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| Art by Jack Kirby & Vince Colletta |
His life enriched us.
His legacy sustains us.
Few gifts are as precious.
Here's to you, Jack.
You will be missed.
JACK KIRBY would've been 95 today. Co-creator of MARVEL's FANTASTIC FOUR, INCREDIBLE HULK, ASTONISHING ANT-MAN, MIGHTY THOR, UNCANNY X-MEN, AVENGERS, NICK FURY, CAPTAIN AMERICA & many others, plus sole creator of DC COMIC's NEW GODS, FOREVER PEOPLE, MISTER MIRACLE, KAMANDI, DEMON, OMAC, etc., he was probably involved in more comics than almost anyone else in the medium.
Let's all take a few moments to remember the 'KING' - he deserves it.
AMEN!
ReplyDeleteI was just looking at another blog with his artwork on and thinking he has still has got it! Exciting and dynamic
He was undeniably unbeatable at his peak, Norman. Such a shame that age and illness later took its toll on his abilities.
ReplyDeleteI wish he had never drawn DCs "Super Powers" but looking back on his best work he really does still look fresh and as Norman say dynamic - I always loved is second stint at Marvel on Eternals , Black Panther, 2001 ec McScotty
ReplyDeleteIf only Vince Colletta had inked them, they'd have been even better. His cover for Marvel Premiere #27 (Hercules), which Vinnie inked, looked like his classic '60s work. (It was drawn in the mid-'70s.)
ReplyDeleteColletta was o.k. at inking organic objects and his light touch was alright for love stories but he wasn't suited for most of Kirby's cosmic material. Look how the look of New Gods, & Forever People improved when Mike Royer replaced Colletta. Royer brought out the POWER in Kirby's pencils.
ReplyDeleteIt's like on the FF too. Colletta inking Kirby just wasn't right but along comes Joe Sinnott and POW the comic looked 100% better.
Hmm, I'm not convinced. Colletta was THE inker for Kirby's Thor, and I never thought Jack's DC books were improved when Mike Royer took over them. Not that Royer isn't a good inker - he is - but he was giving us a faithful reproduction of the pencils. Not a good idea in Jack's case - who needed an inker who would dilute his pencilling idiosyncracies, not 'laminate' them.
ReplyDeleteIn the mid-'70s, not even Joe Sinnott's inks could disguise the deterioration in Jack's pencils (witness their FF covers), but, as I said, that Marvel Premiere cover looked like classic Kirby art from the '60s - thanks to Vinnie's inking.
I disagree, sorry. The one artist who should never have had his style diluted was Jack Kirby. Vinnie did more harm than good to Kirby's work. Some aspects of the Colletta Thors were good but the Rigel saga for one would be 100% better if Sinnott or Royer had inked it. Colletta was acceptable at inking trees, stone, fabric and hairy arms but not so good with Kirby's hardware designs or capturing the real power of Kirby's work.
ReplyDeleteAnd you're allowed to disagree. (Unlike on some blogs.) However, I still think you're wrong. Kirby's artwork was always better for a good inker (like Wally Wood for example) than it was without. Look at the pic which adorns this post, inked by Vinnie. Inked by Royer or Everett, it would have been too cartoony-looking. As it is, it's a nice pen and ink portrait. And Colletta didn't seem to have any difficulty rendering hardware designs in the Thor/Galactus tales. Vince made Jack's musculature look real - Royer showed his abstract lines and squiggles which made the characters all look like contortionists with broken bones.
ReplyDeletehmm. I don't think you actually like pure Kirby so much do you? Or maybe you just don't understand his work. Whatever.
ReplyDeleteI like 'pure' Kirby well enough. However, I prefer Kirby inked by Wood, Sinnott, Colletta, and Ayers - plus a few others. Don't understand his work? What's to understand? He was a dynamic storyteller who got into the habit of not drawing muscles very well, hence the need for an inker who would dilute his excesses. Even Stan Lee recognized the truth of that, which is why he told Joe Sinnott to 'correct' Jack whenever he thought it was necessary.
ReplyDeleteI'm not a fan of Colletta's inks in general (he can be awful over some artists IMHO) but I have to say I though his inks on Kirby's Thor were amazing (my favourite comic for years) I loved Joe Sinnots work on the FF as well - I used to like D Bruce Berry inking Kirby but to be honest I had never heard of this guy until Kirby went to DC - McScotty
ReplyDeleteI'd never heard of D. Bruce Berry either before or after he inked Kirby's DC stuff. You're right - Colletta's inking didn't suit every artist, but it depended to some degree on how many assistants he was using. When he took the time, he could turn in quite a decent job.
ReplyDeleteCorrection to one of my earlier responses above: It was Marvel Premiere #26, not #27.
Kid, you have a strange way of paying homage to a great creator. Everyone of your entries about Kirby give him a little of that obligatory praise and then pepper it with what you think is wrong with his work. Do you use these entries as a platform for your own criticisms on the man? Nothing wrong with that - It is your blog, right? But in an entry celebrating the King's birthday, one would question how appropriate your side jabs are. The way I see it, it may be better not to praise at all.
ReplyDeleteI'm a great admirer of the man and his work, but I don't deify him to the point that some fans do. And what you refer to as "side jabs", I see as mere observations, warts and all, of the quality of Kirby's art down through the years.
ReplyDeleteI have favourite singers - but when I opine that a particular song might not suit the voice of one of them, or that another singer has done a better version - or even if one particular song is an absolute turkey - that does not detract from my regard of all that I like about that artiste.
It's the same with Jack. He was the absolute best at what he did for a good while - but not everything that he did was of the same quality - and some inkers made his work even better than it already was. In later life, due to age and illness, his artwork became almost a parody of itself. For me to recognize this and share my observations in no way detracts from Jack's many triumphant accomplishments.
In that way, I regard myself as a more honest (and definitely more discerning) fan of Jack's output.