The Simon & Kirby Library: Science Fiction (Simon and Kirby Library)

First, let me say I am thrilled that Titan Books has been publishing these fantastic compendiums to cover the major genres in comics that Simon & Kirby contributed to. These are beautifully designed and printed, and you get a lot of bang for the buck. A lot of the S&K work reproduced in these volumes is rarely, if ever, reprinted, much of it extremely rare. I have purchased all the volumes available, and have already placed my advance order for the upcoming volume on Simon & Kirby Horror.Here's what I love about "The Simon & Kirby Library: Science Fiction" in particular. As expected from Titan, beautiful book design. The dust jacket reproduces one of the splash pages from S&K's early Silver Age title "Race for the Moon," and different figures from the same title grace the hard cover and title pages as well. The introduction by Dave Gibbons is a fun and informative read, as are the brief introductions to each of the decades (1940s, 1950s and 1960s) covered. Reproduction of the art is spectacular, with the dot pattern and colors slightly subdued to match the higher quality printing and paper, and all the color areas registered within the black outline. Much of the later content is familiar to me, but as far as I know has never been collected as completely into one volume. I especially enjoy the stories from the 50s and 60s. You can see the seeds of Kirby's later creations for DC and Marvel here: Challengers of the Unknown derived from the 3 Rocketeers; the story "Today I am a..." foreshadowing every super-smart big-headed character of the 60s; the splash of "The Great Stone Face" strikingly similar to the cover of "Eternals" #1; "The Ant Extract" a direct antecedent to Ant-Man, just to name a few.However, the reason I didn't give this volume 5 stars is also tied to the content. I was disappointed that Blue Bolt was practically the only example of the 1940s sci-fi work except for a dozen or so pages of Solar Patrol/Solar Legion. I really didn't need almost 100 pages of Blue Bolt. Yes, for most of the 40s S&K were doing work either for National (DC) or Timely (Marvel) with a few years in the middle interrupted by WWII, and the post-war years were filled primarily with crime and romance stories, but there are examples of work done for other publishers, especially in the pre-war years that would have qualified without running into copyright problems.However, the Blue Bolt stories are not as problematic for me as the choices for the 60s. Don't get me wrong, there is a lot of great stuff here. But when I double-checked the title of this book, it clearly says "Simon & Kirby Library". So why is there so much work by other artists in the final section of the book? In the 57 pages that cover the 1960s, only 10 feature work by S&K. Yes, there is some beautiful work here by Al Williamson, Reed Crandall and Wally Wood, but it seems like all the work here should be by the stars of the show! Perhaps there wasn't enough sci-fi work of theirs from this era that was free of copyright restrictions. Certainly, by the 60s Joe and Jack had parted ways, and Jack was doing most of his work for DC and Marvel again, so there was probably less to choose from.All in all, this is still a great book, a fantastic collection of work from two men who were arguably the most influential creators in comic book history. Even with its faults, this book is a must-have for any comic collector, historian or Simon & Kirby fanatic.

I really enjoyed this. The comics come from a time (40s to 60s) when scientific knowledge was growing rapidly, especially physics and astronomical knowledge, and inspiring unbridled imagination like it hasn't since. At least in popular culture, comics and science fiction seemed to bloom with all sorts of possibilities and few limitations on where we could go in the universe and what we might find there. Simon and Kirby were leading us out there.The stories are pretty simple, and many smack of good and evil in mid-twentieth century tones. No complicated psyches, no inner struggles, just heroic stories done up in primary colors. Alien civilizations, space monsters, offbeat adventures, travel through extra dimensions, . . . It's escapism for sure, with a hefty dose of nostalgia for a time when we thought anything was possible.The comics include: Solar Patrol, Solar Legion, Daring Disc, Blue Bolt, Win A Prize Comics, Black Cat Mystic, Alarming Tales, Race for the Moon, Alarming Adventures, Blast-Off, Thrill-O-Rama, Unearthly Spectaculars, Jigsaw, and a couple of Kirby and Simon unpublished projects -- Tiger 21 and Jove U.N. Born.My one mild gripe -- no doubt a matter of personal taste, but the ten issues of Blue Bolt (from 1940-41) were a few too many for me, maybe a bit repetitive in plot and concept. But not a big deal, maybe just a matter of those comics being overshadowed by the wider variety of ideas, plots, and settings of the later comics from the 50s and 60s.

