Bear Alley Books have announced their latest offering and it's sure to interest fans of 1950s UK independent comics. The Complete Captain Future is to be a 200 page A4 softback reprinting Norman Light's space hero character. The artwork has a retro charm about it by modern standards but it's very well illustrated and certainly worthy of a collection.
For some reason, outside of Eagle and The Beano, postwar and 1950s British comics are sometimes overlooked by collectors but it was an important decade for the industry. It was a time when comics broke free of the traditional formulas and more independent companies surfaced. Adventure comics began to hold their own instead of being a back up to the funnies, and the influence of American comics encouraged UK artists to create more dynamic page layouts. Basically that postwar/1950s period set the scene for decades to come. Captain Future is a perfect representation of those times.
If you order The Complete Captain Future before publication you'll get a discount. (I've just ordered my copy.) Here's the Bear Alley Books page where you can discover more about the book and how to order it:
http://bearalleybooks.blogspot.co.uk/
I've been a sucker for books on the history of comics ever since I had The Penguin Book of Comics for Christmas 1971. Any book that provides more insight into the background of comics is usually an essential purchase for me, and Countdown to TV Action by Steve Holland definitely delivers the goods.
As most of you will know, Countdown was a weekly comic published by Polystyle in 1971 which featured licensed TV strips such as Doctor Who and various Gerry Anderson strips, along with features on science, space exploration, and Unidentified Flying Objects. A year after its launch it metamorphosed into TV Action, continuing the numbering and broadening its remit to incorporate strips based on other TV adventure shows of the time. (Here's a blog post I wrote several years ago about Countdown No.1:
http://lewstringer.blogspot.co.uk/2011/02/40-year-flashback-countdown-no1.html)
It took quite a while for Steve Holland to compile this book because he always diligently researches his projects. At times you may feel there's a bit too much background career information on the staff of the comics Steve writes about, but it's actually good to have such thoroughly researched information. After all, why not give the staff and creators their due, when they've often worked in relative obscurity for years?
The 202 page book not only covers the history of Countdown / TV Action but also puts it into context by giving us the brief history of the comics that preceded it (such as TV Century 21 and TV Comic) and the background to the publishers. Steve has unearthed many interesting facts about the behind-the-scenes story of the comic, and that, plus brief story synopsis', information on creators, and a substantial strip index at the back makes this book the definitive history of the title.
That index takes up over 50 pages in itself, providing every story title and the issues they ran in, creator credits, feature titles, etc. Even information on the Holiday Specials and Annuals are included, and related titles such as the Doctor Who Holiday Special of 1973.
The book is extremely well illustrated too, with many crisp clear reproductions of covers, artwork, and features. Some strips are even reprinted full size, taking up the whole page. I'm sure some would prefer it if they'd been shown in full colour, but this is a self-published venture with a smallish print run so the costs of colour would be prohibitive. The absence of colour is irrelevant anyway, as the focus of this book is on the history of the comic, and it certainly does its job.
Countdown to TV Action is a fine publication, carefully researched and handsomely presented in a very informative and enjoyable volume. If you read the comics as a kid you'll love it. If it's new to you, you'll discover the story behind one of the best British comics of the 1970s and marvel at the quality of its artwork.
You can buy a copy directly from the publisher at Bear Alley Books by following this link:
http://bearalleybooks.blogspot.co.uk/2014/06/countdown-to-tv-action.html
Bear Alley Books' new publication Countdown to TV Action is due to be published in just over a week's time on July 4th 2014. The 200 page book covers the history of the fondly remembered 1970s comic Countdown (which became TV Action with its 59th issue), and will also include an index of all the strips.
Written by Steve Holland, who knows his stuff when it comics to British adventure comics, Countdown to TV Action is now available to pre-order from his website here:
http://bearalleybooks.blogspot.co.uk/2014/06/countdown-to-tv-action.html
One I'm definitely looking forward to, and I'm sure I'm not alone in that!
(I've blogged about Countdown comic several times in the past. To find those posts, simply type Countdown or TV Action into the search bar at the top left of this blog.)
Steve Holland is a diligent hard working researcher of old comics, story papers, paperbacks and suchlike whose articles and books are always rewarding. His latest venture, an index for the Hurricane and Champion comics of the 1960s shows all the dedication and research one has come to expect of him.
Personally I was never a follower of those comics as a child. Compared to TV21, Smash! and Marvel Comics they seemed a bit flat and outdated. However I can appreciate Hurricane and Champion far more now from a mature perspective, and even though I only have a couple of issues in my collection I found Steve's history of those comics a fascinating read. If I enjoyed it I'm sure that actual fans of those titles will be over the moon with this book.
The cover itself is a treat. Shot from the original artwork it mimics the cover design of the early issues of Hurricane and is wraparound printed on quality stock paper. Inside, the first 29 pages are taken up with a thorough history of the two comics. Both were short lived Fleetway titles, with Hurricane running for 63 weeks and Champion for just 15. This is followed by the index itself, listing every story and the length of its run and, where possible, the names of the relevant artists.
Editors names are also listed, as are the free gifts given in the issues. The book is well illustrated throughout with sharp, well reproduced sample panels from the comics. There's also a cover gallery of the annuals in the back. (The annuals continued for several years after the weeklies folded.)
Hurricane and Champion were brief, blink-and-you'll-miss-them titles that soon merged into Tiger and Lion respectively. Champion was a curious mix of new UK material and European translated reprint that never really gelled with the British market. Hurricane was the better title, but still failed to make much of an impact in the busy comic environment of the 1960s. However it's great to see this nice pocket history of those titles and I hope Steve does more. (He implies that a Jag index might be in the future, which is a comic I really enjoyed.)
You can buy a copy of the index directly from Steve at Bear Alley Books at this link:
http://bearalleybooks.blogspot.com/2011/02/hurricane-and-champion-index.html
While you're there, take a look around the site to see his other books, and then visit Steve's other blog, Bear Alley. It's an essential site for anyone interested in the history of comics.
