Category Archives: z Archive

“Love on the Racks” the Most Important Book of Comics Ever

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Posted in 2008/05, Odds & Ends, Topic, z Archive.

Okay there is a lot of hyperbole in my title. But think about it, at their height one out of four comic titles on the racks was a romance comic. Romance comics lasted about 30 years not counting a couple of failed retry attempts. Yes some types of comics were more enduring, but most were not. There were long periods when more romance titles out then those for superheroes. I have previously discussed how during his time in partnership with Joe Simon, Jack Kirby drew more pages of romance then all other genre combined. Today one can find numerous books covering different aspects of comic history, yet “Love on the Racks, A History of American Romance Comics” by Michelle Nolan is the first to provide an overview for the romance genre. It was worth the wait.

For me personally, this book came out just in time. In it I found the answers to a couple of puzzles concerning the subject of my next chapter of the serial post “The Art of Romance”. Because their romance titles were so important to Simon and Kirby I have spent much time studying them. However Prize and Mainline were really small publishers and this book provides a welcome overview of the other publishers of romance and their comics. Despite what you might think, romance comics were not all the same.

Nolan does an excellent job of reporting on her subject. Not only are we provided with reviews of some of the romance titles but Nolan also gives data to help show the ups and downs of love comics. The data she uses is very revealing but I must admit that it was sometimes hard to keep track of it all. I believe it would have been better had Nolan provided some graphs. In fact spurned on by what I read, I have done just that. Using Dan Stevenson’s list “All the Romance Comics Ever Published (?)” as a primary source I have graphed romance titles over their history and the results are very useful. It is all covered in “Love on the Racks” but the graphs make it more easily grasped. I will be making use of these graphs in my future posts.

I did find one minor error; Young Romance did not go monthly with issue #9 as Nolan reports rather that happened nine months later with Young Romance #14. It was not so much an error but the author expressed being perplexed about Prize replacing Young Love with their new All For Love in 1956/57 and then in 1959/60 switching All For Love back to Young Love as well as changing Personal Love to Going Steady. As I covered in chapter 9 of my serial post “The End of Simon and Kirby” Prize was undoubtedly having money problems in 1956. Prize’s contract with Simon and Kirby meant they shared the profits with those creators. One way to save money was to cut Joe and Jack out, but the contract probably prevented them from just removing them from Young Love. So Prize did the next best thing and cancelled Young Love and replaced it with a new title, All For Love. They probably got cold feet about doing the same thing to their flagship love title Young Romance. I also discussed how Mike Bleier, one of the owners for Prize, died and Teddy Epstein asked Joe Simon to take the lines over. Joe probably felt, correctly, that Young Love was a better title then All For Love as was Going Steady compared to Personal Love. In the end even Going Steady was not good enough but Young Love would go on to become the last romance comic book even outlasting Young Romance.

I suspect many comic book historians may not consider romance comics as having much importance in relationship to their main areas of interest, usually superheroes. Well think again. Chapter 5, “The Love Glut” should be required reading for any comic fan with an interest in such companies as Fox or Timely/Atlas. As Nolan shows the over zealous entry into love comics by some publishers had disastrously results. I remember some time ago there was much speculation on a Timely/Atlas list as to what happened to that company in 1950. Nolan’s Love Glut is pure smoking gun. The money Victor Fox lost during this period was almost certainly the reason that he went bankrupt a half a year later.

Hyperbole aside, this book is probably not of interest to everyone. But I strongly suggest any comic book historian with an interest focused on some particular publisher should certainly read this book.

The Beginnings of the Newsboy Legion

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Posted in 2008/05, 4 DC (early), Artists, Kirby, Jack, Periods, Topic, z Archive.


Star Spangled #9 (June 1942), art by Jack Kirby

Simon and Kirby’s initial work for DC was to revitalize an existing feature called Sandman. In the following month they would debut their own creation, The Newsboy Legion (Star Spangled #7, April 1942). Jim Harper was a rookie cop assigned to patrol Suicide Slum. Further he assumes the roll of the Guardian to fight criminals without having to adhere to the restrictions of the law. Harper is also a guardian of another kind; he is a sort of custodian to four street urchins, the Newsboy Legion. The boy gang was a genre that S&K would use a number of times, although not always with a superhero thrown into the mix. A similar combination appeared in another Simon and Kirby creation the Young Allies, only in that feature the superheroes Toro and Bucky were part of the actual gang. Because the cover date for the first Young Allies was Summer, the Newsboy Legion may have actually been published before Joe and Jack’s earlier creation. The combination of superhero and boy gang worked quite well. Suicide Slum provided the Newsboy Legion with plenty of opportunities to get into trouble leading to their eventual rescue by the Guardian. Thus the boys play the roll of side-kicks without the improbability of a superhero partnering with a young boy in his dangerous fight against crime. Another refreshing difference found in the Newsboy Legion concerned Jim Harper’s secret identity as the Guardian. The Newsboys’ suspicions about the Guardian’s true identity would become a running gag for the feature.


Star Spangled #8 (May 1942) “Last Mile Alley” page 9, art by Jack Kirby

Joe and Jack probably initially did their DC work pretty much by themselves. Any scripts that the DC editors provided must have either been ignored or highly altered. This can be seen by the fact that Simon and Kirby’s work at DC reads pretty much like their work from both before and after. As for art assistants, their former ones were left behind at Timely to take over the art for Captain America Comics and its offshoots. Simon and Kirby would eventually acquire new ones, but initially it was probably just the two of them. This allowed the team to quickly forge a distinctly unique art style. Part of it was derived from their previous work at Timely. In Captain America Kirby had already mastered his handling of action and exaggerated perspective. These continued in Simon and Kirby’s DC work and beyond. Also continued from Captain America was the device of extending figures beyond the panel borders. Circular or semicircular panels would play an important part in DC layouts as they had previously. (I love how the example page I provide above has four semicircular panels yet even more circles were introduced by the spinning wheel and the window in the first two panels.) Retained, at least initially, was a page layout typically of eight panels arranged in four rows. One layout technique that was immediately discarded was the use the more irregular panel borders frequently found in their Timely work.


Star Spangled #9 (June 1942) “The Rookie Takes the Rap” page 13, art by Jack Kirby

Kirby was the master of the fight scene and the Newsboy Legion provided plenty of opportunities for Jack to display his talent. I particularly like the sequence found in the end of “The Rookie Takes the Rap” showed above. Jack increases the number of panels per row to three to get in as much fighting as possible. He has also removed all background features that could distract from the Guardian’s confrontation with his opponent. It is not truly a fight because the crook does not stand a chance against the Guardian’s fury. I love the way Kirby has added flying bricks, but as the fight takes place inside a room I have no idea where they came from.


Star Spangled #10 (July 1942) “Kings for a Day” page 11, art by Jack Kirby

Jack Kirby knew how to make things exciting. Take the sequence from “Kings for a Day” shown above. It starts with the Guardian amidst a cityscape. Jack’s unusual use of shadows provides the scene with an eerie quality. As the Guardian ascends, Jack uses perspective to dramatize the action. Views of the background indicate how high the Guardian has climbed. The tower, his final objective, is shown with rapidly narrowing perspective showing he has far more height to obtain. This is followed by tilted views emphasizing the precarious nature of his pursuit. The last panel reveals the object of the Guardian’s heroic efforts while ironically one of the bad guys denigrates the Guardian. This is yet another reminder that Kirby knew how to infuse the story with excitement even in parts where there really was not much going on.


Star Spangled #12 (July 1942) “Prevue of Peril” page 2, art by Jack Kirby

Simon and Kirby switched their typical page from 4 to 3 rows. I had previously observed the same thing in their Sandman stories. In Sandman the transition seemed gradual stretching over several issues. For the Newsboy legion is seems much more abrupt; prior to #12 layouts are predominately four row pages, while subsequent issues are overwhelmingly three row layout,. The larger panels allowed Simon and Kirby to provide greater impact. While I believe that the layout change substantially improved the stories, I question whether that was the true aim. With the war on, both Joe and Jack expected that they would have to enter military service. Knowing this Simon and Kirby began to produce as much work as possible so that DC could use it while they were off serving their country. A larger image provided by the three row panel layout required less fine detailing, therefore less time to draw and ink, and thus aided getting more work done.


Star Spangled #7 (April 1942) page 1, art by Jack Kirby

The inking style that Simon and Kirby adopted after leaving Timely provided much of what made Simon and Kirby art look so unique. I used to I refer to this as their DC style but I fear that might give the impression that Simon and Kirby were adopting DC’s manner of inking and nothing could be further from the truth. So I think I will call it S&K’s Sculptural style since their use of form lines to create negative highlights for suggesting shape is a technique many sculptors have used when drawing. (See my Inking Glossary for explanations for explanations for some of the terms I will use in this post.) Aspects of this style can be seen in parts of Simon and Kirby’s Timely work. Perhaps the use of a number of assistants for the inking prevented the Timely art from more uniformly presenting this style. In any case starting with their work for DC and the covers they were also doing at this time for Al Harvey, Simon and Kirby inking would have two prominent characteristics; Caniff style cloth folds and bold form lines. Neither of these inking techniques was unique to Simon and Kirby but the boldness of the brush strokes were. The splash for the untitled origin story of the Newsboy Legion shown above is a good example of the early use of the Sculptural style. Take particular notice of the simple oval cloth folds that can be found in this splash particularly on Tommy’s lower legs. Not only are they simple in shape but they seem very flat without bending with the underlying shape. This type of clothing folds can be found not only in Sculptural style inking, but with the post-war Studio style as well and finally forming an important characteristic of Kirby’s Severe style of inking. I think this is an indication that Jack did at least some of the spotting for the origin story splash. Also note the course crosshatching on the buildings in the background. DC management would derogatorily designate this as “hay” and S&K’s use of this inking method would be the recurring cause of friction.

The Sculptural style can be distinguished from the Studio style by its greater dependence on form lines but also by the general lack of some of the latter’s typical inking methods such as picket fence crosshatching, drop strings, shoulder blots, and abstract arch shadows. However predecessors for some of the Studio style inking techniques may be found in the Sculptural style. In the origin splash Jim Harper’s shoulders have what almost look like shoulder blots although narrower in shape then the true shoulder blots of the Studio style. Big Word’s shoulders show that these proto-shoulder blots are actually overlapping form lines differing only in location from the form lines found throughout the splash.


Star Spangled #11 (August 1942) “Paradise Prison” page 5, art by Jack Kirby

The second panel of page 8 of “paradise Prison” provides another example of a proto-shoulder blot. Once again the shoulders have narrow blots. the shoulder inking does give an appearance of being made from overlapping form lines although not as distinctly the case as those for example on the villain’s arm. Note the unusual appearance of Superman as presented as part of a movie. It marks one of the few Simon and Kirby nods of recognition to their publisher’s flagship character. I cannot help but wonder if Superman’s awkward pose was deliberate.


Star Spangled #8 (May 1942) “Last Mile Alley” page 10, art by Jack Kirby

Picket fence crosshatching is another inking method typical of the Studio style. Yet again examples that could be described as proto-picket fence show up in the inking of DC stories. The Guardian’s back in panel 5 of “Last Mile Alley” shown above is a case in point. The rails however are used to clearly indicate the form which is not typically the case with true picket fence brush work. Also part of the proto-picket fence is not delimited by a rail but a series of form lines instead. Not only is the proto-picket fence distinguishable in manner from the Studio style technique it is also only very infrequently used in the Sculptural style of inking.


Star Spangled #7 (April 1942) <untitled> page 5, art by Jack Kirby

Another staple of the Studio style is the abstract arch shadow. I normally use the term abstract arch shadow to describe cases where a shadow was delimited on both sides with an arc. However Simon and Kirby also frequently used shadows with only one arc. The use of single arc shadows inking appears in the DC style as well as can be seen in panels 1 and 3 from the fifth page of the origin story shown above. Such shadows can be termed abstract as well because there often is no clear explanation for their shape. Unexplained shadows were used by Simon and Kirby as a design tool to make a scene more visually interesting. Note the decided abstract shadows, without any arcs, in the sixth panel. That abstract shadows are more frequently arced was due to S&K’s use of oval and semi-circular forms as a compositional device. Such touches might be easily overlooked but they are important part of Simon and Kirby’s successful imagery.


Star Spangled #11 (August 1942) “Paradise Prison” page 8, art by Jack Kirby

I do not want to leave the reader with the idea that during S&K’s tenure at DC all manifestations of otherwise Studio inking methods were done in atypical manners. That may be true of shoulder blots and picket fence crosshatching but it is certainly not true of abstract arch shadows. The arch shadow in the last panel of page 8 of “Paradise Prison” is perfectly indistinguishable from abstract arches that appeared after the war. While the manner of execution of abstract arches may be the same between the two periods their frequency is not. Abstract arch shadows show up often in Studio style art but are rare with DC style inking. The example I provided above was the earliest that I spotted among the Newsboy Legion art.


Star Spangled #17 (February 1943) “The Rafferty Mob” page 1, art by Jack Kirby

I use the term Sculptural inking style for much of the inking done by Simon and Kirby during the war but it was by no means a static approach to inking. That should not be surprising because Simon and Kirby’s art was always evolving. The form lines found in the splash from Star Spangled #7 (April 1942, shown earlier in the post) would become bolder over time as exemplified by the splash from Star Spangled #17 (February 1943). I am not convinced that “The Rafferty Mob” splash was inked by Kirby but the inking still matches the Sculptural style.


Star Spangled #12 (July 1942) “Prevue of Peril” page 1, art by Jack Kirby

I wanted to close this post on the earlier Newsboy Legion art with a splash selected solely because it is so neat. Simon and Kirby occasionally include recognizable people in their comics. In this case the Hollywood personalities played no part in the story that followed but who cares? Starting from the top and going clockwise we find Carmen Miranda, Bing Crosby, Bob Hope, an unidentified actress, Errol Flynn, Hedy Lamarr (fortunately Scrapper calls out her name or I probably would not have identified her), Mickey Rooney, and Clark Gable. I sometimes wonder if that unidentified red head might be Lucille Ball but would all the B movies she was in before her television success make her a recognizable figure at that time?

Kirby Five-Oh

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Posted in 2008/05, Odds & Ends, Topic, z Archive.

One of my biggest treats from the 2008 New York Comic Con was being able to pick up a copy of The Jack Kirby Collector #50, titled “Kirby Five-Oh”. TwoMorrows wanted to make something special for their fiftieth issue of their flagship title and they have succeeded. The Jack Kirby Collector has been an oversized magazine for some time but this one is thick as well. And it ain’t just fluff! There are page after page of just fantastic Kirby art including a great color section. The 50 theme rules with chapters such as the 50 greatest Kirby covers, the 50 greatest Kirby stories and the 50 greatest Kirby creations (I do not have the issue in front of me as I write this so I am probably forgetting some). I would highly recommend the purchase of this volume but I suspect most of my readers regularly pick up The Jack Kirby Collector anyway.

In the past I have occasional given help to The Jack Kirby Collector as well as to their other great publication, Roy Thomas’ Alter Ego. For the Kirby Five-Oh I was able to provide more then I have ever been able before. I hope my readers will be indulging as I take pride in my contribution which, although only a small part of that issue, was large compared to my previous efforts. I was able to do this because of a project I once did. Back in 1998 I decided to restore the line art for all the published covers that Kirby or Simon drew during their partnership. It was a pretty bold decision since that meant a lot of covers and only a small fraction of which were available to me at the time I started. I wanted to restore the line art because color printers then were expensive and not very good while black and white laser printers were available and could do an excellent job. I certainly could not afford to chemically bleach the covers, the standard technique for that type of restoration in those days. I had some experience with Photoshop and decided to see what I could devise to digitally bleach cover scans. I did come up with a process that worked reasonably well but still required a lot of work of clean up (digital bleaching can never do quite as good a job as the chemical version). Between tracking down comics or scans of the covers, and all the work in Photoshop, it was not until about 2003 that I completed my project. My research since then has shown I made a few mistakes but it is still an undertaking that I am very proud of. Because of copyrights issues, publication of my efforts was never a realistic consideration nor could I legally sell copies of the volumes I did hand make. Some of my restorations appeared in the latest reprint of Joe Simon and Jim Simon’s “The Comic Book Makers”. However all but one (Captain America #7) were much reduced images. John Morrow, who knew about my project, asked if I could supply some images for his chapter on the 50 best Kirby covers. The result was that all the covers in that particular chapter of Kirby Five-Oh from Captain America #1 up to Foxhole, and Race to the Moon as well, are all my restorations from my project. My restoration for Star Spangled #9 shows up later in the magazine and they did a clever alteration of my Adventure #84 for the volume’s introduction. The images for the 50 best Kirby covers are presented four to a page but since the Jack Kirby Collector is an oversized publication that is a pretty good size. It is really great to see some of my restorations actually in print.

