THIS holiday season we’re going all in on The Flying Devil! The Flying Devil was a regular feature of the first fifteen issues of The Lone Eagle and, more importantly, as they announced beneath each month’s story—“the Only War-Air Cartoon Story to Appear in Any Magazine!” The strip was drawn by Terry Gilkison and features the exploits of Buck Barton, a.k.a. The Flying Devil, as he wages a one man war against the Germans in his Spad with the devil on the fuselage.

We’ve reached Buck Barton’s final adventure. From the December 1934 issue of The Lone Eagle, it’s Terry Gilkison’s The Flying Devil is “Lost In Hunland!”

When this adventure ran in The Lone Eagle, it carried a tag that there would be another Buck Barton War-Air Adventure in Pictures in the next issue titled “Spandau Treachery”—

But that adventure never saw the light of day if it was ever even written.

Gilkison would revisit Buck Barton in a way when he created the character of Rex Darrell, The Flying Fox, for More Fun Comics in 1938. Darrell’s Flying Fox was a modern day version of Barton’s Flying Devil. The stories were present day rather than set during the Great War; Darrell was fighting international air pirates rather than Barton’s battles against the Germans; and Darrell worked with a copilot, “Buzz” Blair, while Barton was solo. The one thing that links the two most is their choice of headgear. Darrell wore an aviator’s cap with rather pronounced fox ears much like Barton’s devil horned helmet he sported in the first few episodes.

Gilkison’s The Flying Fox debuted in More Fun Comics 37 (Nov 38). He flew his plane, the Dawn Streak, one of the fastest ever built, through 13 adventures. His final appearance in the magazine was in issue 51 (Jan 40) in the story whose last panel indicates the action was to be continued, but it sadly never was.

THIS holiday season we’re going all in on The Flying Devil! The Flying Devil was a regular feature of the first fifteen issues of The Lone Eagle and, more importantly, as they announced beneath each month’s story—“the Only War-Air Cartoon Story to Appear in Any Magazine!” The strip was drawn by Terry Gilkison and features the exploits of Buck Barton, a.k.a. The Flying Devil, as he wages a one man war against the Germans in his Spad with the devil on the fuselage.

From the November 1934 issue of The Lone Eagle, it’s Terry Gilkison’s The Flying Devil in “The Sinister Zeppelin!”

Next Time: Lost in Hunland!

THIS holiday season we’re going all in on The Flying Devil! The Flying Devil was a regular feature of the first fifteen issues of The Lone Eagle and, more importantly, as they announced beneath each month’s story—“the Only War-Air Cartoon Story to Appear in Any Magazine!” The strip was drawn by Terry Gilkison and features the exploits of Buck Barton, a.k.a. The Flying Devil, as he wages a one man war against the Germans in his Spad with the devil on the fuselage.

From the October 1934 issue of The Lone Eagle, it’s Terry Gilkison’s The Flying Devil in “The U-Boat Menace!”

Next Time: The Sinister Zeppelin!

THIS holiday season we’re going all in on The Flying Devil! The Flying Devil was a regular feature of the first fifteen issues of The Lone Eagle and, more importantly, as they announced beneath each month’s story—“the Only War-Air Cartoon Story to Appear in Any Magazine!” The strip was drawn by Terry Gilkison and features the exploits of Buck Barton, a.k.a. The Flying Devil, as he wages a one man war against the Germans in his Spad with the devil on the fuselage.

From the September 1934 issue of The Lone Eagle, it’s Terry Gilkison’s The Flying Devil in “The Mystery Drome!”

Next Time: The U-Boat Menace!

And as a special Christmas Bonus, we give you a holiday themed Pinky Dinky strip from 1929!

THIS holiday season we’re going all in on The Flying Devil! The Flying Devil was a regular feature of the first fifteen issues of The Lone Eagle and, more importantly, as they announced beneath each month’s story—“the Only War-Air Cartoon Story to Appear in Any Magazine!” The strip was drawn by Terry Gilkison and features the exploits of Buck Barton, a.k.a. The Flying Devil, as he wages a one man war against the Germans in his Spad with the devil on the fuselage.

