Review: The Simon and Kirby Library – Horror HC
The short and sweet from the publisher reads: “From the Golden Age of the comic book era comes an unrivalled collection of terrifying tales that thrilled readers and appalled a nation! For the first time, all of the stories written and drawn by Joe Simon and Jack Kirby themselves, as well as a selection of rarely seen collaborations, are collected in one huge hardcover edition” and Amazon even adds to say “At every point, Joe Simon and Jack Kirby raised the bar.
When they came to comics, Superman had been around for about a year, and the medium was still in its infancy. They took the action and made it explode, breaking out of the panels and sprinting across the page. They showed what comics could do, experimenting with layout and design, creating the first full-page panels and double page spreads.
Their first million-seller was a superhero (Captain America), and their next was military adventure that outsold Superman (DC’s Boy Commandos). These two guys from Rochester and Brooklyn broke all the rules when they created the first romance comics, and they blazed trails in every genre: horror, science fiction, crime etc …
Their work in the legendary title Black Magic was acclaimed by readers. It was held up on national television by the Senate Committee on Juvenile Delinquency, where experts claimed Black Magic contributed to the corruption of American youth! Also included here are the Simon and Kirby stories from the experimental terror title Strange World of Your Dreams.”
When you discover comics and are able and willing to take a plunge into the history of how comics have been created, you swiftly take note of names like Stan Lee, Steve Ditko, Romita, Kubert and many more. Creators that stood at the cradle of the visual media like we know it know. They stood at the cradle of all the good stuff we can now see in the movies, from Spider-Man to the Fantastic Four, the Avengers to Captain America, Thor to Wolverine and the X-Men. So we should be thankful for all those old-skool comics and those dusty creators… or just pick up the collections of men like Joe Simon and Jack Kirby, like Titan Books are now producing.
This collection shows the mastery of those old masters. It shows just how amazing the old Horror-tales were and how formidable they were in creating 3-8 page stories, that will startle your senses. Short stories are an art-form, now often-times forgotten as comic publishers are aiming on 22-page comics and 6-issue collections and forgetting about the quivers readers have when able to get an anthology filled with WOW, Within this stunning collection the readers will háve to marvel at the reprints of these legends. Aliens, monsters, ghosts, bugs, reanimations, cat people, oddities and extremes… this collection is an utter feast!
Check at Titan Books for more details here.
Series: The Simon & Kirby Library
Hardcover: 320 pages
Publisher: Titan Books (March 7, 2014)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1848569599
ISBN-13: 978-1848569591
Product Dimensions: 11.2 x 7.9 x 1.3 inches
Shipping Weight: 3 pounds
About the Author
Richard Boom Richard is the driving force behind Comics for Sinners. His love and admiration for female comic book characters is virtually unparalleled, which immediately explains his biggest 'sin': his Hot Mummy fetish. This sketchbook theme is philogynistic in nature and even the source of his WIP comic book series "The Sisterhood".
Related Posts
Chris Claremont Returns with ‘Wolverine and Kitty Pryde’ →
All-new Old Man Logan spinoffs starring Black Widow, Wolverine, Hawkeye, Doctor Doom, and Star-Lord coming in December →
Kaare Andrews’s AMAZING FANTASY with Captain America, Spider-Man, and Black Widow →
