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

Joe Simon & Jack Kirby Crime in Headline Comics, Up for Auction

Published Sun, 04 Sep 2022 13:32:10 -0500

The legendary creative team of Joe Simon and Jack Kirby did some of their most important yet underappreciated work with publisher Prize beginning around late 1946, at first on established titles such as Headline Comics and Prize Comics among others, and eventually including series like Black Magic and the landmark series Young Romance. Shortly after their tenure saw Headline Comics become a successful crime comics title, Simon & Kirby then launched a companion series called Justice Traps the Guilty. Out of all of this material, the Simon & Kirby Headline Comics crime issues are perhaps the most underappreciated, but there are several Simon & Kirby issues of Headline Comics up for auction in the 2022 September 4-5 Sunday & Monday Comic Books Select Auction #122236 at Heritage Auctions.

This material also includes work from Simon & Kirby Studio creators such as Marvin Stein and Mort Meskin among others. Like Justice Traps the Guilty, this material was centered around the action-driven style that Simon & Kirby had begun rather than the lurid details that made titles like Crime Does Not Pay so infamous.

Headline Comics might contain the most overlooked Simon & Kirby material the team ever produced, and these issues are deserving of more attention. There are several Simon & Kirby issues of Headline Comics up for auction in the 2022 September 4-5 Sunday & Monday Comic Books Select Auction #122236 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.

Headline Comics #24 (Prize, 1947) Condition: GD/VG. Contains a drug story. Joe Simon and Jack Kirby story, cover, and art. Top staple popped from cover, tanning, spine splitting from top and bottom. Overstreet 2022 GD 2.0 value = $37; VG 4.0 value = $74.

Headline Comics #25 (Prize, 1947) Condition: PR. Joe Simon and Jack Kirby cover and art. Centerfold missing, top staple popped, and spine roll. Overstreet 2022 GD 2.0 value = $32.

#28 (Prize, 1948) Condition: VG. Joe Simon and Jack Kirby cover and art. Tanning and water damage. Overstreet 2022 VG 4.0 value = $64.

#29 (Prize, 1948) Condition: VG. Jack Kirby and Joe Simon stories, cover, and art. Jerry Robinson and Mort Meskin stories and art. Adhesive on front cover. Overstreet 2022 VG 4.0 value = $64.

#30 (Prize, 1948) Condition: FN/VF. Joe Simon and Jack Kirby story, cover, and art. Al Hollingsworth art. Overstreet 2022 FN 6.0 value = $96; VF 8.0 value = $190.