Young Love #12 (August 1950) “Smooth Operator” by Mort Meskin
The Jack Kirby Checklist lists “Smooth Operator” (Young Love #12) as Kirby pencils and Simon inks. Once again it is signed as Mort, although it is hard to see because it is in an brown area on the lower right of the splash. And once again typical Meskin pencils and inks. I cannot see any sign of Kirby.
Young Love #9 (May 1950) “A Man In Her Room” by Mort Meskin
The Jack Kirby Checklist lists “A Man In Her Room” (Young Love #9) as Kirby pencils and Simon inks. This is another story with a splash panel signed as Mort. In a way I am more surprised with attributing the inking to Joe then I am the pencils to Jack. The inking is done in a manner seen on all Meskin’s work of this period. It is not at all similar to the S&K shop style. Meskin also had his own unique drawing style and this shows up throughout the story.
I am not sure why one of the most common errors found in the Checklist appears to be attributing work to Kirby that was actually done by Mort Meskin. His style is very different from Kirby’s. Actually I am a little surprised that I do not find more of Kirby’s influence in Mort’s work at this time. After all both were working together in the small S&K studio.
Young Love #8 (April 1950) “Which Is Your Dream Man” by Mort Meskin
The Jack Kirby Checklist lists “Which Is Your Dream Man” (Young Love #8) as Kirby pencils and Simon inks. This a one page work and it is not signed. But frankly it clearly has Mort Meskin as both penciler and inker. I just do not get a Kirby attribution at all.
There is always a mild cultural shock when reading old romance comics. But it is particularly striking in this short feature. “I like a man who shows me who’s boss” or “I like a possessive man”. Do you think these really represent the beliefs of the readers or those of the men who wrote, drew and produced the comic?
Young Love #6 (1949) “My Promise” by unidentified artist
I was going to skip this particular work because frankly it is a bit of quibbling to say the Checklist is wrong. I will explain why I changed my mind later. The Checklist says that 1/2 page of this story is by Kirby. I suspect that this is their way of saying that the splash is by Jack. Well I think that there is little question that the figure of the man was done by Kirby. But the woman is a perfect match for how she is portrayed in the rest of the story. I am certain she was done by the story’s artists and not Jack. Nothing in the rest of the splash looks like Jack’s work to me either.
When the inking is examined we once again find that all the splash except for the man has the same style inking as the rest of the story. This style is not the Simon and Kirby shop style either, although in one area it tries to be. The S&K shop style frequently uses an abstract arch shadow. There is something like that between the man and the woman. But I have never seen the shop style turn the arc into an ‘S’ pattern like the artist did here. Further whereas the shop style makes effective use of the abstract arch shadow in the design, the ‘S’ shadow here seems poorly placed. When the inking of the man is examined it looks very different from the rest of the splash or the story. The spotting is done with much more assurance. The spot lines in the jacket sweep further and are effective in both depiction and design. The lines placed in the face and hand have nuances that the story artist just does not seem capable of. Some of the spotting in the hair was done with a broad brush, something not found in the rest of this work. Although the man is missing any of the rows of spots or the picket fence crosshatch often found in the S&K shop inking, it is otherwise a perfect match.
The artist draws rather large and poorly placed ears when viewed from behind. It may just be a quirk of the artist, but it was something the Jack Kirby also did during the war years. The rest of the face is not like what Jack did so my suspicion is that the artists was using old Simon and Kirby comics as an aid to drawing those parts he had problems depicting.
Two possible explanations for what happened here. One is that the story artist did a close swipe of a Kirby figure for the man in the splash. I do not like that explanation because of the inking which have subtleties that seem beyond the ability of the story artist. The other explanation, and the one I accept, is that Jack has stepped in here in his role as an art editor. The man plays a crucial part of the splash and I suspect the story artist did not do a good enough job on him. Kirby redid the figure but used restraint in the inking so as to blend in better. It is as an example of Kirby as art editor that made me reconsider posting on it.
