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Mark Evanier marks what would have been the King’s 89th birthday:

I miss Jack. I miss the guy the same way you miss that favorite uncle you always enjoyed being around. But I also miss just having a Jack Kirby in our midst…a man who just radiated creative energy and who made everyone he met feel a little more like a writer or artist. That was because he lived and breathed new ideas, new visions, new vistas. Young, wanna-be artists and writers went to him with their work seeking…well, some were seeking career help and others were seeking tips, but I think a lot of them just wanted semi-parental approval and the reassurance that they were breathing the same air as an idol. He encouraged everyone and they all went away with more confidence…because the King of the Comics stood on no ceremony. He treated everyone as an equal, even though no one really was.

9 COMMENTS

  1. Hello,
    I was reading my Essential FF #4 when I went to check The Beat and saw this posting, what a pleasant coincidence. Possibly the best part of Jack’s run on the FF. The energy that radiates out of those panels has never gotten old to me. In fact, the older I get, the more I appreciate him.

    I had the pleasure of having lunch with Jack and Roz, among others, at a Denny’s in 1989, during a convention I worked at. He was a truly decent person… and if we put any modern cartoonist under the scrutiny we put the King (and Kurtzman) under, no one would be any good! God bless ya Jack, whever you are.
    Mark Sahagian
    (Hack Cartoonist!)

  4. My tastes went in a different direction from Kirby’s work early on but it stuns me when I think of it how many of Kirby’s works are ingrained in my memory. Reading 2 colour and black and white reprints in the UK Mighty World Of Marvel in my preteen years in the early 70’s, hunting down copies of Kamandi and Devil Dinosaur and Black Panther a little later through to reading Captain Victory and Silver Star in the 80’s, Jack Kirby was a constant source of entertainment even though he was never top of my comics list.

    The king is dead, but thanks to Essentials and Showcase etc,
    LONG LIVE THE KING.

  5. If anyone deserves the acknowledgement of merit it is Jack Kirby. His talented eye for perspective will always be dazzling and stylish.

  6. I think it it cool you acknowledging Jack Kirby on his birthday. Jack was my uncle through marriage. I only met him twice, at my cousin’s wedding in NYC and at another uncle’s house in Monticello, NY. He was a genuinely down to earth guy. I never knew until many years later how famous he was (is). He was not the least bit pretentious. Just a nice guy with a thousand intersting stories.

  7. Jack Kirby gave me a good time. Nick Fury of Shield was my favorite. And there was a one-shot, the Three Rocketeers in 1965. Jack, you are one of the Good Guys. Thank you so much.

    Robert

  8. hello i got somehow drawing gift and i am trying to draw like leonardo da vinci ;because he is the best for me i would like to publish my drawings ,could u in any some way help me?i saw the jack kirby´s drawings and his perception of perpective is wonderful,but could get better. my name is jonatas davi porto loureiro ,i live in brazil in the state of espirito santo ,vila velha, novo méxico.thank u.and i´m 16 plz help me!

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