Jack Kirby was regarded as one of the major innovators of comic books as one of its most prolific and influential creators. He, along with Joe Simon and Stan Lee, created the highly successful superheroes such as Captain America, the Fantastic Four, the X-Men, and the Hulk.

The Lee-Kirby titles garnered high sales and critical acclaim. Called "the William Blake of comics," in 1987 Kirby was one of the three inaugural inductees of the Will Eisner Comic Book Hall of Fame.

Marvel, not entirely happy with the end result of the Prisoner work by Kirby, decided to commission Steve Englehart to write the rest of the comic. He was known for his work for DC, Malibu, Eclipse Comics, Topps, Valiant and Warren Publishing and co-created Shang-Chi Master of Kung Fu for Marvel Comics.