Harry's House

Well this may take a bit of an explanation.

I used to be a friend of Joe Simon. Joe had an extensive collection of original comic book art. Certainly a lot of Simon and Kirby art, but also work by other artists. I felt the collection had to be documented and as part of that I would scan the art. So every time I visited Joe I would borrow maybe about 6 pieces, scan them at my home, and then return them on my next visit to Joe.

Another thing I used to do before working with Titan on the Simon and Kirby library, was to do some quick restorations of some S&K titles, hand bind them into two books for each title. One book I would give to Joe, and in the other Joe would provide a sketch. In my copy of the book for Alarming Tales Joe did a sketch poking fun at me calling me the Mad Scanner (I miss Joe and his sense of humor). I provide a scan of Joe's sketch in the Additional Images.

As an aside, at one point Joe came up with the idea of a book of comic stories and covers using original art. He made a deal with Abrams for what would become "The Art of the Simon and Kirby Studio". My scanning of the art had become important both for the making of the deal and providing the scans for the book. I was asked if I wanted to be credited for my work. But to be honest I felt that it doesn't take much talent to do a scan and that adding my names to the credit would distract from the artists included. Unfortunately due to circumstances that I will not into, there were long delays in publishing the book. Not only was Joe not around to see the results of his idea but the book would have been the first composed of just original comic book art, years before IDW and others.

Joe passed away in 2011. But my scanning was not over. Joe's grandson, Jesse Simon, is also a comic book creator. Using platforms such as Kickstarter, Jesse has reprinted comics of original Simon and Kirby material as well as new material such as ShieldMaster (originally developed by Joe Simon and his son, Jim Simon). Periodically Jesse would come over with some art for these comics for me to scan. I have always been impressed with some of the well-known artists Jesse gets, particularly for covers. But I am often surprised with the work done by artists that I am not familiar with. One cover art that I scanned recently was penciled by Casi Miro (an artist I was unfamiliar with) and inked by Jesse. I admired the art very much, and said so. On his next visit, Jesse presented me with this new inking of the cover with some alterations and additions. Once again I was the Mad Scanner and it is apparent that Joe's whimsy and sense of humor has been passed on to his grandson Jesse.