(added later)
In the comments Ger suggested that I provide a link the Yahoo group where I discussed more fully my techniques for restoring comic scans. I do not discuss such things here as there really is not much interest in such esoteric knowledge. The group is Digitizing Comics but it is a very dormant group. Membership is required but since I am the moderator that will be no problem. Those interested in trying my methods would need a scanner and Photoshop. My posts can be found in the Archives and I would happily answer any questions there.

The Wide Angle Scream, Almost an Afterthought

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Posted in 2008/05, 6 Mainline, Artists, Kirby, Jack, Periods, Serial Posts, Wide Angle Scream, z Archive.


Win A Prize #1 (February 1955) pinup, art by Jack Kirby
Enlarged view

Pinups, both single and double paged, played an important part of Boys’ Ranch (October 1950 to August 1951) but they did not appear at all in Black Magic which also started in October 1950. Nor did they appear in either Strange World of Your Dreams (August 1952 to March 1953) or Fighting American (April 1954 to April 1955). Pinups did play a marginal roll in some other titles. A single page pinup, “Desk Sergeant”, appeared in Police Trap #2 (November 1954) and a double page spread was used in Bullseye (discussed below). There is also the pinup from Win A Prize #1. While printed on a single page, its horizontal format leaves little doubt that originally the Win A Prize splash was meant to be a double page centerfold. Joe Simon has said that initially this pinup was to have been used in Captain America #11 but Joe and Jack’s sudden exit meant that issue was done by other artists. If Joe’s story is true, this pinup underwent modification before it was finally used. Of course Captain America would have had to have been removed. Sikorsky was just beginning their efforts in building helicopters while Simon and Kirby were working on Captain America and helicopters would not play a significant part in the military until after World War II. The helicopter in this pinup has a USAF marking, but the Air Force was not an independent military unit until after the war. At the bottom center of the splash is what looks very much like a television camera crew. While televisions were created before the war they did not really come into use until the late’40s.

The pinup’s theme of a modern day Gulliver is an interesting twist, particularly in using a futuristic spaceman as the giant. There are a score of little soldiers and civilians scattered about each involved in the individual tasks. The image presents a number of questions. Since no nearby rocket or flying saucer is shown, where did the spaceman come from? Although lying prone with eyes closed, the spaceman appears uninjured. With all the tanks and guns aimed at him the suggestion is that he still is alive. If that is so why are all the soldiers crawling over the spaceman even though he is not tied down or restrained in any way? There does not appear to be much in the way of ropes or cable, so what is the soldiers’ intention? Of course such unanswered question was the whole point as Uncle Giveaway is offering prizes for short stories based on this pinup. I wonder if it is too late to enter?


Bullseye #7 (August 1955) “The Stolen Rain God”, art by Jack Kirby
Enlarged view

During the final period of the Simon and Kirby studio, the only double page splash to actually get printed as such appeared in Bullseye. Oddly it was in the final issue published by Charlton. It is hard to believe that Joe and Jack thought this splash would help save the title. Having Charlton’s print the former Mainline comics looks more an attempt to get some money for art that Joe and Jack could no longer afford to publish themselves due to problems with their distributor. Charlton was notorious for their low pay so I am sure they did not offer much to Simon and Kirby, but it was better then nothing. If by some miracle they sold well enough to warrant continuation, so much the better. But for the most part Charlton used up the final art and cancelled the titles. Foxhole was extended for a single issue produced by Charlton artists with Joe and Jack probably having nothing to do with it. The postal permit for In Love was transferred to Charlton’s new romance title I Love You, which, although having a Kirby drawn cover for its initial issue, was again filled with story art probably created by Charlton artists. I suspect that careful investigation of other Charlton comics will reveal the transfer of the postal permit from the other former Mainline titles Police Trap and Bullseye as well. The only Simon and Kirby title that Charlton ran with for a few issues was not a Mainline title at all. It was Charlie Chan, a title previously licensed to Prize some years before. It was more of a Joe Simon production with Jack Kirby only providing the cover art for the first Charlton issue (#6 June 1955). Joe would help put it together for Charlton until it too was cancelled with issue #9 (December 1955). So I believe the wide splash in Bullseye #7 came too late to be considered a serious attempt to bolster sales of the Bullseye title. I cannot help but wonder if when the breakup of the Simon and Kirby studio was clearly possible, if it had not happened already, whether the presence of this splash was brought on by a nostalgic memory of Simon and Kirby’s use of the centerfold splash in their first big hit, Captain America.

Jack has drawn a good splash. It is just that after so many marvelous double page spreads in the past it is hard for me to get too enthusiastic about this one. It is a well balanced composition with the prominent Indian chief on our left offset by the plateau and title on the right. The chief certainly presents an impressive figure what with his large headdress (could that really be expected to stay on during the charge?) and ornate apparel. The horse cut off on our left showing only a mouth and knee makes the viewer really feel that he is at the head of the line of charging warriors. The colorist wisely blocked out the smaller figures in simple colors otherwise the foreground figures would have been lost among a patchwork of colors. This allowed the small figure of Bullseye on our right to still stand out. The most unusually aspect of this splash, unique among Simon and Kirby wide angle screams, was that it is actually an oversize story panel. We find Bullseye racing in front of the attacking Indians as he tries to prevent the unfolding tragedy that the war will certainly bring. It is a very risking thing for Bullseye to do since his racing across Indian line could easily make him the victim of friendly fire. The two smaller panels on the bottom provide an explanation on Bullseye’s objective.

The splash for “The Stolen Rain God” was the last double page art for a Simon and Kirby production. Even though the studio and their partnership was over, Kirby always seemed willing to give Simon a hand whenever Joe tried to launch new comics. One such effort included the wide angle screams that will be the subject of the next chapter of my serial post.

New York Comic Con, Joe Simon and Much More

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Posted in 2008/04, Odds & Ends, Topic, z Archive.

The organizers of the New York Comic Con seemed to have learned some lessons from their previous shows which frankly had problems with crowd control. This year they had an indoor area for the waiting line and entry to the show was a lot quicker. I hope the organizers continue to make improvements but happily they seemed to have overcome the disasters of the earlier years. I was aiding Joe Simon on both Friday and Saturday; largely I just helping to get him to and from the show, others gave him a hand at his appearances. While I give the organizer’s praise for the improvements to the show in general, they are still sadly lacking in support for guests like Joe. Joe is healthy but at 94 not that strong. The distance between the VIP desk and the panel area was way too far. Joe is too proud to use a wheelchair so he did walk it but there really needs to be a better way to do it, perhaps some sort of go-cart. Leaving the show on the second day was difficult as well.

Joe was part of the amazing Legends Panel. What a roster; Murphy Anderson, Jerry Robinson, Stan Lee, Irwin Hansen, Ramona Fradon, the moderator and comic historian Michael Uslan, Dick Ayers, Joe Sinnott, Joe Simon and John Romita Sr. I took some pictures which I will include at the bottom of this post. Unfortunately it was mobbed and I was unable to get any of Ramona Fradon. With such a large panel there really were not a lot of questions that could be done in one hour. One question asked of each panelist was among the artists that they had worked with who were their own favorites. Of course with panelists such as these, Jack Kirby was brought up by a number of them. Jerry Robinson’s answer of Bill Finger got a good response from the audience, but what warmed my heart was his other choice, Mort Meskin. When the question got to John Romita he talked about how influential the first issue of Captain America was to him. After which Stan Lee took back the microphone and said how much that issue influenced him as well. Stan continued to say that he was there when Simon and Kirby were producing Captain America, he saw both Jack and Joe drawing Cap and he could not tell one’s art from the other. Further that Joe did not get the recognition that he deserved for all his contribution to the art and the writing.

