August 28th is a good day for Birthdays!

Today is my son "Crackers" birthday. He turned four and we had a small celebration at the house tonight. A few weeks back I blogged about the "email" history I am doing for my kids and tonight I sent my first entry into Crackers' email account. It felt good and I knew after I was done that I was doing something cool.

Crackers isn't the only person important to me that was born on August 28th. Much to my surprise....and shame on me for not knowing this but Jack "King" Kirby would've been 90 today. Jack Kirby is a Comic Book Pioneer (I refuse to speak of him in past tense since his work and influence is still very much felt in the industry......He was the King) who defined how comic books would look and feel over 60 years ago........oh ya and he just happened to have co-created The Fantastic Four, Captain America, The Hulk....to name a few.

Kirby was a guy that was overshadowed by Stan Lee for most of his life and is only now getting some of the praise owed. I have been very verbal for my admiration of Stan Lee (most comic book fans think you have to be a Lee fan or a Kirby fan and not both) but I also love and respect every think Jack Kirby did for and in comics.

If you are interested in reading more about Jack Kirby there is a good piece in today's New York Times or if you are truly interested I highly recommend Tales To Astonish: Jack Kirby, Stan Lee, and the American Comic Book Revolution by Ronin Ro. It is an incredible read and well worth the investment in time.

-saul