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The Best of Simon and Kirby

Author Joe Simon, Jack Kirby

Edited by Steve Saffel

Hardcover

$39.95 US

Titan | Titan Books

9.29"W x 12.5"H x 0.99"D | 50 oz | 10 per carton

On sale May 12, 2009 | 240 Pages | 978-1-84576-931-4

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A collection of complete comic book stories from the legendary team of Joe Simon and Jack Kirby, covering every genre in which they made their mark.

From the very beginning in the late 1930s, Simon and Kirby produced the finest stories around, creating dramatic new super heroes (Captain America, Blue Bolt, Fighting American, The Fly), western action (Boy’s Ranch), gruesome horror (Black Magic), explosive detective fiction (Justice Traps the Guilty), and the very first romance comics (Young Romance). They were the dream team.

• The only edition authorised by both Joe Simon and the estate of Jack Kirby

• Hand-picked by Joe Simon himself, with introductory material by him

• The images are fully restored to their original vibrancy by Harry Mendryk and presented in an impressive, collectible package

• Contains more than two-dozen tales, presented in their entirety, including stories from Simon and Kirby’s time at DC and Marvel

• Includes some of the most famous S&K creations, including Captain America, Fighting American, The Fly, Boy’s Ranch, Bullseye, and Stuntman

• The beginning of a planned collection of the entire Simon and Kirby Library

• With illustrated essays by Mark Evanier, author of Kirby: King of Comics

Joe Simon, with Jack Kirby, created one of the most enduring American heroes in 1940 with the first issue of Captain America Comics from Timely Comics—the company that became Marvel Comics. Simon proved to be a brilliant editor, writer, penciller, inker, and businessman, serving as an editor for Archie, Harvey, Fox, Crestwood, and Mainline Publications—Simon and Kirby’s own company.

Jack Kirby is one of the most famous illustrators in comic book history. Having begun in the Fox Comics Bullpen in 1939, he teamed with Joe Simon on such seminal series as Blue Bolt and Captain Marvel Adventures. In subsequent years they worked in every genre imaginable, often seeing their titles sell in excess of one million copies.

Joe Simon View titles by Joe Simon

Jack Kirby View titles by Jack Kirby

Introduction by Joe Simon…6

THE HEROES

Introduction…12

"Captain America and the Riddle of the Red Skull" (from Captain America Comics #1, March 1941)…15

The Vision (from Marvel Mystery Comics #14, Dec. 1940)…29

Sandman: "The Villain from Valhalla" (from Adventure Comics #75, June 1942)…36

"Killer in the Big Top" (from Stuntman Comics #1, April 1946)…46

"Assignment: Find the King of the Crime Syndicate" (from Fighting American #2, June 1954)…59

"Come Into my Parlor" (From Adventures of the Fly #1, Aug. 1959)…66

Cover: Adventures of the Fly #3, Nov. 1959…73

SCIENCE FICTION SERIAL ACTION

Introduction…74

Solar Patrol: "The Tree Men of Uranus" (from Silver Streak Comics #2, January 1940)…77

Blue Bolt (from Blue Bolt Comics #4, Sept. 1940)…82

"The Thing on Sputnik 4" (from Race for the Moon #2, Sept. 1958)…92

Cover: Blue Bolt #3, Aug. 1940…97

WAR AND ADVENTURE

Introduction…98

"Satan Wears a Swastika" (from Boy Commandos #1, Winter 1942)…101

The Duke of Broadway: "My City is No More" (from Black Cat Comics #5, Apr. 1947)…113

Booby Trap (from Foxhole #2, Dec. 1954)…123

Cover: Foxhole #1, Oct. 1954…129

THE BIRTH OF ROMANCE

Introduction…130

"Weddin’ at Red Rock" (from Western Love #1, July 1949)…133

"The Savage in Me" (from Young Romance Comics #22, June 1950)…136

CRIME DRAMA

Introduction…150

"Trapping New England’s Chain Murderer" (from Headline Comics #24, May 1947)…153

"Mother of Crime" (from Real Clue Crime Stories, volume 2, no. 4, June 1947)…162

"The Case Against Scarface" (from Justice Traps the Guilty #1, Oct. 1947)…170

THE GREAT WESTERN

Introduction…178

"Apache Justice" (from The Kid Cowboys of Boy's Ranch #2, Dec. 1950)…181

Remember The Alamo (from The Kid Cowboys of Boy's Ranch #6, Aug. 1951)…188

"Doom Town" (from Bulls Eye #4, Feb. 1955)…190

OH! THE HORROR!

Introduction…198

"The Scorn of the Faceless People!" (from Black Magic #2 -- volume 1, no. 2, Dec. 1950)…201

"Up There!" (from Black Magic #13 -- volume 2, no. 7, June 1952)…211

"The Woman in the Tower!" (from The Strange World of Your Dreams #3, Nov. 1952)…217

Cover: Black Magic #29 (volume 4, no. 5, March 1954)…221

SICK HUMOR

Introduction…222

"A Rainy Day with Housedate Harry"(from My Date #4, Jan. 1948)…225

"20,000 Lugs Under the Sea" (from From Here to Insanity #11, Aug. 1955)…228

"Lenny Bruce" (from SICK, volume1, no. 2, Oct. 1960)…234

Editorial page (from SICK, volume 1, no. 2, Oct. 1960)…236

Cover: SICK #42 (volume 6, no. 2), Feb. 1966…237

A SIMON AND KIRBY BIBLIOGRAPHY…238

"Joe Simon and Jack Kirby are comics’ Lennon/McCartney dream duo. Teaming in the 1940s, Simon was the seasoned writer/editor/inker and Kirby the hot young artist who ultimately became one of the industry’s most influential and creative personalities. They invented Captain America, received the first cover bylines, and their jump-off-the-pages action told the story as strongly as the words, changing comics forever. This first in a six-volume series offers a broad look at their collaborations. They worked in many genres, and chapters spotlight heroes, science fiction, war and adventure, crime drama, Westerns, horror, sick humor, and romance (future volumes will cover some subjects individually), each with a background intro by Kirby biographer Mark Evanier. The book sports 25 gloriously restored comics selected by Simon plus five additional covers—the art is absolutely killer!—and is capped with a checklist of all the comics they produced together/apart. Dazzling from beginning to end, The Best of Simon and Kirby is a monumental piece of comics’ history and a hunk of Americana that is a dream come true for legions of fans. Buy it for your graphic novels, art, or pop-culture collections, but buy it. Essential." — Library Journal