Formations
(right) An extreme close-up of Magneto from X-Men #1, and fine artist Roy Lichtenstein’s painting “Image Duplicator” (1963, Oil and Magna on canvas, 24 × 20 in.), based loosely on Kirby’s panel art. Painting © Estate of Roy Lichtenstein
(below) More of the Master of Magnetism from X-Men #1 (color image, Sept. 1963), and his battle with Thor in Journey Into Mystery #109 (Oct. 1964).
DC
artist Carmine Infantino used to lament what he called his “unfinished symphony.” What he meant by that was the interrupted arc of his artistic career, which broke off when he assumed the position as publisher of DC Comics and ceased drawing monthly stories, halting his stylistic development. Jack Kirby had many unfinished symphonies, although of a different kind. His unfinished symphonies were books he started and left prematurely, or which were canceled before they got off the ground. Kirby’s career is littered with such debris, beginning with Captain America, which he left after only ten issues. Military service in World War II took him away from DC’s Sandman, Boy Commandos and the Newsboy Legion. After he returned, Kirby had a number of horses shot out from under him, largely due to the economic troubles in the comic book industry prevalent during the post-war period. Stuntman, Boys’ Ranch, Boy Explorers, Fighting American, Race to the Moon, and several others were among the casualties. Declining sales, publishing gluts and censorship issues all contributed to these misfires. At DC, Kirby was making a new name for himself with Challengers of the Unknown when a dispute with editor Jack Schiff over agenting fees associated with the Sky Masters newspaper strip led to him losing the strip, which he created. Later in the 1950s, he was taken off Radio Comics’ Double Life of Private Strong and Adventures of the Fly. Two decades later, Kirby experienced one of his gravest disappointments, the premature cancellation of New Gods and its associated Fourth World titles. It was better at Marvel Comics during the Silver Age. Although Jack had a tremendous run on Fantastic Four and Thor, Kirby was forced to
The
Maddening Mystery of
abandon most of the characters he started with collaborator Stan Lee, because Lee needed him to start new strips or to rescue fading features. Kirby was an idea factory and Lee used him as a kind of four-color Johnny Appleseed. I doubt Jack cared when he was taken off Ant-Man. Iron Man was more Stan Lee and Don Heck than it was Jack Kirby, who merely designed the original armor. While The Incredible Hulk was canceled after six issues, Kirby was able to develop the character further in guest appearances, and then later in the revived Hulk feature in Tales to Astonish. Reading these books back in the 1960s, I was really saddened when Kirby left The Avengers, especially after introducing such an intriguing villain in Kang the Conqueror, a futuristic Dr. Doom who was shaping up to be the Avengers’ main antagonist after the death of Zemo. While Kirby was able to complete the character arc for Zemo, he never got to develop Kang any further, which was unfortunate. But the original Avengers consisted of super-heroes Kirby had previously created and would continue to draw occasionally. I think the real tragedy of an unfinished symphony of his 1960s Marvel career was The X-Men. These were original characters, and although the team was designed to be a kind of knock-off of the Fantastic Four, Lee and Kirby gave them significant differences. Stan Lee’s account of the genesis of The X-Men has usually boiled down to a different take on people with powers. “We’re always looking for new super-heroes––not so much for new heroes as for new explanations of how they came about, and I was getting tired of radioactive accidents,” Lee told Leonard Pitts, Jr. “I felt, ‘Why not get some people who were born the way they are, who had mutant powers?’ So we created the X-Men.” It’s impossible to determine if by “we,” Lee meant Marvel Comics as a publisher, or he and Jack Kirby. Lee has consistently claimed that the feature was originally called “The Mutants,” and when publisher
Magneto
by Will Murray
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