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...

Crime & Punishment!

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JET DREAM AND HER STUNT-GIRL COUNTERSPIES "Spider and the Spy"

Let's welcome back Silver Age Comics' longest-running female James Bond...

...in another short, but sweet comic adventure!

It's amazing how much story writer Dick Wood and artists Mike Sekowsky & Frank Giacoia can cram into only four pages!

Gold Key ran very few ads in their books, so they had to provide editorial content to fill out the 32 pages of material.

Issues 1-6 of Man from U.N.C.L.E. had 32-page stories (Yes, 32 pages of story, not 18-22 story pages with 10-14 pages of ads!)

From #7's into of Jet Dream to the end of the book's run, the lead U.N.C.L.E. story ran 27-28 pages with Jet Dream running 4 pages and, if needed, a one page spy-themed text or filler page.

And all these stories were self-contained.

No ongoing plotlines!

No cliffhangers!

You could jump in at any point and follow the stories perfectly, as you saw in today's tale from Gold Key's Man from U.N.C.L.E. #8 (1966)!

See Another Startling Spy Story Tomorrow at Crime & Punishment!

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JET DREAM "Spy in the Sky"

 The very first Jet Dream tale...
...from Gold Key's Man from U.N.C.L.E. #7 (1965).
Jump in and enjoy!

This never-reprinted opening tale by writer Dick Wood, penciler Mike Sekowsky, and inker Frank Giacoia was not related to U.N.C.L.E. in any way, except being spy-themed!

You'll note it's only four pages!

Every Jet Dream tale until the book-length one-shot was the same length.

As a result, characterization and back-story are at a minimum and the stories race along at a maniacal pace!

The team is, like the Blackhawks, international, with members from the US, Germany, England, France, and an unspecified Pacific island.

They're all expert aircraft pilots, all can handle weapons and know various marital arts, and each has unique talents.

Unlike the Blackhawks of the era, they are mercenaries, hiring out to the highest bidder...as long as they're not Commies or an evil organization like SPECTRE or THRUSH!

There's no origin story, we're introduced to them as an already-organized and fully-equipped team.

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Halloween Heroines WONDER WOMAN "Morgana the Witch" Conclusion

We Have Already Seen...

...Wonder Woman, currently powerless, and living in Man's World as Diana Prince, fashionable Greenwich Village fashion boutique owner, attempts to aid her neighbors with a unique problem!

The boyfriend of one of the neighbors has been turned into a frog...specifically, a talking frog!

Considering her history of dealing with mystical menaces, Diana, even without her enhanced Amazon abilities, has no intention of allowing this to continue...

Yeah, it's the old "kiss the frog and he turns into a (nerdy) prince" trope!

We learn in this Mike Sekowsky-scripted/penciled and Dick Giordano-inked tale from DC's Wonder Woman #186 (1970) that not only is I-Ching a martial arts master, he's also a mystic arts master!
Morgana would reappear, but not in the pages of Wonder Woman!
Several months later, Supergirl (also written and penciled by Sekowsky) would run into a magician named Zond who, to put it politely, whups her real good!
(In pre-Crisis on Infinite Earths days, Kryptonians like Supergirl and Superman were vulnerable to only two things...Kryptonite and magic!)

The Girl of Steel goes to Diana Prince for two reasons:
1) to see if the former Amazon Princess can help her stop Zond.
2) to get a new outfit, since her costume was shredded during the battle!
Diana provides Supergirl with a "mod" costume (which becomes her primary garb for several years) and summons Morgana to help them against Zond, who, as it turns out, Morgana has a grudge against!
You can read that story, which we presented several Halloweens ago HERE and HERE!

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Halloween Heroines WONDER WOMAN "Morgana the Witch" Part 1

Our Final CountDown to Halloween 2024 Entry...

...is about a powerless Wonder Woman battling a witch!

Quick synopsis: Princess Diana chose to remain on Earth (without her powers) while the rest of the Amazons (and Paradise Island itself) were teleported to another dimension where they could rejuvenate the magicks that kept them immortal.

She met the secretive I-Ching, who trained her in armed and unarmed combat, and settled down in NYC's Greenwich Village, opening a fashion boutique.
She also began accumulating a supporting cast...

Remember, this was Greenwich Village in the early 1970s.

This sort of thing really wasn't all that unusual.

I was there, I saw stuff similar to this happening.

Now, as to the most obvious question...

Is Morgana a witch or a clever fraudster?

And, if so, how does a powerless Diana Prince defeat her?

you'll find out...on Halloween!

Written and penciled by Mike Sekowsky, inked by Dick Giordano.

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Halloween Heroine TRACY THOMPSON "Strange House"

Meant to be a resourceful "everywoman" to contrast with Adventure Comics' lead character, Supergirl...

Tracey Thompson and her comic relief BFF Betsy were introduced in this never-reprinted backup tale from DC's Adventure Comics #401 (1971)!

Written and penciled by Mike Sekowsky and inked by Frank Giacoia, this story was the first in a projected series, but only this and another tale in the next issue were ever published!

Were there others in any stage of production when the project was abandoned?
Could any of them have been reworked with different characters and used?
Since all the involved creatives have passed from this mortal coil, we'll never know!

Happy Halloween!