Category Archives: Kid Gang

1st Issue Special #6 [1975] – Dingbats of Danger Street

by
Posted in Genre, Kid Gang.

What better way to end a year?

Definitely the oddest piece to come out of Kirby’s five year stay at DC in the 1970s (at least among the published works) is his try at an updated kid gang, the Dingbats of Danger Street. This is strange by Kirby standards, and this is a guy who created a flying cosmic surfer.

The Dingbats are Good Looks, Krunch, Non-Fat and Bananas, as they announce to us on the first page. Orphans all, who have formed their own gang to get by on Danger Street. In their debut adventure, they unintentionally help cop Terry Mullins capture the villain Jumping Jack, and in the process Non-Fat almost chokes on the film strip canister Jack was smuggling and hid in his hot dog. And then Jack’s partner the Gasser shows up, and things get really kooky.

It all has an odd charm, but I think it does deserve some of the mockery that’s been heaped on it over the years. I did find Lt. Mullins kind of interesting, and wonder if he’d have become a gruffer version of Jim Harper to the Dingbats with time.

Mike Royer inks on this one, so that always looks nice.

The job codes (as documented in the JACK KIRBY CHECKLIST) suggest that Kirby drew the first issue shortly after MISTER MIRACLE and THE DEMON were canceled, while he was also working on the middle issues of KAMANDI and the early issues of OMAC, and he drew at least three issues in a few months (some have suggested even more exist, but I don’t think pages have ever turned up). For some reason DC didn’t rush it into print, and only published the first issue as one of the “1st Issue Special” one-shots some time later. About half the pages from the other two known issues have seen print in the various fanzines, mostly THE JACK KIRBY COLLECTOR (including the full 2-page spread meant for this story, modified to a single page as published), and are actually even more fun than the first, if you can judge based on such a random sampling of pages scattered across a half-dozen books. The second issue had a great two-page spread. I’m sure someday soon we’ll see a deluxe hardcover collecting all three issues.

Published September 1975.

Superman’s Pal, Jimmy Olsen #141 [1971]

by
Posted in Genre, Kid Gang, Superhero.

Ah, the second half of the Don Rickles / Goody Rickels story from the middle of Kirby’s JIMMY OLSEN run in “Will the Real Don Rickles Panic?”. Mark Evanier has discussed how this came about at various times, growing from a planned brief cameo by Rickles, who I guess was inexplicably popular at the time, to a two issue story featuring Rickles, his twin Goody, so I’ll assume everyone knows that.

It’s a fun story, although a trifle disjointed thanks to its genesis. You have one thread where Clark Kent is captured in a ship going to Apokolips (with three pages of collages by Kirby at the start of the issue), only to be met on the way by Lightray who sends him back to Earth. On the more exciting part of the story, you have Jimmy, Goody and the Guardian about to spontaneously combust, with the Guardian racing for a cure while Jimmy and Goody head back to Morgan Edge’s office, where Edge has a meeting with Don Rickles.

Superman's Pal, Jimmy Olsen #141 [1971]

The Rickles/Edge interplay is surprisingly good (“You can hide a platoon of assassins in a complex deal” is probably one of the most intelligent phrases ever to be put in Rickle’s mouth), and the whole Goody Rickels thing is silly, but in a charming way.

I also really liked what we saw of the Guardian (or Golden Guardian, but that name didn’t really stick) in this issue. He’s a clone of the original, and had some story potential that didn’t really get realized. And unfortunately, some combination of Kirby, the inker and the colourist never could quite figure out how his helmet was designed.

One odd thing this issue is that Superman never appears in costume. He’s dressed as Clark Kent throughout, which I’m not sure ever happened in any of the Superman family books up until then.

The story is inked by Colletta, with Murphy Anderson handling certain parts.

This issue reprints the first Newsboy Legion story from STAR-SPANGLED COMICS #7 from 1942, with the cover for that issue. That story has rookie cop Harper being ambushed, putting together his Guardian costume, because, I guess, that’s was the style at the time, and later arresting and being appointed guardian of four orphan boys. Pretty much lays out the groundwork for the series, where Kirby captures the look and feel of his childhood neighbourhoods perfectly.

The cover to this issue is Kirby inked by Neal Adams, with an inset photo of Rickles, and the epitome of Kirby cover catchphrases, “Kirby Says: Don’t Ask! Just Buy It!”. Also in this issue is the Kirby self-portrait that appeared in all the Fourth World books that month, introducing the reprints, and a one page text about the updating of the Newsboy Legion by Evanier and Sherman.

Published 1971

Brave and the Bold Annual, No 1, 1969 Issue [2001] – The Invasion of America

by
Posted in Genre, Kid Gang, Superhero, War.

One of DC’s best reprint lines in recent years have been their 80 and 100-page Giant books, mixing in “replica” editions of actual giants from the 1960s and 1970s with “lost” editions, books designed to look like they could have been published back then. This book is designed to look like it could have been a 1969 BRAVE AND THE BOLD annual (although it contains a Captain Atom story from Charlton, which wouldn’t have been in there).

Among the contents is a 1943 Boy Commandos story by Simon&Kirby, reprinted from DETECTIVE COMICS #76. The logic of it being in a team-up title is that there are brief cameos by the other S&K stars of the time, Sandman and the Newsboy Legion (oddly, the cover of this issue bills it as a Newsboy Legion / Sandman crossover, not even mentioning the actual stars of the story) (also oddly, the credits have Kirby as writer and inker, with Simon as penciler, which doesn’t seem likely).

