The background of this cover shows an early example of
Kirby Dots.
Right, the war. We've been at war with Apokolips since forever and then some. It's had its ups and downs, frankly. (...) Although, I have to admit it... that time also introduced those strange, glowing black dots upon which our society is built. Would you
want to live upon a dotless New Genesis? Right, I didn't think you did...
—
Highfather, in Mightygodking's
Remix Comic of
Death Of The New Gods issue #1.
Kirby dots are a method of showing a crackle of energy such as a lightning bolt or a
Battle Aura. They've been widely used in US superhero comics ever since they were first developed, by influential artist
Jack Kirby
in the 1960s. Sometimes referred to as 'Kirby Krackle'.
The technique consists of drawing a series of overlapping dots along the edge of the energy effect in question, forming a fractal-like edge. It is used primarily in print comics, but is sometimes replicated in animation by particularly slavish adaptations.
There now exists a
CGI tool for automatically creating Kirby Dots, and even animating them. Interestingly, an analogous technique called 'particle emission' is used in
Video Game graphics for rendering fire, smoke, clouds and, not surprisingly, energy fields.
Examples:
- Marvel Comics' Sunspot becomes solid black and is surrounded by Kirby Dots when he powers up (originally. Lately, it's dark blue and mostly dotless.) X-Men Evolution, despite not being a particularly slavish adaptation, especially visually, rendered the dot effect perfectly, much better than you'd think it'd work onscreen.
- Ben10 has a bunch of Kirby Dots against a green background during most of Ben's transformations. Also, the 0 in Ben10 has a bunch of dots in the middle. This makes sense, as the series was influenced by comics.
- An episode of Superman The Animated Series had Supes attacked by an Apokolips war machine with animated Kirby dots on its front panel.
- The Pain has used this to represent evil radiation.
- Kirby Dots are an actual item seen in one of the many JLA trophy rooms.
