Our look at Jack Kirby’s 20 best character design continues! Below are numbers 10-6.

The rest of the list:
Numbers 20-16
Numbers 15-11

10. Devil Dinosaur

AFD: We can wax pretentious and philosophical about Kirby all we want, but sometimes the basic reason for his popularity and obvious visual brilliance can be best explained as this: he was really great at drawing huge dudes that like to destroy stuff. Essentially, here’s one of the very basic reasons I’ve always loved Kirby: Big dinosaur? Yawn. Big red, enraged dinosaur? Ok!

Also, this is kind of cheating, but I like to consider our inclusion of Devil Dinosaur, even though it was some time later, as representative of all of the fantastic monsters Kirby created for Marvel before (and a bit after) he landed the FF gig: Fin Fang Foom, Tim Boo Ba, Monsteroso, etc. If I remember correctly, he drew almost 200 of these stories, and in each and every one the monster is noticeably different and memorable. Amazing.

Steve: If Kirby had simply drawn a dinosaur, then good old DD wouldn’t have made this list at all, much less ranked in the top 10. However, Kirby drew a bright red T-Rex-type critter who would not only grab stuff with his mouth but was just as likely to somehow drop kick you into the next panel. I really don’t fully understand all of the science involved, but this automatically and incontrovertibly makes Devil Dinosaur awesome. The fact that Kirby actually devised an explanation for the character’s crimson hue (his family was burned alive and Devil Dinosaur survived, albeit somewhat lobsterized) just makes him even better.

9. Red Skull

AFD: The oldest Kirby character to make our list and one of the least complicated. Yet another example of Kirby finding sophistication in the straightforward, the pulp-inspired Red Skull is vaguely awe-inspiring in its Why Didn’t I Think Of That? simplicity. Devising a perfect foil for Captain America, Simon and Kirby had a scary sundae with the super Nazi concept — all they needed to complete the idea was the perfect cherry on top…so to speak. And so they devised a character that would become one of the Marvel Universe’s most menacing and recognizable (and underused) villains.

Steve: What - some guy in a green jumpsuit with a swastika on the sleeve made it onto the list? Hells yeah, he did - he’s got a head that’s shaped in the form of a bright red skull, after all! That’s the beautiful thing about Kirby - sometimes he’d go all out with the craziness like with Galactus, and other times he’d reign it in and go for simple and sweet like the Red Skull. The cigarette the Red Skull was always smoking with the ridiculously pretentious cigarette holder was the icing on the cake.

8. The Inhumans

AFD: Lee and Kirby were so full of go-for-broke nuttiness during their historic run on Fantastic Four that they could easily pull off throwing in something crazy like the Inhumans, a team of guest star superheroes immediately more captivating and engaging than the main characters…but obviously just too damn weird for their own title. All the Inhumans look the part — kind of eerie, supernatural, sleek, haunted, and very, very weird. They make the Fantastic Four (and every other hero in the Marvel Universe) seem normal. Obvious highlight: Lockjaw, the giant, cuddly teleporting dog with a moustache.

Steve: Essentially the older, less brightly attired brothers and sisters to Kirby’s New Gods over at DC and later the Eternals back at Marvel again, the Inhumans were created as back-up characters for the Fantastic Four. A lesser artist would have simply churned out a couple of decent designs and and rounded things out with half a dozen generic designs, but as always, Kirby actually designed an entire family of distinct and visually stunning heroes that he put genuine thought into. The best part was the fun Kirby obviously had designing this group of characters, from the beautiful Crystal to the goat legged Grogon to the oversized bulldog Lockjaw. Even as a kid, I got the visual pun of Black Bolt being unable to speak for fear of destroying everything around him while having a tuning fork on his forehead. Classic!

7. Darkseid

AFD: Kirby’s finest hour at DC was the creation of this character. Looking like the toughest, most evil guy you could ever carve out of solid rock, Darkseid became one of the DC Universe’s most threatening and imposing villains partially because Kirby’s design just oozes power, awe, and terror. The minute you see him you know Darkseid is a badass you don’t want to mess around with. No wonder he was one of the inspirations for Vader.

Steve: Darkseid is not only Kirby’s greatest DC creation, he’s a character that the entire company has at one time or another hung it’s collective hat on. It’s no surprise when you consider the fact that Darkseid may be Kirby’s most immediately menacing character design ever. Unlike many of his creations, Darkseid isn’t cut from brightly colored cloth. Kirby decided to literally make his visage reflect his name, with a dark granite colored face, deep blue outfit and glowing red eyes. In fact, the only downside to Darkseid at all is the spelling of his name, which is just confusing enough that to this day, I still encounter people who pronounce it “Dark-seed.” Ah well.

6. Galactus

AFD: Kirby only designed one better villain than Galactus, but none more purely impressive in terms of scope and awe. In my opinion, he’s the most frightening Marvel villain – if you can even consider him a villain. Every other Marvel baddie seems beatable somehow. But if Galactus shows up on your planet, what the hell are you going to do? Guy needs to eat, and he’s going to eat. Plus, he’s not just an alien, he’s COSMIC. His helmet, his armor, his ship: it’s otherworldly, but all looks like it could actually work; could actually do something. And that something is terrible and unstoppable. Part of Kirby’s magic is that he can make something like Galactus believable and dramatic.

Steve: Sure, the concept of a giant guy who ignores normal sized folk that are beating on his ankles isn’t a new one, but Galactus has that awesome helmet, which completely trumps the skirt Kirby originally had him wearing. The world devourer is basically an immense purple canvas Kirby used to paint his insane techno squiggles and zigzags all over, to the readers’ delight.

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