The King Goes West: The Complete Marvel Westerns by Jack Kirby Volume 1--1957-1961

JACK KIRBY (1917-1994)

Jack Kirby was a bona fide creative dynamo. Growing up in the rough-and-tumble Lower East Side, Kirby’s childhood became grist for the mill of a life in storytelling. After early work in comic strips and animation, he scored his first smash hit with Joe Simon on Timely’s Captain America Comics, where Kirby’s dynamic art defined the visual language of superheroes. The duo soon took their talents to National/DC, where features like the Boy Commandos and Newsboy Legion were top sellers.

After service in World War II, the Simon and Kirby team pioneered romance comics and continued to innovate across genres, including at their own imprint, Mainline Comics. By the late 1950s, Kirby was freelancing across the industry and co-created DC’s superteam the Challengers of the Unknown.

A split with DC brought Kirby back to the former Timely Comics, then known as Atlas—and soon to be rechristened Marvel Comics. There, Kirby created a vast range of material, from giant monsters and Westerns to romance and suspense stories. In 1961, he and editor-writer Stan Lee sparked a superhero sensation with Fantastic Four. Kirby went on to co-create the core of Marvel’s burgeoning universe, inspiring millions.

By the 1970s, Kirby set out on his own and thrilled readers with his Fourth World saga at DC. He returned to Marvel in the mid-1970s, once again creating new worlds at a relentless pace. His nickname, “The King,” may be too small a title for his legendary impact on comics and American culture.

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