Had he lived, he would have been 89 years old today…and still brilliant. Oh, his amazing creative powers might have dimmed with time and health. The last few years he drew, failing motor skills caused him to not draw anywhere up to his old standards. But that was okay because nobody else was drawing up to his old standards, either.
We're talking Kirby here…Jack Kirby, owner of (arguably) the most fertile imagination ever seen in adventure and fantasy comic books. People referred to him as a great artist, and he was…but I always thought that compliment kind of missed the point. It wasn't just that he drew so well but that he thought of wonderful things to draw that no one else would ever have imagined. Another pretty good artist, Al Williamson, once said, "If you told me or most of my buddies to draw fifty spaceships, they'd all look like they were built in the same plant. If Jack drew fifty spaceships, they'd look like they were built by fifty different alien races."
I miss Jack. I miss the guy the same way you miss that favorite uncle you always enjoyed being around. But I also miss just having a Jack Kirby in our midst…a man who just radiated creative energy and who made everyone he met feel a little more like a writer or artist. That was because he lived and breathed new ideas, new visions, new vistas. Young, wanna-be artists and writers went to him with their work seeking…well, some were seeking career help and others were seeking tips, but I think a lot of them just wanted semi-parental approval and the reassurance that they were breathing the same air as an idol. He encouraged everyone and they all went away with more confidence…because the King of the Comics stood on no ceremony. He treated everyone as an equal, even though no one really was.
I probably write too much about Jack but you have to understand. I don't do it for you. I'm not even sure I do it for him. I do it for myself because since he died, it's really the only way I have of spending any more time with him.
Happy birthday, Kirby. Make a wish and blow out the galaxy.