That’s right people: summer’s here, school’s out, the weather’s hot, the days are long, and it’s time for an A+ nerd out.

To distract ourselves from the cinematic abominations of the heavily hyped Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer — a film where Jack Kirby’s influence looms larger than Galactus, but his lively creative spirit is nowhere to be found — we’ve decided to celebrate The King’s monumental contribution to pop culture by putting together a list of his twenty finest creations. The countdown starts below with numbers 20-16. Tune back in tomorrow for 15-11!

20. Adolf Hitler (Hate-Monger)

Steve: Face it - if you had no idea what a creep Hitler was and you stumbled across him at the supermarket, you’d feel kind of bad for the little, nerdy looking guy. Kirby’s Hitler, on the other hand, just oozed psychotic power while still being immediately recognizable as one the most reprehensible bastards of all time. Nowhere is this more apparent than in the Red Skull’s origin story, and using Hitler’s clone for the Hate Monger’s alter ego was a stroke of genius by Stan and Jack.

AFD: Kirby’s Hitler echoes most of the American media’s popular propaganda that depicted the German dictator/warmonger as a cartoonishly loud and frenzied psycho mad crazy man. But what’s also apparent in Kirby’s characterization is the canny and terrifying realization that here was an actual, real-life supervillain.

19. Etrigan the Demon

Steve: By all rights, Kirby’s Demon should be dismissed as a goofy looking guy due to the garish colors alone, but despite being a bright yellow character in a bright red suit, Etrigan manages to bring it. Huge, yet squat, with a face only a mother could bear to look at and not get queasy, The Demon is one of the few DC character designs from Kirby that’s managed to stand the test of time without appearing dated.

AFD: Although a minor character by all accounts, The Demon’s refusal to disappear into obscurity has a lot to do with Kirby’s strange but unforgettable design. The loud colors and short stature make a frightening character sympathetic, and as he did so well in Thor, Kirby crosses stereotypical fantasy tropes (Horns? Check. Pointy teeth? Check. Red beady eyes? Check.) with his own pop aesthetics (Cape? Check. Muscular and imposing? Check.) and accomplishes what most people would picture in their own minds if asked: what if a demon were a superhero?

18. The Skrulls

Steve: Even though Kirby modified these guys over the years, not unlike Star Trek’s Klingons, from the beginning these little green men from outer space were creepy buggers. Combine their shape shifting with their truly grotesque and utterly unique faces, and you have aliens I’d love to eventually see make it to the big screen in one of these Marvel adaptations.

AFD: One of the most compelling features of Kirby’s prolific canon is his fascination with the grotesque. Has a superhero artist ever rendered ugly characters in such a profoundly disturbing way? Certainly one of his most disquieting creations are the Skrull, perennial villains who with their big, mean eyes, huge pointy ears, green skin, and lithe build look like the scary Alien Invader out of everyone’s pulp nightmare — except Kirby adds that freaked out jaw and purple uniform and makes them infinitely more sinister.

17. Arnim Zola

Steve: Dude’s face is in the center of his chest. Sure, it’s set down below the neck area where any artist could have put it, but Zola is put together so specifically, you can tell he’s a Kirby creation no matter who’s drawing him. Plus, one has to think that he’s got one of the best reasons for being a super-villain ever. After all, if your head was planted in the middle of your freakin’ chest, you’d be pretty pissed off at the rest of the world too, right?

AFD: File under: bats*&t. It’s a testament to The King’s abilities that I’ve actually never read a comic with Arnim Zola in it, but I sure as hell know who the character is and what he looks like. The wide, malevolent face in the middle of the torso is the obvious selling point, but the addition of some Kirby Machinery and the mysterious, vaguely scientific design (symbolically?) placed over Zola’s crotch show the artist at his most playful.

16. Ego the Living Planet

Steve: Jim Starlin’s always been referred to as a cosmic storyteller, but the man ain’t got nothing on Kirby and Stan Lee. Not content enough with populating planets with superheroes, Lee and Kirby created a character that was a freaking planet. Ego remains one of the more insane concepts in comics, no matter how you slice it.

AFD: Here’s the first time Kirby’s wonderful cosmic fixation and colossal renderings of a vast, mythic, imaginary, terrifying universe appears on our list. So, as if a giant, telepathic living planet weren’t an awesome enough idea, Kirby gives Ego two menacing glowing eyes, a portruding nose, a mouth, and the piece de resistance: A BEARD. Because if a planet existed out there that was a living being, it would of course have a menacing, angry, psychedelic god face. I kind of like to think it’s Kirby’s criticism of the self-indulgent aspects of hippie culture, but either way, amazing.

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