Look in Best of the seventies

Ian · Post by **Ian** » 27 Aug 2007, 10:21

Anyone whos childhood was in the seventies will love Look in Best of the seventies book which has just been released.

I got mine on Saturday and its a super read.Even if you are not a 70s child its still worth getting as it has lots of fantastic comic strips by top artists such as Mike Noble and Harry North.

Well done to everyone involved in the publication.

Lime Street Leopard · Post by **Lime Street Leopard** » 07 Sep 2007, 10:29

Have to agree with you Ian,the book is an excellent snapshot of the golden age of this superb comic.I bought LOOK-IN through the70's and most of the 80's and looked forward to it each week.I still have huge collection which I peruse regularly.
My favourite strip was THE TOMORROW PEOPLE as drawn by JOHN M BURNS .I've always been a fan of his artwork.Although his style is more simplistic than say,Mike Noble who also drew a highly detailed TP strip,Burns simplistic style seemed to give the strip an extra dynamic,especially when printed in colour.a brilliant example of his work is contained in the book.The Miniature story show his great skill with drawing fish and birds.Glad to see he's still working today in 2000 ad.(the comic I mean!)
As Burns drew a high number of TV strips in the 70's and 80's (TV ACTION,COUNTDOWN,TV COMIC etc) I'm curious to know what other people think of TV strips in general.The choice was huge:-
TV TORNADO,
TV21
LOOK-IN
TV COMIC
TARGET
TV TOPS
COUNTDOWN
TV ACTION
While I don't think that the later TP strips were a true reflection of the TV series,in a pre video age they were manna from heaven.The thrill of being able to read them over and over again...and keep them!When the TV series ended,you always had the comic strip adventures to keep you going until the next series or repeat.(try explaining that to the kids of today!)
What about the ones that got away? Can anyone shed any light on these suspects.In my opinion they were sure fire hits for LOOK-IN but...never happened:-

ACE OF WANDS
THE NEW AVENGERS
RETURN OF THE SAINT

and yet we were given such turkeys as,HOW THE WEST WAS WON and STAR FLEET instead!
And what about soaps?I believe a CROSSROADS strip ran in LADY PENELOPE around 1969.I'd love to see an example of that!

kevf · Post by **kevf** » 07 Sep 2007, 12:56

This is definitely on my Christmas list. I have an unbroken collection of Look In from 1973 to 1978 but, and it's a big but, it's lacerated to shreds of ribbons. The trouble was the pictures were just too good, and I couldn't resist cutting them out and using them to decorate my Picture Diary (a sight to behold, a page a day from mid 1974 till late 1979, not a day missed).

The Cow gum still holds in most instances, so I can see those classic splash panels by John Burns, Martin Asbury, Mike Noble, Harry North, Arnaldo Putzu (he did the covers) et al in context, ie surrounded by my jottings about the excitement of my days ("Double History, whoopee!" etc). But my original copies are little better than doilies.

Saw originals in a shop the other day for more than a fiver each. But dammit, I wouldn't have changed a thing. Comic collecting is for stamp collectors. I was there, I read them, I shredded them, and I loved every second.

philcom55 · Post by **philcom55** » 07 Sep 2007, 15:58

Lime Street Leopard wrote:And what about soaps?I believe a CROSSROADS strip ran in LADY PENELOPE around 1969.I'd love to see an example of that!

Even today the tradition hasn't completely died out - you can still see a comic strip version of Eastenders in It's Hot!

- Phil Rushton

Captain Storm · Post by **Captain Storm** » 07 Sep 2007, 21:20

Lime Street Leopard wrote:

yet we were given such turkeys as,HOW THE WEST WAS WON and STAR FLEET instead!

Not fair.The artwork for Starfleet was splendid!Go here to see the entire series yourself

http://www.starfleetxbomber.com/merchan ... /index.htm

Lime Street Leopard · Post by **Lime Street Leopard** » 07 Sep 2007, 21:50

Fair play Captain Storm.There is nothing wrong with STAR FLEET,it just wasn't my cup of tea.You're quite right the artwork was very faithful to the show.Didn't Brian May do the theme tune?
In LOOK-INs later years they did a very faithful adaptation of TERRAHAWKS Jim Baikie on art duties if I remember correctly and in colour.
I'm really interested in what other readers opinions are of TV picture strips.Did you prefer them to the show?Did they compliment the show?Was the artwork faithful to the show?(Sid James in BLESS THIS HOUSE in LOOK-IN was weirdly realised in my opinion.with both Sid James and Sally Geeson being unrecognisable to her TV counterparts)

Shaqui · Post by **Shaqui** » 08 Sep 2007, 08:05

Lime Street Leopard wrote:Was the artwork faithful to the show?(Sid James in BLESS THIS HOUSE in LOOK-IN was weirdly realised in my opinion.with both Sid James and Sally Geeson being unrecognisable to her TV counterparts)

Sally Geeson maybe but I always thought Sid James was spot on...

