This photo was posted on Marvel.com in a piece commemorating Veteran’s Day.
Obviously there is no one in comics more suitable for this kind of salute than Kirby who would tell his war stories to all.
And
JACK KIRBY ON MARVEL.COM
OH YEAH.
The piece includes family photos and remembrances from Kirby’s son Neal of his dad’s wartime exploits:
Kirby took part in the crossing of the Moselle River at Dornot on September 8, 1944. Paddling themselves across the river in tiny assault boats while under fire from German troops on the other side, the battalion established a small beachhead where they were met by the 37th SS Panzer Grenadier Regiment. Holding a thin line in the woods, the men of the 2nd Battalion held for days. Neal Kirby remembers one harrowing story, when a tank was charging down on his father’s foxhole. Sure to be run over by the massive tank, “the guy next to him stood up and just fired a round right through the drivers slit and the tank stops dead. It’s one of those one in a billion shots,” that saved Jack Kirby and others.
You may recall that Marvel and Kirby’s heirs recently reached a settlement over the matter of Kirby’s massive input in creating the Marvel Universe that is currently worth billions and billions of dollars. I suspected that we would see a suddens surge in crediting Kirby and not only do comics now have his name as co-creator, he has a credit on Agents of SHIELD, and now a salute on Marvel.com. You can’t get too much Jack Kirby and I hope this is just the beginning.
And here’s to you Jack and every one of the men and women who have served our nation.
I’m pretty sure his name has been on Agents of SHIELD since the beginning.
Another sign that things are all sunshiney and birght btw Marvel and the Kirby heirs: Kirby’s son also appeared on last week’s “Marvel 75 Years” television special.
Marvel also published this, back in the day, in hardcover!
http://www.comics.org/issue/42312/
Did Jack Kirby ever create comics about his war experience?
Torsten,
If you mean. did he create comics that accurately matched his real-world experiences, no. I imagine that his war comics of the 1950s– which I haven’t read– draw upon those experiences. I’ve seen a review or two arguing that these are more realistic fare than, say, SGT. FURY, which was meant to be wild escapism from the get-go.
Also, Kirby’s ’70s run on DC’s Our Fighting Forces is a remarkable span of war comics. It includes the magnificent and brutal story “Ivan” (#160). Mind you, it also includes a stout lady smuggler called Panama Fattie because, well, he was The King. Tonally it is very playful but clearly informed by (bad) front line experience. DC collected all the issues between two covers as JACK KIRBY’S THE LOSERS – don’t ask, just buy! Hell of a book, Hell of a guy!
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