On Saturday Joe spent an hour with Mark Evanier jointly signing Mark’s new book “Kirby the King of Comics”. I do not think I have mentioned that book previously on this list, largely because it had received such great publicity that I am sure most of my readers were already aware of it. It is an incredible book; the publisher Abrams did a great job reproducing the art and Mark’s biography nicely covers Jack’s long career. Of course all Kirby fans are really waiting for the more detailed biography that Mark has said should come out in a couple of years. Unfortunately he has been saying that for many years, we shall see. I only had about a minute at the end of the signing to tell him how great “Kirby the King of Comics” was and how much I enjoyed his other books like “Dr. Wertham Was Right”. Besides being the leading Kirby scholar, Mark is a wonderful writer. I was surprised that Mark recognized my name and that he had read my blog. He commented that he did not agree with everything I have said. My reply was something to the effect that it was to be expected. There was no time then to expand on that comment but I have written before in some of my posts that I do not expect everyone to concur with me. People will always disagree on methods and conclusions. But no matter how important the subject matter is to us, a different opinion is not a personal affront.

After the Abrams book signing arrangements were made to find a place in Artists Alley for Joe to do some more signings. Peter David agreed to make some room at his table for Joe. Peter David, how cool is that? Joe loves kids, so he gave Peter’s young daughter a signed copy of his letterhead (with all those characters that Joe has worked on over the years). Peter’s wife (sorry I forget her name) told her daughter that Joe was a real artist. I must admit chuckling over that comment. She explained that their daughter was aware that her father wrote comics but did not have occasion to see how the art came about. Since Joe’s appearance in Artists Alley had not been previously announced we were not crowded as badly as at the Abram’s booth. Joe still get a lot of attention anyway, it was just not as hectic and allowed more one on one.

Sunday included a Kirby panel moderated by Mark Evanier with Dick Ayers and Joe Sinnott. Attendance was a little low but it was very well received by those present. Great questions from Mark and great stories from the panelists. It was a moving experience just to be in a room with a bunch of Kirby fans. I wish it could be that start of a new tradition for the N.Y. Comic Con.

Also on Sunday was a showing of “The Legends Behind The Comic Books”, a documentary by Michael Uslan made in conjunction with an exhibition of comic art held last year at the Montclair Art Museum. The video opened up with various legendary artists saying that they never thought that comic book art would ever be considered important. They might not have thought so but that was not true of all comic artists. One artist (John Romita?) told a tale of a lunch at the Playboy Club in the ’60s where Jack Kirby predicted that comic book art would someday hang on the walls of museums. Nobody believed him.

On a personal note, I had my first opportunity to meet Jim Amash. Jim has done many great interviews over the years but his latest one of Joe Simon can be found in Alter Ego #76. Jim said that response generated by that interview was much greater then any of those he had done previously. I pointed out, as I have in this blog before, how well Jim managed to bring out the real Joe. Jim mused that perhaps that was because he and Joe were such good friends. Well I would not doubt that for a moment, but I think that Jim’s long time expertise on giving interviews had something to do with it as well.


Ernie Colon, Sid Jacobson and Joe Simon while Joe was waiting for the panel. The three had previously worked together at Harvey Comics. Ernie and Sid are still active and their “The 9/11 Report: A Graphic Adaptation” was recently released.


Jerry Robinson and Joe Simon having a discussion before going to the panel.


Jerry Robinson and Irwin Hansen on the way to the panel.


Mark Evanier greeting Joe Simon just before the panel started.


Joe Simon and Stan Lee also just before the panel started. I suspect that the panel was delayed by all the greetings between panelists. I did not care because I was having too much fun snapping pictures.

Joe Simon, Joe Sinnott and John Romita Sr.
Joe Simon, Joe Sinnott and John Romita. Sinnott and Romita never worked with Simon but they exchanged warm greetings nonetheless.


Dick Ayers and Joe Simon. I believe Dick said that he never worked for Simon and Kirby but in a way he worked for each separately.

Joe Sinnott, Stan Lee and John Romita Sr.
Joe Sinnott, Stan Lee and John Romita Sr. after the panel was over.


Jerry Robinson relaxing after the panel.


Murphy Anderson looking like a million bucks. Not the stereotypic image of someone from the comic book industry but still a great artist.

“The Ten-Cent Plague” by David Hajdu

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Posted in 2008/04, Odds & Ends, Topic, Wertham & Censoring, z Archive.

I have just finished reading David Hajdu’s new book “The Ten-Cent Plague: The Great Comic-Book Scare and How It Changed America”. Hajdu is not a comic book historian; most of his previous writings have concerned music. I have always meant to read his “Positively 4th Street: The Lives and Times of Joan Baez, Bob Dylan, Mimi Baez Farina and Richard Farina” which as I remember got great reviews. I think I should correct myself, David may not have previously been a comic historian but he certainly is one now. This is a great book describing the rise and affect of the anti-comic book sentiment. Most comic fans awareness of this subject is limited to Dr. Wertham’s “Seduction of the Innocent” and the effect of the Comic Code but Hajdu probes much more deeply. I did notice a couple of small errors, for instance he mentions Bullseye and Western Scout as titles for Simon and Kirby’s Mainline Publications but Western Scout was used as a description for Bullseye and was never an independent title. As far as I can tell such errors are few and very minor, they never affect the subject of the book. The book has an appendix of comic artists who abandoned or were abandoned by the industry because of all the negative reaction and the drop in comic book sales that resulted. This list is impressively long and chilling in effect. In the serial post The Art of Romance I have already noted the presence in that list of some artists who had worked for Simon and Kirby.

I got a big kick out of some of the photographs in this book. One shows two young boys trading “bad” comics for “good” ones. The comic at the top of the pile held by one of the boys was “Justice Traps the Guilty”. Right next to that photo is another of a woman taping a small sign onto a store window identifying it as one that sells only “good” comics. You can see the comic book rack through the window and one of the titles being sold was “Fighting American”. Both titles were originally Simon and Kirby creations although they may not have been producing Justice Traps the Guilty at the time the photograph was taken. So Joe and Jack were both a corrupting and a beneficial influence on youngsters. Go figure.

I am sure that not only comic book fans will appreciate this book but certainly anyone interested in comics of the late ’40s and ’50s should read it. Is this book a one time entry by David Hajdu into the field of comic history? I hope not as he provides a great perspective on comics.

The Art of Romance, Chapter 5, New Talent

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Posted in 2008/04, 5 Studio, Art of Romance, Artists, Belfi, John, Donahue, Vic, Draut, Bill, Eadeh, Gregg, George, Periods, Premiani, Bruno, Prize, Serial Posts, Starr, Leonard, z Archive.

(Young Romance #9 – #12, Young Love #1 – #4)


Young Romance #12 (July 1949) “The Man I Kept on a String”, art by Bill Draut

As discussed in the previous chapter, Bill Draut became the most prolific contributor to the Simon and Kirby romance titles within the period from Young Romance #9 (January 1949) through Young Love #4 (August 1949). Bill’s importance is also shown by the fact that for the first time a couple feature stories would be done by someone other then Jack Kirby. However with one exception (“The Plumber and Me” from Young Love #1) Bill’s stories would not be as lengthy as Jack’s would sometimes be. This is true even when it was the featured story which so far Jack had always made the longest in the comic. This was the case with “The Man I Kept on a String” which despite being the feature story is just 8 pages long. Bill’s splash for this feature story continued to use the device of a word balloon for the introduction caption and title. Was Bill just told to do this or was he supplied a layout? I just do not have a good answer to that question. The layout of this splash is unusual in having four story panels in two rows with the splash panel assuming an inverted L shape. Since that arrangement is not found in any other splashes drawn either by Bill or Jack it does not provide any suggestion as to who laid it out. Also not found in other splashes is the use of the diminished statue of the one of the figures as a visual symbol of his status. Although at this time I cannot decide on who should be credited for laying out the splash, I find the rest of these stories, and the others that Bill did during this period, to be told in his own manner and therefore not based on layouts provided by Joe or Jack.


