Newsboy Legion and The Guardian Appreciation Thread

[MajorHoy]

The Newsboy Legion (with The Guardian) was a Golden Age feature created by Joe Simon and Jack Kirby that first appeared in Star Spangled Comics #7 (April 1942).



It ran until issue #67 of that title (cover-dated January 1947), though The Guardian (Jim Harper) seems to have disappeared from the covers a couple of issues before then.



In the 1970s, when Jack Kirby took over the book Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen for a while, he brought back the members of the Newsboy Legion as adults, along with new junior versions and an additional member.

[DrNewGod]

I was always a fan of the notion that the superhero was the kid gang's supporting character. I don't know that anybody's really gotten that about The Newsboy Legion since their original appearances.

Always thought it would be interesting to bring them back in a modern form.

[MajorHoy]

Always thought it would be interesting to bring them back in a modern form.

Well, not sure what you mean by "modern form" beyond Kirby's revival of them in Jimmy Olsen in the 1970s (and later use of them again in the 1990s as part of the Superman comics). As for the idea of the "Newsboy Legion" itself, that would be hard to translate into the 21st century since you don't normally see kids hawking newspapers on the street corners these days, and you'd have Child Services theoretically getting more involved in trying to keep the kids from living outside of a foster family system.

[DrNewGod]

Well, not sure what you mean by "modern form" beyond Kirby's revival of them in Jimmy Olsen in the 1970s (and later use of them again in the 1990s as part of the Superman comics). As for the idea of the "Newsboy Legion" itself, that would be hard to translate into the 21st century since you don't normally see kids hawking newspapers on the street corners these days, and you'd have Child Services theoretically getting more involved in trying to keep the kids from living outside of a foster family system.

The name would have to change, but a group of multi-cultural neglected poor kids, deciding they can only depend on each other might work in the right hands. The specifics are less important than the core concept: a group of good-hearted unfortunates trying to do the right thing in spite of their own desperate circumstances. Life's no less hard on today's poor than it was for orphaned Newsboys in 1941.

[MajorHoy]

The name would have to change, but a group of multi-cultural neglected poor kids, deciding they can only depend on each other might work in the right hands. The specifics are less important than the core concept: a group of good-hearted unfortunates trying to do the right thing in spite of their own desperate circumstances. Life's no less hard on today's poor than it was for orphaned Newsboys in 1941.

Did you try We Are Robin just prior to Rebirth?

[signalman112]

Newsboys Legion Who's Who Page.

NewsboyLegionWho.jpg

[MajorHoy]

Newsboys Legion Who's Who Page.

That's the one from the 1988 Update.

The first (1986 version) was:

[DrNewGod]

That's the one from the 1988 Update.

The first (1986 version) was:

I loved The Legion. One of my favorite parts of Astro City was Busiek's homage to them in Jack-In-The-Box's helpers, The Trouble Boys.