Best of Simon and Kirby

Joe Simon and 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 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

• Introduction by Joe Simon…6THE HEROES Introduction…12"Captain America and the Riddle of the Red Skull" (from Captain America Comics #1, March 1941)…15The Vision (from Marvel Mystery Comics #14, Dec. 1940)…29Sandman: "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)…66Cover: Adventures of the Fly #3, Nov. 1959…73SCIENCE FICTION SERIAL ACTIONIntroduction…74Solar Patrol: "The Tree Men of Uranus" (from Silver Streak Comics #2, January 1940)…77Blue Bolt (from Blue Bolt Comics #4, Sept. 1940)…82"The Thing on Sputnik 4" (from Race for the Moon #2, Sept. 1958)…92Cover: Blue Bolt #3, Aug. 1940…97WAR AND ADVENTURE Introduction…98"Satan Wears a Swastika" (from Boy Commandos #1, Winter 1942)…101The Duke of Broadway: "My City is No More" (from Black Cat Comics #5, Apr. 1947)…113Booby Trap (from Foxhole #2, Dec. 1954)…123Cover: Foxhole #1, Oct. 1954…129THE 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)…136CRIME 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)…170THE GREAT WESTERN Introduction…178"Apache Justice" (from The Kid Cowboys of Boy's Ranch #2, Dec. 1950)…181Remember The Alamo (from The Kid Cowboys of Boy's Ranch #6, Aug. 1951)…188"Doom Town" (from Bulls Eye #4, Feb. 1955)…190OH! 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)…217Cover: Black Magic #29 (volume 4, no. 5, March 1954)…221SICK 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)…234Editorial page (from SICK, volume 1, no. 2, Oct. 1960)…236Cover: SICK #42 (volume 6, no. 2), Feb. 1966…237A SIMON AND KIRBY BIBLIOGRAPHY…238