Somewhere Between Blackhawks And Boy Commandoes...

We've been looking at Pat Parker's evolution from War Nurse to Adventurer to Superhero to ... ? 

When we left off, the 'artist' promised us that Pat was headed off somewhere new next time. And indeed, not just a new front of the war, but also a new role - Girl Commando...

And now Pat was no longer a solo act - she had a team to back her up. From this point on, the series was The Girl Commandos. They ran for about a score of issues, dissolving after the war... 

(Yes, this is unfortunately how our Friends & Allies were depicted.)

(Finally! we start seeing Jill Elgin's signature on the strip)

Note that last caption - "Not so long ago..."

The war was over, and rather than follow the often tread route of retooling the Girls to fight crime, they allowed the Commandos to retire and enjoy civilian life in peacetime.

Not a bad run. With the exception of #38, Pat appeared in every issue of Speed Comics from #13 to #42, outlasting the war she fought by several months.

page art by Jill Elgin from Speed Comics #s 23-37, & 39-42 (1942-1946)

Perusing Pat Parker's Progression Proceeds...

We're back with Pat Parker, War Nurse - our latest Fly Girl. As we saw, her look had morphed from Nursing Uniform to Adventurer to Superhero. And her adventures went far beyond what one might expect from a Nurse - a fact that would soon be reflected in both title and content.

As we can see, Pat was out in the field, taking an active role in the war...

...and even going behind enemy lines...
 

That's a fun looking splash, innit? Let's go ahead and follow along on this one before we continue. We open with Adolph Hitler wandering the halls of power, desperate for a Twitter account...
 

For younglings with confusion - the Army Air Corps was what we had before the Air Force became an independent branch of the military. (A real branch, not a PR farce based on tyrants' dreams of conquest like our latest gomer induced military branch.) 

Continuing on, we can see how Pat took an ever more active role in the fight...

The next tale highlights how wrong i was in forgetting that Pat was a Fly Girl when first we spoke of her. Pat Got Around -
Motorcycles, planes, rafts, parachutes ... frelling hijacked submarines!
 

As mentioned several times previously, i love seeing the creators inserted into the comics. But - who in the 9 hells is that?

Best guess for the artwork is Jill Elgin, who was drawing it a couple issues earlier.  That sure doesn't look like her.
We could say maybe it's the writer, but that's a drawing table. So... who knows?

But, we'll be back to see what he was talking about, and the changes to which i alluded above. 
Meanwhile, two issues later, Pat made the cover...
 

page art by Jill Elgin (and maybe others) from Speed Comics #s 16-22 & 24 (1942)

Evolution In Action

I expect we'll return to Landor, Maker Of Monsters this weekend, but first...

Pat Parker is one of those characters who's been swirling around in the topic cloud in my head since back when we started talking about Fly Girls. While she doesn't qualify for that illustrious grouping, she is a kindred spirit.
Pat premiered in the second issue of Speed Comics (#13) and evolved greatly along the way. When she started out, she was very much exactly what her tag line advertised - Pat Parker, War Nurse...

By the following issue, she had shifted from straight nurse to a more pulp hero look, sporting jodhpurs and an almost Doc Savage ensemble, with just a hint of Luke Cage -

How long do you think it took her to evolve to the full-on superhero look like this...?

(Yes, we'll answer that question later, too)

page art by "Howard Reed" (Jill Elgin?) from Speed Comics #s 13 & 14 (1941)