He's so edgy, that not even a duet with Kate Pierson and a bizarre endorsement deal with Paco Rabanne will ever dull my love for Kamandi. I mean, Iggy Pop! Two icons of a troubled world meet in this awesome tribute to Iggy, Kamandi, and the latter's creator, Jack Kirby, in this pic by Tom Fowler and colorist Kyle Latino.

Titan Books continues to publish lesser-known gems from Joe Simon and Jack Kirby, with tomorrow's release of The Simon & Kirby Library: Crime. It's a snapshot of a unique period in comics history, when comics were still selling like crazy but superheroes had fallen out of vogue. Alarmist senators and psychiatrists had not yet turned a watchful eye toward the comics bogeyman, and so the circumstances aligned to create the brief Golden Age of the hard-boiled crime comic.

Simon and Kirby mastered this genre the same way they had superheroes and sci-fi, and a re-read of their best works show a sense of real fun and love for their work here. The sheer joy of telling unfettered action tales comes through in some of Kirby's art, which is as playfully loose as it is masterfully expressive, and in flourishes in Simon's winks like naming a character 'Dumas Poe'.

This was also a play on the conceit of the "true crime"genre, which was widely known to be largely fictional. Simon and Kirby didn't play the game, making sure it was clear that they were writing fiction by occasionally inserting science-fiction tropes into stories. On the occasions when the stories they told actually were true - there are at least two historically accurate stories collected in The Simon & Kirby Library: Crime - the pair's adventurous, colorful storytelling is so consistent that you would never know the difference.

The real and the fictional blend into one in Simon and Kirby's fun-loving style, a remarkably expert storytelling style that shames what has become of comics. In a day and age of all spandex, all the time, and decompressed storytelling, or "writing for the trade," The Simon & Kirby Library: Crime should be mandatory reading for the comics industry. Here we have a few dozen self-contained stories, told n a wonderfully engaging, fun, noir style, averaging 6-8 pages. The violence is neither dialed down for the audience nor stylized in an effort to appear grim and edgy. It's just fun - a word that I find myself using often when reviewing the works of Joe Simon and Jack Kirby, two of the greatest comics talents in history.

Like comics themselves, the pair, while best known for their superhero work (they did create Captain America, after all), were in fact remarkably versatile, and as it happens, they were masters of the crime genre.

For those who bemoan the lack of quality storytelling and variety in comics, I give you The Simon & Kirby Library: Crime, an essential collection of the duo's brief but wonderful foray into "true" noir.

I was afraid I was going to miss this year's Read Comics in Public Day, what with the hurricane and all, but as it happens Hurricane Irene was pretty much a tempest in a teapot in my particular area of New York City, Washington Square Park, which is quite far from the water. So even though it's pretty deserted out there, as transportation is still largely shut down, I'm going to go read some comics in public. This is an especially important holiday, not just because comics sales are at near-catastrophic lows (DC's upcoming new #1s being a notable exception), but because it's the birthday of Jack Kirby, one of the most important men to have ever worked in comics.

Kirby was a creator of such talent and magnitude that there's really nobody in the filed to compare him too, his skill and boundless imagination were as much a force of nature as a hurricane, and a hell of a lot more potent than Irene turned out to be.

I'm a hardcore Kirby fan, and I'll celebrate this year's Read Comics in Public Day as I usually do, by bringing out my Fourth World Omnibuses for an afternoon in the park. His creation of the New Gods, Darkseid, and the Forever People, as well as his radical revamping of the Newsboy Legion and Jimmy Olsen are transcendent, an example of the best that mainstream comics can aspire to be when seasoned talent and unfettered imagination come together.

Truth is, though, if you're reading Captain America, The Avengers, X-Men, Hulk, Fantastic Four/FF or just about any character created during Marvel's Silver Age rebirth, you're reading Kirby's direct handiwork as co-creator. And there isn't a creator alive today who hasn't been inspired by Kirby's magic. Grant Morrison is practically an acolyte, and he's happily said as much. Alan Moore, who is not known for having nice things to say about many people - will sing Kirby's praises if you give him half a chance.

So Happy Read Comics in Public Day, I wish you all safety in the wake of the storm, let's celebrate our love of comics and remember Jack, and aspire to keep his spirit of creativity alive forever.

As the era of comic book multimedia blockbusters continues growing unabated - Green Lantern obviously notwithstanding - its important to note that more than ever, Disney and Warner Bros. are aggressively fighting to retain any and all profits from the heirs of the creators that built their respective universes.

When Disney acquired Marvel, they took immediate steps to build the Avengers brand, setting plans in motion for the movie and tossing aside claims from Jack "King" Kirby's heirs that they might be entitled to any share of the profits.

The case is ongoing, and is not nearly so ugly a display of greed and cruelty as Warner Bros. war on Superman creators Siegel and Shuster, but it is important comic book news and both fans and creators have an investment in seeing the founding fathers of comics get a fair shake - after all, what incentive do today's creators have to invent characters as memorable as the Fantastic Four if they know that their employers will one day reward them by shaking down their heirs to prevent them from seeing a tiny percentage of profits from their action figures and clothing lines?

