Tag Archives: Jack Kirby

Simon and Kirby Firsts, Part 2

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Posted in 2011/04, Artists, Kirby, Jack, Odds & Ends, Topic, z Archive and tagged ,


Captain America #4 (June 1941) “Ivan the Terrible” page 8, pencils by Jack Kirby.

Not so long ago I posted Simon and Kirby Firsts. What I had to say about Simon and Kirby first was a work in progress and hoped that my readers would correct any mistakes that I made. Well diligent Marty Erhart met my challenge and pointed out that there was an earlier Simon and Kirby story splash then the two I had reported on. So “Ivan the Terrible” in Captain America #4 (June 1941) appears to be the first Simon and Kirby story spalsh. It had already been clear that Simon and Kirby were not the first to do a full page splash and in my previous post I reported the finding that the honor seem to go to Bob Kane and Jerry Robinson for a story from Detective #39 (May 1940). Well Marty beat that as well by pointing out that Siegal and Shuster had done a full page splash for a Slam Bradley story from Detective Comics #1 (March 1937). You can see it in Wikipedia. So kudos for Marty Erhart for his great work.

In my previous post I had also remarked that Simon and Kirby were not the first artists to do a double page splash as I had remembered an earlier example from a Ka-Zar story in Marvel Mystery Comics. However I no longer remember which issue it was. Well sleuth Brian Cronin took my imprecise memory and nailed it down in Comic Book Legends Revealed #309. It was Marvel Mystery Comics #11 (September 1940) that had the Ka-Zar story in question. So Ben Thompson was the first comic book artist to do a double page splash a year before Simon and Kirby. But not only did Thompson do a wide splash his was also a story splash. So Thompson takes that first away from Simon and Kirby as well!

As I have said before it was not the firsts that Simon and Kirby did that made them so important. It was how great they did everything and how influential they were to comic book history. But there do seem to be two firsts that Simon and Kirby still retain. They were the first to create a romance comic book (Young Romance #1 September 1947) and the first artists whose names were used on a cover to promote the comic (Adventure #80 November 1942, to be clear artist signatures do not count).

Simon and Kirby Colorists, Chapter 3, More on Prize Crime

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Posted in 2011/04, 5 Studio, Periods, Prize, S&K Colorists, Serial Posts, z Archive and tagged ,


Headline #24 (May 1947) “Grim Pay-Off For The Pinball Mob” page 3, pencils and inks by Jack Kirby

There is one coloring peculiarity whose significance I am still uncertain of that appears during the early crime Headline period. It concerns the use of middle cyan (C50) as hair coloring. The limited palette available for coloring presented a problem when it came to depicting black hair. The problem was not that black was unavailable but rather that using black alone would result in a massive black with no distinction for strands of hair. The convention most comic colorists adopted to circumvent this problem was to use cyan (C) or blue (CM25) to represent black hair. Technically not truly accurate but a convention so widely used that comic book readers took it for granted. This use of cyan or blue to represent black hair is followed in most Simon and Kirby crime stories, but not all. Some stories feature the use of middle cyan (C50) instead. This unusual choice was not an accidental misread by the printer of the original color guide. The presence of pure cyan (C) on the same pages of middle cyan (C50) hair indicates that this was in fact the colorist’s intent. Nor does this seem to be an attempt at representing gray hair. While middle cyan (C50) works quite nicely as gray hair it was used primarily on people with an otherwise young appearance. Further I have not yet found a story which used middle cyan (C50) and either cyan (C) or blue (CM25) for hair coloring. What is less clear is what this use of different hair coloring signifies. Does it indicate two different colorists at work or one colorists purposely adding a little variation to his output? I am still undecided but so far I have recognized no other coloring distinctions between the stories with the two ways of indicating black hair.


Headline #26 (September 1947) “Beyond The Law” page 3, art by unidentified artist

In the previous chapter I mentioned the occasional unusual coloring of people in the early Prize crime comics. I wondered if the same special color was ever done on artwork not drawn by Jack Kirby. A search reveal only a few. I do not make much out of their scarcity as unusually colored people are pretty rare even in the Kirby drawn material. Further most of the examples are found in the earliest issues of the crime version of Headline; issues that Kirby drew most or all of the work. By the time other artists were frequently used less effort seemed to have been expended on the coloring and such unusual coloring of people was no longer done. Still the presence of unusually coloring in material not drawn by Kirby conforms with my believe that the same colorist worked on both Kirby and non-Kirby material.


