Jack Kirby - King Of Comics

Discussion in 'Visual Arts' started by Purple Jim, Nov 18, 2016.

  1. freddog

    freddog Forum Resident

    Location:
    United States
    Kirby "doing Star Wars" is ironic to fans of a certain age who read the Fourth World comics before 1977. Lucas "borrowed" so many Kirby concepts that I'm afraid that the general public will now view a New Gods film as a Star Wars rip-off.
     
    drad dog and Exotiki like this.
  2. Shoes1916

    Shoes1916 Forum Resident

    Location:
    United States
    Exactly; Stan all but retired.
     
  3. Shoes1916

    Shoes1916 Forum Resident

    Location:
    United States
    Royer was amazing.
     
  4. Shoes1916

    Shoes1916 Forum Resident

    Location:
    United States
    There are literally hundreds of comic book artists who can easily be compared to Kirby, and many are his betters; when you include comic strips...
     
  5. Shoes1916

    Shoes1916 Forum Resident

    Location:
    United States
    In comic books alone, he's definitely in the top 250 or so.

    If one combines books & strips, he'd still be in the top 500.

    For comic books alone, there are dozens of artists who outshine him utterly, and dozens more who are easily his equal.
     
  6. Shoes1916

    Shoes1916 Forum Resident

    Location:
    United States
    And Ditko's rambling narrative was a mess.

    Both he and Kirby were INCREDIBLY fortunate to have had Lee to collaborate with, and all 3 deserve enormous credit for their gifts and the work they did.
     
  7. Shoes1916

    Shoes1916 Forum Resident

    Location:
    United States
    The Babylonians created Darkseid, and the Greeks, and the Romans, and Indian culture, and...
     
  8. Shoes1916

    Shoes1916 Forum Resident

    Location:
    United States
    Yup.
     
  9. Shoes1916

    Shoes1916 Forum Resident

    Location:
    United States
    Lee basically retired so it's a moot point; nuff said.
     
  10. Shoes1916

    Shoes1916 Forum Resident

    Location:
    United States
    Yup.
     
  11. Shoes1916

    Shoes1916 Forum Resident

    Location:
    United States
    You've written the story, yes.

    Others will then collaborate, and at some point, another crappy super hero movie will emerge.

    DISCLAIMER: That one with Spader as the evil robot was GREAT - the thing with the good robot (Vision) and the Witch - so good!
     
  12. Shoes1916

    Shoes1916 Forum Resident

    Location:
    United States
    He's a fine artist, and certainly one of the best 250 or so in the comic book medium; one of the 500 best in the comic book/strip medium combined.

    But you may want to examine the work of the dozens of artists who were his peer or better.
     
  13. Shoes1916

    Shoes1916 Forum Resident

    Location:
    United States
    Some excellent points.

    I'd just add that Kirby knew the rules of the game when he was playing it, and that his family has made out VERY handsomely as a result of selective fanboy indignation.

    Would that Kirby's peers and betters might receive 1/10th the adulation and reward that he and his heirs have.

    Nuff said.
     
  14. Shoes1916

    Shoes1916 Forum Resident

    Location:
    United States
    LOVE!!!
     
  15. Shoes1916

    Shoes1916 Forum Resident

    Location:
    United States
    The idea that artists do not, or should not, constantly borrow/swipe from one another is absurd.
     
    Sneaky Pete likes this.
  16. Shoes1916

    Shoes1916 Forum Resident

    Location:
    United States
    Artists borrow/swipe. It's what they do. It's okay. It's been going on forever.
     
    Sneaky Pete likes this.
  17. drad dog

    drad dog A Listener

    Location:
    USA
    Lee retired after Ditko, then Kirby left? I don't think enough has been said about that yet. Why would he do that?
     
  18. Shoes1916

    Shoes1916 Forum Resident

    Location:
    United States
    Lots of bad information...
     
  19. Shoes1916

    Shoes1916 Forum Resident

    Location:
    United States
    Artists borrow/swipe/transform ALL the time.

    Batman is an amalgamation of prior characters, as is Superman, as are the Fantastic Four et al.

    You can't look at DC books in the 40s and miss page after page of swiped images, including the cover to AA #16.

    The idea that it's immoral is insane, and that anyone at DC Comics would criticize it is ultra-insane.
     
    Sneaky Pete likes this.
  20. Shoes1916

    Shoes1916 Forum Resident

    Location:
    United States
    Rumble! :love:

    But artists swipe all the time; this idea that it's not okay is some insane elitist nonsense that's emerged only since wealthy interests tried to protect their investment in literature a couple hundred years ago.
     
  21. czeskleba

    czeskleba Senior Member

    Location:
    Seattle
    You seem to be missing the point that Kirby and Ditko are not remembered solely for their drawing ability, but for their writing and character creation. There are few comic creators who've written as many memorable stories or created characters as enduring and popular as the ones co-created by Kirby and Ditko respectively. I'm skeptical you can name anyone who "did far more" than Kirby in terms of character creation.

    That said, Kirby is arguably the most influential artist in the super-hero genre, regardless of whether you think others were technically superior at drawing.

    Fixed that for you.

    The important point is that Lee's record of character creation outside of his work with Kirby or Ditko is unimpressive. Few of the characters he created without Kirby or Ditko's involvement were successful or have achieved much popularity.

    Certainly all artists swipe sometimes. But not all artists swipe ALL of the time, or have a reputation/success built entirely on swiped work. Those are the reasons Lichtenstein deserves criticism.
     
    nikh33 likes this.
  22. Shoes1916

    Shoes1916 Forum Resident

    Location:
    United States
    He'd been going like a madman since he was a teenager; he was ready to rest after 30 years of that, and he could, so he pretty much retired into the job of just being Stan Lee.
     
  23. Shoes1916

    Shoes1916 Forum Resident

    Location:
    United States
    I'm not the one missing the point/s. Kirby and Ditko are two of hundreds of gifted artists/creators in the medium with numerous peers and numerous betters. They were two of Marvel's ten best to be sure however. Herge, Peyo, Jean Giraud, Eisner, Fine, Goscinny/Uderzo, Roth, Shelton, Crumb/Crumb/Crumb, London, Barks, (Siegel &) Schuster, Schomburg, Cole, Baker, Mayer, Stanley, Kamen, Evans, Krigstein, Craig, Kurtzman, Everett, Frazetta, Wood, Elder, Frese, DeCarlo, Kremer, Post, Colon, Steranko, Kaluta, Wrightson, Adams, Beck, BKane, Finger, Robinson, Sprang, Boring, GKane, Buscema, Colan, Whitney, Baily, Wolverton, Kubert et al are just a few dozen that come instantly to mind as Kirby's peers/betters in numerous areas, including character creation, but the list is MUCH longer.

    Kirby, along with hundreds of others, has had influence, yes, especially for a few years in the 1960s.

    Not at all; still bad information.

    Lee did what Lee did when he did it, as did Kirby and Ditko; Kirby apart from Simon or Lee is singularly unimpressive, but he did draw a lot of pretty pictures after Lee, yes.

    All the time; constantly - and it's okay. All the time, more or less, and that's okay. Roy's fine; he 's an artist doing what artists do, and everyone - including Kirby - benefitted.
     
  24. nikh33

    nikh33 Senior Member

    Location:
    Liverpool, England
    Whoosh
     
  25. N. Parkinson

    N. Parkinson Well-Known Member

    Location:
    Paris, France
    This is the most foolish post I have read on here in some time.
     
    Exotiki and nikh33 like this.

Share This Page

molar-endocrine