Well, this may be the only long-form capture of Jack Kirby drawing.

A little blurry, but still a treasure. Enjoy.

Jack Kirby was known for many things but one of the more obscure is his unique sense of color. This is in evidence in the artwork he is known to have hand colored, presentation pieces and personal work.

2010 – Kirby color palate by Steven Brower

He is also known to have provided color guides to printers for various covers, which also feature the same idiosyncratic range of colors. In question are myriad other covers and interiors that feature the same limited range, but there is no way of verifying his hand.

Therefore, I thought it would be interesting to create a Kirby color palette. I’ve created palettes like this when I’ve redesigned magazines and illustrator friends have their own. I only used as a guide known Kirby colored personal and presentation pieces. Kirby uses a pretty limited color palate, comprised mostly of secondary and some tertiary colors. The absence of primary colors makes me wonder if his approach wasn’t a reaction to the limitations of the CMYK comic book printing, where so many primaries were used.

I started with scanned art and then compared it to printed pieces. There would be a range within a tone, and I picked the middle hue. I was able to boil it all down to 36 colors, although if pushed I think it could be reduced further.

This could be used as a reference guide when trying to discern if something might be colored by Kirby. However one would need to explore whether anyone else at the time used a similar color palette. It also offers yet another aspect of what made Jack unique.

—Steven Brower
http://stevenbrowerdesign.wordpress.com/

Index by Kenn THOMAS

Amash, Jim, 59
Animal Hospital, 109-110
Animation, 104-112
Argentina, 138
Australia, 130
Battle For A Three Dimensional World, 114
Belly dancer, 59
Black Hole, 96-97
Boyd, Jerry, 59
Brazil, 138-139
Byrne, John, 128-129
Captain Marvel, 62-63
Captain Nice, 86
Caputo, Nick, 60, 117
Carson, Johnny, 114
Comic-Con International Kirby Panel (7/6/96), 144-153
Conan, 19
Crimson Tide movie reference, 114
Dark Water, 111
Demon sketch (last DC work), 28
Destroyer Duck, 72-75
Disneyland comic convention, early 70s, 80
Doctor Mortalis, 11113
Dorf, Shel, 46, 48
Earl the Rabbitt, 37
Empire Pictures, 112-113
England, 124
Evanier, Mark, 144-153
Fantastic Four (animated) 104-106
Fighting American, 35, 36, 64, 65
Fleisher cartoons, 112
Fleming, Glenn B., (British fan), 6-34, 25, 29, 30
Forever Amore, 115, 119
France, 154-158
From Here To Insanity, 37, 38
Geller, Ira, 98-103
Gerber, Steve, 72-75
Germany, 140
Goldie Gold and Action Jack, 107-108
Goozlebobber, 38
Greece, 143
Green Hornet, 80
Hamilton, Richard, 67
Harper, Chris, 127
Hawkman, 111
Hippies in Thor, 61
Holland, 141
Humor, 35-77
Incredible Hulk TV show appearance, 114
Ireland, 126
Italian interview, 121-123
Italy, 121-123, 32-137 143
Jack Kirby Quarterly, 127
Jack Kirby: The Unpublished Archives (trading cards), 110-111
Joshua at the Walls of Jericho, 20
Kirby, Roz, 40-51
Kubrick, Stanley, 90
Langridge, Roger, 126
Lichtenstein, Roy, 67
Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman (reference), 114
Lone Ranger, 55
Lords of Light, 19, 98103
Lockjaw (alligator), 53
Lucca, Italy, 121-123, 132- 137
Malaysia, 142
Mattel Game Cards, 55
May, Harold, 58
Merry Marvel Marching Society, 76
Mind Master, 112-113
Modern sculpture, 66
Moses, 20
Morrisey, Rich, 117
Morrow, Pamela, 5
My Date, 52
Not Brand Echh, 70-71
Patsy and Hedy (cameo), 63
Phillipines, 143
Picasso, 67
Pop Art, 67
Popeye, 112
Portugal, 143
Princess of Power, 111
Prisoner, 8-9, 91-95
Punch and Judy, 53
Rickels, Goody, 39, 48, 49
Ruby-Spears, 108-111
Rude, Steve, 117, 159
Scotland, 125
Shaw!, Scott, 37-39, 59-60
Sherman, Steve, 60-61, 85
Silver Star, 85
Singapore, 142-143
Sinnott, Joe, 117
Spain, 141
Sports, 68-69, 77
Spurlock, David, 144-153
Star Wars (compared to New Gods), 87-89
Starman Zero, 85
Stern, Roger, 144-153
Stuntman, 78-84
Super Friends, 107
Superman, 55-57
Tarantino, Quention, 114
Tarzan, 55
Taylor, Stanm, 118
Thundarr the Barbarian, 34, 106-111
Tiger 21, 85
Tonight Show, 114
Turkey, 143
2001 A Space Odyssey, 90
Von Sholly, Peter, 58
Washington, Denzel, 114
Win-A-Prize, 53, 54
Wolfman, Marv, 144-153
Wood, Wally, 71