Young Love #8 (April 1950) “Danger, Soft Shoulder” by Mort Meskin
The Jack Kirby Checklist was originally published in 1998 but it was updated in issue #32 (July 2001) of The Jack Kirby Collector. The Checklist is a marvelous resource. Probably the only real problem I have with it is that is not clear how or who finally makes the attributions. But no matter how it is done disagreements are bound to happen. Nonetheless I plan to occasionally post what I consider errors in the Checklist. But I do not want to just list my corrections, I want to provide a scan example and some discussion.
My first subject will be the story “Danger, Soft Shoulder” from Young Love #8 (April 1950). Originally the listing was Kirby as penciler and Simon as inker. In the update Simon is removed as inker. I have to admit that I am unclear on the notation and do not understand the significance of “a(1)”. Does that mean Kirby did both pencil and inks? In any case to me both the penciling and inking for this story was actually done by Mort Meskin. Mort had a distinct style that seems to clearly show up in this work. But the real clincher is that the splash panel is signed “Mort”. I do not believe Mort would have done so if he was only the inker.
When Jack Kirby and Joe Simon returned from military service they tried to produce their own comics (Stuntman and Boy Explorers) with Harvey as the publisher. Unfortunately with the end of the war came the end of paper rationing. Publishers went wild and there was a flood of comics. This comic book glut meant that new titles, including those by Simon and Kirby, did not stand a chance. Joe and Jacks venture pretty much failed before it ever got to compete. S&K then tried a number of genre that were new for them. This includes some that are not the sort of thing one would normally associate with Simon and Kirby. One of their efforts was for a title called My Date for Hillman. Despite the title this was not a romance comic but rather teenage humor. It was essentially a take off of the very successful Archie.
Laugh #24 (September 1947) “Pipsy” by Jack Kirby
But Simon and Kirby would also take the same approach to Archie itself. In Laugh #24 (September 1947) included with stories of Archie, and Katy Keene there is piece called Pipsy. I really do not know much about Archie comics, but the Pipsy story has the feel of being an introduction of a new feature. If that is true then this was almost certainly a Simon and Kirby creation pitched to and given a tryout by Archie. It would be easy to miss that this work was penciled by Kirby. The drawing is more simplified and stylized while spot inking was minimal giving the page a light look. Once you get beyond style details and look at what and how things are depicted it becomes easy to recognize it as by Jack. The visual humor used is more like Jack’s then Joe’s. (At some point I will have to blog on of their different approaches to visual humor.)
Laugh #24 (September 1947) “Pipsy” by Jack Kirby
The humor is not just visual. There is some of the sort of silliness one expects in funnies directed at teenagers. The student Pipsy has opened an office at the school where students bring their problems to him to solve. The coach asks Pipsy to find out why the whole team has developed sore knees. Adding that if he cannot find the answer Pipsy can no longer date the coach’s daughter Doreen. Pipsy eventually finds out that the teams problems are due to Rumba Dumba dance lessons given by Doreen. She in turn says that if Pipsy reports this to the coach she will never date him again. More unusual I think is the slap stick that S&K bring to the story. Kirby was the master of action and violence which was not at all out of place for superheroes and kid gang comics. But I cannot think of any place where Jack used this talent to a greater extent in his comedy. The team member’s response to Pipsy’s prying are funny but actually quite rough. This story is so attuned to Jack’s strengths that I am sure that if the script was not actually written by Simon and Kirby, it was produced under their direction.
Did Archie realize that Simon and Kirby’s rough humor in Pipsy did not fit well with the clean fun of the rest of the Archie comics? Or was it that Joe and Jack soon found success with crime and romance genre and felt no need to pursue such a limited feature as Pipsy? Whatever the reasons S&K would not return to do any more teenage humor stories for Archie. I do not know for sure, but I strongly suspect that Archie made no effort to produce further Pipsy adventures by themselves.
