The King is dead.

Sunday, February 6, 1994. I was just sitting down to watch "Lois and Clark" when people began calling with the news. Jack Kirby died in the morning hours. It was something we'd been expecting for some time. Ravaged(destrozado) by cancer, the powerhouse Kirby had been all his life had shrunk as low as it was possible to go.
After I heard the news I picked up my address book and began calling those people I thought might be sufficiently "out of the loop(fuera de vuelta)" that they would not have heard. They were short calls. There wasn't much that could be said. The last person I called was Jim Warden, my art dealer. Toward the end of the conversation Jim said something that took me totally by surprise. "Better take care of yourself," he said. "You're the King now."

It was something which would never have occurred to me, and it set my brain tumbling down(destartalado) some strange paths(senderos). Just last year I'd realized I'd matched(competir) Kirby's physical output for the point at which he'd been in the business twenty years, as I now have. Comic Values Monthly recently declared me to have been the first of comic-book Superstars. Repeatedly(repeidas veces), it seemed(segun parece), I was being told no one other than Kirby had touched as many characters, had quite as much impact on the industry.
Could it be possible? Would it be overweening ego to think of myself as heir apparent to Jack Kirby?

Of course it would. It would for anyone. Jack Kirby truly bestrode the world like a colossus. In a career spanning half a century, there was virtually no part of the industry he didn't touch: penciller, inker, writer, editor, publisher. With Joe Simon and, later Stan Lee, he created characters and concepts--the romance comics was his--that expanded the shape of the industry. Without Kirby we might never have seen Captain America, the Fly, the Challengers of the Unknown, the Fantastic Four, the Hulk, the X-Men. Most certainly we would never have seen the New Goods, Mister Miracle and the Demon.

There have been other major talents since Jack Kirby began his career, and there will continue to be others now that he is gone. But there will never be anyone to take his place.

The King is dead. That's all there is to say.