Thank You, Stan & Jack

On the eve of the premiere of the much-anticipated Avengers: Endgame, let's take a moment to thank Stan Lee & Jack Kirby. If it wasn't for their pioneering comic book work, there'd be no Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Thanks, Stan & Jack!

Happy 100th Birthday To Jack Kirby!

Happy Belated Birthday to the one and only Jack Kirby, who would have been one hundred years young on 8/28. 

Kirby passed away back in 1994, but fortunately fir us his amazing body of work lives on. Kirby, together with writer Stan Lee, created most of the Marvel Comics Universe back in the 1960s. The two of them had an unusual working relationship, which they dubbed the "Marvel Method." First they'd briefly discuss a general idea for a plot. Kirby would go off and draw the whole thing, often adding new characters and ideas they'd never talked about. Then Lee would come in and write the dialogue over the art. It was an offbeat way of producing comics, but it worked! And how!

I've been a fan of Kirby's bold, stylized work ever since I was old enough to hold a comic book. He had the ability to infuse his drawings with action an energy, resulting in still images that almost looked like they were moving. 

His characters also stretched the boundaries of human anatomy to often ridiculous lengths. It's like he broke the rules and put them back together in a completely new and different way for his own purposes. Somehow it worked though, as his figures always conveyed an amazing sense of power and grace.

Oddly enough, Jack Kirby actually LOOKED many of the characters he drew! Or maybe it's the other way around.

Kirby's influence lives on in comics of course, and in film as well. There would be no Marvel Studios movies without Jack Kirby, as every frame is filled with his characters, designs and ideas. It's too bad he didn't live to see the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Happy 100th, Jack Kirby!

This Makes Me Sad

This week the original cover art for the 1986 comic The Dark Knight Returns (drawn by Frank Miller) sold at auction for $478,000 (!).

That beats another piece of Miller art from The Dark Knight Returns, which in 2011 sold for $448,125.

Amazingly neither of those are even close to the record. 

The record for an original piece of American comic book art goes to Todd McFarlane's 1990 cover for The Amazing Spider-Man #328, which sold for an astonishing $657,250. Oy gevalt.

I'm hoping the people who bought them did so because they actually like the art, or it has some sort of nostalgic significance to them. Because if they bought them as investments, then they've got far more money than sense.

Personally I wouldn't buy any of these if they were priced at a dollar. Seeing the pieces in their original form like this makes you realize just how much they rely on the coloring to make them look good. In all three examples the underlying artwork is quite poorly drawn. In my opinion, or course.

What really makes me sad about the whole thing is there's not a single piece of Jack Kirby art in the lot. What's the big deal about Jack Kirby, you ask? Oh, nothing much. He was only the artist who almost single-handedly created the Marvel Comics Universe!

Jack Kirby, the guy who created or co-created Captain America, Challengers Of The Unknown, Darkseid, Doctor Doom, The Demon, The Fantastic Four, The Forever People, Galactus, The Hulk, The Inhumans, Iron Man, Silver Surfer, Thor and The X-Men. That Jack Kirby.

Kirby's artwork had fluidity, movement and a bold sense of style. His art wasn't realistic by any means, but damn was it energetic and fun to look at. Best of all he could actually draw, and knew how to construct a figure unlike some of the other artists on this page. In my opinion, of course.

I just wish I was reading about some of his art selling for $657,3250. Or better yet, a million! After all, without him there wouldn't be a Marvel Comics or any X-Men, Wolverine, Iron Man, Thor, Captain America or Avengers movies!

Kirby died in 1994, so it wouldn't surprise me if the people buying comic art these days consider him old hat and not worth the investment. 

Or maybe it's just a case of a flooded marketplace. Jack Kirby was a very prolific artist, pencilling four or five books a month (!) in his prime. Maybe the reason his art isn't on this list is because there's just a lot of it, making it less rare. You know, supply and demand-- the only thing you remember from Econ class. 

Or maybe people are just idiots. In my opinion, of course.