{"id":550,"date":"2012-08-28T00:01:51","date_gmt":"2012-08-28T04:01:51","guid":{"rendered":"\/\/kirbymuseum.org\/blogs\/effect\/?p=550"},"modified":"2012-08-28T00:01:51","modified_gmt":"2012-08-28T04:01:51","slug":"the-genius-of-jack-kirby","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kirbymuseum.org\/blogs\/effect\/2012\/08\/28\/the-genius-of-jack-kirby\/","title":{"rendered":"The Genius of Jack Kirby"},"content":{"rendered":"

“I went to Pratt a week. \u00a0I wasn\u2019t the kind of student that Pratt was looking for. They wanted patient people who would work on something forever. I didn\u2019t want to work on any project forever. I intended to get things done. I did the best drawing I could, and it was very adequate \u2014 it had viability, it had flexibility. The people in the art class kind of sympathized with me, and yet they couldn\u2019t abandon their own outlook toward art.\u201d\u2014Jack Kirby1<\/a><\/sup><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

What Kirby is describing of his early experience here is a clear example of divergent thinking, one of the hallmarks of the creative genius personality (but more on that in a bit). Brent Staples, in an article titled \u201cJack Kirby, a Comic Book Genius, Is Finally Remembered\u201d published in\u00a0The New York Times<\/em>\u00a0on August 26, 2007 wrote \u201cMr. Kirby did a lot more than just draw. As the critic Gary Groth so ably put it in\u00a0The Comics Journal Library<\/em>, \u201cHe barreled like a freight train through the first 50 years of comic books like he owned the place.\u201d He mastered and transformed all the genres, including romance, Westerns, science fiction and supernatural comics, before he landed at Marvel.<\/p>\n

He created a new grammar of storytelling and a cinematic style of motion. Once-wooden characters cascaded from one frame to another \u2014 or even from page to page \u2014 threatening to fall right out of the book into the reader\u2019s lap. The force of punches thrown was visibly and explosively evident. Even at rest, a Kirby character pulsed with tension and energy in a way that makes movie versions of the same characters seem static by comparison.<\/p>\n

For the record I believe \u2018genius\u2019 is one of the most overused and therefore devalued words in the English language. Just Google \u201cThe Genius of\u2026\u201d and add any name that comes to mind and you\u2019ll see what I mean. Kim Kardashian? The Situation? (life & style; and comedy; respectively). Perhaps this has the makings of a new parlor game.<\/p>\n

While most agree that Albert Einstein fits the general conception of genius, when it comes to the creative arts there is no clear delineation. In the end it comes down to the definition of the word, which itself isn\u2019t clear. One would think anyone with an IQ of over 160 would qualify for something other than Mensa membership, but that isn\u2019t necessarily so. In fact, Merriam-Webster\u2019s Dictionary<\/em>\u00a0definition doesn\u2019t even mention a specific IQ score.<\/p>\n

Definition of GENIUS<\/strong><\/p>\n

    \n
  1. a plural genii : an attendant spirit of a person or place
    \nb plural usually genii : a person who influences another for good or bad<\/li>\n
  2. a strong leaning or inclination : penchant<\/li>\n
  3. a : a peculiar, distinctive, or identifying character or spirit
    \nb : the associations and traditions of a place
    \nc : a personification or embodiment especially of a quality or condition<\/li>\n
  4. plural usually genii : spirit, jinni<\/li>\n
  5. plural usually geniuses
    \na : a single strongly marked capacity or aptitude <had a genius for getting along with \u00a0 boys \u2014 Mary Ross>
    \nb : extraordinary intellectual power especially as manifested in creative activity
    \nc : a person endowed with transcendent mental superiority; especially : a person with a very high IQ.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    And from the\u00a0Britannica Concise Encyclopedia<\/em>:<\/p>\n

