Number 2133: Leftover turkey: Red Rocket and the mutant monsters

On the day after the big Thanksgiving feast, and having slept off the effect of the tryptophan-loaded turkey, I look forward to turkey sandwiches! Yes, that amazing bird gives us leftovers for several days. With that in mind I give you a turkey leftover, a runner-up story, once considered for the Turkey Awards.

Red Rocket was another short-lived feature of the 1940s, lasting from issues #7 to #11 of Captain Flight comics. Today we have Red Rocket’s final adventure. Since it is about mutations produced from atomic radiation (a big topic after the first nuclear weapons were used), Red Rocket might have fallen prey to radiation sickness and died. After all, Martian mutants had him strapped to a radiation deathtrap, and although he appeared all right at the end of the story, he might have died shortly thereafter. There is no word on those babies born in radiation-rigged hospitals, which triggered Red Rocket’s flight to Mars. I am sad to say they probably came to a very bad end.

“Monstrous Mutants” is from Captain Flight #11 (1946). The artwork is signed Geo. H. Appel.

Number 1274: Babes, BEMs, and a butt-kickin' hero

After presenting Captain Tootsie yesterday I have a hankering for more of that old time science fiction. You know, the “crazy Buck Rogers stuff,” with rocketships, bug-eyed monsters and beautiful women. Oh yeah, mustn't forget the squarejawed, two-fisted hero.

We're having a theme week this week, “silly science stories,” of which this is the second of four.

This is from Captain Flight Comics. Rock Raymond, who looks like he just stepped out of the barber's chair (still wearing the cape around his shoulders), is from issue #10 (1945).