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)

Blue Monday Calendar 2018 Week 53

Yes, i know that there are only 52 weeks in a year, but that doesn't mean they're contained to 52 weeks on a calendar.  Terribly inconvenient of them, but what can you do?
(Well, okay - we could post before the year expired, but the computer wasn't cooperating. Obviously it did finally boot up yesterday - i left it on overnight to avoid the problem this morning)

Our final painting from the great Gil Elvgren is Riding High from 1958 -

art by Gil Elvgren (1958)

Blue Monday Calendar 2018 Week 35

Smoke Screen is this week's lovely Gil Elvgren painting from 1958 -

Yes - i'm still alive, even if the computer is barely on life support. Hopefully what we need will arrive this week, but who knows if that'll make things better instead of worse this time? Meanwhile - it's 60 degrees outside and i'm sitting here with the Air Conditioning blowing full blast and freezing to keep this unit running long enough to post and check emails.
I'll return when i can.

painting by Gil Elvgren (1958)

Flash To Flush To Flesh

Let's look at some of the early parodies of Flash Gordon. He's one of our cultural archetypes, with his spawn still going strong. (see Star Wars, et al.) Let's not forget, of course, that Flash was the spawn of Buck Rogers. We won't be ignoring him. (Actually, we will be ignoring him today.)

There is at least one parody earlier than the ones we have here today listed for Lala Palooza in Feature Comics #32. (Don't bother with the digital golden age archives. What i've seen of #32 may have the right cover, but the interior seems to be issue #44. There is an odd superhuman in Poison Ivy reminiscent of Flash, but only in appearance.)

Conveniently enough, since we've been doing a lot of Funny Animals lately, the next earliest i've found is Flash Rabbit from All Top Comics #s 1 & 2, written by Pat Parrish (artist unknown) -

Zany #2 brought us Flush Gordon -

Whack #2 remixed the name to Flush Jordan with artwork by William (Alex) Overgard...

...and Humbug #10, Jack Davis had fun mixing it with the paranoid times and gave us Flyashi Gordonovich, Intergalactic Commissar...

...while Wally Wood was hinting towards later work over in Mad #11 with the title Flesh Garden! -

Of course, there have been many more over the years - we're only scratching into the 1950s here. But this post is getting long, so...
So long!

page art by listed creators, otherwise unknown, for All Top Comics #2 1 & 2, Zany #2, Whack #2, Humbug #10, and Mad #11 (1946, 1953, 1954, 1958)