JET DREAM

Full Name:	Jet Dream
Nationality:	American
Organization:	None
Occupation	Freelance Agent

Creator:	Dick Wood , Joe Certa
Time Span:	1966 - 1968

ABOUT THE SERIES

       Jet Dream is a freelance agent.
       Much of the time her client is the Counter-Intelligence Corps (CIC) run by a former field agent named Martin Brown, a man who well knows the capabilities and, more importantly, the impressive success rate of Dream and her "Stunt Girl Counterspies". This group of highly skilled and capable agents consists of of women who were "Hollywood stunt girls before the bit time espionage bug bit them." Later in the series of adventures they are referred to as "acrobeauts" for their looks and their agilte maneuvers.
       Dream and her colleagues far prefer the independent status because it gives them far more flexibility to handle things their own way. They refuse to cease their freelance style because "government red tape would ruin" their "style". Also this allows them to work for whom they want and on those causes they find compelling.
       Dream's real first name, if it is not actually Jet, is never revealed nor is very much about her past presented other than the fact that she has worked as one of Hollywood's most sought after stunt women. We know from one comment in an adventure that she was the lead female stunt in several jungle adventures and other vague references point to her success in the movies. How she moved from taking the fall, literally, for actresses in an action flick to fighting enemy spies is never specified.
       The team members of Dream's "petticoat brigade" (their words) are:
Cookie Jarr, a beautiful blonde who is a whiz with the radio,
Marlene, a German brunette,
Petite, a short red-haired French lovely, and
Ting-A-Ling, a Polynesian beauty who joins the team shortly after the start of the series.
       The secret headquarters for Jet Dream and team is known as "No-Man's Land" and is quite a set-up, complete with a very tall watchtower and obviously enough hangar space to house several fighter planes. While it might be that all the team knew how to fly expertly, it is certain that in addition to Jet Dream, two others were highly gifted pilots.
       How much the team charges for their services, or for their stunt work when they are called in for dangerous shots in movies, is unknown but it either is a lot or Jet Dream was independently wealthy because the number of repairs needed to their aircraft is impressive - bad guys are constantly shooting them down.

COMIC BOOKS AND GRAPHIC NOVELS

Number of Stories:	17
First Appearance:	1966
Last Appearance:	1968

       Gold Key comics scored a coup when it got the rights to the comic line of The Man From U.N.C.L.E. and they produced quite good stories for 4 years. The first six issues were filled with Solo and Kuryakin. Then, in issue #7, the male duo's tales were joined by short adventures (4 pages each) of an all-female freelance counter-spy team lead by Jet Dream.
       For the remaining issues of MFU comics, Jet Dream and her lovely teammates had their own tales of derring-do, which is interesting because this group was in no way connected with U.N.C.L.E. or any of its members. There was never a whisper of a connection, either. It is most likely that though Gold Key has the right to put their own creation in the same comic, they had no rights to use the U.N.C.L.E. brand beyond the initial license.
       In addition to the 16 short missions in the MFU comic, Jet Dream and team were given their own solo magazine that lasted just one issue but they made it worth it.

       The exact identity of the creator of the Jet Dream series is not known (at least I do not know it) but I have given credit to the initial writer and artist pair of Dick Wood and Joe Certa.

Note: In a remix comic published [I do not know when], a rather unsettling retelling of the series occurs but though I am mentioning it here most absolutely is NOT part of the series. The idea of this rewrite is that a group called the Thunderbird Squadron was turned via a Virus-X into women. These women are then out to stop the bad guys from doing it to other in Miami as well as find an antidote. The story, odd though it be, is not badly done but ... ah, no.


1			The Spy in the Sky Published by Gold Key Contributors: Mike Peppe (inks), Mike Sekowsky (pencils), Dick Wood (writer) Copyright: 07/1966 Man From UNCLE #7 - 4 pages - Jet Dream has stolen a list of eight foreign agents involved in gold smuggling. The members of that gang do not appreciate her having that information and are out to eliminate her.

2			The Spider and the Spy Published by Gold Key Contributors: Dick Wood (writer), Mike Sekowsky (pencils), Mike Peppe (inks) Copyright: 09/1966 Man From UNCLE #8 - 4 pages -

3			The Super-Tiger of Targan Published by Gold Key Contributors: Dick Wood (writer), Mike Sekowsky (pencils), Mike Peppe (inks) Copyright: 11/1966 Man From UNCLE #9 - 4 pages - The emerald mining industry in a small South American country is being threatened by a very large tiger and the nation's president asks for help from Jet Dream and team.

