Jack Kirby’s 100th Birthday!
Jack Kirby would have been 100 years old today. The visionary comics writer/artist was born Jacob Kurtzberg on August 28, 1917 and died on February 6, 1994. If you’ve seen a Marvel Studios movie in the last decade, Jack Kirby more than likely had a major hand in the creation of the characters. From Captain America to the X-Men, from Thor to the Black Panther, Kirby co-created or created a plethora of characters for many publishers, including Marvel and DC Comics. He also, along with partner Joe Simon, created completely new genres such as romance comics. His 50-year career in comics spanned from before World War II into the 1990s. Kirby and his ever-patient wife, Roz, were huge parts of Comic-Con each year until his death.
Art by Bruce Timm, lettering by Todd Klein. Mister Miracle and Kamandi TM & © DC Comics; Captain America and Thor TM & © 2017 MARVEL.
Comic-Con saluted the centennial of Kirby’s birth at the 2017 show, including a huge section in our yearly Souvenir Book (cover shown at left, with art by Bruce Timm, saluting one of Jack’s most famous covers for Jimmy Olsen #141), which is usually available only to Comic-Con attendees. Today, on Jack’s 100th birthday, we’re pleased to offer that 60-page section as a PDF online for everyone to enjoy. Filled with articles and art by Kirby fans and pros alike, the section covers Jack’s life and career in the medium he loved and gave so much to.
This special section includes feature articles by:
- Randolph Hoppe (Jack Kirby Museum and Research Center)
- Douglas Wolk (Reading Comics: How Graphic Novels Work and What They Mean)
- Scott Dunbier (Jack Kirby’s Fantastic Four: World’s Greatest Artist’s Edition)
- John Morrow (Kirby100, The Jack Kirby Collector magazine)
- Scarlet Karimian (“Krazy for Kirby: Jack Kirby in the 1970s”)
- Mark Evanier (Kirby: King of Comics)
- Charles Hatfield (Hand of Fire: The Art of Jack Kirby)
Plus tributes and reminiscences by the Kirby Family (son Neal, daughter Lisa, and grandchildren Jillian, Jeremy, and Tracy); Mike Royer, Steve Sherman, Kevin Eastman, Joe Sinnott, Jimmy Palmiotti, Bill Schelly, Paul Levitz, John Morrow, Dan Didio, and Maggie Thompson. And some great fan art devoted to the memorable characters created by Kirby.
Happy birthday, King … Comics wouldn’t be the same without you!
Click here to view or download the Kirby 100 section of Comic-Con’s 2017 Souvenir Book.
This new 60-page version contains no ads and has an additional 2 pages of rare Kirby Comic-Con Program Book art from the 1970s! (Please note: Due to size restrictions, this PDF is best viewed on a computer screen and not designed to be printed.)