    \u201cGenius<\/strong>:\u00a0Person of extraordinary intellectual power. The genius displays originality, creativity, and the ability to think and work in areas not previously explored. Though geniuses have usually left their unique mark in a particular field, studies have shown that the general intelligence of geniuses is also exceptionally high. Genius appears to be a function of both hereditary and environmental factors. See also gifted child.\u201d<\/p>\n

    Our contemporary concept of genius comes mainly from the writings of the German philosopher Immanuel Kant (1724-1804) in his\u00a0The Critique of Judgment<\/em>\u00a0(1790) during the Age of Enlightenment.\u00a0Genius, Kant wrote, is \u201cthe exemplary originality of the natural endowments of an individual in the free employment of his cognitive faculties.\u201d2<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n

    Still, the problem is, even the definition of \u201ccreative\u201d is hard to quantify.\u00a0It is that very individuality that helps us define genius, for it can thereafter be imitated.<\/p>\n

    \u201cBefore creativity, the psychoanalyst must lay down his arms.\u201d\u2014 Sigmund Freud<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

    During the mid- 20th century, psychologists began studying creativity for the first time.3<\/a><\/sup>\u00a0And not surprisingly, this research yielded little concrete evidence of a strict definition of what it means to be creative or how creative personalities are formed. To be a creative person you had either a strict or liberal upbringing, did well or poorly in school, had lots of friends or none.<\/p>\n

    However, some major personality traits were established for what defines a creative type.4<\/a><\/sup>\u00a0The key idea in the psychologist\u2019s conception of creativity has been divergent thinking. By standard measures intelligent people are thought of as convergers, people who given a puzzle can figure it out. In contrast, creative people come up with many different associations, some of which are idiosyncratic and possibly unique.5<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n

    A representative study conducted by the Berkeley Institute of Personality Assessment did yield some conclusions: \u201cCreative architects\u201d as distinguished from their less creative peers, exhibited a greater incidence of such personality traits as independence, self-confidence, unconventionality, alertness, ready access to unconscious processes, ambition, and commitment to work.<\/p>\n

    This willingness to experiment arises from a temperament that\u2019s seeks arousal, from sheer pleasure in working with the medium, from a confidence in one\u2019s own emerging powers, and from the relationship between the ease in own artistic medium and difficulties with standard scholastic practices. If one cannot succeed where they are supposed to, one may combat personal frustrations by blazing a trail in one\u2019s area of strength.<\/p>\n

    Another study6<\/a><\/sup>\u00a0has shown that creative solutions to problems occur more often when individuals engage in an activity for its sheer pleasure than when they do so for possible external rewards. Indeed, knowledge that one will be judged on some criterion of \u201ccreativity\u201d or \u201coriginality\u201d tends to narrow the scope of what one can produce (leading to end products that are conventional). In contrast, the absence of an evaluation seemed to liberate creativity. In other words, you can excel where you have the freedom to.7<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n

    It has also been suggested that the most highly esteemed creators not only are more productive in general, but that they produce more \u201cbad\u201d works that have been long ignored as well as more \u201cgood\u201d works that are esteemed by posterity.8<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n

    The quality of the early years is crucial. If, in early life, children have the opportunity to discover much about their world and to do so in a comfortable, exploring way, they will accumulate invaluable capital of creativity on which they can draw in later life. If, on the other hand, children are restrained from such discovering activities, pushed in only one direction, or burdened with the view that there is only one direction, or one correct answer or correct answers that must be meted out only by those in authority, then the chances that they will ever become creative adults are significantly reduced.<\/p>\n

    For every one child who decomposes music there are dozens who simply play as they are taught. Young musical performers, for example, often reveal their gift for composing by a constant effort to \u201crewrite a piece.\u201d Often this adventurousness is interpreted as insubordination. There are individuals who overcome the intervention of authority to go on to become creative in spite of restrictions.<\/p>\n

    \u201cHell, there are no rules here. We\u2019re trying to accomplish something.\u201d
    \n\u2014Thomas Edison<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

