August is a big anniversary month for comic books. In addition to August 8, 1961, being the release date of Marvel's Fantastic Four #1 (yes, despite the cover reading "1 Nov."), August 28 is the birthday of FF co-creator Jack Kirby, almost inarguably one of the two most influential creators in the history of the medium along with the other FF co-creator, Stan Lee.
Though Kirby passed nearly 30 years ago, he left the world with a legacy of over 50 years of stories and storytelling innovations that are still shaping not only comic books but modern genre fiction as a whole to this day.
Kirby was called the 'King' for a reason - creating hundreds (maybe even thousands) of characters, many of whom have stood the ultimate test of time.
Even creations like the Eternals, who aren't generally considered among Kirby's most beloved characters, are being celebrated with a big-screen Marvel Studios adaptation in November.
That's how deep Kirby's creative bench is.
As to his starting line-up of best creations, that's a matter of personal point of view - and there are likely no wrong answers. Still, Newsarama has our selections for Kirby's best creations across his years at Marvel and DC (and even Timely Comics), and we're celebrating the King's birthday but celebrating his best right now.
10. The Uncanny X-Men
It's hard to imagine now, but at the time they launched, the X-Men weren't particularly a hit for Marvel Comics. Sure, they stuck around long enough to see a reinvention in the '70s that launched the franchise into the stratosphere, but their early adventures didn’t quite take hold with readers.
Still, Jack Kirby and Stan Lee created a dynamite idea in the story of five teenagers with ingrained powers that set them apart from the rest of the world. Along with the five original X-Men and their mentor Professor X, Kirby's all-too-brief tenure on Uncanny X-Men also included the creation of Magneto, Quicksilver, and Scarlet Witch — characters that have gone on to be mainstays of Marveldom in both comic books and film – as well as numerous other classic X-Men villains.
Before anyone thinks we're selling the X-Men short, remember, they may be in the lowest rank of Kirby's top ten creations, largely due to his brief time on the title - but that still puts them in the top ten best Kirby creations out of literally hundreds if not thousands of possible choices.
Check out the best X-Men stories of all time.
9. The Incredible Hulk
Jack Kirby's initial tenure on the Hulk was brief, but Kirby's commitment to integrating Hulk as one of the Marvel Universe's primary supporting characters and the perfect simplicity of the concept made Ol' Jade Jaws one of the flagship characters of Marvel Comics.
Created, as most of his Marvel characters were, alongside Stan Lee, the Hulk is the essence of Marvel's mythos boiled into one character: a brilliant scientist who gains power through an atomic tragedy, who must constantly balance heroics with internal strife. Hulk wasn't the first Marvel character, but he is one of the most emblematic of the Marvel Age, and one of Kirby's simplest yet most recognizable designs.
He's currently leading one of Marvel's most popular and acclaimed ongoing series, The Immortal Hulk - though it will soon end with #50.
Check out the best Hulk stories of all time.
8. The Mighty Thor
Jack Kirby had a deeply-held fascination with the Norse myth cycle, the story of death and rebirth bolstered by larger-than-life characters and bold adventures. Though he explored this idea more in-depth with later creations such as the Eternals and his Fourth World, Thor marks Kirby's first major exploration of this deific ideal.
Though Kirby and Stan Lee developed the idea of Thor together, Lee tasked his brother, Larry Lieber, with scripting many of Thor's early adventures, leaving Kirby to mastermind much of Marvel's vision of Asgard.
Thor's cosmic corner of the Marvel U was populated by gods, monsters, living planets, epic heroes, and seemingly unstoppable threats, all anchored by Kirby's unique interpretation of ancient myths. Thor was one of Marvel's first tentpoles, with his enemies and supporting cast proliferating throughout the Marvel Universe from its earliest days.
The character is now one of the MCU's tentpoles as well, with the impending Thor: Love and Thunder marking the hero's fourth solo film. And his brother, Loki - created again by Kirby and Lee - made his solo spotlight debut with the hit Loki Disney Plus streaming series.
Check out the best Thor stories of all time.
7. Captain America
Jack Kirby's early collaborator Joe Simon can be credited with the initial idea for Captain America, but Kirby's electric take on the sentinel of liberty was essential for the character to take hold. From his first cover, punching Hitler in the jaw on Captain America Comics #1 (80 years ago this year!), Captain America captured a kind of adventure and patriotism that was and still is unmatched in the genre of star-spangled superheroes.
Though Simon designed the earliest version of Cap's iconic costume, Simon and Kirby developed the character together. In fact, Kirby's love for the character led to him blasting through the first issue's art when it seemed a pair of other artists would instead take the assignment. Kirby also co-created the Red Skull, Cap's most iconic villain.
In the '60s, Kirby and his latter-day partner Stan Lee brought Captain America to the modern-day, placing him on the Avengers and quickly elevating him to one of Marvel's top heroes. Kirby took the opportunity to revise and expand on his earlier ideas, placing Captain America squarely in the sci-fi-fueled Silver Age Marvel Universe.
Check out the best Captain America stories of all time.
6. Black Panther
Black Panther was initially, as many of Kirby's ideas were, a guest star created in the pages of Fantastic Four #52.
However, Kirby and Stan Lee quickly saw the potential in a superhero who was also the monarch of a sovereign, secret, technologically advanced nation and spun him into the larger Marvel Universe, leading to him becoming a primary Avenger. But more than just being a great idea, Black Panther was also the first mainstream major black superhero.
It took a few years for Black Panther to receive his own feature story in Jungle Action and even more time for him to get his name on the cover, but by that time he was already a mainstay of the Marvel Universe and a linchpin for much of Marvel’s overarching mythology.
