Category Archives: z Archive

Simon and Kirby Colorists, Chapter 1, Hillman

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Posted in 2011/03, 5 Studio, Hillman, Periods, S&K Colorists, Serial Posts, z Archive and tagged ,

Generally little is known about the comic book colorists during the golden age. Credits usually were not provided and while pencilers and inkers would sometimes leave signatures there was no outlet for colorists to make their contribution known. Occasionally there is documentary evidence about particular colorists but largely they remain anonymous. None the less I have begun to investigate coloring done on Simon and Kirby productions. I may not be able to identify all the colorists but I am still interested in seeing what can be learned about the effect different colorists had upon the comics.

Currently I have been examining interior coloring. Covers were typically handled by different printers than the interior pages. The special paper and attention given to covers allowed the use of colors and tonal gradations that did not appear in the interior art. Both the cover and interior art was printed using cyan, magenta, yellow and black inks (CMYK). In general, CMYK printing allows a wide range of colors to be represented. Actually not every color can be created by combinations of the CMYK inks but those that cannot are a very small part of the color spectrum and are so close to colors that can be printed by CMYK that their absence is difficult to notice.

However the interior art in comic books was printed using a very limited palette. CMYK printing achieves color tones by the amount of area the ink covers. Typically, and this will be true of all the comics I will be discussing here, interior inks were limited to three tones 100%, 50% and 25%. It is possible to use 75% ink tones but printers find it difficult to do properly with the primitive presses and poor quality paper used for comic books. I have seen 75% tones used in comic books but it is quite rare and with a special exception to be discussed below it was not done in the books I will be discussing.

There are further limitations. No tones were used for the black ink. Actually this was not too limiting because black tones, that is the grays, can be achieved using combinations of CMY inks. Another limitation is that none of the comics I will be discussing use 50% yellow. I have seen it done elsewhere but again it is very rare. With three levels of cyan and magenta, two levels of yellow and one level of black it is possible to create at most 48 colors* (including white, the absence of any ink). The palette is actually even more limited in practice since about a dozen are rarely used. Most are combinations that include 25% yellow.


Generalized Comic Color Palette

C, C50, C25, CM50, CM25, X, X, X
M, M50, M25, MY, YM50, YM25, X, X
Y, Y25, M50Y25, M25Y25, X, MC50, MC25, M50C25
CY, YC50, YC25, CYM50, CYM25, CY25, C50Y25, C25Y25
CM, C50M50, C25M25, C50M25, C50M25Y25, C25M25Y25, X, X
MYC50, MYC25, YC50M50, YM50C25, YC25M25, YC50M25, X, X

Referring to colors as, for example, 100% yellow plus 50% magenta plus 25% cyan (brown), is somewhat tiring. The industry uses a designation which I find confusing so instead I will adopt my own using the first initial followed, if not 100%, by the percentage. So my brown example would be YM50C25. I always placed them in the order of dominance or (when two inks are equally strong) the order they are found in CMY. While this is an improvement it is still too difficult to use lists of such color designations when comparing palettes used. So I have also developed a matrix to show the color palettes. I show above the standard color palette that I will be using followed by the corresponding color designations (where an X indicates an unused matrix location shown as black). If a color is not used in a particular palette it will be ‘X’ out in the matrix. The first row is for blues; the second for reds; the third row for yellows, flesh colors and purples; the fourth row for greens; the fifth row for violets and grays; and the sixth for browns and one dirty green (YC50M25). In the future I will either use some of the currently undefined matrix locations or add additional rows for colors not included in the current matrix.


Color Palette used by Hillman in Clue and Real Clue Comics.

Joe Simon has said that the coloring was the responsibility of the publisher. There was a period (cover dates March to September 1947) where Simon and Kirby were producing work for crime comics from two different publishers; Clue Comics and Real Clue Crime Stories for Hillman and Headline Comics for Prize. It would therefore be interesting to compare the coloring between the two. The Simon and Kirby work produced for Clue and its renamed title Real Clue used a more complete palette than those for Headline. The Hillman work used 38 colors (excluding black and white). But this is a little misleading because some of the colors were rarely used; deep blue (CM50), some of the purple tints (MC25 and M50C25), and red brown (MYC25).


