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Arrived today, the TV TORNADO Annual for 1971 (which was the fourth and final one), giving me the full set after receiving the one for '70 around 33-34 years ago as a gift (15 or 16 years after it first came out), and the '68 and '69 books within the last fortnight or so. This is easily the worst of the four, as the British-produced strips are absolutely bloody awful; amateurishly drawn and lettered, they look as if they've been scrawled by a child. (One character has two left hands.) Only the American reprints save the day, though there's not enough of them. Fictitious editor ED STORM rounds off his FLASH POINT intro by saying "I hope to be with you again in twelve months time with another issue of TV Tornado. Cheerio till then"
'Twas not to be; Ed disappeared into the limbo of cancelled comics (and Annuals), never to be seen again in any new publication. (Though there'd been a similar character, The SKIPPER, in SUPER DC, by the same artist - MICK ANGLO by the look of it.) I can't help but wonder whether ED might've been able to keep his word had the quality of the artwork in this book been of a higher standard than it was. And what are three cowboys from The HIGH CHAPPARAL doing on the cover? They don't appear in any strip or text story inside. I assume they were meant to be included before it was decided to produce this book as cheaply as possible by getting a 12 year old kid (by the look of it) to do the interiors.
Anyway, I've shown these Annuals out of sequence, so in an upcoming omnibus post I'll place them all in their proper order, along with their back covers. Any memories of having these books - or the weekly comic? Then feel entirely welcome to share your reminiscences in the comments section with your fellow Crivs.
Great Cover That!..i Have 1 TV Tornado annual the third one i think it is, in poor condition, bought for 50p from an old book shop in Birmingham (readers World) in the mid 1980's, i don't remember it much at the actual time like i said before, the only TV Tornado anecdote i have is the Comics selling for loads more than they should have on the E bay,I do like the look of that one though, just that Cover!..i may have a gander on e bay for it, if its as bad you say, its gotta be worth a look!
ReplyDeleteIt's probably worse than I say, RD. Whoever (badly) drew the UK strips also lettered them, and they can't spell. Also, there are numerous instances where the speech balloons are in the reverse order of where they should be. Like the reader should automatically know to read the first one second and the second one first. Honest - absolutely dire.
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