Hand of Fire: The Comics Art of Jack Kirby (Great Comics Artists Series)

Jack Kirby was one of the greatest creators of American comic book super-hero mythology. Sadly, the period of his career from the 1970's onwards seemed to be littered with failed attempts by Kirby to expand on his mythology. Hatfield focuses mainly on this post '60s era Kirby and gives us some insight as to why Kirby, despite still being highly creative in both ideas and art - if not necessarily writing - was not able re-capture the past glory of his Marvel era years with Stan Lee. The opening chapter gives an outline of Kirby's career before we enter into an analysis of Kirby's art in the second chapter. The second chapter looks at Kirby as a story teller who told stories mainly through pictures rather than words. Hatfield examines Kirby's creativity through the frame work of Charles Sanders Peirce's Semiotic Theory. It is odd to see the sometimes child-like boom, crash opera of Kirby comics combined with talk of Semiotics and philosophical issues such as whether a picture represents a real object, yet it enables an interesting look at the tension that existed in those later years of Kirby's career where many people seemed to have started to become alienated by the lack of realism in both his art and his story telling. Hatfield closes the chapter by emphasising how Kirby's art used intensified depictions of emotion and dynamic movement with stillness to create a pictorial narrative. The next chapter looks at Kirby's classic early work done at Marvel comics with Stan Lee. Here we enter into some familiar old territory regarding who really was the creative genius behind classics such as the Fantastic Four - Lee or Kirby? Hatfield argues that Lee's wry colloquialisms, used in his writing, contrasted nicely with Kirby's grand epic ideas and made the early Marvel comics a winner with the comic book buying audience. Added to this, Hatfield also notes that both Lee and Kirby used their experience with other comic book genres such as romance and sci-fi to give their superhero story lines more depth. For example, on one page the Fantastic Four could be battling god-like beings from out-of-space and five pages later they could be ruminating over problems with their relationships. The irony, Hatfield contends, was delightful for comic fans. Many of these ideas are elaborated on in the next chapter along with Hatfield's contention that the notion of continuity of story line between not only specific comic book titles but also between other comic titles created by Kirby with Marvel revolutionised the superhero comic. Hatfield further contends that Kirby was also before his time when he moved to DC and created his so-called "Fourth World" mythos as it was one of the first ideas to use a range of comic titles interwoven together to tell a grander over-all story - an idea that would become commonplace in later DC and Marvel comic productions. The next chapter discusses the most captivating aspect of Kirby's work - an aspect called the "Technological Sublime." Hatfield notes that past philosophers have identified the sublime with a sense of overwhelming awe and even danger. Kirby's elaborate and intricate depictions of wild and crazy technology capture this not only for the readers of the comics but also often for the characters depicted in the comics. Hatfield rounds out the book with a specific analysis of Kirby's story telling in his DC "Fourth World" publications and his final works at Marvel, the latter with an emphasise on Kirby's "Eternals" storylines (the Eternals were a personal favourite of mine). Hatfield is a great writer and at times comes close to doing the impossible - giving words adequate enough to describe the crazy and sublime pictorial story telling of Jack Kirby.

Jack "King" Kirby is Here! As a child, I read the Fantastic Four, The Hulk, Thor, Capt. America, X-men, The Avengers, later it was New Gods and Forever People... just to name a few. There was something about these comics that develped a mania in me. I never stopped reading and re-reading them. My appreciation never wained. Here it is 40+ years later and I have, mainly, one man to thank: Jack Kirby. After reading this book, I have a deeper understanding of what creative processes were involved. I, like most people "into" comics, thought Stan Lee was responsible for creating the Marvel Universe. He was not. He was a "shaper" and an "interpreter" otherwise known as a scriptor. Rarely was he a creator. That was the most "eye-opening" information. Kirby was "the Genius" behind most of the comics I have come to appreciate and love. HAND OF FIRE sets the record straight.

