John Fantucchio was born on this date in 1938. Fantuchchio made his mark in the fanzines with a style that was lush and distinctive. He was perhaps best known for his covers for Rocket Blast ComicCollecter and The Buyer's Guide to Comic Fandom. Above is his first cover for the former. Here is a link to a website dedicated to his talent and art.
The Newsboy Legion and the Guardian were the first "original" stars to appear when the Simon and Kirby team first went to DC Comics hot off their stupendous success with Timely's Captain America. They'd already revised The Manhunter and the Sandman in the pages of Adventure Comics, but in the pages of Star-Spangled Comics it was something new but reliably exciting. Gabby, Tommy, Scrapper and Big Words walk forward proudly with their guardian, the reliable beat cop Jim Harper. Over them looms The Guardian, the superhero who saves the downtrodden of Suicide Slum. Heady stuff indeed.
And here's an homage of sorts to the Simon and Kirby original by modern master Jerry Ordway.
Shift to the 70's and one of the greatest reveals in all the Fourth World was when the "Golden Guardian" burst forth from the confines of The Project, the vast genetics lab which had birthed him. Reviving the Newsboy Legion was a request of the DC editors when Jack Kirby showed up at the joint and he complied and it's clear that there was no way they could be brought back without their mentor. But Jim Harper was dead, and we have this new cloned version of The Guardian, a hero looking for direction and purpose. His helmet would never look this way again as when he finishes this leap in the very next issue a less complex head piece will be evident. I prefer the simpler look and am glad that Kirby had second thoughts about the adornments, or perhaps just forgot them all together.
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