Young Love #1 (February 1949) “Lady Luck”, art by Bill Draut

Since Draut had such an outstanding presence during this period, I though I would include another example of his work. The splash has an interesting design using a card of an ace of spades as a visual link to the title and theme of “Lady Luck”. The background for the splash panel is very unusual and I have to admit I really cannot make out what it is supposed to represent. Most splashes by Draut do not have such an emphasis on design. Again I am undecided in splashes such as “Lady Luck”, where design is so important, whether the layout was supplied to Bill or not. Before leaving this story I would like to point out the way Bill presents the adoring Ruth in the last panel of the page. This particular upward gaze with the head slightly tilted was another of those trademarks of Bill Draut.

This period marks a change in Bill’s art work, although I am not certain what if anything can be made of it. The story “Shadows” (Young Romance #10 from March 1949) would be the last work for Simon and Kirby that Bill would sign. Previous his signatures appeared on a good fraction of his work but it would never again be used for anything else Bill did for S&K productions. I am only familiar with very little of Draut’s work after the Simon and Kirby studio closed but I have never seen a signature on any of it either.


Young Romance #10 (March 1949) “Heart’s Desire”, art by Al Eadeh and John Belfi

Draut’s higher productivity during the period helped to offset Kirby’s declining presence but it was not enough to make up for it entirely. Especially since the team of Jerry Robinson and Mort Meskin were no longer contributing either. New artists, at least new for the Simon and Kirby studio, began to provide romance stories. The most important for this period may have been the team of Al Eadeh and John Belfi. Assuming I am correct in my attributions (only 2 of them were signed) Eadeh and Belfi provided 6 stories. The usual assumption in teams like this is that the first name of the signature is the penciler and the second the inker. It should be kept in mind that the division of labor was not always so complete, as for example with Robinson and Meskin where Meskin’s presence seems more then in just the inking. However Eadeh and Belfi divided up their work the same inking style was used even for the unsigned stories that I credit to them. Eadeh and Belfi’s art is not very distinctive but there are some features that help in identifying their work. Light haired woman have thin lines that do not suggest waves and curls very sensuously; often the lines of hair are almost straight even when doing a curl. The outlines for long hair vary in thickness along its length. Some men have distinctively shaped thick eyebrows.

The splash for “Heart’s Desire” has an interesting high and tilting viewpoint. This is not at all typical of their work for either splashes or the stories. I am not sure why they adopted this tilt in this case. It does allow the title and the woman’s confession to occupy the top of the panel leaving the rest with an unobstructed view. In any case it serves to make the image more interesting. I feel that the artists that did work for Simon and Kirby were usually the better ones in the business and that includes Eadeh and Belfi. They certain provided professionally done work and knew how to graphically tell a story. I do have to admit though that they really are not among my favorite S&K artists. Al Eadeh is probably best known for work he did for Timely/Atlas. John Belfi seemed to have worked for a number of outfits sometimes as penciler and other times as inker. Both Eadeh and Belfi are included in David Hajdu’s lengthy list in “The Ten-Cent Plague” of artists who did not continue working in comics “after the purge of the 1950s”.


Young Love #2 (April 1949) “Nancy Hale’s Problem Clinic”, art by Vic Donahue

Another new artist for the S&K romance comics was Vic Donahue. During this period Vic would draw four of “Nancy Hale’s Problem Clinic” a short feature, usually 2 or 3 pages long, that appeared in both Young Romance and Young Love. Although Donahue was new to the romance titles his work had previously appeared in S&K crime comics starting with Headline #32 (October 1948). Vic would be associated with Simon and Kirby for a period of about three years but he never seemed to achieve much prominence in their productions. Sometimes Vic signed with his full name with a distinctive long line after the “Vic”, other times he would only use his first name but kept that long line. Donahue can best be recognized by his attractive but not overly beautiful woman. The slight tilt of Nancy Hale’s head in the first panel above shows up from time to time in Donahue’s women. It appears that, like most S&K studio artists, Vic generally did his own inking. Much attention was paid by Donahue in the rendering of hair. At times Vic used a pen to shadow an area with very straight fine lines as can be seen on Nancy Hale’s hand in the first panel of the image above. Donahue also occasionally used picket fence crosshatching or indicate shade by strong simple hatching with a brush. While both of those techniques are typical of the Studio style of inking, Vic did not use any other brush methods from that style.

There is one interesting exception to Vic Donahue as only an artist for the Nancy Hale feature during this period and that is the featured story for Young Love #4, “In Love with a Memory”. Jack Kirby penciled and inked the splash panel while Donahue drew and inked the bottom two panels as well as the rest of the story. The story matches Vic’s Nancy Hale work and does not seem to be based on Kirby layouts.


Young Romance #11 (May 1949) “Big City Girl”, art by Leonard Starr

A number of individuals did work for Simon and Kirby who would go on to become famous comic artists. I am not saying Joe and Jack discovered these artists but they did seem to recognized talent even during its early stages of emergence. One of these is certainly Leonard Starr. Leonard only appears in one story for the romance comics that I am covering in this post but was also appearing at this time in the western romances that I will be covering in a separate chapter. The first page for “Big City Girl” is laid out with a vertical splash with two story panels on the right side. This is not a splash page layout that Jack used at this time so once again I do not believe Joe or Jack did layouts for this story. Starr is good with his visual story telling and his woman are attractive but neither compares with what would come later when in 1957 when Starr create his syndication strip On Stage (later called Mary Perkins On Stage). That strip is currently being reprinted.


Young Love #4 (August 1949) “My Strange Fear”, art by George Gregg

An unexpected benefit of preparing for this blog post was the detecting of a signature that I had previously overlooked. There on a book spine of the splash for “My Strange Fear” is the name Gregg. I had already seen a similar signature on a story from Justice Traps the Guilty #17 (August 1950) “Best Seller” but I was never able to make out the correct spelling. The signature in “My Strange Fear” is very clear and I am certain that the artist must be George Gregg. Since this is a very recent discovery for me, I do not yet know how much a part Gregg will have in Simon and Kirby productions but since his other signed work is from a year after “My Strange Fear” there is a good chance more work will be found. Some of the eyebrows are very distinctive in “My Strange Fear” so it should not be hard to recognize George’s work even when a signature is lacking. Gregg is another of those artists found on Hajdu’s list of the ’50s purge victims.


Young Love #4 (August 1949) “Two-Timer”, art by Bruno Premiani?

What can I say, sometimes I make mistakes. I had previously included “Two-Timer” in a post about John Prentice as the first work that he did for Simon and Kirby. At that time I recognized that the style was not typical of Prentice but felt that he had not yet matured into his final style. Later I came to realize that there was a body of work from August 1949 through October 1950 that was pretty consistent and distinct from John Prentice’s work which would not appear in Simon and Kirby productions until April 1951. Unfortunately none of the art by this earlier artist for Simon and Kirby was ever signed. Two stories by this artist were reprinted in “Real Love” where they were credited to Bruno Premiani. I do not know whether this was by Richard Howell, the editor of that book, or either Mark Evanier or Greg Theakston who are credited with supplying information. Nor do I know what formed the basis of that attribution. Because in cases such as this my motto is trust but verify, I have given some cursory examinations of some other comics attributed by Permiani, Tomahawk and Doom Patrol. Frankly nothing I saw convinced me that they were by the same artist. The material for DC is distinctly simpler, with much sparser inking, and the eyebrows of women are more arched. There are artists that adapt their style in relationship to the subject or genre they are working in and perhaps that is the case here. There is an excellent biography of Bruno Permiani which indicates that Bruno, born in Italy but had immigrated to Argentina, was in the U.S. during this time. For now I will be using the Premiani attribution but with a question mark to indicate my personal uncertainty.

Whether he is was truly Bruno Permiani or not, I have come to admire this studio artist greatly. Premiani only did work for Simon and Kirby for a little over a year but he contributes a fair amount of material (20 stories by my count). Bruno works in an illustrative style similar to that of John Prentice (hence my original confusion). The two can most easily be distinguished by their women; those by Prentice have a sophisticated beauty with slightly longer faces while Permiani’s women, although still attractive, are somewhat plainer with relatively straight eyebrows. Bruno had an ability to truly animate his subjects. Without using excessive poses or melodramatic rendering, Premiani’s people just seem to radiate their emotions.