Black Cat #8 (November 1947) “The Madness of Dr. Altu” by Joe Simon
To swipe means to whip, to give a sweeping blow. But today it is more commonly used as a slang for to steal. In comics arts it means to copy a design or drawing, but still carries with it the connotation of theft. For many comic fans to show that a comic artist has swiped is paramount to saying that he is an inferior artist. With the artists Jack Kirby and Joe Simon the verdict in the past was generally Kirby = no swipe = good, while Simon = swipe = bad. I would like to think this attitude is changing. Tom Morehouse for instance has done some fine scholarly investigations that reveal the sources for some of Kirby swipes. Jack used this practice long after his period of collaboration with Simon. Actually Kirby’s collages can be considered a form of swiping.
Captain America #213 (September 1977) “The Night Flyer” by Jack Kirby (original art)
Much has been said about Joe Simon swiping, including here in this blog. It is not surprising that one of Joe’s favorite sources is Jack Kirby. For example Joe used a close copy from Captain America #7 when he put together the cover for The Adventures of the Fly #2 (the cover is shown in Chapter 12 of The Art of Joe Simon). Here I would like to present an example of Kirby swiping from of all people, Joe Simon. Jack’s source was a set of panels that Joe did for a Vagabond Prince story “The Madness of Dr. Altu” in 1947. The use of three panels with close-ups of a face being hit by a fist also occurs in a Captain America story (“The Night Flyer”) by Jack Kirby done 30 years later. It is not a direct copy, Jack would not need any help on how to present such close ups, but it is a swipe nonetheless. I do not think it is a coincidence that in both cases it is the hero of the story receiving the punishment. However there are interesting differences also. In Joe’s story the hero, Prince Vagabond, is initially defeated by his opponent. A short time later there is a re-match which of course the hero wins. That is a plot device more frequently used today but was rather unusual at the time Joe did it. In Kirby’s example a blind and out of uniform Captain America is the receptor of the villain’s blows at the start, but Cap is victorious by the end of the page. Jack does this in an interesting formal device of using panels in a 3/2/1 vertical tier.
Saint John the Evangelist (1412-15) by Donatello and Moses (1513-1516) by Michelangelo
I use the term swipe because it is so entrenched in comic art discussions. But I have to admit I am rather uncomfortable with the word and it’s subtext of stealing. There is no similar expression in the fine arts. No one would speak of Michelangelo’s Moses being swiped from Donatello’s Saint John (By the way the Michelangelo and Donatello I am referring to are Italian Renaissance artists, not mutant ninja turtles). In the fine arts there is a better, richer, understanding on how artists really work. Art is not created from a vacuum by the artist acting alone like some deity. Instead artists (this includes comic artists) extract from previous art, from other art fields, and even from real life. The artist then combines these resources adding his own personal touch into a new piece of art. Recognizing that allows one to appreciate what individual artists bring to their own work and how art continually evolves.
Charlie Chan #1 (June 1948) “Charlie Chan” by Carmine Infantino (signed)
It occurs to me that I have done so many posts about forgotten artists that some might think that all the artists who worked for Simon and Kirby have fallen into that sad lot. That certainly was not what happened to Carmine Infantino. Carmine went on to have an important part of the Silver Age of comics and afterwards. There is so much history available on Infantino that I am not even going to try to summarize it here. Instead I am going to discuss the short period of time that he worked for S&K.
In Jack Kirby Collector #34 Jim Amash does an interview with Carmine where talks about his experiences with Joe Simon and Jack Kirby. Before starting his career Carmine was obviously a fanboy since he and Frank Giacoia paid a visit to Joe and Jack’s studio during the period that S&K were providing work for DC. Years later when Joe approached Carmine about doing some work for them, Carmine’s initial reaction was to decline because DC was already keeping him quite busy and that company’s rates were higher. But when Carmine thought about it he felt he could not miss the chance to work with Jack Kirby and Mort Meskin.
