Jumbo Comics was an adventure anthology comic book published by Fiction House from 1938 to 1953. Jumbo Comics was Fiction House's first comics title; the publisher had previously specialized in pulp magazines . The lead feature for Jumbo Comics ' entire run was Sheena, Queen of the Jungle .
124-476: Notable creators who worked on Jumbo Comics include Jack Kirby (working under a variety of pseudonyms ), Bob Kane , Matt Baker , Mort Meskin , Lou Fine , Bob Powell , Mort Leav , Art Saaf , Dick Briefer , Lily Renée , and Ruth Roche . Jerry Iger was Jumbo Comics ' art director for its entire run. By the late 1930s, Fiction House publisher Thurman T. Scott expanded the company from pulp magazines to comic books , an emerging medium that began to seem
248-550: A John Wayne title; and DC produced short-lived Dale Evans and Jimmy Wakely titles. (Dale Evans and Reno Browne were the only two Western actresses to have comics based on their characters.) Most of the cowboy actor titles featured photo covers of the stars; most series had been canceled by 1957. Since Westerns were such a popular genre in the 1950s, many of the period's notable creators spent at least some time doing Western comics. Writer Paul S. Newman and artist Tom Gill had an 11-year stretch on Dell's The Lone Ranger ,
372-420: A 107-issue run that marks one of the longest of any writer/artist team on a comic-book series. Larry Lieber spent nine years as writer-artist of Marvel's Rawhide Kid . France Herron and Fred Ray were the long-time writer and artist of DC's Tomahawk . Gaylord DuBois excelled in writing Western comics featuring realistic animals: he wrote the entire run of The Lone Ranger's Famous Horse Hi-Yo Silver ,
496-743: A contemporary version of the West. In the 1990s and 2000s, the Western comic leaned toward the Weird West subgenre, usually involving supernatural monsters. However, more traditional Western comics are found throughout this period, from Jonah Hex to Loveless . Series like Desperadoes , High Moon , and Scalped demonstrate the genre's continuing appeal. Creators like Joe R. Lansdale , Michael Fleisher , and Tony DeZuniga were notable contributors to Western comics from this period. In addition, publishers like America's Comics Group and AC Comics have reprinted
620-514: A contractual dispute in which editor Jack Schiff , who had been involved in getting Kirby and the Wood brothers the Sky Masters contract, claimed he was due royalties from Kirby's share of the strip's profits. Schiff successfully sued Kirby. Some DC editors had criticized him over art details, such as not drawing "the shoelaces on a cavalryman's boots" and showing a Native American "mounting his horse from
744-452: A corral-full of Western stories for such Marvel titles as Wild Western , All Western Winners, Arizona Kid, Black Rider , Western Outlaws, and Reno Browne, Hollywood's Greatest Cowgirl. Vic Carrabotta worked on such Marvel Westerns as Apache Kid , Kid Colt: Outlaw , The Outlaw Kid , and Western Outlaws . Artist John Severin was known for his 1950s Western comics art for Atlas. Artist Mike Sekowsky drew such characters as
868-490: A cosmic purview informed by Kirby's seemingly boundless imagination—one well-matched with the consciousness-expanding youth culture of the 1960s. For almost a decade, Kirby provided Marvel's house style, creating many of the Marvel characters and designing their visual motifs. At the editor-in-chief's request, he often provided new-to-Marvel artists "breakdown" layouts, over which they would pencil in order to become acquainted with
992-677: A day. His first published work at Atlas was the cover of and the seven-page story "I Discovered the Secret of the Flying Saucers" in Strange Worlds #1 (Dec. 1958). Initially with Christopher Rule as his regular inker, and later Dick Ayers , Kirby drew across all genres, from romance comics to war comics to crime comics to Western comics, but made his mark primarily with a series of supernatural-fantasy and science fiction stories featuring giant, drive-in movie -style monsters with names like Groot ,
1116-737: A format that would later be called the trade paperback , which would eventually become standard practice in the industry. However, Infantino and company were not receptive and Kirby's proposals only went as far as producing the one-shot black-and-white magazines Spirit World and In the Days of the Mob in 1971. Kirby later produced other DC series including OMAC , Kamandi , The Demon , and Kobra as well as working on such extant features as " The Losers " in Our Fighting Forces . Together with former partner Joe Simon for one last time, he worked on
1240-624: A house for his family in Mineola, New York on Long Island . It was the family's home for the next 20 years; Kirby worked out of a basement studio just 10 feet (3.0 m) wide, which the family referred to jocularly as "The Dungeon". He moved the family to Southern California in early 1969, both to live in a drier climate for the sake of daughter Lisa's health and to be closer to the Hollywood studios Jack Kirby believed might provide work. In an interview, Kirby's granddaughter Jillian Kirby said Jack Kirby
1364-558: A hurry because I couldn't take that kind of thing," describing it as "a factory in a sense, like my father's factory. They were manufacturing pictures." Around that time, the American comic book industry was booming. Kirby began writing and drawing for the comic book packager Eisner & Iger , one of a handful of firms creating comics on demand for publishers. Through that company, Kirby did what he remembered as his first comic book work, for Wild Boy Magazine . This included such strips as
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#17328559178991488-418: A lieutenant, learning that comics artist Kirby was in his command, made him a scout who would advance into towns and draw reconnaissance maps and pictures, an extremely dangerous duty. After the war, Simon arranged work for Kirby and himself at Harvey Comics , where, through the early 1950s, the duo created such titles as the kid-gang adventure Boy Explorers Comics , the kid-gang Western Boys' Ranch ,
1612-459: A line of Western titles in the early 1970s, but nothing came of it. Weird Western Tales survived until 1980, and Jonah Hex until 1985. By then no major publishers were producing Western titles, though iconic characters from the DC and Marvel canons would occasionally make cameo appearances in other books. The DC Comics imprint Vertigo reintroduced the Western genre in 1995 with Preacher , set in
1736-584: A living as a garment factory worker. Kirby grew up in the Lower East Side neighborhood of New York City . Among his close friends was Leon Klinghoffer , who grew up in the same neighborhood, and who in 1985 was shot, killed and thrown overboard from the cruise ship Achille Lauro by Palestinian Liberation Front hijackers . In his youth, Kirby desired to escape his neighborhood. He liked to draw, and sought out places he could learn more about art. Essentially self-taught, Kirby cited among his influences
1860-626: A new multi-genre form: " Weird West ," a combination of the Western with another literary genre, usually horror , occult , or fantasy . Other Western characters DC created during this period include the heroes Scalphunter and El Diablo , and the villains El Papagayo , Terra-Man , and Quentin Turnbull . Marvel also attempted to capitalize on the renewed interest in the Western with two mostly reprint titles, The Mighty Marvel Western (1968–1976) and Western Gunfighters vol. 2 (1970–1975). The short-lived publisher Skywald Publications attempted
