The deadline for a Simon and Kirby project I am working on is approaching. It is a deadline I fully intend to meet. Unfortunately that means I really do not have time for much of a post this week, but I will return next week to more typical postings. However I did not want to leave my visitors without anything to look at…

“The Diary of Dr. Hayward” by Jack Kirby

This is one of the works that Kirby did for the Eisner and Iger studio. I believe it appeared in Jumbo Comics #3 (November 1938) but my scan is from a sales print. The existence of such sales prints indicates that despite Will Eisner later comments, the main objective of the studio he formed with Jerry Iger was to market new syndication strips. Their appearance in titles such as Jumbo Comics was just a means of generating income in the mean time. The Eisner and Iger studio did later provide art specifically created for comic book, most famously for Marvel Mystery #1 Wonder Comics #1.

This particular strip is unusual for Kirby. In most of the work that Jack did for Eisner and Iger the backgrounds were uninked white or used a simple grey tone dot screen. In this case Kirby uses a variety of background inking. It would seem that he is experimenting on the effects of the different techniques. Most of these inking methods would not become part of Kirby’s inking style in the years to come.

Jumbo Comics #1 (September 1938)

Stan Taylor mentioned this gag cartoon that he believed was by Jack Kirby. I have to admit I do not share his opinion, but I thought I would include an image so everyone can see it. Identifying early work by Jack Kirby can be particularly troublesome and opinions can be expected to differ.

Jumbo Comics #1 (September 1938) Jumbo, the mascot

Will Eisner and Jerry Iger teamed up in 1936 or 1937 to become one of the first studios to provide complete comic book packages to publishers. Previously comic books were largely reprint compilations of newspaper syndication strips. Years later Will Eisner said that he believed there would not be enough syndications material available to meet the rising demand for comic books and so there would be a market for new material created specifically for comic books. That may have been true but one of Eisner and Iger’s packages Jumbo Comics #1 (September 1938) published by Fiction House was actually composed of syndication strips. I have no idea on how many of the strips from Jumbo Comics #1 had previously appeared in newspapers but at least some of them had been printed in the British magazine Wags. Others may have truly been new creations but in a format showed that they were meant for syndication strips.

Jumbo Comics certainly lived up to its name as it was printed in what is called tabloid size (10.5 by 14.25 inches). Except for the cover, no color was used. Perhaps to compensate for the lack of color, the paper used came in two tones; one the normal “white” and the other dyed a pinkish color. (I have removed the page color from all images presented in this post.) All pages followed the same format. There would be a title panel that would normally occupy the entire top of the page although sometimes a single story panel might be included. Below would be three or four rows of panels with three panels per row (occasionally two panels would be combined to form a longer one). While there would be three or four pages provided for each title, all pages would have the same format including the title.

Jumbo Comics #1 (September 1938) “Hawks of the Sea” by Will Eisner

Will Eisner was very conscious about the small size of his operation. While Eisner was involved in many aspects in the making of the strips found in Jumbo Comics but, his name appears on none of them. However, in the title “Hawks of the Sea” is credited to Willis Rensie; Rensie is Eisner spell backwards. This is years before his famous work on the Spirit, but here Eisner is already an accomplished comic artist. Note Eisner’s dramatic use of sifting perspective. As we will see, a number of the artists appearing in Jumbo Comics who would later achieve great fame but none of them supplied art at that time with quite the quality as found in “Hawks of the Sea”.

Jumbo Comics #1 (September 1938) “Bobby” by Jerry Iger

“Bobby” is credited to S. M. Iger, but surely that must be an alias for Jerry Iger. Iger was supposed to have been the salesman of the Eisner & Iger partnership, but here he shows how talented artist he was as well. Or it would if we can be sure that this piece was actually done by Jerry. In an interview (The Jack Kirby Collector #16) Eisner said that Iger was not a good artist but he could letter. Was this sour grapes about a former partner or realistic evaluation? I have no way of knowing. It all depends on whether “Bobby” was really done by Iger.

