Happy Birthday, Jack Kirby!

Yesterday was the anniversary of the birth of the greatest creator in the world of comics, Mr. Jack Kirby. He was born on August 28, 1917.

 

For all of Stan Lee's ideas, in my opinion if it hadn't been for Mr. Kirby's dynamic art style, the Fantastic Four would not have been half as successful. After that success came Thor, the Hulk, the Avengers, and several non-Kirby characters such as Iron Man and Spider-Man. And of course, then came The Avengers. In issue #4, one of the greatest characters ever returned with "Captain America lives again!"

 

After more than a decade of Marvel Madness, Jack Kirby moved to DC for several years and created another wild batch of characters: Kamandi, The Demon, and of course, the New Gods. Amongst these characters is Darkseid, probably one of DC's greatest villains ever.

 

When I was about ten or so, I somehow heard about Jack Kirby's birthday. (It was probably one of Stan's Soapboxes). I took it upon myself to send him a birthday card, cutting out pictures of his characters from FANTASTIC FOUR and AVENGERS. A few months later I got a typed letter from him with his signature. To my life-long dismay, I did not save this letter. :-( However I do have the memory, and I cherish that. That is the closest I ever got to The King, who passed away on February 6, 1994.

 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, JACK KIRBY!!

'Nuff said!