History Quotes / JackKirby

->''"One of the things that struck me about Jack was the similar temperament, and even the physical similarities between him and a filmmaker by the name of Creator/SamuelFuller. Probably their backgrounds were similar: They're both of a certain generation that fought World War II as teenagers; both [[BrooklynRage were from New York]], and [[RatedMForManly both were really sort of "men's men"]] -- [[CigarChomper cigar-chomping]], opinionated. When I say opinionated, it's different than when I say he was self-effacing. He was like Sam in that way. They'd been through the eye of the storm at a very early age, and I think it shaped their outlook and the way they dealt with life; but he was fun and funny, and fun to be around. If anybody had the right to be angry or upset that he had not been fully recognized, or deserved his own artwork back, it was him -- but it didn't infuse his personality, if you know what I mean. He seemed to be somebody who was a lot more adjusted to it than even his supporters."''

->''An age passes with Jack Kirby. [...] [A] very big age of comics is coming to an end now, and, I’ve got to say, I can’t call it the Marvel Age of Comics, because I don’t believe in rewarding thievery. I call it the Jack Kirby Age of Comics. [...] We couldn’t feed off the genius of Jack Kirby forever. The King is dead, and he has no successor. We will not see his like again. No single artist can replace him. No art form can be expected to be gifted with more than one talent as brilliant as his. The rest of us, we will build upon what he gave us.''

-->-- '''Creator/GrantMorrison''', ([[https://twomorrows.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=123_139_145&products_id=580 The Jack Kirby Collector #49]], interviewed by Adam [=McGovern=], January 24, 2007)

-->-- '''[[http://www.vulture.com/2016/02/stan-lees-universe-c-v-r.html Abraham Reisman]]'''

->''"Unfortunately, from day one, Jack was doing part of [[Creator/StanLee Stan]]’s job, and Stan was not doing part of Jack’s job," says comics historian Mark Evanier, who worked as Kirby’s assistant and has worked on and off with Lee since the 1970s... It’s hard to appreciate today just how radical a shift in tone the first ''ComicBook/FantasticFour'' was. But there was another revolutionary aspect of the series, one hidden from the reader but unendingly controversial: It was the first superhero series to use the so-called "Marvel method." To save time while writing a dozen or more comics at once, [[Creator/StanLee Lee]] had recently developed a thrifty alternative to writing out full scripts. He’d merely come up with a rough plot — ”as much as I can write in longhand on the side of one sheet of paper,” as he put it in a 1968 interview —- talk that over with the artist, then make the artist go off and create the entire story from scratch. Every emotional beat, character interaction, and action sequence was now the responsibility of the guys drawing them, who until then had been accustomed to just drawing whatever a script told them to draw. Now it was the artists who built the narrative architecture, and the writers who did something more like buffing up: Once Lee got the artwork back, he’d interpret what he saw and cook up dialogue bubbles, narration, and sound effects. “Some artists, such as Creator/JackKirby, need no plot at all,” Lee said in that 1968 chat. “I mean, I’ll just say to Jack, ‘Let’s let the next villain be Dr. Doom.’ Or I may not even say that. He may tell me. And then he goes home and does it. He’s so good at plots, I’m sure he’s a thousand times better than I.” ... There’s also the issue of how the artists were credited on an issue-by-issue basis -- something far more provably damning for Lee. As Marvel’s popularity grew, he wisely chose to engage fans by giving specific credits at the front of each issue, something the fly-by-night comics industry had rarely bothered to do. But when readers saw “RUGGEDLY WRITTEN BY: STAN LEE, ROBUSTLY DRAWN BY: [[Creator/SteveDitko STEVE DITKO]]” or “SENSATIONAL STORY BY: STAN LEE, ASTONISHING ART BY: JACK KIRBY,” they were being profoundly misled. The mechanics of the Marvel method meant that, by any reasonable definition, his artists were actually authoring the stories with him. Their resentment grew.''
-->-- '''[[http://www.vulture.com/2016/02/stan-lees-universe-c-v-r.html Abraham Reisman]]'''

->''An age passes with Jack Kirby. [...] [A] very big age of comics is coming to an end now, and, I’ve got to say, I can’t call it the Marvel Age of Comics, because I don’t believe in rewarding thievery. I call it the Jack Kirby Age of Comics. [...] We couldn’t feed off the genius of Jack Kirby forever. The King is dead, and he has no successor. We will not see his like again. No single artist can replace him. No art form can be expected to be gifted with more than one talent as brilliant as his. The rest of us, we will build upon what he gave us.''
-->-- '''Creator/FrankMiller''', [[http://4thletter.net/2012/04/frank-miller-on-jack-kirby-creators-rights-1994/ excerpts from Keynote Speech to Diamond Comic Distributors Retailers Seminar]], June 12th, 1994

->''I think [Kirby was] a really good writer, and he should be placed in the tradition of [[Creator/WilliamBlake Blake]], and the [[Creator/TheBeatGeneration Beat poets]]. [...] And Blake also had these mythical, godlike beings who exemplify human emotions or human struggles. And he had them playing out the myths against the backdrop of the London of his day. And the language was this powerful, rolling kind of language describing huge cosmic events and vistas; he’s very, very similar. When the idea of fashion is gone in 500 years' time and they look at Kirby and his artwork, it will seem the way William Blake reads to us. When it stops being a "style" that people progress beyond, and just becomes Kirby’s own personal expression, then people will see it properly.''
-->-- '''Creator/GrantMorrison''', (The Jack Kirby Collector #49, interviewed by Adam [=McGovern=], January 24, 2007)

