The grip of Kirby

Not for nothing was artist Jack Kirby (1917-1994) dubbed 'King of Comics'. The revered co-creator of such Marvel Comics icons as The X-Men, The Fantastic Four, Captain America and The Hulk, Kirby was blessed with an innate ability to express the maximum power of the superhero genre via a dazzling art style. And his supreme dynamism remains both instantly recognisable and hugely influential. Kirby protege Mark Evanier's gorgeously illustrated biography shows why: more than any other artist, Kirby's work throbbed with explosive energy and motion, his character's constantly threatening to leap from their panels. He provided comics with a level of cinematic-style storytelling that cinema itself struggled to match.

Danny Graydon