Customer Reviews

The Best of Simon and Kirby

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Titan Books and Steve Saffel ( editor ) have just done all of us who love comic book history a tremendous service in releasing this wonderful volume of golden age Simon and Kirby hit stories. This is a sampler of all genres, but superheroes are well represented. The book is gloriously oversized with the best production values of any book of this type that I have ever seen. If you had mint condition books you still could not experience these stories with the clarity and size and loving reproduction that this book delivers. The colors are perfect (not overdone with modern production techniques ) and the art is a master showcase of Jack Kirby talent. If you are reading this review STOP and buy this book NOW ! You know you want to ! You will be more pleased than you can possibly imagine.

ASIN: "The Best of Simon and Kirby"
"The Best of Simon and Kirby" is a joy to behold. I think it's great that a generation raised on TV, the Internet blogosphere, cell phones, and i-pods gets a taste of two-fisted Golden Age comic book action. This book delivers, and with style.

This book marks that seminal territory where American popular culture took off, where the Marvel Age of Comics really began. The sheer exuberance, the youthful quality if you will, of the comics medium is evident on every page, both in the wild storylines and dramatic action. Jack Kirby's figures practically feel rubberized, about to bounce through the panel borders (and occasionally do).

The art restoration by Harry Mendryk reminds me of the best film restoration work. Many comics reprints, particularly from the 1940s, often have a dark and blurry look. In this book every line pops, the visuals are crisp and vibrant.

I did have the good fortune to meet Joe Simon a few years ago, in the company of this book's editor, Steve Saffel. The term "living legend" absolutely applied, and it's great that Joe is around to see this wonderful tribute to the pioneering work of the immortal team of Simon and Kirby.
Mark Vaz

There are very few names as magical as Simon & Kirby in the history of comic book creators. This gorgeous volume is a long-overdue look at one of the most prolific and inventive teams in the field.

Joe Simon & Jack Kirby created some of the most memorable super-heroes beginning with Captain America and continuing until the team broke up in the 1950's. Most of their better known creations are all here with a representative story each.

But thank goodness this "must have" hardcover doesn't end with the super-heroes because S&K could never be pigeon-holed by any one genre. In addition to creating Romance Comics, they made significant contributions to just about every type of book you could imagine. This BEST OF volume gives you a sampling of their War, Horror, Crime, Science Fiction, Romance, Humor and Western (Yes, BOYS RANCH & BULLS EYE are here) work as well.

The book itself has been lovingly produced. The scan work is the best I have ever seen, actually improving on the color registration and correcting other flaws in the source material.

The oversiize format is terrific. Joe & Jack's art is often so crammed with detail that having it reproduced slightly larger than the old comic books really saves on the eye strain.

Future volumes will focus on specific genres, but this comprehensive overview is the perfect way to kick off the series. Highly recommended to fans of pop culture in general and exciting, action-packed comics in particular.

Carly Simon wrote a song once, "Nobody Does it Better, nobody quite like you..." Now, I know that the song was about a person, not a creative team, but in the case of Joe Simon and Jack Kirby, that phrase is so true.

From the early days of the comic book artform (1941), Simon and Kirby created industry conventions, broke industry conventions, and through sheer talent and perserverance, redefined the industry. The `Best' of Simon and Kirby is a misnomer as there is so much that is amazing. Harry Mendryk, Steve Saffel, Joe Simon, and Jim Simon have selected work that is outstanding for many reasons. A partial listing of the characters featured includes Stuntman, Captain America, The Fly, Boys Ranch, Sandman, and selections from Sick Magazine and the Romance genre. There are several amazing stories in the book, the most notable for myself is the Red Skull story from Captain America (Timely) that reveals the Skull as George Maxon. Obviously, in later years, the Skull would be resurrected and become as memorable a villain as Galactus (another Kirby artistic gem). I also enjoyed Stuntman, Boys Ranch, the "Savage in Me" (a western romance), and "The Scorn of the Faceless People".
Artwise, we can see a progression from a young artist with enthusiasm and talent who illustrated great stories but did not always practice good anatomy, to a great artist who bent the rules with spectacular results. `Crude' art can be seen in the Captain America story as Cap's head often is misaligned while his sense of panel structure overpowers any weaknesses. The net result is still art that makes you go `Wow'! Represented in this book, too, is Joe Simon art, writing and editing. His art in Sick and on Blue Bolt is remarkable. Obviously, his talent in every aspect of the comic book industry is unmistakable. If I were to pick my favorite sections, it would have to be the western romances, and horror examples. While Stuntman, Cap, and Boys Ranch is good, the full range of Kirby's and Simons' talent is best seen in the mundane. Boys Ranch rocks, and is a precursor to Kirby's Rawhide Kid sagas.
Mark Evanier, has as usual, written insightful essays on the various genres the team found themselves in. If you have to buy one book this year, make it "The Best of Simon and Kirby". If you have to buy two, buy Evanier's King of Comics' as well.

