Jack Kirby art in the 1970s - What's your opinion?

[DiceX]

I will button hump all you mother !

 

No other comics creator even remotely comes close to Kirby.

 

He is unmatched as an artist, storyteller, and imagineer.

 

Ninety percent of the Marvel Comics Universe was generated by Kirby.

 

Ninety percent of the DC comics from the 1970s worth reading were done by Kirby.

 

Most creators were lucky to create a small handful of interesting characters--Kirby created hundreds.

 

Yeah, his return to Marvel didn't match his peak years--so what?

 

Devil Dinosaur is better than anything than hacks like McFarlane, Liefeld, etc. ever dreamed of doing.

 

Sorry for the but a man's gotta do what he's gotta do.

 

 

 

[thehumantorch]

This is what my dog thinks of Kirby's '70s art...

 

 

 

Looks strangely like a Kangaroo...

[Dick Pontoon]

Well, before this thread turns into Memeland...

 

His Super Powers stuff was bad. The sad truth is that his health was in decline, he had eyesight trouble, and he just couldn’t draw as well as he once could. The move years prior from twice-up pages didn't help, either. And I love Streetwise, but you can already see in spots where his drawing is off.

 

Many people are down on his 70s output, but if you study Jack’s pencils from roughly the mid-60s through his tenure at DC and then back to his 70s return to Marvel, you’ll see that little changes stylistically. Especially towards the end of his 60s Marvel run, his figures and layouts were already in the stylized form that is associated with his later work. It was mostly a matter of who was inking him, and how interested he was in a particular book.

 

The nadir of inking had to be the intial period at DC when Vince Colletta was on (or not) the job. On Thor at least he could turn in a passable job and the series had a look. His 70s DC inking just looks rushed and half-azzed. When Jack became aware that Vince was erasing pencils, he was canned.

 

Some folks don’t care for Royer on Kirby, and as a kid I didn’t either, but he really did a tremendous job. Keep in mind that Jack liked Royer’s inks and wanted Royer because Mike stayed true to the original pencils. I don’t consider it a failing that Royer’s inks don’t look slick like Sinnott’s, with the feathering and modeling that Joe employed.

 

Here’s a great example of 70s Kirby/Royer art:

 

Devil Dinoaur DPS.

 

The OA looks even better; I'd call it stunning. It used to be viewable on CAF but the owner seems to have pulled it.

 

One might not like it but I don’t see how anybody could claim it was bad. I’d take this page over a Shores-inked Cap any day of the week unless the Shores page put me in a position to acquire more pages like this one.

 

Reading through his 70s Marvel books, you can see where an initial period of creativity fell by the wayside as a title moved closer to cancellation. The Eternals is a perfect example, as is 2001/Machine Man. A lot of the art/story in the early issues is fantastic but then becomes rather rote.

 

BTW, I love lots of different Kirby inkers. Sinnott, of course and obviously Royer, but Ditko, Stone and Ayers also do it for me, and Giacoia was no slough either.

 

 

[40sJohn]

This is what my dog thinks of Kirby's '70s art...

 

 

 

A picture is worth a 1000 words! (I agree with the dog)

 

[lb jefferies]

Oh, it's not bad

 

[batman_fan]

Here is my Demon splash page. I absolutely love his stuff from the Demon and Devil Dinosaur. A Devil Dinosaur was on eBay very recently but the image was really small of Devil Dinosaur so I passed.

 

[TheMightyJohn]

I will button hump all you mother !

 

No other comics creator even remotely comes close to Kirby.

 

He is unmatched as an artist, storyteller, and imagineer.

 

Ninety percent of the Marvel Comics Universe was generated by Kirby.

 

Ninety percent of the DC comics from the 1970s worth reading were done by Kirby.

 

Most creators were lucky to create a small handful of interesting characters--Kirby created hundreds.

 

Yeah, his return to Marvel didn't match his peak years--so what?

 

Devil Dinosaur is better than anything than hacks like McFarlane, Liefeld, etc. ever dreamed of doing.

 

Sorry for the but a man's gotta do what he's gotta do.

 

[chrisware]

I will button hump all you mother !

 

No other comics creator even remotely comes close to Kirby.

 

He is unmatched as an artist, storyteller, and imagineer.

 

Ninety percent of the Marvel Comics Universe was generated by Kirby.

 

Ninety percent of the DC comics from the 1970s worth reading were done by Kirby.

 

Most creators were lucky to create a small handful of interesting characters--Kirby created hundreds.

 

Yeah, his return to Marvel didn't match his peak years--so what?

 

Devil Dinosaur is better than anything than hacks like McFarlane, Liefeld, etc. ever dreamed of doing.

 

Sorry for the but a man's gotta do what he's gotta do.

 

 

 

Not exactly sure how to interpret the Kangaroo-Dog getting in the by the Invisible Man. Does that mean he likes 70s Kirby or he doesn't?

[chrisware]

I will button hump all you mother !

 

No other comics creator even remotely comes close to Kirby.

 

He is unmatched as an artist, storyteller, and imagineer.

 

Ninety percent of the Marvel Comics Universe was generated by Kirby.

 

Ninety percent of the DC comics from the 1970s worth reading were done by Kirby.

 

Most creators were lucky to create a small handful of interesting characters--Kirby created hundreds.

 

Yeah, his return to Marvel didn't match his peak years--so what?

 

Devil Dinosaur is better than anything than hacks like McFarlane, Liefeld, etc. ever dreamed of doing.