Eight pages of introductory material. Reprints material from Crash Comics Adventures 1- May-Jul 40; Blue Bolt 1-10 Jun 40-Mar 41; Win A Prize Comics 1 Feb 55; Black Cat Mystic 58 Jul 56; Black Cat Mystic 59 Sep 57; Black Cat Mystic 60 Nov 57; Alarming Tales 1 Nov 57; Alarming Tales 2 Nov 57; Alarming Tales 3 Jan 58; Alarming Tales 4 Mar 58; Alarming Tales 6 Nov 58; Race For The Moon 2 Sep 58; Race For The Moon 3 Nov 58; Alarming Adventures 2 Dec 62; Alarming Adventures 3 Feb 63; Blast-off 1 Oct 65; Thrill-o-rama 2 Sep 66; Unearthy Spectaculars 2 Dec 66; Jigsaw 1 Sep 66; snd, the projects Tiger 21 and Jove U.N. Born And His Checkmates.I tried to provide a more detailed list, but got rejected. If you are interested in Silver Age comics, it is worthwhile.

When I first got the book, I wondered, "What have I ordered?" Truth is, I always found old post comics code science fiction and horror comics pretty dull. It was the fact that I am an old Simon and Kirby fan that made me click the pre-order button. "Well, I bought it," I thought settling down for what I imagined was going to be an underwhelming read. I was pleasantly surprised. I could not help but laugh in places. There was a face on Mars story written years before sputnik was even launched. There was also one example of fifties sword and sorcery--who knew it would get to be so big a couple of decades later. Then there was a piece with post atomic war mutated intelligent animals, a theme Kirby recycled in Kamandi, Last Boy on Earth. The Three Rocketeer stories were also fun. Did they or will they ever smoke in those stories. We must have discovered that tobacco (or maybe it was not tobacco in all those cigarettes) was harmless, and maybe good for space sickness. A lot of this is material that has been yellowing on the shelves for 50 plus years. You probably have not seen anything like it. Buy it.

This gets a five-star rating to balance out two earlier reviews which gave unfairly low ratings on the basis of an error in the first print run which has been corrected in the second printing. Please ignore them! In truth, though, it's no better than a 3.5-star item, and the weakest entry in the Simon & Kirby Library so far.It's still essential for any committed S&K fan, but curious newcomers should look elsewhere (probably to "The Best of S&K"). The problem is, the SF theme is a bit thin, as they didn't do a lot of SF together, and the editors have really had to work hard to shoehorn enough material in to make up a full volume.The review by Gareth Simon helpfully itemises the contents: let's just keep it at top-level here, and say that (apart from a fascinating and charming intro from Dave Gibbons) the book is divided into three chunks - the forties, the fifties, and the sixties.The forties material includes work from both Simon and Kirby separately, before their collaboration began, as well as their first joint work (on the SF-superhero crossover Blue Bolt). It's of historical interest only - and that's being kind. When they start working together on Blue Bolt, and particularly when they are jointly signing the strips, the art gets a lot better that the earlier solo material, but the stories, though not without goofy charm, stink in the way only making-it-up-as-we-go-along Golden Age comics can stink. The earlier solo work is, frankly, terrible and characterised by stupid stories, terrible dialogue and inept visual storytelling (though the Kirby art on the first instalment of his "Solar Patrol", which sees him seemingly channelling both the 19th century Catastrophist Painter John Martin and his own 1970s work, is fascinating). What's clear from the Blue Bolt stuff is how something magical happened when the two men got together - the rate of improvement in art and storytelling is astonishing, and you can almost feel that something great is about to happen. Which, of course, it did.The sixties stuff stretches the Simon & Kirby theme to its limits, as it consists of SF stories edited by Joe Simon for Harvey Comics. The art is by diverse hands (very, very good ones, such as Wallace Wood and Al Williamson), but only two of the 11 are drawn by Kirby, and they're material that was left over from unpublished 1950s comics. None of these stories are written by either Simon or Kirby. These 11 stories are likeable if lightweight, and it's hard to go wrong with art from Kirby, Wood and Williamson, but passing it off as Simon and Kirby is a bit like calling The Frog Chorus a Beatles single.Thankfully, the fifties stuff, which takes up about 150 of the book's 350 pages, is great. It's almost all short stories from Harvey anthology titles from the late fifties, and it's delightful. This was a fallow period for US comics, as the newly-arrived Comics Code left everyone feeling intimidated and cautious, but these stories are wittier, more inventive, more humane and less reliant on BEM clichés than pretty much anything coming out from other publishers at the time. Some stories (I'm guessing the Simon ones) are a tad whimsical, while others (I'm guessing the Kirby ones) are more sombre, but all are charming. A number of them prefigure themes Kirby would return to in the '60s and '70s - indeed, "The Last Enemy", from 1957, is pretty much a dry run for 1972's "Kamandi". In "The Fourth Dimension Is A Many Splattered Thing", Kirby does other dimensions nearly as well, and as strangely, as Ditko. The final nine stories in this section are from the sadly short-lived title "Race for the Moon", the best non-EC SF comic of the fifties, and most of them see Kirby inked by Al Williamson, an unlikely but beautiful combination. Kirby was always inventive and fully committed to his work, but this may be his best art of the late fifties.The book also includes some interesting supplementary material, and the production values, as with all volumes in this series, are exemplary.In summary - essential for Kirby/Simon and Kirby buffs, but for the less committed, you're better off elsewhere.