    However, if one combines the definition of creative as a \u201cdivergent\u201d thinking, someone who comes up with \u201cidiosyncratic\u201d solutions and combine that with the definition of genius, \u201ca single strongly marked capacity or aptitude\u201d and \u201cdisplays originality, creativity, and the ability to think and work in areas not previously explored\u201d I think one has a conclusion as to what comprises a \u201ccreative genius.\u201d<\/p>\n

    According to\u00a0The Great Soviet Encyclopedia<\/em>\u00a0(1979):<\/p>\n

    \u201cGenius: The highest level of manifestation of man\u2019s creative forces. The term \u201cgenius\u201d is used both to indicate a man\u2019s creative ability and to evaluate the results of his activities. Assuming an innate capability to productive endeavors in some field, genius, as opposed to talent, not only represents the highest degree of giftedness but also is connected with the creation of qualitatively new works and with the discovery of previously unknown creative methods. The activities of genius are achieved in a definite historical context of life in human society, on which genius draws for its creativity.\u201d<\/p>\n

    I think key here is the notion that creative genius us beyond mere talent, or hard work. They go on to say, \u201cHistorical concepts of the nature of genius and its evaluation are related to a general understanding of the creative process. The ancients (Plato and, later, Neoplatonists) viewed genius as a type of irrational, \u201cdivine inspiration.\u201d With the Renaissance (Leonardo da Vinci, G. Vasari, J. Scaliger) came the cult of genius as creative individuality, which reached its apogee in the romantic period, as exemplified by the preromantic\u00a0Sturm und Drang<\/em>\u00a0in Germany, romanticism, and the theories, evolved from romanticism and characterized by the opposition of genius and the masses, of T. Carlyle and F. Nietzsche. The concept of genius in the contemporary meaning of the word developed in the 18th century. It became a fundamental aesthetic concept in A. Shaftesbury\u2019s system: genius creates in a like manner to the forces of nature; its creations are original, in contrast to imitative artists. I. Kant also emphasized the originality and naturalness of creative genius: genius is the \u201cnatural endowment of the soul \u2026. through which nature gives order to art\u201d (Soch.<\/em>, vol. 5, Moscow, 1966, p. 323). F. Schiller described the nature of genius through the concept of na\u00efvet\u00e9 as the instinctive following of artless nature and the ability to grasp the world spontaneously.\u201d<\/p>\n

    Therefore, if one were to define genius as someone who diverged from a known path and transformed his or her field of expertise in the 20th\u00a0century, my list would include, in no particular order:<\/p>\n

      \n
    1. Pablo Picasso (art)<\/li>\n
    2. Martha Graham (dance)<\/li>\n
    3. Louis Armstrong (jazz)<\/li>\n
    4. Lucien Bernhard (graphic design)<\/li>\n
    5. Woody Guthrie (folk music)<\/li>\n
    6. Orson Welles (film)<\/li>\n
    7. James Joyce (writing)<\/li>\n
    8. Bob Dylan (popular song)<\/li>\n
    9. Albert Einstein (science)<\/li>\n
    10. Jack Kirby (comics)<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

      If a chart would be created of what came before and after, each would qualify. While we have no way of knowing how Jack Kirby would have scored on an IQ test, it doesn\u2019t really matter. The fact is he transformed his field from the moment he entered it, and unlike many other accepted geniuses, continued to do so for the next 35 years. Consider that Einstein\u2019s breakthroughs occurred when he was still in his 20s.<\/p>\n

      What I am submitting is that Kirby was a creative genius, one that changed the way comic storytelling was approached going forward.<\/p>\n

      The closest comparison I can draw is that of Louis Armstrong. While Armstrong did not create jazz, he was there as it emerged. Whilst he recorded in tandem with others throughout his career (King Oliver, Ella Fitzgerald, Jack Teagarden, et al) his singularity always shown, and he managed to influence jazz and popular music for every decade from the \u201920s till the \u201960s.<\/p>\n

