Editing Jack Kirby (section)

===Narrative approach to comics===
Like many of his contemporaries, Kirby was hugely indebted to [[Milton Caniff]], [[Hal Foster]], and [[Alex Raymond]] who codified many of the tropes of narrative art in adventure [[comic strip]]s. It has also been suggested that Kirby drew from [[Burne Hogarth]], whose dynamic figure work may have informed the way Kirby drew figures; "his ferocious bounding, and grotesquely articulated figures seem directly descended from Hogarth's dynamically contorted forms."{{sfn|Hatfield|2012|page=61}} His style drew on these influences, all major artists at the time Kirby was learning his craft, with Caniff, Foster and Raymond between them imparting to the sequential adventure comic strip a highly illustrative approach based on realizing the setting to a very high degree. Where Kirby diverged from these influences, and where his style impacted on the formation of comic book art, was in his move away from an illustrated approach to one that was more dynamic. Kirby's artistic style was one that captured energy and motion within the image, synergizing with the text and helping to serve the narrative. In contrast, successors to the illustrative approach, such as [[Gil Kane]], found their work eventually reach an impasse. The art would illustrate, but in lacking movement caused the reader to contemplate the art as much as the written word. Later artists such as [[Bryan Hitch]] and [[Alex Ross]] combined the Kirby and Kane approaches, using highly realistic backgrounds contrasted with dynamic characters to create what became known as a widescreen approach to comics.{{sfn|Hatfield|2012|pages=63–65}}

Kirby's dynamism and energy served to push the reader through the story where an illustrative, detailed approach would cause the eye to linger.{{sfn|Hatfield|2012|pages=65–67}} His reduction of the presentation of a given scene down to one that represents the semblance of movement has led Kirby to be described as cinematic in his style.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Hatfield |first1=Charles |title=Alternative comics : an emerging literature |date=2005 |publisher=University Press of Mississippi |location=Jackson, Miss. |isbn=1578067197 |page=54 |edition= 1st}}</ref> Kirby had worked at [[Fleischer Studios]] before coming to comics and had a grounding in animation techniques for producing motion. He also realized that comic books were not subject to the same constraints as the newspaper strip. While other comic book artists recreated the layouts that format used, Kirby swiftly utilized the space a whole comic book page created.<ref name=RC /> As Ron Goulart describes, "(h)e broke up the pages in new ways and introduced splash panels that stretched across two pages."<ref>{{cite book |last1=Goulart |first1=Ron |title=The great comic book artists |date=1986 |publisher=St. Martin's Press |location=New York |isbn=0312345577 |page=56 |edition= 1st}}</ref> Kirby himself described the creation of his dynamic style as a reaction both to the cinema and to the urge to create and compete: "I found myself competing with the movie camera. I had to compete with the camera. I felt like [[John Henry (folklore)|John Henry]]... I tore my characters out of the panels. I made them jump all over the page. I tried to make that cohesive so that it would be easier to read... I had to get my characters in extreme positions, and in doing so I created an extreme style which was recognizable by everybody."{{sfn|Eisner|2001|page=211}}