Color Palette used by Prize for Headline (starting in June 1948)

In the previous chapters I discussed the coloring used in Simon and Kirby crime comics published by Hillman and Prize. Since this material was published during the same period (March to September 1947) differences in the coloring can safely be attributed to the presence of different colorists. However for the period that follows only Prize published Simon and Kirby crime comics. Under these conditions it become less certain that changes in coloring would indicate different colorists. Such changes might also indicate the evolution of a single colorist style.


Headline #30 (June 1948) “Bullet-Proof Bad Man” page 3, pencils by Jack Kirby

One coloring change that is found in the later period and does seem to be significant is the appearance of the use of pale green (C25Y25). The use of pale green (C25Y25) and pale yellow (Y25) was an important distinction between the Hillman and Prize colorists. Now pale green appears does appear in Prize crime comics but without pale yellow. Further studies are needed, but at this time I find no obvious differences between the coloring. So was this just the evolution of the style used by a single colorist or a change of colorists? I am not ready to hazard a guess at this time.

I consider these three chapters on Simon and Kirby colorists as just an initial step. Much further studies are needed. Of particular interest would be around 1954 when Simon and Kirby were producing comics for Prize and Mainline (there own publishing company). This would provide another chance to compare coloring from two different publishers from the same time period. I am not sure when, but I will be returning to this topic sometime in the future.

Simon and Kirby Firsts

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Posted in Artists, Kirby, Jack, Simon, Joe and tagged ,

I have a busy schedule with little spare time for wandering around the Internet. However there are a handful of blogs that I try to keep up with and one of them is Comics Should Be Good on the Comic Book Resources. They came to my attention when I was asked to do a guest blog there a little over four years ago (Simon and Kirby Meet the Shield). I am surprised they had found me out since at the time my Simon and Kirby Blog had a miniscule following. I have been following their blog ever since and I am particularly a fan of Comic Book Legends Revealed. I try to stop by once a week but sometimes my schedule just does not allow even that infrequent of a visit. That is what happened to me some weeks (before my undesired sabbatical) and so I was caught completely unaware of a recent entry for Comic Book Legends Revealed. One legend that Brian Cronin discussed was “Jack Kirby was the first comic book artist to draw splash pages” which he answered quite correctly as false.

I will discuss the subject of Simon and Kirby splashes further below but Brian’s post brought to mind the whole question of Simon and Kirby firsts. Not necessarily that Simon and Kirby did these firsts before other comic book artists but I will try to discuss that aspect as well. I should also admit that what I present here is a first attempt and by no means a definitive list. There is so much Simon and Kirby material that it would be easy to miss some earlier example. So I look at this as a work in progress subject to correction. Perhaps some of my readers can correct my mistakes.


Captain America #3 (May 1941) “The Hunchback of Hollywood and the Movie Murder”, pencils by Joe Simon

So back to the question of Kirby or Simon and Kirby splash pages. Now I believe we have to be careful with our definitions. Besides references to liquids, a dictionary will define a splash as displaying conspicuously. Therefore one can say that any oversized panel in a comic book could be a splash. This is however a somewhat trivial definition and this type of splash appear well before either Kirby or Simon began doing comics. But Cronin’s question was about “splash pages” and by this I believe he means a full page splash without any story panels. Simon and Kirby have a long history of spectacular full page splashes. I believe the first full page splash by Simon and Kirby was “The Hunchback of Hollywood and the Movie Murder” from Captain America #3 (May 1941). But as Cronin points out full page splashes appeared in Detective Comics #39 (May 1940) so unless someone can come with an earlier example Bob Kane and Jerry Robinson should get the credit for that first.


Captain America #5 (August 1941) “The Gruesome Secret Of The Dragon Of Death” page 8, pencils by Jack Kirby (from “Captain America, the Classic Years”)

Jack Kirby was famous for his interior splashes, that is a splashes that not just an introduction but are part of the story itself. The earliest example I am aware of is found in “The Gruesome Secret Of The Dragon Of Death” from Captain America #5 (August 1941).


Adventure #75 (June 1942) “The Villain From Valhalla” page 8, pencils by Jack Kirby

However I suspect some readers will find the Captain America example unconvincing as this splash seems more like a diagram than part of the actual story. In that case the next example would by “The Villain From Valhalla” from Adventure Comics #75 (June 1942). And what a fantastic example it is, one of my favorite splashes. But is this truly the first interior splash page? I can by no means claim to have made a thorough search but I have never seen one earlier. In fact I cannot remember any other golden age artist doing it. So this might, just might, be a first for Simon and Kirby.


