![]() ![]() ![]() But he was more than just an artist: Kirby also understood the psychological complexities that heroes needed to have and he endowed them with a kind of superhuman humanity that embraced both shadow and doubt and which even suggested compassion towards villains. Only an artist with Kirby’s flexible imagination was capable of creating figures that had such extraordinary graphic vitality and striking physical attributes. Kirby was, after all responsible for the first appearance of the “Fantastic Four”-Mister Fantastic, the Invisible Woman, the Human Torch and the Thing-and it was his phenomenal “pencil” skills that made these characters and others take shape and come alive. After Kirby’s death, a 2009 lawsuit filed by the artist’s family to obtain a fair share of movie royalties was settled successfully, helping to posthumously acknowledge his importance. The issue of Kirby not being given adequate credit is what caused him to leave Marvel for DC Comics. He also-if you read what he later had to say-did much more than just draw characters. While working at Marvel, it was Stan Lee who generally got the writer credit, while Jack Kirby was the artist/illustrator who created the “look” of things while often getting second billing. ![]()
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