1984-691: A new incarnation of the Sandman . Kirby produced three issues of the 1st Issue Special anthology series and created Atlas the Great , a new Manhunter , and the Dingbats of Danger Street . Kirby's production assistant of the time, Mark Evanier , recounted that DC's policies of the era were not in sync with Kirby's creative impulses. Also Evanier said that he was often forced to work on characters and projects which he did not like. Meanwhile, some artists at DC did not want Kirby there, as he threatened their positions in
2108-521: A number of Western comics from the genre's "Golden Age." The Goodbye Family , about a family of Weird West undertakers, started in 2015 and continues in both online and print formats. The Western genre's overall popularity in Europe spawned a Western comics trend, particularly in Italy , France , Belgium , and England . Many European countries published reprints of American-made Western comics (translated into
2232-473: A rarity, Kirby inked himself. Kirby recast the archer as a science-fiction hero, moving him away from his Batman-formula roots, but, in the process, alienating Green Arrow co-creator Mort Weisinger . He began drawing Sky Masters of the Space Force , a newspaper comic strip, written by the Wood brothers and initially inked by the unrelated Wally Wood . Kirby left National Comics Publications due largely to
2356-621: A serialized adaptation (in five-page installments) of Victor Hugo 's 1831 novel The Hunchback of Notre-Dame which ran in the first 8 issues. Other recurring features: Sheena, Queen of the Jungle — soon became the company's star character, and her adventures appeared in every issue of Jumbo Comics . Over the years the Sheena feature was worked on by notable creators like Bob Powell , Mort Meskin , and Matt Baker . ZX-5 Spies in Action — ran for almost
2480-700: A series of interlinked titles under the blanket sobriquet " The Fourth World ", which included a trilogy of new titles— New Gods , Mister Miracle , and The Forever People —as well as the extant Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen . Kirby picked the latter book because the series was without a stable creative team and he did not want to cost anyone a job. The three books Kirby originated dealt with aspects of mythology he had previously touched upon in Thor . The New Gods would establish this new mythos, while in The Forever People Kirby would attempt to mythologize
2604-632: A significant part of the DC Universe . Kirby returned to Marvel briefly in the mid-to-late 1970s, then ventured into television animation and independent comics . In his later years, Kirby, who has been called "the William Blake of comics", began receiving great recognition in the mainstream press for his career accomplishments, and in 1987 he was one of the three inaugural inductees of the Will Eisner Comic Book Hall of Fame . In 2017, Kirby
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#17328559178992728-476: A special announcement to make. As I started telling about Jack's return, to a totally incredulous audience, everyone's head started to snap around as Kirby himself came waltzin' down the aisle to join us on the rostrum! You can imagine how it felt clownin' around with the co-creator of most of Marvel's greatest strips once more." Back at Marvel, Kirby both wrote and drew the monthly Captain America series as well as
2852-572: A staggering 92% of its print run, inspiring Crestwood to increase the print run by the third issue to triple the initial number of copies. Initially published bimonthly, Young Romance quickly became a monthly title and produced the spin-off Young Love —together the two titles sold two million copies per month, according to Simon —later joined by Young Brides and In Love , the latter "featuring full-length romance stories". Young Romance spawned dozens of imitators from publishers such as Timely, Fawcett , Quality , and Fox Feature Syndicate . Despite
2976-493: A then-reasonable $ 15-a-week salary. He began to explore superhero narrative with the comic strip The Blue Beetle , published from January to March 1940, starring a character created by the pseudonymous Charles Nicholas , a house name that Kirby retained for the three-month-long strip. During this time, Kirby met and began collaborating with cartoonist and Fox editor Joe Simon , who in addition to his staff work continued to freelance. Simon recalled in 1988, "I loved Jack's work and
3100-409: A viable adjunct to the fading pulps. Receptive to a sales call by Eisner & Iger , one of the prominent " packagers " of that time that produced complete comic books on demand for publishers looking to enter the field, Scott published Jumbo Comics #1 (Sept. 1938), (just a couple months after Action Comics #1 ) under Fiction House's Real Adventures Publishing Company imprint. Sheena, Queen of
3224-462: A year's worth of material. Kirby was drafted into the U.S. Army on June 7, 1943. After basic training at Camp Stewart , near Savannah, Georgia, he was assigned to Company F of the 11th Infantry Regiment . He landed on Omaha Beach in Normandy on August 23, 1944, 2 + 1 ⁄ 2 months after D-Day , although Kirby's reminiscences would place his arrival just 10 days after. Kirby recalled that
3348-540: Is a western series created by the Belgian Yves Swolfs in 1981. Currently 17 tomes are available. England's L. Miller & Son 's original Western comics titles included Colorado Kid , Davy Crockett , Kid Dynamite Western Comic , Pancho Villa Western Comic , and Rocky Mountain King Western Comic , all published in the 1950s. Jim Edgar and Tony Weare 's "Matt Marriott" was a daily strip which ran in
3472-520: Is considered Marvel's first graphic novel . Still dissatisfied with Marvel's treatment of him, and with an offer of employment from Hanna-Barbera , a job located in nearby Hollywood, Kirby left Marvel to work in animation. In that field for Ruby-Spears Productions he did designs for Turbo Teen , Thundarr the Barbarian and other animated series for television. In addition to a superior pay to his comics work, Kirby enjoyed excellent relations with
3596-586: The London Evening News from 1955 to 1977. Spanish cartoonist Manuel Gago Garcia's The Little Fighter was a popular series of Western comics between 1945 and 1956. Yuki the Bold (debuting in 1958) is another popular Spanish series, as were the shorter-lived series Apache and Red Arrow . Other Spanish Western comics include Sheriff King (beginning in 1964), Sunday (1968), and Kelly Hand (1971). Hugo Pratt and Héctor Germán Oesterheld 's Sergeant Kirk
3720-473: The American public's interest in the genre waned, Western literature—including comics—began to lose its appeal as well. At the same time, the comics industry was shifting back to superheroes (entering its " Silver Age ") and away from some of the other genres which had flourished during the 1950s. In fact, of the original Western comics series begun in the late 1940s and early 1950s, only a handful of titles survived
