Jack Kirby's Collages in Context 2

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Jack Kirbys Collages in Context

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By Steven Brower
Jack Kirby had choices to make, especially considering he could do it all: writing, penciling, inking, coloring.
Along the way he found it prudent to concentrate on what he could do best: dream big and render those flights of
fancy in graphite. Why then would he choose to break his stride and search through various magazines in search
of the right image, rubber cement in hand?
Kirbys entre into the world of collage did not begin with the Fantastic Four, or even by his own hand. Richard
Hamilton included a (Simon &) Kirby Young Romance splash page in his seminal 1956 collage Just What Is It
that Makes Todays Homes So Different, So Appealing? launching both Pop Art and Kirby into the fine art
world. High culture had begun to give sway to pop culture through the most democratic of visual art forms,
collage.
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Just What Is It that Makes Today's Homes So Different, So Appealing? by Richard

Hamilton, 1956.
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Pablo Picasso, Compotier avec fruits, violon et verre, 1912
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Rodchenko, Russian Constructivism
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Kurt Schwitter, Bauhaus
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Hannah Hock, Raoul Hausmann, Dada
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Hannah Hock, Raoul Hausmann, Dada
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Max Ernst, Surrealism
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Henri Matisse, Nuotatore in Auquario from Jazz, 1947

True its origins could be traced back to ancient Japan, and examples exist during the thirteenth century in Persia,
spreading to Turkey and eventually Europe by the 1600s. The modern version that first captured the publics
attention was created in 1912, when Pablo Picasso glued newspaper clippings into a Cubist painting. The artists
and general publics fascination with collage had begun. Artists of the Russian Constructivist, Bauhaus, Dada
and Surrealist movements pushed the form further. When Henri Matisses eyesight began to fail, he turned to cut
paper collage, producing Jazz, celebrating the other 20th century art form that employed improvisation and
spontaneity as a main ingredient. During the Abstract Impression movement of the 1950s Rauschenberg,
Reinhart and Motherwell explored the medium further.
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Robert Rauschenberg, 1963.

Artists more widely known for their other talents, such as William S. Burroughs, John Cage and Louis
Armstrong all created collage. In comics, the ever-inventive Will Eisner employed the technique in The Spirit in
The Story of Gerhard Shnobble in 1948. However this featured a single aerial cityscape with drawn figures
and captions on top, to connote flight, rather than fully realized collaged elements. If anything, as dramatic as the
effect was, this could be seen as a shortcut on the part of the artist, as much time was saved rendering
architecture. Never one to take the easy way out, Jack Kirby was the first in comics to utilize collage as entirely
something new and explore its full potential, despite the crude printing techniques of the time.
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William Burroughs
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Louis Armstrong
Beginning in 1964 with the Fantastic Four, Kirby created collages to convey fanciful scenes of cosmic
dimensions. These early comic collages were used to further the storytelling and appear to be created
concurrently. However, according to former assistant and Kirby biographer Mark Evanier, by the 1970s Kirby
would often create collages from his collection of photographic magazines such as National Geographic and
Life, whenever the mood struck him, and make good use of them at a later date. Considering that he was one of
the fastest artists in comics, and worked upward of 70 to 80 hours a week at the drawing board during this
period, why would Kirby slow himself down to create a collage, which no doubt was more time consuming?
Scissors, exacto knife, and rubber cement were no match for the lightening speed of his hand. It is yet additional
evidence of Kirbys unbridled creativity and imagination, as well as the compulsive need to create at all costs,
spending time composing these collages in what little spare time he had. Similarly, Louis Armstrong somehow
found time to create over 500 collages while touring 300 plus dates around the world.
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Will Eisner The Story of Gerhard Shnobble from The Spirit, 1948
Despite the rudimentary printing of the time, these early collages captured the imagination of many of my
generation. Somehow we were able to see past the murkiness and peer into a universe we hadnt experienced
before. At the dawn of the space age, along with Sputnik, the Mercury flights and high-powered telescopes, we
were able to view galaxies heretofore unimaginable. Reportedly, it was Kirbys intention to render the entire
Negative Zone storyline in the Fantastic Four in collage, a pursuit he abandoned due to his page rate, the speed
of his pencil and the printed result. Still, he would continue with this new passion through the 1970s, carrying
the technique over to DC. Kirbys Fourth World comics featured myriad collages, and significantly he began to
create even more sophisticated works for his intended new line of magazines, Spirit World and In The Days of
the Mob, both originally planned as four-color publications. Removed from sequential storytelling and
employed rather as illustration, these collages stand on their own as singular works of art. Kirby was so
passionate about this art-form, that when he was asked if they should bring anything, he would request visitors to
his home bring periodicals as fodder for his collages. Louis Armstrong did likewise.
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Interior collage from Fantastic Four # 29, 1964
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Fantastic Four #32, 1964
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Fantastic Four # 33 featured Kirbys collages on the cover and interior.

