, an original series about a godlike race locked in conflict with the less evolved Deviants and the superior Celestials. Read it to believe it – this series explodes with Kirby’s otherworldly flair.
Celebrate America’s 200th Birthday with the Living Legend of World War II! Kirby leant his talents to this Bicentennial special, spinning a time-bending tale about the Sentinel of Justice. What could be more patriotic than Cap meeting Founding Father Benjamin Franklin?
Devil Dinosaur follows a red Tyrannosaurus Rex and his companion Moon-Boy in the prehistoric ‘Valley of Flame’. Kirby wraps tons of dinosaur action into a mythic landscape in his wholly original series.