Book Review: Hand of Fire

Regarding Hand of Fire: Charles Hatfield, associated professor of English at California State University and author of Alternative Comics: An Emerging Literature has published an ambitious look at the comics art of Jack Kirby and not a moment too soon in my humble opinion.

This isn't a physical review of the actual artwork of super-hero artist Kirby. There are other avenues for that type of eye-candy (most notably the Jack Kirby Collector or even the coffee table-sized Kirby: King of Comics). No, Hatfield's effort looks at why Jack Kirby did what he did and how it impacted the comic book industry and its resurgence in the 1960's. Hand of Fire postulates on what makes Kirby's work just as relevant today as it did so many years ago.

Like I said, an ambitious effort and long overdue.

A Brief Overview

This isn't the first time I've waxed philosophic about Jack Kirby (you can read more about him here, here and here). I'm not even sure you can recap his career in short form. Kirby was not only the architect of the Marvel Comics "Universe", he also created the template on how comics should be produced and along the way he blew the lid off any pre-conceived notions that comic books were just for kids.

All those multi-million dollar block-busters we see in the theatres: Fantastic Four, Thor, Iron Man, the X-Men and more. Jack Kirby either created or co-created them with nothing more than a fertile imagination and a number two pencil. That Jack Kirby isn't mentioned in the same breath as Marvel writer/editor Stan Lee or any one of a dozen literary or cinematic auteurs is one of the many injustices of the comic book and entertainment industry.

What's in a Name

For the uninformed, Jack Kirby drew about 21,000 pages of sequential comic book art over a 60 year career. For most of his life, sitting at his drawing board for 12-14 hours a day was the norm and a necessary evil to earn a decent living for his family. Kirby's drawing hand had to be on fire to produce at that rate day in and day out.

Hand of Fire is spread out over 7 chapters with each chapter building on the one before it. Fortunately (for me anyway), Hatfield avoids regurgitating a biography of Jack Kirby's life. Rather he singles out some of the high-points and then jumps right into the thick of things: namely the unique aspects of Kirby's Art (Chapter One) and how Jack Kirby changed the super hero (Chapter Three). Along the way readers will enjoy Chapter Two which briefly dissects exactly "who did what" regarding the creation of Marvel comics.

Kirby's magnum opus, his "Fourth World" series at rival publisher DC gets a critical eye in Chapter 5 and as the book wraps up it dissertation we look at Jack's return to Marvel comics in the mid-1970's.

There is much more to be found between the covers and it all makes for enjoyable and thoughtful reading. But what's more, Hand of Fire makes the reader think. At this point there is only so much "new" to be said about Jack Kirby. Maybe one day we'll get a definitive biography but Hand of Fire isn't it nor does the book make any claims as such.

Hand of Fire is critical thinking at its best. I don't think it's a stretch to say that Charles Hatfield is a Jack Kirby fan. That's evident. But rather than fawning over the artist, Hatfield doesn't get caught up in any hero worship. Hatfield has created a knowledgeable base line which supplements any future works regarding Jack Kirby while at the same time he provides a bookend to anything written about Jack Kirby in the past.

What more can I say: Hand of Fire is a great addition to anyone's library and hopefully will spur old fans to re-think Jack Kirby's body of work while encouraging new fans to learn more about the King of Comics.