STORY 1
ISSUES 38-45
UNTITLED
Many titles in re-prints including "Planet of The Ants" and "Return of the Originals".
SYNOPSIS
Look-In kicks off the 1999 saga with massive colour,incredible art and a story that some have reviewed as poor/average but I personally absolutely love all 14 pages of this debut strip.
It's a perfect introduction,in the first installment we see the moon being "moved" in time and space by some unknown phenoma.
Suddenly in close proximity, to a planet that may be the answer to the end of their travels,Commander John Koenig orders an Eagle to go down there and investigate.
It's Alan Carter in the Eagle but his co-pilot is still in training and due to the different effects of the gravity or an unknown force or his lack of training.....The Eagle is going to crash!!!!!!!!!!
Moving on we get this beach,this sea,then giant intelligent ants!!!
ALL IN THE FIRST PART!!!!
GENIUS.
Over the next 6 parts that follow,Helena discovers that in reality THEY HAVE RETURNED HOME TO EARTH!!!!
The Earth of the future,ants being the dominant species.
And large.
This all leads to an arena style combat and a daring rescue from Victor.
Whatever anyone says,this strip is fantastic.
The best though was yet to come.
Sorry I'm not listing all 12 stories and instead doing them post by post but please understand,I have an emotional connection to these 12 stories and must go through them in this manner.
Story 2 to follow.
SPACE 1999:THE STRIPS:LOOK -IN CHRONOLOGY SERIES 1
Moderator: AndyB
Re: SPACE 1999:THE STRIPS:LOOK -IN CHRONOLOGY SERIES 1
STORY 2
ISSUES 45-49
UNTITLED
Space 1999 Comic Anthologys' reprint is titled "Planet of War".
The most beautiful thing about this 10 page classic,other than the always astoundingly excellent art by Burns,is the continuation from story 1.
Strips in Look -in tend to have no particular order with any series but here was something new.
Allan and Burns sequel the initial strip by placing the Alphans still a thousand years in the future and back in their original solar system.
So we find that after leaving Earth,the moon is next passing Mars.
There is a distress call in Chinese.
To help and investigate what the hell is going on,John and Helena take an Eagle down there.
First,they find a deserted dome.Next they are attacked.Then....Their Eagle is destroyed!!!
They are captured by Nam Lee,leader of "the yellows".
The yellows are at war with "the alternatives".
Both colonized Mars after the moon left Earths' orbit,which caused major destruction to the point that Earth was unhabitable.
Tell that to the giant ants from the previous story !!!
Anyhow,the alternatives attack the underground Chinese city.
Koenig doesn't want any part of this war and will not support either side.
Burns' art is almost claustraphobic,in a good way.
An excellent story,not a fan favourite but absolutely fantastic in my humble opinion.
Story 3 next post.
Thank you for reading.
ISSUES 45-49
UNTITLED
Space 1999 Comic Anthologys' reprint is titled "Planet of War".
The most beautiful thing about this 10 page classic,other than the always astoundingly excellent art by Burns,is the continuation from story 1.
Strips in Look -in tend to have no particular order with any series but here was something new.
Allan and Burns sequel the initial strip by placing the Alphans still a thousand years in the future and back in their original solar system.
So we find that after leaving Earth,the moon is next passing Mars.
There is a distress call in Chinese.
To help and investigate what the hell is going on,John and Helena take an Eagle down there.
First,they find a deserted dome.Next they are attacked.Then....Their Eagle is destroyed!!!
They are captured by Nam Lee,leader of "the yellows".
The yellows are at war with "the alternatives".
Both colonized Mars after the moon left Earths' orbit,which caused major destruction to the point that Earth was unhabitable.
Tell that to the giant ants from the previous story !!!
Anyhow,the alternatives attack the underground Chinese city.
Koenig doesn't want any part of this war and will not support either side.
Burns' art is almost claustraphobic,in a good way.
An excellent story,not a fan favourite but absolutely fantastic in my humble opinion.
Story 3 next post.
Thank you for reading.