A further series of Kirbys Fantastic Four collages:
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The Fantastic Four Annual #6, 1968. Notice the margin note in Kirbys handwriting for FF
#51: It is both weird and beautiful.
Kirby in comics, and Pushpin studios in advertising in the 1960s presented impressionable young minds with
vibrant and exuberant visual art that influenced the psychedelic art movement soon to follow. Significantly,
psychedelic artists such as Victor Moscoso, Stanley Mouse and Wes Wilson all used collage in their work. As
author James Romberger pointed out in his article Undiscovered Particles in the Jack Kirby Quarterly issue
#15, a Merry Prankster poster heralding an acid test, replete with music provided by the Grateful Dead, featured
Kirbys Thor upfront, center.
Kirbys interest in collage was so keen that in the early 70s he desired to create fumetti comics, comprised
entirely of photographs with captions, but could receive no support from DC. Ever ahead of his time, these
became popular at the end of the decade in the United States with comic adaptations of films such as Star Trek,
Grease, Saturday Night Fever, Rocky II, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, and Battlestar Galactica, although
the medium had been popular prior in France, Spain and Latin America.
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Kirbys comics collages influenced others: The New People, Dell, 1970
Kirbys infatuation for collage reached its zenith during this period. Spirit World in particular reveals his passion
for the medium (pun intended). In a 50-page publication (including front, back and inside covers) a total of 13
pages are given over to partial or full page collages incorporated throughout, including a 16 x 21 tipped-in
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folded poster. This includes the fumetti Children of the Flaming Wheel which features as models friends of
assistants Steven Sherman and Evanier in a 3-page story, with Sherman as photographer. Originally intended by
Kirby to be printed in color, he wisely chose monochromatic colors of blue and purple for maximum effect.
Soul Poster , which was folded and tipped into the issue of Spirit World. Both magazines
were canceled after only one issue each.
The poster is worthy of closer examination. Entitled SOULS it is composed in a clockwise manner, with large,
eyeless heads leading the viewer in a circular motion, with smaller figures punctuating the spaces between. A
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disembodied eye floats below a half obscured castle, four headless women walk single file in Victorian era
gowns, ghostly figures peer out from three windows, and a drawn nude male figure, back to the viewer, merges
with a large rock formation. All this is printed in a single color, purple, which adds to the intended eeriness.
What is interesting is the variation in tonality that creates the illusion of foreground and background.
Considering the source is all found material, one gets a glimpse into how carefully constructed these collages
are. Although rhythmic, Kirbys approach to collage appears to have been careful consideration as opposed to
unfettered spontaneity.
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In 1970 Kirby moved from Marvel to DC. He employed the same collage techniques to his
run there. Including this one: Metron presentation collage, 1969
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The cover of New Gods #3
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Supermans Pal Jimmy Olsen collage, 1971

Below, Kirby created two magazines, Spirit World and In The Days of the Mob, original intended to be printed in
four color throughout. After the Publisher DC reneged he had to reconfigure both as single color interiors with
only four-color covers.
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Kirbys collages have little in common with Cubism or Dadaism in execution, such as those by Picasso, Marcel
Duchamp, Man Ray or Kurt Schwitters, but the affect of Surrealism is in clear evidence. Following the staid
1950s (at least by popular perception) the 1960s saw a return to the dreamlike qualities of Surrealism both
through mainstream culture through advertising and counter-culture imagery as well. Perhaps Kirbys collages
come closest to the work of courageous anti-Nazi artist John Heartfield, whose pointed political work were
intended not only to be responded to viscerally but also told a story. Then again, there are Kirby collages in
existence where the original motivation remains mysterious.
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When Kirby returned to Marvel in 1975 he continued the practice, here for his
adaptation of Stanley Kubricks 2001: A Space Odyssey
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John Heartfield, 1935.

