Getting all that power between your legs has lots of implications, many of which I will not be exploring. But the cowboy bronco buster is an iconic American image and to attempt to translate that image into the modern world, we find a great number of cartoon characters astride rockets and missiles and all manner of ballistic entities. It's a symbol of man's attempt to control technology and consequently his world, but at the same time shows just how precarious man's control of these great energies really is.
Whether it's Kirk Alyn as Superman atop a missile with a smile on his face in a sky-high frolic in the serial
Superman,
Or Slim Pickens as Major "King" Kong riding a nuclear bomb in a nihilistic joyride to oblivion in
Dr.Strangelove, the image of a man atop such a device tickles the deep imagination of us all.
Even The Three Stooges evoke a sense of adventure when they ride a rocket in
Have Rocket, Will Travel.
Here are some comic book covers which play around with this imagery in some entertaining and sometimes thought-provoking ways.
Rip Off
I love these covers! I noticed, however, that there aren't any with women riding rockets. Maybe you didn't include any on purpose, but likely the sexual innuendo would be too much for publishers to risk. Or maybe it is because, as you say, they are trying to invoke the image of cowboys.
ReplyDeleteNow that you mention it, there might be a Dave Stevens image that might work. I'll have to check.
DeleteQuite a collection of covers! I'm sure Wertham would have caught on to the thinly-veiled symbolism. :)
ReplyDeleteThe keen eye of the social crusader is always ready to spot trouble...Trouble with a capital "T".
DeleteGood collection. I have a dim visual memory of a cover where Wonder Woman was riding the back of a torpedo, but when I searched that, all I got were images where she's tied to a torpedo or missile.
ReplyDeleteWonder Woman was usually tied to something or other.
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