The Collected Jack Kirby Collector, Volume 1
Index by Kenn THOMAS

AcmeCon (Greensboro, NC), 193
Adams, Neal, 25
Argosy Magazine, 81, 129
Art Alterations, 68-69
Art of Jack Kirby, 81
Baycon, 75
Beatles, 88, 177
Black Panther, 215-217
Canceled Comics Calvacade, 38, 51
Captain America’s Bicentennial Battles, 56
Captain Victory, 105
Christie’s Auction House (New York), 52
Creation Con (New York), 171
Credit (for Kirby), 48
Dingbats of Danger Street, 153-157
Esquire, 46
Evanier, Mark, 112-122, 182-192
Family and friends (in art), 86
Fantastic Four, 197-239
Fantasy Masterpieces (Kirby inks self), 47
Fourth World, 92-126
France, 66
Funny Animals, 90
Galactus Trilogy, 210-214
Gonads (Silver Star reference), 47
Heroes Con (Charlotte, NC), 168
The Horde! (novel), 163
Hunger Dogs, 106-107
Interviews, 40, 41, 130, 172, 176, 180-181
Isabella, Tony, 182-192
The Jack Kirby Collector, 22-23, 36, 41, 50, 64, 78, 128, 162, 199
The Jack Kirby Quarterly, 66
Jack Kirby Masterworks, 80
Jack Kirby’s Gods, 80
Jack Kirby’s Heroes and Villains, 80
Jupiter Plaque, 88
Kamandi, 38
Kennedy, John F., 46
Kid Gangs, 136-157, 194
KIRBY, a collection of the artistry of Jack Kirby, 32, 33
Kirby, The Jack Kirby Treasury, 81
Kirby, Rosalind, 169
Kirby Unleashed, 32, 33, 80
Marvelmania, 24, 42-43, 60-63, 70-71, 80, 84-85
McCartney, Paul, 177
Mediascene, 37
Merry Marvel Marching Society, 84-85
Miamicon, 75
Monsters, 30, 31
Museum of Fine Arts (Montgomery, AL), 28, 29
NASA, 88
National Museum of Cartoon Art (London), 67
New Gods, see Fourth World
Newhart, Bob, 50
Original Art, 26, 27
Patriotic Heroes, 89
Quotation Marks (Kirby’s use of), 34
Royer, Mike, 72-74, 102-104, 182-192
Ruby, Jack, 46
Ruby-Spears, 65
San Diego Comic Con, 168
Sandman, 38, 39, 47
Sherman, Steve, 51, 96-99, 177
Silver Star, 47
Simon, Joe, 54-55
Sinnott, Joe, 182-192, 220-228
Sotheby’s, 26, 27
Steranko, Jim, 172-176
Street Code, 81, 129
Toth, Alex, 172-176
Vanderbilt University (Nashville, TN)(speech by JK), 82-83
Women, 74, 110-111
Words and Pictures Museum (Northampton, Mass.), 44-45

Essential listening for those of you interested in understanding the legal context of the copyright termination letters that the Kirby heirs delivered in September 2009.

Host Doug Lichtman (Professor, UCLA School of Law) and guests Peter Menell (Professor of Law, UC Berkeley) and David Nimmer (Author, “Nimmer on Copyright”) informally discuss termination rights as part of Intellectual Property Colloqium.

Click on over to the Copyright Termination page to listen.

