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 1367: Three from Suspense

I've taken three stories from Suspense Comics, a title which lasted for 12 issues in the forties, because they remind me of old radio shows or B-movies. And why not? That’s what the people reading comic books were doing for entertainment in those days. (Those poor deprived citizens, with so few distractions in their daily lives. Unlike today, of course, where our whole lives seem lived for distractions. Ah. But I digress.)

The cover of this issue is by L. B. Cole. The stories are drawn by comic book journeymen John Giunta, George Appel, and Don Rico.

From Suspense Comics #6 (1944):

Earlier this year I showed a couple of stories from this issue by the fine artist/WPA muralist turned cartoonist, Louis Ferstadt. Click on the picture to see that posting: