archeologist – Page 23 – Comics Archeology

Star Spangled Comics #7 (1942)
by Joe Simon & Jack Kirby

By this point Simon & Kirby had left Marvel, so it’s no surprise that when the same creators of Captain America introduce a new superhero with a shield he immediately gets the cover.
What you wouldn’t expect is him being the sidekick of the Newsboy Legion.

We begin with young policeman Jim Harper patrolling the depressingly named Suicide Slum.

He’s rather positive during the day…

…but off-duty, it’s another story.

This incident gives him a rather puzzling decision: break into a shop to get himself a costume.

Uhm, I’m no layer or policeman, but I’m pretty sure that breaking into a shop is still a crime even if you leave money.

The costume is simple enough that I can believe he just took pieces of it from the store, but where did he take the shield?

The helmet gets an explanation, but not the shield.

All in a night’s work!

This makes the news, introducing characters that will make the Jimmy Olsen run by Jack Kirby a slog to get through. Yes, even more than Jimmy himself.

The kids aren’t exactly heroic, robbing a store and needing to be stopped by the Guardian.

They’ve gone through this enough times that the judge is quite harsh on them.

The cop testifies on their behalf, and it’s very telling that the comic considers sending them to a reform school to be a bad idea.
The Newsboy Legion was most likely heavily inspired by Jack Kirby’s childhood, since he grew up in a bad neighborhood. So I wonder if this reflects his views.

I also wonder if a judge could simply make this random cop the legal guardian of four children just because “he knows them”.

Not an easy decision for the judge.

But of course the judge sides with the cop, who is now the legal guardian of the kids and in charge of keeping them out of trouble.

Great job.
Also, where are the children living now? They’re not with him, are they at an orphanage? I have so many questions about the logistics of this arrangement!

Once word on the street says the kids have been not-adopted by a cop, they can no longer sell stolen goods.

But the fence suggets another way to make money.

Luckily for them, people in 1942 were easily entertained.

I’m kidding, of course. I would also throw a penny at the Newsboy Legion.
From the Batcave.

As the cop is checking on the kids, he runs into a couple of robbers.
(has anyone in the history of the world ever really exclaimed “Suffering Catfish!”?)

The crowd watching the kids was kind of the reason why the robbers got away with it, and it’s something that bothers them.

The Guardian follows the kids, discovering the fence and beating him up.

This gives him a lead to the boss of the operation, and of course the kids will have to sit this one out since things are now serious.

Sounds legit.

Serious question: is there ANY Golden Age superhero who isn’t Superman that never gets knocked out by the bad guys?
Who NEVER TRY TO SHOOT ANYBODY?

Good thing that criminals are physically incapable of pulling the trigger in the presence of children, because the Newsboy Legion rescues the Guardian and paint the lighthouse red as he asked.

Which is enough to summon the coast guard in what must have been five minutes at most.

Smooth save with the secret identity, Guardian.

Historical significance: 7/10
The Newsboy Legion continues to plague DC Comics, and Guardian is around.

Silver Age-ness: 0/10
Not really.

Does it stand the test of time? 6/10
I’ve made no secret that I really don’t like the Newsboy Legion, but in fairness… this wasn’t bad.
Seriously! My main problem with the Newboy Legion is that I have a really hard time suspending my disbelief that they are of ANY use when superheroes are around. But here it kind of works!
And they’re not NEARLY as annoying as they were on the pages of Jimmy Olsen.
The artwork and the storytelling are as solid as you’d expect; the only reason why you couldn’t do this today is that all characters are devoid of any real personality and that the fact these kids handle this so easily stretches credibility.

How close is this to the modern character? 4/10
The series proved to be a genuine hit, as the Newboy Legion and the Guardian effectively replace Star-Spangled Kid as the stars of the book.
They stayed relegated to Star Spangled Comics all the way up to #64 in 1947, with the exception of being a guest-star on Detective Comics #76.
Their spot on Star Spangled Comics was taken by Robin, and they would just fade away.

Jack Kirby must have been fond of them, since they return in Jimmy Olsen #133 to plague my existence.
Well TECHNICALLY these are supposed to be the children of the originals, but they’re completely indistinguishable. With the exception that they add Flippa Dippa, because they didn’t have enough dumb names in the team.

The Guardian would follow a couple of issues later, or rather his clone would.

In 1978, the Guardian (Jim Harper) was revealed to be the uncle to Speedy (Roy Harper) exclusively because they have the same last name.
You’d expect that kind of stuff to come from a Roy Thomas story, but it was written by Tom DeFalco.

He also has a grandniece, Jamie, introduced in 2006 on Detective Comics.

She’s a supporting character on the Batman books for a while, but she then ends up having a relationship with Mon-El (of all people), when he takes Superman’s place for a while in 2010.

After he leaves for the Phantom Zone, we learn that she’s pregnant (presumably with Mon-El’s child?). As far as I know we never see her again.

The Guardian clone seems to be bouncing back and forth from the sci-fi setting he was accustomed to during the Jimmy Olsen stories and a throwback to the urban setting.
Considering that the post-Crisis version is from Metropolis, sometimes BOTH.

In fact, Guardian shows up so often in Superman-adjacent stuff that in the CW TV shows the identity is at some point taken by Kelly Olsen… who in that continuity is both the sister of Jimmy Olsen and the wife of Supergirl’s adopted sister.

But the mantle is sometimes taken by Mal Duncan, the Teen Titans supporting character who has quite a collection of superhero identities: he’s also been Herald, Hornblower and Vox.

As for the Newsboy Legion, post-Crisis the ones operating in the present were revealed to be clones of the Golden Age ones instead of their kids.
They were featured extensively in Karl Kesel’s run on Adventures of Superman: that’s the only version I’ve read that I can stomach.

In modern comics, the Guardian seems to be getting a lot more screen time than the Newsboy Legion. They still show up from time to time, with occasional additions to the lineup. Like Roberta “Bobby” Harper, another niece (grandniece?) of the Guardian.
They also get cameos and shout-outs and homages in way too many adaptations to cover.

For the record, I have nothing against the idea of kids starring in superhero comics, even non-powered kids.
I just find the Newsboy Legion insufferably obnoxious in most incarnations.

There’s another superhero origin that I’ll cover separately, but what else was in Star Spangled Comics #7 ?

We have another superhero story with Tarantula.

Followed by a war story starring Captain X. With a cover date of April 1942 this would’ve been published after America joined the war, but I wonder if this was written earlier.

Who is notable for having a NUCLEAR POWERED PLANE in 1942.

Then we have the first story of TNT and Dyna-Mite.

While not exactly household names, they will retroactively replace Green Arrow and Speedy in the Seven Soldiers Of Victory (since the two archers won’t stick to being WWII heroes).

Dyna-Mite in particular is a very important character in the HIGHLY recommended James Robinson’s Golden Age miniseries from 1993.
You might remember him because… well if you don’t, READ THIS MINISERIES.