Tag Archives: Joe Simon

Evolution of Kirby Krackle

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Posted in 2011/09, Artists, Kirby Krackle, Kirby, Jack, Simon, Joe, Topic, z Archive and tagged , ,


Fantastic Four #57 (December 1966) “Enter, Dr. Doom” page 5 panel 4, pencils by Jack Kirby, inks by Joe Sinnott (from the Marvel Omnibus)

In the 60’s Jack Kirby began to draw clusters of round black dots to depict enormous but not necessarily directed energy, often of a cosmic nature. This simple graphic technique was so effective that it has been picked up by other comic book artists and can still be found in comics of today. The device has been given the name Kirby Krackle. It is an annoying cute* name but one that has become so entrenched that I feel that it must be accepted.

But what are the origins of Kirby Krackle? Some comic book scholars have pointed to a panel from Fantastic Four #46 (January 1966) where the Inhuman Triton is depicted in water surrounded by bubbles and black shapes that look surprisingly like Kirby Krackle. Nothing to suggest energy or anything cosmic but visually similar enough that perhaps it formed the basis for an imaginative leap by Kirby. Old grainy photographs of Quasars (astronomical objects discovered in 1963) have also been suggested to be the inspiration for Kirby Krackle. Because at the time inkers were encourage to embellish the pencils some have even suggested that it was the inker Joe Sinnott that actually created Kirby Krackle!


Blue Bolt #5 (October 1940) last panel of page 4, pencils by Jack Kirby, inks by Joe Simon

Such explanations for the origin of Kirby Krackle were all reasonable but those who presented them overlooked Jack Kirby’s long career. Jack had a long memory and old ideas would reappear many years later. There is no better example than Kirby Krackle. The first appearance of Kirby Krackle appears to be found in Blue Bolt #5 (October 1940)**. This really is likely to be the earliest example of Kirby Krackle. Kirby did some previous science fiction stories on his own but nothing resembling Kirby Krackle appears in them. Nor did it appear in Simon’s earlier science fiction nor in the previous issues of Blue Bolt. It is unclear who to credit with this device as Kirby did the pencils and Simon the inking. Unfinished art from later in the Simon and Kirby collaboration shows that while Kirby’s pencils were pretty tight they were line art only with all spotting left to the discretion of the inker. However this example of Kirby Krackle is from early in the Simon and Kirby partnership (which started with Blue Bolt #2, July 1940). This is so early in their collaboration that is would seem reckless to make any assumptions on what were their working methods at that time.

In some respects this is a perfectly acceptable example of Kirby Krackle. But it is not yet the perfected form. While the massing of particles is very much like typical Kirby Krackle the particles are not round but irregular, often angular, in shape. However it is clear that this early example shares the same intent as the caption describes it as having “crackling energy”.


Captain 3-D #1 (December 1953) “The Man from the World of D”, page 2 panel 6, pencils by Jack Kirby, inks by Joe Simon

Simon and Kirby did not do much science fiction and it would be years before something very much like Kirby Krackle made its appearance once again. In 1953 Simon and Kirby put together Captain 3-D for Harvey Comics. It was a rush job to try to take advantage of the 3D craze. All the pencils were by Jack Kirby but the inking was done by an assortment of artists which besides Jack and Joe included Mort Meskin and Steve Ditko (for a more complete examination of the inking see Captain 3D). In the origin story, “The Man from the World of D”, a villains uses a special weapon which releases energy outside the actual firing path. The weapon from the Captain 3D story has a cosmic connection as it is described as a gamma ray gun. In some ways this is not as close an example to Kirby Krackle as that found in Blue Bolt perhaps because of the difference between a dimensional doorway and a weapon. The particles are not clumped together as well as in the Blue Bolt example but have become less irregular in shape. While some have become more rounded other particles still are rather angular.

There is good evidence from unfinished art that by this period Kirby’s pencils provided outlines only with only simple lines to indicate things like the folds in the clothing. How the spotting was to be done was left to the inker. Most of this page was inked by Steve Ditko but Joe Simon applied a lot of retouching. While it is difficult to say with any certainty who to should be credited with the inking of the Kirby Krackle the similarity with the next example suggests it was likely Simon who applied the it.


Captain 3-D #1 (December 1953) “The Man from the World of D”, page 3 panel 6, pencils by Jack Kirby, inks by Joe Simon

The futuristic gun appears once again in the next page from “The Man from the World of D”. The arrangement of the particles is very much the same as the previous example but the particles themselves have lost any angularity and become more rounded. They would not however be described as truly circular in shape. This page was inked by just Joe Simon and so he was likely the one to supply the Krackle.


