Happy birthday, Jack Kirby!

Having died 18 years ago, Jack Kirby is hardly in a position to care whether we still observe his birthday - but as one of the single most influential men to ever venture into the world of comic book art, we owe him more than he ever received in his lifetime.

I didn't really begin to examine how I felt about Kirby until I discovered the Eternals. During my earliest days on the internet, I was there writing up summaries of the Kirby series on message boards and writing a Geocities page on the characters and their world. Above is the splash page to Eternals#13, my favourite issue of the series. Three teams of astronauts venture into space where the great mothership of the Celestials lies: one team is there to explore; one team seeks the Celestials' destruction; the third has come to save the world.

Check out the Comics Reporter for some nice samples of the King's art!