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Real Love: The Best of the Simon and Kirby Love Comics, 1940s-1950s
- GenresComics
160 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1988
16 people want to read
About the author
Joe Simon
359 books25 followersJoseph Henry "Joe" Simon (born Hymie Simon) was an American comic book writer, artist, editor, and publisher. Simon created or co-created many important characters in the 1930s-1940s Golden Age of Comic Books and served as the first editor of Timely Comics, the company that would evolve into Marvel Comics.
With his partner, artist Jack Kirby, he co-created Captain America, one of comics' most enduring superheroes, and the team worked extensively on such features at DC Comics as the 1940s Sandman and Sandy the Golden Boy, and co-created the Newsboy Legion, the Boy Commandos, and Manhunter. Simon & Kirby creations for other comics publishers include Boys' Ranch, Fighting American and the Fly. In the late 1940s, the duo created the field of romance comics, and were among the earliest pioneers of horror comics. Simon, who went on to work in advertising and commercial art, also founded the satirical magazine Sick in 1960, remaining with it for a decade. He briefly returned to DC Comics in the 1970s.
Simon was inducted into the Will Eisner Comic Book Hall of Fame in 1999.
With his partner, artist Jack Kirby, he co-created Captain America, one of comics' most enduring superheroes, and the team worked extensively on such features at DC Comics as the 1940s Sandman and Sandy the Golden Boy, and co-created the Newsboy Legion, the Boy Commandos, and Manhunter. Simon & Kirby creations for other comics publishers include Boys' Ranch, Fighting American and the Fly. In the late 1940s, the duo created the field of romance comics, and were among the earliest pioneers of horror comics. Simon, who went on to work in advertising and commercial art, also founded the satirical magazine Sick in 1960, remaining with it for a decade. He briefly returned to DC Comics in the 1970s.
Simon was inducted into the Will Eisner Comic Book Hall of Fame in 1999.
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
April 28, 2014
It is difficult to create a good romance comic. Well, the genre is limited, isn’t it? Either the couple finds love or they fall apart. They are not going to fall apart very often, so there really is only one place for the story to go, making the endings predictable.
Story wise, then, it is a matter of how the couple gets there, the obstacles they overcome to find love. The great gift to romance fiction from Shakespeare in his comedies and Jane Austin in her novels was to make the obstacle something in the character of the lovers. The stories in this collection go this route far more often than not. One problem, though, is that the characters are comic book one dimensional, more bad habits with hearts of gold than real people. The style is overwrought and overwritten. An example from the last story is, “There was only one word for Mike’s Poolroom! - - UNCLEAN! The smoke-filled air, the malcontents who breathed it and the obscene language erupting harshly in the coiling murk were the visual expressions of the word.” There is a lot of bad writing in these stories.
The non-super hero work of Simon and Kirby is always interesting to study, until you read too much of it, and I give the first few stories a break for that, and it is nice to see some artists best known for other work take a crack at romance stories. I especially enjoyed the work of Mort Meskin, Bruno Premiani, and the great Leonard Starr. This collection ought to exist as a showcase for these odd stories, but on balance, it must be acknowledged that these stories are not very good.
Story wise, then, it is a matter of how the couple gets there, the obstacles they overcome to find love. The great gift to romance fiction from Shakespeare in his comedies and Jane Austin in her novels was to make the obstacle something in the character of the lovers. The stories in this collection go this route far more often than not. One problem, though, is that the characters are comic book one dimensional, more bad habits with hearts of gold than real people. The style is overwrought and overwritten. An example from the last story is, “There was only one word for Mike’s Poolroom! - - UNCLEAN! The smoke-filled air, the malcontents who breathed it and the obscene language erupting harshly in the coiling murk were the visual expressions of the word.” There is a lot of bad writing in these stories.
The non-super hero work of Simon and Kirby is always interesting to study, until you read too much of it, and I give the first few stories a break for that, and it is nice to see some artists best known for other work take a crack at romance stories. I especially enjoyed the work of Mort Meskin, Bruno Premiani, and the great Leonard Starr. This collection ought to exist as a showcase for these odd stories, but on balance, it must be acknowledged that these stories are not very good.
Displaying 1 of 1 review