It’s now Day 4 of Howard Simpson’s month-long celebration of Jack Kirby! Open to all creatives, you can find the work on all social media platforms hashtagged #KirbyArtTributes.
Today’s prompt is the Guardian and the Newsboy Legion! They’re another Simon and Kirby creation which clicked with fans, running from their debut in Star-Spangled Comics #7, all the way through issue #64.
The Newsboys were a group of orphans who lived in Suicide Slum. Officer Jim Harper became their legal guardian. Frustrated with red tape, Harper also adopted the identity of the Guardian to fight crime off-duty in more direct ways than he could while on-duty. You can’t see much of it here, but the Guardian had a shield shaped like a badge, which he made very effective use of.
Clockwise from the Guardian centered at the top are Big Words (in the glasses), Scrapper (in the cap), Gabby, and Tommy Tompkins.
Hope you enjoy, and maybe we’ll see you again here tomorrow!
One of the first GA comics I picked up as a kid. The kid team was very appealing in that I could relate to being included. And yet I knew I was never as bold as the indivdial team members. This kid team group was exactly that. They were not sups. I would love to have the entire series. As well as the Boy Commandos.
Thanks Mark. Your interpretation is terrific.
Thanks, Joe! Glad you liked it. I think the first time I encountered Guardian and the Newsboy Legion would’ve had to be when they expanded the page count of Jimmy Olsen during Kirby’s run, and they filled the extra pages with reprints of those stories.
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