Rummaging Undercover

Brain done wandered off again. While we're waiting for it to return, and for Dick to finish up that next report on what Frankenstein is doing, i do have a little something sitting here.

First, before i forget - again - while i haven't resumed the Blue Monday Calendar (Gil Elvgren is a tough act to follow, for one thing), i did post a couple of January Calendars last week - but both have adult content so they were posted in our 'back room', The Other Voice Of ODD! and i forgot to mention it here.

One of the calendars i've been waiting to run since the beginning of the calendars project. 2019, a compatible year, is finally here and Jim Steranko's Supergirls calendar has cycled around. If you're not familiar with his old '70s calendar, perhaps you should be.
Here's the link to the January Calendar post.

Something i've been thinking about is revisiting some of our old topics, looking a bit deeper at some of the characters we've peeked in upon. I have one story already prepped in the pile, so let's go ahead a look at another adventure of Starr Flagg, aka Undercover Girl -

We'll come back for more of Starr's adventures, and visit with some other familiar faces.
And - Who knows? Maybe we'll even finally get to that piece on Lou Cameron's previously alluded Other genre, or one of the dozens of other topics my peripatetic mind has wandered past and left waiting.

Maybe.
We can hope.

page art by Ogden Whitney from Red Fox #15 (1954)

reprinted from Trail Colt #2 (1949)

3-Day Weekend Matinee: Day The First

You know what's been missing from our weekend matinees? A Serial!

It's well past time to correct that, so starting today we'll be running Oskar Lebeck & Alden McWilliams' classic newspaper strip - Twin Earths. The notion of a twin planet in an opposite orbit around the sun is a fairly familiar one these days, but when Twin Earths launched back in 1952 it may well have been a pioneering concept.
For the forseeable future, we'll be opening up each weekend matinee with a chapter in the classic serial fashion. (Don't worry - it ran for over a decade)

To Be Continued...

I'm sure some are waiting for our advertised Main Feature, but first - a surprise story: the first tale of Undercover Girl, at whom we were peeking earlier in the week.

Yeah, we'll definitely be back for more with Starr later.
But now it's time for our featured tale - part one of 1950's Vic Torry And His Flying Saucer. Vic Torry is drawn by Bob Powell, one of the artists on Fly Girl Gale Allen. If you're not familiar with Bob's work, one of his biggest hit series was Cavegirl - so you can be sure we'll be seeing him as our meandering look at cavemen in comics proceeds over time.
Vic Torry was a one shot title. So far as i know, the 3-part story featured this weekend is his only published adventure. In case you missed it earlier, and because it's a very cool example of an early mixed photo and paint comic cover, here's the cover again as we kick off our tale -

Join us tomorrow and Sunday for the continuing and concluding chapters.

Twin Earths by Oskar Lebeck and Alden McWilliams for United Features,  Undercover Girl drawn by Ogden Whitney for Manhunt #1, Vic Torry by Roy  Ald and Bob Powell for Vic Torry And His Flying Saucer #1 (1947, 1950, 1952)

NOT A Cross-Gender Comedy

Despite sounding like an '80s cross-dressing comedy film, Undercover Girl was actually an adventure comic featuring Starr Flagg, Secret Agent. Here's the introduction from her first adventure back in 1947 -

Drawn by Ogden Whitney, Starr originally appeared in Manhunt, which ran for 11 issues in 1947 & '48 from Magazine Enterprizes. (Plus 2 reprint issues (skipping #12) they released under the ME imprint)

One of the things i enjoyed about her adventures was those opening panels -

Each tale had what amounted to a book cover splashed at the top of the first page -

After those 11 tales ran in Manhunt, Undercover Girl returned the following year for the two issue run of Trail Colt...

Three years later, she finally got her own title! (Starting with #5) -

Yeah... don't get too excited it. It only lasted three issues, and all of her stories were reprints - except one.
Oddly, that one is the only one not to run under the Undercover Girl banner...

Shall we return to look closer at her adventures?
Time will tell...

Damnfoolery Bonus:
Silly fanboy debate topic -
Colonel Flagg on M*A*S*H was actually her little brother, and that's the spawning point for all of his psychological problems.

page art by Ogden Whitney for Manhunt #s1-11, Trail Colt #s 1 & 2, and Undercover Girl #5 (1947-1949, 1952)