I have not commented on every individual cover or story in this serial post; however I review everything for the titles belonging to a particular chapter. I try to remark on any of my attributions that might be different from credits supplied by other scholars, particularly the Jack Kirby Checklist. For those who are interested in my attributions of work not included in the serial post itself, I have added checklists for Young Romance and Young Love to the sidebar. I will be expanding these lists as new chapters The Art of Romance appear. I would prefer any comments about my attributions to be placed in the chapters of The Art of Romance where they are less likely to be overlooked.

Chapter 1, A New Genre (YR #1 – #4)
Chapter 2, Early Artists (YR #1 – #4)
Chapter 3, The Field No Longer Their’s Alone (YR #5 – #8)
Chapter 4, An Explosion of Romance (YR #9 – #12, YL #1 – #4)
Chapter 5, New Talent (YR #9 – 12, YL #1 – #4)
Chapter 6, Love on the Range (RWR #1 – #7, WL #1 – #6)
Chapter 7, More Love on the Range (RWR #1 – #7, WL #1 – #6)
Chapter 8, Kirby on the Range? (RWR #1 – #7, WL #1 – #6)
Chapter 9, More Romance (YR #13 – #16, YL #5 – #6)
Chapter 10, The Peak of the Love Glut (YR #17 – #20, YL #7 – #8)
Chapter 11, After the Glut (YR #21 – #23, YL #9 – #10)
Chapter 12, A Smaller Studio (YR #24 – #26, YL #12 – #14)
Chapter 13, Romance Bottoms Out (YR #27 – #29, YL #15 – #17)
Chapter 14, The Third Suspect (YR #30 – #32, YL #18 – #20)
Chapter 15, The Action of Romance (YR #33 – #35, YL #21 – #23)
Chapter 16, Someone Old and Someone New (YR #36 – #38, YL #24 – #26)
Chapter 17, The Assistant (YR #39 – #41, YL #27 – #29)
Chapter 18, Meskin Takes Over (YR #42 – #44, YL #30 – #32)
Chapter 19, More Artists (YR #45 – #47, YL #33 – #35)
Chapter 20, Romance Still Matters (YR #48 – #50, YL #36 – #38, YB #1)
Chapter 21, Roussos Messes Up (YR #51 – #53, YL #39 – #41, YB #2 – 3)
Chapter 22, He’s the Man (YR #54 – #56, YL #42 – #44, YB #4)
Chapter 23, New Ways of Doing Things (YR #57 – #59, YL #45 – #47, YB #5 – #6)
Chapter 24, A New Artist (YR #60 – #62, YL #48 – #50, YB #7 – #8)
Chapter 25, More New Faces (YR #63 – #65, YLe #51 – #53, YB #9 – #11)
Chapter 26, Goodbye Jack (YR #66 – #68, YL #54 – #56, YB #12 – #14)
Chapter 27, The Return of Mort (YR #69 – #71, YL #57 – #59, YB #15 – #17)
Chapter 28, A Glut of Artists (YR #72 – #74, YL #60 – #62, YB #18 & #19, IL #1 & #2)
Chapter 29, Trouble Begins (YR #75 – #77, YL #63 – #65, YB #20 – #22, IL #3 – #5)
Chapter 30, Transition (YR #78 – #80, YL #66 – #68, YBs #23 – #25, IL #6, ILY #7)
Chapter 30, Appendix (YB #23)
Chapter 31, Kirby, Kirby and More Kirby (YR #81 – #82, YL #69 – #70, YB #26 – #27)
Chapter 32, The Kirby Beat Goes On (YR #83 – #84, YL #71 – #72, YB #28 – #29)
Chapter 33, End of an Era (YR #85 – #87, YL #73, YB #30, AFL #1)
Chapter 34, A New Prize Title (YR #88 – #91, AFL #2 – #5, PL #1 – #2)
Chapter 35, Settling In ( YR #92 – #94, AFL #6 – #8, PL #3 – #5)
Appendix, J.O. Is Joe Orlando
Chapter 36, More Kirby (YR #95 – #97, AFL #9 – #11, PL #6 – #8)
Chapter 37, Some Surprises (YR #98 – #100, AFL #12 – #14, PL #9 – #11)
Chapter 38, All Things Must End (YR #101 – #103, AFL #15 – #17, PL #12 – #14)

Joe Simon’s Opinion on “Combat Photographer”

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Posted in 2008/04, 4 DC (early), Artists, Featured Work, Periods, Simon, Joe, Topic, z Archive.

A couple of weeks ago in my post “More Obscure Simon and Kirby”, I presented “Combat Photographer” (Real Fact #2, May 1946) which I attributed to Joe Simon. Last week I was able to show Joe this piece to get his opinion. Although he did not remember doing it, Joe was certain that it was his own work. He was particularly convinced by the title design feeling that it was typical of his style. Joe also commented on the quality of the lettering, calling it second class, and wondered if he had done it himself. Personally I doubt that since the lettering does not match very well with examples that I am sure he lettered.

The Art of Romance, Chapter 4, An Explosion of Romance

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Posted in 2008/04, 5 Studio, Art of Romance, Artists, Kirby, Jack, Periods, Prize, Serial Posts, z Archive.

(Young Romance #9 – #12, Young Love #1 – #4)

As I discussed in my previous chapter, other publishers did not fail to notice Prize’s success with Young Romance. Three competing romance titles had appeared with cover dates of September and October 1948. It is understandable that competitor publishers may not have fully understood what a gold mine Simon and Kirby had opened. Print runs of Young Romance were increased and with their deal S&K were getting a share of the profits. What was puzzling was the lack of response by Prize as well as Simon and Kirby for their own success as Young Romance continued to be a bimonthly. In February 1949, after about a year and a half of Young Romance, Simon and Kirby finally produced a new romance title, Young Love, which Prize also published. Both Young Romance and Young Love were initially bimonthlies but were released on an alternating schedule so a S&K romance would be available each month. The two titles shared similar contents without any distinguishing themes. Effectively S&K and Prize could have just as easily have made Young Romance a monthly. However having two bimonthly titles left open the possibility of future expansion by converting to monthly later. That was not the end of their plans, Simon and Kirby would also produce two new titles that combined the romance and western genre; Real West Romance (April 1949) and Western Love (July 1949). These later titles were true romances, but the western aspect gives them a distinguishing characteristic. Therefore I prefer to deal with the western romance titles sometime in the future in a separate chapter. In this and the following chapter I will write about the standard romance comics from Young Romance #9 (January 1949) until Young Love #4 (August 1949). The actual issues are Young Romance #9 to #12 and Young Love #1 to #4.

This period starts with just 4 publishers of romance and the same number of titles. By the end, that is cover date August 1949, there would be 12 publishers and 37 titles. Fox, one of the initial publishers after Prize, must have had a good response since by the end of this period they had 10 romance titles. Timely, another of the initial publishers had by August 6 love titles. Impressive as this is it was just the beginning of the rush to tap into the lucrative market opened by the romance genre. (Title information garnered from “All the Romance Comics Ever Published (?)” by Dan Stevenson.)

The artists that make the overwhelmingly greatest contribution to the Young Romance and Young Love in this period are the same ones from previous issues; Jack Kirby and Bill Draut. The real significant change is the proportion each of these two artists shared. Unlike before where Jack did the largest portion of the work, in this period Bill takes the lead. In the eight issues discussed here Kirby did 10 out of 44 stories and 112 pages out of 342. This compared to the 18 stories and 136 pages that Draut drew. The amount of art that Jack was producing for the crime genre titles had dropped during this period as well. The explanation was not for the artistic work that Kirby would provide to the new titles Real West Romance and Western Love as his contribution to those titles was relatively small. Adding these western romances to their other titles meant that Simon and Kirby were producing a lot of work. Joe Simon and others have said that Jack took an active part in the plotting of work done by all the studio artists. Perhaps plotting and other support activities were keeping Jack away from the drawing board more then before.


