Read more about The Guardian at: Wikipedia Official Site: DC Comics Guardian (James Jacob "Jim" Harper) is a comic book fictional character, a DC Comics superhero, created by Jack Kirby and Joe Simon. He first appeared in Star Spangled Comics #7 (April 1942). Guardian resembles an earlier Kirby and Simon character Captain America (first published in March 1941 by Marvel Comics) in that he had no super powers and carried an indestructible shield. Jim Harper is a police officer in Metropolis' Suicide Slum who became a vigilante to catch crooks that the law couldn't prosecute, describing himself as guarding society from criminals. He was trained to fighting condition by ex-boxer Joe Morgan (the same man who trained other two mystery men, Wildcat and the first Atom). He was aided by a group of boys known as the Newsboy Legion, to whom he was, literally, a guardian, having volunteered to take them in rather than allow them to be sent to prison on the grounds that they were basically good kids who just needed a chance. The Legion grew up to become the heads of the Cadmus Project, subsequently saving Harper's life by transferring his mind from his old, dying body into a clone of himself when he was younger. It was later revealed that Jim Harper was the great-uncle of Roy Harper, who became Green Arrow's sidekick under the name of "Speedy". The young archer would eventually outgrew his sidekick status, first assuming a new identity as the hero "Arsenal" and currently as the "Red Arrow." After the death of his child Lian, Roy Harper has since reverted back to using his "Arsenal" title. Other relatives include his niece Roberta "Famous Bobby" Harper, who was briefly a member of the second Newsboy Legion and Jamie Harper, an African American grandniece working for the Gotham City Police Department. She worked as Robin's personal contact in the GCPD, similar to the role Commissioner James Gordon plays for Batman. After helping Robin and Jason Bard expose two dirty cops in the GCPD, Jamie Harper was promoted to Detective Specialist and has since transferred to the Metropolis Science Police. |