The Romance of Money (1937) page 1 (cover), art by Jack Kirby

Early in his career Jack Kirby was employed by Lincoln News. There Jack worked on a number of strips for syndication but he also did the art for a give-away to be used by banks, “The Romance of Money”. Since this publication has a 1937 copyright date, some have designated it as Kirby’s first comic book work. Well I guess it all depends what the reader’s definition of a comic book is. “The Romance of Money” is a small book (5 by 6.5 inches) that is just a little larger then half the size of a normal comic book. It is only 24 pages long including the covers. The cover and all interior pages are printed on the same type of paper. The paper is not newsprint, has a nice white color and is a heavier stock then what is found in a typical comic book. The interior of the book is printed in black and white while the front and back covers also include a single color, cyan.

The Romance of Money (1937) page 5, art by Jack Kirby

The subject of this book is, not surprisingly, money. The approach taken is very similar to the old Ripley’s Believe it or Not comic strips. Except for the covers, each page presents a number of related subjects. Despite the presence of a H. T. Elmo signature, Jack Kirby did all the artwork. Horace T. Elmo was not an alias of Jack’s but rather the owner of Lincoln News. Art with his signature appears in both pocket books and comics up to at least 1957. Most of what I have seen are gag cartoons. However considering how Elmo signed work actually done by Kirby, I would be cautious about attributing to him any of the art with his signature.

The Romance of Money (1937) page 19, art by Jack Kirby

The inking in ROM is incredibly detailed, particularly considering the small size of the publication. The Elmo signature is so small that I suspect that originally a larger sized book was planned. I have never seen a comic book printed with such fine lines although I have seen numerous cases where even less detailed work failed to print properly. Either a letter press was not used or the printer was particularly skilled. The higher quality of the paper compared to that normally used in comics may have helped as well. Frankly the fine pen work is uncharacteristic of Kirby and raises the question as to whether Jack did the inking. At this point in his career it is hard to believe that Kirby would have been given the luxury of only providing the pencils. On the other hand the inking is rather poor in some places (for instance the portrait of Charles Dickens on page 19). My belief is that this is in fact Jack’s inking but he was inexperienced with the fine pen work that he was attempting (perhaps at the direction of H. T. Elmo).

The Romance of Money (1937) page 6, art by Jack Kirby

Most of the work Jack did for Lincoln News had cartoon-like imagery which can sometimes be hard to relate to his later comic book work. The more realistic style used in “The Romance of Money” makes for easier comparisons with the work from much of Jack’s career then the rest of what Jack did for Lincoln News. While Kirby had a long way to go some of his stylistic traits can already be detected. Note for example the wide strides of the running couple in the bottom scene of page 6.

The Romance of Money (1937) page 13, art by Jack Kirby

“The Romance of Money” was republished in 1942 using the same artwork. I understand that the older and later versions can be distinguished by the cover but I have heard two reports of how this can be done. One is that 1942 version used red ink for the color instead of cyan. The other explanation is that the 1942 issue uses colored paper for the cover. Unfortunately I am unable to say which explanation, if any, is the correct one.

The Romance of Money (1937) page 23, art by Jack Kirby

Jumbo Comics #2 (October 1938) ”Jest Laffs”

A few posts ago I present the image of the gag cartoon of a burglar from Jumbo Comics #1. Kirby scholar Stan Taylor had suggested that it may have been done by Jack Kirby. The cartoon was from page called Jest Laffs. Jest Laffs also appears in Jumbo Comics #2 and two of the cartoons there look like they were done by the same artist as the burglar from JC #1. There are a number of features that are shared, some more important then others. The use of darker regions with a raggy edge or the way the mouth is often placed off to the side of the face. I find the manner of depicting the nose and ears to be particularly interesting. It is in minor details like that individual artists often provide distinct mannerisms.

Jumbo Comics #2 (Octoer 1938) ”Jest Laffs”

While the Jest Laffs page in JC #1 provides no credits, the title in JC #2 gives a Bob Kane attribution. There are other gags in the Jest Laffs page in both issues that are done in other styles. This could mean they were actually done by other artists. Or it could mean that Bob Kane adapted his style to one appropriate for the particular gag. After all Kane’s Peter Pupp, also in Jumbo Comics, was very done in a different style than his Batman.

I do not know enough about Bob Kane’s work to say whether any of it shows the same distinctive ears and noses found in the gag cartoons. It does not show up in Peter Pupp but that could just be due to the different nature between Peter Pupp and Jest Laffs. I have also examined much of Jack Kirby’s early cartoon work and could not find those distinctive ears and noses in any of it; including the one Jack did of a burglar.

For me this does not provide a definitive answer to the question of who did these particular gag cartoons but it does mean the Bob Kane should be considered along with Jack Kirby. Jack Kirby only appeared in the first three issues of Jumbo Comics. Although I have seen later issues, I was not examining them in relation to this question. If there are issues later then JC #3 with Jest Laffs gags that share the same traits then I doubt that Jack Kirby would have been the artist, if they stop with JC #3 then that would be another piece of evidence that they were done by Jack.

I recently wrote about Joe Simon’s newspaper career (Joe Simon, Editor) and earlier as well (Joe Simon as a Newspaper Staff Artist). I discussed how Joe did more then just sport illustrations. I never expected that someone would actually check to see if I was right. But that is exactly what Ger Apeldoorn did and he posted his initial results on his blog (previously called Those Fabulous Fifties, but now apparently unnamed). He is using microfiche copies of the Syracuse Herald, a search I also mean to do if I can ever find the time.

I am all for preserving old newspapers with techniques such as microfiche otherwise much would be lost about the history of our culture. Even so the quality leaves much to be desired. Ger attributed one illustration dated December 13, 1936 to Joe but could not find his signature. Was that because it was removed before publication, or has it been obscured by scratches on the microfiche film? In this case we are fortunate because Joe still has the original art in his collection. Ger may not have needed a signature to recognize Simon’s hand, but it is always nice to have confirmation.

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.