Jumbo Comics #1 (September 1938) “Peter Pupp” by Bob Kane

Bob Kane was a high school friend of Will Eisner, so his presence in Jumbo Comics is not surprising. Batman did not debut until May 1939 so Kane almost certainly did not yet have his studio of ghost artists that he became famous for in later years. I have always found the earliest Batman art, presumably done by Kane, as stiff and rather unappealing. Because of that “Peter Pupp” is quite a surprise. Granted it is of the funny animal and not the hero genre but it shows a suppleness totally absent from Batman. Mickey Mouse would seem to be an obvious inspiration for this strip. I particularly find amusing how the villain’s minion sports Mickey Mouse ears.

Jumbo Comics #1 (September 1938) “The Count of Monte Cristo” by Jack Kirby

Jack Kirby has said that his first published comic book work be for Wild Boy Magazine, although I do not believe anyone has been able to confirm that. The earliest work that can be confirmed is probably “The Count of Monte Cristo” which appeared in the British magazine Wags in March 1938. These Kirby strips were used again in Jumbo Comics #1. The name Jack Kirby was one he adopted later while his birth name was Jacob Kurtzberg but in this strip he signed his name as Jack Curtiss. By any name this was a far cry from the work Jack would do in just a few years. Even though Kirby’s art would progress much further, his art in Jumbo Comics shows that he already was a very gifted artist, better then most of his peers.

Jumbo Comics #1 (September 1938) “The Diary of Dr. Hayward” by Jack Kirby

Jack also drew “The Diary of Dr. Hayward” this time under the name Curt Davis. While “The Count of Monte Cristo” was based on the book by Alenandre Dumas, the Dr. Hayward strip was all new writing. It is hard to be sure, but the plot seems to be similar to those Jack would write later and so I credit the scripting here to Kirby as well. Without the classic trappings of “The Count of Montet Cristo”, Jack seems quite comfortable both in art and script with the more science fiction story of Dr. Hayward. A handsome hero, a mad scientist and body switching it all provides a setting for a morality tale about good versus evil.

Jumbo Comics #1 (September 1938) “Wilton of the West” by Jack Kirby

It would seem two strips were not enough for the already prolific Kirby as he did a western as well but this time without signing it. It is here that we can see that while Kirby had a way to go before he reached his full potential, he already had developed his predilection for slugfests. The smashing blow depicted in panel 6 is done in a manner far from his signature style but it still embodies Kirby’s enthusiasm. He may not have mastered his use of exaggerated perspective but look how Jack has in panel 7 the hero bend at the torso while thrusting his face forward so that no neck is seen. It is the beginnings of a pose that would become Jack’s trademark.

Jumbo Comics #1 (September 1938) “Sheena Queen of the Jungle” by Mort Meskin

Of all the strips present in Jumbo Comics, the most enduring was “Sheena Queen of the Jungle”. It would eventually dominate the long running Jumbo Comic (1938 to 1953) as well as achieving its own title. Sheena even became a television show (1955) and a movie (1984). The title block credits Sheena to W. Morgan Thomas but this was just one of the pseudonyms adopted by Will Eisner to hide the small size of his studio staff. For the Sheena strips in the Jumbo Comics the artist was Mort Meskin as can be seen by the signature in the final panel. This is the earliest published work by Meskin that I am aware of. While not as polished as Will Eisner or Jack Kirby, Mort’s art already has an energy to it. Look how he composes the figures of the armed natives in panel 6 all on the left side of the panel and on the right in panel 8. Over and over in these strips you can see Meskin’s concerns about how to graphically tell a story. It may be the start of his professional career, but Mort already had his own unique vision.

Jumbo Comics #1 (September 1938) “The Hunchback of Notre Dame” by Dick Briefer

It is hard to recognize some of the artists appearing in Jumbo Comics when you are only familiar with their later work. This is especially true with the first strip of “The Hunchback of Notre Dame” by Dick Briefer. What makes this particular strip so unlike some familiar work by Briefer is mainly the detailed pen work so different from the simpler and more fluid inking found much later in Briefer’s Frankenstein. One thing to note is that while the other artists reviewed in this post had adopted a very grid-like panel layout, Dick’s use of caption boxes and panels breaks from that familiar rigid pattern.

Jumbo Comics #1 (September 1938) “The Hunchback of Notre Dame” by Dick Briefer

The fine inking was abandoned immediately after the first strip and the results make it much easier to recognize Briefer’s participation. I choose to use the fifth strip but in terms of technique it does not differ from the second. But what a great page! While Dick is no longer using the same captions he still deviates from a grid panel layout. Note how the fifth panel was extended vertically down into and how the last panel really is two panels in the same boarder separated by a caption.

There are other strips in Jumbo Comics #1 done by talented artists that are unsigned. Considering the pretenses Eisner maintained of a larger shop there is a good possibility that they some were made by Eisner himself deceptively adopting another style. Or perhaps assigning the finishing or inking to a different artist. I am sure Eisner provided direction to all the artists working for him but I am just as certain that did not include laying out the art. Each of the artists reviewed here had their own unique manner of graphically telling the story which would not have been true if they were working from layouts. It is amazing to see so much talent, albeit in its earliest flowering, in one comic book. Jack Kirby would be also included in Jumbo Comics #2 and #3 for his work on “The Diary of Dr. Hayward” and “Wilton of the West”. Mort Meskin would work on “Sheena Queen of the Jungle” even longer (at least until issue #5). Bob Kane and Dick Briefer would also make further appearances. Eventually Jumbo Comics would abandon its oversize format and adopt a more standard comic book content but for a while it was a most unusual comic book.

Joe Simon’s first comic book art was published in January 1940 (cover dates for Keen Detective #17, Daring Mystery #1, and Silver Streak #2). Yet just five months later he was already an editor for Fox Comics. On the face of it this was a rather dramatic rise in his career. Joe was (and still is) a talented artist but during those early days of the comic book industry there were other even more talented artists who never got further then the drawing board.

Some have attributed Joe’s success to having come from a more privilege background. Joe’s family did not live in one of the boroughs of New York City but that does not mean they were well off. Most of the time the family lived in Rochester where Joe’s father, Harry, struggled to support the family. Harry was a tailor by trade but his attempts at union organizing made finding jobs difficult. At one point the family moved to Chicago into a particularly rough neighborhood. Joe tells how at age ten he was in a fight almost every day as other boys tried to take from him what little he had. (Afterwards Harry would examine Joe’s knuckles to verify that he had given a good account of himself.) No there is nothing in Joe Simon’s background to suggest he had some advantage over his contemporaries.

Others have suggested that Joe’s college education was the reason for his quick career rise. One of the originators of this idea was, of all people, Jack Kirby. Jack should have known better. Joe did not attend any college and never received a degree.

Of course it was not just luck that Simon became an editor. Joe was obviously ambitious and a self promoter. One evidence of this can be seen in how Joe made sure to include his signature on much of his early art. Joe was not alone in being ambitious, other artists were as well. Will Eisner started as an artist before quickly seeing an opportunity of starting studio with Jerry Iger. Al Harvey started as an artist before becoming a publisher. But not all artists were so quick to try new opportunities. Perhaps if he had started earlier or had more money, Joe also would have tried setting up a studio but he did apply for the Fox editor position instead. Although not all artists were ambitious as Joe, there must have been some others who applied for the Fox editorial job. The other artist would likely have more experience in the comic book industry then Joe’s 5 short months. How did Joe manage to get the job?

Actually the experience of most, if not all, of Joe’s possible job competitors did not amount to much. It really amounted to having spent more time drawing comic books. Being a good artist, however, really was not a necessary feature of an editor. There were other tasks that an editor would need to do such as providing layouts, putting together an entire book, or interfacing with the printer or publisher. Joe had an edge up on other applicants in some of these other tasks. Previous to entering the comic book industry, Simon spent about seven years as a newspaper staff artist. “Meanwhile”, the Milton Caniff biography by Robert C. Harvey, provides a wonderful examination of his experiences as a staff artist and I am sure Joe’s was not that much different. Yes the job consisted in providing illustrations and such for the paper, but it also doing meant doing layouts, creating decorative embellishments (dingbats) and other similar choirs. It was the experience as a staff artist for a period of seven years that Joe could use to promote himself as a good candidate for the editorial position.

Acton Langslow

My thinking about Joe’s time as a staff artist was brought on by recent work that I have been doing on inventorying Joe’s personal collection. I have previously discussed some of Simon’s newspaper work. Work like sport and fiction illustrations, and political commentary cartoons. Recently I have scanned another aspect of his newspaper career, political portraits. There are 21 portraits all done on stipple board in crayon, ink and white out. Most of them are stamped on the back at the time of delivery. Unfortunately this stamp includes the day but not the year; the dates range from October 1 to 23. Some have names on the front and through the wonders of Google and the Internet I have found some of the names on a site called The Political Graveyard. Those that I have been able to identify are all politicians from Monroe County, New York. It is there fore likely that this was done while Joe was working for the Rochester Journal which according to his book, “The Comic Book Makers”, was from 1932 to 1934.

The above portrait was of Acton Langslow who, according to The Political Graveyard, was a Democrat, Candidate for New York state assembly from Monroe County 1st District in 1935. The two I selected for this post were both Democrats, but there were some Republicans as well.

Francis J. D’Amanda

Another has the name D’Amanda, which based on The Political Graveyard, was Francis J. D’Amanda a Democrat. Candidate for New York state assembly from Monroe County 3rd District, 1928, 1932; candidate for New York state attorney general, 1950; delegate to Democratic National Convention from New York, 1952 (alternate), 1956.

The manner of execution is quite interesting. The crayon (by this term I am referring to artist crayon, not those used by children) is used in a very loose manner with distinctive individual marks by the crayon. The hair and ties are done in ink using a brush with the ties being particularly rough. Yet when the original art is shrunk down in size, as it would have been for publication, the rough mannerisms disappear into an almost photographic representation. It was quite a performance by an artist who, if my dates are correct, was just out of high school.

Despite what has been said by what would normally be considered reliable sources such as Jack Kirby, Joe Simon did not go to college. Instead Joe used what experience he gained during his high school years to get himself a job after graduation as an artist assistant for the Rochester Journal American. Later he would go on to work for the Syracuse Herald. Much of what Simon learned during his time as a newspaper staff artist would serve him well during his career. The skill he developed with the air brush (for retouching photographs) would be used years later for creating the covers for Sick (a Mad-clone humor magazine). Joe became quite proficient in all manners of things needed in the publication of art. I am sure that this experience had a lot to do with why Joe was able to advance so quickly when he later entered the comic book industry.

Sport Illustration by Joe Simon (1934)

However Simon’s experience was not limited to production, he would provide illustrations as well. Much of this was sports illustrations such as the example I provide above. This piece, as well as most of Joe’s sport illustrations, was done on stipple board. These boards had a textured surface that allowed pencils to be easily transferred to printing plates. The art was created in a size larger then the intended published version, with measurements provided in terms of the number of columns. Joe says that at the time a column was two inches wide. The above illustration therefore would be 10 inches wide in the actual newspaper. This piece originally had two paste-ups added, one of which has since been lost. The art on the remaining paste-up does not appear to be Joe’s work.

