CRIVENS! COMICS & STUFF!: SIMON & KIRBY FIGHTING AMERICAN COVER GALLERY (REMASTERED)...

Thursday 19 June 2014

SIMON & KIRBY FIGHTING AMERICAN COVER GALLERY (REMASTERED)...

FIGHTING AMERICAN - a CAPTAIN AMERICA copy by SIMON & KIRBY - was another comic that didn't last too long in its original run, and failed to make waves with what transpired to be only a one-issue revival. Published by CRESTWOOD PUBLICATIONS under their PRIZE COMICS imprint, this creator-owned mag lasted just seven issues before disappearing until 1966, when HARVEY COMICS released the aforementioned one-shot, containing reprints and unpublished inventory material.

Originally envisioned as a serious adventure strip, it changed direction in later issues and became a satirical superhero series, but failed to set the comics-buying world aflame. It had a somewhat macabre premise, in that the hero, NELSON FLAGG, has his lifeforce and consciousness transferred (via U.S. Military experimental technology) into the revitalized and strengthened corpse of his recently murdered older brother, JOHNNY.

MARVEL COMICS released a hardback collection of the stories in 1989, but it's from a 2011 TITAN BOOKS edition with more accurate reproductions that most of these covers (with one exception) come. Also included is the cover for an unpublished Harvey follow-up issue, which tends to suggest that a regular monthly or bi-monthly title was being considered if the first one sold well. (Which it obviously didn't.)

Well, what are you waiting for? Enjoy!

2 comments:

baab said...: I just thumbed my way through my Marvel hardback edition and the reproduction is quite black ink heavy.

I may have a wee look at the Titan edition.

I cant add much more than they are great comics with great humour and creativity especially the 'bad guys'.; 19 June 2014 at 22:52
Kid said...: They strike me as being okay, nothing brilliant, Baab. However, perhaps if I'd read them as a teenager they'd have made more of an impression. You can see a review of the Titan edition in the post 'Will Someone Please Give Johnny Flagg A Fighting Chance...?'. There's also a larger volume containing the complete Fighting American issues as well as other stories and the reproduction is much clearer due to better printing.; 20 June 2014 at 00:02

About the artist:

From 1985 to 2000 A.D. (little joke there), I contributed to a variety of high profile comics and magazines for various companies.

For IPC/FLEETWAY/EGMONT, I freelanced as a lettering and logo artist on various weekly comics and monthly magazines, and also as a resize comic artist and spot illustrator on pocket books, summer specials and annuals.

For MARVEL U.K., BLACK LIBRARY, REDAN and USBORNE BOOKS, I again freelanced as a lettering artist, also working as a restoration artist for MARVEL U.S., restoring and re-creating certain pages of JACK KIRBY art for their MARVEL MASTERWORKS editions.

I also lettered the MARVELMAN sample pages submitted to MARVEL U.S. when they were considering acquiring the character, which - as we all now know - they DID.

Supplied comic strips, cartoons and illustrated advertisements for local business campaigns and newspaper publication on a professional basis since the age of 16. Did my first paid art job for publication at 14 or 15 for Lanarkshire Education Board.

Have also made TV appearances as a collector of memorabilia.

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Just some of the titles I worked on are:

2000 A.D. * JUDGE DREDD MEGAZINE * DICEMAN * SONIC The COMIC * JUDGE DREDD, LAWMAN Of The FUTURE * CRISIS * REVOLVER * EAGLE * TIGER * BATTLE ACTION-FORCE * BUSTER * WHIZZER & CHIPS * WHOOPEE * NIPPER * SCHOOL FUN * ACE VENTURA, PET DETECTIVE * The REAL GHOSTBUSTERS * DOCTOR WHO MAGAZINE * COUNT DUCKULA * RUGRATS * The TRANSFORMERS * DEATH'S HEAD * THUNDERCATS * GALAXY RANGERS * DRAGON'S CLAWS * SINDY * MARVEL MASTERWORKS * The TROLLS * LOADED * INFERNO * WARHAMMER * ROSE BLACK.

Copyright Notice:

Images remain the property of their respective copyright owners and are used here only for the purpose of review, promotion, and nostalgia.

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In the case of images culled from my own collection where copyright of an item isn't mine, I impose no copying restrictions on fellow bloggers.

(Although, if you don't allow copying on your own site, then you really shouldn't be copying from others, should you?)

And while you can credit this blog if you like, it's not mandatory. Who has time to make notes of every casually visited site during an idle browse of the internet?

In the case of anyone copying images of my own artwork and calligraphy, I affirm my right to be identified as the creator, and any such copying should not be for the purpose of monetary or material gain. (Unless it's mine.)

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Please also note that this blog is not sponsored by, affiliated with, or connected to, any organisation, business, or group, and is wholly independent.