3844-626: The CIA 's " Canadian Caper ", in which some members of the U.S. embassy in Tehran , Iran, who had avoided capture in the Iran hostage crisis , were able to escape the country posing as members of a movie location-scouting crew. In the early 1980s, Kirby and Pacific Comics , a new, non-newsstand comic-book publisher, made one of the industry's earliest deals for creator-owned series, resulting in Captain Victory and
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3968-560: The Captain America's Bicentennial Battles one-shot in the oversized treasury format . He created the series The Eternals , which featured a race of inscrutable alien giants, the Celestials , whose behind-the-scenes intervention in primordial humanity would eventually become a core element of Marvel Universe continuity. He produced an adaptation and expansion of the film 2001: A Space Odyssey , as well as an abortive attempt to do
4092-711: The Hulk , Thor , the X-Men and Magneto , Doctor Doom , Uatu the Watcher , Ego the Living Planet , the Inhumans and their hidden city of Attilan, and the Black Panther (comics' first black superhero) and his Afrofuturist nation, Wakanda . Kirby initially was assigned to pencil the first Spider-Man story, but when he showed Lee the first six pages, Lee recalled, "I hated the way he
4216-661: The New York Times : Western comics Western comics is a comics genre usually depicting the American Old West frontier (usually anywhere west of the Mississippi River ) and typically set during the late nineteenth century. The term is generally associated with an American comic books genre published from the late 1940s through the 1950s (though the genre had continuing popularity in Europe, and persists in limited form in American comics today). Western comics of
4340-605: The Pratt Institute in Brooklyn , leaving after a week. "I wasn't the kind of student that Pratt was looking for. They wanted people who would work on something forever. I didn't want to work on any project forever. I intended to get things done". Kirby joined the Lincoln Newspaper Syndicate in 1936, working there on newspaper comic strips and on single-panel advice cartoons such as Your Health Comes First!!! (under
4464-520: The Sandman feature in Adventure Comics and created the superhero Manhunter . In July 1942 they began the Boy Commandos feature. The ongoing "kid gang" series of the same name, launched later that same year, was the creative team's first National feature to graduate into its own title. It sold over a million copies a month, becoming National's third best-selling title. They scored a hit with
4588-602: The Sub-Mariner and Captain America. In later years, Lee and Kirby disputed over who deserved credit for such creations as The Fantastic Four . The story frequently cited as Lee and Kirby's finest achievement is " The Galactus Trilogy " in Fantastic Four #48–50 (March–May 1966), chronicling the arrival of Galactus , a cosmic giant who wanted to devour the planet, and his herald, the Silver Surfer . Fantastic Four #48
4712-691: The U.S. Army and serving in the European Theater in World War II , Kirby corresponded with his wife regularly by v-mail , with Roz sending daily letters while she worked in a lingerie shop and lived with her mother at 2820 Brighton 7th Street in Brooklyn. During the winter of 1944, Kirby suffered severe frostbite and was taken to a hospital in London for recovery. Doctors considered amputating Kirby's legs, which had turned black, but he eventually recovered and
4836-477: The United States from the late 1930s to the 1960s. Western comics first appeared in syndicated newspaper strips in the late 1920s. Harry O'Neill 's Young Buffalo Bill (later changed to Buckaroo Bill and then, finally, Broncho Bill ), distributed by United Feature Syndicate beginning in 1927, , and was a pioneering example of the form. Starting in the 1930s, Red Ryder , Little Joe , and King of
4960-498: The X-Men , among many others. Kirby's titles garnered high sales and critical acclaim, but in 1970, feeling he had been treated unfairly, largely in the realm of authorship credit and creators' rights, Kirby left the company for rival DC. At DC, Kirby created his Fourth World saga which spanned several comics titles. While these series proved commercially unsuccessful and were canceled, the Fourth World's New Gods have continued as
5084-684: The comic strip artists Milton Caniff , Hal Foster , and Alex Raymond , as well as such editorial cartoonists as C. H. Sykes , "Ding" Darling , and Rollin Kirby . He was rejected by the Educational Alliance because he drew "too fast with charcoal", according to Kirby. He later found an outlet for his skills by drawing cartoons for the newspaper of the Boys Brotherhood Republic, a "miniature city" on East 3rd Street where street kids ran their own government. At age 14, Kirby enrolled at
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5208-469: The pseudonym Jack Curtiss ). He remained until late 1939, when he began working for the theatrical animation company Fleischer Studios as an inbetweener (an artist who fills in the action between major-movement frames) on Popeye cartoons at the same time in 1935. He left the studio before the Fleischer strike in 1937. "I went from Lincoln to Fleischer," he recalled. "From Fleischer I had to get out in
5332-540: The 1950s and 1960s. The most popular and long-running Italian-produced Western comic is Gian Luigi Bonelli and Aurelio Galleppini 's Tex (starring Tex Willer ), first published in 1948. Tex is among the most popular characters in Italian comics, and has been translated into numerous languages, including Portuguese , Finnish , Norwegian , Tamil, Turkish , Slovenian , Croatian , Serbian and Hebrew . Captain Miki , by
5456-488: The 1950s. Avon Comics published a number of Western comics, the most notable titles being based on historical figures like Jesse James and Wild Bill Hickok . Youthful published the Western titles Gunsmoke , Indian Fighter , and Redskin (later known as Famous Western Badmen ). And Toby Press published its own Billy the Kid Adventure Magazine . The first Western hero to have his adventures published in
5580-443: The 1950s. Charlton's low production costs enabled it to continue producing a number of Western titles, but otherwise Dell's The Lone Ranger , and Marvel's Gunsmoke Western , Kid Colt Outlaw , and Rawhide Kid were the only Western titles to make it through the 1960s. Gary Friedrich , Mike Esposito , and Ogden Whitney are three of the few notable Western comics creators from the 1960s. The late 1960s and early 1970s saw
5704-459: The 1980s, including a brief revival of his "Fourth World" saga in the 1984 and 1985 Super Powers miniseries and the 1985 graphic novel The Hunger Dogs . DC executives Jenette Kahn and Paul Levitz had Kirby re-design the Fourth World characters for the Super Powers toyline as a way of entitling him to royalties for several of his DC creations. In 1985, Kirby and Gil Kane helped to create
5828-744: The Apache Kid, the Black Rider , and Kid Colt for Atlas; he later freelanced for other companies, drawing the TV-series spin-offs Gunsmoke and Buffalo Bill, Jr. for Dell Comics . Artist Rocke Mastroserio specialized in Western stories for such Charlton Comics series as Billy the Kid , Black Fury , Jim Bowie , Rocky Lane's Black Jack , Sheriff of Tombstone , Six-Gun Heroes , Texas Rangers in Action , and Wyatt Earp , Frontier Marshal . Pat Boyette worked on such Charlton Western series as Billy