When faced with the difficulty of deciding what kind of format, I can imagine the conversation. "Glossy". "Masterpiece edition style". "Black and white". "Oversize...." That's what this book is. From the larger than `life' pages we re-examine a team that was larger than life.
I can hardly wait for the other books coming soon from Titan.

www.titanbooks.com
Tim Lasiuta

When it comes to comics, no one will ever touch the work of Joe Simon and Jack Kirby. Not only did the create amazing comic books full of action, drama and intrigue, they practically invented the form.

This long overdue collection presents a sampling of Simon and Kirby's work from the myriad of genres that the two worked in (some of which they pioneered). The superhero stories are amazing, but what really surprised me were the horror and romance stories. I expected the action stories to be great, but even the others are outstanding.

The book provides commentary from Joe Simon giving the reader extra insight into the stories. It's great that someone is getting this information from Mr. Simon as he is getting up there in years and it needs to be preserved.

Titan Books did a great job with this book (and I hear that they are preparing more in the collection!).

If you love comics, then you will love this book.

I've been a huge fan of the Simon and Kirby team for a long time (primarily Kirby) and this volume is the best one I've ever seen in presenting their work. For long-time fans like myself, you will find excellent art reproduction at a larger-than-usual size with accurate coloring and a wonderful paper stock. As an example, just compare the Blue Bolt story with the tpb collection that came out some years ago, and you'll find the one in "The Best of Simon and Kirby" to be vastly superior.

For those who are comic book fans, but unfamiliar with the works of Simon and Kirby, or even curious non-comic book fans, this collection represents an excellent introduction to the quality and variety of their work. Another reviewer mentions that there were not enough superhero stories in this book; to me that's like complaining there aren't enough aliens, or dinosaurs, or sharks in the movies of Steven Spielburg! Like Spielburg, Simon and Kirby could handle any genre they put their mind to and were not content to rest on their laurels of past accomplishments. While Simon and Kirby were masters of the superhero genre, and in fact Kirby is best known for his superhero work in collaboration with Stan Lee at Marvel Comics, they were equally adept at other genres as well, as is ably shown in this book. Simon and Kirby invented the romance comic, a genre which was one of the largest sellers in the early 50s, and to not showcase their work on them would be criminal. And speaking of criminal you will also find excellent examples of crime, horror, war, humor and many other types of stories, all expertly handled by this dynamic team.

Comic books since the mid 40s have always been about more than just superheroes and "The Best of Simon Kirby" shows that whatever genre Joe and Jack decided to tackle, they were masters of it. This book though, is more than just a collection of some of the best comic book stories ever created for the medium, it is also a large, gorgeous art book that anybody could be proud to display on their coffee table. I can't wait to see the future volumes Titan publishes in this Simon and Kirby series, especially the non-superhero horror and science-fiction stories.

The Best of Simon and Kirby is a sampler of stories produced by one of the most famous partnerships in comic history. The book is organized by genre: super-hero, romance horror, etc. A handful of tales represent efforts at Marvel and DC, and are included for historical perspective. The bulk of material hasn't seen print in decades.

