Like so many folks of my generation who were/are comic book fans (oh, boy…. I feel old when I start a sentence like that…), I was a big fan of Jack Kirby. Maybe not as much a fan as I was of some of the other artists working during that time….. stuff like early George Perez work… Jim Aparo, Dave Cockrum’s work on LEGION OF SUPERHEROES….. stuff like that. But there was something about Kirby’s work that was so appealing to my young eyes. It was the power and energy that was so evident in his drawing and the pure awesome imagination his art and stories embodied. His work might not have been as precise or elegant as some others working during that time– but his creative spirit was always so blindingly brilliant that there’s no wonder that so many people gravitated toward it. It’s sad to think that the younger readers of today don’t have much of a sense of Kirby’s work and legacy.

My father bought a lot of Kirby’s work that was published at DC during the 70’s. He had copies of the JIMMY OLSEN stuff and the DEMON comic as well as OMAC. But it was Kirby’s FOURTH WORLD comics that really grabbed me. I really loved his MISTER MIRACLE, FOREVER PEOPLE…. and in particular, his NEW GODS work. It was a fantastic new world for young eyes to behold. So– naturally… I had to have my own version of ORION, the lead character from NEW GODS. It’s funny looking at the old drawing now– I even NAMED him in a way that was a copy…. ORION– ARAON. It’s so funny to look back and see how my young mind worked….. or copied.

So, anyway– here’s the old drawing followed by my new drawing. Man, that helmet is awkward looking….

Mike