Category Archives: Topic

Not Kirby, Young Love #8 “Which Is Your Dream Man”

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Posted in 2006/08, 5 Studio, Kirby Or Not, Periods, Prize, Topic, z Archive.

Young Love #8
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?

Not Kirby, Young Love #6 “My Promise”

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Posted in 2006/08, 5 Studio, Art Editing, Kirby Or Not, Periods, Prize, Topic, z Archive.

Young Love #6
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.

The Art of Joe Simon, Appendix 1, Champ #22 Confirmed

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Posted in 2006/08, Harvey Covers, Serial Posts, Topic, z Archive.

Champ #22
Champ #22 (September 1942) by Joe Simon (signed Glaven)

When I last wrote about the cover to Champ #22 (Art by Joe Simon, Chapter 7, Glaven) all I had was a very low resolution scan from GCD. At that time I attributed it to Joe Simon because I suspected that the signature would be the same as on Speed #22 which was signed Glaven. Nelson Glaven was the alternate name for Ned Gibman, one of Joe Simon’s high school friends.

Well Terry O’Neill of Terry’s Comics was kind enough to send a scan of the cover. The resolution is too low for me to do my standard restoration so please excuse my use of an only slightly corrected cover. But the resolution is not too low to clearly show that the signature is in fact Glaven. So an attribution to Joe Simon is pretty certain.

Art by Joe Simon, Chapter 7, Glaven

Art by Joe Simon, Chapter 8, Off to War

Not Kirby, Young Love #8 “Danger, Soft Shoulder”

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Posted in 2006/08, 5 Studio, Kirby Or Not, Periods, Prize, Topic, z Archive.

Young Love #8
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.

Laugh, Simon and Kirby meet Archie

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Posted in 2006/08, 5 Studio, Archie, Odds & Ends, Periods, Topic, z Archive.

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
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
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.

Kirby swipes from Simon

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Posted in 2006/08, 5 Studio, Harvey, Late, Odds & Ends, Periods, Swiping, Topic, z Archive.

Black Cat #8
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
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.

Donatello and Michelangelo
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.

Champ #23 (October 1942)

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Posted in 2006/08, 4 DC (early), Harvey Covers, Periods, Topic, z Archive.

Champ #23
Champ #23 (October 1942) by Jack Kirby

The Liberty Lads in action one last time, at least as done by S&K. Some of the forced perspective, especially in the thrown Japanese soldier, have the distinct Kirby touch. So he is probably the primary penciler. A good compositional touch of contrasting the foreground with the background. The Japanese soldiers with their pistols and rifles do not stand a chance against the Liberty Lads with their tank and machine gun, not to mention their most powerful weapon of all, the American flag. The US tank has just demolished the Japanese vehicle so badly that it one can no longer make out what it was. Even the cloud of smoke raised by the tank and machine gun completely overpowers the puny gun smoke of the only Japanese soldier still fighting. The Japanese do not stand a chance against the might of the US. Of course this comic came out in August 1942 at a point where America was doing rather poorly against the military forces of Japan.

Oversized Kirby

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Posted in 2006/07, 4 DC (early), Featured Work, Periods, Topic, z Archive.

Adventure #73
Adventure #73 (April 1942) by Jack Kirby

In my recent serial post, The Art of Joe Simon, I discussed and gave a number of examples of Joe Simon’s use of oversized figures on covers. As a rule Jack Kirby did not seem to have any interest in this sort of compositional device. But there are exceptions (and no I do not believe they prove the rule). When Simon and Kirby began to work for DC Jack did do two covers that used an oversized Manhunter (Adventure #73 and #79). Had Jack seen Joe’s use of this device and wanted to try his own hand at it? Or is is possible that Joe did the layout for these covers? In “The Jack FAQ” page 3 Mark Evanier states

During the Simon-Kirby days, Joe Simon did the bulk of the cover designs. (Jack regarded Joe as the best designer of covers the industry has ever seen, though that was by no means the only talent Joe had.)

It is not clear what Mark’s source is for the statement about Joe doing most of the cover layouts. I will decline to provide my own opinion on this issue of layouts. Beliefs are great but they should be backed up with evidence. I feel evidence that can be used to determine who did what layouts is largely lacking. We do have Simon covers from before the S&K team-up, but unfortunately we do not have Kirby covers from the same period. During the time of their collaboration we do not have credits like those that appeared during the Silver Age of comics. I do not believe that it is convincing to use covers done after the breakup as evidence for what was done prior. So as I said we seem to have a lack of evidence.

Despite the many years of Simon and Kirby collaboration to come, these two covers seem to be the only examples of Kirby drawing oversized figures on a cover. But as we saw in previous posts, Simon did return in later years to this compositional technique.

Adventure #79
Adventure #79 (October 1942) by Jack Kirby

Art by Joe Simon, Chapter 7, Glaven

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Posted in 2006/07, 4 DC (early), Harvey Covers, Periods, Serial Posts, Topic, z Archive.

There were three Harvey comics from the same period as the Jon Henri covers that I did not include in my last chapter; Champ #22 (September 1942), Speed #22 (September) and Green Hornet #8 (August). To me they always seemed to be very different and previously I did not consider them as done by Simon and Kirby. However Speed #22 is included in the Jack Kirby Checklist and I understand that recently some have attributed Champ #22 to Joe Simon. I still say these three covers are stylistically distinct from the Jon Henri covers, but I now realize I erred in not believing them as work by Joe Simon.

In a footnote to chapter 2, I mentioned providing to Joe Simon copies of my restoration of two stories from Daring Mystery #2 (February 1940). One was signed as Gregory Sykes and Joe revealed that in high school he and his friends sometimes used another name and his was Gregory G. Sykes. But the conversation did not end there. Joe also said that as a comic book artist he thought he had used three pseudonyms. He knew two of them (Jon Henri and Gregory Sykes) but could not recall the third so he felt he might have been mistaken. As Joe did not remember these Daring Mystery stories at all, he began to read them with much interest. At one point Joe stopped and chuckled, he said that in the Phantom Bullet story he had used the name Nelson Glaven for one of the characters. Nelson Glaven was the alternate name for Ned Gibman, one of his high school friends. I did not say anything, but I immediately recognized the name Glaven.

The cover to Speed #22 was signed Glaven. I had never talked to Joe about this cover since I had already decided (incorrectly) that he did not do it. Still I always had thought it was an excellent piece of comic art and had wanted to know more about the artist. However my search for more information on Glaven always came up empty and I had concluded it was a pseudonym. Now Joe has provided the information to link him to the Glaven alias. Actually I should have known better when I previously felt that Speed #22 was the wrong style for Joe Simon. I have been saying for some time that Joe could and did adopt different styles.

Speed #22
Speed #22 (September 1942) by Joe Simon (signed Glaven)

Speed #22 is a great cover. The planes diving out of formation leading to a similarly diving Captain Freedom and then to a bomb is very effective. This sort of formal device and the more static layout it provides is not the sort of thing usually found in covers by Simon and Kirby. But Joe did experiment with different compositions from time to time and this apparently is an example of that. This cover is so different from other work by Simon that I cannot provide any drawing features to link this particular cover to Joe. However the inking is done with a brush in a manner very much like the inking of some of the Jon Henri covers, particularly the form lines on the airplanes and the boots.

Unfortunately I do not have scans for the covers of Champ #22 or Green Hornet #8. The Grand Comic Book Database (GCD) does have scans but I do not think it would be good web etiquette for me to link to the images directly so let me provide a link to the GCD. It might be easier to follow what I say if you open up some new windows and use them to get the images for Champ #22 and Green Hornet #8. Don’t worry, I’ll wait for you to get back.

Champ #22 signature
Champ #22 (September 1942) close-up of signature with close-up of Speed #22 for comparison

Unfortunately the GCD scan is has too low a resolution to clearly read it. I provide a blowup of the GCD scan and one from Speed #22 for comparison. I think Champ #22 may also been signed Glaven but it is hard to be sure. This issue is unique among the Champ covers we have examined in that the Human Meteor has replaced the Liberty Lads. The cover has the appearance of being constructed from a number of different swipes. The hooded foe in the lower right corner came from Lou Fine’s Wonderworld #7 cover. I do not have my own scan of that cover, but Comicartville does.

