• Hardcover: 480 pages
• Publisher: Titan Books
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1848563655
• ISBN-13: 978-1848563650

Synopsis:

Beginning with Blue Bolt in June 1940, Joe Simon and Jack Kirby set the standard for costumed heroes. Their creation Captain America remains one of the most famous heroes in comic book history, and their work for Timely and DC Comics raised the bar. This large format hardcover collects the duo’s most exciting characters: Fighting American, their cold-war take on the patriotic hero, The Fly, with origins in an unknown Spider-Man prototype, Lancelot Strong, the man with the double life, and the Hollywood swashbuckler known as Stuntman. This is the only edition authorized by both Joe Simon and the estate of Jack Kirby, gathered from the official Simon and Kirby archive

“There’s never been another Joe Simon.” – Neil Gaiman

Neil Gaiman provides a heartfelt foreword in The Simon and Kirby Superheroes, recounting (among other things) being inspired by the works of Simon and Kirby and using Joe Simon‘s Sandman work as a jumping-off point for his own monthly Sandman comic. He also exclaims that within Simon and Kirby’s work, you’ll see stories and characters that wouldn’t work in other artists and writer’s hands, work like a dream in Simon and Kirby’s. Joe Simon’s son, Jim Simon provides a two-page introduction and overview of the Simon & Kirby relationship, the work represented in the book and their history in comics.

Although I’m sure Joe Simon, and the dearly departed Jack Kirby would have a million stories to tell about their legendary lives in comics, The Simon and Kirby Superheroes is not a historical recounting of Joe Simon and Jack Kirby’s careers, in the traditional sense. The book which weighs in at four+ pounds and almost 500 pages is a compilation of the duo’s work. Entire comics are represented throughout the book, including The Black Owl, Stuntman, Captain 3-D, Fighting American, The Fly, Private Strong and The Vagabond Prince.

The book contains previously unpublished works and rare alternate covers that are quite impressively reproduced to their former glory. All of the content in the book provides those familiar with Simon & Kirby’s work with a window to the past, and a look at comics they were never able to lay their eyes on before. Younger generations that previously had no way of obtaining comics from the Golden Age can look at this as an alternative history book for that era of comics.

Over two decades of collaboration between Simon and Kirby are chronicled within the pages of The Simon and Kirby Superheroes, and it’s really amazing to notice the progression of both writing and artistic skills as the book moves forward. While the Fighting American was first released in 1954, the art seems like it was a good 20 years ahead of its time. The reproduction quality of these classic comics is visually outstanding, being able to see the “old school” half-tone comic printing in vibrant colors as comics were originally produced back then, is both historically accurate and quite nostalgic when compared with the glossy pages and the more realistic art of today.

If you’re familiar with the work of these two legends, The Simon and Kirby Superheroes should definitely find shelf space in your collection. The younger fanboys should love this stuff, both as a historical reference of comic book art and writing, as well as a chronicle of comic book nostalgia.

I give The Simon and Kirby Superheroes Five out of Five Stars