Young Love #4 (August 1949) photo cover of Joy Lansing

Not that Kirby lost his dominance in all artistic aspects during this period. Jack continued to be the chief supplier of the first story. This featured story generally was the longest with typically 10 to 14 pages compared to most of the other stories which often were 6 to 9 pages if not shorter. Occasionally art was included in the text stories that were required for lower postal rates. This was done 4 times with Jack supplying the art for 3 of those occasions. Most importantly Kirby continued to be the cover artist. All cover art was done by Jack but with one occasion there was a small insert added to the Kirby cover was lifted from a splash page penciled by Bill Draut. The big change came with Young Love #2 which saw the first use of a photograph as the cover for a Prize romance title. Nothing is provided that identifies the model for the cover but it does look like a head shot of some actress. The next two issues used photos of Joy Lansing described in one comic as a “Hal Roach Television Starlet” and in the other as a “MGM Starlet”. This is the beginning of a run of photographic covers for Young Love, but Young Romance would not follow suit until after the period under discussion.


Young Romance #11 (May 1949) “The Town and Toni Benson”, art by Jack Kirby

While all the stories are good reads it is Kirby’s feature stories that seemed the most dramatic and explored the more interesting themes. In a rare example of continuity in romance comics “The Town and Toni Benson” returns to the same couple who were the subjects of “I Was a Pick-Up” the featured story from Young Romance #1. The majority of romance stories are about the start of a romance. Those that cover later periods in the relationship usually have a love lost and regained theme. In “The Town and Toni Benson” Jack explores the drama of a woman who married for love and not for money. In this story we see the couple’s struggle as they start their new life. Most of Simon and Kirby’s teenage readers would be more interested in the other themes I mentioned but I sure wish stories like this one would had been done more often.

In the issues that I cover in this post I continue to find some of Kirby’s best stand alone art work not on the covers but in the splash pages of the featured stories. The one for “The Town and Toni Benson” is a particular favorite. This may seem surprising because this is one of Simon and Kirby’s simplest splashes. There is no action and it lacks the melodrama found in many other romance art by Simon and Kirby, but it crystallizes the story’s theme. Toni stands erect, shoulders square, legs apart, as if braced to take on whatever the world may throw at her. Although her husband’s hands seem to offer support, it is Toni who projects the most courageous defiance. The breeze that ruffles Toni’s hair and shifts her dress is the only true action found in this splash. The town that embodies the difficulties that they will face together lies literally at their feet. The Studio Style inking, bold yet sensitive, provides just the right touch.


Young Romance #10 (March 1949) “Mama’s Boy” page 11, art by Jack Kirby

As I mentioned in a previous chapter Jack had a number of techniques to add interest to his romance work to compensate for the missing action that is such an essential aspect of the other comic genre. Methods like varying the “camera” angle or placing foreground objects in front of the primary characters. These various techniques show up in Kirby’s crime work as well but seem to play a more important part for the romance stories. Action, in its varied forms, is still inserted into romance stories by Jack as attested by the above image from “Mama’s Boy”. However note how the greatest action, the crash scene, is found in the second panel. The action is not the subject of this page but just the introduction. Here the drama resides in the injury that one an occupant of the car sustains. Although we see the slumped form of the hurt man it is from the fearful countenance of his disheveled friend in the last panel that we truly learn the seriousness state of the accident victim. This is another example of Kirby showing what a master he was even outside of the type of story telling that he is normally famous for. Further it is not just this page, the next one depicting the man performing an emergency operation out in the field with primitive tools. Again the drama is in the actors and we do not see the gory details of what is actually being done. This is years before the Comic Code, it is only Simon and Kirby’s own good taste that censors what we see. In my opinion, the story is all the better for the way it is handled.


Young Love #2 (April 1949) “Too Wise for Romance”, art by Jack Kirby

Some have criticized Kirby’s females as not being very beautiful. While it is true that the harden yet sultry woman in “Too Wise for Romance” is no Barbie doll, surely she is beautiful in her own way? With hands on her hips and a plunging neckline she certainly projects an alluring image. It is obvious that Kirby has not studied classical sculpture but he still understands the importance of properly indicating the form of the flexed leg under the flowing dress. This is not as easy as Kirby makes it look as many others who have studied ancient Greek art have failed to pull it off so well. Once again Jack has created a very specific personality and not a generic beauty, but this is a romance story so do not be surprised that the sexy but formidable exterior hides a warm heart.

Like almost all feature story splashes this one uses a word balloon to provide the introduction and title. The single panel found in the corner has the appearance of a story panel but actually it is part of the splash. The true start of the story on the next page has a very different beginning.

The inking of this splash is as good an example of the Studio Style that could possibly be found. Picket fence crosshatching, drop strings, abstract arches and shoulder blots all play prominent parts on this page (see my Inking Glossary for an explanation of these terms). It is another one of those splashes that I find so much more effective then Jack’s own romance covers. This is a general observation that suggests that Joe and Jack purposely kept the more provocative art inside the cover where it would not attract as much unwanted attention from those who were foes, not fans, of comic books.


Young Love #1 (February 1949) “Fickle”, pencils by Jack Kirby

As in previous chapters of this serial post, I have found some stories that do not so perfectly match other contributions by Jack Kirby. “Fickle” is included in the Jack Kirby Checklist so here deviation from more typical Kirby work is not too great. But note the narrow clothing folds that dominate on the splash page shown above. Although we have seen narrow folds in some of the images I provided above (all of which I believe were inked by Kirby himself) they are used when the image calls for them. Otherwise clothing folds are generally indicated by picket fence crosshatching or simple spatulate and frond shapes. Elsewhere in “Fickle” can be found all the inking mannerisms typical of the Studio Style but still the long narrow clothing folds persist. Jack did not ink this page but the artist who did was very comfortable with the Studio Style. The inker may also have altered the man on this page, note how the head seems too small for his body.


Young Romance #9 (January 1949) “The Easy Life” page 6 panel 1, art by Jack Kirby and Joe Simon

While “Fickle” was recognized as a Kirby work by the Jack Kirby Checklist, “The Easy Life” was not. It is not hard to understand why as most of the art in this story does not have so obvious a Kirby touch as compared to those I have discussed and illustrated above. There are some parts where there can be little doubt about Jack’s contribution. Perhaps the most convincing is the smoker in the panel from page 6 shown above. The woman sharing the panel is not so certainly a work by Jack. As I commented in a previous chapter there are a number of explanations for this state of affairs. I think we can discount an artist simply swiping from Kirby; the smoker is much too good to be just that. That still leaves other possible explanations; an artist working from Kirby layouts, the effects of an inker on Kirby pencils, or Jack in his roll as art editor fixing up another artist’s work. The way to choose between these options rests in the examination of the entire store, not just individual panels.


Young Romance #9 (January 1949) “The Easy Life” page 2, art by Jack Kirby and Joe Simon

Unfortunately it is inappropriate, perhaps even illegal, in a blog like this to provide images for the entire story. All I can say is that I believe the layouts used throughout are in good agreement with the page I present above. The graphic story telling methods found seem consistently like those used by Kirby. Therefore I believe we can exclude the Kirby as art editor explanation. The story is so uniform throughout that it does not appear to be an “in betweener” work (where Kirby would lay out a story for another artist starting with tight pencils, providing little more then roughs through most of the story and then tightening up again at the end). It comes down to a judgment call, one that others might disagree, but I find the art looks enough like Kirby’s that I accept this as his pencils inked by another artist. The inking is interesting because it is done quite well in the Studio Style. Trademarks of that style such as picket fence crosshatching, drop strings, abstract arch shadows and shoulder blots are used. Of all the art in the story it is the main character Claire that looks the least like Kirby’s work. I find the drawing of Claire in panel 3 of the above page to particularly resemble work done by Joe Simon. I believe Joe has “corrected” Kirby’s main character in order to make her more beautiful. Simon did the same thing in the DC reprints of Black Magic from the ’70s. This is another of those cases where a simple designation of the penciler and inker really does not adequately describe what was going on. (Lately I keep encountering issues related to Joe Simon’s inking so I clearly have to address that subject soon.)

