I went to Emerald City Comic Con this last weekend and had some great luck in picking up some silver age Jack Kirby work. I filled some gaps in my ongoing project of a complete run of Fantastic Four, and found some pretty good deals on some Fourth World titles (especially 15 out of the 18 Kirby issues of Mister Miracle). Having several of these issues in one place got me thinking about how Kirby was a master at creating dynamic covers that draw the viewer into the story before they even pick up the book. It’s well known that Kirby had an eye for action and was probably the most intensely dynamic artist among the comic creators of the silver age, but I’d like to take a moment to focus in and appreciate some of his work on covers.

In the early days of comic books, a good cover was critical for sales. Before we had local comic book stores, the target customer for comics was newsstand browsers. With so many titles from so many publishers, it could be tough to get attention for your book. You also had to give your readers a taste of what was inside the book in order to entice them to read the whole issue. Since most comics were one-shot stories, you couldn’t rely on the likability of your main characters or the obsessiveness of your audience to sell books. This story sample on the covers led to some pretty bold and weird silver age covers. Here’s a personal favorite of mine, Blackhawk #199:

If the prospect of a ragtag team of World War II flying aces being reduced in size and assaulted by weird mummy insects doesn’t pique your interest, then you have no heart.

Jack Kirby had plenty of experience with this style of expository cover, since he had been putting out this kind of work since the 1940s. Consider one of his early covers, Captain America Comics #1, from 1941:

This cover is full of action. The eye is immediately drawn to Cap’s infamous Hitler Punch, front and center. But action is taking place throughout the cover. Bullets fly from both the foreground and background. The giant TV screen in the backdrop highlights an exploding munitions factory. Bars in the window bend inwards in all directions, hinting at Captain America’s exciting entrance into the scene. Even the expressions on the characters hint at action – Captain America’s muscles bulge out of his neck, and Hitler lets out a howl of pain as he gets a fistful of freedom from our hero.

As dynamic as this cover was, it was still an early work and Kirby had not yet settled on his unique style. At this point in his career, he was still a comic publisher grunt, shackled to a “house style.” As his career progressed, he got more and more leeway to lean into his strengths and evolve his style into a more exaggerated and dynamic one.

Fast forward twenty years to the title that invented modern comics:

At this point, Kirby had definitely evolved his style, but the characters were still a bit stiff. The way he laid out the scene was impeccable, though. Front and center is a frightening threat bursting out of the ground, drawn in that inimitable Kirby monster style. Bystanders flee in the background, highlighting the urgency of the thread and adding more to the action taking place on the cover.

Most importantly, we get our first look at the Fantastic Four, and we get a sense of their amazing powers immediately. This not only intrigues the viewer and establishes the basic attributes of each character. The Invisible Girl disappears in the clutches of the monster. The Human Torch creates a blazing arc of fire like a halo above the monster (and leading the readers eye to the centerpiece of the action). The Thing crushes a car with one hand, while hiding what is surely a grotesque visage as he faces away from the reader (enticing you to actually pick up the book and read it to find out if his mug is really as ugly as you think). Mister Fantastic bends unnaturally to escape some ropes. And what the hell do ropes have to do with a subterranean monster anyway? Who knows? Buy the book and find out!

This cover also marks a key turning point in Jack Kirby’s career: his partnership with Stan Lee. Lee and Kirby’s professional relationship is contentious to say the least, but I do think that Lee had a significant influence on how Kirby created comics. Kirby approached comic creating with a feverish explosion of ideas. Lee tempered this energy and focused it to tell fantastical stories that had a human heart. Lee also knew how to sell comics. Take this cover for example. Instead of just explaining the story within, he sells it. There are exactly twelve exclamation points on the cover. The only complete sentence that does not end in an exclamation point is a question. See the Fantastic Four! Together for the first time! Because where else would they have appeared, if not for the first issue in their title? There’s a little story happening on the cover: the Fantastic Four are in peril, but they are going to work together to triumph over this grotesque monster.

We see Kirby’s style continue to evolve throughout his tenure at Marvel. Consider Avengers #4 – the return of Captain America to comics:

This is a fantastic example of Kirby’s mastery of action in the comics medium. Captain America explodes off the page. Thor swings his mighty hammer at…something. Iron Man leaps into the air. Even the side box with Namor shows him holding up his fists in an action pose. We also see some hints of Kirby’s eventual exaggerated style in Captain America’s expression. There are still some realistic “house style” faces on Thor and Giant Man here, but Cap’s wild expression hints at the action packed issue behind this cover.

After Kirby’s Marvel career flamed out acrimoniously, DC was happy to give him free reign over his own titles. This is when his style got really wild. Kirby was no longer held back by collaborators or house styles, and he clearly learned a few lessons from the Stan Lee playbook. This is apparent in his cover for Mister Miracle #3:

Mister Miracle hovers in Zen-like bondage front and center, surrounded by maniacs with grotesquely distorted features. Weapons are brandished from all angles. Faces twist in defiance of human anatomy and bright, unnatural colors are used for skin tones and clothes to create a sense of action and insanity. The text enhances the excitement, with seven exclamation points, varying font styles and sizes, and different colors. Text is not beholden to any grids or lines. It splashes on the page at crazy angles, arcs, and highlighted by geometric shapes. Kirby also utilizes exciting, but nonsensical slogans to built up the intensity. BUY IT! BUT DON’T SWALLOW IT! THE PARANOID PILL! I’m pretty sure that prescription drugs didn’t have much to do with this story, but it certainly sounds badass. It has the bold sensibilities of a B-movie poster.

I’ll end with one more example from the Mister Miracle run, #5:

I really just wanted to point out that Jack has helpfully labeled the “Flame Thrower” and “A-Bomb” components of this murder machine. Plus, what better way to sell a comic book than to tell a story about a diabolical car wash?

Jack Kirby’s impact on graphic storytelling certainly gets a lot of credit, but I think he deserves some respect for his bold covers as well. Kirby was able to integrate his exaggerated artistic style, exclamatory teasers of the story plot, and a little good old fashioned hyperbole to pitch his comics to the public. This mastery of all aspects of the medium shows why Jack Kirby truly is the King of Comics.