5952-545: The Bible, made for a heady brew, but the scope of his vision has endured." In 2007, comics writer Grant Morrison commented that "Kirby's dramas were staged across Jungian vistas of raw symbol and storm ... The Fourth World saga crackles with the voltage of Jack Kirby's boundless imagination let loose onto paper." In addition to his artistic efforts, Kirby proposed a variety of new formats for comics such as planning to collect his published Fourth World stories into square-bound books,
6076-771: The Chinatown Kid and the Wyoming Kid ; Charlton Comics ' Billy the Kid and the Cheyenne Kid; and Dell's the Cisco Kid . Black Rider and Phantom Rider were two other Marvel company characters from the genre's peak. Other early DC Comics Western characters included Johnny Thunder , Nighthawk , Pow Wow Smith , Tomahawk , the Trigger Twins , and Vigilante . Dell Comics featured the Lone Ranger , and Dell's Lobo (debuting in 1965)
6200-468: The Galactic Rangers , and the six-issue miniseries Silver Star (later collected in hardcover format in 2007). This, together with similar actions by other independent comics publishers as Eclipse Comics (where Kirby co-created the character Destroyer Duck in a benefit comic-book series published to help Steve Gerber fight a legal case against Marvel), helped establish a precedent to end
6324-515: The Jungle appeared in that initial issue. The character had debuted in 1937 in the British magazine Wags . Indeed, all the material Eisner & Iger prepared for Jumbo Comics #1 (and the subsequent seven issues) had originally appeared in Wags , which was a tabloid -sized publication. For this reason, Jumbo Comics #1-8 were oversize (10-1/2" x 14-1/2") and exclusively in black and white. (The name "Jumbo"
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#17328559178996448-542: The Kid , Cheyenne Kid , and Outlaws of the West . The Western genre in general peaked around 1960, largely due to the tremendous number of Westerns on American television . Increasingly, the genre reflected a Romantic view of the American West—and American history in general. As the country grappled with the cultural issues of the 1960s and the Vietnam War , the genre seemed increasingly out of touch. As
6572-415: The Marvel look. As artist Gil Kane described: Jack was the single most influential figure in the turnaround in Marvel's fortunes from the time he rejoined the company ... It wasn't merely that Jack conceived most of the characters that are being done, but ... Jack's point of view and philosophy of drawing became the governing philosophy of the entire publishing company and, beyond the publishing company, of
6696-682: The Royal Mounted were syndicated in hundreds of newspapers across the United States. Garrett Price 's White Boy (later changed to Skull Valley ) was another syndicated strip from the 1930s. The first Western stories to appear in the comics were in the mid-1930s: National Allied 's New Fun Comics #1 (Feb. 1935) ran the modern-West feature "Jack Woods" and the Old West feature "Buckskin Jim"; Centaur Publications ' The Comics Magazine #1 (May 1936) ran
6820-585: The Thing from Planet X; Grottu, King of the Insects; and Fin Fang Foom for the company's many anthology series, such as Amazing Adventures , Strange Tales , Tales to Astonish , Tales of Suspense , and World of Fantasy . His bizarre designs of powerful, unearthly creatures proved a hit with readers. Additionally, he freelanced for Archie Comics around this time, reuniting briefly with Joe Simon to help develop
6944-424: The Western Bullseye: Western Scout ; the war comic Foxhole because EC Comics and Atlas Comics were having success with war comics, but promoting theirs as being written and drawn by actual veterans; In Love because their earlier romance comic Young Love was still being widely imitated; and the crime comic Police Trap , which claimed to be based on genuine accounts by law-enforcement officials. After
7068-468: The age of 76. The Jack Kirby Awards and Jack Kirby Hall of Fame were named in his honor, and he is known as " The King " among comics fans for his many influential contributions to the medium. Jack Kirby was born Jacob Kurtzberg on August 28, 1917, at 147 Essex Street on the Lower East Side of Manhattan in New York City ; he grew up there. His parents, Rose (Bernstein) and Benjamin Kurtzberg, were Austrian-Jewish immigrants, and his father earned
7192-432: The agreement, but reserved the right to reclaim the art if Kirby violated the deal. After Kirby publicly slammed Marvel, calling the company thugs and claiming they were arbitrarily holding his creations, Marvel finally returned (after two years of deliberations) approximately 1,900 or 2,100 pages of the estimated 10,000 to 13,000 Kirby drew for the company. For the producer Charles Band , Jack Kirby made concept art for
7316-414: The anthology title Chamber of Darkness , and received full credit for doing so; but in 1970, Kirby was presented with a contract that included unfavorable terms such as a prohibition against legal retaliation. When Kirby objected, the management refused to negotiate any contract changes, bluntly dismissing his contribution to Marvel's success since they considered Lee solely responsible. Kirby, although he
7440-537: The art for the remaining issues of the series after Kirby died. In the early 1940s, Kirby and his family moved to Brooklyn . Kirby met Rosalind "Roz" Goldstein, who lived in the same Brooklyn apartment building. The pair began dating soon afterward. Kirby proposed to Goldstein on her 18th birthday, and the two became engaged. They married on May 23, 1942. The couple had four children: Susan (b. December 6, 1945), Neal (b. May 1948), Barbara (b. November 1952), and Lisa (b. September 1960). After being drafted into
7564-485: The artist Giraud had been mentored by Jijé . Charlier and Giraud created the Jim Cutlass series in 1981; subsequent volumes were written by Giraud and drawn by Christian Rossi . Greg and Hermann Huppen 's Comanche was published from 1972 to 1983 (with the series being continued by Rouge for four more stories). The Belgian publisher Le Lombard produced the title Buddy Longway , by Swiss comics creator Derib , from 1972 to 1987, and from 2002 to 2006. Durango
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#17328559178997688-580: The by-then-defunct Pacific Comics, and then licensed to Topps for what became the " Jack Kirby's Secret City Saga " mythos. Phantom Force was the last comic book Kirby worked on before his death. The story was co-written by Kirby with Michael Thibodeaux and Richard French, based on an eight-page pitch for an unused Bruce Lee comic in 1978. Issues #1 and 2 were published by Image Comics with various Image artists inking over Kirby's pencils. Issue #0 and issues #3–8 were published by Genesis West, with Kirby providing pencils for issues #0 and 4. Thibodeaux provided
7812-431: The comics was the Masked Raider , published by Timely Comics beginning in 1939. Timely/Atlas/Marvel favored Western characters with the word "Kid" in their name, including the Apache Kid , Kid Colt , the Outlaw Kid , the Rawhide Kid, the Ringo Kid , the Two-Gun Kid, and the Western Kid —as well as the more obscure heroes the Prairie Kid, the Arizona Kid, and the Texas Kid. Other companies followed suit, with DC's Stuff
