Daring Adventures #17 (1964) by Ross Andru and Mike Esposito?

I guess one theme of this post, at least for me, is what was I thinking? When I did my original serial post on the Art of Joe Simon, I stated that I believed Joe did the covers for Daring Adventure #10 to #17. At that time I had only seen (and restored) the cover to DA #15, but Joe had also included DA #16 in his book “The Comic Book Makers”. But I had only seen DA #9, 10, 11, 12, 17 and 18 on GCD. The images they provide are not the highest quality (it would almost seem they have a policy of excluding restored covers). Apparently I could see enough to exclude #9 and 18 from being Joe’s work. But for some reason I thought that #10, 11 and 17 might be, I just cannot remember what that reason was. After I had a chance to restore DA #12 and 16 I posted that I no longer sure that #11 and 17 were by Joe but that I wanted think about it some more (apparently I had already excluded DA #10). Well I thought some more, but I can really find nothing in DA #11 or 17 to suggest that they were Simon’s creations.

I decided to restore DA #17 anyway as I thought it might make an interesting comparison to Joe’s work at that time. Similar comparisons could be made to DA #11. The GCD attributes both of these covers to penciling by Ross Andru and inking by Mike Esposito. I am familiar with Andru’s romance work during the 50’s because some of it appeared in the Prize comics that Simon and Kirby produced. I am not knowledgeable about Andru’s later or superhero work. So I have used the GCD attribution above, with a question mark not because I think it is wrong but because I just do not know enough to make a judgment. In the rest of this post I will assume the pencil artist really was Andru. I would greatly appreciate it if there is anyone reading this who feels they are familiar enough with Ross Andru’s work to give an opinion.

Daring Adventures #17 “Riddle of Toys” (reprint) by Mac Raboy
Larger Image

The first think that strikes one about DA #17 compared to Simon’s DA covers it how good the figure drawing is in DA #17. It is not that Joe is a bad figure artist, it is just that at least here Andru seems so much better. Really nice form and although the anatomy is not completely accurate the short comings really do not distract from overall affect, quite the contrary. It is a bit hard to imagine a real figure under Falstaff’s cloths. The legs are too widely separated and there does not seem to be enough room in the torso for both hips and chests. But to me these are really not truly “errors”. With these sort of distortions Ross has presented a truly marvelous and intimidating villain. Although the cover Falstaff is clearly based on the character for the reprinted story inside the comic, the Andru has created an even better version. That is no small compliment because the story was drawn by Mac Raboy, one of the greatest of the golden age artists. The Green Lama is not quite as impressive but his slimmer figure is appropriate for this particular hero. There is one unfortunate change, the Green Lama’s original hood has been modified to a face mask. That by itself is not so bad, but Ross leaves the back of the hood as a small bump which gives the hero a rather ridiculous look.

Although based on this cover I would believe that Andru was a better figure drawer then Simon, when it comes to the composition or design of the cover the reverse is true. There are some rare exceptions, but in general Joe does an very good job of laying out his covers. In DA #17 notice how all the toys in the background are scattered around the the main characters. Although this “clutter” might be more realistic, it detracts from the antagonists and the story the cover is trying to present. Joe seems much more sensitive to where he places secondary features and he makes sure that the action is well placed. Raboy’s splash shows how this could be done. Notice how the toys almost ring about villains while the Green Lama flies in as if toward a target. With all the toys you would think the image should be cluttered, but with careful arrangement it not only do the toys not detract but actually direct the eye.

As I mentioned above, Falstaff by himself is a well done threatening villain. But the pose adopted by the Green Lama is rather unfortunate. Because of him I always feel the two are dancing rather then about to enter a fight. What is the hero supposed to be doing? Whatever it is meant to be, it just is not properly done. Again this is the sort of mistake that you rarely see Joe Simon fall into.

The Spirit #12 (1963) by Joe Simon

Super Comics published reprints of comic stories. Producers of comics that had fallen on hard times could sell the plates to Isreal Waldman at what I am sure was a low price. In the “The Comic Book Makers” Joe Simon describes selling Mainline titles to Waldman and the buyer’s concern with just getting the plates and his lack of interest in the copyrights. That must have also been true with whatever deal Eisner made since Will always kept the copyrights to the Spirit (except for a period where he did his wartime military service).

