Twenty years ago, to this day, the world lost one of its
greatest visionary artists, Jack “The King” Kirby. The iconic images you know, recognize, (and
complain if there is any deviation from) of the many of the Avengers, the
Fantastic Four, the Silver Surfer, the X-Men, and the New Gods, to name a few, were
products of Kirby’s artwork and vision.
At the time, I found out in the most unusual manner, and a
month late, I’m embarrassed to say. In
1994, there was no Internet in a small not-yet-a-city of Marikina, Philippines,
but it had comics. I was reading the
letters section of Green Lantern #49, part two of “Emerald Twilight,” hoping
for a clue of who this guy making a wish on a star was (it was Kyle Rayner). To my dismay and surprise, all or a lot of
the letters were about the death of Jack “The King” Kirby. I was not an expert on artists at the
time. I was 11, and realizing for the first time that these
characters weren’t made by "Mr. DC Comics" or "Mr. Marvel Comics." But I suppose they were, weren't they? Kirby was Mr. Marvel Comics.
That name looked familiar, so I used the only database
available to me at the time, Volume IV of the Encyclopedia, the second “C”
Volume and looked at “Comics.” There was
a beautiful tall artwork of The Thing and the Hulk carrying a comically tall dog
pile of characters on their combined backs; Captain America just above Hulk,
Iron Man hanging off the left side, The Invisible Woman phasing out, the Human
Torch half flamed on, Reed Richards stretched body parts on different parts of
the dog pile, Thor near the top with his hammer held high, and the original
X-Men clumped together in the middle.
Later, Hulk and Thing were less friendly. (-Ed) |
After that, I read about my new hero. I emigrated to Southern California two years
later, and I always see his home city of Thousand Oaks, CA on the local news. I thought to myself, “He lived THAT CLOSE! I
could have met him,” but then I just see his work and realize that I have met
him. I have known him all my life
through his work. He helped shape my
childhood and captured my imagination with his work. Now, more than ever, the iconic images he
created is capturing the imagination of so many more. Long
live the one and only King of Comics!
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