Comic Review #12: 1st Issue Special #6: Dingbats of Danger Street (1975)

 

Jack Kirby is quite possibly the coolest comic dude in the world. He was a gruff towards nazis but liked everyone else. Well, except maybe Stan Lee and Marvel. Jack Kirby's art was wild and weird and his imagination was all over the place. Some people say he needed an editor in the days of his New Gods and Marvel return in the 1970s. Me, I kinda love unfiltered Jack Kirby. I'd love to chat with him on many things but sadly he passed away in 1994, so it's kinda hard to talk to him, but he was willing to put up with big smelly nerds being nuisances to him. I guess I'll have to wait till we meet at Original Ray, the astral plane's pizza place, and no I'm not letting that terrible joke die!

DC had in the 1950s a series called Showcase, where they would put in new ideas and new characters. It and really old issues of Brave and the Bold. Stuff like Bat Lash, Metal Men, the Silver Age Flash and Atom, The Challengers of the Unknown, The Hal Jordan Green Lantern, Rip Hunter Time Master, Space Ranger, Adam Strange, Inferior Five and many more. It was a great idea because it let people go wild with ideas and if the idea was popular it would go onto to a different book or even get a new series. Adam Strange went to Mystery In Space. Space Ranger went to Tales of the Unknown. Rip Hunter got his own series and I'm sure you guys all know about Barry Allen, Hal Jordan and Ray Palmer. It ran until I believe issue 93 in 1969. It did get a revival in I think the late 1970s with The New Doom Patrol and stuff. It didn't last very long because of the DC Implosion (I'm not getting into that because this article is already insanely long) 

In between the death of Showcase and the revival a series called 1st Issue Special came out and between 1975 and 1976 only 13 issues came out. Sadly there was only one series that got a series and that was The Warlord. Not to knock that series because I enjoy it but all of these issues (that I've read) were great and I would have read more from these creative teams. I mean look at this list of people who worked on 1st Issue Special during just those 13 issues: Michael Fleisher, Steve Ditko, Jack Kirby, Robert Kanigher, Martin Pasko, Walt Simonson, Joe Simon, Gerry Conway, Dennis O Neil, Mike Grell. Those were big ass names in the 1970s man! I wonder if they were already working on bringing back Showcase and didn't really need two of these series. Who knows, it's not like I'm going to get to talk to any of them.

Dingbats of Danger Street was issue #6. It was like the 3rd time Jack Kirby made a character for this series. It was also the last. It was also his second attempt to do something with Kid gangs. Jack Kirby loved this idea, I'm pretty sure it was something he was nostalgic for as a kid as I'm going to assume he was IN a kid gang. I don't know his entire life story people.  There was the Newsboy Legion and the Guardian (which he brought back in Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen) and Boy Commandos that he did with Joe Simon in the 1940s. I'm pretty sure the reason this didn't work in 1975 is because that stuff was seen as outdated, which is a shame because I had a lot of fun with this comic book.

I enjoyed all four characters that made up the gang. Good Looks, just your regular looking kid. Krunch was the big time muscle of the group. Non-Fat an incredibly skinny black kid (Kirby does a lot of silly comedy with this guy. It's great) and Bananas a kid that was supposed to be crazy. I think my favorite is Non-Fat with his big old hot dog that he never gets to eat. Poor Non-Fat. Non-Fat was supposed to be a black kid but was mis-colored.

The issue starts out wild the kids are just minding their own business when a Jumping Jack, one of two bad guys in this issue. He gets stuck in Krunch's exerciser and is caught by the Cop who was chasing him. The kids then find a capsule that Jumping Jack lost that has the proof the Cops need to put him and his colleague The Gasser behind bars, which is why the Gasser just POPS OUT OF NOWHERE and demands the capsule. He and the kids get into a fight and the Gasser runs off with Non-Fat on the roof of his car! My favorite bit is when Non-Fat kicks the Gasser and he doesn't even feel it. The Dingbats then go to the Cops to give them the Capsule, where Jumping Jack escapes to find the Gasser and the Cops give chase. They capture the bad guys and Non-Fat gets mad when Bananas calls him boy.

FINAL VERDICT: A great little comic. I had a hell of a time reading this. I think I will finally pick up those Newsboy Legion books that just rot away on a local stores shelf, only problem is that he wants $60 for an old book. Bring the price down son!