I would have to say, much like many other comic fans, that for a long time I was woefully ignorant of Joe Simon’s contributions to comic book history because he never really reached the superstar status of his contemporaries, like his onetime partner Jack Kirby. I think it can be safely said that many fans did not know Joe Simon for the major inspiration and influence he was those around him and to those who came after him.

Which is a shame.

Besides being the co-creator of Captain America, Simon produced several comic book characters and stories throughout his many years in the comic book industry. He worked in every genre and for numerous companies, among them being Timely Comics (later to become Marvel Comics) and National Comics (later to become DC Comics). Along with Jack Kirby, he is considered to have been one of the creators of the romance comic book genre. Some of the many characters that spawned from his talented mind were the original Golden Age Sandman, The Newsboy Legion, The Boy Commandos, Stuntman, Captain 3-D, Manhunter, The Fly, Brother Power The Geek and, of course, The Fighting American.

I had the opportunity to read Joe Simon’s autobiography (JOE SIMON: MY LIFE IN COMICS) over the summer and I have to say that I was incredibly impressed with how kindhearted and straightforward he came across in the book. He went over his life in a matter of fact manner and not once did he ever slip into bitterness or regret--which is something that would have been easy for him to do, being that one of his co-creations (I won’t say which one) became one of the most recognizable comic book characters in the world without him reaping any comparative monetary reward from its success.

To me, the tone of his writing in the book spoke volumes about the man’s character, and it would seem that according to many of the accounts that I’ve read that my impression of the man was accurate. Simon was a well-respected and professional artist and writer whose body of work was imaginative and bold.

When I asked to write this goodbye to Joe Simon I wanted to keep it from reading like a Wikipedia article. I think the best thing that I can say about the man is that in the past year or so, since being exposed to much of his work that’s been reprinted in recent years, I’ve become a big fan of his comics. I would say to anyone reading this that they should take the opportunity to check out his work for themselves and see what a comics legend is capable of. His work will say more than anything that I or any other writer could conjure up in a couple of paragraphs.

Captain America was just the tip of a very large and distinguished iceberg…

Discovered as a babe in an abandoned comic book storage box and bitten by a radioactive comic fan when he was a teenager, superhero is actually not-so mild mannered sometime designer & cartoonist, Kristian Horn of Los Angeles, California. Some of his work can be seen at www.kristianhorn.com and check out his blog at www.parttimefanboy.com. You can check also out his webcomics at www.babybadass.com and thediplomatics.com, which is currently in development.