"In 1961, I was the luckiest damn kid on my block — or maybe any block. My father worked at home. Everyone else’s dad had to drive into Queens or Brooklyn or take the train into Manhattan. And it was not some boring, old desk job; my father was Jack Kirby, the King of Comics, and — though his humble personality would have him cringing to hear this — he is regarded as the greatest comic book artist and creator – ever."
These are the opening words of an article by Neal Kirby, written about his dad Jack "King" Kirby. Now, I don't usually gush but Neal's informative, heartfelt article is a must-read for any self-respecting comic book and/or popular culture fan, so I'm posting the link here:
http://herocomplex.latimes.com/2012/04/09/growing-up-kirby-the-marvel-memories-of-jack-kirbys-son/#/0
If for some reason the link doesn't work, just go to the LA Times website and search there. You owe it yourself to read Neal's article!
2 comments:
I don't know if Jack Kirby was THE "greatest comic book artist and creator-ever," but he was definitely in at least the top five.
Oh, these hard-boiled, easily-dismissive "Anonymouses". . .
Really, my friend? Even the creme de le creme of the crop of creators we consider "Legendary" unhesitatingly defer to Jack Kirby as their inspiration and as the gold-standard to which they'd aspire. I freely admit that his style hasn't always been my favorite (although for a long time it was), but there is simply no getting around his astonishing and unparalleled output, his creativity, and his never-flagging originality. He is directly and/or indirectly responsible for birthing a remarkable percentage of the bulk of the modern-day Marvel Universe, and had a newly-appreciated impact on the DC Universe as well.
Nope, do a bit of research. Ya gotta be careful of an easy "I may not know art, but I know what I like!" point of view.
(And now I'll back off on the lecture)
HB
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