YELLOW KID
Real Name: Unrevealed; presumably Mickey Dugan
Identity/Class: Unrevealed (1900s to modern day)
Occupation: Petty thief
Group Membership: None;
formerly Street Arabs (Creeper,
Dead George Pelham, Hoyden/Megan, Jacob, Spieler/Lillie McGurty, the Swell
/ Eddie Gunnam, Tristan, others)
Affiliations: Runaways (Molly Hayes, Victor Mancha,
Nico Minoru, Karolina Dean, Chase Stein, Xavin), Professor Duck;
formerly
the Sinners
Enemies: Goldbrick, Ratdog, the Sinners (Forget-Me-Not, Kid Twist, Maneater, Morphine, others), the Upward Path (Adjudicator, Black Mariah, Daystick, Difference Engine, Nightstick, the Witchbreaker), Dale Yorkes, Stacey Yorkes
Known Relatives: (Truth & Hogan's Alley strip, see Comments) Mr. Dugan (father), Mrs. Dugan (mother), (allegedly) unidentified sister; (Marvel) may have unspecified relationship to the "Yellow Kid" vampire;
Aliases: None
Base of Operations: Formerly Camelot (a backyard between NYC tenements in 1907)
First Appearance: (Historical) Truth (2nd June 1894); (Marvel) Captain America I#401 (June, 1992)
Powers/Abilities: The Yellow Kid
could generate golden energy from his hands; exactly what type of energy
and how he created it remains unrevealed, but it could clearly injure people
as he used it offensively in combat. He wore a long yellow nightshirt with
writing on it; the text seemed able to change from time to time, apparently
communicating on the silent Kid's behalf; it is unclear whether the Kid couldn't
speak, or whether he merely prefered not to talk. The Yellow Kid may also
have been unaging (perhaps via contracting vampirism - see Comments), aged
slowly or have skipped through time at some point, as he was active in both
1907 and the modern era without showing any real signs of aging.
History: (Runaways II#27) - In 1907 the Yellow Kid was one of a number of Wonders (that era's term for people with abilities - "Wonders of the Modern Age") who had come together as the Street Arabs. They based themselves out of some derelict tenements which shared a backlot, an area the Arabs dubbed "Camelot." The Yellow Kid was the most notorious member of the group.
(Runaways II#28 (fb) - BTS) - The Street Arabs occasionally did minor criminal jobs for the Sinners, a more violently criminal group of Wonders secretly controlled by the time traveling Dale and Stacey Yorkes, future foes of the Runaways.
(Runaways II#27) - The Runaways, time traveling from around 100 years in the future,
encountered the Swell, who brought them to meet the rest of the Street Arabs,
including the Yellow Kid.
(Runaways II#29 - BTS) - When the Runaways drew the Yorkes' ire, the Sinners attacked Camelot, slaying Street Arabs Creeper and Megan Hoyden. The Upward Path also showed up, and a gigantic melee ensued. Though initially not visible amongst the combatants, the Yellow Kid was present for the fight.
(Runaways II#30) - The Yorkes detonated a massive bomb intended to slay all the combatants, even their own allies, the Sinners, but two of the Runaways, Karolina Dean and Xavin, combined their powers to shield as many people as possible. The Yellow Kid was amongst the survivors, and continued to fight, battling both the Sinners' non-powered thug allies and the Adjudicators, specifically Black Mariah.
(Captain
America #401) - In the modern era later the Yellow Kid hung out in Manhattan's
Laughing Horse
Bar. Though something close to a century had passed since
his time with the Street Arabs, he had barely aged.
Comments: Created by Richard Felton Outcault. First
brought into the Marvel universe in a cameo by Mark Gruenwald, Rik Levins
and Danny Bulanadi; brought more solidly into 616 by Joss Whedon, Michael
Ryan, Rick Ketcham and Jay Leisten.
Yellow
Kid first appeared as a character in the humor magazine Truth on 2nd June
1894, before switching to Richard Outcault's newspaper strip Hogan's Alley
with the 17th February 1895 strip. The Swell's comment that the Yellow Kid
is notorious might suggest that 616's Outcault had seen or heard of the "real"
Yellow Kid and based a comic strip character around him, the same way various
real Western heroes had Dime Novels based on their exploits. He's often
mistakenly identified as the first comic strip character, but that's incorrect,
as he is predated by (amongst others) Rudolph Töppher's M. Vieux Drink,
who first saw print across Europe in 1837 and was reprinted in 1842 as Obadiah
Oldbuck in a New York paper, Brother Jonathan, meaning the Kid isn't even
America's first newspaper comic either. That said, though not the first such
character or strip, the Yellow Kid still remains massively important for
comics history as one of the earliest such characters and one responsible
for making such strips massively popular and mainstream, paving the way for
those who came after.
In
Hogan's Alley the Kid's real name is Mickey Dugan; though no real name is
revealed in his Marvel appearances, it seems likely this would be the true
identity of the 616 Yellow Kid too. Similarly there is no mention of family
in the Yellow Kid's brief Marvel appearances, but if the 616 Kid has the
same relatives as his newspaper progenitor, then he has a mother and father
known only as Mrs and Mr Dugan, and, apparently, an unidentified sister,
whose hand-me-down nightshirt he wears (I've seen an early strip with the
parents present and identified, but I'm uncertain whether the sister has
ever appeared (no, that isn't her in the image above right) or whether she
is just internet speculation from those trying to figure out where the Kid
got his nightshirt). Despite his nickname, the Kid's nightshirt was not always
colored yellow in early stories; the first few strips were black and white,
and throughout 1895 his nightshirt was colored anything from red to purple
to blue to green; it was only in 1896 that the colored settled down to being
consistently yellow, and text started appearing on the front.