Jack Kirby was an amazingly prolific creator, a singular talent, and his influence shapes the world of comics and pop culture at large to this day. Disney has turned his creations into a money-making machine and his family deserves their fair share.

Check out today's New York Times for a summary of the current state of Marvel's legal fight against Kirby's heirs.

Veritable gods among men to us comics fans, Joe Simon and Jack Kirby created many of the greatest legends of our time, not least of whom is the soon-to-be movie icon Captain America. Actually, he was packing 'em in at the movie houses back in the 1940s, not to mention selling more comics than today's most heavily-hyped events.

But then the war ended, and superheroes fell out of style as comics embraced crime and horror, which worked out very well for them... until it didn't.

In any event, Cap's title was canceled by the publisher that would come to be known as Marvel, then years later it returned in the early days of the Cold War - without Simon and Kirby.

"It won't be like when we did it," said the prescient Kirby, as recounted in Joe Simon's introduction, to which Simon replied "There's no reason we can't do our own character again."

An so Fighting American was born, and yes, in case you've been wondering, the many similarities ARE intentional. One of greatest teams in comics history re-teamed for a fun, patriotic romp, as Fighting American and Speedboy protected postwar America from spies, saboteurs, and Soviets.

Fighting American started its run as serious with a side of silly, and soon Simon and Kirby embraced the goofiness inherent to a star-spangled hero protecting a nation in the grip of more paranoia than actual menace, and while never actually poking fun at itself, it certainly developed a sense of humor about itself, making it all the more charming.

Fighting American stands to this day as one of the greatest titles of the 20th century - it could hardly help it, it's a Simon and Kirby book. Titan Books has been doing a spectacular job collecting the many books created by the duo not published by Marvel or DC, saving them from being lost to history and releasing remastered collections for connoisseurs and completists.

Their new Fighting American collection should please both, with beautifully restored pages, the aforementioned introduction by Simon himself, and it literally has it all - with the exception of a single page from a singel story ('The Mad Inker'), it has every Fighting American story ever produced by Simon and Kirby.

Titan has made it a mission to do Simon and Kirby fans right, and they're doing a fine job of it. Fighting American sits beside their Best of Simon and Kirby and The Simon and Kirby Superheroes (and Joe's autobiography, My Life in Comics), and I hope there's more coming soon.

Captain America is fantastic - but as you read his current title, and follow his adventures in Fear Itself and at the movies, keep in mind, these guys created him. Fighting American has all of Cap's action, adventure and patriotism, with an added dose of levity - our secret weapon against the RED MENACE!

Fighting American from Titan Books hits stores May 31 in the US, May 27 in the UK.

The 2009 Harvey Awards were announced the evening of Saturday (August 28) at the Baltimore Comic Con.

Considering how long it takes the dang thing to come out, you might be surprised to note that All-Star Superman did quite well, taking multiple awards, but kudos to the academy for putting quality over quantity.

And, uh, timeliness I guess.

Writer Mark Evanier took multiple awards for his excellent book Kirby: King of Comics, which was not only well-deserved but very nice to see the late King's legacy acknowledged on August 28, which was Jack's birthday.

The complete list of 2009 Harvey Award winners is as follows:

• Best Writer – Grant Morrison, All-Star Superman, Dc Comics
• Best Artist – Gabriel Ba, Umbrella Academy, Dark Horse Comics
• Best Cartoonist – Al Jaffee, Tall Tales, Abrams Books
• Best Letterer – John Workman, Marvel 1985, Marvel Comics
• Best Inker – Mark Morales, Thor, Marvel Comics
• Best Colorist – Dave Stewart, Umbrella Academy, Dark Horse Comics
• Best Cover Artist – James Jean, Fables, Vertigo Comics
• Best New Series – Echo, Abstract Studios
• Best Continuing or Limited Series – All-Star Superman, Dc Comics
• Best Biographical, Historical or Journalistic Presentation –Kirby: King of Comics, Mark Evanier, Abrams Books
• Best Syndicated Strip or Panel – Mutts, Patrick Mcdonnell, King Features Syndicate
• Best Anthology – Comic Book Tattoo, Edited by Rantz Hoseley, Image Comics
• Best Graphic Album — Original – Too Cool to Be Forgotten, Top Shelf
• Best Graphic Album — Previously Published – Nat Turner, Abrams Books
• Best Single Issue or Story – Y: the Last Man #60, Vertigo Comics
• Best Domestic Reprint Project – Complete Peanuts, Fantagraphics Books
• Best American Edition of Foreign Material – Gus and His Gang, First Second
• Best On-Line Comics Work – High Moon, Scott O. Brown, Www.Zudacomics.Com
• Special Award for Humor in Comics – Al Jaffee, Tall Tales, Abrams Books
• Special Award for Excellence in Presentation – Kirby: King of Comics, Mark Evanier, Abrams Books
• Best New Talent – Bryan J.L. Glass, the Mice Templar, Image Books