What do you think?
Rate this book
Marvel Masterworks #121
Marvel Masterworks: Golden Age Young Allies, Vol. 1
Written by STAN LEE, OTTO BINDER & VARIOUS Penciled by AL GABRIELE, JACK KIRBY, CHARLES NICHOLASWOTJKOSWKI, JACK ALDERMAN & VARIOUS Cover by JACK KIRBY The Young Allies, comics' very first boy-adventure team, leap into four-color action once more with their debut MARVEL MASTERWORKS volume! Super-hero sidekicks unite when Captain America's pal, Bucky and his Sentinels of Liberty team up with the Human Torch's protégé, Toro, and take on the Axis! And they won't waste a second getting down to business. Right from issue #1 they take the fight straight to Berlin and, rest assured, the Red Skull, and even Hitler himself, won't be walking out of this one without a bloody nose. Next up, the Black Talon returns from the pages of CAPTAIN AMERICA COMICS to terrorize the Young Allies, or maybe that should be the other way around? There are 5th Columnists, Nazis, Imperial generals, spies, and action galore in each of these Timely classics. The Golden Age of Comics packed in cover-to-cover adventure, but there are few that can compare to the massive, 60-pages plus, issue-length adventures of the Young Allies! Collecting YOUNG ALLIES #1-4. Color/288 PGS/All Ages
274 pages, Hardcover
Published July 22, 2009
About the author
Stan Lee
7,591 books2,364 followersStan Lee (born Stanley Martin Lieber) was an American writer, editor, creator of comic book superheroes, and the former president and chairman of Marvel Comics.
With several artist co-creators, most notably Jack Kirby and Steve Ditko, he co-created Spider-Man, the Fantastic Four, Thor as a superhero, the X-Men, Iron Man, the Hulk, Daredevil, the Silver Surfer, Dr. Strange, Ant-Man and the Wasp, Scarlet Witch, The Inhumans, and many other characters, introducing complex, naturalistic characters and a thoroughly shared universe into superhero comic books. He subsequently led the expansion of Marvel Comics from a small division of a publishing house to a large multimedia corporation.
With several artist co-creators, most notably Jack Kirby and Steve Ditko, he co-created Spider-Man, the Fantastic Four, Thor as a superhero, the X-Men, Iron Man, the Hulk, Daredevil, the Silver Surfer, Dr. Strange, Ant-Man and the Wasp, Scarlet Witch, The Inhumans, and many other characters, introducing complex, naturalistic characters and a thoroughly shared universe into superhero comic books. He subsequently led the expansion of Marvel Comics from a small division of a publishing house to a large multimedia corporation.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
January 10, 2019
If giving a superhero a sidekick then what better idea than teaming up the sidekicks! Well that was Marvel's plan in the Golden Age. Nice collection of this not so well know Golden Age title. good read. Recommended
January 28, 2022
If it weren't for the racist caricature of Whitewash Jones, this would be one of the better Golden Age volumes---stories that run over 45 pages with above-average art.
April 25, 2021
This World War II-era book features the first four adventures of the Young Allies led by Captain America's sidekick Bucky and the Human Torch's Sidekick Toro and then four other streotypical boys from the era.
The book has some strong points. First, the adventures are longer than most typical golden age stories. The first two issues have the Young Allies in full-length adventures (64 pages) and the last two issues in the book still have their adventures clocking in at more than 40 pages. That allows for fuller stories than most Golden Age tales outside of maybe the Justice Society of America.
In addition to this, you have additional guest appearances by Captain America and the Human Torch, and also appearances of villains from other books fighting the Young Allies including two visits by the Golden Age's Big Bad for Timely, the Red Skull. The relationship between Bucky and Toro is actually interesting as they have a great comic rivalry. M0st importantly, the book was written by young Stan Lee.
The stories themselves are okay but not remarkable. Rarely do they make great use of their length. I do think the regular summoning of adult heroes at the end can become a bit of a deus ex machina. The kids outside of Bucky and Toro are really stereotypical. This is particularly true of the Black character Whitewash Jones who has some cringeworthy lines, does stereotypical stuff around watermelon and even pretends to be a monkey. While I understand the past is another country, in a mediocre book like this, I think this makes the book for historical purposes rather than working for any entertainment value.
The short text stories included in each issue are fine, but unremarkable. The House Ads that were originally in the book add to the historical value of the book. The back up features added in Issues 3 and 4 are mostly unremarkable with some humor pieces, some dark fact or fiction pages, some magic and detective comic strips. The best back up strip in here is Issue 4's use of the Vagabond, a brilliant agent who dresses as a stereotypical hobo, fights crime, and then wanders off to the next city.
