Young Allies (Marvel Comics) Young Allies (Marvel Comics) Young Allies is the name of three fictional superhero teams appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The Golden Age's 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. Created by Jack Kirby and Joe Simon as the Sentinels of Liberty, "a multiracial group of patriotic kids," the group was led by Bucky Barnes (Captain America's teenage sidekick), and initially made up of his four friends: Knuckles (Percival Aloysius O'Toole), Jeff (Jefferson Worthing Sandervilt), Tubby (Henry Tinkle), and Whitewash Jones.
Marvel Comics was able to capitalize on its successful superhero comics of the previous decade by acquiring a new newsstand distributor and greatly expanding its comics line. Marvel pulled ahead of rival DC Comics in 1972, during a time when the price and format of the standard newsstand comic were in flux. Goodman increased the price and size of Marvel's November 1971 cover-dated comics from 15 cents for 36 pages total to 25 cents for 52 pages. DC followed suit, but Marvel the following month dropped its comics to 20 cents for 36 pages, offering a lower-priced product with a higher distributor