Political Cartoon by Joe Simon

According to Greg Theakston (The Complete Jack Kirby) and even Joe himself (The Comic Book Maker), sport illustrations were pretty much all that Simon did. However Joe’s own collection indicates that was not the case, Joe did political cartoons as well. In the example I provide above (a four column or eight inch piece) Joe takes on a local political issue. I have no idea what the “Paper Ballot ‘Referendum’” is all about, but there is little doubt that Simon had a low opinion of the portrayed politician. The windmill brings to mind the futile quest from Don Quixote. Our politician will fare no better since he is on a rocking horse, but I love the way Joe cannot resist providing a very animated horse’s head. The council is degraded even further, being depicted as a Charlie McCarthy dummy under the politician’s control.

Political Cartoon by Joe Simon

Some of the other political cartoons still in Joe’s personal collection concern Daylight Savings Time. Apparently Syracuse was one of the few local communities not to adopt the time change. Joe depicts a parade being viewed by the public. A small group of Daylight Time supporters proudly march together, each individual representing a different New York locality. Syracuse trails behind, out of step and goofy looking. There can be little doubt that Joe was calling to Syracuse to adopt the Daylight Savings Time.

Fiction Illustration by Joe Simon

If we can use his collection to judge by, Joe did do a fair amount of political cartoons, just not as many as his sports illustrations. Joe Simon also at least occasionally contributed illustrations for fictional pieces. I must admit I am a little surprised at this. I was well aware that previously newspapers would often include fictional stories but I had thought that practice had been discontinued by the time Joe was doing newspaper work. Joe used a different media for this work, the three examples from his collection were all done using ink, gouache and, in the case above, some watercolor on illustration board. Because the result is more painterly, more effort must have been made to prepare them for printing. Perhaps they were used in a magazine insert were higher quality photographs would also be used. As in pulp magazines, these fictional illustrations would often include a caption. The board for the above illustration has on it in Joe’s handwriting:

“IT’S VERY SIMPLE” MARTIN SAID, “I’M GOING TO MARRY LYNN”

Fiction Illustration by Joe Simon

The first example of fiction illustrated that I provided was done in a style that is unusual for Simon. The second example that I show above, as well as another work in Joe’s collection, are immediately recognizable as Simon pieces. Despite the difference in media, the characters look very much like those in Joe Simon’s early comic book work. Not only that but in these two pieces Joe also used his own features for one of the men in the scene. Perhaps it is just a coincidence, but in each case it was as the man whose quick draw gains control of the situation. In an earlier post I had suggested that Bill Everett was the source for a technique that Joe adopted of combining eyebrows and eyelids as one angular feature. This illustration work shows that I was wrong, Joe was already using pretty much the same technique before starting his comic book career. Regrettably there is no caption on the above illustration. Still I think we can be pretty certain that our quick drawing cowboy is the hero of the piece. Despite some pretty badly drawn hands, it is a exciting piece of art. Perhaps not as polished as other illustrators might do, but just the sort of thing that work well when Joe began doing comic books. The published piece would have looked a bit different. Simon marked with penciled ‘X’s the background, the counter top and parts of the center man’s jacket. This is a indication to the printer to fill theses areas with black.

Joe thought he did these fiction illustrations in the mid ’30’s, at which time he would have been in his early 20’s. That is a little surprising since Joe’s character in the paintings looks older. This might suggest that this work was actually done in the late ’30’s. Or it just might be that Joe purposely or unconsciously added a little weight to the face giving it an older look.

All indications are that Joe was doing quite well in his career as a newspaper artist. However there was a change going on with local papers were being bought up and consolidated. That included the one Joe worked for, and so he was out of a job. I suppose Simon could have moved and tried to get work in another community’s paper. However there was a shrinking supply of such possibilities and increasing number of competitors for the jobs. But I think more important was that Joe was ambitious. So he moved to New York and, as they say, the rest was history.

Art by Joe Simon, Chapter 1, In The Beginning

Art by Joe Simon, Appendix 6, Amazing Man #10