Jack Kirby: The Epic Life of the King of Comics [A Graphic Biography]

by Tom Scioli

Overview

Told in vivid graphic novel form by a groundbreaking Eisner-nominated comics creator, the long-overdue biography of the legend who co-created Captain America, Iron Man, Black Panther, the Fantastic Four, the X-Men, and many more superhero favorites.

“A fast-paced celebration of an underheralded legend within the comic-book industry.”—Kirkus Reviews

NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY LIBRARY JOURNAL

This sweeping, full-color comic book biography tells the complete life story of Jack Kirby, co-creator of some of the most enduring superheroes and villains of the twentieth century for Marvel Comics, DC Comics, and more. Critically acclaimed graphic novelist Tom Scioli breathes visual life into Kirby's life story—from his days growing up in New York during the Great Depression and discovering a love for science fiction and cartoons to his time on the frontlines in the European theatre of World War II where he experienced the type of action and adventure he'd later imbue his comic pages with, and on to his world-changing collaborations at Marvel with Stan Lee, where the pair redefined comics as a part of pop culture.

Just as every great superhero needs a villain to overcome, Kirby's story also includes his struggles to receive the recognition and compensation that he believed his work deserved. Scioli captures his moves from Marvel to DC and back again, showing how Kirby himself and later his family fought to preserve his artistic legacy.

Drawn from an unparalleled imagination and a life as exciting as his comic book tales, Kirby's super-creations have influenced subsequent generations of creatives in the comics field and beyond. Now, readers can experience the life and times of a comics titan through the medium that made him famous.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781984856906
Publisher:	Clarkson Potter/Ten Speed
Publication date:	07/14/2020
Pages:	208
Sales rank:	518,536
Product dimensions:	7.10(w) x 10.10(h) x 0.90(d)

About the Author

Tom Scioli is an Eisner-nominated writer and artist who specializes in comics and graphic novels. He’s the author of the non-fiction graphic biography, Jack Kirby: The Epic Life of the King of Comics as well as several science-fiction and superhero originals like American Barbarian, The Myth of 8-Opus, and Godland. He has also reinvented established series with Fantastic Four: Grand Design, Super Powers, Transformers vs G.I. Joe, and a cyberpunk reimagining of Go-Bots. He is known for his singular drawing style, kinetic page layouts, and imaginative writing and is one of a small number of auteur cartoonists who writes, draws, colors, and hand-letters his comics. He’s also the host of the pop culture centered Total Recall Show and a frequent contributor to the Cartoonist Kayfabe podcast.

Editorial Reviews

★ 06/01/2020

Scioli (the Gødland series) injects oomph into the already-energetic life story of the “King of Comics” through sweeping narrative and Scioli’s trademark detailed page layouts. Told from the point of view of Kirby (1917–1994), the biography also acts as a history of the comics industry, from early strips to the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Beginning with Kirby’s hardscrabble upbringing in Manhattan’s Lower East Side (remarkably similar to the back history he later gave the Thing, one of his most endearing creations), Scioli extensively documents the artist’s career and personal life through a chummy and casual first-person narrative. Scioli recreates many of Kirby’s panels from superhero, war, crime, and romance comics—threaded through Kirby’s own experiences as a soldier and in love, for example—while his pompadour-adorned, wide-eyed figure of Kirby seems to pop from the page among a more realistically drawn supporting cast, just as his own heroes stood out as larger than life. Fans of Kirby’s most famous Marvel comics will especially enjoy recollections of his collaboration with Stan Lee, which established the Marvel Universe in the 1960s. This is a must-read for Kirby fans, and beyond—it captures the mythos of the of the 20th century comic industry’s golden age. Agent: Bob Mecoy, Creative Book Services. (July)

Publishers Weekly

★ 06/01/2020

In this lively biography, Scioli (Fantastic Four) pays loving tribute to the creator of Iron Man, the X-Men, and dozens more classic characters. As a child living in Manhattan's Lower East Side, Kirby became obsessed with the colorful adventures he discovered in newspaper comic strips. Inspired by these stories, as well as folktales told by his mother and the futuristic imagery he found at the 1939 World's Fair, he began a career as a journeyman cartoonist. After cocreating Captain America with his partner Joe Simon, Kirby was drafted and experienced harrowing combat in World War II. In the 1960s, he began a fertile period that saw him revolutionize the comic book industry, creating a slew of characters who still dominate pop culture. Scioli presents Kirby's story through a carefully researched but fictionalized first-person point of view, capturing his larger-than-life personality and adding extra pathos to his final decades spent struggling to get credit—and compensation—for his massive contribution to American culture. VERDICT Scioli details Kirby's life with the same passion and crackling energy the King of Comics brought to his own work. An essential text for fans of the medium.

Library Journal

2020-04-12
An unauthorized graphic biography of the comic-book artist Jack Kirby (1917-1994).

“This is a biography…not an autobiography or memoir,” writes Scioli on the first page. “The first-person narration in this work is a literary device. The story is told through ‘Kirby’s’ point of view, adapted from a number of sources, including interviews he gave throughout his life.” One of the claims from the protagonist’s mouth is that he “saved Marvel’s ass.” While comic-book aficionados and cultural historians have long recognized Kirby’s crucial role in the expanding Marvel universe—and his creative development of Spider-Man, the Hulk, Ant-Man, and Iron Man—he has never achieved the name recognition among the public at large as Stan Lee, with whom Kirby had a troubled, complex relationship as a collaborator and rival. In Scioli’s treatment, Lee gets the chance to say his piece, but it is clearly meant to serve as a corrective to restore some critical balance. In a vivid style similar to Kirby’s, Scioli brings out his subject as a comic hero himself and gives repeated voice to his complaints: that Lee took more credit than he deserved, promoting himself as a hipster icon; and that as Marvel continued to generate revenue streams through TV and film adaptations and licensed consumer goods, the artist responsible for creating these characters saw little or nothing in the way of either acclaim or money. As the man Kirby knew as “Stanley” promoted his own legend, making himself synonymous with Marvel, his leading artist counters, “It’s all lies.” Whomever one believes, the book underscores how difficult it can be to assign credit or negotiate a fair deal in a market-driven business filled with copycats, where any popular success spawns numerous imitators and artists borrow or steal from each other regularly.

A fast-paced celebration of an underheralded legend within the comic-book industry.

Kirkus Reviews

Jack Kirby's real life adventures were just as epic as the ones he imagined in the comics he created. Scioli captures that epic feel using his own, inimitable style, and tells a story that's long overdue.”—Joe Casey, co-creator of Gødland

“Artist-writer Tom Scioli has created a magnificent tribute to Jack Kirby, the true King of Comics. Insightful, fun, and crafted with both love and respect. Bravo!”—Jonathan Maberry, New York Times bestselling author of V-Wars
 
“This is clearly the comic that Tom Scioli has been building toward for decades. He's answered every question I've had about Kirby within the pages of this biography. it's genius! This is the masterwork that Jack Kirby deserves.”—Ed Piskor, author of Hip Hop Family Tree and Red Room and co-host of YouTube channel Cartoonist Kayfabe

“[Scioli] crowds his pages with densely captioned panels, rendering characters and colors with a vintage glow, conjuring a beloved, dog-eared Golden Age comic, bringing us into Kirby’s milieu and era. And it’s Kirby’s voice telling us this story, illuminating the remarkable human behind the unforgettable heroes.”—Booklist (starred review)

From the Publisher