7936-501: The company; they also had bad blood from previous competition with Marvel and legal problems with him. Since he was working from California, they were able to undermine his work through redesigns in the New York office. At the comic book convention Marvelcon '75, in 1975, Stan Lee used a Fantastic Four panel discussion to announce that Kirby was returning to Marvel after having left in 1970 to work for DC Comics. Lee wrote in his monthly column, "Stan Lee's Soapbox", "I mentioned that I had
8060-550: The concept and designs for the Ruby-Spears animated television series The Centurions . A comic-book series based on the show was published by DC and a toy line produced by Kenner . In the twilight of his life, Kirby spent a great deal of time sparring with Marvel executives over the ownership rights of his original page boards. At Marvel, many of these pages owned by the company (due to outdated and legally dubious copyright claims) were given away as promotional gifts to Marvel clients or simply stolen from company warehouses. After
8184-413: The duo 25 percent of the profits from the feature. The first issue of Captain America Comics , released in early 1941, sold out in days, and the second issue's print run was set at over a million copies. The title's success established the team as a notable creative force in the industry. After the first issue was published, Simon asked Kirby to join the Timely staff as the company's art director. With
8308-425: The duo rearranged and republished artwork from an old Crestwood story in In Love , Crestwood refused to pay the team, who sought an audit of Crestwood's finances. Upon review, the pair's attorneys stated the company owed them $ 130,000 for work done over the past seven years. Crestwood paid them $ 10,000 in addition to their recent delayed payments. The partnership between Kirby and Simon had become strained. Simon left
8432-438: The entire field ... [Marvel took] Jack and use[d] him as a primer. They would get artists ... and they taught them the ABCs, which amounted to learning Jack Kirby ... Jack was like the Holy Scripture and they simply had to follow him without deviation. That's what was told to me ... It was how they taught everyone to reconcile all those opposing attitudes to one single master point of view. Highlights of Kirby's tenure also include
8556-499: The entire run of National Velvet under both the Dell and Gold Key imprints, and many other animal stories for a number of publishers. Carl Pfeufer was the longtime artist of Fawcett's Tom Mix comics. Artist Fred Guardineer had a long run on Magazine Enterprises ' The Durango Kid . Pete Tumlinson illustrated most of Kid Colt 's early stories. Later, Tumlinson drew Western stories for Atlas Comics ' Outlaw Fighters , Two-Gun Western , and Wild Western . Russ Heath drew
8680-460: The entire run of the title. Ghost Gallery — ran from issue #40 until the book was cancelled. Inspector Dayton — another recurring feature that debuted in the first issue and ran until issue #60 (Feb. 1944). Hawks of the Seas — period adventure continuing a story from Quality Comics ' Feature Funnies #12, after Eisner-Iger and Quality had had a falling out; the strip lasted about ten issues. Peter Pupp — originally by Bob Kane ; ran for
8804-663: The feature "Captain Bill of the Rangers"; and David McKay Publications 's Feature Book #1 (May 1937) and a single issue of King Comics (also 1937) featured King of the Royal Mounted reprints before Dell took over licensing of the character. Dell Comics ' The Funnies published a run of short adaptations of B-movie Westerns starting in vol. 2, issue #20 (May 1938). Whitman Comics' Crackajack Funnies ran regular Western features (including Tom Mix stories) beginning with issue #1 in June 1938. The first stand-alone Western comics titles were published by Centaur Publications. Star Ranger and Western Picture Stories both debuted from
8928-584: The films Doctor Mortalis and Mindmaster , which were later released as Doctor Mordrid (1992) and Mandroid (1993), respectively. Doctor Mordrid began as a planned adaptation of the Marvel Comics character Dr. Strange , but Band's option expired. For Topps Comics , founded in 1993, Kirby retained ownership of characters used in multiple series of what the company dubbed " The Kirbyverse ". These titles were derived mainly from designs and concepts Kirby had kept in his files, some intended initially for
9052-604: The first 25 issues. Spencer Steel — ran for the first 12 issues; also appeared in Fiction House's Fight Comics . Sky Girl — by Matt Baker ; ran in issues #69-139 (November 1944–December 1952), with some of the later stories being reprints. Long Bow — Western feature which ran in issues #141-160 (Nov. 1950–June 1952), roughly concurrent with Fiction House's Long Bow series (which ran nine issues from 1951–Winter 1952/1953). Jack Kirby Jack Kirby (born Jacob Kurtzberg ; August 28, 1917 – February 6, 1994)
9176-461: The first time I saw it I couldn't believe what I was seeing. He asked if we could do some freelance work together. I was delighted and I took him over to my little office. We worked from the second issue of Blue Bolt through... about 25 years." After leaving Fox and collaborating on the premiere issue of Fawcett Comics ' Captain Marvel Adventures ([March] 1941), the first solo title for
9300-664: The future DC Comics , Kirby drew 20 stories for Atlas from 1956 to 1957: Beginning with the five-page "Mine Field" in Battleground #14 (Nov. 1956), Kirby penciled and in some cases inked (with his wife, Roz ) and wrote stories of the Western hero Black Rider , the Fu Manchu -like Yellow Claw , and more. But in 1957, distribution troubles caused the "Atlas implosion" that resulted in several series being dropped and no new material being assigned for many months. The next year Kirby returned to
9424-526: The genre of romance comics and later founded their own short-lived comic company, Mainline Publications . Kirby was involved in Timely's 1950s iteration, Atlas Comics , which in the next decade became Marvel. There, in the 1960s, Kirby cocreated many of the company's major characters, including Ant-Man , the Avengers , the Black Panther , the Fantastic Four , the Hulk , Iron Man , the Silver Surfer , Thor , and
9548-496: The glut, the Simon and Kirby romance titles continued to sell millions of copies a month. Bitter that Timely Comics ' 1950s iteration, Atlas Comics , had relaunched Captain America in a new series in 1954, Kirby and Simon created Fighting American . Simon recalled, "We thought we'd show them how to do Captain America". While the comic book initially portrayed the protagonist as an anti-Communist dramatic hero, Simon and Kirby turned
9672-489: The highly successful superhero character Captain America for Timely Comics , predecessor of Marvel Comics . During the 1940s, Kirby regularly teamed with Simon, creating numerous characters for that company and for National Comics Publications , later to become DC Comics . After serving in the European Theater in World War II , Kirby produced work for DC Comics, Harvey Comics , Hillman Periodicals and other publishers. At Crestwood Publications , he and Simon created
