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| When I opened this 1952 comic I was surprised how 1940s it seemed. Then I noticed that the top of the art in the first story had been extended. I looked closer. The "commies" sure dress and act like WWII comic book Japanese. Then I came to panels 4 and 5 of page 4. The non-existent "P-96" jet is a WWII propeller-driven fighter: a redrawn P-38 Lightning! Check out panel 5. They forgot to redraw, so the P-38's twin booms and central pod are unmistakable. In the rest of the panels the fuselage has been extended and the booms chopped off to look like jet engines In the first panel of page 5 it's again obvious why the story is titled "Greased Lightning."
Checking out the rest of the stories, I'm convinced all of them, even "Operation Jet!" are re-purposed WWII stories (note that the supposed jet bomber in page 23 panel 1 still has "spinning propeller" lines in front of the engines). A final clue is in the book's final panel. Our hero walks past a "U.S. Army Ai[r Forces]" building. The USAAF was disbanded in 1947, when the U.S. Air Force was created. Poor Captain Jet is caught in a time warp.
It strikes me that turning a WWII airplane story into a jet story was a helluva lot of work. The re-lettering is exceptionally good. I guess Ajax-Farrell decided this was still cheaper than commissioning new material. |
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| Guess that explains why the gal in the last story was wearing a sarong in Korea, if it originally came from a WWII story set on a tropical island.
Anyone want go through various WWII stories to see if they can see where the art originally came from? |
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| Figured since they didn't change "Lightning" in the first story that was its original title. I searched for that story title. No such luck. Of course the stories may have been unpublished inventory. |
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| The Iger art studio, which packaged the Ajax/Farrell books was notorious for "re-purposing" stories created for one company and/or character into another.
For example, a WWII Spitifire Saunders tale with Nazis became a Cold War Phantom Lady story with East European Commies!
http://heroinesinfiction.blogspot.com/2016/07/spitfire-saunders-whip-phantom-lady.html |
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| Additional Information |
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| Publication | May 1952 | Price: 0.10 USD | Pages: 1 | Frequency: Bi-monthly |
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| Content | Genre: Aviation; War |
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| Credits | Letters:?; typeset |
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| Comic Story | Greased Lightning (6 pages) |
| Synopsis | Captain Jet flies over enemy territory to see is a report about the enemy using poison gas is true. |
| Featuring | Captain Jet |
| Content | Genre: Aviation; War | Characters: Captain Jet |
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| Comic Story | The Sky Fell Down! (6 pages) |
| Synopsis | Captain Jet is flying General Barton and his aide to Korea when enemy troops bring them down to capture the General. |
| Featuring | Captain Jet |
| Content | Genre: Aviation; War | Characters: General Barton; Linda Parker; Captain Jet |
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| Comic Story | Betrayal Over Pangjun (4 pages) |
| Synopsis | Fred Browne doesn't talk to his fellow pilots or his brother and in fights the enemy never seems to fire on his plane. |
| Featuring | Ace Reynolds |
| Content | Genre: Aviation; War | Characters: Ace Reynolds; Alec Browne; Fred Browne |
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| Text Article | Major Robert S. Johnson (1 page) |
| Featuring | Flight Heroes |
| Credits | Letters: typeset |
| Content | Genre: Non-fiction; Aviation; Biography | Characters: Robert S. Johnson |
| Notes | A brief biography and retelling of the mission where he broke Eddie Rickenbacker's record of planes shot down. |
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| Text Article | Major Richard I. Bong (1 page) |
| Featuring | Flight Heroes |
| Credits | Letters: typeset |
| Content | Genre: Non-fiction; Aviation; Biography | Characters: Richard I. Bong |
| Notes | Major Bong's fighting against the Japanese in the skies over New Guinea. |
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| Comic Story | Operation Jet (6 pages) |
| Synopsis | A bombing mission from start to finish. |
| Content | Genre: Aviation; War |
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| Comic Story | Hidden Death (6 pages) |
| Synopsis | Captain Jet is signalled by an intelligence woman disguised as a native girl. |
| Featuring | Captain Jet |
| Content | Genre: Aviation | Characters: Captain Jet; Gwen Donalds; Major Alexi |
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| Credits | Letters: typeset |
| Content | Characters: Rock Raymond [Rocketman] |
| Notes | Ad for the Rocketman Televiewer. |
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| Credits | Letters: typeset |
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| Credits | Letters: typeset |
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| Credits | Letters:?; typeset |
| Notes | Top half of back cover. |
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| Credits | Letters: typeset |
| Notes | Bottom half of back cover. |
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| The data in the additional content section is courtesy of the Grand Comics Database under a
Creative Commons Attribution License.
More details about this comic may be available in their page here |
