Posted in: Comics, Heritage Sponsored, Vintage Paper | Tagged: golden age, jack kirby, joe simon

Joe Simon and Jack Kirby Team to Cover Champion Comics, at Auction

The legendary team of Joe Simon and Jack Kirby collaborated on comic book covers for the first time on 1940 issues of Champion Comics.

Published Sat, 30 Jul 2022 16:33:10 -0500

by Mark Seifert

Last updated Tue, 30 Jul 2024 15:11:38 -0500

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Article Summary

Joe Simon & Jack Kirby's earliest collaborations include Blue Bolt #2, Champion Comics #9, and #10 from 1940.
Simon & Kirby's work on Champion Comics covers highlights their early creative synergy and style development.
Differences in credits for Champion Comics #9 noted, with experts debating Simon and Kirby's individual contributions.
These rare issues are historically significant and highly sought after by comic book collectors.

Joe Simon and Jack Kirby are among the most famous creative teams in American comic book history. They are the legendary creators of comic book titles and characters like Captain America and Bucky, Newsboy Legion, Boy Commandos, Manhunter, Boys' Ranch, Fighting American, and numerous others. Every team starts somewhere, and the earliest collaborations of these two creators are the interior Blue Bolt story of Blue Bolt #2 (cover date July 1940, on sale May 8), and the covers of Champion Comics #9 (cover date July 1940, on sale May 29) and #10 (August 1940). These are all tough-to-get comics with incredibly low CGC Census numbers, but there are copies of the first two covers by the Simon & Kirby team with a CGC Apparent GD/VG 3.0 Slight (C-1) Cream to off-white pages copy of Champion Comics #9 (Harvey, 1940), a CGC GD+ 2.5 Off-white to white pages copy of Champion Comics #10 (Harvey, 1940) and several other issues of the series up for auction in the 2024 August 1 – 2 Rarities of the Golden Age Comics Showcase Auction #40259 at Heritage Auctions.

In the interest of completeness, it should be noted that there are differences in opinion regarding the cover of Champion Comics #9. GCD currently credits Simon with both pencils and inks. However, Simon & Kirby expert Harry Mendryk of the Simon & Kirby blog notes persuasively that:

Most agree that Champion #9 was a Simon and Kirby production. It appears that Kirby was involved in at least some, if not most, of the penciling. Some have pointed out the way the sole of the runner's foot is turned to the viewer and have credited this as a Kirby trait. However both Joe and Jack would use this device in the future. As far as I know this is the earliest occurrence of the peculiar technique and therefore it cannot be used to distinguish between the two artists. For it to be used an earlier example would have to be found used by one but not the other artist and to date I have not seen one. While the figure art has a Kirby appearance it is not completely typical of Kirby. I attribute that to Simon's involvement in the art. The form lines on the runner's boots look like the work of Simon but much of the rest of the inking does not look like either Joe's or Jack's work. So I suspect a third artist may have been involved in the inking.

These two issues have a combination of rarity and historical importance that has made them desirable to serious collectors for some time. There's a rare chance to get both issues with a CGC Apparent GD/VG 3.0 Slight (C-1) Cream to off-white pages copy of Champion Comics #9 (Harvey, 1940), a CGC GD+ 2.5 Off-white to white pages copy of Champion Comics #10 (Harvey, 1940) and several other issues of the series up for auction in the 2024 August 1 – 2 Rarities of the Golden Age Comics Showcase Auction #40259 at Heritage Auctions. If you've never bid at Heritage Auctions before, you can get further information, you can check out their FAQ on the bidding process and related matters.