Although the contents of Super Comics were reprints the covers were new. I have to admit when I saw this cover in Joe’s book I thought Simon was taking liberties with the Spirit character. The Spirit attacking a mad scientist and his robots seem to me to be a little out of character for Eisner’s feature. But the comic does have such a story inside. I guess I have been biased by my reading of DC reprints of the Spirit. By the way these are absolutely the best books of comic reprints that have ever been produced. DC is doing a fantastic job, I just wish more archives were done that way. Most unfortunately still continue to use glossy paper and overly bright colors. However the Spirit Archives have not reached the final years. I know Wally Wood ghosted for Will on some Spirit adventures in space. So I suppose that this story is also a late one with a story line different from the earlier years that I am familiar with from reading the archives. Anyway Joe did take some liberties, there is no fight scene in the story quite like the one on the cover. I love the way Joe has turned the robot eyes into headlamps that provide a spotlight on the Spirit. Also Joe changes the arm stumps of the robots in the story to more manlike hands which gives them a much more menacing affect. I am less thrilled with the visor Joe has provided the villain with. And what is the significance of the large eye on the instrument’s CRT?

The Spirit #12 (1963) by Will Eisner

This post is not only a post of an example of some solo work by Joe, it is also an Alternate Take post, only this time with Simon not Kirby as the cover artist. But the splash page for the story was probably originally a cover for the newspaper comic book insert. Will Eisner was the master when it came to cover/splash designs. He was always changing the logo and often provided designs the integrated the logo with the art. Although this splash is more of a composition then a design it is still wonderfully done. The empty background brings all attention to the figure of the villain dropping his army of robots. A low viewpoint allows the robot formations to still seem threatening despite their small size. Notice how most of the figure is in shadow, this allows the falling robots to really standout. While Joe gave an exciting fight scene, Will was more subtle and using just visual effects provided a threat. I am no scholar on Will Eisner, for instance I have trouble distinguishing some of the ghosting Lou Fine did on the Spirit during the war from Will’s art. Still this splash looks very much like Eisner’s work to me.

The Spirit #12 (1963) by unidentified artist

Although I am convince Will Eisner was responsible for the splash, the rest of the story looks like someone else was ghosting for Will.

Art by Joe Simon, Appendix 5, Harvey Hits #12

Art by Joe Simon, Chapter 1, In The Beginning

Daring Adventure #16 (1964) by Joe Simon

Another cover that Joe Simon did for the reprint title Daring Adventure. Joe describes selling former Mainline titles to Isreal Waldman in his book “The Comic Book Makers”. From his description you would think that Super Comics would do rather cheap productions. Actually the comics I have seen were well done. Some of the interior stories are by great artists and in full color. But the covers are not reprints but original art produced for the various titles. Despite the fact that Joe did a number of these covers I do not think he did any covers for titles that included the Mainline features Joe sold to Waldman.

DA #16 shows Dynamic Man attaching an officer (general?) being tied up and threatened by little green men. A fire is present so I suspect the general will also be tortured. This is all being done within sight of some tents and a plane. The flags indicate that this is a US base, but where are the soldiers to protect this unfortunately officer? But no matter, the Dynamic Man jumps in to save the day. A literal interpretation of this enactment would indicate that Dynamic Man is leaping past his adversaries. But as we have seen before, for example in the cover for Target #10 (November 1940), that Simon would position the hero more to improve his prominence then to provide accurate portrayal. Judging from the interior story, Joe has made some mistakes on Dynamic Man’s costume. The gloves are wrong and the boots have the Captain America type of folding over at their tops. But the most glaring discrepancy is due to the colorist, not Joe. Joe provides the proper shorts for Dynamic Man but the colorist has painted the legs blue not flesh color.

This is not a bad cover, just not as interesting as DA #12 or DA #15. I have not seen the covers for DA #13 and #14 but coming between known Simon covers one might suspect that Joe did them also. I had previously felt that Joe also did DA #11 and DA #17 covers. But having restored DA #12, #15 and #16 I am not so sure. I will post on DA #11 and #17 later when I had a chance to think about them some more.