Do not expect any light reading. This is a serious scholarly work that approaches Kirby's art through the lenses of artistic and literary analysis, and examines Kirby's contributions to the comics industry. Dividing his work in eight chapters, Hatfield takes pains in revealing Kirby, the artist, to readers. It is important for him to point out that Kirby created his narrative from his artwork, and not vice versa. This is because it is often said that Lee was the brainchild behind the stories they wrote, when in essence, it was Kirby who provided the imagination through his artwork. Secondly, and most importantly, Hatfield, through a well-balanced narrative of Marvel in the sixties, shows readers Kirby's rightful contributions to that company. Admitting that Kirby did not have the entrepreneurial spirit to create the mega-company that Marvel is today, Hatfield does point out that he "generated the raw material of Marvel. His contributions effectively re-formed and revitalized the company, which without him would not have become the Marvel we know." Later on, Hatfield contends that "Kirby warrants recognition as Marvel's signature artist and founding conceptualist... Kirby stands as Marvel's co-founder." He also elaborates on how Kirby changed the superhero genre, first, by making the superhero the predominant genre in the comics industry; secondly, by creating a pantheon of superheroes and super villains; and thirdly (although without planning), he suffuses the superhero story with soap opera elements.Hatfield pursues Kirby's authenticity as an auteur in comics by exploring Kirby's fascination with the mix of technology and magic, something that is always signature Kirby. Hatfield calls this the "Technological Sublime," a concept that Hatfield explores thoroughly through literary criticism, and with examples of Kirby's own works. After this, he examines Kirby working independently, making connections with his previous experience at Marvel (working on the Fantastic Four and Thor) with his DC creation, the Fourth World. Later, he applies artistic and literary theories to two outstanding stories from the Fourth World saga, "The Pact" and "Himon" to show us how Kirby used his narrative art to explore serious philosophical issues, such as freedom and duty. Finally, Hatfield makes a thorough analysis of why Kirby's Eternals, his last creation with Marvel after his comeback failed to survive in a world that he had helped create, precisely because of the "continuity" concept which was fundamentally Kirbyesque.After reading this work, two major things inevitably happen: first, a reappraisal of Kirby as comics artist and innovator; and secondly, a reexamination of his contributions to the world of comics, positing him as a major player or "founding father" of the modern world of comics, where the present styles of Marvel and DC flourish under his influence. In addition, works such as these show that comics can be as serious as painting, poetry, or literature, and thus, it is a subject to be discussed, analyzed, and investigated.There is an appendix of works created by Jack Kirby and about Jack Kirby. Five thumbs up.

Hatfield's book is a remarkable piece of comics scholarship, but I would emphasize that this IS a piece of Scholarship, albeit with very interesting & engaging writing and Analysis of the work of the remarkable Jack Kirby.But it is NOT for those who are just looking for a good satisfying Comics-ead of vintage brilliance. On the other hand if you are intellectually engaged by a satisfying read of Analysis of that vintage Comics brilliance, Hatfield's book is a wonderful place to begin.

An erudite and academic work which is extremely well written, this book is a must for the discerning reader - with an emphasis on discerning. The title speaks of the comic art of Jack Kirby but there are only a few pages of art inside. To do justice to the art of Kirby is a daunting task but his art is only a part of his outstanding abilities. His creativity and storytelling are what sets him apart from others in comics. Like Leonardo who is known for his tremendous paintings, but his art is only a part of his genius, Kirby is more than a penciller or artist, albeit an excellent one.The master's storytelling in comics is addressed, and sometimes analysed with skill and merit by the author - but in limited quantities. There are a few panels of art but the book is mostly text - fairly heavy going but worthwhile text. I dislike the label of "cartoonist" to describe artists such as Kirby that Hatfield uses but this may be a minor point. Also, written in a fairly academic style, Hand of Fire is not an "easy read" and I wish I'd had a dictionary at hand sometimes as I devoured it.The book is well researched but a glaring lack of incisive analysis stands out. Broad and fairly deep in its scope and in its harvesting and connecting of information, it is marred by a naivety of the researcher who provides scholarly work that falls short in critical analysis. The biggest flaw is the description of Lee's contribution to Lee and Kirby Marvel comics. For those who know about comics, and can look beyond the hype of those prone to self-promotion, it is accepted that Kirby not only plotted and drew the comics at Marvel but also wrote guidance notes for Lee to help Lee write the word balloons. Contrary to popular opinion, Kirby was the writer and artist. Lee was the editor and filled in the text balloons (as well as writing the credits). Hatfield disappointingly, but admittedly not causally, gives creative credit to Lee that Lee simply doesn't deserve - and so diminishes the true contribution of Kirby. This is a fundamental howler in a book that appears to describe and acclaim the talent of Kirby by an author who comes across as a Kirby fan. It is fairly well accepted that Lee helped develop the characters of Kirby's invention (Lee invented nothing) through the dialogue and text boxes, however Lee could never really deserve the term "creator" or "co-creator". Perhaps the author feared a backlash from the lawyers or felt it too much to go against the mis-informed public understanding of the Marvel universe. Perhaps I am being too harsh with Hatfield who has written a book that few could write or write so well.Nevertheless, I would thoroughly recommend this book to those interested in comics or Kirby. It is a work of dedication and voluminous knowledge. It deserves and probably needs to be read more than once by me - but I won't. I enjoyed it but was left with a niggling annoyance that it was a book that perpetuated a myth rather than do justice to a legend.

OK, this is not quite the book I'd expected. I was misled by the subtitle, 'The Comics Art of Jack Kirby,' and the fact that it's published by the University of Mississippi Press, into assuming it would be a scholarly analysis of Kirby's art. It isn't, or at least most of it isn't. Instead, it focuses on Kirby as a storyteller whose medium happened to be what scholars call sequential art but the rest of us call comic books. This is an approach that would surely have delighted Kirby himself, who always played down his talent as an artist and preferred to think of himself as a guy who told stories.Given that Charles Hatfield is a professor of English, I'd been a bit concerned that the book was going to be weighed down with the sort of terminology that renders academic publications unreadable to us humbler mortals. I needn't have worried. OK, he does fling in the odd reference to semiotics, but he actually takes the time to explain what the hell semiotics is and why it matters. Bravo!What we have then is a study of Kirby's role in the greater scheme of comic books, more especially the superhero comics that were his trademark and where his most notable work was done. It is this work on which the book mainly focuses, particularly his work at Marvel in the 1960s when he produced his legendary, long and hugely influential runs on The Fantastic Four and The Mighty Thor, and his early 70s magnum opus, The Fourth World saga, produced for Marvel's great rival, DC Comics.Of course, Hatfield doesn't neglect Kirby's earlier career and, indeed, there's a lot of fascinating detail about the creation of Marvel Comics in the pre-war years, when Kirby co-created with Joe Simon the company's most successful character, Captain America, through the late 50s monster comics that were the fore-runners of Marvel's new superhero line that began with another Kirby co-creation, The Fantastic Four, in 1961.We get some well-informed discussion of the thorny issue of creator credit. Hatfield concludes that the probability is that Kirby had a bigger hand in creating the Marvel heroes than did Stan Lee, although, unlike somem less generous Kirby fans, he does give Lee credit where it is due, which is for dialoguing Marvel's books in such a lively, engaging way that readers could relate to otherwise outlandish characters in a way that no superhero comics had previously achieved. It was the combination of Kirby's characters, art and story ideas with Lee's ear for speech that gave 1960s Marvel an unprecedented freshness and a market appeal that lifted comics from a disposable kids' product and put them in the hands of hip college students and the now thriving collectors' market.Among the innovations that Kirby brought to the genre, Hatfield suggests, was the idea of superheroes who, rather than having an individual origins in something like a nuclear or chemical accident, were simply born that way as part of a sub-species or race for whom superpowers were natural. This idea was pioneered in Kirby's X-Men and followed up with his Inhumans, New Gods and others. Another Kirby innovation Hatfield identifies is that strange aspect of comics called 'continuity.' For the uninitiated, this is the sense that all the comic book characters published by a particular company exist in a shared reality, a Marvel or DC Universe, that has its own internal logic and in which all its characters may interact through shared storylines or 'cross-overs.' The irony is that while Kirby was responsible for introducing the idea of a shared reality into Marvel Comics in the 1960s, the same idea would bring in complaints from fans when Kirby returned to Marvel in the mid-70s and produced a string of comics that had little or nothing to do with the rest of the Marvel Universe.Hatfield also explains Kirby's legacy. Basically, Kirby laid the foundations for stories and ideas that are still being played out to this day in virtually every superhero title published by both Marvel and DC. He was, in short, the most influential ideas man ever to work in comics and this book is a worthy tribute to an extraordinary talent.Although there are a number of illustrations included here, a one-stop-shop collection of a lot more Kirby art, containing hundreds of fine examples, is  Kirby: King of Comics  by Mark Evanier. Kirby: King of Comics

