Showing posts with label Martin Asbury. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Martin Asbury. Show all posts

12 August 2018

3-Day Weekend Matinee - Robot Revolution

Since we're running the same features all weekend, it's obviously no surprise that we've got another tale from Look-In magazine's Buck Rogers comic, based on the Gil Gerard/Erin Gray tv show. But first, of course, we have our ongoing serial - the classic newspaper strip Twin Earths by Oskar Lebeck and Alden McWilliams -


Previously on Twin Earths: Vana, a defector from Terra - Earth's twin planet opposite Sol - has allied herself with the FBI and has helped them to design a detection system for the space based operations of her observers from her homeworld. Meanwhile, her FBI liaison, Garry Verth, has led a team investigating a piece of Terran technology - the telvisphone - a portable teleconferencing unit. With it, they contacted the Terran agents and learned that they were based in Washington DC. In the process, they have revealed their knowledge to the operatives from another world and a bomb exploded in their headquarters soon after...

Twin Earths - Chapter 14:





To Be Continued...

As with the previous two Buck Rogers entries, this tale - Robot Revolution - is written by Angus P. Allan and illustrated by Martin Asbury, his last in this sequence, though he returned to the strip by year's end...


art from Twin Earths newspaper strips (1952) and Look-In v11 #s 5-11 (1981)

11 August 2018

3-Day Weekend Matinee - Full Colour Buck

Our weekend matinee continues, as one might surmise from the title. We're continuing with the same features all weekend, so let's keep the introduction to a minimum and head right into our stories. Our ongoing serial, Twin Earths, was created by Oskar Lebeck and Alden McWilliams, and today's Buck Rogers tale comes from Angus P. Allan and Martin Asbury. (I have no clue if he was doing his own colours, or if another artist was involved)

Previously on Twin Earths: FBI agent Garry Verth is liaison to Vana, the defector from Terra - another world orbiting the sun opposite the Earth. He and his team have just tested a telecommunications device captured from agents of Terra, and in the process they have discovered that the operatives from the Twin Earth are based in Washington DC!

Twin Earths - Chapter 13:

To Be Continued...

On to the first full colour episode of Look-In magazine's Buck Rogers comic -


art from Twin Earths newspaper strips (1952) and Look-In v10 #s 50-52, v11 #s 1-4 (1980-1981)

10 August 2018

3-Day Weekend Matinee - Far Beyond My Time

As previously noted, excepting the original presentation which ran in Heavy Metal back in '79, i completely missed the Buck Rogers revival comic strip from Jim Lawrence and Gray Morrow. There was another Buck Rogers comic back then which i did catch, though most folks in the USA may have missed it - even though it was based on the US television series starring Gil Gerard and Erin Gray:


Look-In is a UK magazine which featured comic series often based on tv shows. The issue in which Buck debuted also featured comics starring Benny Hill, Charlie's Angels, The Smurfs, Mork & Mindy, and the now largely forgotten Sapphire & Steel. (And, no - I can't read those old Benny Hill strips without hearing Yackety Sax) These were typically serialized stories in short 2-page chapters.

Before we get to our main feature, of course, we have our ongoing serial - Twin Earths from Oskar Lebeck and Alden McWilliams.

Previously on Twin Earths: Vanna is a defector from Terra - Earth's more technologically advanced twin in the same orbital position hidden by the sun. Having allied herself with the FBI, she has been educating her liason, agent Garry Verth, and his team about her culture and science. After revealing the existance of "Space Islands," what we would call Space Stations, Vanna helps them to create a detection system. Meanwhile, the FBI has discovered a "telviphone" - a combination telephone and television - and is attempting to learn more about it and the technology involved...

Twin Earths - Chapter 12

To Be Continued...

Our Buck Rogers tale is written by Angus P. Allan, with artwork from Martin Asbury. Angus was the sole writer for the series, but there were three artists who rotated over the not-quite 2 1/2 years the series ran, with two of the three returning for a second engagement.
The story that kicked off the series: The Praxonian Conquest -

 


As noted above, the continuing adventures (and so the next two tales) were presented in full colour.
Here's the cover of the issue in which the series premiered:


Oh... If you were wondering about that title "Far Beyond My Time" - Buck Rogers, like M*A*S*H, was a tv show that used an instrumental theme song which had featured lyrics in the movie version. And, with both shows, i got a lot of weird looks when i sang along with the theme. (The lyrics to Suicide Is Painless certainly didn't help) The theme for Buck Rogers was titled Suspension, by Kipp Lennon. The lyrics -
Far beyond the world I've known, far beyond my time
What am I, who am I, what will I be?
Where am I going and what will I see?
Searching my mind for some truths to reveal
What thoughts are fantasy, what memories real?

Long before this life of mine, long before this time
What was there, who cared to make it begin?
Is it forever or will it all end?
Searching my past for the things that I've seen
Is it my life or just something I dreamed?

(Instrumental break)

Far beyond this world I've known, far beyond my time
What kind of world am I going to find?
Will it be real or just all in my mind?
What am I, who am I, what will I be?
Where am I going and what will I see?

art from Twin Earths newspaper strips (1952) and Look-In v10 #s 43-39 (1980)