I think you misunderstood my comment about it being “misleading” to describe Captain Daring and the second part of the Comet Pierce story. All your arguments are good points to a Comet Pierce story being the source for the Captain Daring story. But they are simply two seperate stories, not a two parter. Comet Pierce was meant to be a continuing feature, as were all the early sci-fi stories that Kirby did. But all are seperate and complete stories. This is not the same thing as a serial story line which is what I find misleading about calling Captain Daring the second part of the story.

As I said in the early period of comics it was common that the artist would also be the letterer. So I am not at all surprised that Kirby did this. But it then becomes the question of who did the inking or the writing and I do not think that knowing the letterer helps with that. To make a judgement about the inker you look at the inking and similarly for the writing. As my post indicates I feel that at least some of the inking in the Prize stories was done by Joe while Jack was completely responsible for the Captain Daring inking. The writing of Captain Daring seems, even after the rewrites, to be Jack. But for the Prize the writing seems more like Captain America where I believe Joe was involved in the writing.

I am not at all surprised with the lack of a Simon and Kirby byline for the Prize features. After all they probably did not want to draw attention of Timely to their moonlighting. Sure they do not have Simon and Kirby credits, but they do not have a Kirby credit either. That does mean Kirby did not work on them so why should it exclude Simon?

Harry

One of the more obvious connections is the use of “sun engines” in both stories. In the Comet Pierce story, the girl rewards Comet by giving him a “sun engine” for his ship, which allows him to speed past the other competitors and win a race. In the Captain Daring, he uses the “sun engines” to manuever around the slower ships of the villain.

The story was obviously reworked. There are panels with Kirby’s lettering, and some with another hand involved, sometimes in the same word balloon. In one panel, you can see where the name Captain Daring is squeezed into a much too small space.

As for the lettering, I can’t say one way or the other, but I think it’s a telling pattern. Why wasn’t there a Simon/Kirby credit, or any sign of Simon helping out with the lettering, or at least Howard Ferguson, who Simon was using for Blue Bolt, and Captain America? Doesn’t mean that Simon wasn’t working in other areas. Maybe writing and some inking. I can’t say.

Stan

As I said in my post, Captain Daring could easily be a remake of a Comet Pierce or a Solar Legion story. So your theory of it as originally being meant for Red Raven #2 is quite possible. Another thing that supports it is there was a small alien in Comet Pierce and in one panel of Captain Daring there was someone of very small size, although he has a helmit on so you cannot tell if he is an alien. However describing Captain Daring as the second part of the Comet Pierce story is a little misleading. The Comet Pierce story from RR #1 was complete. Except for the hero and heroine, which were pretty generic for all Kirby’s early sci-fi, and possibly the small alien, none of the characters from Captain Daring are common to Comet Pierce.

Many thanks on your take on who did what lettering wise. It was pretty common early in the history of comic books for the artist to also do the lettering. But I think it has little bearing on whether Simon was involved in the Prize stories. I believe that only by comparing the writing itself is it possible to even make a educated guess on who might have been involved in the writing.

Harry

As usual, great job! The scans are fantastic. The Captain Daring story was originally the second part of the Comet Pierce story that began in Red Raven #1. Much like how the Mercury story in RR #1 morphed into Hurricane when published months later in Captain America #1, Comet Pierce became Capt. Daring. The change from a futuristic sci-fi story to a modern day War story was rather odd.
I am positive that these were originally planned for Red Raven #2, and when that was cancelled, the inventory was reused and reworked in later comics. There were also second stories of most of the other characters found in Red Raven #1 which appeared in various comics months later. Strangely enough, the only character from Red Raven #1 that didn’t have a second story appear somewhere was the title character.

As for whether some of these Kirby drawn stories were done as solo work, or Simon/Kirby collaborations, I can’t prove one way or the other, but I wonder if the lettering might provide a clue.

The 2 titles that we know were done in partnership with Joe, Blue Bolt, and Fiery Mask were lettered by Joe Simon, and in the case of Blue Bolt, the later stories (4-10) were lettered by Howard Ferguson.
The solo Kirby stories in Red Raven #1 were lettered by Jack Kirby. The Black Owl, and Ted O’Neil stories were lettered by Jack Kirby. The Tuk and Hurricane story were lettered by Jack Kirby. The new Lone Rider strips were lettered by Kirby.
The Mister Scarlet story in WOW #1 was lettered by Kirby….and the first 5-6 Vision stories were lettered by Kirby, and then Ferguson took over, coincidently the same month as Captain America #1 with inking by Ferguson.

Joe Simon also lettered the Red Raven story. Have no clue who lettered the Captain Marvel book.

Stan