Unfortunately the origins of Kirbys interest in collage are unknown. Conceivably his awareness did indeed
begin with his inclusion in Hamiltons groundbreaking piece. Certainly artists such as Picasso and Matisse were
household names during his early years. What these works do provide is yet another glimpse into the mind and
genius of Jack Kirby, the cosmic imagination that tirelessly explored new areas of creativity and expression, with
the singularity, passion and inventiveness only an artist of his stature could bring. Today, thanks to improved
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technology, both digital and printed, we can view his collages closer to the spirit in which they were created.
Below: miscellaneous Kirby collages that have never been published.
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2012 Steven Brower

Also by Steven Brower for Imprint: You Can't Judge a Jack Kirby Book By its Cover
Steven Brower is a graphic designer, writer and educator and the former Creative Director/ Art Director of
Print. He is the author/designer of books on Louis Armstrong, Mort Meskin, Woody Guthrie and the history of
mass-market paperbacks. He is Director of the Get Your Masters with the Masters low residency MFA
program for educators and working professionals at Marywood University in Scranton, PA. @stevenianbrower
More Design Resources:
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Tagged as: collage, DC Comics, Fantastic Four, Galactus, Jack Kirby, John Cage, Life, Marvel comics, National
Geographic, Silver Surfer, Will Eisner, William S. Burroughs
Like
668
Related Posts:
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Resurrected: A Multifaceted Icon of Comic Book Art
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{ 1 trackback }
Illustrator: Jack Kirby HCD Atelier: Design Insider
April 23, 2012 at 9:27 am
{ 18 comments read them below or add one }
1 Charles Hatfield April 17, 2012 at 3:59 pm
Thank you for this illuminating, and generously illustrated, article. The topic of Kirby's collage work
deserves deeper study, so I'm glad to see an article pointing people in that directionand placing Kirby's
collages in the wider art-historical context!
In particular, I think the exploration of connections between Kirby and Surrealism is well warranted. I also
find it fruitful to explore Kirby's collages in light of his interests in science fiction, popular futurism, and
the sublime. Kirby's use of found imagery pays homage to, but also subverts, the utopianism of popular
science and pulp SF, and captures the dreamlike qualities of early to mid-20th century magazine culture. (I
note that Hamilton's "...Today's Homes" taps into and spoofs that same utopian vibe, though in that case
needling the absurb promises of consumerism too.)
Good stuff!
2 Robert Steibel April 17, 2012 at 5:39 pm
Great article, Steven.
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One interesting thing to consider about Jack's collage-work is that a lot of the images he used for his
collages might have been from his swipe files -- so a few of those individual images may have been 10 or
20 years old when he used them. Jack also could have use some images from current science magazines,
or from sources like the Martin Goodman published magazines from the 1960s. A lot of Jack's 70s stuff
for In The Days of the Mob and Spirit World was probably from the Goodman magazines. Here's a great
quote from Steve Sherman at Kirby Dynamics:
Steve Sherman: "Jack had quite a collection of magazines from the mid-60s. Mostly Martin Goodmans
cheap black and white 'adult' magazines that I guess Jack got for free. He once gave my brother Gary a
stack of old Stag and Mens whatever mags that had been cut-up. He also had some old picture books that
he would also use."
3 Paper Acrobat April 17, 2012 at 7:28 pm
Kirbys comic illustrations are some of the best ever made, but I'm glad you also talk about his inspiration.
For me, Matisses cutouts were a defining moment in art, and Hannah hocks collages were particularly
important.
4 BlowinInTheWind April 18, 2012 at 4:32 am
Facinating article, i liked the background and historical perspective re collage work and influences in his
life as well as the look-see in to the mind of Jack Kirby employing this time honored tecchnique of
making art come "alive" as it were. Am one of those consummate fans of the mans's collective work
though by no means a mindless "zombie" unable to see past such in to the wider world of comic art of
which Jack was one of its most fantastic participants. The challenges faced with taking seemingly
disparate images and make them work together remains just that, challenging. Yet another facet of the
man's genius inside art.
5 Steve Cohen April 18, 2012 at 5:01 am
excellent and thought-provoking article, Steven, a great glimpse into what made Jack Kirby Jack Kirby. i
especially enjoyed the unpublished collages.
6 Michael Hill aka Doctor Comics April 20, 2012 at 6:02 am
Wonderful piece on the art of comics, Steven.
7 Joseph April 21, 2012 at 10:21 am
Thanks for the eye-opening examination of this side of Kirby. As great a comic artist as he was, it's
exciting to find other facets of his artistry. Kirby is a reknown figure of depth and this story helps
contextaulize another layer.
8 Kim Munson April 21, 2012 at 7:15 pm
I've been fascinated with the Kirby's collages and the possible inspirations for them for some time. Thanks
for all these great examples.
9 Richard Bensam April 22, 2012 at 12:24 am
Wonderful piece on one of my favorite topics, but I'm afraid two of your three "unpublished" collages
were in fact published. The first is from Fantastic Four issue 39, page 4 (it's Reed Richards' lab) and the
last is from Kamandi issue 9, pages 2 and 3 (the floating Earth is Tracking Site, home of Ben Boxer).
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10 Steven Brower April 22, 2012 at 3:33 am

