Jack Kirby

The Fantastic Four are the first family of Marvel Comics. Created in 1961 by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby (apocryphally, the result of an edict by Marvel publisher Martin Goodman to tryout a superhero team, a la rival DC Comic’s super-successful Justice League) and heavily inspired by the monster comics Marvel was publishing at the time, their tremendous popularity and success is responsible for launching Marvel’s Silver Age superhero renaissance, transforming a middling publisher of romance and sci-fi comics into one of the “Big Two” publishers of superhero adventure stories, leading to the creation of some of pop culture’s most enduring and beloved characters. Without the Fantastic Four, there would arguably be no Spider-Man, no Hulk, no X-Men or Avengers. Fantastic Four #1 is, simply, the Big Bang of Marvel Comics.

Towards the end of his life, the legendary Jack Kirby created Captain Victory and the Galactic Rangers for the defunct Malibu Comics. With a special blessing from the Kirby family, Dynamite obtained this characters and can create new stories with them. Captain Victory and the Galactic Rangers #1 is the best drawn Dynamite book that I have read, and Fox, Rugg, and Farinas’ distinct art styles blend well. Joe Casey’s plot is fast-paced and filled with new characters, conflicts, and concepts.

Captain America is one of the most famous and important superheroes in the Marvel Universe. He is also the oldest Marvel hero to consistently have his own comic as he was created by Joe Simon and Jack Kirby in 1941. Beginning as a figure of anti-German and Japanese propaganda, Captain America and his civilian identity …

Green Arrow is a perennial second string DC Comics character that has recently become more popular again through the successful CW show Arrow, whose premiere was the highest rated CW program in three years and was recently picked up for a second season. He also will be a playable character in the upcoming fighting video game Injustice: …

At the risk of starting an infinite inspiration loop, I was reading Bill Mesce’s amazing list Ten Terrific War Movies You Probably Never Heard Of (itself inspired by Edgar‘s review of The Front Line and our twitter debate about that film) when I was reminded how much I loved Kathryn Bigelow’s The Hurt Locker and …