The Quality Spirit!

Will Eisner and Busy Arnold had been partners and the use of The Spirit at Quality Comics is evidence of that relationship. Quality began reprinting stories from The Spirit Sections in 1944. Eisner among others created new covers for these packages which brought The Spirit out of the newspapers and onto the magazine racks with the others. To read and enjoy these classic Quality Comics check out this link. Here are the covers for the six-year run.  

DC reprinted the first Quality Comics issue many years ago as part of its Millennium reprint program. 

PS Artbooks has reprinted the first half of the run. I have one of the "Softee" editions of the first volume. It's a nifty way to experience these classics. 

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Rocket Riders And Bulleteers!

Getting all that power between your legs has lots of implications, many of which I will not be exploring. But the cowboy bronco buster is an iconic American image and to attempt to translate that image into the modern world, we find a great number of cartoon characters astride rockets and missiles and all manner of ballistic entities. It's a symbol of man's attempt to control technology and consequently his world, but at the same time shows just how precarious man's control of these great energies really is.

Whether it's Kirk Alyn as Superman atop a missile with a smile on his face in a sky-high frolic in the serial Superman,

Or Slim Pickens as Major "King" Kong riding a nuclear bomb in a nihilistic joyride to oblivion in Dr.Strangelove, the image of a man atop such a device tickles the deep imagination of us all.

Even The Three Stooges evoke a sense of adventure when they ride a rocket in Have Rocket, Will Travel. 

Here are some comic book covers which play around with this imagery in some entertaining and sometimes thought-provoking ways.

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