From the August 1934 issue of The Lone Eagle, it’s Terry Gilkison’s The Flying Devil in “The Lost Squadron!”

Next Time: The Mystery Drome!

THIS holiday season we’re going all in on The Flying Devil! The Flying Devil was a regular feature of the first fifteen issues of The Lone Eagle and, more importantly, as they announced beneath each month’s story—“the Only War-Air Cartoon Story to Appear in Any Magazine!” The strip was drawn by Terry Gilkison and features the exploits of Buck Barton, a.k.a. The Flying Devil, as he wages a one man war against the Germans in his Spad with the devil on the fuselage.

From the July 1934 issue of The Lone Eagle, it’s Terry Gilkison’s The Flying Devil in “The Dog-Fight Treachery!”

Next Time: The Lost Squadron!

THIS holiday season we’re going all in on The Flying Devil! The Flying Devil was a regular feature of the first fifteen issues of The Lone Eagle and, more importantly, as they announced beneath each month’s story—“the Only War-Air Cartoon Story to Appear in Any Magazine!” The strip was drawn by Terry Gilkison and features the exploits of Buck Barton, a.k.a. The Flying Devil, as he wages a one man war against the Germans in his Spad with the devil on the fuselage.

From the June 1934 issue of The Lone Eagle, it’s Terry Gilkison’s The Flying Devil in “A Sinister Boche Plot!”

Next Time: The Dog-Fight Treachery!

THIS holiday season we’re going all in on The Flying Devil! The Flying Devil was a regular feature of the first fifteen issues of The Lone Eagle and, more importantly, as they announced beneath each month’s story—“the Only War-Air Cartoon Story to Appear in Any Magazine!” The strip was drawn by Terry Gilkison and features the exploits of Buck Barton, a.k.a. The Flying Devil, as he wages a one man war against the Germans in his Spad with the devil on the fuselage.

From the May 1934 issue of The Lone Eagle, it’s Terry Gilkison’s The Flying Devil in “Sky Doom!”

Next Time: A Sinister Boche Plot!

THIS holiday season we’re going all in on The Flying Devil! The Flying Devil was a regular feature of the first fifteen issues of The Lone Eagle and, more importantly, as they announced beneath each month’s story—“the Only War-Air Cartoon Story to Appear in Any Magazine!” The strip was drawn by Terry Gilkison and features the exploits of Buck Barton, a.k.a. The Flying Devil, as he wages a one man war against the Germans in his Spad with the devil on the fuselage.

From the April 1934 issue of The Lone Eagle, it’s Terry Gilkison’s The Flying Devil in “The Ghost Gotha!”

Next Time: Sky Doom!

THIS holiday season we’re going all in on The Flying Devil! The Flying Devil was a regular feature of the first fifteen issues of The Lone Eagle and, more importantly, as they announced beneath each month’s story—“the Only War-Air Cartoon Story to Appear in Any Magazine!” The strip was drawn by Terry Gilkison and features the exploits of Buck Barton, a.k.a. The Flying Devil, as he wages a one man war against the Germans in his Spad with the devil on the fuselage.

From the March 1934 issue of The Lone Eagle, it’s Terry Gilkison’s The Flying Devil in “The Death-Ray Tubes!”

Next Time: The Ghost Gotha!

THIS holiday season we’re going all in on The Flying Devil! The Flying Devil was a regular feature of the first fifteen issues of The Lone Eagle and, more importantly, as they announced beneath each month’s story—“the Only War-Air Cartoon Story to Appear in Any Magazine!” The strip was drawn by Terry Gilkison and features the exploits of Buck Barton, a.k.a. The Flying Devil, as he wages a one man war against the Germans in his Spad with the devil on the fuselage.

