They Don't Make 'Em Like That Any More - Valentine's Day Edition

Me and Brain still not getting along, so just a quick cover collection today. I did manage to figure out it was Valentine's Day, even if i didn't realize it was Friday again already. 

So our covers today are from one of the more odd Romance comics (unless there was an actual Odd Romance comic. I should look...)

Hang on, wokesters, here we go...

Don't you love how they decided this was the right place to find girls to write to soldiers? As noted in the title of this post, they don't make 'em like that any more.

But then, how could they?
We don't have Matt Baker any more.

Hmm...
Does that tie this into Black History Month?
Not the best way to do that. Might have to use that as a cheap excuse to come back to Matt once again, eh?

covers by Matt Baker for Teen-Age Temptations #s 1-3, 5, & 7-9 (1953, 1954)

Jane Dodge - Former Fly Girl

To answer the question we left off with last time, it was Page Parks - Air Hostess who never appeared again. That seems appropriate since she wasn't truly a Fly Girl. Lee Preston of the Red Cross appeared in the first 9 issues of Crack Comics before fading into history. Jane Martin - War Nurse had the longest run, appearing regularly in the first 111 issues of Wings.

In 1946, another Fly Girl, Jane Dodge, made a rather drastic career change to Jungle Goddess in the pages of Zoot -

Jack Kamen drew the cover above. The writing credit for the introductory strip is unknown, and the artwork is uncertain, but a good educated guess is Matt Baker, who did indeed draw the next issue, and the cover as well. Matt, as you may recall, was the artist on another Fly Girl, Ginger Maguire - Sky Girl, and our No-Fly Girl, Canteen Kate.

After almost a dozen issues, Rulah took over Zoot and had her own title from #s 17-27, while also appearing in All Top Comics. She was regularly reprinted over the years and is fondly remembered by genre aficionados. That's something of a regular footnote for characters drawn by Matt Baker.

Jungle Goddesses/Jungle Queens/Jungletc.,. is another recurring topic planned for this blog if i can ever figure out what to call them. (And, y'know, get things organized)

page art from Zoot #7 (1946)

Sunday Double-Down Triple-Feature Matinee

Welcome back to our weekend matinee.
We continue yesterday's matinee features, but we're doubling the amount - two chapters/episodes for each.

First up, our serial, of course - Oskar Lebeck and Alden McWilliams' classic newspaper strip - Twin Earths.

Previously on Twin Earths: Vana, a defector from Terra, the advanced human populated world opposite the sun from Earth, is now a target of her former government. Allied with the FBI, she volunteers to bait a trap for the Terran agents. While the trap is set, she tells FBI agent Garry Verth some of her world's history, including the failure of their space program using technology similar to Earth's rocket science...

Twin Earths - Chapter 5:

Twin Earths - Chapter 6:

 

Yesterday in Danny Dreams, we left Danny trapped in his world of prehistoric dreams.
Today, parts 2 & 3, concluding the tale. Mort Meskin steps in for pencils on the first strip, with Joe Kubert returning for the conclusion. Inks by both on both, it seems -

Our third feature, Mitzi Of The Movies from the loving brush of Matt Baker, is definitely embracing the Odd today, at least in the second half. I commented yesterday that Mitzi "...only appeared in those four stories ... sort of."
Today, the explanation for that remark.

First, Mitzi's fourth and final story in the terminating issue of Movie Comics -

Five years later, Mitzi pulled a Schrödinger's Return - simultaneously both there and not there.
In Cowboy Romance #10, they used Matt Baker's artwork for Mitzi In Holllywood, but Tiger Lily'd* all new dialogue to create a different story -

Y'know - even if i didn't already prefer the original story, that "Don't - Neigh! Neigh!" pun exclamation would have won me over for the voting.

page art from Twin Earths, Tor #s 4 & 5, Movie Comics #4, and Cowgirl Romances #10 (1947, 1952, 1954)

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*(What's Up,... not the Person, Town or Flower)