The Newsboy Legion and Boy Commandos Special #1

by Olivier Roth on August 09, 2017

Story and Art by: Howard Chaykin
Colours by: Wil Quintana
Published by: DC Comics

 

Out of pretty much all characters Kirby worked on, the two groups presented here: the Newsboy Legion and the Boy Commandos, are two that I am not that familiar with. I may have read up on them ages ago, but right now, reading this special, I couldn’t tell you who was who.

 

And this is the crux of the issue for this particular special: you almost have to know which character is which going into this comic. On story and art, we have the well travelled Howard Chaykin and he is probably the best writer/artist combo to tackle a comic set in the 1940s. For no particular reason, I have always associated his style with older eras (see: Satellite Sam and the 1950s setting).

 

However, for this particular issue, I’m not sure exactly what the story he was going for. We start the issue with the Boy Commandos in Paris during World War II, but are quickly transported to New York City and the Newsboy Legion. In both instances, they discover… something. Again, I’m not really sure what story Chaykin is going for here. It truly is a mess of a story. We get introduced part way through the comic to four other characters that I thought were part of the Boy Commandos, only they turn out to be actors (maybe?) and one of them becomes the villain of the story (I guess?).

 

On art, this is typical Chaykin. Square-jaws for all, and very sketchy/rough around the edges art. He does a good job with the action presented and even though I didn’t know who any of the characters were, I could at least tell them apart.

 

Like previous Kirby 100 specials, we are treated to a Kirby “Grabber” starring the Newsboy Legion by Joe Simon and Jack Kirby. This was a fun Golden Age tale and a great addition to this somewhat ho-hum special.

Our Score:

5/10

A Look Inside