I actually found this image earlier today, but then I actually got distracted by the game. It was a good ‘un, even if it didn’t fall the way I would have wanted it to fall. But don’t worry– we’ll be seeing these young 49ers again. Now the season is over, so have a great Kirby oddity:
This is, if you can believe it, a portrait of the great quarterback Fran Tarkenton, who played for both the Vikings and the Giants, drawn by Jack Kirby for Pro! magazine in 1975. Kirby heroes don’t need shoulder pads, and they have real horns on their helmets. The bearskin cloak would be a nice addition to the game day gear. Since there won’t be any NFL football again ’till August or September, this is a suitable image to go out on. Many thanks to kirbymuseum.tumblr.com for sharing it.
-
Recent Posts
Archives
Categories
Meta
Another Kirby character who looks like he’s about to pull a groin… ow, that stance!
I’ve also always been bothered by the way he draws limbs on his heroic characters- they’re basically just rock-solid tubes with enormous shadows on them, not really suggestive of flesh beneath. The legs, especially- those long, weird, smooth curves that run nearly unbroken from one knee, through the crotch, down the length of the other leg. It reminds me of those stylized terra cotta horseback rider figures with the bowed-out legs. Yes, I know it’s his style, but for me it’s always been uncomfortable to look at. I know Kirby is legendary, and I’m probably going to go to comics hell for saying this, but hey.
Then again, throughout history, Marvel and DC have had very few artists that can draw people who look comfortable standing. Leaping, flying, kicking, sure. But just standing there? Problem…
Ah, the burden/constant threat of the “dynamic” page and panel layout. Don’t you know every single panel with a person in it, every figure drawing, has to be exciting and action packed. People don’t just stand there. They don’t just sit on chairs, lounge in doorways, rack out on the couch– they lunge, they flex, they contort themselves, and they always, always pose. Every interaction is a potential punch, every solo shot is a potential pinup. The world is seething with anger, fear and imminent action!
Seriously, that’s how you’re supposed to draw. Couldn’t prove it by me, of course.
Alas, this is Kirby toward the end of his comics career. He moved on to Ruby Spears (if memory serves) to do character generation and story boards not too awful long after this drawing. Towards the end he drew EVERYTHING like this.
If you look through his issues of Black Magic, Challengers of the Unknown, and early Fantastic Four and X-Men, he was just as dynamic….but also capable of drawing people at rest, or doing ordinary things. Those combinations are much more appealing
Yeah, it’s true that later Kirby kind of fell into a rut. I know he could draw normal people because I’ve seen his romance comics work and it looks nothing like this. Wouldn’t it be funny if someone did a romance comic in the later Kirby style? CHALLENGERS OF THE UNKNOWN ROMANCE. Oh, the yuks.