The Legend
As the comics community commemorates Jack Kirby's birthday, here's the cover of what might very well be my favorite Kirby story of all time.
The premise is deceptively simple: in the future after the Great Disaster, Kamandi encounters a tribe of gorillas that worship The Mighty One. Legend tells them that The Mighty One disappeared when bearing the weight of a new continent he created to fill the void created by a destructive quake. The tribe awaits his return, with the stronger gorillas undertaking mighty feats so they can wear the only thing of Superman that remains: his super-suit.
For our purposes, let's set aside the obvious joke that perhaps the reason Superman hadn't returned was his embarrassment over flying around naked. Sure, that's funny, but there's something else going on here.
Think of this tale as a metaphor for the direction of comics--and fictional narrative--itself. Superman starts as a story, bears the weight of our ideals and becomes a symbol--or, in more commercial terms, a legend or mark that anyone can wear so as to associate themselves with what the brand represents. It's one reason you see the occasional superhero tattoo or clothing on this site--the hero has evolved from a narrative subject to a transformative sign. It's a cultural transition that we academics yack about with convoluted verbiage, but Kirby had it all right here in 22 pages 30+ years ago.
Kirby would have just said the equivalent of "Gorillas worshiping Superman. Isn't that cool?"
From what I can tell, he thought and dreamed in myth and metaphor, but he didn't like to analyze it too much. And the more conscious he tried to make it, the more stilted and less resonant it became. I think there's diminishing returns as he went from Galactus to Darkseid to The Eternals to his 2001 comics.