Editing Jack Kirby (section)

===Partnership with Joe Simon===
Kirby moved on to comic-book publisher and newspaper syndicator [[Fox Feature Syndicate]], earning a then-reasonable $15-a-week salary. During this time, Kirby met and began collaborating with cartoonist and Fox editor [[Joe Simon]], who in addition to his staff work continued to freelance. Simon recalled in 1988, "I loved Jack's work and the first time I saw it I couldn't believe what I was seeing. He asked if we could do some freelance work together. I was delighted and I took him over to my little office. We worked from the second issue of [[Blue Bolt]] through... about 25 years."<ref>{{cite journal |url=http://www.twomorrows.com/kirby/articles/25simon.html |title=More Than Your Average Joe – Excerpts from Joe Simon's panels at the 1998 San Diego Comic-Con International |journal=The Jack Kirby Collector |number=25 |publisher=[[TwoMorrows Publishing]] |date=August 1999 |location=Raleigh, North Carolina |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101130191556/http://twomorrows.com/kirby/articles/25simon.html |archive-date=November 30, 2010 |url-status=live |url-access=<!--WP:URLACCESS--> }}</ref>

After leaving Fox and collaborating on the premiere issue of [[Fawcett Comics]]' ''[[Captain Marvel (DC Comics)|Captain Marvel]] Adventures'' ([March] 1941),<ref>{{Cite web|title=GCD :: Issue :: 64 Pages of New Captain Marvel Adventures #[1]|url=https://www.comics.org/issue/1178/|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180612113220/https://www.comics.org/issue/1178/|archive-date=June 12, 2018|access-date=February 5, 2022|website=[[comics.org]]}}</ref> the first solo title for the previously introduced superhero, and for which Kirby was told to mimic creator [[C.C. Beck]]'s drawing style,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://kirbymuseum.org/blogs/simonandkirby/archives/4162|title=In the Beginning, Chapter 10, Captain Marvel and Others|first=Harry|last=Mendryk|date=November 19, 2011|access-date=May 29, 2018|archive-date=May 29, 2018|archive-url=https://archive.today/20180529232146/http://kirbymuseum.org/blogs/simonandkirby/archives/4162|url-status=live}}</ref> the duo were hired on staff at [[pulp magazine]] publisher [[Martin Goodman (publisher)|Martin Goodman]]'s [[Timely Comics]] (later to become Marvel Comics). There Simon and Kirby created the patriotic superhero [[Captain America]] in late 1940.<ref>{{cite book|last1=DeFalco|first1=Tom|title=Marvel Chronicle A Year by Year History|last2=Sanderson|first2=Peter|last3=Brevoort|first3=Tom|last4=Manning|first4=Matthew|publisher=[[Dorling Kindersley]]|year=2008|isbn=978-0756641238|editor-last=Gilbert|editor-first=Laura|location=London, United Kingdom|page=18|language=en|chapter=1940s|quote=Simon and Kirby decided to create another hero who was their response to totalitarian tyranny abroad.|author-link=Tom DeFalco|author-link2=Peter Sanderson|author-link3=Tom Brevoort|author-link4=Matthew Manning}}</ref> Simon, who became the company's editor, with Kirby as art director, said he negotiated with Goodman to give the duo 25 percent of the profits from the feature.{{sfn|Ro|2004|page=25}} The first issue of ''Captain America Comics'', released in early 1941,<ref>{{cite web |url= http://www.toonopedia.com/capamer.htm|title= Captain America|first= Don|last= Markstein|year= 2010|publisher= [[Don Markstein's Toonopedia]]|access-date= April 9, 2012|quote= Captain America was the first successful character published by the company that would become Marvel Comics to debut in his own comic. ''Captain America Comics'' #1 was dated March, 1941.}}</ref> sold out in days, and the second issue's print run was set at over a million copies. The title's success established the team as a notable creative force in the industry.{{sfn|Jones|2004|page=200}} After the first issue was published, Simon asked Kirby to join the Timely staff as the company's art director.{{sfn|Ro|2004|page=21}}