Real Clue Crime Stories v.2 n.5 (July 1947) “The Terrible Whyos”, pencils and inks by Jack Kirby

Perhaps the most distinctive feature of the Hillman palette was the common use of light yellow (Y25). We will see that this color was not used in Prize’s Headline Comics. Considering how most colors that include Y25 are avoided, it is surprising how often light yellow (Y25) was used. In one case Y25 was used for an automobile but it seems a poor choice for coloring prominent objects. However light yellow was generally used for background areas and it was surprisingly effective in making accompanying white areas stand out.

As mentioned previously, red brown (MYC25) was rarely employed but the other browns (dark MYC50, heavy YC50M50, medium YM50C25 and light YC25M25) were more frequently used. However not equally so as light brown (YC25M25) was not used nearly as commonly as the other three browns. Another not so frequently used color was dirty green (YC50M25).


Real Clue Crime Stories v.2 n.7 (September 1947) “Gang War” page 5, pencils by Jack Kirby

Besides light yellow (Y25) the only other unusual colors with frequent use from the Hillman palette are pale green (C25Y25) and dark grey (C50M25Y25). Frankly with the very limited palette available for comic books the presence or absents of particular colors are of limited use in distinguishing different colorists. Also of use is how the artists uses the colors for the different objects. For instance the Hillman colorist generally uses middle green (YC50) for foliage and only much more rarely green (CY) or pale green (C25Y25). Police uniforms are dark blue (CM25) with brown shoes or boots. Caption boxes were colored with a variety of light colors; yellow (Y), light yellow (Y25), pale green (C25Y25), light orange (YM25) and even white. Desks and chairs are usual have a single color; generally dark brown (YMC50), heavy brown (YC50M50) or light brown (YM50C25).


Real Clue Crime Stories v.2 n.5 (July 1947) “The Terrible Whyos” page 4, pencils and inks by Jack Kirby

Most golden age colorists were more concerned with providing clarity to a scene by providing the different objects with distinct colors. Realistic coloring was not a high priority. So with the Hillman colorist we get such oddities as multi-color sidewalks, pale green buildings and some really bizarre interiors. Not very realistic, but all more interesting than if a more realistic, and therefore more limited, selection of colors were used.


Real Clue Crime Stories v.2 n.6 August 1947) “Get Me the Golden Gun” page 13, pencils and inks by Jack Kirby

As previously mentioned, golden age colorists did not generally use graduated color tones for interior art. That is colors were restricted to mixtures of 100%, %50 or %25 of the cyan, magenta or yellow inks. But there was an exception to this rule and that was the use of simple color gradient usually to the background. The Hillman colorist made use of this varying a one ink of a color from 75% to 25%. Usually this was done rather smoothly but occasionally less care was taken. This was the sole exception that the Hillman colorist made to not using a 75% ink. The use of a starting value of 75% was not a whim. With the primitive presses used for comic books, 75% would sometimes fill in and become effectively 100%. If this happened to a gradient that started at 100% then a poor gradient would result with over much of it a pure color. With gradients starting at 75% any similar filling in would still provide a suitable gradient.

Although I have concentrated on the coloring of the Simon and Kirby pieces, the same colorists seemed to work on the stories drawn by other artists as well. The pencilers and inkers for Clue and Real Clue were used in other Hillman comics and were not the same ones that Simon and Kirby used for Prize’s Headline Comics. I therefore believe that Simon and Kirby were just supplying art to Hillman and not producing the entire comic as they were doing for Prize. I will compare the Hillman colorist to that used for Prize’s Headline Comic next week.

footnotes
* the complete comic color palette for three levels of cyan and magenta, two of yellow and a single of black. Those marked with asterisk are not shown in my standard comic palette:

K        CMY25*      CM
C50MY    C50MY25*    C50M
C25MY    C25MY25*    C25M
MY       MY25*       M
    
CM50Y    CM50Y25*    CM50
C50M50Y  C50M50Y25*  C50M50
C25M50Y  C25M50Y25*  C25M50
M50Y     M50Y25*     M50

CM25Y    CM25Y25*    CM25
C50M25Y  C50M25Y25   C50M25
C25M25Y  C25M25Y25   C25M25
M25Y     M25Y25      M25

CY       CY25*       C
C50Y     C50Y25      C50
C25Y     C25Y25      C25
Y        Y25         W

I’m Back

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Posted in 2011/03, Odds & Ends, Topic, z Archive.