The comic that Joe was asking Carmine to do was Charlie Chan. This title was a bit unusual for Simon and Kirby. At this time they were producing their own creations but earlier in their career they had also worked on other people’s creations. But Charlie Chan was obviously not theirs nor was it an already ongoing feature. Since Charlie Chan was another’s creation, royalties would have to be paid. Although Charlie Chan movies were popular, I do not think they were such big sellers that a successful comic was assured. So why this decision to produce a Charlie Chan comic? Well the answer lies in a lawyer that S&K used by the name of Fleagle (who Joe refers to as the Legal Eagle). It turns out that Fleagle also represented the interests of the estate of Earl Derr Biggers. I guess Fleagle must have been pretty pursuasive.
Charlie Chan #4 (December 1948) by Jack Kirby
Despite what the Jack Kirby Checklist says, Jack did not supply any of the interior art for Charlie Chan. But Kirby did pencil all the covers for the Prize run. These are all great jobs by Jack. As typical for Simon and Kirby covers that provide an entire story in just one scene. Unfortunately for an unwary buyer the story was not one of those found inside the comic.
Charlie Chan #1 (June 1948) “Land of the Leopard Men” by Carmine Infantino (signed)
Although the Kirby covers were obviously an enticement the reader really should not have been disappointed because Carmine Infantino did a really first rate job. Infantino would do all of the Charlie Chan features for the first four issues. He could also do a couple of the backup features, but most were done by other artists. Bill Draut did one (CC #1 “The Weasel Of Wall Street”) and Manny Stallman did another (CC #5 “Floating Mine Racket”). I have not identified most of the other artists who worked on backup features. In the first issue two of the Charlie Chan stories have full page splashes. These splashes are inked in the S&K shop style, which is probably why some have attributed them to Kirby. But they are signed by Infantino and a careful examination shows that they really are not done in Jack’s pencil style but are fully in agreement with Carmine’s drawing. The inking of the story itself is not in the shop style although because Carmine was working in the S&k studio he may have gotten assistance there also.
Charlie Chan #2 (August 1948) “Number One Trouble” by Carmine Infantino
After the first issue Carmine’s splash size seem to get progressively smaller and the S&K shop style inking disappears. But that is okay because Infantino is also a great story teller. I particularly like the sequence (see above) showing Charlie Chan and his number one son escaping from bondage. Carmine draws his characters as full with emotions. He makes eyebrows that are even wilder then those by Jack Kirby. Like any good detective, Charlie Chan depends on his wits. But Infantino handles what action there is quite well. I gather that in the future Infantino would abandon some of the stylization shown in these Charlie Chan stories, but not he would not loose his talent. This is still a relatively young Carmine Infantino, learning from masters like Jack Kirby and Mort Meskin and polishing his craft as he becomes a master himself.
Charlie Chan #3 (October 1948) “The Mystery Of The Phantom Killer” by Carmine Infantino
As is my usual custom I have provided a checklist. But with Carmine the limitations of my checklist are glaring. I simply am not in the position to provide information on his extensive work while his efforts for S&K was very limited. Carmine has said that he only drew Charlie Chan and nothing for the other S&K titles. So far my searches in Simon and Kirby productions confirms his statement. As I said Carmine did all the Charlie Chan stories for the first four issues. But the art for the Chan stories in the fifth issue appear different. The faces in frontal view are more triangular. Infantino’s work appears more realistic then those from this last Prize issue. Therefore I attribute much of the work from CC #5 to an unidentified artist. But Carmine did do one backup story ” The Fox Of Paris “. In Amash’s interview Carmine says that although he worked on Charlie Chan in the S&K studio he continued to do work for DC at night. This grueling work load eventually took its toll and Carmine had to give up on Charlie Chan.
Charlie Chan #5 (February 1949) “Murder On Ice” by unidentified artist
Carmine never worked for Simon and Kirby again. But eventually both Joe and Jack would end up working for Infantino. Kirby fans often are very critical of Carmine’s dealings with Jack in the early 70’s but personally I think such criticism is unwarranted. Infantino’s relationship with Joe does not seem to have been clouded with any similar issues and they remain good friends to this day.
