Superman is a character with few villains who can match him in power. Luthor uses intellect and advanced science, Brainiac uses science again. The Parasite was a match if he could leech off Superman's power. After that, you have tricksters (Toyman, Puzzler), gimmicks (Metallo) or magic (Mxyzptlk). Darkseid was one of the first villains that presented a physical threat to Superman, and might actually be more powerful (lots of room for debate there). Also, Darkseid is an interesting psychological opponent for Superman and true oppostites from a moral stance. The best villains are the counterparts of the hero: Luthor is intellect to Superman's physical power, Darkseid is amoral terror against Superman's altruism and hope.
As for Kirby, I went through a period where I wasn't impressed with his work, though mostly from the 70's. His figure work got blockier and his books were strange, though I later read how he was heavily sabotaged by jealous individuals at Marvel, in that period. At DC, he was just too different from the norm and he was never really given his fair shake. He was committed to a deal that required so many finished pages per month, so he had to produce other work when his books were cancelled, with less than stellar stuff towards the end. However, his concepts were so ahead of their time it took about 20 years for creative people to begin to really utilize those characters to their fullest. However, if you look at Kirby from the mid60's to the early 70's, it's some powerful stuff. His collages are something to behold and his designs are beyond most imaginations.
To my mind, Kirby's best work at DC is Mister Miracle, followed by the other 4th World books (New Gods, Jimmy Olsen, and Forever People, in that order). I like OMAC far better than Forever People. Kamandi is very popular, but I never read any of it, same with Demon. I enjoyed the Newsboy Legion in Jimmy Olsen, though the dialogue could get tiresome. Their original stories from the 40's were good, for their time.
At Marvel, Kirby shines on the Fantastic Four and Thor, for creativity, and Captain America for action (though FF was right up there on that note). Stan created nothing alone, Kirby was heavily involved in plotting everything he drew. Stan's best work was always inconjunction with an artist who could plot their stories alone, like Kirby and Ditko. Stan's writing method didn't work quite as well with Don Heck or Herb Trimpe, which is why he often pawned off those books to his brother Larry. Romita and Buscema were other artists who worked well with Stan, as did Gene Colan.
Kirby's work in the 40's is well beyond everyone else, in terms of storytelling and dynamic action, with a few exceptions (Mort Meskin, Reed Crandall, Will Eisner, Lou Fine).
Where Kirby's work suffers is when he dialogues his own work. It was not his strongpoint. His later work suffered with age and vision problems. if you want to see Kirby at his best, try these: Captain America 1-10 (early Kirby, but getting a handle on figures and action), Sandman and Boy Commandos at DC (again, 1940's, recently reprinted), Fighting American (great satire from the 50's), Challengers of the Unknown (Kirby is starting to strut his stuff here, at DC, and it would heavily inform the early FF stories), Fantastic Four , from the 40's up to the end (Kirby was really cooking here), Avengers #4 and Tales of Suspense (Kirby returns to Captain America), Journey into Mystery/Thor (more great mythological stuff), 4th World books at DC (check out the Omnibus volumes), OMAC (brilliant weirdness), Eternals (best of his 70's Marvel) and maybe Destroyer Duck (there were personal vendettas going on there, though).
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