After more than three weeks, my telephone and Internet are working once again. I will not bore you with the details but suffice it to say it was not Verizon’s finest hour.

I will resume normal posting next week but in the meantime I will take this opportunity for some short posts one of which I have been meaning to write for some time.

My long absence is particularly annoying because while I was gone my blog received a surge of traffic. This surge occurred around March 5 and 6 but was very short lived. My number of visitors became five times my normal daily rate to reach a new all time high. Because I did not have access to my blog at that time I am unsure what occurred but there are hints that it might be related in some way to Will Eisner.

Simon and Kirby Blog’s Fifth Anniversary

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Posted in 2011/03.

Although hard to believe, it is true that I have been writing the Simon and Kirby blog for five years. Five years on the efforts of just two comic book artists, Joe Simon and Jack Kirby. Perhaps that is a little misleading because Joe and Jack were more than just artists, they produced comics as well. In doing so they employed other artists who have also been discussed on this blog as well. But still five years writing about a rather narrow topic. But guess what, I ain’t done yet!

It has been another banner year for Simon and Kirby. Titan released the first volume of the Simon and Kirby library, “The Simon and Kirby Superheroes”. I am completely biased (having done the art restorations) but it is an amazing book and (considering the number of pages) at a surprisingly low price. It provides a good overview of Simon and Kirby’s long collaboration. The book also gives a chance to see Joe Simon as a penciler on the Vagabond Prince, one of the more unusual superheroes of all time. DC has continued its Simon and Kirby archives with a Newsboy Legion and a Boy Commandos volume with more to come.

The previous year has also seen the publication of a book on Mort Meskin (“From Shadow to Light, The Life and Art of Mort Meskin” by Steven Brower). Brower has done a excellent job on an unjustly overlooked artist. Meskin was an important contributor to Simon and Kirby productions (second only to Jack) but of course he did great work both before and after his time in the Simon and Kirby studio. There have been a number of important volumes on comic book artists put out during the last year but in my opinion the must haves are Titan’s Superheroes and Brower’s Meskin books.

The Jack Kirby Comics Weblog is the place to go to see what is coming in Kirby related publications. Bob even beats me out in reporting on books that I work on! He as recently reported on Titan’s upcoming “Joe Simon: My Life In Comics” . Use that link to see two of the proposed covers for that book. I have seen a third but I do not know what the actual published cover will be. I have heard on the Internet comments to the effect that some already have “The Comic Book Makers” and will pass on this latest volume. That is all well and good but I want to make clear that “My Life In Comics” is NOT “The Comic Book Makers” revisited. “My Life In Comics” has stories that, to my knowledge, have never been reported before. Bob has also announced the next Titan addition to the S&K  Library, “Simon and Kirby Crime”. It is too early for me to talk about this book but I will say that the actual release date is likely to be later then what is given by Amazon.

It has been a great five years for the Simon and Kirby Blog. I have by no means exhausted what I want to write about my favorite collaborators and the artists who worked for them. Further considering what is going to be published, the future should be interesting as well.

Joe Simon and Jack Kirby on the Internet

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Posted in 2011/03, Odds & Ends, Topic, Uncategorized, z Archive and tagged ,

I am a bit late, but there are some Simon or Kirby related items on the Internet that I thought my readers might like to know about.

It has been on the Internet for a long time, but Simon Comics has been redone. If that is not enough, there is also the new Joe Simon Studio. Not enough Joe Simon? Then check him out on Facebook. I just cannot get over the fact that Joe Simon is on Facebook. I have to admit I am a 20th century guy and I just do not quite get what Facebook is all about. But Joe has inspired me to try to join the 21st century.

But what about Jack Kirby? Well there is the new Jack Kirby Discussion Group. Frankly there was an old Kirby list that had gotten to be a rather unfriendly site and I personally am glad to see it go. This new Kirby group is public and a friendly place to be. Also What If Kirby has returned to the Internet. It is a great place to visit particularly because of all the Kirby original art provided. Currently there are 400 pieces of Kirby art shown but it keeps growing. Simon and Kirby fans should check out the splash page from Captain America Comics #6.

