PART FIVE OF FIREBALL XL5 - BY MIGHTY MIKE NOBLE...

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And now... the penultimate episode in this six-part adventure starring STEVE ZODIAC and the crew of FIREBALL XL5.  (Originally featured in TV CENTURY 21 #38, cover-dated October 9th, 2065.)  Off the top of my head, I can't think of another U.K. artist other than MIKE NOBLE who employed the 'torch in the face' lighting technique usually associated with U.S. comics creator WALLACE WOOD.

Admittedly, there's no example of it in the accompanying two pages, but it was often evident in many of the strips that he illustrated in his long and illustrious career.  (I'm not suggesting that Noble imitated Wood, only that there was sometimes a similarity in the way they both rendered shadows on faces.)

Noble really was a brilliant storyteller, and his action scenes were always compelling and second to none.  Of the four Fireball Annual covers from the '60s, it is arguably the one by Mike Noble that remains in people's memories so long after the fact.  Quite a few artists, amongst them the renowned FRANK HAMPSON and DON LAWRENCE, drew the exploits of Fireball XL5 (in TV21 and other publications) over the years, but Noble remains the one most associated with the strip.  No mean feat in the face of such stiff competition.

Anyway, hopefully you've been enjoying this look back to yesteryear, and will join us again soon for the final part of this action-packed adventure.  (For Part Six, click here.)