 |
| Jack Kirby (pencil) and Dick Ayers (ink), Tales to Astonish #34, "A Monster at My Window!," 1962. Loan: Eric Roberts |
The Skirball Cultural Center is presenting a career survey of prolific Marvel comic book artist Jack Kirby (1917-1994). Avatar of an anxious century, Kirby created The Avengers, Captain America, Black Panther, the Incredible Hulk, Iron Man, and Thor. His direct impact on American pop culture must rival that of any artist of his time. Roy Lichtenstein appropriated some of Kirby's panels; as co-creator of the Black Panther, Kirby was a Jewish godfather of Afro-Futurism. Who could guessed that old comic book heroes would be a financial lifeline for 21st-century Hollywood?
If you're a Kirby fanboy/girl, you don't need a review to convince you to see this show. I'm not, but I found the Skirball's "Jack Kirby: Heroes and Humanity" engaging on several levels. For one thing it's a serious drawing show, centering on Kirby's original work rather than published comics or adaptations. The drawings are larger than a comic book and black and white. Kirby drew the panels in pencil, and then another artist (usually) went over the lines in black ink. The inking, though sometimes routine, entailed creative decisions of its own. Color was added at a later stage by still other artists.
 |
| Jack Kirby (pencil) and Chic Stone (ink). X-Men #7 panel, 1964. Loan: David Mandel |
As a "narrative artist," Kirby interpreted urban middle-class thinking on topics ranging from Hitler to beatniks to the space age. It's fun, and it's important. As Lichtenstein demonstrated, there is a certain power to comic panels taken out of context. That's one approach to this show. Ignore the story and focus on the drawing.
 |
| Jack Kirby and Joe Simon, cover for Captain America #1, 1940. Loan: Brandon Beck |
 |
| Jack Kirby, Kirby Family Hanukkah Card, probably mid 1970s. Loan: David Folkman |
The Skirball also foregrounds the Jewish subtext in Kirby's art. For many Jewish-American creatives, the comics were an empire of their own. Religious themes occur in
Silver Surfer and
New Gods, and Kirby illustrated Old Testament themes such as Jacob wrestling with the angel. One of the show's more surprising objects is a hand-drawn Kirby family Hanukkah card featuring The Thing wearing a yarmulke and holding a siddur.
 |
| Jack Kirby, Jacob Wrestling with the Angel, probably 1970s. Loan: Jeremy Kirby |
Kirby's art changed as he got older and the world of his youth faded. His "late style" is more abstract, though retaining its linearity. There are elements of horror vacui, dazzle camouflage, and psychedelia—think Edward Wadsworth, Louis Wain, Picabia, or Irving Norman.
 |
| Jack Kirby (pencil) and Mike Royer (ink), Devil Dinosaur #4, 1978. Loan: Glen David Gold |
 |
| Jack Kirby (pencil) and Joe Sinnott (ink), lightbox reproduction of panel from Fantastic Four #52, 1966 |
With Black Panther, Kirby and Stan Lee flipped the colonizer cliché of Africa as a downtrodden jungle. Their Wakanda was the most technologically advanced nation on earth. Kirby's conception of Wakanda is a "man-made jungle" of machine-age manifolds, an abstraction with elements seemingly sourced from saxophones and pinball machines.
 |
| Jack Kirby (pencil), Frank Giacola (ink), and Jack Kirby and Marie Severin (colors), page from 2001: A Space Odyssey Treasury Edition, 1976. Loan: Glen David Gold |
Marvel released a 1976 comic based on Stanley Kubrick's 1968 film 2001: A Space Odyssey. Kirby responded to the psychedelia and, unusually, took part in the coloring. The page on view is a color guide in which Kirby and Marie Severin marked color adjustments.
 |
| Jack Kirby, Untitled (Collage), 1969. Loan: Tracy Kirby |
Kirby incorporated photography and collage into his hand-drawn comics, a precursor of similar effects in contemporary animation. He did collages and all-over abstractions as personal projects.
"Jack Kirby: Heroes and Humanity" is at the Skirball through Mar. 1, 2026.
 |
Jack Kirby, Dream Machine, about 1975. Loan: Glen David Gold
|
Comments
I imagine this type of exhibit will be a common part of what's scheduled for the Lucas Museum of [as formally named] Narrative Art.
Comic books of Kirby's time were one thing, comic books of the 2020s are something else. I've read that more of today's fans or followers of that format are turning to Japanese manga. That favors a style of illustration that strikes me as less technically sophisticated. Or more big-eyed cutesy than sleek figurative, but whadda I know? (The Geffen Galleries will probably be ideal for today's zeitgeist.)
As for movies based on super-hero comics, I've read that more of the public is growing tired of them, including a Captain America film released a few months ago.