The Newsboy Legion by Joe Simon & Jack Kirby Vol. 2

by Joe Simon, Jack Kirby (Illustrations)

For the first time, legendary tales from comics' Golden Age are being reprinted in two must-have hardcover editions. This concluding volume collects the stories from STAR SPANGLED COMICS #33-64 and features an insightful introduction by Kirby historian John Morrow.

In 1942 the creative team of Joe Simon and Jack Kirby was firing on all cylinders. Following their spectacular success with Captain America and the Sandman, anticipation for Simon and Kirby's next project was sky-high--and the two comics powerhouses did not disappoint when they unveiled the Newsboy Legion starring the Guardian!

With its bracing mix of streetwise urchins, graft-fueled gangsters and panel-busting action, the Newsboy Legion was an instant smash. The adventures of Gabby, Scrapper, Tommy, Big Words and Officer Harper ran for nearly five years and cemented Simon and Kirby's reputations as two of the medium's most innovative and prolific practitioners.

Collects the stories from STAR SPANGLED COMICS #33-64.

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Dc Comics, Superheroes

368 pages, Hardcover

First published May 10, 2016

About the author

Joseph Henry "Joe" Simon (born Hymie Simon) was an American comic book writer, artist, editor, and publisher. Simon created or co-created many important characters in the 1930s-1940s Golden Age of Comic Books and served as the first editor of Timely Comics, the company that would evolve into Marvel Comics.

With his partner, artist Jack Kirby, he co-created Captain America, one of comics' most enduring superheroes, and the team worked extensively on such features at DC Comics as the 1940s Sandman and Sandy the Golden Boy, and co-created the Newsboy Legion, the Boy Commandos, and Manhunter. Simon & Kirby creations for other comics publishers include Boys' Ranch, Fighting American and the Fly. In the late 1940s, the duo created the field of romance comics, and were among the earliest pioneers of horror comics. Simon, who went on to work in advertising and commercial art, also founded the satirical magazine Sick in 1960, remaining with it for a decade. He briefly returned to DC Comics in the 1970s.

Simon was inducted into the Will Eisner Comic Book Hall of Fame in 1999.

Reviews

[James · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm dinging this a star because the stories that Simon and/or Kirby didn't do are so, so inferior to their usual work. This was two men working at the top of their game and it took a world war to disrupt it.

[Little Timmy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Reading the early Golden Age comics is a different experience from a modern comic read. The world was a simpler place with easily identified good and bad guys. The fight might be dangerous but you know good will always win out in the end. These classic Jack Kirby comics are an enjoyable read and a trip to the past. Recommended

[ian witham]

Bring back kid gangs.

I began reading comic books in the Silver Age. So, I missed the heyday of the kid gang. I liked the X-MEN and the Teen Titans but they were not really kid gangs. A kid gang should have at least three members who are a little older than the readers. They operate in a place that is not so different from the reader's home and they do not have special powers.
My favourite is Little Boy Blue And The Blue Boys but The News Boy Legion Is number two. There was Tommy, the leader and probably the cleverest. Big Words always wore a suit and used big words. Gabby used short words but lots of them. And, as in most of Jack Kirby's kid gangs, There was one who looked like Jack Kirby. This one was called Scrapper. They fought crime in Suicide Slum for about five years, assisted by Jim Harper, a police officer who was their guardian and also The Guardian, a masked man with a shield shaped like a police badge.
Only read one or two a day and don't read them every day because it is easy to suggest on them. There is a limited variety of plots but I enjoyed them and I hope you will too.
I do not recommend them for girls because they will shout, "Aren't there any girls in Suicide Slum?"
The answer is No. There are no girls in Suicide Slum and only a few women. Women play a small part in these stories.

[Fraser Sherman · Rating 3 out of 5]

Newsboy Legion creators Joe Simon and Jack Kirby both served in WW II, hence this gets one star less than the first volume — the pinch-hitters' stories simply don't have the same magic. Still, there's a lot of Simon & Kirby and that makes it worthwhile. YMMV, as with most Golden Age material.

[Michael · Rating 1 out of 5]

via NYPL - Let's start with the simply truths here: The art reproduction is dreadful. Secondly, if you're coming to this for Simon & Kirby, Jack draws a lot of covers, but only six interior stories. (Curt Swan draws another six and Joe Kubert has two, so it's not a complete waste - but most of the stories are drawn by the underwhelming Arturo Cazeneuve). Even the good artists were all fairly young when they drew these stories and the styles that we all came to love later on are not fully present here. The stories have some charm, but lack the imagination and fervor of later Kirby work. In short, the material in this book is really only for serious Kirby/Swan/Kubert fans or comics historians, and even for those readers, the production ruins the experience anyway.

[Michael · Rating 1 out of 5]

Let's start with the simply truths here: The art reproduction is dreadful. Secondly, if you're coming to this for Simon & Kirby, Jack draws a lot of covers, but only six interior stories. (Curt Swan draws another six and Joe Kubert has two, so it's not a complete waste - but most of the stories are drawn by the underwhelming Arturo Cazeneuve). Even the good artists were all fairly young when they drew these stories and the styles that we all came to love later on are not fully present here. The stories have some charm, but lack the imagination and fervor of later Kirby work. In short, the material in this book is really only for serious Kirby/Swan/Kubert fans or comics historians, and even for those readers, the production ruins the experience anyway.