Jack Kirby

Jack Kirby (August 28, 1917 – February 6, 1994) was one of the most influential, recognizable and prolific artists in United States comic books. Born Jacob Kurtzberg to Jewish parents in New York City, he was also a comic book writer and editor.

Legacy

Kirby is popularly acknowledged by comics creators and fans as one of the greatest and most influential artists in the history of comics. His productive output was legendary as one count estimates that he produced over 25,000 pages during his lifetime as well as hundreds of comic strips and sketches. He also produced paintings, and worked on numerous concept illustrations for a number of Hollywood films.

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In 1985 it was revealed that dozens of pages of Kirby's artwork had been 'lost' by Marvel Comics. The sale of these pages would have provided for Kirby's family in his later years and became the subject of a dispute between Kirby and his most famous employers.

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Jacob Kirgstein, a character in The Authority comic-books, is clearly inspired by Jack Kirby.

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The Kirby Awards were named in honor of Jack Kirby.

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Rock music group Monster Magnet referenced Kirby's cultural impact in their song, "Melt", which includes the lyrics, "I was thinking how the world should have cried/On the day Jack Kirby died."

Related Topics:
Rock music - Monster Magnet

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Jazz percussionist Gregg Bendian's group Interzone recorded a tribute album, Requiem for Jack Kirby, in 2001.

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In the animated television series, ', the supporting character, Dan Turpin is modeled visually after Jack Kirby.

Related Topics:
Animated television series - Dan Turpin

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An episode of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles(2003) entitled "King" (and comic Donatello #1 "Kirby and the Warp Crystal" (1986)) featured a character based off of Jack Kirby whose drawings came to life. When the TMNT go into Kirby's fantasy world they find characters based off of The New Gods.

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Alan Moore's final storyline in Supreme : The Return features a character known as King, the creator of Idea space and who is clearly modelled after Jack Kirby, heralded by Kirby_dots. The storyline features various tributes to characters that Kirby created or had a hand in defining such as the Newsboy Legion, Guardian, the New Gods & Doctor Doom.

Related Topics:
Alan Moore - Kirby_dots - Newsboy Legion - Guardian - The New Gods - Doctor Doom

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