More Space Roving With Jane And Ted

I'm in the middle of a big work binge on The Third Colony, and loathe to break away for long. So here's a quick post for today - just following the next couple adventures for The Space Rovers by Max Plaisted, continuing from yesterday.

As we ended the previous post, Jane Martin and Ted Hunt were attempting to return home -

"Will They Reach Earth Safely?" 
Oh, they get SO close...

Now you can see what i meant -

You can probably guess whether the make it home or have more adventures, can't you?

page art by Max Plaisted from Exciting Comics #s 4 & 5 (1940)

The Other Jane Martin - Fly Girl And Space Rover

In the year 1940, Dr. Matthew Martin invented the first Space-Ship capable of interplanetary travel. As his assistants, Dr. Martin planned to take his co-builder, Douglas Hunt, and Doug's younger brother, Ted. A trial trip to the moon was to be their first venture -

Jane Martin, aged 18, daughter of the famous inventor Dr. Martin wanted to go, but the Dr. told her it's impossible, they might never return!

But outside Dr. Martin's laboratory crouch two men, secret agents of a powerful foreign government. The ship with its ray-gun would make a potent weapon of warfare for their country. With it, they would rule the world!

The secret agents rush in, taking Dr. Martin and Doug by surprise. Meanwhile, Jane visits Ted aboard the ship...

So begins The Space Rovers from Max Plaisted, starring the other Jane Martin.

When the enemy agents rush the ship, Jane makes the desperate decision to launch, so as to keep it out of their hands. Naturally, things go awry and instead of a short jaunt to Luna, Jane and Ted wind up headed towards the sun. But they manage to land on Mercury, run afoul of the natives, and have scantily clad adventures as they make their escape from the inner planet.

Oddly enough, both Jane Martins debuted in 1940; the Space Rover premiered in Exciting Comics #2, just four months before the War Nurse showed up in Wings Comics #1. Even more odd, both are Fly Girls - though the Space Rover flew a tad higher. But not nearly as long - only eight adventures.

Perhaps they didn't last long, but by their second tale Jane & Ted were already grabbing the cover...

Let's join them inside...

"Will They Reach Earth Safely?" 

Oh, they get SO close...

page art by Max Plaisted from Exciting Comics #s 2 & 3, cover by L. North (1940)

The Inverse Evolution Of Jane Martin - War Nurse

We've been looking at how Pat Parker - War Nurse evolved from War Nurse to Adventurer to Superhero and Commando.

While we've looked at Jane Martin - War Nurse previously, it was mostly looking at later episodes featuring Lily Renée doing the artwork. Jane started the year before Pat, in the spring of 1940. When she launched, she sported a rather superheroic look to her uniform...

She kept that look for a few issues. This is one of the two for which we have confirmed art credit - George Tuska on both pencils and inks...
 

...then started to modify it to look less superheroish...
 

...and by her 5th appearance, she was uniformed as a standard Nurse, with Tuska returning on at least pencils...
 

 

Obviously, the outfit change didn't slow her down. She kept up her heroics, no matter how she was dressed, for a decade, long after the war had ended.

Oddly enough, there was another seeming change along the way. Based on the above tales, one might conclude that Jane Martin was British (unless i missed a reference while skimming). The USA wouldn't enter the war for another year and a half, and Jane's boyfriend was a British pilot.

So, why was i thinking she was from across the pond, demarcating her from Pat Parker?

Later stories told me so...

...though actually, it only says that "No American Girl has ever run such a strange gamut of thrills and mystery as Jane Martin." It doesn't actually state that's her nationality.

I'm not going reading through 100 tales to find out now. Read it the way you prefer, as shall i.

page art by George Tuska and ??? (Nick Cardy?)from Wings Comics #s 1 & 2-6, splash page by Lily Renée from Wings Comics #33 (1940,1943)