I’m no expert on comicbook history, but I do know that the men and women who fill those pages with dynamic figures, bold colors, verbose scripts, and involving plots are as much heroes as the characters whose stories they tell. One of the most influential of those creators, of the modern era of comic books, Jack “King” Kirby, would have been 96 today. His artwork electrified readers for years, his plots got readers thinking, his character designs defined many characters.
Where would Hollywood be without Spider-Man, Captain America, the Avengers, the Fantastic Four, Daredevil, the X-men, the Hulk? The King was a co-creator who’d be tough to match in terms of productive output. There’s the story of the time a comic was about to fall behind schedule, so Stan Lee came to Jack on a Friday, saying “Can you draw 22-pages this weekend?” and come Monday, the book was DONE. Jack Kirby is a hero, plain and simple.