      Likewise Kirby influenced comics from the moment he hit the ground running and continued to do so for the next four decades. Beginning in early 1941 with\u00a0Captain America, less than three short years after Superman landed on earth from Krypton, Cap wasn\u2019t the first patriotic costumed hero (that honor belonged to The Shield), nor the first to rely less on superpowers than physical prowess (that would be Batman). Rather it was the dynamism of his advanced storytelling and page design that changed the way comic book stories were told. To continue the Louis Armstrong analogy,\u00a0Captain America<\/em>\u00a0was Kirby\u2019s \u201cHot Five\u201d and \u201cHot Seven.\u201d<\/p>\n

      As Gerard Jones describes in\u00a0Men of Tomorrow<\/em>, \u201cWhat Kirby brought to comics was an opera of line and mass. The stories didn\u2019t matter, so much drama did his anger bring to the figures bursting out of the panels, the bodies hurtling through space as fists and feet drove into them, the faces contort in passion, the camera angles swinging wildly and the panels stretched and bent by the needs of action. His hero\u2019s anatomy made no sense. Kirby had never been able to afford life-drawing lessons; he was making it up. \u00a0But Captain America came to such life and moved so forcefully through a time and space that existed only because Kirby said they did that he became more real than the carefully drawn heroes of the art school graduates. Kirby celebrated the body, the male body, male sweat and muscles, not with the fetishism of bodybuilding but with savage joy. And countless boys at the brink of puberty loved him for it. Within two issues\u00a0Captain America\u00a0was selling a million copies a month. Suddenly every young artist was drawing action like Jack Kirby.\u201d9<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n

      However, Kirby\u2019s growing confidence went far beyond his drawing abilities, and in fact the stories\u00a0did\u00a0matter. His main interest was in telling stories, and he frequently wrote and plotted the tales he drew. \u00a0Ever the divergent thinker, even when given a script, according to former assistant and biographer Mark Evanier, Kirby (and partner Joe Simon) would make paper airplanes out of them. \u201cThey tried for a while to control us, but we knew how to do comics. Finally they let us do whatever we wanted,\u201d recalled Kirby.10<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n

      Soon after Kirby and Simon introduced the kid gang to comics, early in 1942, with\u00a0The Boy Commandos<\/em>\u00a0and\u00a0The Newsboy Legion<\/em>, brought over from such popular films such as \u201cDead End\u201d and Kirby\u2019s own rough and tumble experience growing up on the Lower East Side of Manhattan, leading the way for Charles Biro and others to follow. The kid gang would cross genres at Kirby\u2019s hand in the early 50s with the Western\u00a0Boys’ Ranch<\/em>.\u00a0Western comics are a comic category Kirby did not create, along with the Crime comic (that credit goes to Biro), still his influence was felt on such titles as\u00a0Bulls Eye<\/em>,\u00a0Black Rider<\/em>,\u00a0Gunsmoke Western<\/em>,\u00a0Two-Gun Kid<\/em>,\u00a0Rawhide Kid<\/em>\u00a0and\u00a0Justice Traps the Guilty<\/em>,\u00a0Headline<\/em>\u00a0and\u00a0Police Trap<\/em>, respectively. Indeed, Kirby often cited his favorite story as \u201cMother Delilah,\u201d in issue number 3 of\u00a0Boys’ Ranch<\/em>. Remarkably it manages to cross no less than three genres, the Western and kid gang with the raw emotion and pathos of a Romance comic.<\/p>\n

      According to Simon and Kirby Studio historian Harry Mendryk, Kirby\u2019s greatest output between 1947 and 1959 was in Romance comics, another genre the team created.<\/p>\n

      In his Eisner winning 2011 book,\u00a0Hand of Fire: The Comic Art of Jack Kirby<\/em>, Charles Hatfield states that Romance comics \u201c\u2026shaped the celebrated superhero narratives that followed, with their emphasis on love, loss and anguish. Kirby never abandoned a genre, but rather reworked earlier genre conventions in new forms, splicing and adapting.\u201d11<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n

