PITTS: Lets start with a little background-the origin of Jack Kirby.
KIRBY: I was born on the Lower East Side of New York. It was a restricted area in the sense that it was an ethnic area. And it was at a time when the immigrants were still coming in and they settled in certain parts of New York City, among their own kind.
We had blocks of Italians and blocks of Irish and blocks of Jews. I was born among the blocks of Jews. Strangely enough, our school curriculum was very good and our subject matter was very good. We had fine teachers. And so, despite the fact that wed be running loose, just doing what we liked, like any other kids playing stickball or baseball or boxing somewhere we had a fine schooling. I had Shakespeare in the eighth grade. I had a really good history course.
I cant say I was great in math (laughter), but in a very strange sense, my schooling was very goodall through junior high and high school and elementary. Later on, I even went to industrial school, because I understood that they had drawing tables there and I wanted to practice drawing.
PITTS: What years are we talking about?
KIRBY: Were talking about the middle 30s. I was born in 1917. Im a first world war baby and I was brought up with two wing airplanes
the Empire State Building wasnt there yet, the Chrysler building wasnt there when I was born, and Von Richthofen was the guy they were all talking about
flying aces and pulp magazines.
The strange fact was that, on my block, we hadnt even gotten to the pulp magazines. I found my first pulp magazine floating down the gutter on a rainy day toward the sewer and I picked it up because it had a strange looking object on it. It turned out to be a rocket ship. It was one of the first Hugo Gernsback Wonder Stories.
I didnt dare to be seen with it, so I just picked it up and hid it under my arm, took it home and I began reading it and I learned to love science fiction.
PITTS: That was your first exposure to sci-fi?
KIRBY: Yes. I wouldnt say it was an intellectual explosion. Im still bad in math. Im a lousy electrician I couldnt fix a plug. But I am interested in the other side of knowledge, the cultural side of knowledge and the truthful side of knowledge. Im looking for the gaps that I know exist and of course, Ill never get the answers, like everybody else. So I feel I live with very interesting questions.
PITTS: Its more fun living with the questions for you, I gather.
KIRBY: Well, the questions are the things that make good stories, in my opinion.
PITTS: Getting back to your early years, it must have been tough, coming up in an already-poor neighborhood during the Depression.
KIRBY: And I also made another mistake.
PITTS: What was that?
KIRBY: Being born short.
PITTS: Why was that a mistake?
KIRBY: On the East Side that was a mistake because, well, the big guys beat up on the little guys. But I made up for it, as much as I could, in meanness. And of course, thats very stimulating.
