Joe Simon, Jack Kirby, and Bill Draut (attributed) Young Love #66 Unused Cover Original Art (1955). A unique piece of unpublished art by the legendary art team of Simon and Kirby! Seemingly produced for a romance book to be released through Mainline, the comic was never realized. The art was discovered through the Joe Simon Estate in 2012 and The Kirby Museum published an article about this piece by Harry Mendryk. Joe Simon’s collection includes the original art for an unused cover. I do not believe that this cover art has every been made public before and once again I have permission from the Simon estate to do so here. Although subsequently crossed out, the notation in the upper left indicates it was initially intended for Young Love #66. This work was created during a difficult period for Simon and Kirby. Joe and Jack had launched their own publishing company, Mainline, with Bullseye #1 (cover date July 1954). But Mainline quickly became in trouble as its distributor, Leading News, entered into its own difficulties. While previously Jack Kirby had provided the pencils for almost all the cover art for the titles that Simon and Kirby produced, his contributions during the Mainline and subsequent period was very limited. In particular the covers for the Prize romance titles were done by other artists such as Bill Draut, Mort Meskin, John Prentice and Bob McCarty. Joe Simon’s drawing of any comic book art was even more limited. Basically Joe and done no actual pencils since the Stuntman and Boy Explorers titles failed in 1946 except for 48 Famous Americans a J. Penny giveaway from 1947. So Joe and Jack’s involvement in this cover is quite unusual. This rare cover art has also been documented in the book- Jack Kirby Checklist: Centennial Edition, page 250 as “Young Love 66 Sep 1955: (cover concept) Ip Kirby/Simon/Draut”. What jumps out most with this piece is the Roy Lichtenstein inspiration art in this issue. Though this piece was kept out of the public eye for decades, and Lichtenstein became famous in the 60’s for his use of comic / romance art, the couple featured models his inspired art. It’s widely known Lichtenstein modeled 6 issues of Young Love covers from Young Love #40 to #61 of the same era. One could argue if this was published back in 1955, a piece of this nature could have very well been one of Lichtenstein’s future art inspirations. Joe Simon pencils, with inks possibly done by Bill Draut. The later addition of the figure on the left was created by Jack Kirby and attached to the artboard. Ink over graphite on illustration board with an image area of 12″ x 17.75″. Toned, modern stat re-creations of the logo and header are adhered to the board, two layers of art are taped on the left side, a piece of adhered art on the right is damaged, whiteout corrections, with extensive soiling, dirt, and wear. Feel free to reach out with any questions or anything I can help with. This item is in the category “Collectibles\Comic Books & Memorabilia\Original Comic Art”. The seller is “holygrailcollectibles” and is located in this country: US. This item can be shipped to United States, Canada.
- Type: Cover
- Year of Production: 1955
- Character: Romance
- Tradition: US Comics
- Illustrator: Joe Simon, Jack Kirby, Bill Draut
- Original/Licensed Reproduction: Original
- Era: Golden Age (1938-55)
- Title: Young Love
- Universe: Mainline
- Theme: Comics
- Publisher: Unpublished
- Country/Region of Manufacture: United States