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MIKE NOBLE still illustrates today as well as he ever did. Age took
its toll on the talents of KIRBY and DITKO, but you'd be hard-pushed to
find any deterioration between the quality of what he produced week after
week in the pages of TV COMIC, TV CENTURY 21 and LOOK-IN (and
many other titles) back in the '60s, '70s and '80s, and the occasional
commissions he undertakes today.
its toll on the talents of KIRBY and DITKO, but you'd be hard-pushed to
find any deterioration between the quality of what he produced week after
week in the pages of TV COMIC, TV CENTURY 21 and LOOK-IN (and
many other titles) back in the '60s, '70s and '80s, and the occasional
commissions he undertakes today.
It's said that a picture is worth a thousand words - here's two pictures
which prove that little adage a thousand times over. Above, the cover
of the 1966/'67 FIREBALL XL5 Annual; below, the cover to one of the
disc holders in the complete DVD collection of the same programme.
which prove that little adage a thousand times over. Above, the cover
of the 1966/'67 FIREBALL XL5 Annual; below, the cover to one of the
disc holders in the complete DVD collection of the same programme.
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10 comments:
Thought you maybe interested
http://www.robertharrop.com/cat-204
Thanks for letting me know. They look very nice.
Undiminished talent!
Kid, your blog very much deals with both the artistry of comics and how it affects one’s recollections or train of thought. Seeing — and thinking about — Mike Noble’s work here and elsewhere on the blog set off a number of thoughts for me: firstly, how much comics meant to me as a nipper and how much I looked forward to them dropping through the letterbox on the appointed day, the novelty of buying the odd title on the way home from school that wasn’t on regular order, discovering some new and strange title in the school’s ‘rainy day’ comic box, the joy of summer specials to take away on holiday (or annuals at Christmas) or discovering American comics at a stall in the local market. I can readily recall seeing another boy in my class reading a comic containing a feature the quality and boldness of which just bowled me over: the title strip from Countdown illustrated by John Burns.
Secondly, the luxuriant illustration and production of the gravure-printed titles like the original TV 21, Eagle, Express Weekly and Countdown. TV 21, in particular, was *so beautiful* and contained stories about nearly everything I loved on television as a child. Noble’s work was amongst the best and (by me) the most favoured in the paper. I recognised his style from his earlier work on ‘The Range Rider’ in TV Comic (it’s funny how discerning even a young child can be with regard to illustrative character: I also recognised Ron Embleton’s style from work I had seen as an even younger child in nursery titles like Jack And Jill and Playhour).
Yet Noble wasn’t the first to illustrate the ‘Fireball XL5’ feature in TV 21. He was preceded by Graham Coton who produced an extremely variable short run of work on the strip. Never the less, it held an almost magical appeal for me. Previously I had mainly seen the strip printed in black and white, featured in TV Comic and drawn by Neville Main (though TVC annuals had the feature in full colour and one summer special had it in an unusual format of B&W with two spot colours). In TV21 the feature was more dynamic, with greater peril and action. Coton’s villains (bat men inhabiting an asteroid) were particularly scary, looking rather violently insane as I recall. I was very taken with them. However, the story’s main characters were inconsistently rendered (which was disappointing to this young reader) as was their eponymous spacecraft. Though GC had apparently drawn a science fiction strip earlier in his career (‘Space family Rollinson’ in Knockout) many panels in his TV21 work seemed indifferently drawn — though others were full of character and action. Noble’s artwork on the feature was far superior and — as I say — a firm favourite with me, but there remains something strange and romantic about Coton’s efforts. There’s also no doubting Coton’s talent in rendering historical subjects or depictions of battle, as he demonstrated consistently in the educational title Look And Learn. Ah, but Noble… Noble…
(Contd)
The recollection brings another thought: of those times when, even as a young comics reader, one is aware of something really special when seeing the work of a particular artist for the first time. I recognised it with Mike Noble, Ron Embleton and Ron Turner in TV 21 (though, perhaps strangely, not with Frank Bellamy, whose work was probably just too sophisticated for me as a six- or seven-year-old). I was — as already described — stunned by Burns’ work on ‘Countdown’. I was delighted by Ken Reid’s hilarious and rather subversive work on ‘The Nervs’ in Smash! (though I hadn’t paid much attention to his earlier features in The Beano, a comic I only infrequently read). As I started to read American comics I grew into appreciating their artists and, while I now admire many of them, I didn’t feel surprised and thrilled by them at first. At least not until July 1969 when I picked up a copy of both X-Men #58 and Avengers #66, the first drawn by Neal Adams and the second by Barry (Windsor) Smith. They were *so* different, *so* striking, *so* novel. Barry Smith fell off the pedestal very quickly for me though: after looking forward to more excellence with Avengers #67, I found it a serious disappointment (and I don’t think it was entirely down to the issue having a different inker). Gene Colan’s work I also found very striking, though it took me a while to actually like it (and eventually love it).
That’s probably too much rambling for now, but the thoughts cascade unbidden. Sad that there is little of such variety and quality for kids of the modern age, but I suppose they have other fish to fry.
Lovely reminiscences and interesting opinions, Ric, thanks very much.
Regarding Graham Coton's work - although Mike Noble is the superior action/adventure artist, there was something extremely atmospheric about Coton's first five Fireball episodes which made a great impression on me as a lad. I asked the late Alan Fennell why he hadn't started with these episodes when he reprinted the XL5 strips back in the early '90s and his reply surprised me. "Because the artwork isn't good enough!", he said.
Although the art wasn't up to Noble's (or Embleton's) standard, I thought it was still nice in its own right, and consider it a shame that it's never been republished to this present day. As you said, his art was "strange and romantic", and, as I said, "atmospheric". It would be nice to see the strips re-presented in an upcoming Century 21 book by Signum - let's hope so.
Thanks once again for your interesting comments - please keep them coming.
I entirely agree about the atmosphere of GC’s TV21 work. Some of Coton’s panels made indelible impressions: an abandoned space freighter in the feature’s first splash panel, The hero leaving Fireball XL5 by ejection tube to investigate the mystery, the gleeful malice on the faces of the bat men as they ambush the hero with a brightly lit barrage, the orange wastes of the asteroid’s surface; the evil intent on a bat man’s face as he (and a pal) capture the heroine (so strong an impression did that illustration make I can even remember the colour of the antagonist’s eyes!) and so on. I also recall runs of half a dozen panels at a stretch with very little of visual interest and nearly no story telling going on so, while I very much agree with you about the magic of it, I can also see where the late Mr Fennel was coming from. I don’t expect the story will ever be reprinted — the art is simply not good enough overall — but I would, like yourself, very much like to see it for the sake of both the atmospheric and strikingly good elements it contains and the emotional kick it would provide.
Oh, well - I suppose I'd better dig them out and post them in a future blog. Keep watching.
Don't get me wrong, Kid: like you, I'd love to see the story reprinted. I just don't think it'll happen. If you do ever put the story up here I would certainly be overjoyed to see it. All best.
I'll hopefully be posting it sooner than later. I'll need to dig out my TV21s first.
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