With the success of the Captain America character, Simon said he felt that Goodman was not paying the pair the promised percentage of profits, and so sought work for the two of them at [[National Comics Publications]] (later renamed [[DC Comics]]).{{sfn|Ro|2004|page=25}} Kirby and Simon negotiated a deal that would pay them a combined $500 a week, as opposed to the $75 and $85 they respectively earned at Timely.{{sfn|Ro|2004|page=25-26}} The pair feared Goodman would not pay them if he found they were moving to National, but many people knew of their plan, including Timely editorial assistant [[Stan Lee]]. When Goodman eventually discovered it, he told Simon and Kirby to leave after finishing work on ''Captain America Comics'' #10.{{sfn|Ro|2004|page=27}} Kirby was bitterly convinced it was specifically Lee who betrayed them, ignoring Simon's willingness to give him the benefit of the doubt.{{sfn|Van Lente|Dunlavey|2012|page=49}}

Kirby and Simon spent their first weeks at National trying to devise new characters while the company sought how best to utilize the pair.{{sfn|Ro|2004|page=28}} After a few failed editor-assigned ghosting assignments, National's [[Jack Liebowitz]] told them to "just do what you want". The pair then revamped the [[Sandman (Wesley Dodds)|Sandman]] feature in ''[[Adventure Comics]]'' and created the superhero [[Manhunter (comics)|Manhunter]].{{sfn|Ro|2004|page=30}}<ref>{{cite book|last1=Wallace|first1=Daniel|title=DC Comics Year By Year A Visual Chronicle|last2=Cowsill|first2=Allan|publisher=[[Dorling Kindersley]]|year=2010|isbn=978-0-7566-6742-9|editor-last=Hannah|editor-first=Dolan|location=London, United Kingdom|page=41|chapter=1940s|quote=Hot properties Joe Simon and Jack Kirby joined DC ... [and] after taking over the Sandman and Sandy, the Golden Boy feature in ''Adventure Comics'' #72, the writer and artist team turned their attentions to Manhunter with issue #73.|author-link=Daniel Wallace (author)}}</ref> In July 1942 they began the ''[[Boy Commandos]]'' feature. The ongoing "kid gang" series of the same name, launched later that same year, was the creative team's first National feature to graduate into its own title.<ref>Wallace "1940s" in Dolan, p. 41 "The inaugural issue of ''Boy Commandos'' represented Joe Simon and Jack Kirby's first original title since they started at DC (though the characters had debuted earlier that year in ''Detective Comics'' #64.)"</ref> It sold over a million copies a month, becoming National's third best-selling title.{{sfn|Ro|2004|page=32}} They scored a hit with the homefront kid-gang team, the [[Newsboy Legion]], featuring in ''[[Star-Spangled Comics]]''.<ref>Wallace "1940s" in Dolan, p. 41 "Joe Simon and Jack Kirby took their talents to a second title with ''Star-Spangled Comics'', tackling both the Guardian and the Newsboy Legion in issue #7."</ref> In 2010, DC Comics writer and executive Paul Levitz observed that "Like [[Jerry Siegel]] and [[Joe Shuster]], the creative team of Joe Simon and Jack Kirby was a mark of quality and a proven track record."<ref>{{cite book|author-link= Paul Levitz|last=Levitz|first= Paul|chapter= The Golden Age 1938–1956|title= 75 Years of DC Comics The Art of Modern Mythmaking|publisher= [[Taschen]]|year=2010|location= Cologne, Germany|isbn= 978-3-83651-981-6|page= 131}}</ref>

====World War II (1943–1945)====
[[File:Jack Kirby.jpg|thumb|180px|Kirby in the U.S. Army during World War II]]

With World War II underway, Liebowitz expected that Simon and Kirby would be [[Conscription in the United States|drafted]], so he asked the artists to create an inventory of material to be published in their absence. The pair hired writers, inkers, letterers, and colorists in order to create a year's worth of material.{{sfn|Ro|2004|page=32}} Kirby was drafted into the [[United States Army|U.S. Army]] on June 7, 1943.{{sfn|Ro|2004|page=33}} After basic training at [[Camp Stewart]], near Savannah, Georgia, he was assigned to Company F of the [[11th Infantry Regiment (United States)|11th Infantry Regiment]]. He landed on [[Omaha Beach]] in [[Normandy]] on August 23, 1944, {{frac|2|1|2}} months after [[D-Day]],{{sfn|Evanier|2008|page=67}} although Kirby's reminiscences would place his arrival just 10 days after.{{sfn|Ro|2004|page=33}} Kirby recalled that a lieutenant, learning that comics artist Kirby was in his command, made him a scout who would advance into towns and draw [[reconnaissance]] maps and pictures, an extremely dangerous duty.{{sfn|Ro|2004|pages=35}}