A lot has been going on in the Kirby copyrights legal fight during my absence from the Internet. I have not had a chance to catch up but one of my favorite blogs, 20th Century Danny Boy, seems to be covering it quite nicely.

What? Who?

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Posted in 2011/02, Odds & Ends, Topic, z Archive and tagged ,


Prize Comics Western #78 (November 1949) “Showdown on the Chisholm Trail”, art by unidentified artist

I got an email from Meskin scholar Steven Brower asking whether I had seen a piece from Prize Comics Western #78 with very odd art which Meskin seemed to have had a hand in. Very odd art indeed although it was not clear to me what, if any, part Meskin played in its creation. The art includes some Meskin looking traits most noticeably the simple angular eyebrows. There are other traits, however, that are untypical for Mort. For example the tall and lanky form given to the hero of the piece. Also some of the characters are done in a more cartoonish manner that look nothing like what I have seen in Meskin’s art. The inking is very distinctive as well. There is frequent use of what I call picket fence crosshatching (Inking Glossary). This is a technique often found in Simon and Kirby studio inking of Kirby’s pencils. The artist does the picket fence crosshatching in a very specific manner with the “pickets” largely confined to within “rail” lines and the “rails” being formed by a simple line almost like a wire. This picket fence variant is similar to that used by Meskin. Another unusual inking technique this artist uses is to use simple hatching (Inking Glossary) to provide volume to smoke or dust clouds. Most artist provide such clouds with simple billow lines and leave it to the colorist to provide volume with the use of a light color, usually light cyan.


Real West Romances #4 (October 1949) “The Perfect Cowboy” page 5, art by unidentified artist

The very distinct inking found in “Showdown on the Chisholm Trail” brought to my mind another work published at about the same time, “The Perfect Cowboy” from Real West Romances #4. It is in fact the work of the same inker with the same techniques used in both stories. The same distinctive style of picket fence crosshatching and the same simple hatching used on dust clouds. The only inking difference is that picket fence crosshatching was used on a woman’s hair in “The Perfect Cowboy” but that unusual hair inking was not done anywhere in the Prize Comic Western story. The similarities between the two stories are not limited to the inking but include the pencils as well. Most importantly the hero of both stories was drawn tall and thin.

However there are differences between the artwork of two stories. While there are places in the PWC one that suggest Mort Meskin, in RWR it is Jack Kirby that comes to mind. In fact The Jack Kirby Checklist credits Kirby with the pencils and Simon with the inks. As I pointed out previously when discussing “The Perfect Cowboy (Chapter 8 of the Art of Romance) the inks were certainly not done by Joe. And the pencils sometimes show traits, like the tall lanky figures, that do not look at all like Kirby.

I am still inclined to believe that this artist was working from layouts; Kirby layouts in “The Perfect Cowboy” and those by Mort Meskin for “Showdown on the Chisholm Trail”. The layouts might have been tighter in some places more than others. I also suspect that either layouts were not provided for the entire story or the artist in question choose to ignore them in places. The picket fence crosshatching used in these two stories is more similar to Meskin than it is to Kirby or Simon. Further there is a complete lack of some studio style inking such as abstract arc shadows or drop strings and these brush techniques are also often absent from Meskin inking as well. So perhaps Mort gave the artists some pointers about inking as well.


Left Justice Traps the Guilty #14 (February 1950), page 3 panel 5 by Marvin Stein
Right Real West Romances #4, page 4 panel 6 by unidentified artist

There is another artists that used a similar picket fence crosshatching although not as frequently and with a much coarser brush, Marvin Stein. Further Stein penciled women, at least early in his career, that look very much what is seen in both the stories discussed here. However I offer him up not as a candidate but as an object lesson. For Marvin was already working for Simon and Kirby at this time. The work that Stein did at this period was nothing like this unidentified artist. Marvin’s use of picket fence crosshatching started at a later period and he never inked dust clouds in the unusual manner described above. While Stein’s art had not yet reached his mature style some of his trademarks were already present and they do not appear in the PCW or the RWR stories. Nor did Marvin draw the same lanky figures. I am pretty confident that Stein was not our mystery artist. It just goes to show that attributions based on one or two traits must be viewed with caution.

