Jack Kirby

Jack Kirby was an American comic book artist, widely regarded as one of the medium's major innovators and one of its most prolific and influential creators. He grew up in New York City and learned to draw cartoon figures by tracing characters from comic strips and editorial cartoons. He entered the nascent comics industry in the 1930s, drawing various comics features under different pen names, including Jack Curtiss, before settling on Jack Kirby. In 1940, he and writer-editor Joe Simon created the highly successful superhero character Captain America for Timely Comics, predecessor of Marvel Comics. During the 1940s, Kirby regularly teamed with Simon, creating numerous characters for that company and for National Comics Publications, later to become DC Comics.

28 August 1917

Born on the same birth day (28 August): Alexander Cameron Sim • Amanda Tapping • Federico Magallanes • George Church (geneticist) • John Betjeman • Ken Jenkins • Thiago Motta • Todd Eldredge

Born in the same month (August 1917): Denis Healey • Grand Duke Vladimir Kirillovich of Russia • Isabel Sanford • Jack Lynch • John Fitch (racing driver) • John Lee Hooker • Les Elgart • Matt Christopher • Mel Ferrer • Peanuts Lowrey • Robert Mitchum • Terry Sanford • Wah Chang • Óscar Romero