CRIVENS! COMICS & STUFF!: SUPER SUNDAY SPECIAL SELECTION - PART SIX OF TV CENTURY 21 COVER GALLERY...

Sunday 8 June 2014

SUPER SUNDAY SPECIAL SELECTION - PART SIX OF TV CENTURY 21 COVER GALLERY...

How can you go almost 50 years into the past and the future at the same time? Simple! By looking at the covers of TV CENTURY 21, which came out in the mid-'60s and was dated 100 years ahead of when it went on sale. Strictly speaking, that should've given it a lengthy time on the newsagents' shelves, but as it more or less sold out pretty quickly, that wasn't something that newsagents ever had to worry about.

The original logo lasted for 51 issues before being replaced with a more compact one, a version of which had first appeared on the 1966 Annual - although that had gone on sale in August or September of the previous year. It's strange, but I'd been living in a new house for nearly two months when issue #52 appeared, but for some reason I seem to associate the new logo with my former house as much (if not more) as I do my then-current one.

THUNDERBIRDS was the latest GERRY ANDERSON hit on TV at the time, and I remember (horrors) cutting the strip of the TRACY brothers from the cover below and putting it on my bedroom wall, probably one of the earliest examples of me ever mutilating a comic for such a purpose. It's memories like this that remind me of how uncomplicated life seemed for a kid back in the '60s, and I often wish it were the same for me today.

Anyway, I'm sure you're eager to relive your own childhood recollections of these great comics, so I'll leave you to it without any further interruptions from me.

4 comments:

John Pitt said...: My mutilations were even worse! When I got fed up waiting for the Daleks to come back I ended up just keeping the back pages, Dalek covers & features and slinging the rest! Even these were eventually handed down. Such sacrilidge! What a waste!; 8 June 2014 at 13:06
Kid said...: I wish (as I've said before) that someone would do a full-sized, hardback, deluxe volume of those Daleks stories, JP. I loved them, and thought that TV21 was the poorer for their absence.; 8 June 2014 at 13:49
Unknown said...: Hi Kid / JP
I think I can Better both of your mutilations,having faithfully kept all editions and free gifts, I cut up my collection for all the real space program related feature's. Too this day I know not what came over me.Obsession with the dream of space flight / travel? who knows and to my shame I still have the Evidence!; 4 September 2014 at 22:20
Kid said...: If you still have the free gifts, BM, you should consider making facsimiles of the decoder and Fireball model and selling them (as facsimiles) on eBay. There are bound to be loads of people who'd love to recapture a slice of their childhood for a reasonable price.; 4 September 2014 at 23:08

About the artist:

From 1985 to 2000 A.D. (little joke there), I contributed to a variety of high profile comics and magazines for various companies.

For IPC/FLEETWAY/EGMONT, I freelanced as a lettering and logo artist on various weekly comics and monthly magazines, and also as a resize comic artist and spot illustrator on pocket books, summer specials and annuals.

For MARVEL U.K., BLACK LIBRARY, REDAN and USBORNE BOOKS, I again freelanced as a lettering artist, also working as a restoration artist for MARVEL U.S., restoring and re-creating certain pages of JACK KIRBY art for their MARVEL MASTERWORKS editions.

I also lettered the MARVELMAN sample pages submitted to MARVEL U.S. when they were considering acquiring the character, which - as we all now know - they DID.

Supplied comic strips, cartoons and illustrated advertisements for local business campaigns and newspaper publication on a professional basis since the age of 16. Did my first paid art job for publication at 14 or 15 for Lanarkshire Education Board.

Have also made TV appearances as a collector of memorabilia.

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Just some of the titles I worked on are:

2000 A.D. * JUDGE DREDD MEGAZINE * DICEMAN * SONIC The COMIC * JUDGE DREDD, LAWMAN Of The FUTURE * CRISIS * REVOLVER * EAGLE * TIGER * BATTLE ACTION-FORCE * BUSTER * WHIZZER & CHIPS * WHOOPEE * NIPPER * SCHOOL FUN * ACE VENTURA, PET DETECTIVE * The REAL GHOSTBUSTERS * DOCTOR WHO MAGAZINE * COUNT DUCKULA * RUGRATS * The TRANSFORMERS * DEATH'S HEAD * THUNDERCATS * GALAXY RANGERS * DRAGON'S CLAWS * SINDY * MARVEL MASTERWORKS * The TROLLS * LOADED * INFERNO * WARHAMMER * ROSE BLACK.

Copyright Notice:

Images remain the property of their respective copyright owners and are used here only for the purpose of review, promotion, and nostalgia.

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In the case of images culled from my own collection where copyright of an item isn't mine, I impose no copying restrictions on fellow bloggers.

(Although, if you don't allow copying on your own site, then you really shouldn't be copying from others, should you?)

And while you can credit this blog if you like, it's not mandatory. Who has time to make notes of every casually visited site during an idle browse of the internet?

In the case of anyone copying images of my own artwork and calligraphy, I affirm my right to be identified as the creator, and any such copying should not be for the purpose of monetary or material gain. (Unless it's mine.)

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Please also note that this blog is not sponsored by, affiliated with, or connected to, any organisation, business, or group, and is wholly independent.