      This dramatic breakthrough would become an intrinsic ingredient at Marvel in the early \u201960s. According to Hatfield, \u00a0\u201cIt was under Kirby, though, that Marvel decisively latched onto the idea of unresolved, never-ending conflict between superpowered opposites, and revealingly, Kirby\u2019s subsequent work often explores this kind of dualistic premise in distilled or exaggerated form. This sort of mirroring obviously appealed to him, as both a storyteller and a designer of characters.<\/p>\n

      The X-Men<\/em>\u00a0series, launched in 1963, is the keystone example. It introduced the germ of the idea that was to emerge full blown in may of Kirby\u2019s later creations: that of superhuman heroes and villains springing from a common origin, vying with each other like rival gods in some epically dysfunctional family. Humankind, of course, was caught in the middle.\u201d12<\/a><\/sup>\u00a0As Pulitzer Prize winning author Michael Chabon noted, \u201cI don’t think it\u2019s any accident that… the entire Marvel universe and the entire DC universe are all pinned or rooted on Kirby’s concepts.\u201d<\/p>\n

      It was not Kirby who introduced mythological or cosmic elements to comics, rather it was the grand scale and sweep of these elements that resonated throughout the industry, beginning at Marvel and exploding the following decade in his Fourth World magnum opus.<\/p>\n

      Once at DC, on titles such as The New Gods<\/em>,\u00a0The Forever People<\/em>,\u00a0Mr. Miracle<\/em>,\u00a0The Demon<\/em>,\u00a0The Losers<\/em>\u00a0and others, Kirby brought a synchronicity to the art and storytelling that few in the industry have achieved, while still working in a highly commercial venue. Artist James Romberger observes, \u201cI do tend to value Kirby’s picture-making skills the highest on the genius scale, I guess….that he is able to do those huge spreads with multiple figures in deep space, all with astounding weight and presence and even more, of tremendous impact, of movement within that space. No other cartoonist has this level of skill and vision. Then I rate his writing and art in tandem from the best of his 4th World books at his peak and there simply is no parallel for how deep and humane and resonant these works are…\u201d<\/p>\n

      One example of divergent thinking is\u00a0Kamandi: The Last Boy On Earth<\/em>. Reportedly suggested by publisher Carmine Infantino as a\u00a0Planet of the Apes<\/em>\u00a0knockoff, Kirby riffed on the theme in such inventive ways as to render the source immaterial, as far a field as Charlie Parker\u2019s bebop \u201cOrnithology\u201d is from the jazz standard \u00a0\u201cHow High the Moon,\u201d over which it is written.\u00a0Kamandi<\/em>\u00a0lasted over 40 issues, Kirby\u2019s second longest running title. He returned to Marvel in the mid-seventies and to earlier characters such as\u00a0Captain America<\/em>\u00a0and\u00a0Black Panther<\/em>\u00a0but also explored grander schemes once again in\u00a0The Eternals<\/em>\u00a0and\u00a02001: A Space Odyssey<\/em>, based on Stanley Kubrick\u2019s seminal film, used as a launching pad for an exploration of the human spirit and follies throughout history and into the future.<\/p>\n

      In the \u201880s his comic tales took a more personal turn, with\u00a0Captain Victory<\/em>\u00a0and “Street Code”, and while his influence over the comics filed began to wane,\u00a0Silver Star<\/em>\u00a0stands as a coda to an illustrious career, a dark inversion, colored by his World War II experience when compared to that other creative genius\u2019 last hurrah, Satchmo\u2019s \u201cWhat A Wonderful World.\u201d<\/p>\n

      Kirby left us in 1994. In the 21st\u00a0century, with the advent of CGI, his creations have exploded onto the silver screen. Moviegoers who most likely would not recognize his name have spent billions worldwide to watch them in wide screen 3D.<\/p>\n

