It Started on Delancey Street! New York’s Lower East Side in Jack Kirby’s Comics

AJHS’ exhibit The Jack Kirby Way: How a Boy from the Lower East Side Became the King of Comics features rare comics, drawings, and studies of the artist’s work. Several of the iconic characters in Marvel ‘s pantheon of superheroes were created by a man who was born into one of the most densely populated neighborhoods in the world. By Kirby’s birth in 1917, the Lower East Side had become famous as an immigrant hub and a nexus of culture, art, industry, and commerce. Throughout Kirby’s childhood and young adulthood, he experienced an evolving neighborhood as new immigration laws, financial crashes, and World Wars shaped the community, economy, and way of life. All of which found their way into his comics.

 

Pop culture historian / co-curator Roy Schwartz and Jack Kirby Museum and Research Center executive director / co-curator Randolph Hoppe will join Katie Vogel, public historian at Henry Street Settlement, to discuss the character of the Lower East Side in Kirby’s comics.

 

 

All *attendees will receive an exclusive Jack Kirby Koozie in honor of the exhibition! (*Limited to 150, one per registered guest.)