There are still a number of artist that worked with Simon and Kirby that I have not been able to identify so this mystery artist has company. Nor is he by any means the most talented of the unknowns, in fact I suspect he is just starting as a comic book artist. However he is so distinctive that I like to think that his name will eventually be uncovered.

A Story too Incredible to be Real

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Posted in 2011/02, 5 Studio, Artists, Featured Work, Kirby, Jack, Periods, Prize, Topic, z Archive and tagged


Headline #24 (May 1947) “A Phantom Pulls The Trigger” page 6, pencils and inks by Jack Kirby

They said it on the cover, “All True Famous Detective Cases”. Would Joe Simon and Jack Kirby say that if it was not true? But surely not all the stories in Headline Comics #24 could be true? Who would be credulous enough to believe the tale told in “A Phantom Pulls The Trigger”? A man going about the French countryside killing individuals for the sole reason of keeping the size of the population down? Whose philosophy comes from reading Thomas Malthus’ “Over-Population”? A man who avoids detection by using a gun installed inside his wooden leg? Who after being uncovered and arrested is allowed to keep his now disarmed wooden leg and has friends smuggle in a new gun and bullets? Who uses his re-armed wooden leg right before his execution with unintended results? Who could possibly believe such an incredible story to be true?

Except it was.

Well as true as any story told by Simon and Kirby who seemed to adhere to the philosophy of never letting the facts get in the way of a good story. But the basic facts portrayed in “A Phantom Pulls The Trigger” all appear to be true. There really was a man who went by the names of Herman Gottler and Raoul Croc as presented in the story but not included in the story were his other names Gottlieb Einhalter and Armande Giraud. His armed and deadly wooden leg was so devious that after he had been found in the vicinity of several murders it remained undetected even though he was carefully searched. He undoubtedly would have continued to evade the law for some time had not one of his victims lived long enough to report seeing smoke coming from the end of the wooden leg. After capture, Raoul was quite open about what he had done and why he did it. In fact he attracted a number of admirers. And yes the authorities really did allow him to keep his unarmed wooden leg which Raoul re-armed with the help of his friends. While seated waiting for the executioner’s sword, Raoul aimed his leg at one of his followers and set his pistol off. Only it seems the pistol’s muzzle had become blocked with mud and stone and therefore exploded instantly killing Raoul.

But how had Simon and Kirby come across this story? The events occurred in France during the early part of the 19th century so it was unlikely to have been a object of discussion in New York City during the mid 20th century. A Google search revealed a few possible French links (I cannot read French) but only a single English source. That source was “Howitt’s Journal of Literature and Popular Progress, Volume 1” by William Howitt and Mary Botham Howitt published in 1847 (the story told on pages 103 to 105 and 122 to 125). This does not seem to be likely reading material for either Joe or Jack. Perhaps Jack heard the story told in France while he was there as a soldier during World War II.

“A Phantom Pulls The Trigger” is special not only for its amazing story but also because it had one of the only two double page splashes for a crime comic (The Wide Angle Scream, It’s a Crime);

The Corrosive Influence of Pinball

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Posted in 2011/01, 5 Studio, Artists, Featured Work, Kirby, Jack, Periods, Prize, Topic, z Archive and tagged ,


New York City Major Fiorello La Guardia toppling a pinball machine (August 1938)

America has a long history of concerns about the corruption of youth (a concern that today seems greatly diminished but by no means absent). The anti-comic book crusade of Dr. Wertham and others that ultimately led to the creation of the Comic Code is one example of such a concern but it is by no means the only one. Another object of worry was the pinball machine. Pinball was not a harmless way to pass the time, at least not to the cultural powers of the day. It was, gasp, a form of gambling. Not only could you win free games, but winning clearly depended on nothing more than luck. So concerned were communities of the day that pinball machines were banned in many places across the country, including New York City.


