KIRBY, Jack

(1917-1994)

   US comic-book illustrator, born Jacob Kurtzberg. One of the giants in the COMICS industry, he began his 50+-year career in 1935 working on newspaper comic strips (with a break in 1936, animating Popeye cartoons for Max Fleischer). He later broke into the comic-book field, creating Captain America with Joe Simon in 1941 for Timely Comics (later MARVEL COMICS); he also worked on CAPTAIN MARVEL. His main claim to fame,however, was his work in the 1960s for Marvel Comics, by then under the direction of Stan LEE. In 1961 JK created The Fantastic Four (a group of SUPERHEROES), one of the most popular series in the history of the genre.He also created, or helped create, dozens of other superheroes, including The Incredible Hulk, which helped launch Marvel to the top of the business. He left the Lee organization in 1970 and for a while worked for DC COMICS, where he produced an interesting group of four interconnectedsuperhero comics, including New Gods (referred to as "Kirby's Fourth World"), before returning to Marvel. JK's style is blocky, almostprimitive, but with a power and sense of drama that many other comics artists lack. His use of motion-picture techniques (such as still-frame storytelling) and dramatic perspectives has influenced most of today's comics artists. His work is reproduced in Origins of Marvel Comics (1974), Son of Origins of Marvel Comics (1975) and Bring on the Bad Guys (1976),all ed Stan Lee, and in many more recent and accessible collections, including \#2-\#4, \#6-\#8, \#13 and \#14 of the Marvel Masterworks series (1986 onwards).

   JG/RH/PN