Sunday 11 October 2015

KLASSIC KOMIC KOVERS - LOOK-IN #1...


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It was subtitled "The Junior TV TIMES" and contained articles, competitions, comic strips, posters, interviews and crosswords - as well as TV listings for programmes appearing on the ITV regions.  LOOK-IN lasted for just over 23 years and was helmed by former TV CENTURY 21 editor ALAN FENNELL for the first four years of its existence.  TV21 art editor COLIN SHELBOURN took over when Fennell departed.

The mag sported some great covers throughout the '70s, painted by London-based ARNALDO PUTZU, an Italian artist who had been responsible for many cinema posters in the '60s, including designing ones for the 'CARRY ON' movies, two of the MORECAMBE & WISE films, and also some from the HAMMER stable.  He died in 2012, but all those who bought Look-In back in the day will never forget the spectacular covers he produced for one of Britain's finest-ever magazines.

The final issue was published in 1994, after a 1981 revamp and a later change of publisher (and direction) failed to reverse a dwindling readership lured away by glossier publications aimed at teens.  Look-In had fallen out of favour, alas, and the mag had had its day.  Hard to believe it's now been gone for almost as long as it was around.

4 comments:

John Pitt said...

This is another of those that I used to buy " for my younger brother ", ( after reading myself first, that is! ) We had a complete run up to a certain point.
In the 80's, I used to buy it for myself whenever there was anything of interest to me in it, which turned out to be nearly every week!

Kid said...

I never bought the comic until around 1975, JP, when I started getting it regularly for a while, but I remember looking at it earlier than that, and recognizing Mike Noble's art inside. I recall one of my friends buying it in its early days 'though.

Vince and Siv said...

I'm a bit late to the party here Kid, but I used to avidly buy Look In in it's latter days....I seem to remember it had painted John Bolton art on the Bionic Woman strip, and painted Arthur Ranson art on Sapphire and Steele...AND painted John M Burns on some strips (like Magnum P.I. I think??), plus some others, but quite a line up! I Think I've still got a few of the John Bolton issues at home somewhere.

Kid said...

There were a couple of 'Best of Look-In' books several years ago, V&S, which are worth adding to your collection. I had short spells of buying it regularly and then abandoning it again, depending what strips were in it. It became a shadow of its former self in its last few years.



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