Tuesday, February 12, 2013

Even The 'King' Swiped From Time To Time


Playboy Jack Kirby
I've always been a big fan of Jack Kirby so this post is by no means any type of put down.  On the contrary, it shows that even the greatest, most influential comic artist lifted or swiped a reference image from time to time.

Before the internet where any reference image can be brought up in seconds, back in the day, artists had to collect files of reference images from books, magazines, photos and store them in filing cabinets called -- swipe files.  I'm sure Jack was no exception.  Case in point; Sue Storm.

In the early to mid-sixties, Kirby always portrayed Susan Storm of the Fantastic Four as a glamorous public hero always seeking the current fashion trends.  When she wasn't getting herself captured (at least in the early issues) she was out shopping for the trendiest wardrobes or the newest hairstyles.  So it is no surprise that Jack Kirby would reference Sue Storm with only the glamorous of imagery (when his characters weren't exploding off the pages)


Click to embiggen this NSFW picture.

Above on the left you will see the splash page from Fantastic Four issue 22 (late 1963) while on the right you will see an image from the artist Vargas published in Playboy (1963).  Kirby's perfect swipe from Playboy to give Sue Storm that extra glamor including the kookie hat (customized by Reed Richards).

Even the King swipes from time to time.

That's not saying he couldn't draw circles around these swipe happy artists of today, he can.  In fact, there is no one before or since that can blow the borders off of a comic page as Jack Kirby.  So when he slips in a little swipe from time to time to give Sue Storm a bit of glamor, cut the King some slack, will'ya?

This ain't a swipe, it's pure Kirby!

5 comments:

  1. Sue has really nice boobs. I learned in art school that there is nothing wrong with using photos or even other works of art as reference.
    I'm sure Jack liked the pose so much in the first place he utilized it in his comic art works.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hey Bliss - Just saw you on my blogroll, so I popped in to see what's up.

    Things are a lot different now. So easy to google gank anything. Sometimes food blogger have lots have watermarks over their pictures, not that's what you're talking about, I just thought of it now.

    Anyway, cheers and boogie boogie.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Kirby is my favorite. Of course I grew up looking at all his pictures in FF4 so how could he no be? I'm just happy he used the model for Sue and not the Thing.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Hey Whisk, thanks for stopping by! Haven't been blogging much lately. Though I still peek in on your blog from time to time. I'll drop a note next time!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I didn't think you were blogging that much lately. Sometimes I take long breaks from it. Hope everything is okay on your end.

      Boogie boogie.

      Delete