Art by Joe Simon, Appendix 2, Daring Adventures #12

Art by Joe Simon, Appendix 5, Harvey Hits #12

Daring Adventures #12, (1963) by Joe Simon

If we exclude work done for the humor magazine Sick, Joe Simon’s comic book work is rather modest compared to that of Jack Kirby. Although very incomplete, the Checklist I provide is only about a couple of pages long while The Jack Kirby Checklist has 90 pages of fine print. Yes I believe some of the work in the Kirby Checklist was really done by Simon but even in my most generous estimate that still would be a miniscule fraction of Jack’s output. But to achieve correct attributions it is not enough to recognize Jack’s style, one must also be able to spot Joe’s mannerisms as well. This is particularly important because Joe frequently adopted Kirby trademarks. Because there is not that much solo Simon work I thought it would be useful to extend my previous serial blog “The Art of Joe Simon” with appendices that provide further examples of solo Simon art.

Daring Adventures #12 appeared sometime in 1963. This comic title contained reprinted stories, this issue features the Phantom Lady. But even though the stories were reprints the covers were new. Although unsigned issue #12 was obviously done by Joe Simon. Joe appears to have worked on the entire cover, including designing the logo. The same logo, using different coloring, appears on issues Daring Adventures #15 and #16 for which Joe also did the cover art.

The cover art is more then just a scene composition, it is a complete design. The “The Great Stamp Robbery” is introduced by placing the story title and an image of the Phantom Lady on a stamp. Included on the stamp is a caption “Action Series” in case the young readers were not familiar with this heroine. The whole stamp is made with the fine lines of zip tones and the coloring is subdued. The physically of the stamp is revealed by the lavender shadow that it casts, surprisingly on a tilted background.

In front of the stamp, in bold inking and strong coloring are two figures. One, the hero, provides a solid slug to the other who falls backward. I am unclear why a male hero was used on a cover for a comic devoted to Phantom Lady. Giving Joe’s working method and Kirby’s excelling at this sort of slugfest, one would expect that these figures were swiped from Jack. However the pose of the left figure is extreme even for Jack. A similar extremely wide stride appears on the logo to the Harvey Fighting American but that pose is given to the flying slugged figure. Since that Harvey comic was published in 1966 it does not help in providing the source for the figure on this Daring Adventures cover. I cannot provide any Kirby prototype for this example but I wonder if there truly is a single source. Perhaps this figure is a composite, the torso from a Kirby slugging figure and the legs from a running one. Therefore the left figure is quite possibly not a close swipe. The figure on the right is handled so well that although I cannot provide a source for it either I strongly suspect it was a more close swipe from Jack. The figure is falling back, away from the viewer. That manner seemed more common early in Kirby’s career so I would suspect an early source.

The portrayal of the Phantom Lady is a bit stiff but otherwise this is marvelous work by Joe from a period after the Simon and Kirby breakup. The design is really well done and shows Joe has not lost his touch with this sort of approach.

Art by Joe Simon, Chapter 13, Wrap Up

Art by Joe Simon, Appendix 4, Daring Adventure #16

When I started this serial post on Joe Simon’s art, I outlined for myself what topics I was going to cover. Initially my plan was to end about the time of the Simon and Kirby breakup. I wanted to avoid the final part of Joe’s career as a comic artist because frankly I do not have a very good handle on all of it. But in the end I have decided to discuss what little I know and admit my ignorance. Joe writes about this part of his career in his book “The Comic Book Makers”. But if you are not careful, it is easy to come away from a reading of what he says with the idea that this was an unimportant part of his career. The fact is the covers Joe drew after the breakup of Simon and Kirby outnumbers what he did earlier.

Young Romance v14 n5 (August 1961) by Joe Simon (signed)

With the exception of one publication (Sick), most of what Joe did after S&K was unsigned and for low budget titles. Outside of Sick, the above Young Romance cover is the only signed late work by Joe Simon that I am aware of. Joe was the editor for some of the Prize comics (Young Love, Young Romance and Black Magic) towards the end of those titles. In Chapter 9 of “The End of Simon and Kirby” I had included an image of another of Joe’s Prize work Young Love #77 (August 1960). As I said in the beginning of this post I do not have a very good handle of Joe’s style, that is particularly true with these romances. I believe there are other Young Love and Young Romance covers by Joe. Although I have not located a convincing example yet, I strongly suspect that Joe also did some covers for the relaunched Black Magic series.

