Simon and Kirby Crime comic anthology: exclusive Boing Boing excerpt

Titan Books has just released a new volume in their The Simon and Kirby Library. This one is called Crime. They've kindly given us permission to run a complete story, which you may read after the jump. This one is about Guy Fawkes, the chap who almost succeeded in blowing up King James and England's Parliament in 1605.

The creators of Captain America and the Boy Commandos produced some of the hardest-hitting crime comics of the 1950s.

Often featuring real-world criminals like Ma Barker, Al Capone, and Pretty Boy Floyd, and true-to-life events like the St. Valentine's Day Massacre, these adventures were torn from post-prohibition headlines. Explosive enough to draw the attention of the congressional committee on juvenile delinquency, they remain action-packed for today's graphic novel audience.

These are the best of the Simon and Kirby Crime comics, fully restored and collected for the first time.

Mark Frauenfelder is the founder of Boing Boing and the editor-in-chief of MAKE and Cool Tools. Twitter: @frauenfelder. Come and hear Mark speak at the ALA conference in Chicago on July 1.

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greenberger

I’m not sure this is what Alan Moore had in mind when he tapped into the Guy Fawkes spirit for his anti-totalitarian epic, but it’s an entertaining (and nicely rendered) yarn nonetheless. I, for one, am glad to see Mr. Fawkes’ legend roaming bigger than ever in 2011, thanks, in part, to Moore, and in part to the wonderful OWS movement…
andygates

Hee! It reads like a trippy Chick tract!
Mark_Frauenfelder

I really love the hand lettering here.
http://www.facebook.com/people/George-Mokray/767686527 George Mokray

Gee, why did the conspirators want to blow up King James? Could it be to put a Catholic king on the throne? Woulda been nice to include some of the motives behind the plot although I love that Kirby/Simon style.
phuzz

The catholic vs protestant overtones of the original story have been missed out here (but then it has been 400 years). Also, the vaguely man shaped bundle of old clothes that is burnt each year all over England may sometimes resemble a disliked modern figure more than a catholic plotter…

(Up until recently November the 5th was the only time of year that it was possible to buy fireworks in most places in the UK, and it’s still the most popular time to set off things that go *bang*)
Strato Head

I loved that the 4 color process and colors chosen make Fawkes look like a cliched pimp in several panels.
bluest_one

The purple! It makes my eyes bleed!
mrclamo

I’ll probably get this, but the reproduction looks crappy. They would have been better off scanning and reprinting the original comics. What I’m really waiting for is an anthology of “Crime Does Not Pay”–now, THAT would be something to get excited about!