 

Sorry for the but a man's gotta do what he's gotta do.

 

 

I stand in awe of your rhetorical acumen, good sir.

 

Why bother forming a cogent response when you've clearly mastered the smilies button?

[jools&jim]

 

I loved Kirby's '70s stuff, and still do!

 

I grew up on his mid/late '70s Marvels, and at the time didn't really notice--or care about--the disconnect between his "smoother", classic SA style, which I saw via reprints, and his blockier (fingers like shovels!), more exaggerated later '70s work. It was ALL bold, energetic, quirky, colorful, and fun.

 

Here's one of only 4 or 5 slabs I own, and my only 9.8 (not my OO copy). Every time I see it (and my Mead pocket folder with the same image, which I still have), I'm 10 years-old again, standing in front of a huge display of comics at the News Center in Camp Hill, PA...

 

[chrisware]

I loved Kirby's '70s stuff, and still do!

 

I grew up on his mid/late '70s Marvels, and at the time didn't really notice--or care about--the disconnect between his "smoother", classic SA style, which I saw via reprints, and his blockier (fingers like shovels!), more exaggerated later '70s work. It was ALL bold, energetic, quirky, colorful, and fun.

 

Here's one of only 4 or 5 slabs I own, and my only 9.8 (not my OO copy). Every time I see it (and my Mead pocket folder with the same image, which I still have), I'm 10 years-old again, standing in front of a huge display of comics at the News Center in Camp Hill, PA...

 

 

Awesome!

 

Kirby inked by Romita.

[Ken Aldred]

Fourth World, Kamandi, Eternals. That's all for me.

[Speedy-D]

The DC stuff was dope.

He was more dependent on inkers than earlier in his career.

[bababooey]

I started collecting in '77 & I didn't like Kirby's 70's Marvel stuff (Machine Man, Devil Dinosaur etc..) - the Marvel's Greatest Comics FF reprints being published at the same time were better but paled in comparison to the Byrne & Perez stuff that introduced me to comics.

 

[Koa]

No other comics creator even remotely comes close to Kirby.

 

He is unmatched as an artist, storyteller, and imagineer.

 

Ninety percent of the Marvel Comics Universe was generated by Kirby.

 

Ninety percent of the DC comics from the 1970s worth reading were done by Kirby.

 

Most creators were lucky to create a small handful of interesting characters--Kirby created hundreds.

 

Yeah, his return to Marvel didn't match his peak years--so what?

 

Devil Dinosaur is better than anything than hacks like McFarlane, Liefeld, etc. ever dreamed of doing.

 

Sorry for the but a man's gotta do what he's gotta do.

 

 

I love jack kirby on every level creatively. His artwork was more powerful than any other artist has ever been. he was a force of nature in the 60's and the 70's. Stan lee's writing played a big part in the accessibility and appeal of kirby's ideas and visual staging as did inker like joe Sinnott, ayers and many others.

 

His 70's stuff was kick too. The early DC stuff, mister miracle, fourth world even the jimmy olsen comics (when Royer started inking them) are really fun stuff. Darksied alone validates Kirby's 1970's output. It's genius. The whole fourth world is genius.

 

the opening scene of the silver surfer graphic novel is one of my favorite things ever.

 

[slym2none]

I think Jack Kirby is one of those artists who you either love, or you hate. Or you don't care about at all. Or you like or dislike him, sorta.

 

 

 

 

-slym

[JazzMan]

Oh, it's not bad

 

 

I've learned to appreciate his art, but not love it and this is a good example of what I meant in the original post. Although the faces didn't change much from his body of work, there was a tremendous change in the shading. Just look at Galactus' glove - a signature heavy, black lines with the typical squiggles plus the arm and face have unnatural splotches interconnected in a linear form. He didn't do that before.

 

Looks like the transformation happened while at DC, although the proportioning started to go awry in the late 60s - remember Captain America 106 (looks like Cap versus Kamandi)

 

One thing I must admit, though, he had a knack of creating incredibly complex looking machinery throughout his career.

[jools&jim]

 

For some reason, when I skim through this thread (and many similar threads which have cropped up over the years), I am reminded of this line from Dickens:

 

"...Oh God! to hear the insect on the leaf pronouncing on the too much life among his hungry brothers in the dust...!"

Kirby, along with a handful of other artistic pioneers, gave comics their basic visual vocabulary.

 

His style from any given era might not be everyone's cuppa tea. But there should be no doubt whatsoever, especially amongst people who claim to love the art form, that there is an embarrassment of imaginative riches in even the least of his work that is worthy of our attention and scrutiny, and, if not our enjoyment, then at the very least our informed appreciation...

 

 

[MR SigS]

His 70's work? , it was alright.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Obviously

 

 

Some folks don’t care for Royer on Kirby, and as a kid I didn’t either, but he really did a tremendous job. Keep in mind that Jack liked Royer’s inks and wanted Royer because Mike stayed true to the original pencils. I don’t consider it a failing that Royer’s inks don’t look slick like Sinnott’s, with the feathering and modeling that Joe employed.

 

Here’s a great example of 70s Kirby/Royer art:

 

Devil Dinoaur DPS.

 

 

 

 

[Prince Namor]

Kirby, along with a handful of other artistic pioneers, gave comics their basic visual vocabulary.

 

This. Big time.

It's too bad some of today's artists aren't as versed in that basic visual vocabulary.