Tales of the Unexpected #18 (October 1957) “The Man Who Collected Planets”, pencils and inks by Jack Kirby

Once again the use of anything akin to Kirby Krackle does not appear for some time largely because there were few if any stories where it might be appropriate. After the Simon and Kirby partnership ended Jack began to do freelance work mostly for DC. Something akin to Kirby Krackle appears in the depiction of the alien in a story called “The Man Who Collected Planets”***. While the alien is surrounded by something not dissimilar to Kirby Krackle it covers an uncharacteristically narrow area and the primary purpose appears to be more of a means of providing him with a fiery aura than of suggesting a form of energy.


Tales of the Unexpected #18 (October 1957) “The Man Who Collected Planets” page 3 panel 5, pencils and inks by Jack Kirby

However “The Man Who Collected Planets” contains panels that show something very much closer to true Kirby Krackle than that used in drawing of the alien. Here it truly is energy that is being depicted. The particles have become more varied in size a more clumped together. However unlike typical Kirby Krackle the particles are still not very rounded in shape.


Tales of the Unexpected #18 (October 1957) “The Man Who Collected Planets” page 5 panel 5, pencils and inks by Jack Kirby

This was no accident as the same Kirby Krackle precursor appears elsewhere in the story. Kirby did his own inking for most of the horror or science fiction stories that he did for DC. “The Man Who Collected Planets” is a great example of Kirby inking Kirby. So in this case we can safely give Kirby the credit for this Kirby Krackle prototype.


House of Mystery #84 (March 1959) “The Negative Man”, panel from page 3, pencils by Jack Kirby, inks by Marvin Stein?

Further examples of a Kirby Krackle prototype appear in another story that Kirby drew for DC, “The Negative Man”. This story is again about an unearthly being and something similar to Kirby Krackle is used to provide the being with a fiery aura. But once again it is elsewhere where even better examples of Kirby Krackle can be found such as the energy wake left behind the negative man of one panel from the third page.


House of Mystery #84 (March 1959) “The Negative Man”, panel from page 5, pencils by Jack Kirby, inks by Marvin Stein?

An even better example of Kirby Krackle prototype is found in small panel from page 5 where the negative man unleashes his power. The particles are relatively large and not at all circular but the clumping is very much like typical Krackle.


House of Mystery #84 (March 1959) “The Negative Man”, panel from page 2, pencils by Jack Kirby, inks by Marvin Stein?

The Kirby Krackle prototype from “The Negative Man” is very similar to that found previously in “The Man Who Collected Planets”. However while Kirby inked his own pencils in the earlier story some other artist inked “The Negative Man”. I am not positive as to who that inker was but the blunt but fluid brushwork looks very much like the work of Marvin Stein so I questionably attribute it to him. The two stories are similar enough that perhaps Stein used the earlier Kirby inked story as a reference when inking this one. Or perhaps Kirby had already begun to include how a story should be spotted in his pencils. In either case the use of the Kirby Krackle in this story should be credited to Jack Kirby.


Fantastic Four #49 (April 1966) “If This Be Doomsday” page 12, pencils by Jack Kirby, inks by Joe Sinnott (from the Marvel Omnibus)

While the infrequent use of Kirby Krackle in the earlier publications can be explained by the lack of appropriate stories, its absence from Kirby’s earlier silver age work for Marvel is more difficult to understand. There certainly were a number of stories with subjects seemingly well suited for Kirby Krackle. It would seem that Jack had just forgotten about it. Perhaps there is some truth in the explanations previously used to explain the emergence of Kirby Krackle but not as inspiration for its creation but rather as a reminder to the artist of an almost forgotten technique. Once true Kirby Krackle appeared it was already exhibited the classic clumping of round particles and in this respect it differs from the earlier prototypic versions. Not perfect circles but not the more extended shape of the prototypes.


Fantastic Four #48 (March 1966) “The Coming of Galactus” page 12, pencils by Jack Kirby, inks by Joe Sinnott (from the Marvel Omnibus)

While classic Kirby Krackle was used to portray a simmering energy, the same purpose the prototypic form had been put to, Jack also used it when depicting the cosmos. Kirby Krackle always seem to have a cosmic connection but had not previously been used when drawing outer space. I suspect Kirby was using this device to suggest that space was more than vast distances of vacuum but a place filled with potent energy. Certainly with the help of Kirby Krackle, Jack’s astronomical visas became more exciting than any other comic book artists had ever achieved.

