Graphic Novelists - Day 42

There's only a few subjects left for me to photograph for this project, and they're all great ones. Like my subject yesterday, for example - legendary comics creator Joe Simon. Joe, as he instructed me to call him, is perhaps best known for co-creating Captain America with Jack Kirby in 1941. Afterwards, he and Kirby worked for DC Comics on such characters as Sandman, Boy Commands and Manhunter. They also created Blue Bolt, Fighting American, Stuntman, and the Fly, and worked on just about every genre of comics at the time, including romance, horror and western. Joe had many roles in the industry thoughout his career, from writing to art and editing to publishing. He was also the first editor-in-chief of Timely Comics, the company that became Marvel Comics.
Joe is very busy these days preparing for the release of seven books over-viewing his career from Titan Publishing, the first of which, The Best Of Simon & Kirby, will be released in May.

Writer Christopher Irving and I spent over an hour at Joe's West side apartment and it was a privilege to have been in his company. Even at 95, Joe is remarkably spry and sharp, reminiscing with us about the Golden Age of comics, of which he was a key figure.
My concept for the portrait was a simple one - capture Joe with his creations and allow his warmth and personality to shine through.
You'll notice a few extra images below. While Chris was interviewing Joe, I wandered around his apartment, fascinated by his stuff, and I had the thought that a person's belongings can reveal much about their personality. So, I took a bunch of photos of some of the interesting things around Joe's apartment. I wish I had thought to have done that with some of the earlier shoots as well.
Thanks to Stephen W. Saffell for making it happen yesterday!