This is the latest volume in the Simon & Kirby Library, reprinting almost 60 stories from titles published between 1940 and 1966; over 330 pages of comics, plus some covers, sketches and two unpublished proposals.The 1940s are represented by 120+ pages of comics:.'Solar Patrol' from Silver Streak Comics #2 [1940] This is a solo Joe Simon script & art job. [Note that Dark Horse's Silver Streak Archives start with issue #6].'Solar Legion' (x3) from Crash Comics Adventures #1-3 [1940] This is a solo Jack Kirby script & art job..'Daring Disk', an unpublished 1940 collaboration first published in the 2003 edition of The Comic Book Makers..'Blue Bolt', one story from each of Blue Bolt #1-10 [June 1940-March 1941]. Joe was solo on issue #1, then teamed with Jack for the rest. Pete Sanderson's Introduction notes that issue#5 bears the very first 'Simon & Kirby' bye-line.The 1950s are represented by 140+ pages of comics:.Win Prize Comics (1 story), February 1955.Black Cat Mystic #58-60 (3 each), February, July & September 1957.Alarming Tales #1-4, 6 (4,4,1,1), September 1957 to March 1958 And note that the first story of these - The Cadmus Seed - involves 'cloning' miniature humans....Race for the Moon #2, 3 (4, 5) September & November 1958The 1960s are represented by 50+ pages of comics:.Alarming Adventures #1-3 (1 each), October 1962-February 1963.Blast -Off #1 (3), October 1965; these were unpublished inventory intended for Race to the Moon #4..Thrill-O-Rama #2 (1), September 1966.Unearthly Spectaculars #2 (2), December 1966.Jigsaw #1 (1), September 1966These 1960s stories are mainly edited by Joe Simon, and feature Wally Wood, Reed Crandal and Jack Williamson, among others, though Jack Kirby pencils two of the Blast-Off stories.The stories presented here are mainly in the 4-5 page range, though the Blue Bolt stories are usually 10 pages. The artwork is recognizably Kirby, though you need to be familiar with his Golden Age material to recognise the 1940s stories, and by the end of the 1950s you'll recognise his Marvel style of the period, though it is not yet the Marvel superhero style.The stories are of the period, and again, if you have been reading the various Marvel Masterworks for the Timely and Atlas periods, then you will know what to expect. If you enjoy the comics of those eras, then this is a five-star volume. If you are coming to this volume cold, then you may be puzzled what all the fuss is about; however, this is a great place to start your investigation of the period, because Simon and Kirby deliver 5-star quality.

Simon and Kirby, need I say more? Epic.

Great!!

One of the pages in this book has been duplicated so one story is missing the final page. Thie affects page 74 and 84. Other than that, great book with excellent reproduction quality.EDIT - I BELIEVE THIS DOES NOT AFFECT THE NEW PRINTINGS