Kirby At 100: Frazer Irving Speaks

Celebrating What The King of Comics Means To One Artist

♦ Over at Marvel.com, they are continuing their celebration of the centenary of Jack Kirby with a chat with artist Frazer Irving about what the man means to him…

Marvel.com: Do you remember how you first came to see Jack’s work and what you thought of it back then?

Frazer Irving: I was very young, probably three [years old] when I saw Captain America on a sticker in that famous pose where he could be dancing. I think the sticker made mention of that. I was bemused by the proportions and simplification of the lines compared to the busy inking of Tom Palmer on [TOMB OF DRACULA]—also in the same reprint mag I think. It struck a chord with me that echoed when I discovered the work of [artists] Barry Smith and Jim Steranko, and by then I could understand what the lines were doing and I was no longer bemused. My enduring memory of that first experience though was the thought, “Why is everyone shiny?”

Marvel.com: Did you look to Kirby’s output when you were developing your own style? Did you learn any tricks or lessons from his panels?

Frazer Irving: I totally tried to channel the dynamics back in the early days, but it never took [because] I’m not Jack Kirby, I’m me, and I draw very un-Kirby things. In many ways that’s how studying his work helped me: it showed me what I wasn’t, which meant that what I was left with was a more honest impression of my artistic voice. Less time wasted drawing dynamic figures, more time playing with Photoshop filters.

One trick I did take from him much later on was the use of simple panel grids. I’d already nabbed the nine-panel grid from Strangehaven, but the six-panel grid of Jack’s was something I’d avoided forever, until I didn’t. It certainly simplifies the reading of a page, which is his real gift to us doodlers. Beyond the smash and splash of his illustration he was very, very good at showing stuff happening in a way that even a newbie could understand. And we all need a bit more of that simplicity. But now with millions of colors, and filters.

Marvel.com: When you worked on SILENT WAR, how was it playing with those classic Kirby designs that seem almost untouched since he developed them?

Frazer Irving: I liked them as it was one of the few things that had survived almost intact since my childhood, thus I didn’t have much research to do on what was new that year. I used to love the Inhumans back in the day, oblivious to the publishing history. I just assumed there was a paucity of stories because the characters were reclusive in nature.

Marvel.com: How has it been returning to Black Bolt with your work on his current series?

Frazer Irving: It’s different in that he has a groovier tuning fork now, and I can draw a lot better, but aside from that it does feel nicely familiar. Boltagon’s outfit hasn’t changed enough to make it difficult to draw and so I guess the biggest difference is drawing him talking; I think I may have made him a little fitter than back in the day, however the angst and inner turmoil that I so loved in him during SILENT WAR—screaming into space on the moon? That’s how Blackagar rolls—is still very much a part of his character, so the acting is very easy.