      Kirby fits all the definitions of \u201ccreative genius:\u201d someone who\u2019s \u201ccreations are original,\u201d who had \u201cability to grasp the world spontaneously,\u201d who \u201crepresents the highest degree of giftedness but also is connected with the creation of qualitatively new works and with the discovery of previously unknown creative methods,\u201d someone who\u2019s \u201coriginality, creativity, and the ability to think and work in areas not previously explored\u201d and finally as someone who left his unique mark in his particular field, and our culture as well.<\/p>\n

      \u201cImagination is more important than knowledge.\u201d\u2014Albert Einstein<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

      \n

      Special thanks to Norris Burroughs, Randolph Hoppe, and James Romberger for their help and guidance.<\/p>\n

      \n

      Endnotes:<\/p>\n

        \n
      1. <\/a>Comics Journal Interview #134, with Gary Groth, \u00a0February 1990.<\/li>\n
      2. <\/a>The Critique of Judgment<\/em> by Immanuel Kant, page 181.<\/li>\n
      3. <\/a>J. P. Guilford, Study of Human Intelligence, According to Guilford’s Structure of Intellect (SI) theory, an individual’s performance on intelligence tests can be traced back to the underlying mental abilities or factors of intelligence. SI theory comprises up to 150 different intellectual abilities organized along three dimensions\u2014Operations, Content, and Products.<\/li>\n
      4. <\/a>Carl Jung,\u00a0Psychological Types<\/em>\u00a0, 1921.<\/li>\n
      5. <\/a>Joy Paul Guilford, Study of Human Intelligence.<\/li>\n
      6. <\/a>American Psychological Association Monitor on Psychology, Considering Creativity<\/em>,\u00a0Dean Keith Simonton, University of California, Davis,\u00a0Volume 34, No. 10 November 2003.<\/li>\n
      7. <\/a>Dr. Teresa Amabile, Professor of Business Administration in the Entrepreneurial Management Unit at Harvard Business School. Her 30 year research has studied how the work environment can influence creativity and motivation has yielded a theory of creativity and innovation.<\/li>\n
      8. <\/a>Creating Minds: An Anatomy Of Creativity As Seen Through The Lives Of Freud, Einstein, Picasso, Stravinsky, Eliot, Graham, And Gandhi<\/em>\u00a0by Howard Gardner, Basic Books, 1994.<\/li>\n
      9. <\/a>Men of Tomorrow: Geeks, Gangsters and the Birth of the Comic Book<\/em> by\u00a0Gerard Jones, \u00a0pages 200-201.<\/li>\n
      10. <\/a>Kirby: King of Comics<\/em>\u00a0by Mark Evanier, page 60.<\/li>\n
      11. <\/a>Hand of Fire<\/em>\u00a0by Charles Hatfield, page 22.<\/li>\n
      12. <\/a>Hand of Fire<\/em>, page 130.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

        Bibliography<\/h2>\n

        Alter Ego<\/em>,\u00a0Roy Thomas, editor,\u00a0Bill Shelly and Jim Amash, co-editors, et al,\u00a0TwoMorrows,\u00a0Raleigh, NC.<\/p>\n

        American Psychological Association Monitor on Psychology, Considering Creativity<\/em>, Volume 34, No. 10 November 2003.<\/p>\n

        Berkeley Institute of Personality Assessment, http:\/\/ipsr.berkeley.edu\/about.html<\/a><\/p>\n

        Britannica Concise Encyclopedia,\u00a0http:\/\/www.britannica.com<\/a><\/p>\n

        Evanier, Mark,\u00a0Kirby: King of Comics<\/em>, Abrams, New York, NY, 2008.<\/p>\n

        Gagne, Michel,\u00a0Young Romance: The Best of Simon & Kirby’s Romance Comics<\/em>, Fantagraphics, \u00a0Seattle, WA, 2012.<\/p>\n

