Number 1639: Who were the Fleagles?

The Fleagle Gang was a nickname reportedly given to Al Williamson and friends by Harvey Kurtzman. Al's “Fleagles” could be Frank Frazetta, Roy Krenkel, Angelo Torres, and other artists who pitched in. This story, for instance, from Blast-Off #1 (1965), a one-shot from Harvey Comics, has Williamson assisted by Roy Krenkel. Krenkel drew really great buildings.

The Fleagle Gang was named after a real-life criminal group led by brothers Jake and Ralph Fleagle. The Williamson-led Fleagle Gang is well thought of by comics fans, but the gang of Ralph and Jake has been mostly forgotten. It was one of several outlaw bank robber gangs of that period in American history. At least one opinion I read said that the name “Fleagle” may have led to the gang being dismissed by crime buffs. I think the name has a certain ring to it, but is comical enough that it makes it hard to take serious.

This version of the Fleagle’s downfall (a single fingerprint did them in) is fairly close to what I’ve read of the gang’s history. It is from Choice Comics #1 (1941), a short-lived comic produced by the Iger Shop. The artist and writer of “G-Men Vs. Crime” are unknown. It is one of a variety of features in Choice Comics covering different subjects (including Kangaroo Man, a hero who teams up with, you guessed it, a kangaroo). But in style and tone it fits in with what Charles Biro did a few months later when Crime Does Not Pay was introduced.

Number 885


Spores From Space


Frank Frazetta worked on this 8-page science fiction strip from Mystery In Space #1, 1951. I believe the Fleagle Gang, Kurtzman's nickname for Frazetta, Williamson, Torres, Krenkel, etc., may have helped draw this strip.The usual Frazetta signature is missing, although there is a small colophon in the lower left corner that looks like a double-F. The early issues of Julius Schwartz-edited Strange Adventures and Mystery In Space credited writers, but not artists.

"Spores From Space" is like a reverse global warming, a new ice age is setting in. The heroes believe the spores are an alien threat and send a missile to blow up the asteroid where the aliens live.

[SPOILER] Melting all the snow and ice would create massive flooding, which isn't mentioned in the story. It's too bad the aliens weren't hostile after all, just trying to help, and the Earthmen blew them up for nothing! Ha-ha. Well, shit happens.

Number 152


Space Ace and the Nothing Weapon!


Space Ace returns for his third appearance in Jet #3. It's his first appearance drawn by Al Williamson. As a treat, here's a scan of the original art for the splash page of this story.

Click on the picture for the full-size image.

Space Ace runs into a rare book and a pirate queen. Flor. She pulls the ol' come on over act on him, wearing her sexy dress with the slit up the side...on Saturn's moon of Titan, yet! She doesn't think that he knows that she knows that he's slipping her a mickey. He really knows that she knows but he also knows she doesn't know he's switched the mickey around. Too bad for Flor. Space Ace gets one up on her. Flor ends up on the floor.

This is full of more space opera hokum courtesy of scripter Gardner Fox. I like the "paralysobeam" reference she uses to her henchman, Gayta. (Gayta?) The henchman takes off with the book, but the rest of her pirate gang is still around. You can tell they're pirates because one of them is wearing a punk rock mohawk, and a shirt with a skull on it. Or it could be he picked up an old rock t-shirt from the Titan Salvation Army Thrift Store.

I don't think Al Williamson ever did a job by himself. Harvey Kurtzman called the Williamson posse "The Fleagle Gang," and they were tight: Al, Torres, Frazetta, Krenkel. I've seen this strip reprinted in several different fanzines over the years. Pre-EC work by Williamson (and his gang) is so desirable it's the reason most people would have for collecting Jet #3.

In the upcoming and final Space Ace in Jet #4, you'll see he even enlisted some aid from Wally Wood.