The Little Wise Guys are a group of fictional characters, created by Charles Biro

Charles Biro

Charles Biro was an American comic book creator and cartoonist. He is today chiefly known for creating the comic book characters Airboy and Steel Sterling, and for his 16-year run on the acclaimed 1940s series Daredevil Comics for Lev Gleason Publications.-Biography:Charles Biro studied art at...

, who first appeared in comic book

Comic book

A comic book or comicbook is a magazine made up of comics, narrative artwork in the form of separate panels that represent individual scenes, often accompanied by dialog as well as including...

s from Lev Gleason Publications

Lev Gleason Publications

Lev Gleason Publications, founded by Leverett Gleason, was the publisher of a number of popular comic books during the 1940s and early 1950s, including Daredevil, Crime Does Not Pay, and Boy Comics....

 in the 1940s.

Publication history

The four original Little Wise Guys first appeared in Daredevil Comics #13 (October, 1942) and became the sidekicks of the title character. The original lineup included Scarecrow, Pee Wee, Jock and Meatball. Two issues later, one of them—Meatball—was killed off, and in issue #16 Curly was added.

As superheroes declined in popularity, Daredevil's role was gradually reduced to introducing the Wise Guys at the beginning of their stories, and starting with issue #70 (January, 1951), he disappeared completely; the book was still called Daredevil Comics, but only the Little Wise Guys remained. The titular star briefly reappeared in issues #79 and 80, but that was the end of him.

Daredevil Comics ended with issue #134 (September, 1956), and the Little Wise Guys vanished along with it.

In 2009, however, the Little Wise Guys became supporting characters in the Image Comics

Image Comics

Image Comics is a United States comic book publisher. It was founded in 1992 by high-profile illustrators as a venue where creators could publish their material without giving up the copyrights to the characters they created, as creator-owned properties. It was immediately successful, and remains...

 series Savage Dragon #148 along with Daredevil. These five characters, along with dozens of other Golden Age characters, were brought back to life in an earlier issue of Savage Dragon (#141) although the Little Wise Guys didn't appear until this later issue.

Also in 2009, one of them was brought back in the Dynamite Entertainment

Dynamite Entertainment

Dynamite Entertainment is an American comic book company that primarily publishes licensed franchises of adaptations of other media. These include adaptations of film properties such as Army of Darkness, Terminator and RoboCop, literary properties such as Zorro, Dracula, Sherlock Holmes, Alice in...

 miniseries The Death-Defying 'Devil as The Dragon (see Fictional biography, below). What part this character will play in the Project Superpowers

Project Superpowers

Project Superpowers is a comic book limited series published by Dynamite Entertainment beginning January 2008. It was co-plotted by Jim Krueger and Alex Ross, with scripts by Jim Krueger, covers by Alex Ross, and interior art by Doug Klauba and Stephen Sadowski for issue #0, and Carlos Paul for the...

universe is not yet known.

Lev Gleason Publications

In the early 1940s, a group of young orphans and runaways called the Little Wise Guys encountered the superhero Daredevil while he was fighting a German-American cult. The four boys—Meatball, Jock, Scarecrow, and Peewee—soon became Daredevil's sidekicks. Later, Meatball was killed in action, and his place in the gang was soon taken over by a bald kid called Curly. When the four kids weren't helping Daredevil to battle crime, they were having rambunctious adventures of their own.

Image Comics

It was revealed that the Little Wise Guys, along with their mentor Daredevil, were captured by Solar Man and put in suspended animation. Their life force, along with those of dozens of other superpowered characters from the Golden Age of comics were used to augment Solar Man's in his fight against crime. Years later, ShadowHawk released the captured heroes from captivity and restored them to life. Now in the present, they have relocated to Chicago, Illinois and frequently accompany Daredevil, Angel and Malcolm Dragon on adventures. When Savage Dragon faced Dart, she was knocked unconscious and the unaware Wise Guys, along with Daredevil took her into their care. Dark brutally murdered Jock who was watching when the others were away.

Dynamite Entertainment

Decades later, an elderly Curly saw a television broadcast announcing that the superheroes who had mysteriously vanished years ago had now returned, and that 'Devil was among them. Curly knew that this wasn't the same hero he remembered, because Daredevil had died in 1987 and given Curly one of his boomerang

Boomerang

A boomerang is a flying tool with a curved shape used as a weapon or for sport.-Description:A boomerang is usually thought of as a wooden device, although historically boomerang-like devices have also been made from bones. Modern boomerangs used for sport are often made from carbon fibre-reinforced...

s on his deathbed. Determined to expose the fraud, Curly obtained a drug on the black market that returned him to peak physical condition, and donned a green and purple version of 'Devil's costume; calling himself The Dragon, he then sought out 'Devil and fought with him, using the skills that his hero had taught him and the boomerang that was left to him. Although he lost the fight, he succeeded in revealing the truth to 'Devil's allies. What his next move will be has yet to be revealed.