Before Jet Came Jenny

A quarter century before Jet Dream and her Stunt-Girl Counterspies were tearing up the skies, they belonged to Flyin' Jenny. Jenny was created by Russell Keaton and started out as a newspaper strip in October of 1939. The following year she jumped to comic books in the premiere issue of Reg'lar Fellers Heroic Comics. with an ongoing 4 page feature before getting her own short-lived title.

An odd little tidbit: Jenny's surname was Dare, a name with a rich comicbook history. Originally Keaton planned to name her Virginia Dare after his wife, but changed Virginia to Jenny after realizing the name's historic connotations. (Virginia Dare was the first English child born here in the Colonies)

Here are the first 5 issues worth of Jenny Dare's adventures in Reg'lar Fellers:

Is it just me, or is Ranxerox captaining that ship?

The Flyin' Jenny strips that i have are from the following year, so i can't be certain but this seems to be the introduction of Jenny's Style Show. For better or worse, by 1941 it was a staple feature of the comic strip.
Sadly, Russell Keaton died young at only 35 years old in 1945. Losing her creator combined with the changes brought about by the end of the war led to Jenny fading away from the comic scene.

Flyin' Jenny took to the air way back in 1939. You'd be justified in thinking that she was the first female aviator hero in comics.

But you'd be wrong - by a dozen years...

pages by Russell Keaton for Reg'lar Fellers Heroic Comics #s 1-4 (1940)

JET-A-REENO!

As noted last time, i spent years thinking that Jet Dream And Her Stunt-Girl Counterspies #1 was the only appearance of Jet and her team. Also noted: I was wrong.

I had long given up on seeing more of Jet's team. Another decade and more passed until, one day while digging through old UK Annuals, i ran into this story -

My brain melted. How did this come to be?
The hunt was on!

My first mistake in looking for more of Jet Dream was looking to the future after her comic - much of her stories took place before her comic was released. The second mistake was not digging through old back-up strips.

Jet Dream and her team had another 15 adventures beyond the two we've seen. They ran as a break between acts in The Man From U.N.C.L.E. comic from Gold Key. (The tale above was found in The Man From U.N.C.L.E.'s  1970 UK Annual - pointing us to the original source. It was actually the team's 9th adventure.)

The first tale appeared in TMFU #7 and she appeared every issue through #22, the final issue. Oddly enough, she never seems to have shown up in The Girl From U.N.C.L.E. despite seeming to be a natural companion piece. A pity, because that would have meant more stories.
Here's her introductory tale, scripted by Dick Wood, with art by Mike Sekowsky & Mike Peppe -

For balance, here's the final Jet Dream story from TMFU #22. Like The Set-Up Sultan that opened this post, artwork is by Joe Certa; the writer is unknown on both -

These days those short little tales would each be decompressed into a 3 issue mini-series, but i enjoy those old stories that packed all they could into just a few pages.

Want more Jet Dream?
Join us this weekend when we'll be revisiting old friends including Jet, Joe, Koppy and Ulysses.

Jet Dream pages by Dick Wood, Mike Sekowsky, Mike Peppe, and Joe Certa for The Man From U.N.C.L.E. #s 7 & 22 and 1970 Annual (UK) (1966, 1969, 1970)

Jet Dreaming

One of the zootiest of the Groovy Age was the super spy babe, Jet Dream and her Stunt-Girl Counterspies -

Acrobeauts! Was that term coined by Dick Wood, writer of the book? No clue, but i do know that the cover is painted by George Wilson, and interior art was provided by Joe Certa.

When i ran across this comic, years after release, i was surprised i'd never seen or heard of it - it was certainly the sort of thing i would have grabbed if it had crossed my path, based on the cover alone. Inside the front cover gave us a quick introduction to a couple of the crew, and only deepened my interest...

Reading through we find that they've got the requisite comicbook headquarters...

...and we get role reversed  call-to-action sequences...

The ladies are pure action when the job calls for it. When they take off on a mission, they Take Off ...

...they deliver savage butt-kickings when required...

...fight hard and make bold sacrifices for the sake of the mission...

...and, of course, there's the expected explosions...

...but despite all obstacles, the team keeps their target alive and delivers him safely - only to find a last minute complication in the plan...

...but nothing stops our hero from winning through and collecting a hero's kiss for her team.
Y'know - it would work better visually if she was taller...

A groovy first issue found in a quarter bin a decade after publication. I looked around, but this seemed to be all there was.
Bummer.

I was so wrong...

Jet Dream pages written by Dick Wood and drawn by Joe Certa for Jet Dream #1 (1968)

Spaced Monkees II: The Visitors

We've seen recently how naturally The Monkees are Spaced out (so to speak).
It should come as no surprise that they attract others from space as well...

Yeah, the Monkees were no strangers to science fiction. They even added a robot to the band at one point...

...not that it worked out quite as they intended...

(Spoiler: The contract isn't for the boys.)

pages by Jose Delbo from The Monkees #7 (Dell) and by ?? for The Monkees Annuals #s 1 & 2   (UK) (1967, 1968)