Tuesday 16 April 2013

SPACE PATROL IN TV COMIC...


Copyright relevant owner

Simply because I like to spoil you all with awesome acts of unselfish generosity, I now present some scans of a pair of comic strips from the TV COMIC Annual for 1966 (which means it came out at the end of '65).

SPACE PATROL was a show made in '62 (broadcast in '63) which had obvious similarities to GERRY ANDERSON's FIREBALL XL5.  ROBERTA LEIGH wrote and also produced the programme, and ARTHUR PROVIS was responsible for the cinematography.  Both of them had previously worked with Anderson, Leigh on TORCHY The BATTERY BOY (her creation) and Provis as his business partner in AP FILMS.

As you can see from the endpapers, the uniform colours weren't replicated in the strips, the artist probably being supplied only with black and white photos for reference.  In fact, the colours are more like the outfits of the Fireball XL5 crew, and perhaps the artist mistook one space strip for the other.  Who knows?!

Anyway, enjoy a trip back in time to the '60s as we go on patrol in outer space.

(Incidentally, to avoid confusion in the U.S. with a show of the same name, the programme was renamed PLANET PATROL for American consumption.)

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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18 comments:

  1. DeadSpiderEye17 April 2013 at 05:15

    I quite like Space Patrol but it suffers a little bit because of the comparison with the Anderson offerings which is a bit unfair because it's got own strengths. There's a couple Provis/Leigh orphaned pilots on YT, I dunno If you've seen 'em. One's heavily influenced by Stingray but the other one, The Solarnaughts is quite unusual and has a great villain.

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  2. Kid17 April 2013 at 05:22

    Haven't seen Space Patrol since it was first shown. I remember the space station - that's about all.

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  3. John Pitt7 May 2013 at 23:01

    There was a colour American size/style Space Patrol comic book by GOLD SEAL Comics , but I think there was only the one issue .

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  4. Kid8 May 2013 at 00:55

    Wonder if it's worth anything as a one-off?

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  5. John Pitt8 May 2013 at 13:50

    SP also featured as a colour centre - spread in The Beezer , but I can't remember how they were coloured in either comics .

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  6. Kid8 May 2013 at 13:59

    Illustrated by Terry Patrick, I believe. Was it the same Space Patrol 'though?

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  7. John Pitt8 May 2013 at 20:42

    I THINK The Beezer strip was the puppet SP . The Gold Seal comic definately was , but I can't remember if the cover had a colour photo or painting - ( I can't find one on the internet ! )

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  8. Kid8 May 2013 at 23:56

    I had a quick look myself - neither can I. Probably was 'though.

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    Replies
    1. John Pitt11 October 2015 at 15:45

      http://m.ebay.com/itm/381187901713?rmvSB=true&ul_ref=http%3A%2F%2Frover.ebay.com%2Frover%2F1%2F711-53200-19255-0%2F1%3Ftype%3D4%26campid%3D5337617122%26toolid%3D10001%26customid%3D%26mpre%3Dhttp%253A%252F%252Fcgi.ebay.com%252Fws%252FeBayISAPI.dll%253FViewItem%2526item%253D381187901713%26srcrot%3D711-53200-19255-0%26rvr_id%3D909779932751&_mwBanner=1
      Finally found some pix.
      There was a second issue too ( Super Mag #24 ) and an annual SP and the Secret Weapon.

      Delete
  9. Kid11 October 2015 at 18:45

    Thanks for that, JP. Interesting stuff.

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    Replies
    1. John Pitt13 October 2015 at 16:00

      http://www.comics.org/issue/824652/cover/4/
      Here's the cover of the other Comic. The annual cover is easy to Google.
      I still haven't found any Beezer strips yet, but it was the UK SP.

      Delete
  10. Kid13 October 2015 at 16:03

    Ooh, more interesting stuff. Ta, JP.

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    Replies
    1. John Pitt16 October 2015 at 15:03

      https://www.flickr.com/photos/35301335@N07/3742597933/in/photostream
      And some more SP annual, etc. pix on Flickr, mixed in with other photos.

      Delete
    2. John Pitt5 October 2016 at 15:59

      Kid, as we're on with the ciggie cards at the minute, there are some Space Patrol cards, plus box, on the above link!

      Delete
  11. Kid16 October 2015 at 20:02

    You're spoiling us, Mr. Ambassador.

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  12. Kid5 October 2016 at 21:26

    Ta muchly, JP.

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  13. John Pitt8 February 2017 at 14:56

    Kid, here's a better scan of Super Mag comics #12 plus a Beezer strip!

    https://s19.postimg.org/cjptc4abn/1075933.jpg

    https://s19.postimg.org/bvgyt6blv/12107219_10153305407357424_4034762834919733463_n.jpg

    https://s19.postimg.org/izys27iv7/12088148_10153305408042424_6051209713444694679_n.jpg

    ReplyDelete
  14. Kid8 February 2017 at 18:28

    Thanks for those, JP.

    ReplyDelete

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