Showing posts with label Jane Martin - War Nurse. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Jane Martin - War Nurse. Show all posts

30 October 2019

Flying With Lily And Jane

Well over a year after introducing her and promising more this Fly Girl, at last Jane Martin arrives -


Jane Martin - War Nurse was introduced in 1940 in the first issue of Wings Comics. It was, as we saw previously, a good year for Fly Girls.

Today, we're joining her a few years later, after dropping War Nurse from her title. And, more to the point, after Lily Renée joined her team. Lily started drawing Jane a couple issues earlier, but i just love the framing on the splash for this one, and it's the first one that she signed -


It's worth noting that, while the Asian baddies may look like they came from central casting, Lily avoids the sub-human look so often seen in those days. This is especially noteworthy given Lily's personal history, having been driven from her homeland by the invading Nazi forces. Demonization of the enemy would have been more understandable from her, but she was better than that.

When choosing a third story to round out this first set, I chose this one simply for the outfit worn in the splash (and later in the tale). Doesn't she look like she's going full superhero here?


We opened with the first Jane Martin story that Lily signed. We close with her final issue (Lily's, not Jane's). I tend to think that Lily knew this next one was to be her last Jane Martin tale. The splash panel looks like a fond farewell -


That may have been Jane's last tale drawn by Lily Renée, but she illustrated nearly a score of them in total. So we'll be back with some of those we flew over in the next post.

page art by Lily Renée for Wings Comics #s 33, 42 & 48 (1943, 1944)

30 January 2019

Loving Lily or Reading Renée (Choose Your Own Title)

So...

I actually stuck my head outside of the cave for a bit yesterday, and over at and everything else... that Steve ran one of Lily Renée's The Werewolf Hunter stories from yesterday's splash gallery a couple weeks back. (The Living Mermaids tale - he's got it here) I guess i won't be running that today as i had planned. (Good thing i peeked outside when i did.)

Not only that, if you jumped straight over to read the post, you'll have noted that he's been running a series of her work on The Werewolf Hunter over at The Horror Of It All. Four more tales are linked in the above post, so you can enjoy more of them without me running more here.

That being the case, let's look a bit at some of Lily's other works. While she may have saved the Werewolf Hunter from cancellation*, the strip she was most well known for was Señorita Rio -


And, as previously mentioned, she drew a score of tales for one of our Fly Girls - Jane Martin, War Nurse...


...though by the time Renée came aboard the strip, Jane had left nursing for more dangerous work - but still flying.

Lily also drew a couple dozen tales from The Lost World...


...and a handful of Norge Benson stories...


You may have noted that, unlike all the other images presented, the splash above does not include her signature to verify who drew it. The signature is on page 6 of the story. It can be rough confirming things sometimes. Especially if the artist is working in a different style, as with Lucy, The Real Gone Gal -


There is no signature anywhere in this story. Nonetheless, we can be quite certain the work is hers. Lucy was a retitled reprint of Kitty, and Renée signed the original -


If you go hunting for her work, be aware that sometimes she signed with a simple L.R., as with Fifi On The Farm -


And, to keep things extra odd and interesting, you can also find her name as part of a joint signature, notably on much of her Abbott & Costello work -


What makes that odd & interesting is that Eric Peters was her husband - another refugee from the War who found a new life as an artist in the USA.

One more odd (and wonderful) thing about Lily - unlike many of those we talk about here, Lily is still with us. She'll be turning 98 this May. She's even attended some comic conventions in this decade, so you might even be able to meet her. Probably should read more of her stories, just in case you get the opportunity, eh? Let's go with a couple of the odd ones from above: Fifi On The Farm and Kitty, complete with cover -




Well - that should be different enough from the other Lily Renée posts happening, eh? But, no worries - we'll return to look at some of her more famous works -


See?
Now it would be cruel if i didn't show you what happened "when..."

And, of course, we have to come back and look at more of Jane Martin - she's a Fly Girl!


See you when.

page art by Lily Renée for Fight Comics #s 36 & 41, Wings Comics #s 35 & 48, Planet Comics #s 29 & 33, Lucy The Real Gone Gal #1, Kitty #1, Toyland #3, and Abbot & Costello #2 (1943, 1944, 1947, 1948, 1953)

===

*(When nobody else wanted to touch the strip, it was Lily who talked the writer and editor into dropping the werewolf angle and opening it up to other magickal creatures. Combined with her artwork, she turned it into a hit)

02 August 2018

1940 - A Good Year For Fly Girls

We haven't looked at any Fly Girls in a bit, and since we've been poking around in the 1940s lately, let's jump back to the beginning of the decade. 1940 saw the debut of at least 3 Fly Girls in the comics - Jane Martin - War Nurse, Lee Preston of the Red Cross, and Page Parks - Air Hostess.

While i'm trying to salvage data as the new hard drive exhibits signs of advanced dementia, why don't you folks take a look at the introductory tales for each of the ladies. All three of them debuted as features in the first issue of new titles.

Page Parks premiered in issue #1 of Blue Bolt, written by Ray Gill with art from William Rowland. (The standard practice of writer/artist ordering on the credits hadn't yet been established at this point) -


Okay, you're right. Page doesn't really qualify as a Fly Girl since she never takes the stick. But she was up there in the air very early on, and debuted in a highly prestigious title with a Joe Simon cover and young Jack Kirby just getting together with him in the background, about to start a partnership that would help shape the next half century of comics, and beyond. So she gets a mention anyway.
Meanwhile...

Actually, one month prior... Crack Comics #1 featured the debut of Lee Preston with Bob Powell using the Terrence MacAully pseudonym -


Three or four months later, depending on which comic you're counting from, Wings #1 hit the stands with Jane Martin. (Fred Hawks is a house name, not the actual creator)


Of the three, one had another handfull (and a half) of adventures, the second appeared perhaps a hundred times or more, and the third was never seen again. Care to guess who was whom?

This afternoon, we'll have the answers and an odd entry from later in the decade - a long running character who quit being a Fly Girl at the start of her first adventure.

See you in 12 hours!

page art from Blue Bolt #1, Crack Comics #1, and Wings Comics #1 (1940)