New York Comic Con 2009: Titan to Unleash the Best of Simon and Kirby Horror!
One of the things I learned today at New York Comic Con that set my comics-loving heart a beating was a special project from Titan Books, the publisher best known to U.S. fans for their many non-fiction titles (like the four Watchmen books they're releasing in conjunction with the film). This summer, Titan will debut volume 1 of its Best of Simon and Kirby, a series of hardcover volumes collecting the very best of the legendary comics-creating duo Joe Simon and Jack Kirby. While this volume was previously announced, what set our pulses racing today was learning that there would be a solid chapter (among the chapters showcasing the many genres in which Simon and Kirby worked) devoted to the team's horror comics, which appeared in the classic titles Black Magic and Strange World of Your Dreams.
And the scares won't stop there, as the publisher also has plans to release another volume, somewhere down the road, focusing on horror. This one will be filled with more of these timeless tales, including the famous story "Beautiful Freak", which appeared in Black Magic and was held up by the infamous congressman Estes Kefauver in the comics witchhunt trials of the 50s -- the very same trials that put the beloved E.C. horror comics (like Tales from the Crypt) out of business. Based on the preview pages we saw at the publisher's booth, this looks like some darn good stuff and something well worth looking forward to.