====Postwar career (1946–1955)====
[[File:Young Romance Issue 1.jpg|thumb|''Young Romance'' #1 (Oct. 1947); cover art by Kirby and [[Joe Simon|Simon]]]]

After the war, Simon arranged work for Kirby and himself at [[Harvey Comics]],{{sfn|Ro|2004|page=45}} where, through the early 1950s, the duo created such titles as the kid-gang adventure ''Boy Explorers Comics'', the kid-gang [[Western comics|Western]] ''[[Boys' Ranch]]'', the superhero comic ''Stuntman'', and, in vogue with the fad for [[3D film|3-D movies]], ''[[Captain 3-D]]''. Simon and Kirby additionally freelanced for [[Hillman Periodicals]] (the [[crime-fiction]] comic ''Real Clue Crime'') and for [[Crestwood Publications]] (''[[Justice Traps the Guilty]]'').<ref name=gcdjack />

The team had its greatest success in the postwar period by creating [[romance comics]]. Simon, inspired by [[Macfadden Publications]]' romantic-confession magazine ''True Story'', transplanted the idea to comic books and with Kirby created a first-issue mock-up of ''[[Young Romance]]''.<ref name="joesimon123-125">Simon, Joe, with Jim Simon. ''The Comic Book Makers'' (Crestwood/II, 1990) {{ISBN|978-1-887591-35-5}}; reissued (Vanguard Productions, 2003) {{ISBN|978-1-887591-35-5}}, pp. 123–125</ref> Showing it to Crestwood general manager Maurice Rosenfeld, Simon asked for 50% of the comic's profits. Crestwood publishers Teddy Epstein and Mike Bleier agreed,<ref name="joesimon123-125" /> stipulating that the creators would take no money up front.{{sfn|Evanier|2008|page=72}} ''Young Romance'' #1 (cover-date Oct. 1947) "became Jack and Joe's biggest hit in years".{{sfn|Ro|2004|page=46}} The first title sold a staggering 92% of its print run, inspiring Crestwood to increase the print run by the third issue to triple the initial number of copies.<ref name="Real Love">{{cite book|last= Howell|first= Richard|author-link= Richard Howell (comics)|chapter= Introduction|title = Real Love: The Best of the Simon and Kirby Love Comics, 1940s–1950s|publisher= Eclipse Books|year= 1988|location=Forestville, California|isbn = 978-0-91303-563-4}}</ref> Initially published bimonthly, ''Young Romance'' quickly became a monthly title and produced the spin-off ''[[Young Love (comics)|Young Love]]''—together the two titles sold two million copies per month, according to Simon<ref>Simon, p. 125</ref>—later joined by ''Young Brides'' and ''In Love'', the latter "featuring full-length romance stories".<ref name="Real Love" /> ''Young Romance'' spawned dozens of imitators from publishers such as Timely, [[Fawcett Comics|Fawcett]], [[Quality Comics|Quality]], and [[Fox Feature Syndicate]]. Despite the glut, the Simon and Kirby romance titles continued to sell millions of copies a month.{{sfn|Ro|2004|page=46}}

Bitter that [[Timely Comics]]' 1950s iteration, [[Atlas Comics (1950s)|Atlas Comics]], had relaunched Captain America in a new series in 1954, Kirby and Simon created ''[[Fighting American]]''. Simon recalled, "We thought we'd show them how to do Captain America".{{sfn|Ro|2004|page=52}} While the comic book initially portrayed the protagonist as an [[Anti-communism|anti-Communist]] dramatic hero, Simon and Kirby turned the series into a superhero satire with the second issue, in the aftermath of the [[Army-McCarthy hearings]] and the public backlash against the Red-baiting U.S. Senator [[Joseph McCarthy]].{{sfn|Ro|2004|page=54}}