Jack Kirby and the Power of Comics
A comic book can make a still drawing feel full of motion. A figure leaps across a page, a door bursts open, or a close-up shows a face frozen in surprise. Artist Jack Kirby helped make this kind of visual storytelling exciting for generations of readers.
Kirby was born Jacob Kurtzberg on August 28, 1917, in New York City. He grew up in a busy neighborhood on Manhattan’s Lower East Side. As a young person, he loved to draw and worked to improve his art. He later used the professional name Jack Kirby. His birthday is still a chance for readers and artists to remember his contributions to comics.
Comics tell stories through a sequence of pictures. Each picture, or panel, shows a moment. When readers move from one panel to the next, they imagine some of the action that happens between them. An artist might show a person reaching for a door in one panel and stepping into a room in the next. Readers understand that the door was opened, even if that action was not shown.
- contributions:
- Things someone does that help achieve or improve something.
- sequence:
- A series of things arranged in a particular order.
- dramatic:
- Striking or exciting in a way that catches attention.
- arrangement:
- The way things are placed or organized.
- pace:
- The speed at which something moves or happens.
- influence:
- The power to affect how others think or create.
- expressive:
- Showing thoughts or feelings clearly.
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Main Idea
Identify the central idea and explain how important details develop it.
Context Clues
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Summarize
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Purpose
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Structure
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Writing Prompts
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Preview questions from this passageShowHide
- 1What is the main idea of the passage, and which detail supports it?
- 2How do readers understand actions that happen between comic panels?
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About this explanatory article passage for Upper Elementary
“Jack Kirby and the Power of Comics” is a explanatory article reading passage about Comic book art and storytelling, written for Upper Elementary. It takes about 3 minutes to read (454 words) and comes with an interactive quiz and a printable worksheet with comprehension questions and an answer key.