Anyway, the 12-page adventure has Rip Carter and the boys making a trip to New York for a goodwill tour, and finding themselves kidnapped by German spies. Along the way, the encounter their fan club, the Kid Commandos, led by Sally from Flatbush, who get around on a variety of go-carts, and in the end meet FDR. It’s a fast-moving adventure, a great example of the kid-gang genre and patriotic wartime comics. I did think the accents of the foreign characters (especially the Germans and the British Boy Commando Alfie) were a bit overdone and distracting, but other than that it was all fun.

Published 2001

100-Page Super Spectacular #15 [1973]

by
Posted in Genre, Kid Gang, Superhero, War.

One of DC’s best reprint forums of the early 1970s was the 100-Page Super Spectacular. #DC-15 was a good one, with two Simon&Kirby reprints.

First up was the Boy Commandos story from DETECTIVE COMICS #65, the untitled second Boy Commandos story. They also reprinted the cover, which has Batman and Robin (by Jerry Robinson) welcoming the BCs to the book, an issue late, but Batman is a busy guy…

dc15

The story opens with, of all things, Nostradamus in 1565, in the court of Queen Catherine of France. It turns out that not only did he predict Hitler and his invasion of France, he also predicted the Boy Commandos. No word on if he predicted Devil Dinosaur.

From that introduction, we go to the then modern day, where Rip Carter and the Boy Commandos are practicing parachute jumping in England. Carter then announces that the boys have to go to school, and they go an English boys’ school. They get hazed by the other students and befriended by a gardener. Unfortunately, the gardener turns out to be a spy for the Germans, hoping to get some hint about what Carter’s unit is planning. Fortunately, Carter manages to figure this out in time to change his plan and destroy a weapons factory in France, just missing capturing Goering. Of course, the boys are disappointed that after that they still have to return to the school.

Oddly, the story just ends there, while I would have expected a return to the Nostradamus framing sequence.

Later in the issue, the Sandman story from ADVENTURE #81 is reprinted. “A Drama in Dreams” has Sandy suspicious about how Wesley Dodds is acting (and as an aside, didn’t Sandy and Bucky have the worst secret identities in the world? I mean, their first names? The mask doesn’t really help much with that kind of clue). For one thing, Wes doesn’t seem to know that he’s the Sandman. Sandy follows him, and finds out that “Wes” is a criminal double, who has captured the real Wes in order to steal one of his businesses. Eventually, it ends with Wes Dodds, disguised as the Sandman, impersonating the criminal, who’s impersonating Wes Dodds, who is, of course, the Sandman. Yeah, I was confused too.

Two good examples of early 1940s S&K, plus the issue has three Superboy stories, a Superbaby story, Aquaman, Hawk&Dove and Dial H For Hero.

Published March 1973

Who’s Who – The Definitive Directory Of The DC Universe #16 [1986]

by
Posted in Genre, Kid Gang, Superhero.

WHO’S WHO #16 featured four Kirby drawn entries (as well as Brian Bolland drawing the Kirby designed Morgaine le Fay from THE DEMON).

Mother Box gets an entry, inked by Mike Royer. Simple enough image of three styles of Mother Box, with backgrounds of the use of it at the hands of Orion, Scott Free and the Forever People.

New Genesis gets a page, inked by Greg Theakston. Four images of various scenes, including a nice one of the memorial statues, and a background of the destruction of New Genesis from THE HUNGER DOGS.

The New Gods get a great double page spread, inked by Theakston, with 29 characters in a big crowd scene (with, oddly, Fastbak being the largest one, right up front), as well as headshots of each.

newsboys

And the Newsboy Legion get a page, with a scene of the team back in Suicide Slum with their guardian, officer Jim Harper, inked by Karl Kesel.

Published June 1986

Superman’s Pal, Jimmy Olsen #144 [1971]

by
Posted in Genre, Kid Gang, Superhero.

The second collection of Jimmy Olsen stories by Jack Kirby should be out this week, bringing all of the 1970s Fourth World stories by Kirby into print.

#144 will be among those issues. It opens with a Kirby cover inked by Neal Adams, featuring the Newsboy Legion and Jimmy Olsen, as well as Jimmy Olsen’s Pal, Superman, with a giant sea monster. Far-out!! indeed.

“A Big Thing In A Deep Scottish Lake” is a 22-page story inked by Colletta, with of course facial modifications by Murphy Anderson. Morgan Edge sends Jimmy and the Newsboys off to Scotland to investigate the Lake Trevor Monster, and directs his contacts at Intergang to take care of them.

Superman's Pal, Jimmy Olsen #144 [1971]

And for once, Flippa’s scuba gear finally comes in handy, as he goes down to explore the lake, while their guide, Felix MacFinney, reveals himself to be an Intergang agent. Fortunately, they’re saved by the Scrapper Trooper (a miniature clone of Scrapper) and the timely arrival of the Loch Trevor monster, who looks to be a distant relative of Fin Fang Foom.

Meanwhile, Superman and the Guardian are invited to a new discotheque, where they encounter Dubbilex the DNAlien, Terry Dean and the San Diego Five String Mob.

“The Torn Photograph” is a two-page vignette giving some hints about some of the mysteries surrounding the DNA Project, stuff Kirby didn’t get a chance to fully explore, but many of which informed modern day Superman stories featuring the Project.

Back-up this issue is the cover and lead story from STAR-SPANGLED COMICS #10, the fourth Newsboy Legion story from 1942, “Kings For A Day”. It features the boys winning an election where kids run the city for a day. They take jobs as Mayor, DA, Police chief and Commissioner of Sanitation. Of course, they’re disappointed to find that they’re honourary positions, but still manage to foil various criminals, with some help of Jim Harper, the Guardian.

Published 1971