Cover Contest June 20-26: Pre-Silver Age Kirby

[Kirby101]

Before Kirby and Stan created the Marvel Age of Comics, Kirby and partner Joe Simon produced some of the best comics around. Teaming up in the earliest days of the industry, they produced one great book after another. So this contest is to post a cover by Kirby from before the Silver Age. To put a end bracket on the time (as these Ages are always debated) the cover should be before February 1957, when Simon and Kirby went there separate ways and Kirby created Challengers of the Unknown for DC. This thread is inspired by my recent purchase of "The Art of the Simon and Kirby Studio" https://www.amazon.com/Art-Simon-Kir.../dp/1419711601.

And just to take it off the table, my sample cover is Captain America #1.



THE RULES:
1) Post One (& ONLY ONE) Cover that fits the theme of this Week's Contest!
2) Cover must be from a Published Comic Book or Collected Volume!
3) Covers must be Posted before Voting Begins!
4) Voting Begins 12 AM Wednesday and Runs Until 12 AM Thursday PST (3 AM EST)!
5) Vote by Posting the name in BOLD of the Poster whose cover best fits the theme or that you simply like the most! A vote need not be in bold, but it does make it easier to Count-The-Votes!
6) The Winner of the Contest is the Entry with the MOST Votes after the Voting-Period!
7) It's Okay to Discuss the Covers but if you Think Someone's Entry Doesn't Fit the Theme or Violates the Rules, you Don't need to Argue it in the thread, Simply Don't Vote for It!
8) Plus: Occasionally Voting will Result in a Tie! The Person Who Started the Thread will do the Counting that Week will Usually call for a TIE-Breaking --Vote from Someone who has Not Yet Voted!
9) AFTER the Tie-Breaker Vote, Voting Ends and the Winner is Declared by The One Who Started the Thread (or assigned surrogate) and Thus will do the Counting.

[foxley]

She's a manhunter target is his heart
She's a manhunter aiming from the start
She's a manhunter he's ought to feed her soul

[PaulBullion]

[Kirby101]

I can't see your image paul.

[PaulBullion]

Thanks, should be fixed now.

[Kirby101]

Thanks, should be fixed now.

looks good.

cool how you incorporated last weeks contest.

[Shalla Bal]

I've always loved that Headline cover. Sure it doesn't exactly fit the criteria of being "by Kirby" as outlined in the original OP

Before Kirby and Stan created the Marvel Age of Comics, Kirby and partner Joe Simon produced some of the best comics around. Teaming up in the earliest days of the industry, they produced one great book after another. So this contest is to post a cover by Kirby from before the Silver Age.

...but it's still an effin' great cover. And yes that is Joe Simon (and not, as some jokers have said over the years, the similarly tall 'n' lanky Stan Lee )

[Iron Maiden]

I found this cover interesting because of the Ringmaster. He is one of the oldest villains in Marvel Comics. Also note the name of Betty Ross on the Wheel of MisFortune. The evil clown with the axe sure ain't Vanna White! The Betty Ross we know today first appeared in Incredible Hulk #1. I don't know if there is any link to the two.

[WestPhillyPunisher]

And how did Commissioner Gordon get mixed up with Nazis? Batman won't like that!

[kjn]

I know the past is another country, but the casual racism and ableism in that cover is just staggering!

[Kirby101]

I get the ableism, but where do you see racism? Everyone on the cover looks white to me. (Not that comics in the 40s weren't full of that)

[kjn]

I get the ableism, but where do you see racism? Everyone on the cover looks white to me. (Not that comics in the 40s weren't full of that)

The Ringmaster seems to have a strange mix of stereotypical African and Chinese features, and the hunchbacked man in front seems to carry on the trope that African men are ape-like.

[Blastaar]

I know the past is another country, but the casual racism and ableism in that cover is just staggering!

I think you are looking for something that isn't there. These are a group of Eastern European Nazis. Exaggerated evil features, yes, after all it is a comic/cartoon.

[Scott Taylor]

Well I had no idea the Ringmaster was such an old villain, learn something new every day.

It is interesting to look at how evil is characterized. The thin mustache, the deformed features. Its absolute poppycock that those are somehow associated with evil, and they mirror more of a bigotry against the "different" than any racism. Notice how all the "good guys" are clean cut, well shaven and proportionally featured.

[Kirby101]

Chad H for the dynamic Fighting American cover.

Honorable mention to SquirrelMan for that cover with the double crazy perspective.