Re: SPACE 1999:THE STRIPS:LOOK -IN CHRONOLOGY SERIES 1
Bought the book and will be reading over the Christmas period.
Reading comics since 1970. My Current Regulars are: 2000 AD (1977-), Judge Dredd Megazine (1990-), Spaceship Away (2003-), Commando (2013-), Monster Fun (2022-), Deadpool and Wolverine (2023-), Quantum (2023-).
Re: SPACE 1999:THE STRIPS:LOOK -IN CHRONOLOGY SERIES 1
STORY 3
ISSUES 50 (1975) - 5 (1976)
UNTITLED
Space 1999 Comic Anthology reprint is titled "The Justice of Kolbar".
This is the last Burns' strip other than a brief 3 parter later in the year.
This is also the last colour strip.
In 1976,The Tomorrow People had a new TV series out featuring their latest Tomorrow person,Mike.
Mike was played by Mike Holoway from a teen pop band,Flintlock.
Look-in,as all UK comics,had a limited amount of colour pages that they could afford.
The Tomorrow People had been a very popular feature for Look -in,it's comic strip,many features,covers and competitions.
So it was the logical decision to take the Tomorrow People back to colour and therefore Space 1999 went to black and white.
They weren't going to make their Six Million Dollar Man strip black and white,it was the biggest show on the planet !!
Anyhow,in story 3 we find a space craft crashing onto the moon.
A chap called Zar is in charge and also an intergalactic police man,a law enforcer, chief,a proto type Judge Dredd Megacity scenario.
He is looking for Kalex,a criminal.
Murder and intrigue commence as Kalex mind transfers into others.
Eventually Koenig kills him.
An excellent story with fantastic art,some have said that the art is Burns' best on this strip.
So 2 Mikes' next take over and we are in year 2 of the strip.
Mike from the Tomorrow People gets the colour.
Mike Noble takes over Burns in glorious black and white.
Despite my immense love of the Burns' era,the Noble era is even better,in my humble opinion.
STORY 4 to follow.
Thank you for reading.
ISSUES 50 (1975) - 5 (1976)
UNTITLED
Space 1999 Comic Anthology reprint is titled "The Justice of Kolbar".
This is the last Burns' strip other than a brief 3 parter later in the year.
This is also the last colour strip.
In 1976,The Tomorrow People had a new TV series out featuring their latest Tomorrow person,Mike.
Mike was played by Mike Holoway from a teen pop band,Flintlock.
Look-in,as all UK comics,had a limited amount of colour pages that they could afford.
The Tomorrow People had been a very popular feature for Look -in,it's comic strip,many features,covers and competitions.
So it was the logical decision to take the Tomorrow People back to colour and therefore Space 1999 went to black and white.
They weren't going to make their Six Million Dollar Man strip black and white,it was the biggest show on the planet !!
Anyhow,in story 3 we find a space craft crashing onto the moon.
A chap called Zar is in charge and also an intergalactic police man,a law enforcer, chief,a proto type Judge Dredd Megacity scenario.
He is looking for Kalex,a criminal.
Murder and intrigue commence as Kalex mind transfers into others.
Eventually Koenig kills him.
An excellent story with fantastic art,some have said that the art is Burns' best on this strip.
So 2 Mikes' next take over and we are in year 2 of the strip.
Mike from the Tomorrow People gets the colour.
Mike Noble takes over Burns in glorious black and white.
Despite my immense love of the Burns' era,the Noble era is even better,in my humble opinion.
STORY 4 to follow.
Thank you for reading.
Re: SPACE 1999:THE STRIPS:LOOK -IN CHRONOLOGY SERIES 1
STORY 4
ISSUES 6 -12
UNTITLED
Space 1999 Comic Anthology reprint titled "The Illusion of Paradise".
Mike Nobles' first strip,Angus Allen continues as writer.
The strip is immediately different due to Nobles' art offering a different lens,creating a more widescape view of everything.
The change to black and white complements this style perfectly.
The story starts in the medic bay with Helena Russell and her team unable to save the life of Baker from a heart attack.
Then we move to Main Mission where a near new planet that may be a suitable home for the travelling Alphans is discovered.
