The Six Three Rocketeers

Three Rocketeers - Count 'Em!

1...2...3...

...4...5...6!

Hmm...

This trio got there first, back in 1952 -

But that was all there was.

A half dozen years later, a new Trio claimed the title with a tolerably awesome support trio - Jack Kirby and Al Williamson, with Joe Simon running Mission Control -

Unfortunately, they debuted in the final issue of Race For The Moon. It would be another 7 years before their adventures continued in Blast-Off -

(By the way - you can also find a couple tales from Larry Ivie in Blast-Off #1, illustrated by Al Williamson and Reed Crandall.)

However, Blast-Off lasted only a single issue, so it was another year before we saw them again in Unearthly Spectaculars as Otto Binder tells us how they got together, with Mike Sekowsky on pencils -

Amazingly, at this point, that was not Unearthly Spectacular's final issue. 

They lasted one more...

And so, apparently they parked the ship in the garage and never went speeding again.

page art by Vic for Atom Age Combat #3 and Jack Kirby, Al Williamson, Mike Sekowsky, and Bill Draut for Race For The Moon #3, Blast-Off #1, and Unearthly Spectaculars #s 2 & 3 (1952, 1958, 1965, 1966, 1967)

And Now That Title Makes More Sense...

Yesterday we featured two short tales that didn't seem to read quite right. Character names changed, details didn't line up... something was a bit Off.  Or just Odd.

And that oddness is what both had in common. To answer yesterday conundrum - what made the stories nearly identical is that both were re-published twice, each time with the names, even story details, changed.

Both of these stories originally ran in Red Seal Comics, just a few issues apart in 1946. Both were republished two years later in 1948, and then again in 1950 & '52, diverging a bit at the end.

George Tuska's Gay Desperado, not to be confused with Fred Guardineer's Gay Desperado, ran from mid-1945 to mid-'47 and has had stories reprinted as recently as 2016. The Gay Desperado name seems to have lost its cachet over the years, and he was renamed The Bold Buckaroo and The Lone Vigilante in the republished versions. But that wasn't enough, it seems. Jim Collins became Tim Rollins became Tom Cullen. Here are all three versions of this story, in publication order -

In a demonstration of customer contempt that would fit right in with today's corporations, that last version of the tale above was published only 8 issues after the previous version - in the same damn title.

Meanwhile, the second version below is from Authentic Police Cases, running a retread of a Lady Satan story. Authentic enough for the History Channel.

Another link between these two stories - although this Lady Satan tale is drawn by Ralph Mayo, the original artist on the series was none other than George Tuska. Mayo drew three Lady Satan stories that i know of, putting him even with Tuska.

You'll note more dramatic changes to the story on this next one, especially since she's not a superhero in the later versions -

Lady Satan was also reprinted in 2016, along with The Gay Desperado. Both were in Gwandanaland Comics, if you want to go hunting. Lady Satan saw more action with them.

page art by George Tuska and Ralph Mayo for Red Seal Comics #s 15 & 18, The Texan #s 1 & 9, Authentic Police Cases # 5, and Strange Terrors #1 (1946, 1948, 1950, 1952)