Captain America #1 (March 1941) “Meet Captain America” page 4, pencils by Jack Kirby

One of the things Simon and Kirby were famous for, at least early in the collaboration was the use of unusually shaped panels. I fear looking for the earliest Simon and Kirby use of irregularly shaped panels might end up in endless hair splitting. How far off from a rectangular does a panel have to be before it can be declared irregular in shape. So instead I went searching for Joe and Jack’s earliest use of a circular panel. Simon and Kirby’s first use of a circular panel was on page 4 of “Meet Captain America” from Captain America Comics #1 (March 1941). Circular panels played an important roll in Simon and Kirby productions until about 1947 when they were phased out (along with irregular panels as well). But were Simon and Kirby the first to introduce circular panels? Nope. It has been pointed out to me that circular panels appeared in earlier Batman stories. I cannot say when they started to use circular panels but Bob Kane and Jerry Robinson may have been responsible for that first as well.


Captain America #6 (September 1941) “Who Killed Doctor Vardoff”, pencils by Jack Kirby
Larger Image

Simon and Kirby have often been cited as the first to do double page splashes. Their first wide splash appeared in “Who Killed Doctor Vardoff” from Captain America #6 (September 1941) (see The Wide Angle Scream). However I am pretty certain that Simon and Kirby were not the first comic book artists to do a double page splash. I clearly remember seeing a Kazar story from an earlier Marvel Mystery Comics although I do not remember the artist or what issue it appeared in.


Marvel Mystery #15 (January 1941) “The Vision” page 4, pencils by Jack Kirby (from “Golden Age Marvel Comics” volume 4)

Another early technique that Simon and Kirby became famous for was extending figures outside a panel’s border. Done properly (and Simon and Kirby always seemed to do it well) this device could make a page visually exciting. Simon and Kirby used this technique during roughly the same period that they used irregularly shaped panels. The great success of Captain America influenced numerous comic book artists, but like the circular panel, cross panel border figures were probably not done first by Simon and Kirby. I cannot say for sure but I remember seeing earlier comic book art by Lou Fine which prominently showed this technique. Both Joe Simon and Jack Kirby were fans of Fine’s work and its seems probable that they picked up this technique from him. However I have no idea if Fine was the first to do this.


Real Clue Crime Stories, vol. 2 num. 6 (August 1947) “Get Me the Golden Gun” page 12, pencils and inks by Jack Kirby

Simon and Kirby generally inked their work in a blunt manner. After the war they developed a very distinctive style of inking which I call the Studio style. It was characterized by drop strings, abstract arches and most particularly by picket fence crosshatching (Inking Glossary). The picket fence crosshatching seemed to have a sudden appearance in their work. It appears in a fully developed manner and I have yet to find anything like it in early Simon and Kirby productions.


Science Comics #5 (June 1940), pencils and inks by Joe Simon

While picket fence crosshatching may have been unused by Simon and Kirby until they started doing crime comics, Simon used it much earlier before he teamed up with Kirby. The technique can be found in one of the covers Joe did for Fox Comics during his short stay as editor for that company. (It is a little hard to see in the scan above, but the picket fence inking shows up on the right sleeve of the yellow robed individual.) The example shown above may not done in a more refined and smaller manner but it looks very much what would be done years latter. Simon was purposely trying to imitate Lou Fine who had previously done the covers so I would not be surprised if Joe had picked that technique up from Fine as well. I know Will Eisner used picket fence crosshatching but I do not know if he had started using it at this point.


Young Romance #1 (September 1947) pencils by Jack Kirby

There is one first that I do believe truly belongs to Simon and Kirby and that is they were the first to create a love comic, Young Romance. Some have been very adamant in denying this but their case is without merit. Some cite My Date as the first romance comic (which would still give credit to Simon and Kirby) but My Date is a Archie swipe, not a romance comic. Others say Romantic Picture Novelettes was the first romance comic. But that comic was a reprint of the syndication strip Mary Worth was a soap opera and not a romance. And yes there is an important and distinct difference between the two. If that was not bad enough it is not at all clear that Romantic Picture Novelettes was published in 1946 as so often claimed. The comic itself bears no date and no one has supplied any evidence to backup the early date. For a more thorough discussion of this issue see my early post The First Romance Comic.


