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Bigger, Stronger, Faster

Bigger, Stronger, Faster is a 2008 documentary film directed by Christopher Bell about the use of anabolic steroids as performance-enhancing drugs in the United States, and how this practice relates to the American Dream. Here is a clip from the film featuring Jack Kirby artwork originally used in The Marvel Super Heroes cartoons -- a Canadian-made animated television series starring comic-book superheroes from Marvel Comics in 1966.

The series had extremely limited animation, produced by xerography: photocopied images were taken directly from the comics and manipulated to minimize the need for animation. The cartoons were presented as a series of static comic-strip images where the only movement usually involved the mouth or the occasional arm and leg.

Here are comparisons of the original Kirby/Giacoia artwork next to screen captures of the cartoon images. The Kirby art is from Tales of Suspense # 63 (Mar 1965).

Great example of how Jack's straightforward cinematic style translated well to the big screen. Although the production values are pretty low on these cartoons, it's great to see Jack's pure style appearing in a cartoon as opposed to a watered-down version. As far as I know, there is no official version of these Marvel Superhero Cartoons for sale, but most of them are featured on YouTube.

In the past, I've seen some comic book fans blame Jack Kirby for the ultra-muscular superheores in modern comics, but I've always said that's like blaming Robert Johnson for rage rock. Kirby didn't invent gigantic men in tights colliding, he just came up with a more dynamic way to illustrate modern superheroes, and while Kirby's work was an influence on many popular comics artists, it's not Jack's fault these types of stories resonate with many young readers.

Boy Commandos '42

A sketch of Jack's Boy Commandos from 1942.

Be Here When Gods Walk the Earth!

It must have been an exciting time to be a Kirby fan in the 1970s, and see this advertisement for Jack's "latest, greatest, epic series" The Eternals appearing in Marvel comics.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

Pencil piece of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Appears to be a commission piece by Jack from the 1980s.

The Face of Doom

Fascinating image of Dr. Doom. Greg Theakson actually has video footage of Jack penciling this image that I hope he releases at some point. Jack didn't see Dr. Doom as horribly disfigured, instead Jack's vision for the character only had a small scar on his face, but his vanity forced him to wear the mask in order to hide the fairly insignificant imperfection. This looks like a recreation where Mike Royer took the pencils, enlarged them using a light box, and added inks.

Kirby Potpurri Part II

More random Kirby images from my K-files. I would have loved to have seen Jack illustrate a whole story with Tigra vs. the Super Skrull from the Marvel Chillers # 7 book above.

Kirby Potpurri

Every now and then I want to post some random scans from my files. No rhyme or reason to the selection, just several quick examples of great Kirby artwork.

Silver Burper

Kirby satire: The Silver Burper, from Not Brand Echh (Aug 1967), Kirby/Giacoia. Too bad Jack didn't do more work like this, his dynamic style and self-effacing sense of humor was perfect for super hero comedy.

Mighty Muggs

More toys based on a Kirby characters and costume designs: Hasbro's Silver Surfer, Galactus, and Cyclops "Mighty Muggs."

3-D Man

Another rarely seen Kirby cover from the 1970s: 3-D Man. Ironically there is no actual 3-D artwork in the story.

Here is an example of actual 3-D work by Kirby from Captain 3-D (Dec 1953), page 10.

Obscure 70s Kirby Covers

Here are some 70s Kirby covers I had never seen before. Woodgod is an especially bizarre-looking creation. Although Hercules is the only character created by Kirby, it's still amazing to see how many characters Jack worked on over the years if only for a single cover.

Beautiful Dreamer

A rare Kirby pin-up from Forever People # 10 (1972). Looking closely at the original artwork, it looks like originally Beautiful Dreamer was wearing a bikini, but someone along the line (probably an editor in the DC NYC offices) decided a one piece might be more PC.

Arnim Zola

Marvelously bizarre double-splash by Jack from Captain America # 209 pgs. 2 - 3 (May 1977), artwork by Kirby/Royer. Below is a scan of the original artwork. I remember seeing this as a 9-year-old kid back in the 1970s and just being totally befuddled by it. The image had to have been the weirdest thing by far I'd ever seen in a comic book. Quite frankly, I thought Jack must be crazy or maybe partaking of some consciousness expanding drugs. My brother bought this comic book, and I hated it, but twenty years later I think this is a masterpiece.

It's fairly simple storytelling. Jack starts at the left and shows us the damsel in distress. The voluptuous Donna Maria.

Then we have Captain America, protecting her. Notice the creepy vine-like had in front of his face.

Arnim Zola: certainly one of Jack's more strange creations.

But if you thought Arnim Zola was wacky, check out Doughboy, a gigantic blobular sidekick.

Just flat out wild stuff from Jack in the late 1970s. Even though I didn't like it as a kid, it undoubtedly emblazoned itself upon my unconsciousness, and now I find a double splash like this spectacular.

What About Jack?

I assume this came out during the 1980s. Amazing that we can still ask the same question today. Hopefully Disney/Marvel will answer this question with some class, and instead of a long, fierce court battle between Jack's children and that multi-billion coroporation, we can put the past behind us and celebrate Jack's legacy.

Kirby Grab-Bag

Once in awhile I'm going to go through my files and just pull some random images that probably don't deserve a whole post. Here's a funny piece from fakestanlee.com where an unknown artist has put together a mock-up of what Jack's Spider-man design might have looked like.

Here's something that's kinda' creepy but sorta' cute as well. Kirby with a Captain America horse. From jodimoisan.com. You can also check out the Stan Lee doll at that website.


Green Arrow postage stamp with Kirby art.

Kid versions of some Marvel characters designed by Jack.