Gale Allen, Fly Girl

Have you met Gale Allen? She's another Fly Girl, and she was a little different...

I've put off Gale while trying to access better copies of early issues of Planet Comics. Unfortunately, many of those old issues are only available to me in microfiche format. Ack.
However, i've managed to track down paper versions of those first couple appearances, so let's talk Gale.

She wasn't around as early as Connie, nor quite as early as Flyin' Jenny. She debuted a year later in 1940 in the 4th issue of Planet Comics. And, as one might guess from the title of the book, Gale her girls weren't limited to atmospheric vehicles as members of the Women's Space Battalion.

Gale went through a number of changes over the course of her 39 adventures (not counting reprints & revivals), including multiple variations on the title and changes of creators. She started out fairly simply in Planet Comics #4. Though signed Fred Nelson, that was a pen name and the actual writer and artist(s) are unknown...

...and #5, now Gale Allen Of The Girl's Patrol with art from Bob Powell...

Within a few issues, her page count was increased by 50% and the possessive 's' was dropped from the title. Bob Powell was still handling the art chores this time...

Planet Comics #11 featured the last tale from the original scripter, or rather, the original nom de plume - Fred Nelson. Perhaps the unknown writer continued with a new house name signed to the book. Al Bryant took over the art for this one...

The next issue (#12) saw a new name on the title - Douglas McKee - another pen name that leaves us with no clue to the writer, and a new artist each issue as they switched gears on the strip (apologies for the first two - i cleaned up the microfiche as best i could)...

Oh, yeah - we'll be coming back here next time...

art by Bob Powell, Al Bryant, George H. Appel, Robert Webb, Art Saaf(?) for Planet Comics #s 4, 5, & 10-14 (1940, 1941)

What The Haney?

Do you remember Prez!, the "Imaginary" DC series about the USA's first 18 year old president?
Groovy surrealist fantasy & social satire in a private little world?

so....       Nope. Just - Nope.

Snell, over at Slay, Monstrobot...!, pointed out the existence of this book a few years back. It's just wrong. What sort of reality bending/dimension hopping/rift breaching could bring about this situation?
Let's look, shall we?

Wait -what? So many things wrong on this page that we can't even go into all of them here!
Prez Rickard is now president on Earth One? And no one thinks this is odd? Is that Geraldo Rivera? Those Pants!
Who's responsible for this? This kind of IDC reality bending - it's Bob Haney, right?

NOPE. Supergirl goes ape courtesy of Cary Bates (a known breacher!), aided & abetted by Art Saaf & Vince Colletta. Not a Haney hiney in sight. And yet, still we have this kind of wtf science happening:

...um, what?

Either televisions on Earth One are vastly more sophisticated than any technology we can as yet begin to imagine, or NO! It Doesn't Work That Way! X-ray vision shows you a photon cannon shooting back at you! (Inside the cathode ray tube that forms the tv screen. I miss CRTs just because we don't have photon cannons in the house any more.)
Supergirl and Prez greet each other with familiarity, both seeming to be quite at home in this odd universe...

... and Prez, being Prez, fixes a time piece...

...before they split up and go on with their lives...

Right On. But this was not an isolated attempt on Pres. Prez's life. Along his travel route they find an antique clock auction, and Prez finds the only broken clock in the place...

They quickly realize that not only is this part of an ongoing plot, but the plotters also have access to restricted information, like Prez's route. In short order, it's decided to abandon plans, and Supergirl will fly him to the White House instead.
Of course, that's exactly what our baddies expected:

 

But mere magic isn't enough. It's augmented by...

Is that a Photon Cannon? You mock me, sirs. Mock me!
ahem...
Reinforced by science, the curse is fired at Supergirl, leading to her King Kong moment:

So.... to top things off - science dilutes sorcery, making it ineffective on Kryptonians?
Are we sure Bob Haney wasn't involved? Mentoring Cary or something?

Well, obviously the thing to do is to jump ahead a few issues and see how the responded to the barrage of questions from the readers.
Oh. That was the last issue of the series. Clever bastards.
But fine. I can roll with this.

Bring On the epic Batman Vs. Boss Smiley mega-series!

true madness by Cary Bates, Art Saaf & Vince Colletta from Supergirl #10 (1974)