So as you know if you were checking in all last month, I made it all the way through the 3rd annual Jack Kirby Tribute Month. For awhile, I wasn’t sure I was going to get them all done in time, but I did! And just like in past years, I’ve combined all the pieces into one big image.
It’s interesting to see the characters all together now in this context. It definitely hammers home the point that Fantastic Four in Jack and Stan’s hands generated a huge cast of interesting characters. The list of 30 prompts hit many of the high points, but the fact is that there were many more characters that could also have been on the list. I know that the cover copy, “The World’s Greatest Comic Magazine!”, was Stan Lee using his usual gift of hyperbole in promoting the comic, but I think you can genuinely make a case that those first 100+ issues were, at the very least, in the running for that award!
Along the way, I also came to realize (firsthand) that the list included some of the most detailed and visually complex characters Kirby ever came up with! I tried to do them all justice.
That’s about all I have to say. Hope you’ve enjoyed my tribute to (and celebration of) the King this past month.
So spectacular the collective gathering of the individual pieces defies hyperbole so speechless and wordless I am. I do miss your own creation amongst the many. She deserves a spot, even though she is not a Jack creation. However, she is certainly Jack-influenced. I salute your skill. Thank, Mark.
Thanks for following along!
I have generally excluded my original characters from these assemblages for a couple reasons. One is that it’s easier to cleanly fit together 30 images for something like this, than it is to find a way to do 31. And the other is that while it’s true that Jack’s work is part of my inspiration and artistic DNA, I wouldn’t feel right including my own stuff as if it were conceptually on the same level.
I know several artists who are a little like Jack, in that they seem to have an inexhaustible fountain of their own original ideas. But I’ve never been wired like that. I’ve had just a handful of my own ideas. More often than not, I’ve been more of a “reactor,” helping other people as a sounding board to shape their ideas, help them to bring them to birth. Or contributing with designs or ideas as part of a team. And all that can be a lot of fun too.