Monday, June 01, 2015

Kirby Scores!

I picked up these three great Jack Kirby comics while I was away. I already had a very low-grade copy of The Double Life of Private Strong #2, but I bought this copy when the deal for the three books was so good I couldn't pass it up. So I'll have to get rid of the lesser condition copy.

Issue #1. I've often wondered why this didn't have a full Kirby cover. Perhaps the folk at Archie Comics weren't happy with the cover he handed in, or maybe he didn't have time to do one. I'm not even sure who did this cover art. The border art on the right hand side is Kirby, but the central image is not. This is a pretty nice condition copy and I was happy to pick it up.

Issue #2 (also the last issue). Not a high condition book by any means, but it's much better than the really beat-up copy that was already in my collection.

One of the action comics that Simon and Kirby produced for Harvey Comics. I had been looking for an affordable copy of this book for a long time.

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2 comments:

  1. L. Roy Aiken6:26 PM

    I had no idea Simon and Kirby worked for Harvey -- or that Harvey ever did anything but children's comics. We hear _ad infinitum_ about the mainstream superhero stuff, so if you have more tales to tell of these side projects that never got traction, and why you think they never took off, etc., I'm in the market.

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  2. James Robert Smith9:43 PM

    Simon and Kirby had a studio where they produced material for companies. Supplied the stories and art for a fee. Similar to the Eisner/Iger studio (where Kirby started). They supplied stuff to Harvey, but published mainly under an associated logo. They even did work for Archie Comics as late as the late 50s.

    They even formed their own publishing company called Mainline Comics. It failed and they ended up selling off their inventory of titles and stories to various publishers for a flat price. Even Charlton Comics ended up with some of their stuff. I think Kirby complained that he was never paid for the Charlton stuff...rumors abound that Simon did get paid.

    Simon and Kirby parted ways at some point...not sure when. I've read accounts that it was not under completely good terms and that there is some suspicion that Simon may have somehow ended up with a lot more money from their shared business--funny how such stuff mysteriously happens. Simon lived in a mansion while Kirby was struggling. (And, yes, I've seen photos of the place, and it was a mansion. Was on the market in 2009 at almost three million bucks.)

    http://kirbymuseum.org/blogs/simonandkirby/archives/1821


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