A block of Essex Street in New York City is being renamed Jack Kirby Way, honoring one of the most influential figures in the history of American comics. The campaign was led by Roy Schwartz, and more information is available at JackKirbyWay.com.
The street sign unveiling ceremony is scheduled for Monday, May 11 at 12:00pm, at the corner of Essex and Delancey Streets. The Kirby family, city dignitaries, and a broad cross-section of the comics industry are expected to attend.
The honor is long overdue. Kirby’s impact on the medium is almost impossible to overstate, but his connections to Superman’s world are particularly worth noting: his magnum opus, the New Gods/Fourth World saga, began as a spinoff of “Superman’s Pal, Jimmy Olsen”. Kirby created Darkseid, now one of Superman’s most iconic villains, as well as the Metropolis neighborhood of Southside/Suicide Slum — contributions that have become permanent fixtures of the mythology.
The Essex Street renaming comes just days before the opening of Icons in Ink: The Jewish Comics Experience at the Maltz Museum in Cleveland on May 7, making for a remarkable few weeks for comics history.