P.S.
I have previously written about Kirby Krackle but I have decided to gather it all together with some new information. I will provide links to my previous posts but the reader will find little more than what is covered here (Kirby Krackle, More Kirby Krackle). Shane Foley has written an excellent article available online exploring the appearance of Kirby Krackle in the Marvel comics (Kracklin’ Kirby, Jack Kirby Collector #33). While he understandably failed to make the connection with previous examples of Kirby Krackle, his article does a marvelous job of tracing its use in silver age comics.

Footnotes:

* The overuse of Kirby K… is so extensive that my reaction is to wonder whether the originators of these terms were more interesting in getting credit for coining a cute name than in any serious investigation into Jack Kirby’s artistry.

** I do not know who to credit for first trying to draw attention to this early example of Kirby Krackle. It was brought up on the now defunct Kirby List where the poster provided a page number based on the Verotik Blue Bolt book. Unfortunately that volume lacks paging and the image that at the time I thought was being referenced was not an example of Kirby Krackle. I came across the panel from Blue Bolt #5 during a recent review in preparation for a serial post I hope to do on Blue Bolt. I am sure it is that panel that the Kirby list poster was trying to refer to.

*** The use of Kirby Krackle in “The Man Who Collected Planets” was originally pointed out to me by Ger Apeldoorn in the comments to one of my early posts on Kirby Krackle.

Some More Joe Simon Interviews

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Posted in 2011/07, Odds & Ends, Topic, z Archive and tagged ,

I previously reported on an interview with Joe Simon and added that I thought there would be more coming out. Actually one appeared in Comic Book Resources a while ago but escaped my attention. A more recent one is in ABC News/Entertainment. With the recent release of the movie Captain America, the First Avenger it is not surprising that Joe is getting a bit of attention lately.

Joe Simon Sees Captain America

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Posted in 2011/07, Captain America, Topic, z Archive and tagged ,

I had the privilege last night of accompanying Joe Simon to a private screening of the soon to be released “Captain America, the First Avenger”. Joe had previously been invited to tour of the London filming set and to the Los Angeles premier but declined because the traveling would have been to difficult at his advance age. However his grand-children did go to Los Angeles for the movie’s premier although I have not heard yet how that went. Since he could not travel it was really nice that they arranged for Joe to attend this private screening. A good time was had by all. Joe has poor hearing so I was not surprised to hear him remark that he could not hear much of what went on “but that was okay because there was plenty of action”.

I will not review the movie since I am too much a Captain America fan to provide an unbiased assessment. I will say that not surprisingly the movie deviates from the comics as did the previous Hulk, Iron Man and Thor movies. However I really impressed by the numerous references to the comics. The writers clearly knew their comics and were not just ignoring them. Stan Lee does make a cameo appearance as he does in so many of the Marvel movies. The end credits included “based on the Marvel Comics by Joe Simon and Jack Kirby”. A special thanks section also listed Joe, Jack, Stan and three others.

With all the attention that the movie is getting, Joe has been giving some interviews. The A.V. Club has one interview but I believe there will be more.

The above image is a limited edition poster that was provide to participants of the making of the movie. But they were also kind enough to send Joe a copy as well. Captain America punching out Adolph Hitler. Where does Hollywood come up with such great ideas?

It’s Here, “Joe Simon: My Life In Comics”

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Posted in 2011/06, Artists, Publications, Simon, Joe, Topic, z Archive and tagged ,

Last week I got a surprise package, some advance copies of “Joe Simon: My Life In Comics”. Advanced? Well those lucky enough to go to Heroes Con had the opportunity to pick up copies of Titan’s newest book. Amazon says they will release the title on June 21. But now I have seen on the Internet that people have already received their copies and my comic book shop had one as well. So I guess advance is not an accurate term for the copies I received. “Joe Simon: My Life In Comics” if finally out.

There are always some who will disagree, but I like this book cover. Joe’s name stands out, there is a famous piece of comic book art and my favorite photograph of Joe. There is he is talking on the phone while working on some art and of course smoking his cigar. And what could be timelier than Captain America who will be appearing in movie theaters in the near future? The spine (not shown in the above image) has a figure of Fighting American.

