Side Gigs 4.5 Meeting Joe Simon

March 2, 1990. I’d just spent the better part of 5-weeks dragging 11 boxes of photographic equipment and a gigantic tripod all around the country. I was the picture-taking part of Marvel Comics—Five Fabulous Decades of the World’s Greatest Comics Marvel’s first big coffee table book. At the time, the fellow who pitched the book to Marvel and got the book had gotten me at fire-sale prices to do all that travelling and picture taking: Brad Elliott. (Yes, you joke correctly, if I had married Brad, I’d be Eliot Elliott. We had a regular routine when checking into hotels—I’m sure front deskmen and bell hops are still chuckling across this great land.)

If you’re wondering why you see the name “Les Daniels” on the book the wonderment will have to continue. That is a complex story hardly involving Mr. Daniels, who was already known as the “go-to” person for comically historical authorialness (that’s right) at the time (now it’s Peter Sanderson). So don’t go bothering him. You might get a clearer answer from Brad if you can find him. And don’t bother him either—very unsatisfying story and I can hardly remember the labyrinthine details.

Here is that book. Don’t buy this book! Unless you really like books about comics. Roy’s “75^th Anniversary” book is much better.

If you love or even like comics – in general or in particular – Joe Simon’s The Comic Book Makers book will make you cry. Yes, there’s some great stories, funny stories—the human side of comics is almost unbearable. Well written, heavily illustrated. Good stuff. Mr. Simon was at the beginning of what we today call comics. And he was as sharp as a razor.

Brad and I had finished our elaborate sojourning. How elaborate? For my half of the travel, it was staying on my feet with all this crap. Let’s just say, I kept a fistful of dollar bills for all the Red Caps I encountered. I had invested in “large format” camera equipment and even built a collapsible – transportable – copy stand. “Large” was not just the film (4×5 inches!) the camera, lighting equipment, boxes of film and paper backdrops and test film (no mistakes possible on this one-shot hunting expedition!) – large was my silhouette! I looked like two or three one-man-bands clinging together.

We had traveled to secretive corners of comicdom to take pictures of super rare comics (a huge run of Timely books for example), once common now fabulously valuable collectibles (Marvel ashtrays I regularly tripped over in the offices as a kid) and individual comic covers of Spider-Man as penciled by Jack Kirby).

We had reconvened at the NYC Marvel offices for the purpose of traveling to long-term storage facilities located in the Brooklyn Navy Yard—where resided the court transcript of Simon & Kirby vs Marvel Comics (1954). Turned out it was missing. Which was a pity as that was supposed to be the ultimate corporate slap-down and really interesting reading. Marvel won on a technicality against Joe Simon and his partner Jack Kirby over who “owned” Captain America.

Very disappointing. As colorful as the storage facility in the Brooklyn Navy Yard was, Brad was tooth-grindingly unhappy. He was a former reporter and much preferred the facts, nothing but the facts. On the other hand, almost as good would be visiting one of the plaintiffs in the case. Joe Simon.

Not having to travel to San Raphael, CA or Stockton, AZ was a relief. We took a cab over to Joe’s midtown office—a short hop from the 387 Park Ave Marvel offices. Since any pictures I took would probably not be a part of the book, I was happy to bring just my 35mm rig. When I found that Joe was perfectly happy with me taking pictures—even with my pistol-shot-loud motor-drive and lightning-flash strobe unit – I worked over two rolls of film to get just the right shot. How many more times would I get to visit with Mr. Simon?

As it turns out, one more time. But I will save that till the end.

I am presuming that anyone reading this (and who is not a friendly stranger I pushed my business card on…) knows who Joe Simon is to comics. “Joe Simon & Jack Kirby” is blurted out almost as one word or shortened to Simon & Kirby.

Arguably, right after Siegel & Shuster (creators of Superman, 1938), Simon & Kirby are two of the most influential individuals to affect comics—then, way back in 1939-40 and right up to now. But back in the beginning, when the world was young, it was Joe who roughly penciled the books and a crazy kid, Jack Kirby who finished and inked them. Those two fellows did a lot of work together. A lot. Their history together is the subject of much scholarship. Such erudition will not be found here.

A pivot in comic history is one of their best known comic series: Captain America. I’m not sure how Brad would have made use of those court records; this was a book about Marvel Comics. When interviewing Joe Simon, I am pretty sure Brad did not intend to focus on the question of ownership of Cap. But it’s the subject I best remember. I was a literal fly on the wall, not contributing anything to the give-and-take. As luck would have it, Joe and his son Jim, were launching their own book that included that very subject. And so they were reluctant to discuss several of the topics in their book in advance. Little did they know that this interview would remain locked away in the research notes of comic history. But… for the record, Joe said in 1940 Timely’s Publisher, Martin Goodman, asked S & K if they, “had anything–?” As it turned out they did, a little something they’d been noodling over for a bit of time—the entire finished first issue of Cap. They even had Photostat copies used as color guides—the whole shebang wrapped up with rubber bands. Perhaps the next day, Joe went in and dropped it on Goodman’s desk. Which was quite a bang, considering they worked on 18×24-inch art boards!

