The Back Cover! (22)
Last Updated (Friday, 09 December 2011 15:17) Written by Administrator Friday, 09 December 2011 00:00
Postscript: Woah! It's the back cover
Full circle the front
Yes, I said the comic was at an end but, my goodness - it just keeps on giving. Now, who recognises the drawings?
Back in those days, if you were a fan who couldn't watch Star Wars whenever you liked, you took your sci-fi thrills wherever you could get them.
An animated TV series called Battle of the Planets hit the screen from Japan and it did the job pretty well if you were a youngster. Repetitive, yes; but visually better I think, than anything else that was available on telly. It was the first time I'd seen glowing backlighting effects in TV animation. They were able to produce realistic laser and fire effects. For the time it was also quite richly coloured. Every week, a robotic alien monster attacked earth. G-Force battled against it and always - always - ALWAYS! - the giant robot would resort to breaking up into lots of smaller robots. How times have not changed.
Characters would get teary too - all glisteny-eyed and quiver-lipped - when something terribly sad happened, like a child losing their parents. I never saw that before in TV animation either. Weird!
Every Friday afternoon after school, John Skehan and I would race home to see Battle of the Planets. And Gabby, my wife, says she loved it too. But I really must have loved it because I made a comic out of it! (left)
Anyway, you took your TV sci-fi where you could get it: Space 1999, Battlestar Galactica (ugh), Buck Rogers (oh dear), and even Jason of Star Command (one of the most laughable atrocities ever committed to celluloid). Desperation eh? I felt like such a traitor to Star Wars, but it was a guilty pleasure.
Disco Force!
Some of you might remember me mentioning this ages ago on Facebook, in the early days of SWa9.
One morning - in late 1979? - I had the most exciting vivid dream. My big sister Maria was up and about getting ready for school while I was still sleeping. She had the radio on as always. A song seeped into my subconscious and mingled with Star Wars. I awoke before the wonderful dream concluded - much to my disappointment - but set to work on a new comic. Proof if it were needed, that the subconscious mind is a creative force, is shown below (what a note on which to end!)
Sing to the tune of "Gimme, gimme, gimme" by ABBA
Thanks for reading! Please leave a comment below ;-)
Comments
I LOVED battle of the Planets, especially the Princess' knicker shots.
I now have the complete series on DVD (as it's original entity, Gatchaman)
As a parting last embarrassment, I must admit that I was the sole boy in a local disco dancing club, and can still remember the routine to Disco Inferno.
I've sneaking a feeling that you and I Neil, don't embarrass easily!
John I'm surprised you failed to capatalize on such a great financial opportunity.
At least you could have advertised Xray glasses so I could have seen through all the plot holes in the trilogy!
You mean the G-Force fellow (Cheops was it?) looks like a Sea Monkey?
Believe it or not Johnny told me they're growing so-called 'Sea Monkeys' in School. They were the most bl;atant case of false advertising i ever saw as a kid
And is there more to the "Battle of the Planets" comic? I used to watch that show religiously after school back in the day. Rather surprised to find out the original name (not unlike "Star Blazers" renamed from "Space Battleship Yamato").
Star Blazers was the show for me after school back in the 80s. Ourrrrr... Starrrrr... Blazeeerrrrrrrs!!!
Good stuff!
As you are no doubt aware, this webcomic - drawn bya child - has earned me literally millions. HA HA HHA HAHHAHH AH
Although a battle of one 9 year old's drawings versus another 9 year old's action figures would be cool, I estimate (like me) you are both still 9 year olds mentally, so will it ever end, or do we need to get your respective moms involved in mediation?
Though, now I think of it, didn't that usually happen when the audience for one of them was in decline?
Although I can't load page 16 for some reason :( which is a serious disappointment.
starwarsage9.com/.../...
Prob for me is that these pages display for me - but no one else. Weird. And hard to test.
Thanks
John
You're getting me all nostalgic now for 70's sci-fi.
D'you rremember Atom Smashers crisps with the stickers of spaceships and robots in? Did they have those in Ireland, or has it always just been Taytos?
Atom Smashers? Sounds familiar. Do you remember Bones and Fangs crisps?
Loved Outer Spacers too. I drew those crazy robots all over my school books.
But yes, it is an adorable and rather beautiful film Zayne.
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