Man from U.N.C.L.E. #7, Gold Key, July 1966
I’ve bought and sold a lot of comic books over the years and yet there are very few I regret selling.
Yes, there was that nice tight Tales of Suspense #39 I sold for $4,000 back in 1998, no exaggeration when I say it was an easy 9.4. But that lament is based on value and as long as I rolled that $4,000 into other books and kept doing that I might be almost just as far ahead.
The ones that really sting are based less on value and more on the joy of ownership. With many of these I realized my mistake only after I sold them.
A couple of years back my buddy Chris was leafing through some of the books in my collection. He stopped cold
when he reached my beautiful high grade raw copy of Jet Dream #1. “Walt I’m buying this, how much”?
A week later I asked him if I could buy it back but there wasn’t a chance, he had already framed it and hung it up in his man cave.
Every time I visit Chris I have to make the trip down to the basement to enjoy what was once mine. It’s like Chris is giving me visitation rights, we always share a laugh about this book and I’ll admit it belongs more on the wall of Chris’s man cave that in a comic box in my basement.
Recently by chance I learned that Jet Dream had a nice little run in Man from U.N.C.L.E. and this week I’d like to shine the Undervalued Spotlight on Jet Dream’s 1st appearance in Man from U.N.C.L.E. #7.
The Jet Dream stories were 4 page back up stories starting from issue #7 running right through the last issue in the series #22 (though #21 and #22 were reprints of earlier issues).
Jet Dream and her stunt-girl counterspies were obviously influenced by Pussy Galore and her all female Flying Circus from the James Bond Goldfinger movie. The team consists of;
- The team leader Jet Dream
- Petite, a connoisseur of perfumes and fine wine
- Marlene, the tough one and with a mind as sharp as a whip
- Ting-a-Ling, the South Seas beauty
- And my favorite, Cookie Jarr, highly skilled athletically and when the action is over she’s a seductress
James Bond inspired an espionage explosion in comic books, Black Widow the Russian Spy, Nick Fury Agent of Shield and yes Jet Dream and her stunt-girl counterspies.
These stories were great fun and the nice 16 issue run makes for a great collecting strain and you can cap the Man from U.N.C.L.E. run with a Jet Dreams #1 which features a full 20 page adventure, just don’t expect Chris to get up off of his.
Back in 2016 a CGC 9.2 copy of Man from U.N.C.L.E. #7 sold for $84 while a 9.6 copy got $102. There doesn’t seem to be any premium for this book at as of this post, a 9.2 copy of #8 also sold for $84 back in 2016.
Man from U.N.C.L.E. #7 is an obscure mid 1960s 1st appearance of a beyond cool all girl espionage team, it can be had for cheap and it’s the type of book/run that can attract some niche demand with just a little awareness.
The 46th Overstreet price break for this book is $33/$57/$80 in the 8.0/9.0/9.2 grade splits.
Reasons to buy this comic book as an investment.
- 1st appearance of Jet Dream and her Stunt-Girl counterspies
- Can be had for cheap as of this post
Good pick Walt.
I noticed the reference to James Bond and, in an article about a copy of Man from U.N.C.L.E., couldn’t help smiling. It’s a little known fact that the creator of BOTH James Bond and Napoleon Solo was Ian Fleming. The film studio told him to distance himself from the T.V. show because the Bond movies were on a cash roll. You can thank Jess Nevins’ book Impossible Territories: The Unofficial companion to the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen The Black Dossier for that obscure bit of trivia.
I had no idea Ian Fleming is the creator of Man from Uncle.
Thanks Mel!
Jess Nevins’ companion editions to the LOEG, that’s pronounced like “Oedipus”, clever Moore wordplay, and there is no capital “X” in “extraordinary”, unlike that dreadful film’s “LXG…sorry, long aside, BUT Jess Nevins’ work is like a compendium of Victorian and popular culture, far beyond the appeal of just Moore fans.I would give any of them two thumbs up. I could never figure out why Siskel and Ebert only had two thumbs between them. Where were their other thumbs?!
Let’s not forget about ‘The Girl’ Mel.
The name April Dancer was another contribution by Fleming, all hushed up at teh time, due to the spy secrets act, or the Bond movies producers, or such. As told in Jon Heitland’s Man from U.n.c.l.e book.
I think it’s okay to talk about it now.
Now that is one cool bit of trivia Jim! Fleming had an amazing and far-reaching imagination. I also recently found out that he also borrowed heavily from that other famous spy of the Elizabethan era, John Dee. Apparently Dee signed all of his coded correspondence to Elizabeth I “007” and she signed hers “M”. A small world indeed!