Friday, August 22, 2025

JET DREAM AND HER STUNT-GIRL COUNTERSPIES "D-Day for the Generalissimo" Part 1

We Open with Some Typical Swinging '60s Spy Action...

...but, you'll see that pulse-pounding scene a little later in our tale!
Right now, we'd like to introduce you to a particular pair of Jet Dream's team...
...for reasons that'll become apparent shortly!












Will Jet and her acrobeauts keep the Generalissimo alive?
Will CIPHER win, and take secret control of...hey, what is the name of that Central American country?
Some of the answers will be revealed...Tomorrow!

Oddly enough, the similarly-spelled C.Y.P.H.E.R. (with a "y") was the name of the sinister secret organization The Shadow battled in his 1960s paperback adventures!
(I wonder if the two criminal organizations sued each other for trademark infringement!)
Writer Dick Wood and illustrator Joe Certa finally had 30+ pages to play with in this 1968 one-shot comic, and took advantage of the extra length to detail things like Jet's "No Man's Land" headquarters and give some play to individual members of the team.

Wednesday, August 20, 2025

JET DREAM & THE STUNT-GIRL COUNTERSPIES "Terror of Ting-a-Ling"

What happens when an innocent stumbles upon a heroine's secret hq?
Ask Johnny KaiTing-a-Ling's boyfriend, when he ends up in "No Man's Land"!
"Stray dog"?
Jet doesn't have a very high opinion of men in general, does she?
Story by Dave Wood, art by Joe Certa.
This new story from Gold Key's Man from U.N.C.L.E. #21 (1968) backs up a reprinted U.N.C.L.E. tale, so most people (myself included) thought it was a reprint as well.
Good thing I took a look inside the book! ;-)
And if that isn't the best argument I've ever heard against "slabbing" comic books...

Jet Dream Will Return for her Final Short Story, But Not her Final Tale, Tomorrow at Crime & Punishment!
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Monday, August 18, 2025

JET DREAM & HER STUNT-GIRL COUNTERSPIES "Fall to Freedom"

The Stunt-Girl CounterSpies Go Back to Their Roots...
...unfortunately, for one of them, the roots include Nazis!
Remember, when this story from Gold Key's Man from U.N.C.L.E. #19 came out in 1968, it was only 23 years since the end of World War II, so those pesky Nazis were still pretty spry, especially in spy fiction!
For example: Baron Strucker was battling Nick Fury both in the 1960s as the head of HYDRA in Nick Fury: Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D., and in the 1940s in Sgt Fury and His Howling Commandos as the commander of the Wehrmacht's Blitz Squad, created as a counterpoint to the Howling Commandos!
Blackhawk, himself a WWII vet, was still fighting various hidden Nazi factions until his first series ended in 1968!
Nazis also popped up in the Matt HelmFlint, and James Bond films, as well as the Man from U.N.C.L.E., Mission: Impossible, and I Spy tv series.
Story by Dave Wood, art by Joe Certa.
Jet Dream Will Return Tomorrow at Crime & Punishment!
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Friday, August 15, 2025

JET DREAM & HER STUNT-GIRL COUNTERSPIES "Captive Jet"

An indication of just how effective a leader you are...
...is how the team functions when you are incapacitated...or kidnapped!
"Jet-A-Reeno"???
Well, it ain't no "Hawkaaa!" (the Blackhawks' battle cry), but it'll do.
It's good to know they can function without Jet's leadership when necessary.
Script for this tale from Gold Key's Man from U.N.C.L.E. #18 (1968) by Dick Wood, with vastly-improved art by Joe Certa.
We can finally tell which StuntGirls are which!
Jet Dream Will Return...on Monday!
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Wednesday, August 13, 2025

JET DREAM & HER STUNT-GIRL COUNTERSPIES "Day of Infamy"

Is one of the Stunt-Girl CounterSpies a traitor?
Jet Dream must discover the truth in only four pages before it tears the team apart...or worse!
Didn't Ting-a-Ling do something similar because her family was threatened several issues ago?
Script for this story from Gold Key's Man from U.N.C.L.E. #16 (1968) by Dick Wood (who also wrote the earlier tale so he should have remembered), art by Joe Certa.
(To be fair, Ting wasn't a member of the StuntGirls at that point...nit-pick, nit-pick...)
Jet Dream Will Return Tomorrow at Crime & Punishment!
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Monday, August 11, 2025

JET DREAM & HER STUNT-GIRL COUNTERSPIES "Splash-Down to Death"

Usually we see Jet in action solo or with the entire team...
...but here we get to see her kicking evildoer butt with the newest member of the team at her side.
Script for this short, but effective, tale from Man from U.N.C.L.E. #14 (1967) by Dick Wood, with art by Joe Certa.
The one problem I had with the story is that Certa has difficulty visually-differentiating Jet and Ting, who look very similar (almost generic) in most panels!
Mike Sekowsky was able to make their faces different enough in Ting's intro tale (as seen HERE) to make it easy, even in group shots, to see who was who.
Jet Dream Will Return Tomorrow at Crime & Punishment!
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Friday, August 8, 2025

JET DREAM & HER STUNT-GIRL COUNTERSPIES "Powder-Puff Derby Caper"

Jet Dream meets up with her evil counterpart...
...and can someone tell me why there's always an evil counterpart to a hero/heroine?
This one even has her own team of female assassins...
Raven Red will return!
(And, she's the only villain in this series to do so!)
Script for this tale from Gold Key's Man from U.N.C.L.E. #12 by Dick Wood, art by Joe Certa as he assumes his position as the permanent artist on Jet Dream, except the very next issue, featuring the return of Mike Sekowsky, which we already presented on our "sister" blog True Love Comics Tales™!
Jet Dream Will Return...on Monday!
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Wednesday, August 6, 2025

JET DREAM & HER STUNT-GIRL COUNTERSPIES "Ting-a-Ling--Enemy Agent!"

Our fave femme fatales are on the beach...
...unfortunately, not in bikinis!
(Aren't those jumpsuits really warm?)
It's too bad these stories were limited to 4 pages at a time, posing a real challenge for writer Dick Wood.
This tale from Gold Key's Man from U.N.C.L.E. #10 (1966) would've benefited from another 2-4 pages of kick-assery in the inimitable penciling style of Mike Sekowsky, who, sadly, did only one more Jet Dream tale (Which we present today on our "sister" blog, True Love Comics Tales™).
For the record, Mike Peppe provided the inking!
Joe Certa illustrated most of the remaining stories, including the one-shot full-length comic, with Jack Sparling contributing our next Jet Dream tale, which you'll see tomorrow at...