Headline #24 (May 1947) “Grim Pay-Off For The Pinball Mob”, pencils by Jack Kirby, inks by Joe Simon

I do not see how anyone can doubt the testimony of former major La Guardia about the dangers of pinball. I mean after all they named an airport after him! But if the reader still doubts the evil nature that pinball represented than I will appeal to even higher authorities, Joe Simon and Jack Kirby. They present their case through the mouth of a soda shop owner when a gang brings one of the machines into his store:

I said get that infernal thing out of my store! There’s a school across the street … I won’t have those kids losing their lunch money!!

Unfortunately the owner’s arguments are overruled by a thug’s fist. Simon and Kirby show that the gang is not limited to pushing pinball machines but they are also involved in running a gambling house. When the public objects to all the gambling a detective uses the pinball connection to trace the gang to their bigger operations. Thus Joe and Jack show us that the danger of pinball goes beyond the corruption of youth.

There is irony in Simon and Kirby’s voicing their concerns about pinball at the same time that many in the public were complaining about the danger comic books, and in particular crime comics, presented to the nation’s youth. Did they really see pinball as a corruptive danger? Or were they just trying to divert attention away from comic books?

Pinball games continued in spite of the ban imposed by many communities. New York lifted its pinball ban in 1976. The City Council did so largely because Roger Sharpe demonstrated that pinball required skill, not luck. He proved this playing a game where he announced that he would land the ball in the middle lane and proceeding to do just that. After that pinball flourished in New York. The pinball industry did quite well at the time driven by the digital age. But in the end home computers and video games brought about a severe decline in the pinball industry. I have not been able to find any company that is currently making pinball machines. With no more pinball games I guess we can say that they no longer present a danger to today’s youth.

Mort Meskin’s Dark Fighting Yank

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Posted in 2011/01, Artists, Featured Work, Meskin, Mort, Topic, z Archive and tagged


Fighting Yank #29 (August 1949) “Fireworks on the Fourth”, pencils and inks by Mort Meskin

Mort Meskin was the most important artist in the Simon and Kirby studio, second only to Jack. But he did important comic book art before and after his stay in Joe and Jack’s studio. Mort often inked his own work and he was a talented inker. Inking of Meskin’s pencils are generally fairly light. That is overall there are significantly more white or colored areas in a panel as compared to black ones. Now there are exceptions such as panels displaying night scenes. But look at the splash for “Fireworks on the Fourth”. Lots of black and since the actions occurs indoors there is no reason that so much blacks had to be used. To my eyes, the inking in “Fireworks on the Fourth” seems to flatten the image. This may not have been an accidental effect as Meskin’s comic book art often exhibited a narrow depth of field.

But let me digress. During the war years there was a flood of patriotic superheroes published in comic books. Of course all superheroes in American comics would be expected to be patriotic. By patriotic superheroes I am referring to those with a costume or a name that distinct patriotic overtones. With so many patriotic superheroes it must have been difficult to come up with an costume that was appropriate and original. Most had a costume based on the American flag with the most famous examples being MJL’s Shield as well as Simon and Kirby’s Captain America. But that was not the direction taken by Standards for their Fighting Yank. This hero had a costume based on the type of clothing used during the Revolutionary War. Not that the flag was neglected; it appeared on the Fighting Yank’s chest. I am not sure if the Fighting Yank was the first to use the Revolutionary War theme but in any case there were others as well. Since it really was not that spectacular of a costume one might think the Fighting Yank would have been one of the less successful patriotic heroes. But actually he did quite well lasting from November 1941 (Startling Comics #10) to August 1949. It really was a long run since most superheroes, patriotic or otherwise, did not last nearly as long. The last issue of Fighting Yank was #29, the very one with Meskin’s interesting inking.

The inking has a greater emphasis on black than normally used by Meskin I still feel that he did the inking. While cloth folds are blocky they still exhibit the long sweeping curves that Mort preferred. When inking such folds Meskin typically used multiple brush strokes which he sometimes overlapped. This inking technique is often revealed by looking at the ends of the cloth folds were sometimes the separate ends of the individual strokes are reveals. This can be seen here are for example inking of the man in the blue suit on the left side of the splash. In Steven Brower’s recent book on Mort Meskin (“From Shadow to Light”) Jerry Robinson remarked that to keep things interesting he and Mort would often varied how they created the art. I think that this inking technique is an example such a practice.


