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Three TV shows (among many) I remember from my childhood are CIRCUS BOY, WHIRLYBIRDS, and The ADVENTURES Of ROBIN HOOD. Circus Boy was CORKY, played by MICKY BRADDOCK, who - when he grew up - metamorphosed into MICKY DOLENZ of The MONKEES and METAL MICKEY fame (as a producer and director in the latter's case). Whirlybirds starred, er... helicopters, and Robin Hood starred RICHARD (Brylcreem Boy) GREENE, and had a rousing theme tune that everyone of a certain age remembers. Forget ERROL FLYNN, Richard Greene, to me, was the real Robin Hood.
So what has all that got to do with the price of cheese? Well, recently, in a charity shop, I managed to pick up a couple of old Annuals, namely Circus Boy and The Adventures Of Robin Hood, for next-to-nothing. (I stole them!) Ho ho, only joking, but I got them for far less than I'd have paid for them on eBay. What makes the Robin Hood one in particular worth having is the fact that it's illustrated by RON EMBLETON, who drew WULF The BRITON for EXPRESS WEEKLY, and (later) the STINGRAY and CAPTAIN SCARLET strips for TV CENTURY 21. (Also WICKED WANDA for PENTHOUSE, but we won't go there.)
I don't have a Whirlybirds Annual yet, but I'll get one eventually. (And I quite fancy having a Z-CARS Annual too.) Until I do, here are a few pictures from the other two, along with the covers, to whet your appetite for picture-strip tie-ins to old TV shows. I particularly like the Robin Hood ones, how about you?
I don't have a Whirlybirds Annual yet, but I'll get one eventually. (And I quite fancy having a Z-CARS Annual too.) Until I do, here are a few pictures from the other two, along with the covers, to whet your appetite for picture-strip tie-ins to old TV shows. I particularly like the Robin Hood ones, how about you?
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| As well as b&w drawings, there are also 'grey tone' illustrations in the book, which I suspect were originally produced in colour |
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| Interestingly, although this illustration is signed by A. POLLACK, the book credits the illustrations to JOHN POLLACK on the adjoining page |
2 comments:
The Robin Hood book is a treasure of Ron Embleton artwork. As I have never seen it before thanks for blogging it.
At a time when annuals/tie-ins were being used by publishers as try-outs for new artists it's nice to see one of the few books that were well done by some one this good.
The inside cover spread of an animal being roasted on a spit brings back the delightful TV commercials starring Alexander Guage (who played Friar Tuck) saying ,"MMM Wall's Pork Sausages"
It was a lucky find, T47, so I'm glad you enjoyed seeing a few pics from it. I recognise the Wall's 'slogan', but I doubt I'd ever have known who it was saying it back in the day.
Looking at the reproduction of the colour pics, I suspect some of the finer detail was lost in the printing process. Perhaps the 'blotting paper' absorbed and diluted it.
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