By the late 1930s, the American comic industry was booming, and Jack Kirby decided to enter the business. He performed freelance work for a few different comic companies before settling into a partnership with the writer-editor Joe Simon. After some initial successes, the duo was hired by Timely Comics, which would later become Marvel, per Britannica. In 1940, while at Timely, the pair created the now-famous hero Captain America, who was an immediate commercial success.
But Kirby and Simon were unsatisfied with the pay rate at Timely, so they negotiated a contract with National Comics Publications (later called DC) which would pay them much more. They did so in secret, however, hoping to continue to profit from their work on Captain America. But, per a biography by Ronin Ro, their betrayal was discovered and they were fired by Timely.
After just a couple years at National Comics, Jack Kirby's work was interrupted — he had been drafted to fight in World War II. According to Ronin Ro, Kirby's art skills were put to good use during the war; he was tasked with the dangerous job of scouting out towns and drawing maps for the army to use.
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