It was the KerWHACK!! heard ‘round the world and still echoing!

Of interest to me as a freelancer, was seeing that Joe was happily ensconced in a standard-issue NYC high-rise apartment! He had everything he needed to do every phase of pre-print production for publishing. A compositing typewriter, a small stat-camera and an Artograph machine (a gadget that allowed you to size art/photos/sketches to suit!). Never mind this beautiful old drafting table, the kind you mutter, “If only this could talk,” over.

I didn’t want to either bother or upset Joe by taking too many pictures of his surroundings. Of course now I wonder why I didn’t get out the close-up lenses and shoot every piece of artwork. Ah well, not my gig. Brad was the center of this operation, especially in this case where the pictures – one picture – may or may not even be used in the book. I was being deferential. And of course, no “selfies.” (Which is a real wrist-breaker when holding a Nikon FM with MD-11 motor-drive (which contains 8 AA batteries!).) Again, now I look back…

Of interest is that the artwork in the top/center of the picture had a part of it recycled for the cover of his new book. No need to generate something new when there’s something right in front of you. This apartment seemed to have a multi-line telephone. Not super-rare, but not all that common for an apartment back then. There’s a simple radio behind it. Then there’s a funny silver box—that’s a telephone answering machine. Monstrous thing, eh? It needed room for two tape cassettes. One for the “out-going message” and the other to record the “in-coming messages.” I saw a couple of magazines—one in particular was Outdoor Life. I am only guessing that Joe was not all that interested in that topic—but that he produced that mag.

Above Joe in that pic is an assortment of art tools. Proportion wheels, circle templates, a see-through type-sizing chart (small black stripes), a screen-finder and (the S-shaped thing) a spline curved drawing edge (to make smooth drawn curves with). I couldn’t say what the gigantic silver hooked thing was.

About an hour-and-a-half later, whoosh! Brad and I were gone. That interview to fade into the aforementioned footnote of something or other, somewhere.

Flash forward to early 1996. Believe it or not Marvel was throwing its 1995 Christmas Office Party in February or March of the next year. Since it involved the renting of an entire “party” building, I am guessing affordability or availability were factors. This was a formerly very nice residential mansion from a bygone era of luxury. Now thrown open to the comic-but-money-bearing knaves of the time. Big, wide building—about 4 or 5 stories tall. The Marvel Entertainment crowd had filled 387 Park Ave to bursting. And when I say ‘bursting’ I mean they added a floor to the rooftop to hold more people! I guess there were 350+ office workers and at least as many freelancers attending. Of course, there were more freelancers than that, but I betch’a some of them had deadlines and would never leave their boards for some free food or booze.

I happened to be working in the city (Penthouse Comix time for me) and easily took the subway downtown to show up right on time. Generally an annoying habit of mine. In this case, I got to meet Joe Simon once more.

I met some office people I knew by face who were manning the gates. I was on the list (I know… the beginning of the end) and in I went. Standing in the middle of this first floor open space was a tall, patrician figure dressed in all-black sartorial perfection. Whaddaya know? It was Joe Simon.

He was the picture of not knowing quite what to do. This was a strange party space indeed, not really clear where to go next but what was also clear was that no one knew who he was. There were a few other people wandering around, total strangers to me and certainly him.

I was delighted to see him and bounded forward to take his hand. I reminded him of who I was, passed on any gossip about the interview I had attended, small talk like that. Then I saw Holly Reandeau energetically plow her way into the room. This party site was only a short walk away from the Marvel offices. It seems she had thrown on her coat to do a back-and-forth to the office.

Holly would know what to do! Because aside from being a girl-next-door beauty who radiated competence, Holly was Marvel’s own Freelancer Interlocutor. Or the Freelancer Office Guidance Counselor. Perhaps it was the Attending Freelancer Slopper. She was in charge of helping us do things when entering the Halls of Power at Marvel. An interesting concept that I am sure no one knew what to do with but Holly—the first and only such occupier of that office– took it very seriously. She had the upstairs clout to spend money and marshal comic forces. I assumed that she was also in charge of this hullabaloo.

I was glad to introduce them because as it turned out, Holly needed to get Mr. Simon and usher him into another special guest room. I waved farewell to the departing cloud of dust and began to smell my way to those most wonderful things, pigs-in-blankets…

Merry Christmas, everyone… or was that Merry Ides Of March… ?