Thanks Richard, I'll have to check those issues. Am I correct in assuming both had those characters in the
foreground and are missing here?
11 Rex Harrison April 22, 2012 at 5:52 am
Excellent article! I hadn't realised Jack had created so many collages. The first one I ever saw was the pic
of Reed Richards in the Negative Zone, then, in Thor, of Ego the living planet. I was quite young at the
time and being confronted by these amazing creations was quite a jolt; and an inspiration - soon I was
making collages/montages of my own! In their own way, they are a very relaxing way to create art
because you have to slow down and concentrate otherwise you'll mess them up! They're also addictive,
which may explain why Kirby began to turn out so many.
There is another aspect to Jack Kirby's work that I'm interested in that has not been brought up, to my
knowledge: the influences of fine art, in particular German Expressionism (dynamism, raw emotion,
grotesque exaggeration, bold line work) and Art Nouveau and Art Deco (flowing, interweaving lines,
pattern design, fluid composition, mechanical design). It would be interesting to know if Jack consciously
drew on these influences or whether he unconsciously absorbed them.
12 James Cassara April 22, 2012 at 6:24 am
Nice article, but any piece on collages should at least mention Romare Bearden. He took the form to a
higher and more interesting level than any contemporary artist.
13 patrick ford April 22, 2012 at 9:38 am
Steve, Kirby never (or almost never) applied the character drawings to his collage work. The original you
show above with the foreground figure is owned by Glen Gold and he made up a copy of the figure and
applied it to the artwork. That's the difference between Jack Kirby the artist, and Glen the comics fan.
Mark Evanier explains the process:
"Jack drew any figures on a separate page, the inker inked them on that page and then the production
department took a stat of the figures and pasted that stat into a screened stat of the collage...they were
never on the original."
14 Steven Brower April 22, 2012 at 10:07 am
James, as much as I like Bearden it would be difficult to add him to the timeline as his earliest collages
were the same year that Kirby published his (1964) so I am doubtful he was an influence. Bearden is often
cited as an influence on Armstrong's collages, but this too couldn't be as Louis' collages predated his by at
least a decade.
15 dave April 22, 2012 at 12:32 pm
Here's one of my favorite Kirby collages. Saw this as an 11 year old and it blew my mind:
http://goodcomics.comicbookresources.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/06/Ego%203.JPG
16 norris burroughs April 22, 2012 at 1:23 pm
Great work, Steven. Good to see this being spread around to a larger audience.
17 Richard Bensam April 22, 2012 at 7:25 pm
That's correct, Steven. In both cases the figures are added to the lower third of the page to showcase the
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collage, as for example here:

http://www.comicconnect.com/data/Image/gallery800/fan1.8014a.jpg
18 christopher kosek April 23, 2012 at 9:50 am
Excellent article that really paints a nice picture of the importance of this under-appreciated "fad" in
comics that Kirby was a pioneer of. The rendering of the negative zone as collage was such a cool
concept, its too bad he had to abandon it. I also find it so interesting with all the digital tools available to
us today and the ability to basically create "digital magic" on the page, its still really difficult to replicate
the soul and immediacy of this type of analog collage work. You just can't photoshop this stuff and have it
work the same.
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