This summer is going to be hot at the Skirball Cultural Center with two new exhibitions. The first will feature the works of Jack Kirby and his six-decade career of legendary comics, illustrations, and fine art. Many of the works will be on display for the first time. Jack Kirby: Heroes and Humanity traces his experiences as a soldier fighting on the beaches of Normandy to becoming a successful commercial artist and mentor to a generation of younger comic creators. Kirby left high school at age 16 and worked on Betty Boop and Popeye cartoons in Max Fleischer’s animation studio before teaming up with fellow artist Joe Simon in 1941. Working for Timely (later Marvel) Comics, the pair created Captain America, a star-spangled super-soldier who quickly became the publisher’s most popular character. 

By the late 1950s Kirby had found steady work with National (later DC) Comics and then with Marvel (known later as Atlas Comics). He started on western and monster titles which boosted sales for the struggling publisher. In 1961 Marvel editor Stan Lee outlined the story of an ill-fated trip into space and its super-heroic consequences. That collaboration between writer and artist resulted in The Fantastic Four. Kirby and Lee found success with everyman characters whose failures and flaws resonated with readers. Highlights will include Captain America Comics #1, X Men #7, Avengers #1, Darkshield, and Black Panther. Additionally, there is a series of unpublished works including collages, oversized watercolor ofThe Dream Machine and illustrations of his wartime experiences. Jack Kirby: Heroes and Humanity runs May 1 through March 1, 2026.

Away in the Catskills: Summers, Sour Cream, and Dirty Dancing by Marisa J. Futernick,will be showing May 1 through August 31, 2025. The horrors and highlights of family summer vacations are universal. Everyone can relate to the memories of these shared, but separate, vacation experiences. Futernick’s are no different, except that the world got a glimpse of the “Borscht Belt” vacations through movies like Dirty Dancing and the TV series The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel. 

Catskills sifts through the artist’s real and imagined memories of midcentury family vacations at Jewish resorts in New York’s Catskill Mountains. Through multimedia works incorporating photography, text, and video, many created specifically for this exhibition and on view for the first time, Futernick juxtaposes her mother’s and grandmother’s strong feelings of Jewish community, Catskills experiences, and her own search for a deeper sense of belonging. 

For more details for Jack Kirby, click here. For Catskills, click here.