Comics Journal 134 February 1990 3pts

 Jack Kirby uses his street-fighting and military experience to bring a sense of reality to his characters, especially in the fighting scenes. Readers can really tell that he knows his stuff because we can see the landing of the punches and their effects on the victim. There’s a scene from Foxhole that shows soldiers crawling on the ground and one man throwing a grenade, like Kirby probably saw during his time in the Army during World War II. In this interview, Kirby reveals his childhood in the streets of New York’s lower east side where he experienced what he called “climb out” street fights because people would take to the roofs in their brawls. Gang fights also inspired his use of groups in his story-telling, like the Boy Commandos, Boys’ Ranch, Boy Explorers, and later Fantastic Four. He was so used to seeing groups working together that this idea found its way into his comic books. Kirby recalled how he often incorporated things he saw in real life to add a sense of truth to his work, even in fantastical stories about superheroes like Captain America and his satire work like Fighting American. These elements made the story seem more believable and relatable to engage the readers. He liked to have a logical ending to his stories too, even if they didn’t make the reader happy, because real life doesn’t always work out how we want either. Because he did so much of his work on the fly or under the pressure of tight deadlines, Kirby had to pull from what he knew to make good stories.