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This is Funky Art World and I am the funky art man Eddie
Davis. Today I’m bringing to you true believers a tale that is
amazing, fantastic, incredible as well as uncanny. But first I
have this one question: What makes a person a great artist? I
would think it’s when your work adds something new to the
world. When you inspire imitators. When you lead instead of
follow. What names comes to mind when you think of great
artists? Da Vinci, Michelangelo, Picasso or Rembrandt. Maybe
Pollock, Warhol, or Freda Kahlo flips your switch. For me,
definitely Ernie Barnes, Norman Rockwell or, if I jump mediums,
George Clinton, Prince and Larry Blackman.
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Above: Jack Kirby
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What about Jack “The King” Kirby? You see, when I
was doing the research for the Hulk story (June/July issue of
ThePRESS), I began to realize something that I guess I have
always suspected but didn’t quite understand until now: Jack
Kirby was the bomb! Jack was a leader. He spawned generations of
imitators. Jack definitely brought something new to the world.
And he did it in one of the most underrated art mediums, the
comic book.
It’s not easy being a great comic book artist. Hell it isn’t
easy being a weak comic book artist. I’ve tried and gave up.
Not that I lacked in skill, I can kick out a busty babe in
spandex with the best of them. When you really get in to it,
though, you have to be good at drawing every thing from birds to
buildings. Hell, if the story takes place on another planet then
you got to take the reader there. It requires a huge
imagination, some serious skills and much too much drawing for
me.
Jack Kirby is, and I think always will be, top dog. A lot has
been said about Stan Lee and what he did for Marvel Comics,
creating Spider-Man, Hulk and those core heroes and villains
that are in use still to this day with no hint of ever playing
out. But Stan has been taking most of the credit for half of the
work. It was Stan Lee and Jack Kirby who shared equal credit in
the creation of those comic icons. You see, Kirby was both an
artist and writer. And where Stan left off, Kirby began and visa
versa. Kirby, however, had a trunk load of skills. Stan was the
editor, and, as stories go, Kirby would provide the cosmic stuff
whereas Stan would keep it grounded in reality, a one-two punch
is what the industry needed at that time.
Rumor has it that the reason Kirby packed up and left Marvel in
the early ‘80s is that he wasn’t getting his props. I
don’t think Stan Lee was playa hating—that’s just the way
editors are. So I’m thinking, I got to get an interview with
this Kirby guy. But how? He’s dead! I decided to do a John
Edwards/Ms. Cleo thing and conjure his ass back from the dead
for a minute. I went down to The Turning Page on Murray Ave. and
asked Ron for some Kirby-drawn books. I even bought a Tales from
the Crypt for good measure. I got home, lit up some funky green
stuff, then some candles, drew a circle around the books on the
floor, took a few swigs of ol’ Thompson whiskey and said,
“Jack Kirby! Yo! Jack! Arise!”
It worked. Poof! Jack “The King” Kirby was standing in my
studio. Three more long swigs later and I was ready for the
interview. Here are some excerpts from that interview.
Funky: Jack good to see you!
Kirby: You’re lucky you see me. I’m dead, remember
that.
Funky: Dude, I had to hook up man. I’ve been reading up
on you and I must say man you’re the bomb. You and Stan
created some of my favorite characters: Spider-Man, Hulk, Thor,
Iron Man.
Kirby: No, I’m dead. Ghosts don’t explode. But
thanks. How are you? And call me Jacob.
Funky: Yes, Jacob Kurtzburg is your birth name you were
born in 1917, and got into the drawing cartooning business when
you were 16, drawing cartoons for a boys youth organization one
of those Great Depression things to keep young folks off the
streets.
Kirby: Yes. It paid off when I got a job working for Max
Fleischer doing in-betweens for the cartoons. You know Popeye,
Betty Boop. It was 1935.
Funky: You created Captain America. How did that come
about?
Kirby: Well, there was this patriotic character at Pep
comics called The Shield. My boss at Timely wanted us to come up
with something to compete with it. It was 1941 and war was
looming and people wanted a patriot to cheer for. Ironically, in
1943 I got drafted. For a while Timely canned the Captain. By
then I was working at another company. Then Timely started
producing him again, so Joe and me created The Fighting American
in 1954 to compete with our Captain America. Captain America
proved the better creation of the two.
Funky: You struck gold with that one. He’s still going
strong today. You created the two-page spread, the splash page
concept, plus your dynamic perspectives and sense of cinematic
drama to your panels was co-opted by all in the business.
Jack: I watched a lot of movies. When I was young, I
loved Flash Gordon. Those things you speak of just made sense.
Don’t leave out my partner, Joe Simon. Couldn’t have done it
without him. His inks made me look good.
Funky: I heard you created over 400 characters and
illustrated over 24,000 pages of comic book art. Damn, that’s
a lot of drawing.
Funky: But what brought you back to Marvel in the 1960s?
Jack: In the late 1950s comics were blamed for all the
ills of juvenile delinquents. There were Senate hearings,
Reader’s Digest articles and social backlash. Finally, around
early 1955 nearly 350 comic titles caved under pressure from
these groups. So we got censored into unemployment. By 1961
Marvel was hiring and they needed some fresh new ideas. My
characters Challengers of the Unknown were what I drew from when
Stan gave me the outline of a concept called The Fantastic Four.
Those were the good ol’ days. Stanley and me, we had a ball.
Jeez! I gotta get going.
Funky: Oh sorry did I keep you to long.
Jack: No. Jesus said I have to get going. I call him Jeez
for short I’m dead, remember that.
Funky: OK. One last thing ... Could you draw the ol’
funky art man as you would one of your heroes so I can show my
readers. ... Then I woke up at my drawing table with an empty
bottle of whiskey and this drawing that you see on this page.
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