9796-669: The homefront kid-gang team, the Newsboy Legion , featuring in Star-Spangled Comics . In 2010, DC Comics writer and executive Paul Levitz observed that "Like Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster , the creative team of Joe Simon and Jack Kirby was a mark of quality and a proven track record." With World War II underway, Liebowitz expected that Simon and Kirby would be drafted , so he asked the artists to create an inventory of material to be published in their absence. The pair hired writers, inkers, letterers, and colorists in order to create
9920-461: The humor-based Chick Bill by Greg and Tibet . The competing magazine Spirou published Jijé 's Jerry Spring , in a realistic vein, beginning in 1954. Albums from the Jerry Spring series were published until 1990. Jean-Michel Charlier and Jean Giraud 's Blueberry is a Western series published beginning in 1963 and continuing until 2005. The series were inspired by Jerry Spring , and
10044-425: The idea to comic books and with Kirby created a first-issue mock-up of Young Romance . Showing it to Crestwood general manager Maurice Rosenfeld, Simon asked for 50% of the comic's profits. Crestwood publishers Teddy Epstein and Mike Bleier agreed, stipulating that the creators would take no money up front. Young Romance #1 (cover-date Oct. 1947) "became Jack and Joe's biggest hit in years". The first title sold
10168-599: The industry for a career in advertising, while Kirby continued to freelance. "He wanted to do other things and I stuck with comics," Kirby recalled in 1971. "It was fine. There was no reason to continue the partnership and we parted friends." At this point in the mid-1950s, Kirby made a temporary return to the former Timely Comics , now known as Atlas Comics, the direct predecessor of Marvel Comics . Inker Frank Giacoia had approached editor-in-chief Stan Lee for work and suggested he could "get Kirby back here to pencil some stuff. While freelancing for National Comics Publications,
10292-632: The insult when confronted about it by Lee's protege, Roy Thomas , who was similarly insulted with Flashman's sidekick, Houseroy. The central villain of the Fourth World series, Darkseid , and some of the Fourth World concepts, appeared in Jimmy Olsen before the launch of the other Fourth World books, giving the new titles greater exposure to potential buyers. The Superman figures and Jimmy Olsen faces drawn by Kirby were redrawn by Al Plastino , and later by Murphy Anderson . Les Daniels observed in 1995 that "Kirby's mix of slang and myth, science fiction and
10416-576: The larger publishers of the period jumped headfirst into the Western arena during this period, particularly Marvel Comics and its forerunners Timely Comics and Atlas Comics . Kid Colt Outlaw debuted in 1948, running until 1979 (though it was primarily a reprint title after 1967). The company soon established itself as the most prolific publisher of Western comics with other notable long-running titles, including Rawhide Kid , Two-Gun Kid , and Wild Western . The six-issue 1950 Harvey Comics series Boys' Ranch , by Joe Simon and Jack Kirby ,
10540-443: The lives of the young people he observed around him. The third book, Mister Miracle was more of a personal myth. The title character was an escape artist, which Mark Evanier suggests Kirby channeled his feelings of constraint into. Mister Miracle's wife was based in character on Kirby's wife Roz, and he even caricatured Stan Lee within the pages of the book as Funky Flashman , a depiction Lee found hurtful while Kirby tried to downplay
10664-446: The long-running comic strip, in 1941. Western comics became popular in the years immediately following World War II , when superheroes went out of style. Adult readership had grown during the war years, and returning servicemen wanted subjects other than superheroes in their books. The popularity of the Western genre in comic strips and other media gave birth to Western comics, many of which began being published around 1948. Most of
10788-546: The military and their policies). Reflecting the trend, in 1968 DC debuted the new character Bat Lash , who starred in a short-lived series. They also revived the All-Star Western title, starting volume two of the series in 1970. In 1972, All-Star Western changed its name to Weird Western Tales , with many stories featuring the newly created Western antihero Jonah Hex (debuting in 1975 in his own title). Weird Western Tales (sister title of Weird War Tales ) defined
10912-439: The monopoly of the work-for-hire system, wherein comics creators, even freelancers, had owned no rights to characters they created. In 1983 Richard Kyle commissioned Kirby to create a 10-page autobiographical strip, " Street Code ", which became one of the last works published in Kirby's lifetime. It was published in 1990, in the second issue of Kyle's revival of Argosy . Kirby continued to do periodic work for DC Comics during
11036-654: The nascent Marvel. For DC around that time, Kirby co-created with writers Dick and Dave Wood the non-superpowered adventuring quartet the Challengers of the Unknown in Showcase #6 (Feb. 1957), while contributing to such anthologies as House of Mystery . During 30 months freelancing for DC, Kirby drew slightly more than 600 pages, which included 11 six-page Green Arrow stories in World's Finest Comics and Adventure Comics that in
11160-610: The passage of the Copyright Act of 1976 , which greatly expanded artist copyright capabilities, comics publishers began to return original art to creators, but in Marvel's case only if they signed a release reaffirming Marvel's ownership of the copyright. In 1985, Marvel issued a release that demanded Kirby affirm that his art was created for hire, allowing Marvel to retain copyright in perpetuity, in addition to demanding that Kirby forego all future royalties. Marvel offered him 88 pages of his art (less than 1% of his total output) if he signed
11284-403: The period typically featured dramatic scripts about cowboys , gunfighters , lawmen , bounty hunters , outlaws , and Native Americans . Accompanying artwork depicted a rural America populated with such iconic images as guns, cowboy hats , vests, horses, saloons , ranches, and deserts, contemporaneous with the setting. Western novels , films , and pulp magazines were extremely popular in
11408-482: The previously introduced superhero, and for which Kirby was told to mimic creator C.C. Beck 's drawing style, the duo were hired on staff at pulp magazine publisher Martin Goodman 's Timely Comics (later to become Marvel Comics). There Simon and Kirby created the patriotic superhero Captain America in late 1940. Simon, who became the company's editor, with Kirby as art director, said he negotiated with Goodman to give
11532-468: The publisher in late 1936, cover-dated Feb. 1937. Star Ranger ran for 12 issues, becoming Cowboy Comics for a couple of issues, and then becoming Star Ranger Funnies . The series ended in October 1939. Western Picture Stories ran four issues in 1937. Dell Comics published Western Action Thrillers #1 shortly thereafter (cover-date Apr. 1937), and began publishing Red Ryder Comics , initially reprinting
