Here is Jack Kirby's biography:
Jack Kirby, also known as Jack "The King" Kirby, was a renowned comic book writer and artist, particularly famous for creating or co-creating some of the most iconic characters for both DC Comics and Marvel Comics.
Born Jacob Kurtzberg in 1917 on the Lower East Side of Manhattan in New York City, Kirby was the son of a garment factory worker and his wife, both Austrian-Jewish immigrants. He developed an interest in drawing at an early age and was mostly self-taught, studying newspaper artwork from comic strip artists and political cartoonists.
After enrolling in Pratt Institute at age 14, Kirby dropped out early due to his personal philosophy not aligning with the school's. He entered the world of professional cartooning in 1936, working for the Lincoln Newspaper Syndicate and later for the Fleischer Studios, where he worked as an in-betweener in animated shorts.
In the late 1930s and early 1940s, Kirby joined the Eisner and Iger Studio, where he worked under co-founders Will Eisner and Jerry Iger. He contributed artwork to various genres, including humor, science fiction, swashbucklers, and Westerns, under various pseudonyms.
The Eisner and Iger Studio dissolved in 1940, and Kirby went on to work for Fox Features Syndicate, where he created his first superhero stories, including Blue Beetle. He met Joe Simon, with whom he would go on to create many iconic characters, including Captain America, the Boy Commandos, and the Newsboy Legion.
During World War II, Kirby was drafted into the United States Army, where he worked as a military scout and reconnaissance agent. He was deployed in the European theatre and was hospitalized with severe frostbite, but recovered without needing amputation.
After the war, Kirby and Simon reunited and began working for Harvey Comics, where they created characters such as Stuntman and Captain 3-D. They also freelanced for other publishers, including Crestwood Publications and Hillman Periodicals, where they created the romance comic book series Young Romance.
In the 1950s, Kirby and Simon founded their own comic book publishing company, Mainline Publications, which published only four titles before closing due to financial difficulties. Kirby then began working freelance for DC Comics and Atlas Comics (Marvel Comics),where he created characters such as Fin Fang Foom, Groot, and Grottu.
In 1961, Kirby joined Marvel Comics as an artist and writer, where he co-created the Fantastic Four, Doctor Doom, the Hulk, Thor, Iron Man, Magneto, Uatu the Watcher, the X-Men, the Inhumans, the Black Panther, Ego the Living Planet, Galactus, and the Silver Surfer, among many others.
In 1970, Kirby left Marvel and joined DC Comics, where he created the New Gods, Mister Miracle, and the Forever People, as well as other characters such as Etrigan the Demon, Kamandi, OMAC, and the Dingbats of Danger Street.
In the 1970s and 1980s, Kirby worked on various projects, including the animated television series Thundarr the Barbarian and The Centurions. He also returned to comic books with the creator-owned series Captain Victory and the Galactic Rangers.
In the 1990s, Kirby licensed his characters to Topps Comics, and some of his unpublished work has seen posthumous publication. His family has continued to inherit and develop his creator-owned characters, and the Kirby family has attempted to claim partial ownership over Jack Kirby's Marvel creations, although their legal efforts have so far been unsuccessful.
