He learned techniques, not styles, and then went on to make them his own. Some of them have adopted its techniques with little reservations and others, like Kirby, now boast very little of the then-important Raymond influence. Splendidly illustrated, it has served as the model for a majority of today’s panel-artists. An early source of art-inspiration, for example, was Alex Raymond’s Flash Gordon newspaper strip. He learned from anyone who had something to offer, adopting the virtues and making them his own. Jack Kirby was, then, the student without an official teacher. Schooling was not the best and certainly inadequate in the field of creative writing and art. That, more than anything else, occupied young Jack’s time. And, too, there was the foreshadowing of what was to come – the doodles cluttering every available scrap of paper, the ‘wasted’ afternoons at the movies… the profound interest in stories. And the growing up period is not entirely atypical, either: Street-fighting, the usual childhood activities, and the burgeoning instinct of self-preservation were all a part of it. The birth date was August 28, 1917, and the Kurtzberg family at 147 Essex Street was one more strong. Like many success stories, it all begins with a birth date on the Lower East Side of New York City. Further corrected by the members of the Jack Kirby Discussion Group.A corrected and amended version published in Kirby Unleashed by TwoMorrows Publishing: Raleigh, NC.Originally published in Kirby Unleashed by Communicators Unlimited: Newbury Park, CA.

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