Simon and Kirby were groundbreakers in creator controlled material, which Marvel and DC were hostile to back in the day. S&K shopped their ideas to publishers who would take chances on new genres, with little editorial interference. "Independent" titles like Young Romance broke new ground, while being enormously popular. That's largely what is presented in this book.

On a technical note, readers should be aware that the material in this book is restored from scans of the original comics.

This is nowhere even close to one percent of the best of the KS output, but it's the tip of the iceberg, and man is it cool!

Really nothing to say except, more please!

What a team, what incredible reach---they could do EVERYTHING well!---and what a treat to read all these books I'd never seen! I grew up on Jack's awesome Cap and Avengers books in the early 70s and it's sweet to see his early style and how it morphed into his later, blockier edges! Simon's writing goes from hilarious sap to perfect drama and everywhere else...if ever you wondered where Stan Lee came from, just read Joe Simon's work here! There ain't too many sentences that don't jump out, and not just because they almost all end with exclamation marks!

If you like comics in any way, shape or form, there's plenty for you in TBOSAK, and if you love the artform, this is well nigh nirvana, in so many ways.

I could take a new edition of more KS classics every few months!

More please!

What else is there to say? The Best of Simon & Kirby is simply the best of the best.

The stories are exciting, the artwork lovingly and properly restored. Compare the Sandman story to the lackluster production on the recent DC volume reprinting the same and the difference will make your eyes pop out.

Please understand, the volume is really a sampler, a taste of the work of comic's seminal team across all the genres they touched. Thus, if you pick up the volume expecting wall-to-wall superheroes you will possibly be disappointed.

But truly, the opportunity to see so much rarely viewed S&K work should be a revelation.

Some of the best work is wholly unexpected. I've heard of but never seen Stuntman and it's an absolute joy; in fact, as a middling comic book writer myself I'd give a limb to do a revival. The Duke of Broadway, a Joe Simon solo effort I was unfamiliar with, is Will Eisnereque and wonderful. The western comics, though a tad goofy, are a lot of fun.

Those disappointed in the relative shortage of super-hero material should have their appetite sated by future volumes in the series.

Thanks to everyone for the obvious love and effort that went into this volume and I anxiously await more!

What can be said about Joe Simon and Jack Kirby that hasn't been said a thousand times over? Probably not much, but they're deserving of every bit of praise they get, and then some. It would be difficult to overestimate their impact on comics and the lasting effect of their work in the '40s and '50s is constantly felt today.

The Best of Simon and Kirby recaps the story of how these two titans met and began working together. Their creations helped launch Marvel Comics (they created Captain America, for example) and solidified DC (Sandman and Manhunter, while not exactly household names, are incredibly iconic characters). The pair produced much more, bouncing around as they did from title to title and genre to genre. The Best of Simon and Kirby helpfully divvies up their work into sections, grouping horror, science fiction, romance, war, crime, and superhero sections together.

The book opens with an introduction by Joe Simon, who explains what was going on at the time these comics were being produced and how he and Kirby (who died in 1994) worked together on some of the most enduring works in the format. Even the ones that might not be described as enduring made their mark in a huge way back then: As Simon points out, their romance works Young Love and Young Romance were the most succesful comics of the 1940s.

Two romance stories are included, more representative of how we view romance comics now versus the reception they received back then. The more interesting work from a modern perspective, I think, are the superhero stories (Captain America, Sandman, and the Vision, among others, make appearances), and the war and crime tales, which are fascinating in their view of the world at large at the time, and still resonate today. Each section contains a very informative introduction written by another longtime comics legend (and friend and historian of Kirby's), Mark Evanier.

The Best of Simon and Kirby is done so well that it's easy to point to it as essential for collectors and fans and anyone interested in what exactly gave birth to the comics format as we know it today. (Oh, I could make one small quibble that the page numbers could be easier to find so various sections could be easily flipped to, but that's about it for the negatives). Even the stories that don't hold up retain their interest and their appeal in some way. The truth is, The Best of Simon and Kirby is done right; it's a gorgeous hardcover and full-color treatment of the work of two men who changed the industry forever. Highly recommended.

-- John Hogan