-->-- '''Creator/GrantMorrison''', (The Jack Kirby Collector #49, interviewed by Adam McGovern, January 24, 2007)

->''I think Kirby was a really good writer, and should be placed in the tradition of Creator/WilliamBlake, and the [[Creator/TheBeatGeneration Beat Poets]]. Blake had myths playing out against the backdrop of the London of his day. He’s very, very similar. When the current idea of fashion is past in 500 years time, and people look at Kirby and his art, it will read the way William Blake reads to us today. When it stops being a style, and just becomes Kirby’s personal expression, then people will see it properly.''
-->-- '''Creator/GrantMorrison''', [[http://comicscomicsmag.com/?p=673#comment-6505 uncited quotations]]

->''"Unfortunately, from day one, Jack was doing part of [[Creator/StanLee Stan]]’s job, and Stan was not doing part of Jack’s job," says comics historian Mark Evanier, who worked as Kirby’s assistant and has worked on and off with Lee since the 1970s...It’s hard to appreciate today just how radical a shift in tone the first ''ComicBook/FantasticFour'' was. But there was another revolutionary aspect of the series, one hidden from the reader but unendingly controversial: It was the first superhero series to use the so-called "Marvel method." To save time while writing a dozen or more comics at once, [[Creator/StanLee Lee]] had recently developed a thrifty alternative to writing out full scripts. He’d merely come up with a rough plot — ”as much as I can write in longhand on the side of one sheet of paper,” as he put it in a 1968 interview —- talk that over with the artist, then make the artist go off and create the entire story from scratch. Every emotional beat, character interaction, and action sequence was now the responsibility of the guys drawing them, who until then had been accustomed to just drawing whatever a script told them to draw. Now it was the artists who built the narrative architecture, and the writers who did something more like buffing up: Once Lee got the artwork back, he’d interpret what he saw and cook up dialogue bubbles, narration, and sound effects. “Some artists, such as Creator/JackKirby, need no plot at all,” Lee said in that 1968 chat. “I mean, I’ll just say to Jack, ‘Let’s let the next villain be Dr. Doom.’ Or I may not even say that. He may tell me. And then he goes home and does it. He’s so good at plots, I’m sure he’s a thousand times better than I.” ... There’s also the issue of how the artists were credited on an issue-by-issue basis -- something far more provably damning for Lee. As Marvel’s popularity grew, he wisely chose to engage fans by giving specific credits at the front of each issue, something the fly-by-night comics industry had rarely bothered to do. But when readers saw “RUGGEDLY WRITTEN BY: STAN LEE, ROBUSTLY DRAWN BY: [[Creator/SteveDitko STEVE DITKO]]” or “SENSATIONAL STORY BY: STAN LEE, ASTONISHING ART BY: JACK KIRBY,” they were being profoundly misled. The mechanics of the Marvel method meant that, by any reasonable definition, his artists were actually authoring the stories with him. Their resentment grew.''

->''Nobody has done more for comics than Jack Kirby. Nobody''.
-->-- '''Creator/FrankMiller'''

->''Nobody has done more for comics than Jack Kirby. Nobody.

-->-- '''[[WebVideo/AtopTheFourthWall Linkara]]''', ''Film/TwoThousandOneASpaceOdyssey'' #1 [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2DO-3MKYpUY review]].

-->-- '''Creator/AlanMoore''' [[http://www.twomorrows.com/kirby/articles/30moore.html feeling intimidated by Jack Kirby]].

-->-- '''[[http://www.vulture.com/2016/02/stan-lees-universe-c-v-r.html Abraham Reisman]]'''

->''"It’s hard to appreciate today just how radical a shift in tone the first ''ComicBook/FantasticFour'' was. But there was another revolutionary aspect of the series, one hidden from the reader but unendingly controversial: It was the first superhero series to use the so-called "Marvel method." To save time while writing a dozen or more comics at once, [[Creator/StanLee Lee]] had recently developed a thrifty alternative to writing out full scripts. He’d merely come up with a rough plot — ”as much as I can write in longhand on the side of one sheet of paper,” as he put it in a 1968 interview —- talk that over with the artist, then make the artist go off and create the entire story from scratch. Every emotional beat, character interaction, and action sequence was now the responsibility of the guys drawing them, who until then had been accustomed to just drawing whatever a script told them to draw. Now it was the artists who built the narrative architecture, and the writers who did something more like buffing up: Once Lee got the artwork back, he’d interpret what he saw and cook up dialogue bubbles, narration, and sound effects. “Some artists, such as Creator/JackKirby, need no plot at all,” Lee said in that 1968 chat. “I mean, I’ll just say to Jack, ‘Let’s let the next villain be Dr. Doom.’ Or I may not even say that. He may tell me. And then he goes home and does it. He’s so good at plots, I’m sure he’s a thousand times better than I.” ... There’s also the issue of how the artists were credited on an issue-by-issue basis -- something far more provably damning for Lee. As Marvel’s popularity grew, he wisely chose to engage fans by giving specific credits at the front of each issue, something the fly-by-night comics industry had rarely bothered to do. But when readers saw “RUGGEDLY WRITTEN BY: STAN LEE, ROBUSTLY DRAWN BY: [[Creator/SteveDitko STEVE DITKO]]” or “SENSATIONAL STORY BY: STAN LEE, ASTONISHING ART BY: JACK KIRBY,” they were being profoundly misled. The mechanics of the Marvel method meant that, by any reasonable definition, his artists were actually authoring the stories with him. Their resentment grew.''

-->-- '''Creator/MarkHamill''', [[http://twomorrows.com/kirby/articles/28hamill.html interview]].