John and Victor do a reconnaissance mission and are shocked by being welcomed by a now alive Baker to the planet Lassa.
The planet turns out to be under the protection of a God like being,Makka.
A brilliant story that easily sustains itself over its 8 chapters and bears some resemblance to a possible influence of 2 TV episodes;
" A Matter of Life and Death" and "The Guardian of Piri".
ISSUES 6 -12
UNTITLED
Space 1999 Comic Anthology reprint titled "The Illusion of Paradise".
Mike Nobles' first strip,Angus Allen continues as writer.
The strip is immediately different due to Nobles' art offering a different lens,creating a more widescape view of everything.
The change to black and white complements this style perfectly.
The story starts in the medic bay with Helena Russell and her team unable to save the life of Baker from a heart attack.
Then we move to Main Mission where a near new planet that may be a suitable home for the travelling Alphans is discovered.
John and Victor do a reconnaissance mission and are shocked by being welcomed by a now alive Baker to the planet Lassa.
The planet turns out to be under the protection of a God like being,Makka.
A brilliant story that easily sustains itself over its 8 chapters and bears some resemblance to a possible influence of 2 TV episodes;
" A Matter of Life and Death" and "The Guardian of Piri".
Re: SPACE 1999:THE STRIPS:LOOK -IN CHRONOLOGY SERIES 1
STORY 5
ISSUES 13 - 18
UNTITLED
Comic Anthology Reprint Title: "The Long Man"
The artist Mike Noble was a resident of East Sussex and suggested this carved figure on Windover hill,near Wilmington,to Angus Allen,as a subject for a Space 1999 strip.
In this story,we find Neolithic man as protagonists.
This figure was always believed to be from the stone age until the early 21st century,it is now thought to date from the 16th/17th century.
It makes total sense that the Alphans from 1999,in a 1970s' written story,would believe the same.
The moon is on a collision course with a black sun.
John,Victor and Helena return to Earth.
Koenig is killed.
As much as I love the Burns' colour era,another straight classic from Noble/Allen.
There is ambiguity with the conclusion,much as there was with a lot of TV Series 1 episodes.
Personally I believe that with Koenigs' eagle frozen in space just outside of the black sun,anything could happen and it did !!!
Obvious connections to "Black Sun" TV Episode but expands on this idea.
Absolutely brilliant.
ISSUES 13 - 18
UNTITLED
Comic Anthology Reprint Title: "The Long Man"
The artist Mike Noble was a resident of East Sussex and suggested this carved figure on Windover hill,near Wilmington,to Angus Allen,as a subject for a Space 1999 strip.
In this story,we find Neolithic man as protagonists.
This figure was always believed to be from the stone age until the early 21st century,it is now thought to date from the 16th/17th century.
It makes total sense that the Alphans from 1999,in a 1970s' written story,would believe the same.
The moon is on a collision course with a black sun.
John,Victor and Helena return to Earth.
Koenig is killed.
As much as I love the Burns' colour era,another straight classic from Noble/Allen.
There is ambiguity with the conclusion,much as there was with a lot of TV Series 1 episodes.
Personally I believe that with Koenigs' eagle frozen in space just outside of the black sun,anything could happen and it did !!!
Obvious connections to "Black Sun" TV Episode but expands on this idea.
Absolutely brilliant.
Re: SPACE 1999:THE STRIPS:LOOK -IN CHRONOLOGY SERIES 1
STORY 6
ISSUES 19 - 27
UNTITLED
COMIC ANTHOLOGY REPRINT TITLE "The Warmongers"
Alpha receives visitors and are initially deceived by two apparently friendly aliens,Tark and Pheron,who claim to have crash landed on the moon.
This is a brilliant action story,full of intrigue.
In many ways,this story echoes DC Thomson/Fleetway popular war/battle comic strips.
Exciting scenes of Eagles exploding,lazer tanks,de-compression,asteroid storm,helmets' smashed etc.
An all out thriller which showcases some of Nobles' best artwork ever.
Similarities to TV story "The Last Enemy".
