Artie Simek
From Hey Kids Comics
Personal History
("Adorable") Artie Simek was a letterer for Atlas/Marvel during the Golden and Silver Ages. He was the father of Jean Simek Izzo ("second generation letterer"). Artie Simek passed away on February 20th, 1975. He was publicly mourned that month in Marvel's Bullpen Bulletins. As per the Grand Comics Database, Simek's final work was lettering pages 2–8 and 10 of the 32-page superhero story "Eelar Moves in Mysterious Ways" in Giant-Size Defenders #5 (July 1975), which an editorial note on the letters page describes as the last Simek completed before his death while working on the issue.
Professional History
Artie Simek lettered half the comics in Marvel's Silver Age. (The other half was done by Sam Rosen.) (figuratively speaking) He designed the logos for Fantastic Four etc.
Notes
- The letters page of Fantastic Four #281 credits Art Simek as providing the inks for Fantastic Four #1. Jack Kirby also said that Artie Simek had inked that issue. Though Simek lettered this ground-breaking issue, there is no clear evidence that he ever did any inking in the comics field. Several comic historians doubt the plausibility of this attribution, as Kirby had a notoriously bad memory. The current consensus is that George Klein was the inker, perhaps assisted by Christopher Rule (according to the Grand Comics Database, agreed upon by the first volume of Fantastic Four, from the Marvel Masterworks series).
- Sometimes, perhaps mistakenly, credited as "Arty" Simek.
Trivia
Artie Simek would get the lousiest credits in each issue. For example in Journey Into Mystery #121 the credits read: "Another towering triumph for Stan Lee, Writer [...] Another day, another dollar, for Artie Simek, letterer." In Tales of Suspense #58, the credits read "Lettering of Breath-taking Adequacy by: Art Simek". Another time, his name was largest in the credits, with the explanation that "this was cheaper than giving him a raise." Though this might seem unfair to current comic book readers, letterers seldom, if ever, received credit for their work before Stan Lee instituted this as a policy at Marvel in late 1962. (Simek, Sam and Joe Rosen, Gaspar Saladino, Ira Schnapp and others toiled for decades in the field without recognition prior to this). He also played the spoons.
See Also
Work History
Official Website
- None.