Hail To The King!

Today is the one hundredth and first birthday of Jack "King" Kirby, the genius and architect of much of what we imagine modern comic books to be. Not many rise to the level in their chosen professions as did Kirby, though in his life it was with much slight and and even disdain. But long after his critics have been forgot, Kirby lives on in his pages which flew from his drawing board with the same speed as the ideas flew from his vivid imagination. While Jack Kirby is justly famous for his co-creations with Joe Simon (Captain America, Boy Commandos, Fighting American, etc.) and Stan Lee (Fantastic Four, Thor, Uncanny X-Men, etc.) Kirby's Fourth World transformed what I imagined storytelling could be. Gone were the prosaic notions of good guys and bad guys battling forevermore on the streets for one more day of relative calm. These "New Gods" battled for the very survival of mankind and the society he has concocted. Darkseid did not want your money, he wanted your soul and only the tragically conflicted Orion stood in his path, aided by the other colorful gods of Supertown, come to Earth to save us all, from slavery and a living death. Were that the "King" was with us today to show us how we can deal with the threat which looms from the highest office in our land, a veritable darkside of our own making which threatens to consume us all in its evil maw. Hail to the King!

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