The Exclusive War Begins

In October 1970 Jack Kirby, with issue #133, debuts as writer/artist on Superman’s Pal Jimmy Olsen, introducing the concepts and characters of his Fourth World epic. This was the King’s first major work at DC and his first following his historic 100 issue run on Fantastic Four with Stan Lee. This was, in a sense, the start of the idea of exclusive creators.

Jack Kirby had been a Marvel guy up until this point, and while it was not unimaginable, it was hard to imagine readers would ever see him work for the competition. Which was odd since the idea of exclusivity in comics didn’t exist at the time, a job was a job and a paycheck was a paycheck, if you didn’t get work at one company you’d simply go to the other side of the market and attempt to get some work for hire jobs on some new characters.

But after 100 straight issues on the same Marvel book with Lee at his side Kirby was king at the house of ideas and it was hard to imagine him ever tackling a minor book like Jimmy Olsen; the man helped create The Avengers. But DC had offered him a chance to create something new, something cosmic and something he wanted to do. It’s the same thing that happens today, one company won’t let a creator take a chance on smaller book (or create an epic saga of their own creation) so they jump ship.

This was the beginning of it all, this was basically the first shot fired in a battle for the hottest talents on the market to create the best books for their company that they can. This would be comparable to Brian Bendis or Geoff Johns wrapping up their lengthy runs on Avengers and Green Lantern respectively, and Bendis going on a Robin book for DC and Geoff doing Rocket Raccoon at Marvel (I would buy that book in a heart beat).

In that first issue for Superman’s Pal Kirby creates the characters Morgan Edge and Intergang, as well as Project Cadmus, a fictional government genetic engineering project that still exists in one form or another today.

This was a creator given the keys to a new sandbox, a new universe and some real freedom to do what he did best, create.

This is what this industry boils down to, the ability and freedom to create things that you cannot in any other medium. I think that’s why Mark Millar‘s work as of late has been lacking, he is in essence developing illustrated screen plays, things that can happen in real life.

Kirby was doing the sci-fi mentality of the times amped up to 11, he was creating cloning labs, other worldly epics that rival the myths of old in terms of family complexity. Creativity is the driving factor for artists and creators and the opportunity to create something new is what started the exclusivity battles in the 70’s and is what will always sway another loyal solider to the opposite side in the comics world.

If Kirby can change sides, who can possibly resist the draw of the other side?