11656-630: The respective country's native language). The Italian publishers Sergio Bonelli Editore and Editorial Novaro led the field—Editorial Novaro's Gene Autry title ran 424 issues from 1954 to 1984. The Norwegian publisher Se-Bladene and the British publisher L. Miller & Son were also particularly known for their Western comics reprint titles. Se-Bladene's Texas ran 606 issues between 1954 and 1975. The Australian publishers Ayers & James, Cleland, Federal Publishing, Gredown, and Horwitz Publications all published reprints of American Western comics during
11780-414: The rights. In collaboration, Geller commissioned Kirby to draw set designs that would be used as architectural renderings for a Colorado theme park to be called Science Fiction Land; Geller announced his plans at a November press conference attended by Kirby, former American football star Rosey Grier , writer Ray Bradbury , and others. While the film did not come to fruition, Kirby's drawings were used for
11904-450: The rise of revisionist Western film. Elements include a darker, more cynical tone, with focus on the lawlessness of the time period, favoring realism over romanticism, and an interest in greater historical authenticity. Anti-heroes were common, as were stronger roles for women and more-sympathetic portrayal of Native Americans and Mexicans. The films were often critical of big business, the American government, and masculine figures (including
12028-415: The saga were perfectly suited to the tastes of young readers in the 1960s", and Lee soon discovered that the story was a favorite on college campuses. Kirby continued to expand the medium's boundaries, devising photo-collage covers and interiors, developing new drawing techniques such as the method for depicting energy fields now known as " Kirby Krackle ", and other experiments. In 1968 and 1969, Joe Simon
12152-470: The same for the classic television series The Prisoner . He wrote and drew Black Panther and drew numerous covers across the line. Kirby's other Marvel creations in this period include Machine Man and Devil Dinosaur . Kirby's final comics collaboration with Stan Lee, The Silver Surfer: The Ultimate Cosmic Experience , was published in 1978 as part of the Marvel Fireside Books series and
12276-641: The same time, Kirby grew increasingly dissatisfied with working at Marvel, for reasons Kirby biographer Mark Evanier has suggested include resentment over Lee's media prominence, a lack of full creative control, anger over breaches of perceived promises by publisher Martin Goodman, and frustration over Marvel's failure to credit him specifically for his story plotting and for his character creations and co-creations. He began to both write and draw some secondary features for Marvel, such as "The Inhumans" in Amazing Adventures volume two , as well as horror stories for
12400-469: The science fiction adventure "The Diary of Dr. Hayward" (under the pseudonym Curt Davis ), the Western crimefighter feature "Wilton of the West" (as Fred Sande ), the swashbuckler adventure "The Count of Monte Cristo" (again as Jack Curtiss), and the humor features "Abdul Jones" (as Ted Grey ) and "Socko the Seadog" (as Teddy ), all variously for Jumbo Comics and other Eisner-Iger clients. He first used
12524-461: The series The Fly and The Double Life of Private Strong . Additionally, Kirby drew some issues of Classics Illustrated . At Marvel Kirby hit his stride once again in superhero comics, beginning with The Fantastic Four #1 (Nov. 1961), which some have observed, shares many elements of Kirby's Challengers of the Unknown . The landmark series became a hit that revolutionized the industry with its comparative naturalism and, eventually,
12648-646: The series into a superhero satire with the second issue, in the aftermath of the Army-McCarthy hearings and the public backlash against the Red-baiting U.S. Senator Joseph McCarthy . At the urging of a Crestwood salesman, Kirby and Simon launched their own comics company, Mainline Publications , securing a distribution deal with Leader News in late 1953 or early 1954, subletting space from their friend Al Harvey 's Harvey Publications at 1860 Broadway. Mainline, which existed from 1954 to 1955, published four titles:
12772-667: The staff, especially with the younger artists who typically credited him as their inspiration. He worked on The New Fantastic Four animated series, reuniting him with scriptwriter Stan Lee and they kept their relations sufficiently cordial on a professional level. He illustrated an adaptation of the Walt Disney movie The Black Hole for Walt Disney's Treasury of Classic Tales syndicated comic strip in 1979–80. In 1979, Kirby drew concept art for film producer Barry Geller's script treatment adapting Roger Zelazny 's science fiction novel, Lord of Light , for which Geller had purchased
12896-803: The success of the Captain America character, Simon said he felt that Goodman was not paying the pair the promised percentage of profits, and so sought work for the two of them at National Comics Publications (later renamed DC Comics ). Kirby and Simon negotiated a deal that would pay them a combined $ 500 a week, as opposed to the $ 75 and $ 85 they respectively earned at Timely. The pair feared Goodman would not pay them if he found they were moving to National, but many people knew of their plan, including Timely editorial assistant Stan Lee . When Goodman eventually discovered it, he told Simon and Kirby to leave after finishing work on Captain America Comics #10. Kirby
13020-509: The superhero comic Stuntman , and, in vogue with the fad for 3-D movies , Captain 3-D . Simon and Kirby additionally freelanced for Hillman Periodicals (the crime-fiction comic Real Clue Crime ) and for Crestwood Publications ( Justice Traps the Guilty ). The team had its greatest success in the postwar period by creating romance comics . Simon, inspired by Macfadden Publications ' romantic-confession magazine True Story , transplanted
13144-532: The surname Kirby as the pseudonymous Lance Kirby in two "Lone Rider" Western stories in Eastern Color Printing 's Famous Funnies #63–64 (Oct.–Nov. 1939). He ultimately settled on the pen name Jack Kirby because it reminded him of actor James Cagney . However, he took offense to those who suggested he changed his name in order to hide his Jewish heritage. Kirby moved on to comic-book publisher and newspaper syndicator Fox Feature Syndicate , earning
13268-420: The trio EsseGesse , was published in Italy (and translated into many other languages) throughout the 1950s. Characters in the comic were inspired by Gabby Hayes and the popular 1939 Western film Stagecoach . EsseGesse also produced the popular series Il Grande Blek . Benito Jacovitti 's Cocco Bill is a Western humor comic produced since the mid-1950s. Sergio Bonelli and Gallieno Ferri 's Zagor
13392-461: The wrong side." Several months later, after his split with DC, Kirby began freelancing regularly for Atlas despite harboring negative sentiments about Stan Lee (the cousin of Timely publisher Martin Goodman's wife), who Kirby had always found annoying on top of his aforementioned betrayal he suspected in the 1940s. Because of the poor page rates, Kirby would spend 12 to 14 hours daily at his drawing table at home, producing four to five pages of artwork
13516-515: Was derived from the oversized publication size.) With issue #9, the title reverted to standard Golden Age comic size (8-1/2" x 10-1/2") and was printed in color. Bob Powell 's first published comic-book art is tentatively identified as the uncredited three-page story "A Letter of Introduction," featuring the famed ventriloquist Edgar Bergen and his dummy, Charlie McCarthy , in Jumbo Comics #2 (Oct. 1938). Lou Fine 's first published comics art