Detective #65 (July 1942) by Jack Kirby and Jerry Robinson
In my post of the S&K usual suspect John Prentice I provided a scan of In Love #1 which was jointly done by Kirby and Prentice. As I mentioned in that post, if we exclude work with Joe Simon and also unrelated inserts, there was only one other example of a cover where Kirby shared pencil duties with another artist. Here I am fulfilling my promise to post on that other example which was Detective #65. This cover of Batman and Robin meeting the Boy Commandos is unusual in that Jack has provided a more realistic rendition of the Commandos compared to how he normally did these characters. I do not understand why he thought this was necessary since Batman and Robin were done in a unrealistic, more cartoony, fashion and Jerry Robinson’s effort on this cover is no exception. Still the cover is a rather nice joint effort. Although Jerry started his career helping Bob Kane, at the time this cover was done he was working directly for DC.
Young Romance #6 (July 1948) “The Inferior Male” by Jerry Robinson and Mort Meskin (signed)
After the war when Joe and Jack were producing their own comics Robinson would do two stories for them. This work was done with Mort Meskin. I have already include a scan of one of these stories (Young Romance #6 July 1948) in my post on Mort but I include here another page from that story. Mort was a talented penciler with his own easily recognized style. But this YR story does not show much of that style so I believe it was primarily penciled by Jerry and inked by Mort. But the other story (Justice Traps the Guilty #5, July 1948) has all the signs of a work by Mort and so I believe Mort penciled while Jerry inked. Of course as with any collaboration such attributions probably greatly over simplify how the work was truly being done. However the work was divided it is pretty good stuff. But for whatever reasons the team of Robinson and Meskin went their separate ways. Jerry would go on to work on a syndication strip and work outside of the comic book industry for a few years. Mort would become a frequent artist for S&K productions and would actual work in the studio.
Justice Traps the Guilty #5 (July 1948) “Murder Special Delivery” by Jerry Robinson and Mort Meskin (signed)
Joe Simon attended the first New York Comic Con. While there he was greeted by Robinson. Later I commented to Joe how well Jerry looked. Joe said sure he looked good, he was still young. I guess it is all a matter of perspective. By the way that is Joe’s son Jim Simon behind Joe.
Jerry Robinson and Joe Simon (2006).
Once again I would like to give some attention to another of those forgotten comic book artists. Ann Brewster did not do a lot of work for Simon and Kirby but fortunately she did sign most of her stories. As usual I have more information about Ann’s efforts for S&K productions then on her career elsewhere. I have tried to supplement with information gleaned from the GCD (Grand Comic Book Database), Atlas Tales, Who’s Who of American Comics and other places on the Internet. I must admit that I am uncomfortable with using some of these sources. During the cold war the saying was “trust but verify”. But since I cannot verify anything outside of the Prize romance material, I find it hard to be trusting. At least Atlas Tales indicates what work was actually signed by Ann.
Brewster’s career seems to have started in the early 40’s. Working through various studios, Ann drew for a number of comic titles. It sounds like she worked in a variety of different genre. Unfortunately it also looks like Ann never got the opportunity to stay and grow with a particular feature. Perhaps she did with Rip Carson for Feature House where Who’s Who has Ann working from 1944 to 1948. Ann did some work for Crime Patrol (EC) and that title has been reprinted so maybe I will someday get a chance to see what her crime work looked like.
Prize #63 (March 1947) “Yank and Doodle and the Black Owl” (signed) by Ann Brewster (signed)
But I do have an example of Ann’s super hero art from Prize #63. Fortunately this piece is signed otherwise I am sure I would not have recognized it as being done by Ann. I cannot say I am very impressed with the art in this particular story. Much of the problem is the design of the Black Owl which is not Brewster’s fault. Even Jack Kirby was unable to make that super hero impressive when he worked on the Black Owl in the early 40’s. Otherwise the art is adequate but nothing that strikes me as much different then a host of other artists working at that time. Of course it is not fair to judge Ann’s ability in this genre based on a single story.
