If you know the name Jack Kirby at all, it's probably from his work at Marvel Comics in the 1960s, where he created (or co-created, depending on how much input you believe Stan Lee really had beyond writing dialog) many of the companies most popular heroes, including the Fantastic Four, Iron Man, Thor and Daredevil.
You may further know that, before his legendary work at Marvel, Kirby had a long and fruitful partnership with Joe Simon (who passed away this past December at the astounding age of 97), during which they created one of the most enduring superheroes of all time (Captain America) and a host of other popular comic book characters (The Boy Commandos, the Newsboy Legion, Fighting American, The Fly, etc.).
What you may not know, however, is that one of their most successful creations wasn't a single character, but a whole genre: Romance comics!
For 12 years (from 1947 to 1959), Simon and Kirby wrote, drew and/or supervised production of stories for Young Romance (and related spinoffs), arguably making their romance stories the most successful endeavor of their partnership. (Most of their efforts had much shorter runs--even their Captain America stint only lasted 10 issues.)
And if you read the stories, 13 of which were reprinted in the paperback pictured above and below (21 more have been reprinted and lovingly restored in Young Romance: The Best of Simon & Kirby's Romance Comics), you can understand why their run on romance comics lasted so long. Their stories are intelligent and sensitive, touching on societal prejudices (economic and ethnic) while still remaining thoroughly entertaining and fun, even today.
However, I'm reasonably certain that "back door love" had an entirely different meaning in 1949 than it does in 2012.
1 comment:
I've read some of those comics and found them highly entertaining. I expected camp and found it, but they also have a surprising degree of gravitas and social relevance-- even now.
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