Friday, June 29, 2012

Reading Room: JET DREAM "Demon Dogfight"

...as a public demonstration of prowess goes awry due to evil intent!
Story by Dave Wood, art by Joe Certa.
This new story from Man from U.N.C.L.E. #22 (1968) backs up a reprinted U.N.C.L.E. tale, so most people (myself included) thought it was a reprint as well.
Good thing I took a look inside the book! ;-)
There's one more never-reprinted Jet Dream story to tell, but you won't find it here.
It will appear on our "sister" blog Heroines™ blog in daily installments on the week of August 13th, along with another long-unseen tale with an unusual history!

And, as of our next post, this blog's title is altering to Hero Histories™...although the feed and addy will remain the same.

at No comments:

Thursday, June 28, 2012

Reading Room: ONE-SHOT HEROES! The Owl

With the Court of Owls currently bedeviling The Batman...
...we'll be looking at previous heroes to use the motif of an owl.
This character from Centaur Publications' Funny Pages V4N1 (1940) was the first costumed Owl.
Written and illustrated by Martin Filchock, he appeared only a couple of months after the first appearance of The BatMan in Detective Comics #27 (1939), and shows a number of similarities to the initial version of the Caped Crusader.
As it turns out, 1940 was a good year for owls as two more heroes (and one heroine) would show up within six months to claim the name.
We'll be looking at them next week...
at 1 comment:

Friday, June 22, 2012

Reading Room: JET DREAM "Terror of Ting-a-Ling"

What happens when an innocent stumbles upon a heroine's secret hq?
Ask Johnny Kai, Ting-a-Ling's boyfriend, when he ends up in "No Man's Land"!
"Stray dog"?
Jet doesn't have a very high opinion of men in general, does she?
Story by Dave Wood, art by Joe Certa.
This new story from Man from U.N.C.L.E. #21 (1968) backs up a reprinted U.N.C.L.E. tale, so most people (myself included) thought it was a reprint as well.
Good thing I took a look inside the book! ;-)

at No comments:

Monday, June 18, 2012

Reading Room: NATURE MAN "Terrible Torrent" & NATURE GIRL "Trapping the Trapper"

Jerry Siegel followed the pattern established by his biggest hit...
...Superman, when he did Nature Boy, including an adult incarnation...
...along with a distaff version...
Nature Man appeared in Nature Boy #3, Nature Girl in #5.
Both strips were written by Jerry Siegel and illustrated by John Buscema.
While Nature Man is obviously a grown-up David Crandall, there's no explanation as to who Nature Girl is, how she got her powers, or why she has a pet elephant!
(Although I note, as an adult, Crandall finally puts on a pair of tights!)
These were their only appearances.
at No comments:

Saturday, June 16, 2012

Reading Room: JET DREAM "Menace of the Feathered Warriors"

The time had come for Jet Dream's final battle...
...and it's against her evil doppelganger...who's also her only recurring foe!
Well, so much for recurring foes...
Story by Dave Wood, art by Joe Certa.
We thought this story from Man from U.N.C.L.E. #20 (1968) was her final strip chronologically, but we've just found out that it's not the case!
While the final issues (#21 and #22) of the title reprint earlier U.N.C.L.E. tales, the Jet Dream stories in both issues are not reprints but new stories!
Those two tales will appear over the next couple of weeks.

at 1 comment:

Tuesday, June 12, 2012

Reading Room: BLUE BEETLE "Loan Shark Racket"

In the early Golden Age, superheroes helped the "little guy"...
...when sleazeballs took advantage of honest citizens' dire financial straits!
The Blue Beetle finally gains his mask in his story from Fox's Mystery Men Comics #3 (1939) which is credited to the the pen-name "Charles Nicholas", but was written by Will Eisner and illustrated by Charles Nicholas Wojtkoski, who later used the "Charles Nicholas" name for all his comic work until he retired.

Support Small Business!
at No comments:

Friday, June 8, 2012

Reading Room: JET DREAM "Fall to Freedom"

The Stunt-Girl CounterSpies go back to their roots...
...unfortunately, for one of them, the roots include Nazis!
Remember, when this story from Man from U.N.C.L.E. #19 came out in 1968, it was only 23 years since the end of World War II, so those pesky Nazis were still pretty spry, especially in spy fiction!
For example: Baron Strucker was battling Nick Fury both in the 1960s in Nick Fury: Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D., and in the 1940s in Sgt Fury and His Howling Commandos!
Blackhawk, himself a WWII vet, was still fighting various hidden Nazi factions until his first series ended in 1968!
Nazis also popped up in the Matt Helm, Flint, and James Bond films, as well as the Man from U.N.C.L.E. tv series.

Story by Dave Wood, art by Joe Certa.

This is the penultimate Jet Dream short story.
Next week, we'll be presenting the final four-pager (which features the return of a past foe), then we're moving over to our sister blog, Heroines™, for the complete full-length one-shot tale that ended Jet's original run!

at No comments:

Wednesday, June 6, 2012

Reading Room: ONE-SHOT HEROES Blue Flame

Who looks like the Human Torch and acts like the Human Torch...but is blue instead of red?
The Blue Flame, that's who!
Nope, S. Aitan, you won't meet Blue Flame again.
Nor will anybody else...ever!
Even though the story implies the Blue Flame's been around for awhile, he never appeared anywhere except this one appearance in Four Star's Captain Flight #11 (1947).
The writer is unknown, but the art is credited to Zoltan Szenics, who was primarily a letterer, but did several stories as a penciler or inker.
Perhaps it was a tryout for Timely Comics that didn't sell, and was reworked.

Support Small Business!
at No comments:

Monday, June 4, 2012

Reading Room: JET DREAM "Captive Jet"

What happens when you take "Jet Dream" out of...
...and the team has to rescue their erstwhile leader?
"Jet-A-Reeno"???
Well, it ain't no "Hawkaaa!", but it'll do.
It's good to know they can function without Jet's leadership when necessary.
Script for this tale from Man from U.N.C.L.E. #18 (1968) by Dick Wood, with vastly-improved art by Joe Certa.
(We can finally tell which StuntGirls are which!)

at No comments:

Friday, June 1, 2012

Reading Room: BLUE BEETLE "Armored Car Robbery"

The Blue Beetle dons his blue chain-mail costume for the first time...
...and displays the BeetleMobile in it's only appearance, ever!
You'll note Blue Beetle now wears distinctive chain-mail armor, but with short sleeves and no domino mask!
(Lucky for him no one recognized him as policeman Dan Garret!)
Next issue he gains the mask, and by his fourth appearance the long-sleeved look he was to keep for the remainder of his career.
This story from Fox's Mystery Men Comics #2 is credited to the the pen-name "Charles Nicholas", but was written by Will Eisner and illustrated by Charles Nicholas Wojtkoski, who later used the name for all his comic work until he retired.

Support Small Business!
at No comments: