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Stan, Jack, and Steve - The 1950's. (1959) The Uphill Climb
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Started by Prince Namor,

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Prince Namor

Prince Namor

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ON NEWSSTANDS MAY 1959

One of DeCarlo's other stories in Betty & Veronica #44, featured styles from throughout the late 50's (using ads to see what was popular). Rather than utilize designs sent in by fans, DeCarlo kept up on the trends himself. This would pay off huge in the 60's as fashion really ramped up and it's a feature that DeCarlo and Archie Comics would become well known for.

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Prince Namor

Prince Namor

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ON NEWSSTANDS JUNE 1959

For June Stan Lee wrote his usual:

 

Patsy & Hedy #66 - 5 stories with Al Hartley art 

Wyatt Earp #25 - 3 stories with MR. Ayers art

GunSmoke Western #54 2 stories, one with Jack Keller art and the other with MR. Ayers art.

 

Atlas released 8 titles in November. The other 5 were:

Battle #66

Love Romances #83

Journey Into Mystery #54

My Own Romance #71

Strange Tales #71

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Simon Comics

Simon Comics

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On 9/6/2022 at 11:02 PM, Prince Namor said:

ON NEWSSTANDS MAY 1959

Was Jack Kirby trying to make a decision on his career path? Work for Goodman and Stanley again or do superheroes at Archie and work with Joe Simon again?

With what was released in May, he might've been leaning towards Archie....

Though he'd only do one story in The Double Life of Private Strong #2 (inked by maybe Joe Simon?) Story by... sure reads like Kirby, might be him and Simon both to some degree...

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Please stop republishing issues of Private Strong, The Fly, and any other titles, issues, and/or characters that are still under copyright. Thank you

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Prince Namor

Prince Namor

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ON NEWSSTANDS JUNE 1959

In June, Jack Kirby would do his last work with Joe Simon, doing two stories in the Adventures of the Fly #2 (Joe Simon cover).

Kirby pencils with Simon story (I guess) and inks. The action is there - it reminds me a bit of Fighting American (which I loved), but without the sense of humor or the creativeness of the villains... was Kirby's heart really in this?

From Story ONE: 

Joe Simon cover.jpg

01a.jpg

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Prince Namor

Prince Namor

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ON NEWSSTANDS JUNE 1959

The Adventures of the Fly #2 

Thank goodness Ditko said something to Stan Lee or this could've been what Kirby did with Spider-man!

Interesting that the villain would already have a specific weapon for dealing with the Fly...

Overall The Fly as a series here is just ok... as DC is Silver Age updating their heroes, the Fly just seems a bit Golden Age - which isn't a bad thing necessarily, but not something to make it really stand out as the industry is struggling and superheroes aren't the priority. 

From Story TWO - 'The Master of Junk-Ri-La!':

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Prince Namor

Prince Namor

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Why? Why'd Jack and Joe start working together again and then stop? Joe would go on to do two more issues, but Jack moved on. I believe Kirby saw an opportunity with Marvel as it was faltering. That perhaps he could go there and on his own save that publisher, without the constraints of an established publisher, and the shadow of Joe Simon.

He'd worked with Simon for most of his career. It'd had great, great success, but he wasn't happy with how things had turned out with Mainline (there's more there than Jack ever verbalized). 

He saw the struggling, once thriving Marvel Comics, as a publisher that might be open to his ideas.... and he took it.

And it came at a time when Marvel was getting ready to shut its doors again.

For July's distribution, I believe, Martin Goodman would tell Stan to publish everything they had left on schedule (16 titles) and then prepare to shut down. 

In August they would release no titles.

And then in September, Kirby was back full time working on as many as 11 of the 16 titles - only absent from Millie or Hedy books. 

The story has always been told as Archie gave up on those books, but Simon does two more issues, Archie does two after THAT, and even in the September issue of the Adventures of The Fly (which would've been put to press 3 months earlier... there's an ad of ANOTHER issue of Private Strong.

Simon believed he could build a new stable of books there. But without Kirby, it wasn't to be.

 

NOTE: According to Mark Evanier, Kirby broke off from Simon in 1959 because Kirby had a bunch of character ideas he wanted to develop and Simon wasn't interested so Kirby went to Marvel. It doesn't change much of how I think it played out... Simon wanted control and money (while accepting Kirby's talent and input), and Jack saw an opportunity at Marvel. 

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Prince Namor

Prince Namor

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ON NEWSSTANDS JUNE 1959

Jack Kirby would do a fair amount of work that would be released in June to the newsstands.

Here he does the cover, and write and pencil a 5 page story for Battle #66 (all inked by Christopher Rule)

The story is about the history of the submarine, which may seem strange to those unfamiliar with the format of Marvel's Battle. It would do historical stories from war throughout the history, utilizing ever possible war they could over and well as from different perspectives, including other cultures. It would run for 9 years, ending in 1960. 

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Mmehdy

Mmehdy

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 On hardcover collections of SA Kirby /  Ditko  my highest recommendations go to the current Marvel reprints especially Doc Strange Vol 1,,  two  vols of-Master of Suspense and Monsters and especially the "Complete Kirby War and Romance Omnibus. My question is what is the best non-marvel hardcover books reprinting SA Kirby/Ditko out there...especially any hidden gems?.....thanks in advance!

 

 

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Prince Namor

Prince Namor

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ON NEWSSTANDS JULY 1959

Stan Goldberg would take over the art chores on Millie the Model with issue #93, though Stan Lee wouldn't let him sign his name... Goldberg's work was a little stiff for the first issue, but he would pretty aptly recreate DeCarlo's look eventualy  - so much so that he'd end up following him to Archie Comics 14 years later!

 

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