The book has some strong points. First, the adventures are longer than most typical golden age stories. The first two issues have the Young Allies in full-length adventures (64 pages) and the last two issues in the book still have their adventures clocking in at more than 40 pages. That allows for fuller stories than most Golden Age tales outside of maybe the Justice Society of America.
In addition to this, you have additional guest appearances by Captain America and the Human Torch, and also appearances of villains from other books fighting the Young Allies including two visits by the Golden Age's Big Bad for Timely, the Red Skull. The relationship between Bucky and Toro is actually interesting as they have a great comic rivalry. M0st importantly, the book was written by young Stan Lee.
The stories themselves are okay but not remarkable. Rarely do they make great use of their length. I do think the regular summoning of adult heroes at the end can become a bit of a deus ex machina. The kids outside of Bucky and Toro are really stereotypical. This is particularly true of the Black character Whitewash Jones who has some cringeworthy lines, does stereotypical stuff around watermelon and even pretends to be a monkey. While I understand the past is another country, in a mediocre book like this, I think this makes the book for historical purposes rather than working for any entertainment value.
The short text stories included in each issue are fine, but unremarkable. The House Ads that were originally in the book add to the historical value of the book. The back up features added in Issues 3 and 4 are mostly unremarkable with some humor pieces, some dark fact or fiction pages, some magic and detective comic strips. The best back up strip in here is Issue 4's use of the Vagabond, a brilliant agent who dresses as a stereotypical hobo, fights crime, and then wanders off to the next city.
May 30, 2019
Read this whenever an issue came up as part of the Marvel Reading order. Really hasn't aged well with the stereotypes, but the full book storytelling was a slight improvement to what else Marvel was doing at the time.
March 24, 2018
Take a trip back in time to 1941 when war was a part of life and wartime propaganda infiltrated our every activity. This book features the young sidekicks of Captain America and the Human Torch. I loved the stories and the idea of good beating evil. Warning, if you're the type that's offended by everything you might want to give this a pass due to artist and writers renditions of race and culture. I loved this classic slice of history and if golden age is your thing you will too.
April 28, 2025
Racism at its best.
May 10, 2025
these comic are silly and don't make a whole lot of sense but there was real potential here..... unfortunately that potential was wasted on how much RACIST MATERIAL IS IN HERE!!!
July 6, 2024
This series is a lot of fun at times, offensive to 21st century sensibilities at others, and ridiculous all around. This series features some of Stan Lee's earliest writing, as well as artwork by future I, Robot writer Otto Binder. The artwork is passable for the era. Unlike most Golden Age comics, the bulk of these 64 page issues are devoted solely to the Young Allies, with only a handful of back-up features appearing. There is a stray Father Time feature that is quite good, and the Vagabond is as bizarre as any of the other stories of his featured in other GA magazines. It's great to see the Red Skull as the YA's main adversary, as I am a sucker for him. We even get to see him unmasked here, which is pretty rare.
Not everything is all rosy here, though. As stated in the introduction, Whitewash Jones is a product of the time. Think of Buckwheat from the Little Rascals and you get a general idea of the type of comic relief he provides. This isn't the type of book that I'd let my son read by any stretch, but it is fascinating from a historical perspective. One of the reasons that I buy all of these Golden Age collections is the fact that they are so rare and expensive in their original formats that I would never get to experience them otherwise, or certainly nowhere near the sheer volume of them that I have in the last 5 or so years. This book is totally worth picking up as long as you understand in advance what it is you're picking up. The production values on this book are top notch, with the highest quality restoration (only 1 page looks iffy to my eyes and probably wouldn't register to most people), paper and binding. It's ironic that this book is made in China, though, given the portrayal of Far Easterners in this book. I wonder if any of the workers on the lines ever look down at what is being printed.
Not everything is all rosy here, though. As stated in the introduction, Whitewash Jones is a product of the time. Think of Buckwheat from the Little Rascals and you get a general idea of the type of comic relief he provides. This isn't the type of book that I'd let my son read by any stretch, but it is fascinating from a historical perspective. One of the reasons that I buy all of these Golden Age collections is the fact that they are so rare and expensive in their original formats that I would never get to experience them otherwise, or certainly nowhere near the sheer volume of them that I have in the last 5 or so years. This book is totally worth picking up as long as you understand in advance what it is you're picking up. The production values on this book are top notch, with the highest quality restoration (only 1 page looks iffy to my eyes and probably wouldn't register to most people), paper and binding. It's ironic that this book is made in China, though, given the portrayal of Far Easterners in this book. I wonder if any of the workers on the lines ever look down at what is being printed.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews