Brian Coppola :: Golden Age thru the 50s (Western, Crime & Super-Heroes)

Western Tales #33 p 10

Artists: Jack Kirby (Penciller) , Jack Kirby (Inker) , Joe Simon (Inker)

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Artwork Details

Title:	Western Tales #33 p 10
Artist:	Jack Kirby (Penciller)
Artist:	Jack Kirby (Inker)
Artist:	Joe Simon (Inker)
Media Type:	Pen and Ink
Art Type:	Interior Page
For Sale Status:	NFS
Views:	611
Likes on CAF:	1 2
Favorited on CAF:	1
Comments:	0
Added to Site:	4/6/2014
Comic Art Archive:	Western Tales Issue: 33 Page: 10 View

Description

Jack Kirby and Joe Simon had a long partnership that ran from 1940-1956. They wrote their own stories, with Kirby working on pencils/lay-outs and Simon doing the inking (and taking care of the business). They gained the most fame as the creators of “Captain America” for Timely in 1941.

In 1954, Kirby and Simon were among the first artists to self-publish. Their company, Mainline Publications, produced four titles in exactly the genres of the day: crime, romance, war and western. It was not a good time, though; in fact, it pretty much sucked. Some personal business problems were compounded by the strong anti-comics sentiments. This was the time of the infamous Dr. Fredric Wertham (“Seduction of the Innocent” 1954) and a highly visible set of Senate hearings (1953-54) where he testified on the putative relationship between juvenile delinquency and horror/crime comics with adult themes including gore, drugs, and sexual content. The comics implosion of the late 1950s was saved from becoming outright extinction with the advent of the self-censorship guidelines known as the Comics Code Authority (1954). This was not the year to get into self-publishing; Mainline’s comics were even among those used as exhibits during the hearings. Mainline closed its doors in late 1956, as did Kirby and Simon's 16-year partnership.

They worked together again in 1959 with the superhero characters 'The Shield' and 'The Fly' (Archie Adventure Comics). But by then, Joe had moved on to work in commercial art, while the connection with Atlas was just starting for Kirby, and that would soon lead to the development of the Marvel Comics revolution.

There is a pretty great “what if?” story here, when you think about it. Without the Kefauver hearings, Mainline might have been a success. And Kirby might not have been in the Atlas offices that fateful day, as the story goes, when Stan Lee needed a partner to compete with DC’s revival of the superhero genre (there are different versions of the exact story about how this went down, so I am being as neutral as possible on a topic about which you can find strong and passionate opinions).

History does not generally record the original work that this page of mine is a part of, which makes it kind of interesting.

In the early 1950s, Harvey Publishers had a horror title called “Witches Tales” that ran for 28 issues (Jan 1951 – Dec 1954). The title was relaunched as “Witches Western Tales” in 1955, featuring 1-2 original Kirby/Simon stories along with reprints from some of their earlier Harvey work (e.g., “Boys’ Ranch” 1, 3-6 from 1950-51). These stories are likely to have been a way to pay the bills as Mainline was going under, and perhaps (?) a commitment from old friends at Harvey.

“Witches Western Tales” ran for two issues (#29 Feb 1955 and #30 Apr 1955) and was retitled to “Western Tales” for three more issues (#30 Oct 1955, #31 Jan-Mar 1956, and #32 Jul-Sep 1956).

This is the title page from the second original story in that issue (“Jim Bowie Loses a Fortune and Wins an Indian Fight”) and it might represent the last Kirby-Simon collaboration during the time of their original partnership, prior to the 1959 reunion for those two hero stories at Archie. If not the last example, it certainly represents the work from the end of their long partnership.

I have all 5 pages of the story.

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	Brian Coppola Premium Gallery Owner
Joined:	March 2009
Last Login:	September 2025
Country:	UNITED STATES
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