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Back in the early '90s, I was chatting on the 'phone one day to legendary editor, the late ALAN FENNELL, about the FIREBALL XL5 reprints from TV CENTURY 21 in one of the comics he was then responsible for. "Why didn't you start the stories from the first-ever episode?" I enquired of him. "Because the artwork wasn't good enough!" was his frank reply.
I must confess that I was a little surprised by Alan's assessment because, although MIKE NOBLE is the Fireball artist in the minds of most readers of the time, his predecessor on the first five instalments in the series, GRAHAM COTON, turned in a very atmospheric job, I thought. To date, the strips have never been reprinted* in any book, comic, or magazine, so I thought I'd present them here on my blog for anyone wanting to relive their childhood, or to read them for the very first time.
So, enjoy Part One - the rest will follow at fairly regular intervals.
*Update: In 2023, Coton's strips were included in the Fireball XL5 60th Anniversary Comic Anthology, which reprinted all the XL5 strips from TV21 and Countdown.
And below is the cover to the very issue that the above strip appeared in.
My comic education continues! I only knew Fireball from Mike Noble's work, which filled an old annual I used to have. Thanks again for sharing. I both admire and envy the fact that you hung onto all of this material. Over the last few years I have been steadily re-acquiring a lot of it at vastly more inflated prices than would have been payed back in the day!! Just added three issue of Wham thanks to eBay.
ReplyDeleteMike Noble took over with issue #6, Phil. I have all four Fireball XL5 Annuals from the '60s, and although MN drew the cover for the last one, none of his work appeared inside. Is it an Australian annual, perhaps? Also, to be honest, I didn't hang onto everything - I reacquired a lot of it over a period of years, but I've now had most of it for far longer than I owned my original copies.
ReplyDeletePardon my memory - but now that you mention it I may be mixing up the cover of the annual and the contents of the comic. We are talking 40 years or so ago and I unfortunately no longer have the annual to comment on the provenance. Re-acquisition has been a bit tougher being so far from the source of a lot of my favorites (the UK) but the World Wide Web has opened up new avenues.
ReplyDeleteThe cover of that annual is on my blog somewhere. In fact, you can access it via the sidebar (if you haven't already seen it.)
ReplyDelete