Do you want to know why I’m putting Kirby dots (sometimes known as Kirby crackle) as our first entry in Why I Heart Comics?
Because Kirby Dots are like foreshadowing that something awesome is going to happen.
Kirby dots are named after Jack Kirby, perhaps one of the most influential comic artists ever, of all gifts that Mr. Kirby has given to the medium; Kirby dots are one of the coolest (and let’s be honest here, Kirby has gifted many techniques and styles to sequential art.) Kirby created/discovered the power of simply arranging black spots to achieve an illusion of power even greater than he or anyone else had achieved before.
This technique has been aped by many creators since Kirby (Mike Mignola’s Hellboy – a character whose style and content owes much to Jack Kirby – uses the dots to great effect.)
For me, whenever I see traces of Kirby Krackle I know that something awesome is about to happen, and to be honest – isn’t that why we read comics in the first place?
For more information on the Kirby Crackle/Dots check out:
Kracklin’ Kirby: Tracing the advent of Kirby Krackle by Shane Foley, from Jack Kirby Collector #33 (Nov. 2001)
