Book Review: The Simon & Kirby Library – Science Fiction

When comic book geeks hear the names Joe Simon and Jack Kirby, they probably think of the duo’s most famous and enduring character: Captain America.  And rightfully so.  But these two talented creators didn’t stop at the star-spangled Avenger; they also wrote and illustrated dozens of other comic book stories throughout the Golden and Silver Ages.

Over the past few years, Titan Books has been releasing some of the best work from these groundbreaking collaborators in the form of the Simon & Kirby Library collections.  The latest edition covers science fiction comics spanning the heyday of space opera, to the atomic era, and everything in between.

The pair’s early days, after they first joined forces in 1940, are highlighted by the Blue Bolt comics, created by Simon, with artwork by Kirby starting with issue #2.  This collection reprints the entire run of Blue Bolt that these men worked on – from issue #1 through issue #12 – for the first time ever.  While that’s fun and exciting, that being said, the artwork of 23-year old Kirby is simple at best, and Simon’s contribution as the creator/writer is just as convoluted, borrowing heavily from Alex Raymond’s Flash Gordon comic strips and Saturday serials of the 1930s.  But the comic is merely a product of its time.  Back then, comic book publishers only had dollar signs in their eyes, and were just reproducing whatever worked before.  They weren’t concerned about advancing the genre as a piece of art or literature; they just wanted their derivative of Buck Rogers or Superman to sell.  But what’s great about these simple beginnings is that they provide context to the evolution of the pairs’ output over the next two decades.

The later stories, broken into the 1950s and 1960s, see a constantly-LAMMLE style as Kirby’s artwork improves immensely, and Simon’s stories have a bit more nuance and a lot less ray guns.

A perfect example of their work in the mid-1950s is A Weemer is the Best of All, a story with an intergalactic salesman trying to set up shop in our world, whose advanced technology is at once the greatest thing and the worst thing to ever happen to a man he happens to meet on the street.  If it hadn’t debuted two years before Twilight Zone aired, you’d swear it was written for the show.

At around the same time is The Ant Extract, about a wimpy scientist who creates a potion that gives him the proportional strength and abilities of an ant.  Sound like a certain friendly neighborhood wallcrawler you might know?

Sadly, by the 1960s, the two had ceased working with each other full-time.  Kirby had gone off to help create many of the iconic Marvel Comics characters we know today, and Simon toiled away at smaller publishers with work that, ironically, seemed more at home back in the pulp fiction days of the 1930s.

Although not every story or frame of artwork in the book is a classic, it’s fascinating to see, not only the evolution of these two creative men over the course of nearly 30 years, but to also see the evolution of the science fiction genre, and even comic books themselves.  To witness the trite and repetitive tales of rocketships and mysterious alien princesses give way to more thoughtful stories about the nature of humanity and the philosophical dangers of space exploration is quite refreshing and speaks volumes about where we’ve been, where we are, and where we’re going.  And to think these two men were there to help guide and shape that future is pretty astounding.

As usual, Titan Books has done an incredible job with this anthology.  The comic book pages are recreated in pristine, sharp images, with garish basic colors just like they would have been during their respective eras.  Of course the colors only help emphasize the blacker than black inking of Kirby’s work, which only adds additional drama and flare to the page.  This is by far the best way to read these old comics aside from flipping through an original issue.

In conclusion, if you’re a fan of mid-century science fiction – or of Joe Simon and Jack Kirby’s work – you won’t be disappointed with the latest addition to the Simon & Kirby Library.  The stories and artwork are all there, presented in the best manner possible.  There really is no better way to read these classic comics from some of the masterminds of the artform.

Titan Books presents The Simon & Kirby Library: Science Fiction will be available on June 4, 2013 at Amazon.com and other fine retailers.