Monday, September 5, 2011

Captain's Library: ROCKY JONES: SPACE RANGER "Space Infantry"

Since it's Labor Day, and students are heading back to school tomorrow...
...lets look at the school days of the newest space hero in our line up, Rocky Jones, Space Ranger!
Sneaky little SoB, ain't he?
Wonder if he had a classmate named James Tiberius Kirk?
Scripter of this tale from 1955's Space Adventures #15 is unknown, but the art is by Ted Galindo, a journeyman artist who did work for Charlton, Prize, and Gold Key from the mid-1950s to mid-1960s.
Oddly, Charlton didn't give Rocky Jones his own title, as most publishers did with licensed characters, but inserted him into the already-established Space Adventures for four issues (and gave him the cover).
The tv series itself was a filmed weekly series, not a live daily series like Captain Video or Tom Corbett: Space Cadet, giving it a slightly "slicker" look (and better special effects) than most of the competitors.
It was syndicated, and ran for 39 episodes over two seasons.
Most of the eps are three-part stories and all of them were re-edited into feature films which were also released to syndication in the 1960s.
Almost all are available on DVD and two of them Crash of the Moons and Manhunt in Space were roasted on Mystery Science Theater 3000.
Rocky Jones will return in the near future... 

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