I interviewed artist Alan Parry (yes, he is still around folks! And a most glaring omission from the 'Best of Look-In' book!

) recently and he said his brief was not give Sid James so many laughter lines!

Vince Powell, the co-creator of 'Bless This House' was extremely complimentary of Parry's artwork!

Peter Gray · Post by **Peter Gray** » 08 Sep 2007, 23:43

One fun thing reading these picture strips of well known telly..is you can hear the voices in your mind as you read...which really brings it to life..
anyone else do this?

philcom55 · Post by **philcom55** » 09 Sep 2007, 01:34

Lime Street Leopard wrote:Burns drew a high number of TV strips in the 70's and 80's (TV ACTION,COUNTDOWN,TV COMIC etc)

...And don't forget his 'Tripods' strip inThe Beeb: the BBC's short-lived answer to Look In. I always felt that the timing for that was particularly unfortunate since its obvious headline series at almost any other time would have been the much better-known Dr. Who.

You're quite right that TV-based comic strips had a special magic in those days before video recorders - something that later generations will never be able to recapture. I can still remember watching 'Supercar' with my Budgie Toy model and the latest TV Comic close at hand, ready to offset the awful withdrawal symptoms when each episode came to its inevitable end! I imagine it was the same sort of appeal that kept World Distributors in business for so long too, with their attractive Walt Howarth covers.

- Phil Rushton

Lew Stringer · Post by **Lew Stringer** » 09 Sep 2007, 01:44

Best of all, in my opinion, was Fireball XL5 in TV Century 21. Far more exciting and sophisticated than the tv series was (although I enjoyed that too) helped mainly by the dynamic artwork of Mike Noble. One of the best strips of the 1960s, I think.

Lew

philcom55 · Post by **philcom55** » 09 Sep 2007, 02:26

Lew Stringer wrote:Best of all, in my opinion, was Fireball XL5 in TV Century 21.

Yes, I agree. Frank Bellamy's Thunderbirds and Ron Embleton's Stingray may have been technically more impressive, but as a kid I often felt their artwork stood out in spite of the story. By contrast Noble's artwork on Fireball (as well as on Zero X and Captain Scarlet) always seemed to be wholly in tune with the writer. I've no doubt that there've been many more original artists throughout the history of British comics, but in all honesty very few of them ever brought me as much personal enjoyment!

- Phil Rushton (Incidentally, does anybody else remember buying bags of jelly beans and pretending they were a memorable race of aliens from one of Mike Noble's first Fireball tales...?

)

Shaqui · Post by **Shaqui** » 09 Sep 2007, 09:56

philcom55 wrote:Incidentally, does anybody else remember buying bags of jelly beans and pretending they were a memorable race of aliens from one of Mike Noble's first Fireball tales...? )

Nearly chokes on tea again...

[img:91:89]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v464/ ... calvin.jpg[/img]

Steve Flanagan · Post by **Steve Flanagan** » 10 Sep 2007, 19:36

Noble was one of the first artists whose style I recognised, at an age when I was still getting my Lindfields and my Haylocks muddled. At the time, I thought his style was too dominant (I wanted a faithful, mimetic approach), now I appreciate it much more.

I've posted a review of The Best of ... here: http://gadsircomics.blogspot.com/2007/0 ... nties.html

Peter Gray · Post by **Peter Gray** » 12 Sep 2007, 23:19

Look-in's rivals

Beeb

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/BEEB-Grange-Hill- ... dZViewItem

Number 2 Feb 5th-11th 1985

Articles - comic strips etc on....

WHAM!

ONE BY ONE

SATURDAY SUPERSTORE

THE TRIPODS

GRANGE HILL

THE FAMILY NESS

JOHN CRAVEN

AUTOMAN

BLUE PETER

BANANAMAN

DAVID ICKE'S SPORTS DESK

KENNY DALGLISH
I see they had comic strips....might be worth a look...

and Fast Forward

did these have any picture strips of note...? Comic Artists? Should any of these 2 be refered to as a comic mag like Look-in

Shaqui · Post by **Shaqui** » 13 Sep 2007, 00:25

Beeb:

ONE BY ONE - drawn by Mario Capaldi

THE TRIPODS - drawn in colour by John M Burns

GRANGE HILL - drawn by John Armstrong

THE FAMILY NESS (Strip, artist not sure)

AUTOMAN - drawn by Michael Strand

BANANAMAN (strip)

Peter Gray wrote:and Fast Forward

did these have any picture strips of note...? Comic Artists? Should any of these 2 be refered to as a comic mag like Look-in

I gather Bill Titcombe did a fair bit for this title, post 'Look-In' but haven't had the time to look it up and see what the content was like. 'Beeb' and 'Fast Forward' were probably the two BBC titles that were more similar to 'Look-In'...

Comics UK