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

Saga of Stella Dickson by Simon & Kirby, Headline Comics at Auction

Joe Simon and Jack Kirby's crime comics run in the Headline Comics series featured the likes of John Dillinger and Stella Mae Dickson.

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 a few Simon & Kirby issues of Headline Comics up for auction in the 2023 April 9-11 Sunday, Monday & Tuesday Comic Books Select Auction #122315 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.  Nevertheless, Headline Comics could hit hard, as in issue #26's "The Life and Death of Public Enemy Number One" which featured a brief biography of John Dillinger.  Issue #27 had Simon & Kirby taking on the saga of Stella Mae and Bennie Dickson, a Bonnie and Clyde-style husband and wife team who went on a multi-state crime spree in 1938-1939.  They stole cars, robbed banks, and traded gunfire with authorities across several states, including South Dakota, Kansas, Iowa, Michigan, Missouri, and Indiana.  Bennie was gunned down by the FBI in St. Louis on April 6, 1939, with Stella being captured the following day.  Interestingly, this saga was also covered by Jack Cole in True Crime Comics #3.

Headline Comics might contain the most overlooked Simon & Kirby material the team ever produced, and these issues are deserving of more attention.  There are a few Simon & Kirby issues of Headline Comics up for auction in the 2023 April 9-11 Sunday, Monday & Tuesday Comic Books Select Auction #122315 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.

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