Adventure #80 (November 1942) pencils by Jack Kirby

Simon and Kirby’s great influence on comic book artists was not based on being the first to use some techniques but rather in doing so many things so well. Simply what makes Simon and Kirby important was they were the first to create really good comics. Now that is a first that is totally subjective and one I am sure some will disagree with and so it would be desirable to use a more concrete accomplishment. And there is one, Simon and Kirby were the first comic book artists whose names were used to sell comics. That is the first artist names to appear on the cover of a comic book. That was a big deal because initially it was characters that sold comics not creators. While other artists may have had their fans, it was Simon and Kirby who first became a brand name for quality.

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.

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.

The Gangs of New York

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Posted in 2010/12, 5 Studio, Artists, Hillman, Kirby, Jack, Odds & Ends, Periods, Prize, Topic, z Archive and tagged ,

Simon and Kirby crime tales, at least the earlier ones, were based on true stories. In a recent post I wrote about Simon and Kirby’s “Let Me Plan Your Murder” and the serial killer H. H. Holmes on which the story was based. I noted differences between the story which Joe and Jack presented and the facts that can be found on the Internet. These differences could be explained either as “poetic license” or inaccurate sources. Unfortunately there is no way to decide between the two explanations without knowing the actual sources used by Simon and Kirby. I remember reading somewhere (but regrettably I am not sure where) that one of the books Simon and Kirby used was “The Gangs of New York” by Herbert Asbury (1928). The book covers New York’s criminal elements from 19th to the early 20th centuries. Apparently this book was quite popular as there were four printings in the first year alone.


Clue Comics vol. 2 no. 1 (March 1947) “King of the Bank Robbers”, pencils by Jack Kirby

One of Simon and Kirby’s first entries in the crime genre was “King of the Bank Robbers” which was about George Leonidas Leslie. The same title was used for Chapter 10 of Asbury’s TGoNY. Asbury’s presentation pretty much matches the story depicted by Simon and Kirby. The main difference between the two takes is that Asbury went into more details than Simon and Kirby. However Joe and Jack embellished the facts to make it more of a story.


Real Clue Crime Stories vol. 2 no. 5 (July 1947) “The Terrible Whyos”, pencils and inks by Jack Kirby

Another example of a story taken from TGoNY was “The Terrible Whyos”. Without Asbury’s book a reader might doubt the accuracy of some of the things presented by Simon and Kirby. For instance in the story of perspective new member to the gang being rejected because he had not killed anyone. This might seem like an exaggeration but according to Asbury:

It has been said that during their period of greatest renown the captains of the Whyos would accept no man as a member until he had committed a murder, or at least had man an honest effort to thus enroll himself among the aristocracy of the underworld.

At one point Pike Ryan presents a poster showing the business rates, that is what to charge for commissioned crime ranging from blackening eyes to “da big sleep”. In the book Ashbury describes how when arrested Pike Ryan was found to have just a list and while the wording is not identical the rates were just as Simon and Kirby provided.


Real Clue Crime Stories vol. 2 no. 4 (June 1947) “Dandy Johnny Dolan”, art by unidentified artist

Simon and Kirby where not the only ones making use of Ashbury’s TGoNY. “Dandy Johnny Dolan” had no involvement from Simon and Kirby. While it just does not have the Simon and Kirby magic touch, it still is a rather nicely written and drawn story. But once again the events found in the story match what Ashbury presents in TGoNY, particularly how a cane Dolan took off one of his victims lead to being arrested for the crime.

All the comic book artists that used “The Gangs of New York” took liberties with the facts presented by Ashbury. In some case just to make a better story but in other cases because the true facts might be a little bit too much even in those pre-Comic Code days. Simon and Kirby might present some woman as a gangster’s girl friend but in reality she might have been a prostitute (and the criminal a pimp).

Even today “The Gangs of New York” is an enjoyable read. I understand it was reprinted about the same time as the movie of the same name came out. Ashbury does have a peculiar take on gangsters. As he tells it the gangs were all a thing of the past:

for there are now no gangs in New York, and no gangsters in the sense that the word has come into common use

It is hard to understand what Ashbury’s use of the word gangsters was if it excluded organized crime of his day. “The Gangs of New York” was published in 1927 about eight years after prohibition came into effect with the Eighteenth Amendment of the Constitution. Trade in illegal booze provided an abundant criminal income which propelled organized crime to great strength. Ashbury may have been blind to the new gangster, but the crime comics, including Simon and Kirby, were not.