Young Hearts In Love #17 (from proof) by Joe Simon

Joe Simon also did cover work for Super Comics. That publisher would buy art from failed comic books and reprint the material with new covers. In his book Joe describes selling them some of the S&K Mainline comics. Super Comics had a lot of different titles but were probably not big sellers and I do not have access to very many of them. The above image of Young Hearts #17 is from a proof in Joe’s collection. Notice the similarity of the title lettering to that originally used for Young Love and Young Romance. Joe also did the cover for Young Hearts #18.

Daring Adventure #15 (1964) by Joe Simon

But Joe not only did romance covers for Super Comics, he also did some superheroes. I believe he did the covers for Daring Adventures #10 to #17 (1963 and 1964). For these Joe used the rather simple style we saw before in Alarming Tales #4. But notice on DA #15 the Kirby-ish leaping figure. Also note the use of the oversized figure, in this case of the villain, that we have seen Simon use all the way back on his work on Blue Beetle for Fox Comics. Joe also did the cover for The Spirit #12 (1964) where unexpectedly the Spirit is attacking a foe with the villain’s own robot.

Jigsaw #3 (unpublished, from original art) by Joe Simon

From 1965 until 1967 Joe did some editorial work for Harvey Comics on some, mostly superhero, titles. I do not believe he did any of the stories, but Joe did supply some of the covers. Perhaps because they were done for his long time friend’s company, I feel Joe put more effort into them then he did on the Super Comics covers. Although Simon still mostly worked in the simpler drawing and inking style, in the cover for Jigsaw #3 he returned to a bold inking not much removed from the old S&K shop style. Joe commented to me that he thought he had copied the Jigsaw figure from the splash page of the story. But I am unable to confirm that since Jigsaw #3 was never published.

Dick Tracy #129 (from proof) by Joe Simon

But the late 60’s covers were not the only ones Joe did for Harvey. Earlier he also did some Dick Tracy covers. Determining which ones is a bit of a problem. Joe was essentially ghosting on these covers, adopting the rather simple and stylized drawing of the original newspaper strips. To make it even more difficult Al Avison was also doing some of these covers at about the same time. The above proof is from Joe’s collection so we can be pretty certain it was done by him.

Harvey Hits Magazine (from proof) by Joe Simon

Simon also did some Phantom covers for Harvey. Here he did not have to copy another’s style. To me they seem like standard Simon art for after the S&K breakup and do not at all suggest work by Jack Kirby. But apparently there must be something in them to suggest Jack, because dealers often credit Kirby for these covers.

Sick #69 (August 1969) by Joe Simon

However it is the covers to Sick Magazine that comprises most of the art work Joe did after Simon and Kirby. Joe was editor for this Mad imitation for a number of years (1960 to 1968) during which he did many of the covers but even afterwards he continued to supply cover art. In this work Joe let loose his visual humor and he obviously put much effort into these covers.

Well that wraps up my serial post on the Art of Joe Simon. I have added a checklist but like all my checklists it is a work in progress. Joe was a talented artist, better them most people give him credit for. Unfortunately that talent, particularly his talent for adopting different styles, has led many experts and scholars to attribute some of his works to other artists. Over and over again I get the uncomfortable feeling that critics have used quality of the work as a means of distinguishing between artists; if a page is good Kirby must have done it, otherwise it was done by Simon. I feel this is a flawed technique and the proper way to determine artistic credit is to examine a piece of work for the traits of the individual artists. It is also to keep in mind that when one artists tries to mimic another that some traits are easy to copy and should not be relied upon. Other features are more unique to one artists and are harder for another artist to duplicate; these are the ones useful for attributions. I did not do this serial post with the idea of convincing everyone of the correctness of the work I credit to Simon. But it would be great if I could help move the problem of attributions toward a discussion of the evidence from the art itself and away from the simple credit declarations that the experts are so fond of.

Art by Joe Simon, Chapter 12, Covering the Fly

Art by Joe Simon, Appendix 2, Daring Adventures #12