Broken Frontier

For comic book fans the world over, Jack Kirby was the king. Born Jacob Kurtzberg in 1917, Bluewater Comics is now celebrating his life with their latest bio-comic “Orbit: Jack Kirby.”

This new bio comic will highlight how an artist helped change the face of comic books. For almost three decades, characters were trapped within each panel, but Kirby's cinematic style broke the boundaries of the sequential boxes, as he would use the whole page as his canvas. This style of graphic story telling would turn a fledgling comic book company into one of the most powerful companies in the world.

“When we published ‘Orbit: Stan Lee’ we understood it was only half the story,” said Darren Davis, president of Bluewater Comics. “We knew we needed to share Jack Kirby’s story. Every comic book fan owes Kirby a debt of gratitude. He helped lay the foundations of the Silver Age of Comic Books.”

“Orbit: Jack Kirby,” which is due out in Jan. 2012, is written by John Judy and features the art and cover art of Paul Cox. The comic book is only available thru comic book stores. Make sure to pre-order your copy.

“What was it like trying to bring to life the man in a comic book who helped reinvent comics? In a word, daunting,” said Judy. “I was really concerned that the word balloons for each character only contained exact quotes. I wasn't going to go literally putting words in anyone's mouth.”

Judy researched Kirby’s life intensely because his goal was to create a “more broad, almost impressionistic, but still accurate portrait, rather than a dry, encyclopedic account of his life, and I'm glad I could pull off at least that much.”

Cox said he faced a different challenge as a comic book artist in bringing thisbio-comic to life. “Going into this project, the last thing I wanted was to draw like Kirby did,” said Cox. “I certainly was inspired from his drawing style, and I hope it's evident in this book. From what I've read and heard,Kirby never wanted to back down from a fight, yet he was the kindest gentleman anyone had ever met.”

Cox said his goal was to “was to bring to life Kirby's great personality through his actions and expressions.”

The “Orbit” series was launched earlier in 2010 that serves a pop culture companion to Bluewater Comics successful “Female Force,” “Political Power” and “Fame” series. The bio-comic allows Bluewater to delve into the history of certainnewsworthy entertainers and explains how a person has achieved the level of office in the government.

Upcoming biography comic subjects are Jon Stewart, John Lennon and J.R.R. Tolkien.