Simon and Kirby created the romance genre in comic books in 1947. Once other publishers caught on to the money that could be made in romance it was not long before Brewster seemed to be type cast. For instance all the signed works found in Atlas Tales are for romance titles. But Ann might not have been completely type cast, the sources indicate she still did some work in the horror and science fiction genre. Between 1958 and 1961 Brewster did work on the World Around Us titles. If the Internet sources are accurate this marked the end of her comic book career. Ann Brewster is listed as the illustrator for the dust jack of the book “Silver Wolf” published in 1973 by Atheneum.
Young Love #5 (October 1949) “Too Many Boy Friends” by Ann Brewster (signed)
Her first piece for S&K seems to have been for Young Love #5 (October 1949). Actually it seems to be the only work Ann did for the studio at that time period. But it is a good piece of work done by someone who seems to know what they are doing. The drawing is a bit on the conservative side and one single mid-distance view predominates. However the story is presented well. The inking was done in the S&K shop style including techniques like the picket fence crosshatching and the use of some abstract arc shadows. Most likely it was inked by artists in the S&K studio and Ann only did the pencils.
Young Brides #24 (September 1955) “Riches Or Romance” by Ann Brewster (signed)
Brewster next period of work for S&K was from April 1955 to June 1956. Like Joe Albistur, Ann seemed to arrive to help take the place of the missing Jack Kirby. During this period Jack stopped doing Prize romance art, presumably to concentrate on Mainline, S&K’s own publishing company. Ann’s style had improved since her previous work for S&K. Ann probably was one of those artists that always trying to advance their craft. Ann’s characters now seem to be more lively and her women often had greater warmth. He story presentation has become better with more variation in the viewer distance used. Even the clothing style of the women has changed and hair length is now shorter. I really do not know if the hair and clothing styles presented were more up to date, but it is possible. These stories are no longer inked in S&K shop method and it is likely that now Ann was doing the inking. As with the other freelance artists, Ann stopped getting much work from the S&K studio once Kirby returned to do pretty much the entire Prize romance comics. Also like many of the other artists that freelanced for S&K, Brewster did not do any further work for S&K even after the all Kirby run was over.
Young Romance #77 (June 1955) by Ann Brewster
During Kirby’s absence the covers for the romance titles were mostly done by the usual suspects (Bill Draut, Mort Meskin and John Prentice). But Ann also did a couple of covers, sort of. A stat was made from Brewster’s splash panel, blown up and edited. It was a treatment that was not done by S&K for any other cover up to that time. Even though designed for the splash, the art made rather good covers. It makes you wonder what Ann might have done if given the chance to actually do an original cover. I previously posted the YR #79 Brewster cover in Chapter 2 of my “End of Simon and Kirby”. The cover for YR #77 (shown above) is a marvelous piece of work. I particularly like the lady’s left hand. It is not just well drawn but perfectly captures the woman as she is lost and overwhelmed by the unexpected kiss. However there is a problem with the cover but it was not due to Ann. The dancing couple on the left is partly covered by the subtitle “True Love Stories”. It makes a bit of a muddle but I guess it could not be helped. The composition needs the pair. Further their presences helps to indicate that the main couple had been part of the dancing. The subtitle is a standard presence on the cover so it could not just be eliminated. The final result is an uncomfortable compromise. But it is a small defect in an otherwise great cover.
Although it is not actually bad, I cannot say I am very excited about the early work I have seen by Ann Brewster. But the work she did for Simon and Kirby in the mid 50’s is really nice. Ann presented good stories, drew attractive women and designed interesting half page splashes. It does make me wonder what her Atlas work looked like since some of it immediately follows the S&K material. I must admit that my admiration goes beyond her artistic voice. I suspect that it must not have been easy for Ann to work in such a male dominated industry as comic books. Even romance comics were generally written, drawn and published by men. Yet Ann managed to have a career of perhaps 20 years in comics.