From the February 1934 issue of The Lone Eagle, it’s Terry Gilkison’s The Flying Devil in “The Transport Torpedoing Plot!”

Next Time: The Death-Ray Tubes!

THIS holiday season we’re going all in on The Flying Devil! The Flying Devil was a regular feature of the first fifteen issues of The Lone Eagle and, more importantly, as they announced beneath each month’s story—“the Only War-Air Cartoon Story to Appear in Any Magazine!” The strip was drawn by Terry Gilkison and features the exploits of Buck Barton, a.k.a. The Flying Devil, as he wages a one man war against the Germans in his Spad with the devil on the fuselage.

From the January 1934 issue of The Lone Eagle, it’s Terry Gilkison’s The Flying Devil in “The Kidnapped Commander!”

Next Time: The Transport Torpedoing Plot!

THIS holiday season we’re going all in on The Flying Devil! The Flying Devil was a regular feature of the first fifteen issues of The Lone Eagle and, more importantly, as they announced beneath each month’s story—“the Only War-Air Cartoon Story to Appear in Any Magazine!” The strip was drawn by Terry Gilkison and features the exploits of Buck Barton, a.k.a. The Flying Devil, as he wages a one man war against the Germans in his Spad with the devil on the fuselage.

From the December 1933 issue of The Lone Eagle, it’s Terry Gilkison’s The Flying Devil in “The Masked Impersonator!”

Next Time: The Kidnapped Commander!

THIS holiday season we’re going all in on The Flying Devil! The Flying Devil was a regular feature of the first fifteen issues of The Lone Eagle and, more importantly, as they announced beneath each month’s story—“the Only War-Air Cartoon Story to Appear in Any Magazine!” The strip was drawn by Terry Gilkison and features the exploits of Buck Barton, a.k.a. The Flying Devil, as he wages a one man war against the Germans in his Spad with the devil on the fuselage.

From the November 1933 issue of The Lone Eagle, it’s Terry Gilkison’s “The Flying Devil!”

Next Time: The Masked Impersonator!

THIS holiday season we’re going all in on The Flying Devil! The Flying Devil was a regular feature of the first fifteen issues of The Lone Eagle and, more importantly, as they announced beneath each month’s story—“the Only War-Air Cartoon Story to Appear in Any Magazine!”

The strip was drawn by Terry Gilkison. Gilkison had achieved some fame by the time the first episode appeared in the September 1933 issue. There were a couple short lived syndicated comic strips—”Home Sweet Home” and “Pinky Dinky”—as well as editorial cartoons syndicated by Autocaster and having his work published in the likes of Life, Judge, and Collier’s Magazine.

Around that same time, Gilkison also started drafting his “Famous Sky Fighters” feature in Sky Fighters; a two page spread illustrating different Aces that rose to fame during the Great War. His work appeared in Clues, Thrilling Adventures, Texas Rangers, Thrilling Mystery, Thrilling Western, and Popular Western. Gilkison provided similar features in a few other Thrilling Publication—there was “Famous Soldiers of Fortune” and later “Adventure Thrills” in Thrilling Adventures and “Famous Crimes” in Thrilling Detective. He signed most of this work with only his initials “T.G.” to maintain a low profile and preserve his reputation as a syndicated newspaper cartoon artist.

Terry Gilkison’s The Flying Devil premiered in the first issue of The Lone Eagle and would run installments in each of the first fifteen issues at which point it abruptly disappeared from the publication. This first adventure introduces us to Buck Barton, a.k.a. The Flying Devil. Barton flys a Spad with a devil on it’s fuselage and wears a flying helmet has been altered with the addition of horns to complete the impression of a flying devil (although the horns would dissapear from his headgear by the fifth adventure). He is presented in this first story as an independent agent working for the allies against the Germans.

From the September 1933 issue of The Lone Eagle, it’s Terry Gilkison’s “The Flying Devil!”

Next Time: Another Buck Barton, Flying Devil Story!