Generally speaking, biographies or autobiographies of artists can be divided into two categories, those that are primarily about the art and those mainly about the biography. This book falls into the second group. The book is the more standard sized book and not the large size usually used for art books. There are black and white illustrations distributed throughout the book and a small section of colored plates. These are good aids to the story Joe presents but I doubt that anyone would pick up this book just for the art. One of the advantages of being primarily a biography is that Titan can keep the price way down. The book lists as $24.95 for 256 pages. Amazon is selling it for $14.67. Hey in my neighbor a movie and some popcorn will come to much more than that!

Now I have heard on the Internet some remarks from some people about why some would not be buying this book. I have no problem with people being careful about what books they buy. Especially now when we still have not recovered from the Great Recession. But allow me to clarify some facts about this book so that the reader can make an informed decision. The most common statement I have heard is that some already have “The Comic Book Makers” so there is no reason to pick up “My Life In Comics”. Simply put “My Life In Comics” is not “The Comic Book Makers” warmed over. Joe is a natural story teller and while both books cover the same life, he tells different stories in each book. So if you want to hear all Joe’s stories you have to read both books. Further “My Life In Comics” covers the years that follow “The Comic Book Makers”. Among other things Simon has some interesting things to say about his second legal battle over Captain America.

Another explanation I have heard about why some are not planning to purchase Joe’s latest book is that their interests lie in comics not in Joe’s life. However the title is “My Life In Comics” which should suggest that actually comics are the subject of this book. Yes there is some information about Simon’s life outside of comics but it is minimal and often has bearing on his career in comic books. Most of the founders of the comic book industry are now gone. Fortunately some of the important artists had been interviewed over the years but not nearly enough. A book written by a golden age artist is nothing short of a treasure for anyone interested in the history of comics. I am sure people will be discussing and arguing about “My Life In Comics” for years to come.

True Kirby Kolors and Simon Too

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

It has been a couple of years since I discussed the topic of Kirby Kolors (Kirby Kolor, a Kirby Myth and Kirby Kolors, Revisited). Here I though I would write about some true Kirby Kolors, although they are rather special cases.


Prize Comics Western #88 (July 1951) pencils by John Severin


Prize Comics Western #88 (July 1951) pencils by John Severin, original art colored by Jack Kirby

Recently Kirby scholar and former assistant Steve Sherman sent me some scans of comic art still in the possession of the Kirby family. The one I show above was the original art for the cover of Prize Comics Western #88 (July 1951). This art was not done by Jack Kirby but instead was penciled by John Severin. Bill Elder inked much of the work that Severin did for Prize comics but I cannot say if that was the case here. But the thing that makes this work truly unusual is the coloring that has been applied. The color guides provided to the printers were originally done on silver prints of the line art, not on the original art itself. That this was true in for this cover can be seen on the many differences between the art and the published cover. For instance the original art shows American Eagle with a bright orange band in his head piece that was colored blue or cyan on the published cover. The teepees in the background of the art show a variety of colors while on the actual cover they are all light orange. The bush in the lower right corner has three colors in the art but a single green on the printed version.

The original art for the #88 cover has an overall reddish tone. This was not the original intent of the colorist but is the result of deterioration over time. The colors were applied to the art using dyes as opposed to a pigment based material. While direct sunlight should always be avoided with colored art, those based on dyes are particularly susseptical to damage by light. The presence of matting in the above image suggests that is what happened here. While there is good reason to believe that originally blue and green played a much more important part presently only some limited areas of green are left and even they seem to be rather dingy. I believe that the very faint pink band in American Eagle’s head piece was originally a bright blue.

While the colors have changed there is still much that can be seen in the original art. In particular notice how American Eagle’s skin tone is varied to suggest volume. Volume was also suggested in the published cover although the details are very different (as I said the coloring of the original art was not done as a color guide). Such use of gradient coloring was not that unusual for comic book covers at that time as the greater quality printing of covers allowed for such effects.
 

Prize Comics Western #89 (September 1951) pencils by John Severin


Prize Comics Western #89 (September 1951) pencils by John Severin, original art colored by Jack Kirby

The original art for the Prize Comics Western #89 cover (September 1951) is similarly colored and shows the same deterioration. Again it is the blue and perhaps green colors that were most affected. Note the soldier that has collapsed at the bottom of the image. His uniform appears grey except for the lowest part of his left arm where the blue survives.

It may seem odd that Jack Kirby would have these two pieces of art in his own collection. After all it does not appear that Simon and Kirby had produced the art for Prize Comics Western other then supply a couple of covers (for PCW #75 and #83, April 1949 and August 1950 respectively). However Prize Comics did not have a seperate bullpen. The colorist that Prize employed, Joe Genalo, did his work in the Simon and Kirby studio. I suspect that art for Prize Comics Western was delivered to the studio as well. Jack would certainly have a chance to see that art and pick up a couple of nice covers after their usefullness to production had ended. Original art was not highly valued at that time.


