Friday Fun / CoronaVirus Comics PATSY WALKER "Great Idea!"

There used to be lots more to teen humor comics than just Archie and his friends...

...with every comics publisher from the late 1940s through the early 1970s doing them! 

Created by writer Stuart Little and artist Ruth Atkinson, Patsy Walker first appeared in Timely's Miss America Magazine #2 (1944).

Redheaded Patsy Walker, parents Stanley and Betty, boyfriend Robert "Buzz" Baxter, and rich, raven-haired friendly rival Hedy Wolfe appeared from the 1944 through 1967 in various teen humor anthologies as well as several self-titled comics.

Trivia: Patsy Walker (along with Millie the Model and Kid Colt: Outlaw) were the only titles published continuously by Marvel from Timely in the Golden Age, through Atlas in the 1950s, to Marvel in the  Silver Age!

Patsy, Buzz and Hedy are all part of the Marvel Universe from Marvel's Fantastic Four Annual #3 (1965) when Patsy and Hedy attended the wedding of Reed Richards and Sue Storm!

Patsy later became the superheroine HellCat, and Buzz was revealed to be the supervillain Mad-Dog!

Patsy (and HellCat) appeared on the NetFlix series Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, and Defenders, making her part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe!

Written and illustrated by the versatile Al Jaffee (before he moved over to MAD Magazine) , this never-reprinted story from Atlas' Patsy Walker #36 (1951) promoted contributing to the charity created in 1946 by newsman Walter Winchell (best known today as the narrator of the 1960s TV show Untouchables) to honor his friend, writer Damon Runyon, who died of cancer!

The charity, now called Damon Runyon Cancer Research Foundation, still exists!

Friday Fun FAST WILLIE JACKSON "Jabar in No Way Out"

In the 1970s, there was an Archie-style comic aimed at Black audiences...

...from the publishers of the Golden Legacy series which featured factual stories about Black historical figures!

Though it looks like it, Fast Willie Jackson was not published  by Archie Comics, but by Black-owned publisher Fitzgerald Publications who had previously published the Golden Legacy non-fiction comic series about Black history.

Fast Willie was their entry into the mass-market comics market.

Though not Comics Code-approved, it received newsstand distribution, and sales were climbing for each successive issue.

Unfortunately, it reached break-even only with the seventh (and final) issue, when other matters caused Fitzgerald Publications to cease producing new material for an extended period. When Fitzgerald briefly resumed publishing, Fast Willie was not among the titles.

Written by publisher/editor Bertram Fitzgerald, illustrated by "Gus Lemoine".

Note: There's no record of Gus Lemoine outside of a brief comics career for Archie and Fitzgerald which coincidentally ends with superb Dan DeCarlo mimic Henry Scarpelli leaving his staff position at DC and becoming a full-time staffer at Archie, at which point "Lemoine's" credits disappear.

Most artists in the comics field do other (fine or commercial art) work before and/or after their stint in comics.

There's no trace of Lemoine's work anywhere else.

If anybody can provide a link to his pre/post-comics work or some sort of biography I've missed, I'd be extremely grateful for the info!

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Black Comics
Politics of Race and Representation

Friday Fun JETTA OF THE 21st CENTURY "Music from Afar"

Teenagers and pop music have gone hand-in-hand since the Jazz Era of the 1920s...

...so why should the mid-21st Century (as seen from the mid-20th Century) be any different?

Our final Jetta tale, from Standard's Jetta of the 21st Century #6 (1953), scripted and penciled by Dan DeCarlo and inked by Fred Eng, is a fun story with a silly ending that doesn't work if you think about it.
(How could the two-headed singer from Planet X not know most other beings have only one head per person...and how could the humans not know people from Planet X had two heads?)
But, in the context of a punch-line for a humor story, it works fine!
Be here next Friday when we take a look at another short-lived, time-lost series!

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Dan DeCarlo's Jetta

Friday Fun JETTA OF THE 21st CENTURY "Hot Rod Rocket"

Like most comics of the era, Jetta of the 21st Century had text stories...

...to qualify for second-class (magazine) mailing rates!

The text stories featured other characters from the "Jetta-verse"!

Written by "Dixon Wells" (a pen-name used only for Jetta text stories), this never-reprinted piece from Standard's Jetta of the 21st Century #6 (1953) would've made a pretty good comic story.

Perhaps it was scripted by Dan DeCarlo?
The artist, who used a more "realistic" style than Dan DeCarlo or Fred Eng, is unknown!

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Dan DeCarlo's Jetta

Friday Fun JETTA OF THE 21st CENTURY "Zoomer: Time Out for Trouble"

Let's look in on other teens in the future Jetta universe...

...and see how they react to being transplanted to the (then) current time period of 1953!

While we're nowhere near the "future" as shown in this never-reprinted story from Standard's Jetta of the 21st Century #6 (1953) by penciler (and probable writer) Dan De Carlo with inks by Fred Eng, there are elements of truth in the tale, including many Millennials' inability to prepare a meal from scratch!

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Dan DeCarlo's Jetta

Friday Fun JETTA OF THE 21st CENTURY "Act Your Age!"

The more things change, the more they stay the same...

...as this tale of 21st Century teen-agers from 1953 proves!

I'm positive writer/penciler Dan DeCarlo re-used this concept for an Archie story using Dilton Dooley as the creator of the aging/de-aging device!

I know I've seen a story with younger versions of Principal Weatherbee and Miss Grundy almost becoming a couple, before reverting to their present-day older selves.

Anybody know what my failing memory vaguely recalls?

It's a shame this was from the final issue of Standard's Jetta of the 21st Century (#7 in 1953).

(Despite that issue number, there were only three issues, #s 5 to 7!)

Guess the concept was too "far out" for early 1950s readers!

BTW, we'd like to extend our thanks to the amazing Kracalactaka, heroic and voluminous contributor to both the Digital Comic Museum and ComicBookPlus, for these Jetta scans and the previous ones in the series!
It's people like him who assure that comic book art will be appreciated for generations to come!

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Dan DeCarlo's Jetta

Friday Fun JETTA OF THE 21st CENTURY "Zoomer: Frat Race"

Jetta in the 21st Century told tales about other characters in the same future setting...

...creating a more extensive "universe" than you might have realized!

Though based on Dan DeCarlo's designs, the art on this never-reprinted story from Standard's Jetta of the 21st Century #5 (1952) about other students who weren't part of Jetta's entourage is by Fred Eng.

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Dan DeCarlo's Jetta

Friday Fun JETTA OF THE 21st CENTURY "Celestial Celebrity"

It's 2018, and high schools still have yearbooks....

...just as this tale of this era from Standard's Jetta of the 21st Century #7 (1953) projected!

It's amazing how little "teen humor" has changed in the 65 years since this tale was published!
With just a little modification, this could easily be a current Archie tale with Dilton Dooley's gizmos getting out of control!
Written and penciled by the legendary Dan DeCarlo, inked by Fred Eng.

BTW, we'd like to extend our thanks to the amazing Kracalactaka, heroic contributor to both the Digital Comic Museum and ComicBookPlus, for these Jetta scans and the ones from last week!
It's people like him who assure that comic book art will be appreciated for generations to come!

Please Support Atomic Kommie Comics
Visit Amazon and Order...

Dan DeCarlo's Jetta