Fighting Yank #29 (August 1949) “Fireworks on the Fourth” page 3 panel 5, pencils and inks by Mort Meskin

Meskin put this new inking style to good use. In the panel shown above he uses a low light source to provide dramatic lighting. This is something he rarely did when he later worked for Simon and Kirby. While Mort’s inking is the basis for the image’s drama, the colorists use of a light violet shadow greatly enhances the effect. The use of two color tones on the face is uncommon in golden age comics. It is pretty rare, but not unknown, in Simon and Kirby interior art where generally colored areas are separated by the line art or isolated in white areas.


Fighting Yank #29 (August 1949) “Fireworks on the Fourth” page 7 panel 2, pencils and inks by Mort Meskin

The colorist did not limit his use of multi-tone coloring to simple shadows but he also often put them to dramatic effect for scenes meant to have low light levels. Certainly the most spectacular of these multi-tone panels is the one from page 3 that is shown above. The combination of an orange background and the yellow to green toned figures is just stunning. The combinations of Meskin’s great pencils and his unusual inking along with the colorist efforts combine to make this an unforgettable piece of comic book art. One might be tempted to credit such exceptional coloring to Meskin himself however other Standards comics should be checked for multi-tone coloring before such a conclusion is reached. Coloring of golden age comics was generally handled by the publisher and not the artist who did the original line art. Standard Comics may have had to fortune of using one of the more talented colorists in the business.

Not Just Any Crime

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Posted in 2011/01, 5 Studio, Artists, Featured Work, Kirby, Jack, Periods, Prize, Topic, z Archive and tagged


Headline #23 (March 1947) “Burned At The Stake” page 4, pencils and inks by Jack Kirby

Simon and Kirby tried to vary the type of crime that was portrayed in their stories. But of course they could write very different stories that deal with the same type of crime. So there are multiple gangster, western outlaw and other stories. But there was one crime category that Joe and Jack only dealt with once in their crime comics, treason. It probably should not be surprising that treason was so rarely featured in the stories. After all it is not what one normally comes to mind when you think of crime. What is truly odd is that it was not treason against the United States that Simon and Kirby wrote about but against England. For “Burned at the Stake” is about the failed attempt by Guy Fawkes and others to blow up the English King and his parliament. Perhaps the reason Simon and Kirby selected this story is that Guy Fawkes seems to have generated the greatest public reaction to a traitor. Sure everyone in America knows of Benedict Arnold but when was the last time he was hung in effigy? In England Guy Fawkes’ effigy has been hung and burned on November 5th for the last 400 years!

While Simon and Kirby’s version of the gunpowder plot is relatively accurate, it completely leaves out the religious background. There is no mention of the Protestant faith of England’s rulers or the difficulties faced by the Catholic minority. One might accept Simon and Kirby’s assertion that Fawkes went to Flanders to seek glory, but only religion would explain why he joined the Catholic Spanish side against the Protestant Dutch Republic. As Simon and Kirby present it, the leaders of the plot objections to King James I seems based on little more than personality. Also there appears to be no explanation for Guy Fawkes’ joining the plotters other than something akin to a lark. Some understanding of the religious issues is needed to make the whole story comprehensible but nowhere is that subject mentioned by Simon and Kirby.

Joe and Jack’s handling of Guy Fawkes is very out of place with the treatment typically reserved for traitors. Fawkes is by no means a sneaky or cowardly villain but an individual to be admired, even if reluctantly. When discovered by the King’s guards, Fawkes puts up a valiant but unsuccessful fight to avoid capture. Afterwards Guy refuses to reveal the names of his fellow conspirators even under extensive torture. The only glaring inconsistency is Fawkes’ gallows confession of guilt. Guy was said to have repented but since history is written by the winners one wonders how accurate testimony of that confession was. But this story is in a crime comic and American morality of that day required that “crime never pays” (which phrase Simon and Kirby conclude the story).

