Kirby: King of Comics by Mark Evanier
Jack Kirby didn’t invent comic book heroes, but he conceived many that are familiar today, including the X-Men, Captain America and the Fantastic Four. By the time of his death in 1994, he was an inspiration to the comic-book subculture that has, since then, only become more prevalent through a succession of blockbuster movies. Originally published in 2008, the new Anniversary Edition of Mark Evanier’s Kirby: King of Comics (Abrams Books) traces the artist’s life from hard-scrabble origins on Manhattan’s Lower East Side, where he spent his time immersed in movies and comic strips—when he wasn’t working to help his family make ends meet.
His tireless work ethic continued after becoming a leading figure in the comic book industry. His images exploded the panel borders—Captain American seemed to reach through the frame to punch Hitler in the nose. Although usually working on commission, assembly lines or deadlines, Kirby believed there was meaning beyond the surface of his luridly inked images. As quoted in King of Comics, he answered why his work wasn’t more realistic: “When you mirror reality, you see it all backward. When you start transcending it, that’s when you have a real good shot at figuring out what’s going on.”
Once marginal, comic books are now one of the strongest currents in the cultural mainstream. Meaning: The conflict between the two corporations that have dominated the field is of more than casual interest. “I’ve got no dog in the Marvel vs. DC fight,” claims Reed Tucker. He belies that assertion at every opportunity in Slugfest: Inside the Epic, 50-year Battle Between Marvel and DC (Da Capo) by favoring the more unbuttoned culture of Marvel over the business-as-usual DC. Of course, he has a good point to make: While DC set the original template for superheroes by launching Superman and Batman, Marvel rewrote the rules in the 1960s by introducing the Fantastic Four, X-Men and Spider-Man.
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The difference was that the Marvel superheroes were closer to living, breathing people while DC’s were embodiments of virtue. However, in recent years, DC has made strides with fully fleshed-out renditions of Batman and Wonder Woman. Superman is still a bit stiff but then, he’s from Krypton. “Can’t we just celebrate the extraordinary achievements of both companies?” Tucker finally concludes. The larger problem nowadays, as he says, is that both firms could end as faceless nodes in some real-life supervillain corporate behemoth.
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