Jack Kirby

December 23, 2007 | Filed Under Main |

Many of you may not know this, but I am a comic book geek.

I have been reading comics since I was 8 and have been collecting since the 70s. A good portion of any income in my youth – whether from being an altar boy at weddings or from cutting someone’s lawn – was spent on comics. My brothers and I would ride our bikes to the local pharmacy or convenience store and peruse the spin racks for the latest monthly epic (and at fifteen cents an issue, a dollar was gold!). I also spent nearly every moment that I was at my grandmother’s house in her basement reading comics. Some friend or neighbor gave her a truckload of comics he had collected and Gram kept them for the kids to read.

Mainly that was me and my brothers.

Now – most of these comics were DC, which I wasn’t really into. I was a Marvel boy. Marvel heroes were hip and cool and introspective. Batman and Superman did nothing for me. However… many of these comics were from ’68 to ’71. Weird things were happeningin DC world. There was an amazing series of Green Lantern & Green Arrow done by Neal Adams. There was also Mr. Adam’s Deadman and the Brave & the Bold comics.

And there was Jack Kirby and The New Gods.

For those of you who don’t know, Jack Kirby created the Fantastic Four, the Hulk, the X-Men, the Avengers and many more. His art work is iconic in the industry. For me – there were very few stars: Neil Adams, Gene Colan, John Buscema, Frank Miller much later and Jack. Jack left Marvel in the late 60s so that he could actually have some control over his work and (oddly) make a living from it. And that brought about “The Fourth World”.

I bring all this up because part of my Christmas presents to myself was visiting my local comic book emporium on 14th Street in NYC this week. (Wonderfully, they had an open bar available for all shoppers!) There – I went searching for pieces of my childhood. And I remembered Mister Miracle and The Forever People. Which the shop had in great condition so my dollars went down. Now – as we have all learned – there is a BIG difference between reading something at 10 and reading it thirty something years later. And it is so COOL to read these books again and understand how political they were! Hey – we are talking 1970/71 here. Vietnam, Nixon, etc. etc. Mr. Kirby’s “Fourth World” was one where a totalitarian state exists that demands total loyalty and obedience. It rules with fear and peer pressure. But then a handful of young, independent minds fights against the shackles of the government and strives to free the people.

At 10 - who knew. Now it just seems so familiar and timely. Except for the young, independent minds fighting part… Jack, you were always ahead of your time.

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