The lady being thrown into the pool seems unnatural. Her hair and general pose looks more like she is lying down rather then falling. I am sure she was taken from someplace. I cannot identify other swipes but that is not to say there were not any. The Human Meteor and his young sidekick both have large ears that are not quite placed on the head correctly. This unusual treatment of ears viewed from the back is also a characteristic of Jack Kirby at this time. But the anatomy and pose of the Human Meteor just does not otherwise look like Jack’s work. I am not bothered by Joe’s use of swipes, what is important is the story the cover tells. Unlike most of Joe’s covers, I am not at all clear what is supposed to be going on here. Is the Human Meteor attacking the hooded villains or trying to catch the falling woman? What type of sling-shot does the sidekick have and what is he doing with it? Have the heroes interrupted some evil ritual or did the villain push the woman into the pool as a response to the sudden appearance of the Human Meteor? It is this failure to clearly tell the story that for me makes this one of the Joe Simon’s poorer efforts.

Is the cover to Green Hornet #8 (August 1942) also by Joe? The two villains on the right are crudely done, but their cheeks and jowls remind me of the of the members of the circle on Speed #21 (except for the clown) which I have already attributed to Simon. Once again there seems to be signs of swiping. Although I cannot provide any source, the damsel in distress looks an awful lot like she was originally done by Will Eisner. Although not among my favorite Simon covers, it is an improvement over Champ #22. Here is a story that can be easily read. A crystal ball predicts a dim future for the chained woman. A fiendish pair was advancing with drawn daggers to insure the prediction would come true. That is until they were interrupted by our hero. The Green Hornet will save the day, assuming he is careful where he takes his next step. I like the touches of humor. The fiends arrive holding hands with the smaller one carrying his knife in his mouth. The cobwebs show up not only on the walls and floors, but also connects the robed figure to his staff. I guess my biggest problem with this cover is not that he swiped the figure of the woman, but that it appears that Joe changed her so little.

Simon and Kirby would do the last of these Harvey cover in October (Green Hornet #9). I do not accept Green Hornet #10 as a Simon and Kirby piece. Perhaps they became too busy to do any more. S&K were very successful at DC but with the war on they knew that sooner or later they would be drafted. Joe’s solo work during this war time period will be discussed in the next chapter.

Art by Joe Simon, Chapter 6, Jon Henri

Art by Joe Simon, Appendix 1, Champ 22 Confirmed

Art by Joe Simon, Chapter 6, Jon Henri

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Posted in 2006/07, 4 DC (early), Harvey Covers, Periods, Serial Posts, Topic, z Archive.

Champ #18
Champ #18 (May 1942) by Jack Kirby (signed Jon Henri)

Starting with a cover date of April 1942 and ending in October are a series of 13 Harvey covers that were obviously done by Simon and Kirby (Speed #17 to #21 and #23; Champ #18 to #21 and #23; and Green Hornet #7 and #9). I say obvious, because they were done at the same time as S&K were producing work for DC and all this work show Simon and Kirby forging their own unique style. But none of the Harvey covers are signed by Joe or Jack. Instead some bear the signature of Jon Henri. Joe has said that he came up with this name. Henry is Joe’s middle name and he liked Jon so much that one of his son’s has it as a middle name. But the presence of the Jon Henri’s signature on some Harvey covers that clearly were penciled by Jack Kirby indicates that this name could not be a pseudonym for Joe Simon alone.

In fact the Jack Kirby Checklist and most experts and scholars credit all of these covers to Jack Kirby. I will be presenting my case for attributing some of the covers to Simon below. Previously we have seen Joe and Jack work on different pages for the same story. In doing so Joe adjusted his style to try to mimic Jack’s. But that work is of limited use to us since in the work for Harvey and DC, Simon and Kirby has already progressed well beyond what they did for Timely. Unfortunately the best comparisons to be made with work by Joe Simon is for material we have not discussed yet. So I will ask you dear reader to try to keep an open mind until I presented some of that evidence in future chapters.

Chame #19
Champ #19 (June 1942) by Joe Simon (signed Jon Henri)

I believe I can see two different artists at work among these Harvey covers. But care must be taken that we do not fall into the trap of crediting the best covers to Jack and the poorer ones to Joe. What we want to look for is differences in style and leave aside for now any value judgments. All the Champ covers in question illustrate the Liberty Lads. But how this young duo are portrayed is not consistent. For four of the five covers the Lads are depicted as young teenagers. But one one cover (Champ #19) the Liberty Lads seem to be a little younger. In my series of posting of the Harvey covers I have already examined Champ #20 and Champ #21 and you can look at those postings for their images. But here I am going to compare Champ #18 to Champ #19.

