Tag Archives: america

Captain America #600

What is with Marvel and their numbering? Captain America Comics #1 was indexed back in 1941 as volume 2 number 1. What happened to volume 1? There was no issue 1 for silver age Captain America, the first issue of that title was #100. Prior to that Captain America appeared in Tales of Suspense starting in issue #59 but he appeared in the Iron Man story for TOS #58. The first volume of Captain America did have a long run ending with, I believe, #454. It was not bad sales that ended that run but rather the desire to increase profits by issuing a new first issue for speculators to grab up, never mind it was just the first issue of an arbitrary volume. Did it work? I do not know but current run of Captain America is volume 5. But now Marvel has seen the light and will be returning to volume 1 numbering starting with issue #600. I do not know about you, but I think this concern about numbering is all somewhat bizarre.

But there is a good reason for Simon and Kirby fans to pick up Captain America #600 whenever it comes out. It will include “My Bulletin Board” an essay by Joe Simon. I was going to say that it was the first time that new work by Joe appeared in Marvel since he and Jack Kirby left the original Captain America Comics in 1942. But then I remembered Joe did a variant cover for Captain America issue from volume 3. In any case Joe is a great writer and story teller and I think fans will enjoy his latest essay.

Further Responses to Joe Simon’s Open Letter to Marvel

A couple of days ago I posted Joe Simon’s open letter to Marvel Comics. Gerard Jones posted a response in the comment section of that post. To make things easier for the reader here is Gerard Jones comment:

Harry:

Thanks very much for posting this. Joe has certainly earned the right to tell me (or anyone else) that I’m full of shit–and I’m sorry if I gave offense or got things wrong. I actually made repeated efforts to contact Joe about this issue when I was writing my book but I was told he couldn’t or wouldn’t talk about it (I assumed for legal reasons). I’m doing my best here to piece the truth together from what’s available, and any more information would be very much appreciated. Whatever helps us get closer to the truth. Many of my most valuable learning experiences have followed someone telling me (if not in exactly those words) that I’m full of shit.

Thanks again,
Gerry Jones

I passed on Gerry’s response to Joe and have recieved from him the following:

Dear  Jerry:
I apologize for the crude remark. I was annoyed by your statement that there was no information ever about the royalty history. Actually, I have no record of you ever checking with me or with the Kirby family. If so, you would have known that there were papers and  notified letters confirming our position, some from Morris Coyne, the chief accountant of Timely who told his story backing up Simon and Kirby.

I loved the Masterworks book but my problem with all of them is the dust cover or introductions are mostly pure fiction. The collectors need more and deserve more research . As a journalist you should do more of this  .

Thank you for your controlled reply.
 
Joe Simon

The material from Mister Coyne was presented at the recent legal circus where Marvel Sued Simon, not the other way around. There were other affidavits