About the Book
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. This is the only edition authorised by both Joe Simon and the estate of Jack Kirby; each story is hand-picked by Joe Simon himself.
Table of Contents:
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
About the Author :
Joe Simon and Jack Kirby co-created one of the most enduring heroes with the first issue of Captain America Comics from Timely Comics — the company that became Marvel. Simon was also an artist, writer and editor. Mark Evanier is an Eisner-award winning comic book and television writer primarily known for his humor work. After his start in the comics industry as production assistant to Jack Kirby, he began writing comic books for Walt Disney and Gold Key Comics among others. Jack Kirby is perhaps the most important artist ever in superhero comics.The “King” co-created household names like The Incredible Hulk, the Fantastic Four and the X-Men for Marvel, later moving to DC for Superman’s Pal Jimmy Olsen, New Gods, Kamandi, and OMAC.
Review :
"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
