Jack Kirby: The Epic Life of the King of Comics Paperback – 12 Sept. 2023

Tom Scioli honours Jack Kirby as well has the history of comics in a way that can only be told in the language of comics. "Jack Kirby: the epic life of the king of comics" is an emotional rollercoaster of a odyssey through the life of the man who is the grandfather of pop culture. Loved it

Excellent book, the art is unusual but the story and art etc worked fine and found out a lot that I never really thought about. Of course, as with any biography etc, it is often only one side of the story and I am certain that others would say this or that didn't happen in that way or that was not the reason etc. Still, found it.a joy to read throughout and glad that I finally purchased it (as I had looked at it earlier and was initially dismissive of the work, changed my mind on that)

I'm biased because Jack Kirby is my idol, but I read this in one sitting when my plan was to glance at a few pages and read it later.Tom Scioli has done an excellent job of synthesizing what is known and what is lore into a coherent whole.Some of it is heartbreaking and some of it is a cautionary tale, but none of it is boring.

Of all the books written about Kirby, this is the best I have come across so far.So much information. Lots of nods and easter eggs to find throughout the bookand very touching and moving in places too.Well worth the money

If you forgive the low grade cartoon art there's a lot of pleasure to be had from this biography of Jack Kirby, the co-creator of much of the Marvel Universe. Or is he the creator of all the early stuff? Ah, there's the rub.Scioli's research is impressive. I've read a few books on Kirby as well as many issues of 'The Jack Kirby Collector' and in general subscribe to the view that he did most of the creation with both Joe Simon and Stan Lee. On the other hand, they both did stuff without him, so were not talentless. To be fair, Scioli has an interlude where Stan puts his point of view.Jack had a hard life. Raised in the slums he took part in some real violence as a youth and even more on the front line during World War II. He seems to have worked non-stop churning out stuff at the drawing board to make a living. In the good years, he gained from Joe Simon's business savvy and had a fair return for his labour. In the lean years he sweated for low rates just to keep his head above water. In the end, he did okay. A house with swimming pool and stables in California is not the breadline.Was he cheated? Yeah, probably. The history of comic books is a tale of creators getting shafted and others building fortunes off the labour of better men. But that's the American dream.A worthy work into which much labour has gone. Worth a look.

A thoroughly enjoyable and largely accurate retelling of the life of 20th Century comics' most prolific creative force. Kirby faced obstacles and exploitation throughout his career, but still managed to create a mountain of ideas that have energised fellow writers and artists for decades. The highs and lows of his amazing life are wonderfully captured in Tom Scioli's labour of love. Highly recommended for those interested in what lies at the root of a creative genius.

Like me, Tom Scioli is a huge Kirby fan. Why wouldn't he be? Read any history of the comic book medium and you'll find Kirby high on the list of the most creative talents ever to have worked in it. Quite often, he tops the list, which is why so many of us still acknowledge him as the King, a moniker first given him by his one-time writing partner, Stanley Lieber, a.k.a. Stan Lee, who loved a little alliteration.The only previous attempt I'm aware of to tell Kirby's life story in comic book form was 'Street Code,' a piece Kirby himself produced outlining his tough childhood on the streets of New York's Lower East Side. Scioli takes the story from Kirby's birth through service in WWII, meeting Ros, the great love of his life, their marriage, the birth of their children and, of course, Kirby's extraordinary career in comics. This first went big with his co-creation in 1940, with Joe Simon, of Captain America, continuing through his co-creation of hugely successful kid gang, romance, crime, western, horror and sci-fi comics. There was pretty much no genre to which Kirby didn't turn his hand at one time or another.Kirby is probably best known for the characters he created at Marvel in the 1960s. Many have gone on to become household names and spawn a multi-billion dollar film franchise. They include the Fantastic Four, the Incredible Hulk, the Avengers, the X-Men, Black Panther, the Silver Surfer, the Inhumans and a host of others. Scioli, of course, covers all this too, often with panels lovingly drawn in the style Kirby used to depict these characters at the time. In this way, Scioli shows us how Kirby's style developed across his long career.There are still those who question Kirby's leading role in the creation of these characters. They are wrong to do so. Even Marvel themselves, following lengthy legal wranglings, were forced to concede Kirby's role as creator or risk losing all rights to his creations to the surviving members of his family. Marvel/Disney chose to settle out of court and now acknowledge Kirby as at least co-creator of all the characters he created while working for them wherever they appear.If any lingering doubt remains, check out the fact that, as Scioli and many others have related, the 1961 origin of the Fantastic Four closely parallels events in issue #3 of Challengers of the Unknown, which Kirby produced for DC Comics three years earlier. Challenger, 'Rocky' Davis, who bears more than a passing resemblance to Ben Grimm (a.k.a. the 'rocky' Thing), goes into space in an experimental rocket ship, is bombarded with cosmic rays and comes back with super-powers that include shooting flames like a Human Torch and turning invisible. Ring any bells?Stan Lee's 1960s 'Marvel Method' consisted of artists like Kirby and Ditko writing the stories as they drew them and providing notes as to what was happening, after which Lee or one of his staff writers would fill in the speech balloons and captions. Despite their obvious involvement in creating stories and characters, artists were seldom, if ever, given a writer's credit, nor were they paid anything other than their basic page rate as artists. This is why, in what should have been the middle of a hugely successful run on Spider-Man, Steve Ditko walked away from Marvel. Wally Wood quit when he was asked to work this way on Daredevil.Scioli certainly doesn't shy away from this darker side of the comic book business, revealing how, time and again, Kirby's talents were exploited by people who hadn't a fraction of his creativity ability, some of whom went on to make personal fortunes off the back of that ability while Kirby himself struggled to put food on his family's tables.It could make for a pretty depressing read were it not for Kirby's irrepressible nature. That tough upbringing on the streets of New York meant that, no matter how often he was knocked down, he just got up again, came up with a whole new batch of characters for another company and started all over again. Most notably when he jumped ship from the poor pay, poor conditions and lack of credit at Marvel and created the New Gods/Fourth World saga for DC. If Nazis couldn't beat him in WWII, he was damned if was going to let the comic book business finish him off.Scioli faithfully follows all these ups and downs, alongside Kirby's love of wife and family which, more than anything, kept him going through them all. There has never been a creative force like Kirby in the comic book world and it's unlikely there ever will be again. Scioli does true justice to our hero in this excellent book which I heartily recommend. The King is dead! Long live the King!

Read a review of this in the Spectator which suggested it might be worth a look. It is not. Astoundingly poor quality draftsmanship.

I really enjoyed reading this. I love how the story is told from Kirby's perspective. The drawings are great. I thought Scioli did an awesome job of researching Kirby's life. Highly recommend it.

Jack Kirby Rocks Your Feeble World.Mister Scioli has done a superb job of telling the true story of the King of Comics.A must read for Marvel fans of every level.

a great comic about a great story. a cautionary tale and simply amazing.

Esta biografía en primera persona, es una joya!Aunque hay un detalle a tomar en cuenta, si es la primera vez que lees sobre Jack Kirby, muy probablemente te sentirás abrumado por todos los nombres, personajes, fechas, y hechos alrededor del la vida de Kirby.Fuera de eso, es una lectura amena, muy bien redactada que te adentra y sensibiliza en la viñeta.Sinceramente, de lo mejor que he leído en este año 2020.

Buena novela gráfica y biográfica sobre la vida de Jack Kirby. Adictiva y muy recomendable.