I have previously discussed the double page splash for this story (The Wide Angle Scream, It’s a Crime). Until recently Guy Fawkes has not occupied much of a place in the American conscious. That is not true for the English, I once worked with a lady originally from England who despite being Catholic took part in November 5 celebrations. However Americans were re-introduced to Fawkes through Alan Moore’s graphic novel “V for Vendetta” and the movie based on it.

A Simon and Kirby Valentine

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Posted in 2011/01, 5 Studio, Artists, Featured Work, Kirby, Jack, Periods, Prize, Topic, z Archive and tagged ,


Headline #23 (March 1947) “To My Valentine”, pencils and inks by Jack Kirby

After the failure of Stuntman and Boy Explorers for Harvey Comics, Joe Simon and Jack Kirby began looking for a publisher that they could produce comics for. They eventually made a deal with Prize Comics where they converted the existing Headline Comics from a superhero to a crime title. The first crime issue was Headline #23 (March 1947) and it is packed with great stuff. Full of material all drawn by the dynamic Jack Kirby. The premise, at least initially, was that Headline would consist of true stories often presented by “Red Hot” Blaze. One of which was “To My Valentine” the story of the St. Valentine’s Day Massacre.

The story as presented by Simon and Kirby starts with a dramatic full page splash. Cupid with a machine gun having just finished mowing down a line of men. It seems at least one of them had a handgun so it can be presumed that they were criminals. Text presented as a scroll informs us about the war between two gangs one headed by Al Capone and the other Bugs Moran.

The first story page depicts a man discarding a Valentine Day card and then abusing the store’s proprietor when he asked to be paid for the damaged card. An odd start for a crime story, but then again Simon and Kirby were always very original in their story telling. This beginning indicates the story is taken place on Valentine’s Day and introduces the reader to the thug-like nature of the man.

On the next page the readers follows the man to his arrival to a group of gangsters as they prepare for some undisclosed criminal activity. Only they become interrupted by the appearance of some uniformed policeman. Or rather as is revealed in the last panel, as members of the “other mob” dressed up as cops.

Page four has the arrival of boss and massacre of the apprehended gangsters. Pretty dramatic stuff. But interestingly nowhere is either gang mentioned by name. The reader will learn later that the victims belonged to Bugs Moran gang but the name of the leader of this particular confrontation is never revealed. While some of the facts about the St. Valentine’s Day Massacre are well known the perpetrators have never been positively identified.

Page five introduces “Red Hot” Blaze as he bridges the story from the massacre to the arrival of a reported to interview a prison inmate. Only the reporter finds out that the inmate is out, not on bail but for a stroll. The reporter does not wait for the inmate’s return as he already has a great story for his newspaper. The reporter returns later to interview the prisoner only to be roughed up by the inmate right in front of the sheriff. When the reporter objects to the treatment he has received the sheriff responds he did not see anything. “Red Hot” Blaze describes the story as an example of the corruption in Chicago at that time. Still this sub-story seems only remotely related to the rest of the Valentine’s Day Massacre story. It takes up two pages, as much room as the massacre itself. Why did Simon and Kirby include it?

Page five ends with Bugs Moran hearing about a party the other gang was having and on the final page of the story we find Bug’s gang performing their own massacre at their rival’s party. This was supposed to have taken place at the Manning’s Hotel but a Google search fails to come up with any mention of Bug’s revenge.

“Red Hot” Blaze returns once again in the last two panels and in the final one says:

Just another thought cousins! … it isn’t hard to give crime another boost to a new heydey … Those who play ball with the black market boys and their like are only giving a new ‘go-signal to mob rule! Don/t encourage them … you’ll pay a higher price later!!!

Here Simon and Kirby reveal the story’s real theme and the explanation for the sub-story of the newspaper reporter from Chicago. “To My Valentine” is not just, or even primarily, about the gang war between Al Capone and Bugs Moran. Rather the story is concerned about the corruptive influence of organized crime and the dangers involved in supporting it. The years immediately following War World II were prosperous especially when compared to the pre-war depression period. But although many were now earning good incomes the country’s industry as a whole took some time to re-tool from the production of military goods. People had money but could not always spend it on the goods they wanted. Under such conditions a black market sprung up (or rather continued from the war years). Here Simon and Kirby are warning about the possible outcome of supporting the black market and allowing it to prosper.