KIRKMAN, ROBERT 353
After World War II, Kirby would again team up with Simon on several projects,
most notably creating exceedingly popular romance comics such as Young Romance
(1947) and Young Love (1947). By the late 1950s, Kirby and Simon’s relationship had
soured somewhat after a failed launch of their own comics company, Mainline Comics,
and Kirby then began freelance work for Atlas Comics (later Marvel). In 1961, Kirby
again made comics history when he teamed up with writer Stan Lee to co-create Th e
Fantastic Four. Th is title revolutionized American superhero comics with a compara-
tively realistic presentation of a family of heroes living in a fi ctional, but contemporary,
New York City. Unlike previous characters in superhero comics, the Fantastic Four
were beset with everyday problems, such as family squabbles, money troubles, death,
and heartbreak.
Kirby would go on to create or co-create some of the most popular icons in comics,
including Th or , Hulk , Black Panther , the Avengers , and the X-Men (for Marvel), and
the Challengers of the Unknown, the New Gods, Darkside, and the Silver Age version
of Sandman (for DC). Further, it is diffi cult to overstate the impact that Kirby’s style of
illustration had on comics. His art is known for its incredibly detailed cinematic style.
His layouts were often designed by the page, rather than by the panel, which allowed
characters to break panel boundaries and convey a greater sense of motion and energy
than had previously existed in comics. Kirby was also one of the fi rst to incorporate
other media in comics, devising photo-collage covers and splash pages. Some draw-
ing techniques innovated by Kirby are even associated with his namesake, such as his
method for depicting radiation and energy known as “Kirby Dots.”
Th e prodigious amount of work that Kirby left behind after his death from heart
failure in 1994 stands as a testament to his unfl agging work ethic. Th e fact that he is
almost universally respected in the comic book industry shows him worthy of the nick-
name Stan Lee gave him, “Th e King of Comics.” Perhaps Mark Evanier sums it up best
when he writes, “If he wasn’t your favorite artist, the odds were good that he was your
favorite artist’s favorite artist.”
Selected Bibliography: Evanier, Mark. “Jack Kirby Memorial.” POV Online. March 3,
- http://www.povonline.com/cols/COL023.htm; Evanier, Mark. Kirby: King of
Comics. New York: Abrams, 2008.
Craig Crowder
KIRKMAN, ROBERT (1979–). Th ough still early in his career, writer Robert Kirkman
has already made an unmistakable imprint on the medium of comics. From original
horror stories and superhero creations to mainstream house characters at Marvel
Comics, Kirkman’s honest characterization and ear for dialogue reveal not only an in-
timate understanding of the characters and their universes but also a deep sense of
respect often found in serious fans of the medium.
Beginning in 2000, alongside artist Tony Moore, Kirkman self-published his fi rst
comic book, the satiric superhero title Battle Pope. Following the hard-living Pope and