4			Ting-A-Ling -- Enemy Agent! Published by Gold Key Copyright: 01/1967 Man From UNCLE #10 - 4 pages - After a volcanic eruption on an island, diamonds are strewn about the beach. The government asks Jet Dream and team to protect them. A pirate gang led by a man named Kong is out for them and they have a secret weapon, Ting-A-Ling.

5			Death Plunge Published by Gold Key Copyright: 03/1967 Man From UNCLE #11 - 4 pages - Jet Dream and team are after a key operative from the evil Espionage, Inc. Along the way in Switzerland, they are asked to do a stunt in a movie that is designed to actually kill them.

6			The Power-Puff Derby Caper Published by Gold Key Copyright: 05/1967 Man From UNCLE #12 - 4 pages - Taking part in a powder-puff air race between Honolulu and San Francisco turns deadly for Jet Dream when another pilot, Raven Red, is hired to kill Dream.

7			The Achilles Heel Published by Gold Key Copyright: 07/1967 Man From UNCLE #13 - 4 pages - An enemy agent uses a phone distress call to learn Jet Dream and team to his location on a raft so they might ferry him to where his cohorts await in ambush.

8			Splash-Down To Death Published by Gold Key Copyright: 09/1967 Man From UNCLE #14 - 4 pages - Jet Dream is flying Ting-A-Ling to visit her family on a Polynesian island when they learn of an enemy spy ring out to hijack a government missile.

9			The Set-Up Sultan Published by Gold Key Copyright: 11/1967 Man From UNCLE #15 - 4 pages - Hired to provide added protection to a Mid-East Sultan visiting a South American country, Jet Dream and team know that the leader's life is in danger and it is their job to thwart those plots.

10			Day Of Infamy Published by Gold Key Copyright: 01/1968 Man From UNCLE #16 - 4 pages - Team member Marlene is down in the dumps from not being able to contact her parents in Germany for some time and evidence pops up to show she is working from the inside to destroy the Jet Dream team.

11			The Farmer Brown Fiasco Published by Gold Key Copyright: 03/1968 Man From UNCLE #17 - 4 pages - Detecting strange radio signals coming from a farm house 50 miles from their base, Jet Dream and teammate Marlene head to investigate and fly smack into major trouble.

12			The Captive Jet Published by Gold Key Copyright: 05/1968 Man From UNCLE #18 - 4 pages - An armored car heist near Jet Dream's headquarters gets her involved which soon gets her captured. It is up to the team to free her.

13			D-Day For The Generalissimo Published by Gold Key Copyright: 06/1968 Jet Dream #1 - 26 pages - An exiled South American general is heading back home to free his nation from the killers from CIPHER currently running it. They want him dead and it is up the Jet Dream team to get him across a thousand miles of danger.

14			Fall To Freedom Published by Gold Key Copyright: 07/1968 Man From UNCLE #19 - 4 pages - When the Jet Dream team is hired to work in a new major movie, Marlene is away. Coming to the set by herself she learns that former Nazis, angry with her father for his work against them, are out to kill her.

15			Menace of the Feathered Warriors Published by Gold Key Copyright: 09/1968 Man From UNCLE #20 - 4 pages - Jet Dream's nemesis, Raven Red, shows up at the team's headquarters challenging Dream to a fair fight. She, of course, does not know the meaning of fair.

16			The Terror of Ting-A-Ling Published by Gold Key Copyright: 11/1968 Man From UNCLE #21 - 4 pages - Ting-A-Ling's boy friend is not satisfied with seeing her just once a week. Wondering what she is up to the rest of the time, he follows her to No-Man's Land. Not a wise move.

17			The Demon Dogfight Published by Gold Key Copyright: 12/1968 Man From UNCLE #22 - 4 pages - Taking part in a mock air battle to entertain visitors to an Air Force demonstration, Jet Dream and team become the for-real target of an fighter intruder.

MY COMMENTS

       I was hooked on this short but fun series from the first adventure. I liked the sassy attitude as well as the confidence the women had while conducting their daring actions. I also liked the fact that they did them in full jumpsuit. As much as I love a good bikini'ed pretty lass cavorting, the thought that the heroes of this series would choose to do so while so scantily clad was ridiculous.
       Of course, they wear these white jumpsuits everywhere which is a tad odd but even stranger is the jumpsuits have special "pockets" containing ?parachutes?. Not quite in the realm of realistic but what the heck!
       I was impressed with the ability of the writer and artists to tell a short, obviously hurried, story in 4 pages and to make it enjoyable. Having read more than my share of other spy-comic series which also had to work in small doses, I know it usually ends up with a silly tale that makes no sense. Jet Dream stories do not suffer from that. Nevertheless, I did like the long tale much better.

GRADE

My Grade: B

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