He's now also part of the Marvel movie universe, repeating history as the first black character to headline a movie in the Marvel Cinematic Universe — setting box office records in the process.
Check out the best Black Panther stories of all time.
5. Kamandi
Though not as well known as Kirby's biggest creations, Kamandi: The Last Boy On Earth may represent Kirby at his most pure; unfettered by any kind of larger universe and allowed to let his ideas run rampant on the page.
Kamandi was, as his title implied, the last human boy in a post-apocalyptic world of animalistic mutants and sci-fi technology. Throughout the series, he explored his connection to the world of the past — a world that Kirby slyly seeded in his Fourth World universe as part of contemporary DC comic books.
Kamandi was, in many ways, the culmination of many of Kirby's creative ideals, from crazy high concepts to mythic storytelling, to a human protagonist beset by inhuman problems. Though it's somewhat unsung among modern fans, for Kirby fanatics Kamandi is a treasure trove.
4. Silver Surfer
Among all the characters created by Jack Kirby for the larger Fantastic Four mythos, Silver Surfer may be one of the most special. Kirby's Fantastic Four co-creator Stan Lee loved the character so much when he debuted in Fantastic Four #48, he immediately latched onto him and, in a contentious move, spun him into his own series that Kirby didn't draw.
Still, the Silver Surfer was Kirby's design and idea, created as a companion to Galactus, the massive, world-eating villain that apocryphally was created as an answer to Lee asking Kirby "What if the Fantastic Four met God?"
The Silver Surfer was the Marvel Universe's first true cosmic hero, a sentinel of the spaceways dedicated to exploring the farthest reaches of the Marvel Universe, and accompanying his travails with philosophical musings.
3. The Avengers
It may seem a little silly to lump the Avengers into one entry; after all, many of the characters included in Stan Lee and Jack Kirby's original line-up for the team have already been discussed on this list. However, the Avengers did elevate several lesser-known characters - and characters in whose creation Kirby was only partially involved – and as a concept, it’s become the central franchise of the Marvel Universe.
The initial Avengers line-up consisted entirely of Kirby's creations, including Hulk, Thor, Ant-Man, the Wasp, and Iron Man (whose inclusion is only a technicality - Kirby designed his original armor and did many covers with the character, only did a handful of Iron Man stories), and was brought together by another Kirby creation, Loki. As with many Marvel titles, Kirby drew a significant chunk of the early issues, creating numerous villains and characters that still resonate in Avengers mythology today.
The Avengers have become Marvel's flagship franchise. In the Marvel Cinematic Universe, the team is the hub around which the rest of the ever-expanding world is built, even functioning as a vehicle to incorporate Kirby's other Marvel creations such as Nick Fury and SHIELD.
Check out the best Avengers stories of all time.
2. The New Gods
Though Jack Kirby is known primarily as one of the main architects of Marvel Comics, in the long term, his creations have also had a massive impact on the DC Universe as well.
After leaving Marvel in the '70s due to dissatisfaction with his treatment as a creator, Kirby developed the concept of the Fourth World, the ultimate culmination of his fascination with the mythic cycle of death and rebirth. Populated by the heroic New Gods of New Genesis and their villainous counterparts on Apokolips, the Fourth World brought Kirby's unique fusion of fantasy and sci-fi to the DC Universe, connecting to the publisher's larger world through Superman and Metropolis.
Among Kirby's Fourth World creations are mainstays such as Mister Miracle, Big Barda, and Orion, major elements of the Superman mythos such as Intergang, the Guardian, Project Cadmus, and 'Terrible' Turpin, and the villain that has become DC's primary cosmic threat, Darkseid.
Kirby's Fourth World has become a linchpin of the DC Universe, with characters and ideas from the saga still driving comic book stories at DC. Many of the characters of the line also appeared in Zack Snyder's Justice League, which featured Steppenwolf, Darkseid, and more as villains.
1. The Fantastic Four
Of all Jack Kirby's creations, none are as palpably groundbreaking, as diversely ingenious, or as electrically innovative as the Fantastic Four. Created by Kirby and Stan Lee as a response to the success of the Justice League, the Fantastic Four took DC's Silver Age superhero aesthetic and pushed it to new heights, bringing a humanity to the page that superheroes had never possessed - launching the Marvel Universe 60 years ago this year.
[Check out our Marvel Yearbook, listing the best characters to debut in each of the 60 years of the Marvel Universe - starting with the '80s!]
The Fantastic Four weren't just a team, they were a family... and though they were, well, fantastic, they squabbled, sweated, and fretted in an all-too-human fashion. The Fantastic Four’s core cast included the acerbic genius Mister Fantastic, his supportive (if somewhat underused) paramour the Invisible Girl, the daring, dashing Human Torch, and arguably Kirby's most loved creation the Everlovin' Blue-Eyed Thing. But the magic of the Fantastic Four wasn't just about the team themselves, it was also about their enemies, their supporting cast, and the concepts that they explored.
In the pages of The World's Greatest Comic Magazine, Kirby and Lee launched the entire Marvel Universe, from the FF's greatest foe (and arguably Marvel's greatest villain) Doctor Doom to the Inhumans, the Black Panther, the Silver Surfer, and Galactus, the Negative Zone, the return of Namor, and so on. Listing everything that Kirby designed and created in Fantastic Four would be nearly impossible.
Beyond that, Fantastic Four was where Jack Kirby redefined modern comic book art, giving us the structure, pacing, and design elements that still define comic books to this day.
Now, the Fantastic Four are in line for a brand new film reboot at Marvel Studios.
Check out the best Fantastic Four stories of all time.