Jack Kirby was not the only artist in these particular romance comics nor is he the only subject of interest for this blog. Besides Bill Draut’s greater presence there are a few other artists that make their first appearance in a Simon and Kirby comic. They will be the subject of next week’s Chapter 5 of The Art of Romance.

Chapter 1, A New Genre (YR #1 – #4)
Chapter 2, Early Artists (YR #1 – #4)
Chapter 3, The Field No Longer Their’s Alone (YR #5 – #8)
Chapter 4, An Explosion of Romance (YR #9 – #12, YL #1 – #4)
Chapter 5, New Talent (YR #9 – 12, YL #1 – #4)
Chapter 6, Love on the Range (RWR #1 – #7, WL #1 – #6)
Chapter 7, More Love on the Range (RWR #1 – #7, WL #1 – #6)
Chapter 8, Kirby on the Range? (RWR #1 – #7, WL #1 – #6)
Chapter 9, More Romance (YR #13 – #16, YL #5 – #6)
Chapter 10, The Peak of the Love Glut (YR #17 – #20, YL #7 – #8)
Chapter 11, After the Glut (YR #21 – #23, YL #9 – #10)
Chapter 12, A Smaller Studio (YR #24 – #26, YL #12 – #14)
Chapter 13, Romance Bottoms Out (YR #27 – #29, YL #15 – #17)
Chapter 14, The Third Suspect (YR #30 – #32, YL #18 – #20)
Chapter 15, The Action of Romance (YR #33 – #35, YL #21 – #23)
Chapter 16, Someone Old and Someone New (YR #36 – #38, YL #24 – #26)
Chapter 17, The Assistant (YR #39 – #41, YL #27 – #29)
Chapter 18, Meskin Takes Over (YR #42 – #44, YL #30 – #32)
Chapter 19, More Artists (YR #45 – #47, YL #33 – #35)
Chapter 20, Romance Still Matters (YR #48 – #50, YL #36 – #38, YB #1)
Chapter 21, Roussos Messes Up (YR #51 – #53, YL #39 – #41, YB #2 – 3)
Chapter 22, He’s the Man (YR #54 – #56, YL #42 – #44, YB #4)
Chapter 23, New Ways of Doing Things (YR #57 – #59, YL #45 – #47, YB #5 – #6)
Chapter 24, A New Artist (YR #60 – #62, YL #48 – #50, YB #7 – #8)
Chapter 25, More New Faces (YR #63 – #65, YLe #51 – #53, YB #9 – #11)
Chapter 26, Goodbye Jack (YR #66 – #68, YL #54 – #56, YB #12 – #14)
Chapter 27, The Return of Mort (YR #69 – #71, YL #57 – #59, YB #15 – #17)
Chapter 28, A Glut of Artists (YR #72 – #74, YL #60 – #62, YB #18 & #19, IL #1 & #2)
Chapter 29, Trouble Begins (YR #75 – #77, YL #63 – #65, YB #20 – #22, IL #3 – #5)
Chapter 30, Transition (YR #78 – #80, YL #66 – #68, YBs #23 – #25, IL #6, ILY #7)
Chapter 30, Appendix (YB #23)
Chapter 31, Kirby, Kirby and More Kirby (YR #81 – #82, YL #69 – #70, YB #26 – #27)
Chapter 32, The Kirby Beat Goes On (YR #83 – #84, YL #71 – #72, YB #28 – #29)
Chapter 33, End of an Era (YR #85 – #87, YL #73, YB #30, AFL #1)
Chapter 34, A New Prize Title (YR #88 – #91, AFL #2 – #5, PL #1 – #2)
Chapter 35, Settling In ( YR #92 – #94, AFL #6 – #8, PL #3 – #5)
Appendix, J.O. Is Joe Orlando
Chapter 36, More Kirby (YR #95 – #97, AFL #9 – #11, PL #6 – #8)
Chapter 37, Some Surprises (YR #98 – #100, AFL #12 – #14, PL #9 – #11)
Chapter 38, All Things Must End (YR #101 – #103, AFL #15 – #17, PL #12 – #14)

An Unexpected Simon and Kirby Ashcan

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Posted in 2008/04, 4 DC (early), Artists, Kirby, Jack, Odds & Ends, Periods, Topic, z Archive.


Supergirl (ashcan) (February, with 1944 copyright) (image from the GCD)

I was perusing a list of works attributed to Joe Simon in the GCD database when I spotted something very odd, a Supergirl ashcan by Simon and Kirby. Of course Simon and Kirby did not really do a Supergirl cover, DC staff just used a copy of the S&K art of the cover for Boy Commandos #1 (Winter 1942/1943) and added above it the Supergirl title. The DC staff produced ashcans so that they could copyright the title and so prevent any other publisher from using it. Ashcans can be produced quickly as they are not subject to the months required to publish an actual comic book. It would be unfortunate, to say the least, to published a new title only to have competitor come out earlier with a book with the same title. DC did something similar previously when they made an ashcan for Boy Commandos. I am bothered by some of the details in this particular case. Basically why Supergirl at this time and why use this particular piece of Simon and Kirby art?

Supergirl would not have a debut until Action Comics #252 (May 1959) that is not for about 15 years later. Granted the copyright would still be valid but it does seem an unreasonable long delay. The answer may not be when Supergirl would be first published but when Superboy was. Superboy first appeared in More Fun Comics #101 (January 1945). With Superman and now Superboy, it did not take much of a stretch in imagination DC’s part that perhaps they should protect other variations as well. Well a search of GCD reveals that an ashcan had already been made for Superwoman (copyright 1941 but with a January 1942 cover date). Therefore making one for Supergirl as well seems a reasonable precaution. Simon and Kirby later did something similar when they created Stuntman. Stuntman #2 has an inside cover advertising the coming of Stuntboy and Stuntgirl. Although unpublished Stuntman art still exists none of it includes either Stuntboy or Stuntgirl. Joe Simon has said that he does not remember creating these variations either. But the ad includes copyright and pending trademarks so in all probability Simon and Kirby were just trying to protect what they hoped would be a successful new title.

The Supergirl ashcan cover date provides only the month (February) while the copyright notice gives only the year (1944). Now it may seem obvious to just combine the two for a February 1944 date as GCD has done in their listing. This is not unreasonable but it would indicate that planning for Superboy was done for quite a few months before it was actually release. However if we follow the example given by the Superwoman ashcan and provide a cover date for the Supergirl ashcan as February 1945 we have one very close in agreement with Superboy’s release (January 1945). The means of choosing between the two possibilities would be the actual contents of the ashcan as it would be expected that the most current stories would be used. Unfortunately the interior is not indexed in the GCD listing. Oddly the notes that I toke when I first came across the Supergirl ashcan listing was that there was an unconfirmed report that the contents were from Action #80 (January 1945). If that turns out to be true then the February 1945 would be the correct cover date for the Supergirl ashcan.

My second puzzle was why a cover for Boy Commandos #1 was used for the Supergirl ashcan. It is not that I expect Supergirl to appear on the cover. DC was insuring their copyrights and not planning to actually produce a Supergirl comic at that time. The ashcan for Superwoman had unrelated cover art as well. For me the question is why the cover art for the Supergirl ashcan was not something more current. The Boy Commandos #1 was cover dated Winter 1942/1943. Even if we accept the earlier February 1944 as the cover date for the Supergirl ashcan that still means the art used was about a year old. The only explanation I can hazard, with absolutely nothing to back it up, is that perhaps a foreign edition of Boys Commandos had more recently been prepared. DC did occasionally prepare foreign comics (to be printed in the country it would be released in) and these often were done some time after the initial U.S. release. However I have no idea if DC was doing this during the war or whether Boy Commandos had received that treatment.

One final note, in this blog I try to respect the copyrights of others. After all I am asking everyone to respect not only my rights, but most importantly those of Joe Simon who has generously allows me to include images from his personal collection. Joe’s collection and my own, augmented occasionally by helpful individuals, are generally sufficient to provide enough examples to use in the posts for this blog. But there are rare exceptions where the GCD has images that I otherwise do not have access to. So some time ago I contacted GCD and ask if it would be okay to occasionally use their images (giving them the proper credit). So I would like to thank the GCD (Grand Comic-Book Database) for giving me permission to do so.