ISSUES 19 - 27
UNTITLED
COMIC ANTHOLOGY REPRINT TITLE "The Warmongers"
Alpha receives visitors and are initially deceived by two apparently friendly aliens,Tark and Pheron,who claim to have crash landed on the moon.
This is a brilliant action story,full of intrigue.
In many ways,this story echoes DC Thomson/Fleetway popular war/battle comic strips.
Exciting scenes of Eagles exploding,lazer tanks,de-compression,asteroid storm,helmets' smashed etc.
An all out thriller which showcases some of Nobles' best artwork ever.
Similarities to TV story "The Last Enemy".
Re: SPACE 1999:THE STRIPS:LOOK -IN CHRONOLOGY SERIES 1
STORY 7
ISSUES 28 - 36
UNTITLED
COMIC ANTHOLOGY REPRINT TITLE: "Deadly Attraction"
So finally we come to the end of the Look -in Space 1999 Series 1 comic strips.
Does it end well or go out with a whimper I hear you ask...
Well,dear readers,this strip series ends with a classic.
Perhaps the very best story yet and ever as,in my view,the series 2 strips don't quite meet the match of any series 1 strip.
But that's a story for another post....
Tina Morand.This was a comic book character created for this one story.She didn't exist elsewhere.
She was absolutely beautiful and I cut her black and white pictures out and stuck them on my bedroom wall.
My mates had posters of Kevin Keegan.
I was 8/9 years old,in love with an impossible girl.
The story starts in a repair shop where Alphan technician Vince Kassel finds out that his fellow tech mate Paluzzi took Tina to the movie show the night before.
Vince is not amused.
Frankly I don't blame him.
Anyhow,they fight and Vince accidently kills him.
At this point,Vince could be a rational normal intelligent human being,confess and go to jail....
But as Alpha has no jails,he instead goes completely beserk,kidnaps my comic strip girlfriend Tina,steals an Eagle,gets chased by Koenig (with Helena and Victor) ,has a space fight pre-Star Wars,wins,crashes on a planet,gets in all sorts of trouble.
Moral of this story:Let your girlfriend have other male friends.
END OF SERIES 1.
BTW:I'm only posting Space 1999 in 2 parts as the show was so very different in its' two series.
When I post other strip stuff it wont be separated,Six Million Dollar Man for instance is the same show every season,most are,Space 1999 was like two different tv shows.
Thank you for reading.
ISSUES 28 - 36
UNTITLED
COMIC ANTHOLOGY REPRINT TITLE: "Deadly Attraction"
So finally we come to the end of the Look -in Space 1999 Series 1 comic strips.
Does it end well or go out with a whimper I hear you ask...
Well,dear readers,this strip series ends with a classic.
Perhaps the very best story yet and ever as,in my view,the series 2 strips don't quite meet the match of any series 1 strip.
But that's a story for another post....
Tina Morand.This was a comic book character created for this one story.She didn't exist elsewhere.
She was absolutely beautiful and I cut her black and white pictures out and stuck them on my bedroom wall.
My mates had posters of Kevin Keegan.
I was 8/9 years old,in love with an impossible girl.
The story starts in a repair shop where Alphan technician Vince Kassel finds out that his fellow tech mate Paluzzi took Tina to the movie show the night before.
Vince is not amused.
Frankly I don't blame him.
Anyhow,they fight and Vince accidently kills him.
At this point,Vince could be a rational normal intelligent human being,confess and go to jail....
But as Alpha has no jails,he instead goes completely beserk,kidnaps my comic strip girlfriend Tina,steals an Eagle,gets chased by Koenig (with Helena and Victor) ,has a space fight pre-Star Wars,wins,crashes on a planet,gets in all sorts of trouble.
Moral of this story:Let your girlfriend have other male friends.
END OF SERIES 1.
BTW:I'm only posting Space 1999 in 2 parts as the show was so very different in its' two series.
When I post other strip stuff it wont be separated,Six Million Dollar Man for instance is the same show every season,most are,Space 1999 was like two different tv shows.
Thank you for reading.