Stan Lee is the biggest name known in Marvel comics today. If you’ve watched a Marvel superhero movie, no matter if it’s owned by Disney or Sony, you’ve likely seen him in a cameo. He’s taken a lot of credit for the MCU and what it is today, and at least a healthy part of that is what he’s earned. The problem is that while he’s done quite a bit with the company that he helped to get going, Stan is not the only one that deserves the credit for the insanely popular comics that have propelled Marvel this far into the future. Jack Kirby, a name that usually only true diehard fans would know, is equally responsible for getting the brand off the ground.
So what did Jack Kirby do? Let’s take a look.
He co-created Captain America with Joe Simon.
How many of you didn’t know that Marvel wasn’t the original venue of Captain America? Whether by purpose or by dint of history it’s not likely that Lee will blurt this out to the world. If asked he might go ahead and tell, but Kirby and another man named Joe Simon were responsible for the iconic character and would later on give in to Marvel to let go of Captain America and make him a known commodity throughout the MCU.
He was responsible for the Fantastic Four’s first appearance.
This was a collaboration with Lee, but Kirby did a good deal of the work and it’s because of his artwork that the Fantastic Four really got off the ground. Lee could always talk a good game but if your characters look ridiculous there’s nothing that can be said to make them look any better. Kirby’s pencil was the method by which a lot of superheroes got their start.
He developed The Inhumans.
The likes of Black Bolt, Medusa, Lockjaw, Crystal, and the others were largely if not entirely inspired by Kirby’s drawings. He came up with back stories, their looks, their story lines, and brought the Inhumans into the mainstream. As it stand now Lee will obviously take a lot of credit because Kirby is not here to do so, but all one needs to do is procure a copy of Kirby’s original work to see how it all began.
He wrote and drew The Eternals
The Eternals brought in the god-like beings known as the Celestials, which are essentially the biggest, strongest, and most dangerous characters throughout the MCU. They are able to create and destroy life on a galactic scale, and have motives that are largely unknown to most of the universe. Their mystique is that they create and destroy based upon a design that no one can possibly understand. That’s what makes them both way too powerful and extremely interesting.
He came up with new drawing techniques such as the “Kirby Krackle”.
This was a new technique that Kirby developed to denote massive amounts of energy gathering around a source. It would be drawn as a multitude of black dots clustered together so as to indicate a massive field of energy that was in effect “crackling” giving it the dark, negative look that one sees when they stare too long into a bright light.
Jack Kirby is responsible in great part for Marvel’s current success by way of pioneering the artwork that has led to today’s comics. The only issue is that Stan Lee, the media darling of Marvel, doesn’t always see fit to speak Kirby’s name with the reverence it deserves.
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Pretty poor timing to attack Stan Lee personally don’t you think? Far out what a disgrace.
It was not meant as an attack. And to be quite honest I had just noticed his wife’s passing when this article was published. I am sorry if it seemed that way.
This article comes off very wrong and sounds like an attack on Stan Lee.
Don’t get me wrong, MUCH respect for Jack Kirby and I agree with you that he deserves more credit then he has received.
However it is NOT Stan Lee’s fault that the media does not report more on Mr. Kirby accomplishments.
Stan has constantly mentioned and given credit to his collaborators in interviews for decades now. I have heard him saying in every comic con panel I have seen him in say “Marvel would not be where it is today if not for the amazing artist & storytellers at Marvel like Jack Kirby”.
I have heard for decades of him praising Jack Kirby, Steve Ditko, John Romita, John Buscema, and so on. Praising their talents, and Marvels 1960’s success happened because of the collaboration they all had together as a team.
Stan gives credit constantly to Kirby, I have heard it too many times to count. The media chooses for the most part to only acknowledge Stan Lee.
Maybe it’s Stan’s fun personality and charisma that makes him easy for the media to focus in on, but that’s not Stan’s fault.
Go ahead, interview him…ask him about Jack Kirby and watch him light up about how great Kirby was. I mean it was Stan Lee that gave Jack Kirby’s nickname, Jack “King” Kirby!
I won’t argue with you. I agree that it’s a lot to do with the media. Honestly I would love to interview Stan Lee, I’ve been a Marvel fan for a long time and it would an honor.
I thought the article was being more than modest. For decades Stan Lee would let fans believe that the people he worked with were great collaborators; he would heap praise on them; provided the listener believed that he (Lee) was the creative force. This is where Lee looses respect from those who are in the know. Lee could have gotten his due credit for being a competent editor, dialogue writer, art director, and pitchman. Lee was not the great creator of the Marvel universe, Jack Kirby was, It was Kirby who came up with The Fantastic Four, The Hulk, Thor, Ant-Man, Iron-Man, The X-Men. Nick Fury, SHIELD, The Inhumans, Galactus & the Silver Surfer, The Black Panther and hundreds others. Kirby was the ideas man for Marvel and the only other successful characters Kirby didn’t create: Spiderman & Dr Strange, Steve Ditko did; hell even Daredevil was a creation of Bill Everett, with an assist from Kirby.. What I’m getting at is Lee didn’t come up with the ideas, but he did ask for ideas. He was not a creative person, but he knew how to sell the product and tweak it for likeability. Many of the stories weren’t his , both Kirby and Ditko attest to this in articles and interviews. Lee is recognized as a creator because Marvel wasn’t about to give credit to freelance artists who could concieveably sue them someday for creative control; the company listed their company man as creator, thereby protecting their copyrights. Lee, of course didn’t mind any publicity that could net him any kind of recognition. so yes Lee deserves credit. but not the kind you think! Sorry for any typos, written on thy fly…
Mike Gartland
Well thanks for the comment. Don’t worry about typos, I do it all the time, it happens. Anyway, I hear what both sides say about this and I agree that media spin has a lot to do with it but I also think that perhaps Kirby might not have been the type to want to have his face out there like Stan Lee. We all play our roles in life, Kirby had awesome ideas and came up with great characters, Lee was the guy that hyped them up and got the ball rolling. They both had a definite purpose in this company, and yes, artists tend to get the short end of the stick very often, but Lee has stuck around this long and been the promotional face of the company. Each man has their own place in Marvel history and it was earned. I do enjoy the comments though.