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 Kai, Ting-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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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 Helm, Flint, 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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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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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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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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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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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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JET DREAM "Achillies Heel"

Most of our audience doesn't read our "sister" blog...

...True Love Comics Tales™, so they missed this story featuring the all-woman crimefighting team that predated Charlie's Angels by almost a decade!

This short tale by writer Dick Wood, penciler Mike Sekowsky, and inker Frank Giacoia is from Man from U.N.C.L.E. #13 (1967).

Jet Dream and Her StuntGirl CounterSpies appeared in 4-page tales in the middle of the book from #8 to #22, then appeared in a book-length story in a one-shot comic.

It's never been reprinted, and very few of the stories are available on the Net...until now!

Besides the book-length tale we ran HERE and HERE, we re-presented the entire series, beginning with the premiere at our "brother" blog Hero & Heroine Histories™.

BTW, you really should check out True Love Comics Tales™ since it features many of the same artists and writers you'll find here (including legendary good-girl artist Matt Baker), and lots more beautiful women!

(We won't tell anyone you were looking at "girls' comics"!

We promise!)

 

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Jet Dream and her StuntGirl CounterSpies

Comics Collectible Store!