Yellow Kid's appearance in Runaways is set in 1907, which is stated by Xavin to be 100 years prior to the Runaways' native era. Given the story's time travel element and that the story's schtick was showing off what the Marvel universe looked like in the early 1900s, I'd treat the date given as accurate and the 100 years comment as topical, a rounding off (and increasingly a rounding down as time passes in the real world) of how far back the Runaways had traveled.
A vampire resembling the Yellow Kid has also shown up (see sub-profile below), subsequently identified as Sylar Remz in 2011's Vampires: The Marvel Undead handbook. Even before this confirmation, it seemed unlikely that the vampire was the same individual as the Yellow Kid detailed above - it is certainly not impossible that the Yellow Kid could have had to have become a vampire after his time with the Street Arabs, died when staked by Wolverine circa the 1930s, and been resurrected when Blade was tricked into reviving all slain vampires via a mystic ceremony. However, the Kid's presence in the bar in Captain America #401 would mean he would have had to have been resurrected earlier than that, then been slain again so he could be revived a second time by Blade's ceremony. While this is certainly feasible, when you also take into account the differences in appearance, I prefer to think the vampire was a different individual. If you want to explain the similar appearances, beyond simple coincidence, then maybe Remz was a fan of the Yellow Kid comic strip, or his maker was and chose to turn Remz into a vampire because of his resemblance to the Kid. Or perhaps Deacon Frost created a Yellow Kid doppelganger, who subsequently took the name Sylar Remz?
Profile by Loki.
CLARIFICATIONS:
Character name has no known connections to
Sylar Remz, the "Yellow Kid" vampire
Real Name: Sylar Remz
Identity/Class: Human vampire (1930s and present day)
Occupation: Predator
Group Membership: None confirmed; possibly Nosferati
Affiliations: None
Enemies: Blade (Eric Brooks), Wolverine (Logan / James Howlett)
Known Relatives: None (but see Comments above)
Aliases: None
Base of Operations: New York City
First Appearance: Blade III#5 (March, 2007)
Powers/Abilities: Sylar Remz possessed superhuman strength, durability and speed. Presumably, like other vampires, he might have been able to shapeshift and was probably vulnerable to sunlight, garlic, holy symbols wielded by a true believer, etc., but he demonstrated none of this during the brief period that he fought Blade and Wolverine. He was more animalistic than most vampires, growling occasionally and speaking little (though he did utter a couple of recognisable words, so he could speak, and possessed human intelligence); his fingers ended in sharp claws and his fangs were rodent-like incisors rather than the more common sharpened canines of most vampires, perhaps suggesting he was a Nosferati.
History: (Blade III#5) - Circa the 1930s Sylar Remz vampire hunted in New York City, targeting the homeless living on Skid Row. Rumors of his actions reached Eric Brooks, the man soon to become known as Blade the Vampire Hunter. A mugger named Hector, one of Eric Brooks' Bloodshadows gang, made the mistake of targeting the mutant Logan (James Howlett, the future Wolverine), and got a beating for his trouble; escaping, Hector glimpsed Logan's animalistic fangs and mistakenly assumed Logan was a vampire. He reported this back to Brooks, prompting Brooks to take the rumors of vampire attacks seriously and to go hunting. Though hunting for Logan, Brooks soon ran into Remz. Unaware Logan was watching the encounter, the still inexperienced Brooks found himself outmatched; however, as Remz pinned an injured Brooks against a wall and prepared to claw his throat out, Logan intervened, catching Remz' arm before it could strike. Let go by his assailant as Logan slammed the vampire against the wall, Brooks handed his rescuer a stake, and Logan impaled Sylar Remz through the heart, ending his unlife.
(Blade
III#12) - In the modern era Blade was tricked into completing a mystic ritual
that restored to unlife every vampire that had ever died, including
Remz.
Comments: Created by Marc Guggenheim and Howard Chaykin.
Remz' real name was revealed in 2011's Vampires: The Marvel Undead handbook.
--Blade III#5 (Blade III#5, Blade III#12
images: (without ads)
Runaways II#27, p15, pan 4 (main)
Runaways II#30, p5, pan 2 (using his energy powers)
Runaways II#30, p10, pan 4 (battling Black Mariah)
Captain America I#401, p16, pan 1 (in the Laughing Horse Bar)
Truth, 2nd June 1894 (first appearance of the then-unnamed Yellow Kid)
Hogan's Alley, New York Journal, 20th December 1896 (Yellow Kid attends the
opening night of Kelly's Bowling Alley)
Blade III#5, p12, pan 5 (Sylar Remz)
Blade III#5, p22, pan 1 (Remz being staked, showing claws and fangs)
Blade III#12, p14, pan 8 (Remz revived)
Appearances:
Captain America I#401 (June, 1992) - Mark Gruenwald (writer), Rik Levins (pencils), Danny Bulanadi (inks), Ralph Macchio (editor)
Runaways II#27 (August, 2007) - Joss Whedon (writer),
Michael Ryan (pencils), Rick Ketcham & Jay Leisten (inks), Nick
Lowe (editor)
Runaways II#30 (August 2008) - Joss Whedon (writer),
Michael Ryan (pencils), Rick Ketcham, Victor Olazaba, Roland Paris & Craig Yeung (inks), Nick
Lowe (editor)
Blade III#5 (March, 2007) - Marc Guggenheim (writer), Howard Chaykin (art), Aubrey
Sitterson (editor)
Blade III#12 (October, 2007) - Marc Guggenheim (writer), Howard Chaykin and Gene
Colan (art), Aubrey Sitterson (editor)
First Posted: 12/25/2013
Last updated: 12/31/2020
Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.
Non-Marvel
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