        Gardner, Howard,\u00a0Creating Minds: An Anatomy Of Creativity As Seen Through The Lives Of Freud, Einstein, Picasso, Stravinsky, Eliot, Graham, And Gandhi<\/em>; Basic Books, New York, 1994.<\/p>\n

        Great Soviet Encyclopedia<\/em>, Macmillan, Inc., New York, NY, 1979.<\/p>\n

        Hatfield, Charles,\u00a0Hand of Fire: The Comics Art of Jack Kirby<\/em>, University Press of Mississippi, 2011.<\/p>\n

        Jack Kirby Quarterly<\/em>, Chrissie Harper, editor,\u00a0Quality Communications, London, UK.<\/p>\n

        Jones, Gerard,\u00a0Men of Tomorrow: Geeks, Gangsters and the Birth of the Comic Book<\/em>, Basic Books, New York, 2004.<\/p>\n

        Jung, Carl,\u00a0Psychological Types, Collected Works of C.G. Jung Vol.6<\/em>, Princeton University Press; Princeton, NJ, 1976<\/p>\n

        Kant, Immanuel,\u00a0The Critique of Judgment<\/em>, Germany, 1790<\/p>\n

        Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary and Thesaurus<\/em>,\u00a0http:\/\/www.merriam-webster.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n

        Mendryk, Harry,\u00a0Simon and Kirby<\/em>\u00a0(blog),\u00a0\/\/kirbymuseum.org\/blogs\/simonandkirby<\/a><\/p>\n

        Theakston Greg,\u00a0Comic Strip Kirby<\/em>;\u00a0The Complete Jack Kirby, volume 1\u20135;<\/em>\u00a0Jack Kirby Reader, volume 1\u20132<\/em>, Pure Imagination, New York.<\/p>\n

        The Comics Journal<\/em>, Gary Groth, editor, Kim Thompson, Eric Reynolds, co-editors, et al, Seattle, WA.<\/p>\n

        The Jack Kirby Collector<\/em>, John Morrow, editor, TwoMorrows,\u00a0Raleigh, NC.<\/p>\n

        Thorpe, Scott,\u00a0How to Think Like Einstein: Simple Ways to Break the Rules and Discover Your Hidden Genius<\/em>; Sourcebooks, Inc, Naperville, IL, 2000.<\/p>\n

        Wyman, Ray,\u00a0The Art of Jack Kirby<\/em>, The Blue Rose Press, Orange, CA 1994.<\/p>\n

        \n

        Steven Brower is an award-winning former Creative Director for\u00a0Print<\/em>, a former art director at\u00a0The New York Times<\/em>\u00a0and\u00a0The Nation<\/em>, co-author and designer of\u00a0Woody Guthrie Artworks<\/em>\u00a0(Rizzoli, 2005), author of\u00a0Satchmo: The Wonderful Art and World of Louis Armstrong<\/em>\u00a0(Abrams, 2009), and author of two books on Kirby associate Mort Meskin for Fantagraphics. He is on the faculty of Marywood University in Scranton, PA, and The School of Visual Arts in New York City. What an appropriate entry on what would have been Kirby’s 95th birthday! Thanks, Steven. \u2014\u00a0Rand.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

        “I went to Pratt a week. \u00a0I wasn\u2019t the kind of student that Pratt was looking for. They wanted patient people who would work on something forever. I didn\u2019t want to work on any project forever. I intended to get things done. I did the best drawing I could, and it was very adequate \u2014 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-550","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kirbymuseum.org\/blogs\/effect\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/550","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kirbymuseum.org\/blogs\/effect\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kirbymuseum.org\/blogs\/effect\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kirbymuseum.org\/blogs\/effect\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kirbymuseum.org\/blogs\/effect\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=550"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/kirbymuseum.org\/blogs\/effect\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/550\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kirbymuseum.org\/blogs\/effect\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=550"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kirbymuseum.org\/blogs\/effect\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=550"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kirbymuseum.org\/blogs\/effect\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=550"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}