Here's a photo of two of my favorite people. The guy on the right is the late Jack Kirby. I've written at least ten million articles about how terrific Jack was, plus I have a real fancy book coming out in February all about him.
The fellow on the left, looking like he wasn't wild about having his picture taken, is Joe Simon. I've probably only written about five million articles that address the greatness of Joe so here's a brief summary. Joe was one of the true pioneers of comics. He was one of the first "Renaissance People" in that he could do everything. He could write, he could draw, he could letter, he could design, he could edit. Whatever it took to create a great comic book, he could do it. Kirby used to say, "Joe knows comics," and that was the highest compliment Jack could bestow on a colleague. He was especially impressed with Joe's ability to sell a comic — to conceive or recognize a saleable idea and then to know just how to design the cover, layout the book, etc. The comics created by the Simon-Kirby team were classics, every one of them, and that was in large part because Joe knew comics.
He still does. I'm delighted to wish my friend Joe Simon a happy 92nd birthday today. Hope there are many more of those to come.