A few treats to celebrate Independence Day here in the US:

Scans of photocopies of Kirby pencil art from Captain America’s Bicentennial battles! (With a focus on splashes and spreads.)

1976 – Captain America Bicentennial Battles cover pencil art photocopy

1976 – Captain America Bicentennial Battles page 14-15 pencil art photocopy

1976 – Captain America Bicentennial Battles page 25 pencil art photocopy

1976 – Captain America Bicentennial Battles page 30-31 pencil art photocopy

1976 – Captain America Bicentennial Battles page 32 pencil art photocopy

1976 – Captain America Bicentennial Battles page 37 pencil art photocopy

1976 – Captain America Bicentennial Battles page 63 pencil art photocopy

1976 – Captain America Bicentennial Battles pages 78 & 79 pencil art photocopy

1976 – Captain America Bicentennial Battles page 82 pencil art photocopy

1976 – Captain America Bicentennial Battles page 83 pencil art photocopy

1976 – Captain America Bicentennial Battles back cover pencil art photocopy

1976 – Captain America Bicentennial Battles unused pin-up pencil art photocopy

Tom Kraft, who made the video slideshow above, loaned many pieces of Kirby art to the Fumetto exhibit.

Have you seen Tom’s great What If Kirby website?

I’ve posted the slightly-longer-than-an-hour Kirby discussion that Dan Nadel, Paul Gravett and I had last Saturday at Fumetto on Livestream.com. (If YouTube approves the Kirby Museum’s Non-Profit application, I’ll move the video there.)

I’d like to acknowledge and thank Greg Theakston for gifting his Kirby papers to the Kirby Museum – these papers were the source for the Street Code and the V-mail included in the Fumetto exhibit.

Having listened to the talk many times while preparing it for posting, I’m compelled to clarify and/or correct:

• Many pre-code comics were not “for adults, not kid stuff,” they were all-ages. An important distinction.
• Kirby’s wartime ailment was trenchfoot, not frostbite.
• The Fourth World wasn’t only “expensive” considering the sales level, affidavit fraud by distributors contributed to the low sales levels used in that equation.
• I should not have included Bob Powell along with Joe Orlando and Wally Wood regarding artists’ concerns about being paid for writing the comics via their pencil artwork.

That’s Tom Morehouse speaking from the audience a few times. Tom Kraft manned the video camera. The last question, about Kirby’s output, is asked by Fabrice Stroun.

Thanks again to Fumetto, Dan and Paul.

Four video tours shot and narrated by Paul Gravett, co-curator with Dan Nadel of this Jack Kirby exhibit mounted by Fumetto International Comix Festival, 2010. I’ve included all four in a YouTube playlist – they should play in sequence.

Get out your red & blue 3-D glasses!

In 1984, Jack Kirby provided the pencil art for 3-D posters to be given away in boxes of General Foods’ Post Honeycomb breakfast cereal.

1983 – Go For It 3-D poster

1983 – Fireball Action 3-D poster

1983 – BMX Fever 3-D poster

1983 – BMX Fever pencil art before changes

To improve the 3-D experience for this article, the scans of the posters have been adjusted to reduce shadowing brought about by differences in the gels in the glasses and the inks used in printing. Kirby provided pencil art for four posters, but only three were produced. Mike Thibodeaux provided the ink art on all three; note the changes to the BMX Fever! poster from pencil to final.

1983 – Go For It 3-D poster before adjustment

1983 – Unused Girl Runners pencil art

Ray Zone provided the 3-D art. A few years earlier, in 1982, Zone, Kirby and Thibodeaux worked together on the “Battle For A Three Dimensional World!” project, which will be featured in a future article.

1984 – Honeycomb Cereal Box back

1984 – Honeycomb Cereal Box front

1984 – Honeycomb 3-D Glasses

Thanks to:

• Kirby Museum Trustee John Morrow for scanning his BMX Fever and Fireball Action posters. John used the 3-D Honeycomb poster work as illustrations for his interview with Mike Thibodeaux in Jack Kirby Collector #15 (April 1997), and he featured an interview with Ray Zone in his Jack Kirby Collector Forty-Five (Winter 2006).
• Museum Member Tom Morehouse for allowing his Honeycomb Cereal box to be scanned.