This is quite simply the finest book written to date about a mainstream American comics creator. In the depth and breadth of its analysis, its lightly-worn erudition, its innovative ideas and its readability, it provides the tribute its subject (who, for those arriving late, is - among many other superlatives - the most influential artist ever to work in his medium) so obviously deserves.The review by Greywolf is an excellent overview of what the book covers, so I won't waste your time reiterating his observations. However, his comment that the book isn't an analysis of Kirby's art is a bit wide of the mark. The very first chapter introduces the notion of Kirby's narrative art (which, to hideously over-simplify, develops the idea that every single mark Kirby made on a page advanced the narrative, though there's a lot more to it than that), while a later chapter on "the technological sublime" takes a fascinating look at Kirby's unique and under-valued (outside comics circles, anyway) science fiction art. One of Hatfield's many interesting ideas is that Kirby's influence now extends far beyond comics to any popular art form characterised by hyperbolic responses to imminent threat (i.e. pretty much everything on TV and at the movies these days). Nowadays, Kirby is like a vast underground river, irrigating not just comics but all media - which is why he's a hugely important cultural figure even if you've never heard of him, or even if you don't get his art. Hatfield's achievement is to link this convincingly not just to Kirby's character/series concepts, or his story-telling technique, but to every single aspect of his art.This book isn't for everyone, though for everyone who digs Kirby, it's a must. Hatfield is an academic and while this is a lively, engaging read that's far from the standard image of an academic text, he takes his subject very seriously and isn't afraid to use concepts from the likes of Kant and C.S. Peirce to advance his arguments. In other words, if serious ideas explored in a serious manner aren't for you, and you don't like engaging with new concepts, well, there's plenty of "entertainment" choices for you elsewhere on Amazon. But for anyone who doesn't see any reason why great comics creators can't be analysed and discussed in the way that's routinely applied to creators in other fields, this is a must. I thought Kirby was a genius before I read this, but Hatfield's book made me realise there was far more to the King than I'd realised. It's a tremendous achievement and should set the standards for comics scholarship for decades to come.

A scholarly work on the art of Jack Kirby, the man without whom it is a safe bet to say modern comics would be a pale shadow of what they are,and without whom , the Fantastic Four, Thor, Captain America,the Silver Surfer and The Avengers, amongst others, would not be the box-office successes that they are. Kirby never received the accolades he deserved during his lifetime and died having received very little of the rewards from what is now a multi-million dollar industry based on his (with a little help for Stan Lee) creative genius. ***essential reading for any comics fan***

I bought this as a Christmas present for my partner and he was thrilled with it! He is a huge Jack Kirby fan and is thoroughly enjoying reading it. He's not a big reader but hasn't put it down since he started it.