Comics legend JOE SIMON who co-created CAPTAIN AMERICA has flung his last star spangled shield.
Simon, one of the comicdom’s most revered writers, artists and editors, has died at 98.
Simon is best known for co-creating Captain America with long-time collaborator Jack Kirby in 1940, an enduring character that famously got his own cinema smash hit in Captain America: The First Avenger.
Famously, the very first ish of Captain America Comics depicted Cap slugging Nazi warlord Adolf Hitler, a full year before America entered into WW II.
Simon was then the first editor at Timely Comics, which would later evolve into Marvel Comics.
In later years, Simon created Brother Power: the Geek and Prez for DC and founded Mad competitor Sick in 1960, which lasted for over 20 years.
He and Jack Kirby also singlehandedly created the romance comics genre which would inspire latter day pop artist Roy Lichtenstein.
Like many of his Golden Age contemporaries, Joe served during World War II; enlisting in the U.S. Coast Guard after the preem of Captain America in the four-color-funny books – bringing a grim reality to comics storytelling after his return home.The reality being horror – as in horror comics — Black Magic. But that’s a story for another day.
