The Newsboy Legion, along with the Guardian, were created in the early '40s and got cancelled later in the decade. Simon and Kirby also created Boy Commandos, which followed much the same arrangement of team members. A male adult, and some underage boys. I have always assumed the boys were meant to bring interest to teenage and younger boys who would identify with some kids their own age kicking the butts of criminals or America’s enemies. That feature also came to an end in the late '40s.
Jack Kirby could draw action, and perhaps it was about what he said a few times in interviews: when he was a kid he fought a lot. When people got socked in a Jack Kirby panel you know it had to hurt. In that way Jack could reminisce at the drawing board about the fists that had flown in skirmishes from his youth.
From Star-Spangled Comics #14 (1942):
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The twists — a swindler posing as a do-gooder and the message formed by the unbroken letters — could be seen coming down Main Street. But still the story is all right, if one doesn't think too hard about the villains not shooting those parts of the Guardian unprotected by his shield, and if one is naïve about the economics.
Fantasies of this sort enjoyed popularity at least into the '70s. However, as a result of various reforms begun long ago, residents of American slums faced and face overwhelming legal obstacles in any otherwise reasonable attempt to lift their communities economically; and those who have a vested interest in preserving those obstacles have the ears of the educators, journalists, and politicians. Moreover, even if we imagine those knaves and fools to repent, it is silly to imagine that people who could not afford to move to affluent neighborhoods could somehow afford almost immediately to transform their own neighborhoods to be like affluent neighborhoods. They might be able to create more wealth, and perhaps much more wealth, but that would take time.
Pappy: More great stuff, sir.
This is nothing to do with the current post, but since I'm responding to one of your old Xmas posts, and no one but you would read it, I decided that here was the best place to express my appreciation for your work as "comics curator."
My most recent appreciation stems from the fact that I was trying to find a particular type of Xmas-in-comics story, and none of the usual suspects met my needs. But thanks to your re-presentation of things like daffy old Santa Claus stories, I found what I was looking for (in SANTA CLAUS FUNNIES, to be specific).
Though this isn't a Christmas post, bloggers who keep up the flow of information on this crazy hobby are truly "the givers who keep on giving," to be very corny about it. I like to think this is the good side of the Internet, complete strangers sharing ideas and knowledge about the stories that grab them, irrespective of whether the stories are well celebrated or not.
Happy Holidays to you, Pappy.
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