Ride, Batman, Ride!

My Goddess informs me that today is Saturday. Damn - i'm getting worse on tracking time. I thought today was Thursday.
But, i'm finally awake so time for a quickie!

When digging through old Golden Age comics, one tends to notice little patterns and trends. One thing that stood out on the first few years of Batman covers - Batman likes to Ride!

That cover loops us back around to yesterday's post. And we left out riding things like skis, swinglines, dangling rope ladders, etc.,.

It sure looks like they were having fun, too.

Found In Space

I didn't make it to bed last night until the sun showed up. So running a wee bit behind today. Instead of rooting around for a new topic, let's just follow along with yesterday's space journey. Lots of old Golden Age heroes hopped off the planet now and again.

Even some you might never suspect - like the Black Pirate...

And then there's Batman. No surprise he left the planet. He even left the millennium. 
Batman Is Everywhere!

Too bad he didn't send them to the year 3000 to hook up with the Batman we met there three years prior to this tale.

Now, if you'll excuse me, i'm going to go caffeinate.

page art by Paul Reinman from All-American Comics #83 and Bob Kane, Lew Sayre Schwartz, and Charles Paris from Batman #59 (1947, 1950)

That Time Hawkman & Neptune Perkins Flew To Venus In A Light Bulb To Fight Legends

As i've mentioned before, i sometimes enjoy simply perusing the covers of Golden Age comics. They can be raw & primitive, boldly experimental, unbridled fun, and just plain strange at times.

Just under a dozen after the last issue of Flash Comics we saw yesterday, this cover hit the stands -

So, i was enjoying J.C. Kozlak's fun little cover, and my first perception was that Hawkman had picked up a caveman to take to Venus in a lightbulb. But then i saw the claws of the webbed feet and realized "Hey! That's Neptune Perkins!" 

Those who remember Perkins very likely do so from his Young All-Stars revival. He was one of many golden age characters Roy Thomas brought into the (then) modern DC Universe. His penchant for doing that, his Alter Ego fanzine, and his Kree/Skrull War were the Big 3 that initially made me a life-long fan.

And, yep - the story inside, also drawn by Kozlak (writer unknown), brings Hawkman and Neptune Perkins together for a lightbulb ride to battle mythical monsters. 
The cover does not lie -

Usually when an old Hawkman cover catches my eye it's from Shelly Moldoff or Joe Kubert. I think i'm going to have to snoop around to see what else i find from Kozlak.

page art by Jon Chester Kozlak from Flash Comics #81 (1947)

This Post Is Rated GP

Somewhere between the Challengers Of The Unknown and the Blackhawks existed the Ghost Patrol.

So, who were these guys?

Originally written by Ted Udall and Emmanuel Demby with art by Frank Harry, (good luck figuring that out from the page credit below), the Ghost Patrol debuted with their origin in 1942 in the pages of Flash Comics...

Things sure worked out better for them than for these guys...

Like the Blackhawks, the Ghost Patrol continued well past the end of World War II - until 1949 - appearing in most issues of Flash Comics between #s 29-104. And, like those other guys, they sometimes had trouble finding direction without the war that spawned them. Things evolved and changed, with John Wentworth now scripting...

...things always change...

(Thanks, kiff57krocker)

...except   War. War Never Changes.

There was a Ghost Patrol that appeared in Our Army At War in 1963, but that was some other guys. They were Infantry. 
Fred, Slim and Pedro seem to have moved on from this realm.

page art by Frank Harry from Flash Comics #s 29, 38, & 70, panel art by kiff57krocker (1942, 1943, 1946, 2019)

(Yes, i've been playing FallOut games again)