Jack Kirby Born Jacob Kurtzberg to Jewish-Austrian parents on New York's Lower East Side, Jack Kirby (1917-1994) came of age at the birth of the American comic book industry. Horrified by the rise of Nazism, Kirby co-created the patriotic hero Captain Amrica with Joe Simon in 1940. Throughout the 1940s and early '50s, Kirby and Simon produced com­ics in every popular genre, from Western to romance. In 1958, Kirby began his collaboration with Stan Lee. The two men co-created the foundational text of the modern Marvel Universe – The Fantastic Four – and introduced a mind-boggling array of new characters, including the Avengers, the Hulk, Thor, Iron Man, the Silver Surfer, and the X-Men. Today, Kirby is regarded as one of the most important and influential creators in the history of American comics. Read More Read Less