Bullseye #5 (April 1955) “Tough Little Varmint” page 2, art by unidentified artist


Bullseye #5 (April 1955) “Tough Little Varmint” page 2, art by unidentified artist, original art colored by Jack Kirby (image provided by Steven Brower)

The Severin covers were not the only pieces of art from Jack Kirby’s collection that had been colored. The first two pages from “Tough Little Varmint” (Bullseye #5, April 1955) were also originally owned by Kirby and had been covered. Fortunately the dyes have not deteriorated very much if at all. A comparison with the published version shows even more clearly that the coloring was not meant for use as a color guide. Not only are there some rather unusually coloring present there is also frequent use of different color tones on what normally have been a single color. For instance the pants of the man in the background of panel 1, the face of the eating man in panel 2, or the face of the background man in panel 4.

The case that the above works were colored by Jack Kirby is not completely air tight. However there are other pieces that pased through Jack’s hands that are similarly colored so it seems quite likely that he colored all of them. Nor was it only other artists that Kirby colored, he did so on some of his own pieces as well. A nice Boys’ Ranch double page pinup can be seen in that great site What if Kirby (see the site’s Boys’ Ranch #4).


Fighting American #1 (April 1954) “Break The Spy-Ring” page 7 panel 3, pencils by Jack Kirby


Fighting American #1 (April 1954) “Break The Spy-Ring” page 7 panel 3, pencils by Jack Kirby, original art colored by Joe Simon

There is another Simon and Kirby piece of original that has been colored. The above Fighting American art was originally conceived as a cover for the first issue but instead ended up as an oversize story panel. Some have claimed that this piece also was colored by Kirby but there are problems with that attribution. When Simon and Kirby’s collaboration ended this piece belonged to Joe Simon. Joe eventually reworked the image to use as a cover for Sick #42 (February 1966). But the proof of the correct coloring attribution comes from a photograph that Joe Simon has showing him at work coloring it. An examination of an enlargement of the photo shows that coloring was not yet finished with the blue missing from Fighting American’s costume. The coloring of the original art must have been done prior to the Sick cover since except for the replaced Speedboy the coloring between the two are identical.

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
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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.

Another Brief Pause and a Joe Simon Interview

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Posted in 1 Early, 2010/12, Artists, Kirby, Jack, Odds & Ends, Periods, Topic, z Archive and tagged ,

Normally I provide at least one post every week. This is often difficult because I have a full time day time and in my “spare time” I am actively working on restorations for Titan’s Simon and Kirby library. The only way I can succeed in keeping my blog going is plan my post ahead of time and write it during my lunch hour. Unfortunately this week when I came to do the actually writing I realized that my planned subject (an opinion piece) really did not warrant posting. But with my tight schedule I was unable to switch to another topic. So this will be one of those rare weeks when I will have to take a brief pause. I should return to my normal blogging next week.


“Wilton of the West”, pencils and inks by Jack Kirby

However, I do not want to leave my readers without something to look at so I will follow the example of an earlier pause (A Brief Pause) and provide an image from Jack Kirby’s early work for the Eisner and Iger studio. This particular strip appeared in Jumbo Comics #3 (November 1938) but my image is from a scan of what was either a proof or presentation piece. Presentation pieces were made to be provide potential clients with examples of a proposed syndication strip. The nice thing about proofs like this one is that the paper was of a much higher quality and so provides a superior copy.


“Wilton of the West” panel 1, pencils and inks by Jack Kirby

The work that Kirby did for Eisner is interesting because you can see him learning his trade. Jack was already better than many of the contemporary comic book artists but that is not saying much because there were a lot of really poor comic book artists at that time. However Kirby was not yet as talented as the artist then working on published syndication strips. On this particular “Wilton of the West” you can see Jack not completely successful experimenting on his inking. Kirby has put a lot of effort into the brush work, particularly on the splash like panel I show above, but it is not very effective. I believe much of the problem is that all parts of the panel seem to get the same amount treatment. The final result seems cluttered and unfocused. Kirby quickly learned from his mistakes and had already improved in a Dr. Hayward strip done a short time later (shown in the same A Brief Pause post that I linked to before).

On a different subject, the reader might be interested in a recent interview that Joe Simon gave Big Shiny Robot.