Young Allies (Marvel Comics)

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The Young Allies is the name of two superhero teams in the Marvel Universe.

Contents

[edit] Golden Age

The Golden Age of Comic Books' Young Allies were a gang of kids who fought the axis. Their line-up included the two key sidekicks of then-prominent Timely Comics heroes.

[edit] Creation

Created by Jack Kirby and Joe Simon as the Sentinels of Liberty, "a multiracial group of patriotic kids,"[1] the group was led by Bucky Barnes (Captain America's teenage sidekick), and initially made up of his four friends:

"Knuckles (aka Percival Aloysius O'Toole), Jeff (Jefferson Worthing Sandervilt), Tubby (Henry Tinkle) and Whitewash Jones (who, being merely the requisite black stereotype, didn't have a fancy name like the others)."[2]

The group appeared in a text feature in Captain America #4 (June, 1941), but were swiftly moved into the comic-proper, to help Cap in his battles, and became popular enough to be spun into its own title.

[edit] The Young Allies (1941)

Young Allies Comics #1 (Summer 1941). Art by Jack Kirby
Young Allies Comics #1 (Summer 1941). Art by Jack Kirby

Launched in Summer, 1941 after only a couple of appearances in the pages of Captain America, the "Sentinels of Liberty" were revised, renamed "The Young Allies" and joined by the original Human Torch's sidekick Toro. By this time, Simon and Kirby were in the process of leaving Timely for DC Comics, and relationships were strained, so while the first issue of the Young Allies series was pencilled by Kirby (under the - shared - "Charles Nicholas" pseudonym), it was written by a young Stan Lee. By issue #2, Kiby had left, and the art duties were taken over by Al Gabriele and former Captain America inker (and then penciler, in the wake of Simon and Kirby's departure) Syd Shores. (Art duties would change considerably over the course of the titles' run.)

The first issue saw the - mostly non-superhero - team fight Captain America's nemesis the Red Skull, and is often labelled as "the first ongoing comic to team up characters from two or more other Marvel series."[3]

Young Allies Comics lasted until issue #20 (October, 1946), and also appeared in a handful of other titles in some form. Toro and Bucky would continue to team-up briefly, "as members of The All Winners Squad... [b]ut Knuckles, Jeff, Tubby and Whitewash weren't seen again."[4]

[edit] Other Golden Age Appearances

The Young Allies also appeared in the following comics:

  • Young Allies Comics #1-20,
  • Amazing Comics #1
  • Captain America Comics #8
  • Complete Comics #2
  • Kid Komics #2-10
  • Marvel Mystery Comics #75-83
  • Mystic Comics #4
  • Sub-Mariner Comics #22

[edit] Modern Day

Young Allies

The Young Allies. Art by Mark Bagley
Publication information
Publisher Marvel Comics
First appearance Heroes Reborn: Young Allies
Created by Fabian Nicieza
Mark Bagley
In story information
Member(s) Bucky (Rikki Barnes)
I.Q.
Jolt
Kid Colt
O and K
Toro

The second group of Young Allies was founded on the Heroes Reborn world, now called Counter-Earth, after the Avengers and Fantastic Four returned home and the planet suffered several devastating blows in the wake of their leaving. While several members share codenames with their predecessors on Earth-616, they have little else in common with the prior group:

  • Bucky (Ricki Barnes) - Captain America's partner from his time on the HR world, she is the most like her E-616 counterpart, uses a photonic shield as a weapon, and is the group's leader.
  • I.Q. (Ishmael Questor) - A heavily deformed, quadriplegic telepath and analyst, who works with the Young Allies from his protective, life-sustaining tank in his Earth's Germany.
  • Kid Colt (Elric Whitemane, born Elric Freedom) - Was captured by the world's corrupt S.H.I.E.L.D., and was experimented on, and bonded to Kymellian DNA, allowing him to assume a humanoid horse form and open miniature wormholes for teleportation.
  • O and K - Manifestations of Order and Chaos, sent to judge if Counter-Earth deserved to continue to exist.
  • Toro (Benito Serrano) - can turn into a super-strong humanoid bull

[edit] Fictional history

The Young Allies came into conflict with the Redeemers, a US-government-backed team related to the Thunderbolts, while the Redeemers were supervised by Captain America, who, due to amnesia, had forgotten his time on the other Earth with the Allies' Bucky. The conflict was caused by Allies' creation of a hoax chemical weapons scare in the "main" Earth's Latveria in an attempt to force Doctor Doom, the then-ruler of Counter-Earth, to distribute food and medicine more evenly. When they left, Bucky was left sore that Cap thought she'd be capable of really using a WMD, causing Cap to lie to Doom that other canisters had been hidden. Later, they encountered the Thunderbolts themselves on their homeworld, while a rift was threatening to destroy both worlds. When the crisis was resolved and the Thunderbolts returned home, Jolt remained behind with the team. Recently, the Exiles visited Counter-Earth to save it from Proteus, in their teammate Morph's body. At first, Proteus convinced the Young Allies to fight the Exiles. The Young Allies later figured out the truth when Proteus was enjoying torturing the Exiles. Proteus seemed to be winning, but two cosmic entities known as "O" and "K" ripped Proteus away from the Exiles, saying that they've been waiting for him. They supplied Proteus with an army of nukes. Empress Dorma and Proteus soon clashed, resulting in Proteus taking Dorma's crown, drying up Atlantis, and killing her and her soldiers. The Exiles arrived with the Young Allies at Atlantis. Proteus then launched the nukes. Luckily, Colt and Jolt stopped the nukes without detonating them. Proteus had the Exiles and the Young Allies on the ropes when he put his crown back on. Unbeknownst to him, however, Blink rigged it with a behavior modifier- causing Proteus to believe he really is Morph and being trapped in Morph's body. The Exiles then teleported back to Panoptichron and sent the last remaining nukes into space. The Young Allies then thanked the Exiles for saving their world from the nukes, Dorma, and Proteus as they left.

[edit] References

  1. ^ Ro, Ronin. Tales to Astonish: Jack Kirby, Stan Lee and the American Comic Book Revolution (Bloomsbury, 2004)
  2. ^ Don Markstein's Toonopedia: Sentinels of Liberty. Accessed March 27, 2008
  3. ^ Don Markstein's Toonopedia: Sentinels of Liberty. Accessed March 27, 2008
  4. ^ Don Markstein's Toonopedia: Sentinels of Liberty. Accessed March 27, 2008