Anyway, here's my take on Jack Kirby.

Jack Kirby is to comic book art what Elvis Presley was to rock and roll. He was the guy who pretty much invented it.

There were others before him that did similar things but didn't quite capture the magic. There were others about the same time who might have been more technically proficient. But in each case (Kirby and Elvis) they had some special, indescribable, mixture of talent, style and that "x" factor to be the artist that made everyone take notice and, therefore, pretty much invented "the language" of their genre.

Both Kirby and Elvis might have declined in their later years but that doesn't diminish their influence on everyone else.

No wonder we call both "the King."