Saturday, August 28, 2010

Kirby At 93

Today (8/28/2010) would have been Jack Kirby's 93rd birthday and there are several tributes on the internet commemorating the date, including at Mark Evanier's site and at The Comics Reporter (which features a bunch of scans spanning Kirby's amazing career). It's hard to overestimate how much Kirby's work meant to me and so many others, and how it continues to inspire. I was lucky enough to meet the man at a birthday gathering held for him at the San Diego Comic Con, where I was luckier still to have the chance to tell him how much I had enjoyed his work.

I'm up to my eyeballs in work, but I took some time off to look over some old Kirby favorites. Today I went back to his Captain America stories in the Tales Of Suspense title, then the solo Captain America book that started in 1968. I love Kirby's FF and Thor work, but I dunno, I think these Cap stories offer some of his most dynamic and powerful storytelling. And all this material is also easily obtainable these days in a variety of reprint forms, from the black and white Essentials collections to the pricier Archives hardbacks. I like comics, but I loves me the Kirby...