The Simon and Kirby Library: Horror

What do I need to say, one look at this book and it automatically screams crazy coloured horror comics and you know that you’re in for some fun,!!. For everyone who grew up on a steady diet of uncensored horror and HRPuff’n’Stuff then you have probably already got a copy, but if not, then it’s time to ride the way back machine, get yourself a copy and lose yourself in the mayhem. 10 out of 10…

This book was a little disappointing to me. The art was vintage Kirby but it was missing the imaginative character and monster designs. Where the book focused on Science Fiction was chocked full of all the things that made Kirby great, this one was lacking it. The stories were solid for that era but I found it lacking that punch we all expect from comics Kirby had a hand in.

The Simon & Kirby Library continues to impress. Beautiful books full of pre-Silver Age Jack Kirby art/stories exploring all types of genres with the comic book medium. The Horror volume is certainly interesting, though this might not have been quite in the Simon/Kirby wheelhouse. There is a cover gallery at the back which is great to look at but it seems random which covers were chosen for full page exposure and which were shrunk to fit four on a single page. I probably would've preferred to see them all at full size and published within the rest of the book and not in their own cover gallery section.

Awesome. If you like horror comics, this is a great addition to your library. I love the old EC horror comics (Tales from the Crypt, Vault of Horror, Haunt of Fear) & Marvel's horror titles from the 60s & 70s & this is right up that alley.

Back around 1971, DC had lured Jack Kirby over from Marvel to have free reign over his "New Gods" universe. At the time, DC published at least one collection of horror in "Black Magic". It was one of the best comics I've ever read. "Maniac", "Head of the Family", and my favorite "Greatest Horror of Them All". So when this book came out, I was expecting dozens of great stories like those contained in that 1971 20-page reprint. Unfortunately, there were only a couple that rose to that level. Quite a chunk of this book is too boring to even read; the dream analysis features are dull. I'm sure I'll be condemned as an apostate by Kirby devotees, but I'm just saying, this collection might not be as good as you'd expect. Now, start the attacks.

I collect lots and lots of comic books. I love the old Charlton and Harvey Horror books, so I thought I would try some Simon and Kirby. I'm glad I did because this is a great collection of books. The quality of the paper and ink is great. And the stories are great too. Buy this if you enjoy reading 40-50's style horror comic books!

wow, what a beautiful book, with lots of Kirby Tales I had not read before, from Black Magic and the Dreams comics for Prize Co. Great covers inside, the dust cover and cover give you TWO different wonderful Classic Kirbys, nice color and superb binding. Highly recommended. Probably the nicest in this series, all of which are gorgeous.

This was worth the wait! I've long considered the pre-Code horror comic, BLACK MAGIC, the creepiest of them all, this due, in large measure, to the art of this duo! And the collection is choc-full of their work from that particular publication! It's something of a miracle that so much of this vintage material still exists!

great product recommend seller

my son loved it

This was awaited with great anticipation and it failed to deliver. This is by far some of Kirby's worst artwork and the stories lack punch like the EC stuff. It feels like Simon and Kirby are both still just honing their skills here. Some of the concepts are great but it just feel really flat in delivery. Perhaps this is just me but the lettering made it hard to read. The book itself is beautifully produced and I like the mat finishing. Overall, worth it for the history and nostalgia but not for the stories itself.

Un petit commentaire en français...Comme indiqué dans un commentaire plus bas, la qualité est effectivement au rendez-vous: la "Art Restoration" semble assez fidèle, la caractéristique de l'impression de l'époque, à savoir le tramé pour les fonds, a été conservée contrairement au parti pris de certaine "Reconstruction couleur" qui remplacent ni plus ni moins les coloris d'origine avec une technique informatique. Le format album met en valeur la vigueur du dessin de Kirby, son sens des expressions et des postures.Cet album permet de découvrir un Jack Kirby inédit en France, où il est surtout reconnu pour ses créations super-héroïques. des histoires fantastiques plus que d'horreur: pas de sang ni de macabre ou d'humour noir comme on en trouve dans les comics de cette époque (Eerie, EC Comics, etc.), mais une obsession de l'au-delà, du para-normal. Et une qualité littéraire des textes dont on ne se rend pas compte en français, nécessairement amputés après traduction/adaptation.Comme indiqué dans la préface, certaines histoires ne sont pas dessinées entièrement par Kirby qui s'est chargée seulement de la première page ou du panneau d'entrée (la splash page). Elles ont donc été sélectionnées mais il est dommage que les dessinateurs ne soient pas crédités.Le volume regroupe Black Magic 1ère série # 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 10, 11, 12, 13, 15, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33; The Strange World of Your Dreams # 1-3.

Very disappointing. The problem is not the stories or the artwork, which are just splendid. I adore this old pre-code horror stuff,I can't get enough of it.The problem lies in the nasty clean and cold modern reproduction of these old comics.The pages are ultra clean and very white. The printing is way too bright. Clean sharp colours. Why? Do these people not realise that what makes these old comics beautiful is the "patina" of tanned beige pale yellow pages? Such original tanning and fading of the cheap comic paper affects the colours, making the colours subtle and beautiful.Many recent publications dealing with the pre code American comics are very sympathetic to how this content originally looked. They look excellent. They are the original size page and look as they did way back then.This book has a section at the back with the covers of the comics reproduced. Four to a page! It should be one cover to one page and on glossy paper for the cover section. Ah, but this would have been too expensive to print they would say? What at £35!This looks like a cheap annual that you may have got for Christmas as a kid. Have you seen those old Dr.Who annuals from the 1960's? Great hardbound covers with rubbish contents? This book reminds me of those books.I should point out to those too young to remember, that originally these comics were printed on an off white almost grey beige type of newsprint. The attraction to these comics is often nostalgic to older readers who remember these comics from the 1950's. With this book, no attempt what so ever has been made to make the artwork look as we remember it. Rather like taking a beautiful old bronze sculpture and polishing it up with Brasso so that it looks all shiny and new, ruining it in the process.You can clean or enhance works of art too much and this is a perfect example. Simply cheap looking.The cover and binding are perfect. The contents look very ugly. I got this book because it was a nice Amazon price, I would have been very disappointed to pay the full book shop retail price. I look forward to reading the old horror stories contained within it, but, once it's read, you really wouldn't want to keep it on your book shelf. One for eBay when I'm through with it. As for any other books in this series, I won't bother buying them.A poor job.