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A couple of Crivvies said that they liked the cover of the third Fireball XL5 Annual when I posted all four recently, saying it had more of a sense of action about it than the other three. That being the case, I thought you might like the similar scene from a special edition of TV Century 21 which accompanied the second edition DVD box set of the Fireball TV show. The above illustration is by Eric Eden, the one below is by Mike Noble. Anybody got a preference?
Both beautiful rendered but my personal favourite of the two is Mike Nobles. The first one stylistically resembles the Fireball puppets, Mike's is more comic book realistic which I prefer.
ReplyDeleteAnd what makes that amazing, McS, is that Mike Noble's drawing is a low resolution scan of a very small panel on a page which probably isn't even A5 in size. I'll have to do a better scan, but the fact that you prefer it to a section of a much larger scan of the first illo shows that Mike Noble's ability shines through - even in less than perfect reproductions.
ReplyDeleteA difficult choice, Kid. I think that the first one has more energy, motion and power, but I prefer the renderings of the characters in Mike Noble's image, which brings to mind Frank Bellamy's work. I think the choice is almost like a Kirby/Neal Adams choice.
ReplyDeleteThey are both nice but I prefer the bottom one. Who's the creature in the background?
ReplyDeleteThey're both good, B, but I think there's a little something lacking about the figure work in Eden's rendition of Venus; just seems a little off-kilter to me, which is why I prefer Noble's version.
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He's some alien 'fire' being who appeared, along with the rest of his race, in a Fireball story in TV21, CJ. I'll look up his name and get back to you.
Mike Noble. Always.
ReplyDeleteYeah, he was a great artist and no mistake. Of course, Eric Eden was no slouch either.
ReplyDeleteCJ, it's Vargaz from the planet Volkanos.
ReplyDeleteMy preference is the Eric Eden one if for no other reason that the actual annual with that very cover is sitting in my bookcase right next to me as I sit and type this. Sigh! Yes, I really am that old.
ReplyDeleteI'm lucky enough to own all four books, SD, so I'm a very happy chappie. I prefer the fourth cover, also by Mike Noble, because, to me, he was THE Fireball artist.
ReplyDeleteActually I don't care for either drawing as for me neither depicts the puppet characters and they are not appealing as comic ones.
ReplyDeleteUsually I like the styles of both artists but in this case they don't do the subject justice.
I'd say that they MORE than do the subject justice, T47. Puppet characters looking like puppets in a TV show is to be expected, but for an action adventure comic strip, they wouldn't be able to convey the sense of drama and excitement required for the comic strip medium. Supercar in TV21 was the exception, drawn in a comic way which suited the strips as they were humorous rather than dramatic. Alan Fennell, who wrote quite a few TV adventures for Fireball, Supercar, and Thunderbirds, was the man who decided on the style for TV21, and I reckon he knew what he was doing.
ReplyDeleteKid, do you know that the "Back In The Bronze Age" blog is closing? It's in your blog list and you've left the occasional comment on BITBA so I thought you'd like to know (if you don't already).
ReplyDeleteYes, I'd noticed. I also noticed your comment saying that you'd see everyone on SDC, without even a mention of Crivens. Needless to say, I was heartbroken and inconsolable at being so callously ignored. (Boo-hoo!)
ReplyDeleteKid, I meant I'd see Redartz on SDC! He doesn't leave comments on any other blogs as far as I know.
ReplyDeleteI think he's left a few comments on mine over the years - definitely one anyway. I must be losing my sex appeal.
ReplyDeleteThey are both good. But if I could only choose one I would go with Mike Noble. It’s like saying whose version of Daredevil do you like more, Wood or Colan. Well it depends.
ReplyDeleteI think Eden's given his a greater sense of perspective, PS, which lends something to the composition, but there's something about Noble's that just pips it at the post for me.
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