Neil Armstrong Signed Smilin' Jack Cartoon Strips (Two). The two 1968 Smilin' Jack daily comic strips have been reproduced on a 24" x 18" sheet. The first comic strip is dated July 6 and depicts Jack being shown a Jupiter missile with a mention of the Saturn V that will put the first man (who is shown) on the moon. The second comic strip is dated August 5 (still pre-dating the first manned Apollo launch) and describes how the Apollo Lunar Module will separate from the Command Module, descend to, and land on the moon. The last panel shows "America's First Astronaut [as he] Sets Foot on Moon." Just to the left of the second strip, the actual first man on the moon has signed in black ink, "To Jack/ All The Best --/ Neil Armstrong." The daughter of Zack Mosley, Smilin' Jack's creator, had sent the originals of these strips to Armstrong as a gift and requested that he sign the reproduction and return it to her brother, Jack. The large sheet is very clean with one horizontal fold affecting nothing.

The Adventures of Smilin' Jack was an aviation-themed comic strip that originated in the Chicago Tribune in 1933 and ran nationally, both as a daily and Sunday strip, for four decades. It documented the escapades of this adventurous pilot and his interesting sidekicks including Downwind Jaxon (whose face was never completely revealed), Fat Stuff, Rufus Jimpson, and Dixie Lee. Its popularity led to a radio series on the Mutual Network, a film serial, and a Dell comic book. In a Neil Armstrong Typed Letter Signed appearing in our upcoming Space Exploration auction (November 12, 2014), Armstrong informs the daughter of Zack Mosley that "Smiling Jack was a favorite of mine and most of my friends when I was a young lad." It's no wonder that Neil Armstrong and other young men during this early age of aviation loved this comic; it portrayed pilots as romantic and fun-loving figures. Armstrong became a pilot at an early age, just like Smilin' Jack.

Zack Mosley, was born in Hickory, Oklahoma, in 1906, and his fascination with sketching airplanes started at an early age. He studied art at the Chicago Academy of Fine Arts and the Chicago Art Institute and began his comic career by assisting Dick Calkins on Buck Rogers and Skyroads. The young artist started taking flying lessons the same year he created the Smilin' Jack aviation strip (1933) and became a licensed pilot in 1936. He owned nine airplanes and logged over 3000 hours at the controls. He was one of the volunteer pilots who helped form the Civil Air Patrol which became an official organization of the U.S. government only six days before Pearl Harbor. He was one of the few hundred C.A.P. pilots awarded the USAF air medal for flying over 300 hours in bomb-loaded civilian planes off the Atlantic coast during the first eighteen months of World War II. He kept up-to-date on the latest in aviation (and space) technology, traveling the world and gathering information for his comic strip, which was retired on April 1, 1973. His daughter, Jill, maintains a website in tribute to his art and career at www.smilinjackart.com.