13640-521: Was a "liberal Democrat". Jack Kirby held anti-communist views, once saying that "I was against the reds. I became a witch hunter. My enemies were the commies—I called them commies. In fact, Granny Goodness was a commie, Doubleheader was a commie." On February 6, 1994, aged 76, Kirby died of heart failure in his Thousand Oaks, California home. He was buried at Valley Oaks Memorial Park in Westlake Village, California . Brent Staples wrote in
13764-646: Was a popular Western comics title in Argentina during the 1950s. Additional Sergeant Kirk stories were published into the early 1970s. Western comics were popular in Japan in the early 1950s, both translations of American titles like Straight Arrow , the Durango Kid , and Tim Holt ; and original Japanese manga . The story goes that during the American occupation of Japan directly after World War, General Eisenhower forbade Japanese publishers to publish samurai comics, and that
13888-869: Was a popular title from Sergio Bonelli Editore . Since the late 1990s, Enrico Teodorani's Djustine has been featured in erotic " Weird West " stories in Italy and the United States. The Western humor comic Lucky Luke , published since 1946, debuting in Spirou magazine, is one of the most popular and best-selling comics series in continental Europe. Popular in Canada, about half of the series' adventures have been translated into English. Lucky Luke comics have been translated into 23 languages, including many European languages, and some African and Asian languages. Tintin magazine featured Western-themed comics starting in 1947 with Le Rallic 's various series, and later, between 1955 and 1980
14012-618: Was a seminal example of the Western comics genre. DC Comics published the long-running series All-Star Western and Western Comics . Charlton Comics published Billy the Kid , Cheyenne Kid , Outlaws of the West , Texas Rangers in Action , and the unusual title Black Fury , about a horse that roamed the West righting wrongs. Both Dell Comics and Fawcett Comics published a number of Western titles, including The Lone Ranger (Dell) and Hopalong Cassidy (Fawcett, later continued by DC after Fawcett folded in 1953). Many issues of Dell's Four Color featured Western stories during
14136-533: Was able to walk again. He returned to the United States in January 1945, assigned to Camp Butner in North Carolina, where he spent the last six months of his service as part of the motor pool. Kirby was honorably discharged as a private first class on July 20, 1945, having received a Combat Infantryman Badge , a European/African/Middle Eastern Campaign Medal with a bronze Battle Star . In 1949, Kirby bought
14260-551: Was an American comic book artist , widely regarded as one of the medium's major innovators and one of its most prolific and influential creators. He grew up in New York City and learned to draw cartoon figures by tracing characters from comic strips and editorial cartoons. He entered the nascent comics industry in the 1930s, drawing various comics features under different pen names, including Jack Curtiss , before settling on Jack Kirby. In 1940, he and writer-editor Joe Simon created
14384-421: Was bitterly convinced it was specifically Lee who betrayed them, ignoring Simon's willingness to give him the benefit of the doubt. Kirby and Simon spent their first weeks at National trying to devise new characters while the company sought how best to utilize the pair. After a few failed editor-assigned ghosting assignments, National's Jack Liebowitz told them to "just do what you want". The pair then revamped
14508-530: Was chosen as #24 in the 100 Greatest Marvels of All Time poll of Marvel's readers in 2001. Editor Robert Greenberger wrote in his introduction to the story that "As the fourth year of the Fantastic Four came to a close, Stan Lee and Jack Kirby seemed to be only warming up. In retrospect, it was perhaps the most fertile period of any monthly title during the Marvel Age." Comics historian Les Daniels noted that "[t]he mystical and metaphysical elements that took over
14632-469: Was doing it! Not that he did it badly—it just wasn't the character I wanted; it was too heroic". Lee then turned to Steve Ditko to draw the story that would appear in Amazing Fantasy #15, for which Kirby nonetheless penciled the cover. Lee and Kirby gathered several of their newly created characters together into the team title The Avengers and brought back old characters from the 1940s such as
14756-400: Was earning $ 35,000 a year freelancing for the company (adjusted for inflation it was the equivalent of over $ 271,000 in 2024), then left Marvel in 1970 for rival DC Comics, under editorial director Carmine Infantino . Kirby spent nearly two years negotiating a deal to move to DC Comics, where in late 1970 he signed a three-year contract with an option for two additional years. He produced
14880-406: Was first published in Italy by Sergio Bonelli Editore in 1961. Carlo Boscarato and Claudio Nizzi 's Larry Yuma was a popular character in the Italian magazine Il Giornalino throughout the 1970s. Giancarlo Berardi and Ivo Milazzo 's Ken Parker is a popular Western hero appearing in Italian comics since 1977. In the late 1990s and early 2000s, writer Gianfranco Manfredi's Magico Vento
15004-400: Was involved in litigation with Marvel Comics over the ownership of Captain America, initiated by Marvel after Simon registered the copyright renewal for Captain America in his own name. According to Simon, Kirby agreed to support the company in the litigation and, as part of a deal Kirby made with publisher Martin Goodman, signed over to Marvel any rights he might have had to the character. At
15128-474: Was posthumously named a Disney Legend for his creations not only in the field of publishing, but also because those creations formed the basis for The Walt Disney Company 's financially and critically successful media franchise, the Marvel Cinematic Universe . Kirby was married to Rosalind Goldstein in 1942. They had four children and remained married until his death from heart failure in 1994, at
15252-597: Was the medium's first African-American character to headline his own series. The years 1946–1949 saw an explosion of titles "starring" Western film actors and cowboy singers. Almost every star, major or minor, had their own title at some point; and almost every publisher got in on the action: Fawcett published Allan Lane , Monte Hale , Gabby Hayes , Lash LaRue , Tex Ritter , and Tom Mix comics; Dell published Gene Autry , Rex Allen , Roy Rogers , and Wild Bill Elliott comics; Magazine Enterprises published Charles Starrett and Tim Holt comics; Toby Press published
15376-513: Was the strip "Wilton of the West" in Jumbo Comics #4 (Dec. 1938), signed with the house pen name "Fred Sande" (which strip originator Jack Kirby had used in previous issues). Ultimately, Fiction House published 167 issues of Jumbo Comics from September 1938 to March 1953. Three features in Jumbo Comics #1 representing Jack Kirby 's first comic-book work following his debut in Wild Boy Magazine : In addition, Dick Briefer produced
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