One thing to note is the exaggerated perspective used for the Japanese just hit by one of the Liberty Labs on the Champ #18 cover. Jack Kirby was the master at this almost 3D effect and although others tried to imitate Jack I do not believe I have ever seen anyone completely succeed. So when I see such a successful job as on Champ #18 (and also on Champ #20 and #23) I feel pretty confident that Jack Kirby was responsible. The one Liberty Lad about to leap on Champ #19 is not quite an exaggerated perspective (although still rather well done). But the lack of exaggerated perspective does not mean it was not done by Jack.

Star Spangled #13
Star Spangled #13 (October 1942) by Jack Kirby

The Liberty Lads on Champ #19 are not only younger they also look familiar. That is because they seemed based on Gabby and Scrapper from the Newsboy Legion. Although in the past it was generally believed that Kirby did not swipe, more recently examples of Kirby swipes have been well documented particularly by Tom Morehouse in TJKC. But why would Jack have to swipe the Liberty Lads on Champ #19 but not on the other four covers? To me the Liberty Lads swipes are more likely to be evidence of Joe’s involvement then Jack. One features that suggests Kirby is the square fist of the policeman on the far roof. Square fists are easily recognized manner used by Jack. But it is so obviously that there is little doubt that Joe Simon would see it also and it would not be hard for Joe to adopt it himself. But note the stiff, straight arm of that same policeman, that does not look like Jack’s work.

By this period Joe Simon has advanced beyond the use of just two expressions that he had learned when he started comic book work (as described in The Comic Book Makers and quoted in Chapter 1 of this series of posts). But there are some expressions that Joe uses more frequently then Jack. One is having both eyebrows raising as they approach the midline. The policeman trying to climb onto the roof in Champ #19 is a good example of this eyebrow rendition.

The master criminal and his diminutive partner on Champ #19 are rather unique. To me they more represent the visual humor that Joe will later show in features like the Duke of Broadway then the type of humor Jack would do. Actually the cover as a whole seems more humorous then suspenseful.

For me Champ #19 is one of those covers that looks so much like the work of Joe Simon that I am amazed that others do not see it. If in the end you do not agree with my attribution of this cover, I doubt you will find convincing any of the other Harvey covers I credit to Joe. The next best example of Simon work would be the Speed #21 (August 1942) that I posted on recently. Here the only Kirby-like feature that I find is the clown’s pointing hand. Everything else looks like Simon’s work to me. The device of an oversized hero is something I associate with Simon more then with Kirby. We have already seen Joe use this in the Blue Beetle #2 cover. Similarly the use of floating heads I believe is more typical of Joe. The style these floating heads seem to be Joe’s, especially the square ness of the jaws.

Speed #19
Speed #19 (June 1942) by Joe Simon (signed Jon Henri)

Another candidate for Simon work is the cover for Speed #19 (June 1942). The Japanese impersonator has the peaked eyebrows that Joe seems to favor. Captain Freedom has Jack’s square fist, but as I mentioned before I do not believe this is a reliable feature for distinguishing between Joe and Jack. I find the arriving Japanese soldiers look more like Simon’s hand. But frankly although I attribute this cover to Joe, it is not with the certainty that I feel for Champ #19 or Speed #21. The only other Speed cover I suspect may have been done by Simon is Speed #23 and that is without much confidence at all. I have not yet restored that cover so I will leave my reasons for saying it was done by Joe for a future post in my Harvey cover topic.

Green Hornet #7
Green Hornet #7 (June 1942) by Jack Kirby and Joe Simon

The covers for both Green Hornet #7 and #9 seem to have been done primarily by Jack Kirby. But on GH #7 there is a floating head. Because of the mask and hat, only the eyes are visible. To me they look like they were done by Simon. It seems that enlargement and floating heads are devices used at times by Joe but not by Jack.

Some readers may have noticed that I did not include Champ #22, Speed #22 or Green Hornet #8 in my list of Simon and Kirby Harvey covers. These covers have characteristics that set them apart from the Jon Henri group. We will examine these three covers along with new information I have obtained from a recent conversation with Joe Simon in the next chapter.

Art by Joe Simon, Chapter 5, Side by Side

Art by Joe Simon, Chapter 7, Glaven