One Small Step - Moon Wanderers and Others

[Power fan]

I'm very confused now - I thought that the first man on the moon was Mike Lane (star of the excellent Guinea Pig in Eagle) in 1965 - and without the aid of a spacecraft either - he floated there in a giant spacesuit, and did battle with a creature which was disguised as a crater. His main problem during the voyage was that his nose started itching and he was unable to scratch it!

[Conor B]

We could always include Lew Stringer's excellently executed yet infamous April Fool's blog from 2008!

[Lew Stringer]

We could always include Lew Stringer's excellently executed yet infamous April Fool's blog from 2008!

Here you go...





Lew

[Kashgar]

Desperate Dan made it to the moon in a 1938 strip and Beryl the Peril followed suit in 1959 if the image on the rear cover of the first Beryl book can be assumed to have come to its logical conclusion.

[Digifiend]

Which reminds me of the Dennis the Menace spoof David Parkins drew in 2001 in David Law's style, for the 50th birthday of that character. Dennis tried to blast his friend Tufty to the moon in a rocket, but he only ended up landing in a nearby pond - but he lost his striped jersey, thus explaining how Dennis obtained it. It was printed in The History of The Beano, page 289. The strip actually mentions the date July 20th 1969 as being the date of the moon landings. This is how you can tell it's spoof without being told. Dennis can't predict the future after all!

[philcom55]

According to Smash! the Russians were the first to the Moon in 1966!

Ah! That's because the 1961 mission was completely hushed up for over a hundred years when its two pilots were thought to have perished in a tragic crash landing. As for Jet-Ace and Plumduff, as you can see they were rescued by a timeship from their own era - just in time as it happens (well, it would be wouldn't it? ):

I'm very confused now - I thought that the first man on the moon was Mike Lane (star of the excellent Guinea Pig in Eagle) in 1965 - and without the aid of a spacecraft either - he floated there in a giant spacesuit, and did battle with a creature which was disguised as a crater. His main problem during the voyage was that his nose started itching and he was unable to scratch it!

Yes, I thought about scanning that sequence but I don't think we're allowed to show anything from Eagle on Comics UK. A shame as, unlike the opening episode, I'm pretty sure it was vintage Brian Lewis. In fact I think The Guinea Pig featured some of his best work ever - my own favourite being an impressive adventure in which Mike Lane set out to explore 'inner space' in a huge 'mole machine'...!

- Phil Rushton

[Digifiend]

Unfortunately you're right Phil, post anything from Eagle, and Al's gonna be in trouble with Dan Dare Corporation. That's why the family tree page says it cannot be shown, instead of the usual image request graphic. Which is why this page baffles me: it displays some Dan Dare Eagle covers, despite carrying the same family tree graphic I just mentioned! http://www.comicsuk.co.uk/ComicInformat ... ePage2.asp The First Issue link there is an Error 500. I assume deleted by Al, as it says it's an internal server error. My guess is the other images should've been removed.

DCT and Egmont (Fleetway) don't complain, so I wish I knew why DDC won't co-operate.

[Phoenix]

In 1953 Dr Lachlan McKinnon's rocket took off from Inverard, bypassed the moon altogether and went all the way to Hesikos, The Lost Planet. His travelling companions were Jeremy Grant, Professor Bergman, his niece Janet Campbell, Spike Stranahan the engineer and Madge the cook. No timeships, no striped jerseys, no plum duff, just a motley collection of intrepid adventurers blazing a trail, accompanied by some fantastic introductory music when the story was serialized in Children's Hour. I believe these brave space explorers deserve a higher profile, given that they were so focused on their quest that they wouldn't even have stopped off at the moon for lunch.

[felneymike]

Unfortunately you're right Phil, post anything from Eagle, and Al's gonna be in trouble with Dan Dare Corporation. That's why the family tree page says it cannot be shown, instead of the usual image request graphic. Which is why this page baffles me: it displays some Dan Dare Eagle covers, despite carrying the same family tree graphic I just mentioned! http://www.comicsuk.co.uk/ComicInformat ... ePage2.asp The First Issue link there is an Error 500. I assume deleted by Al, as it says it's an internal server error. My guess is the other images should've been removed.

DCT and Egmont (Fleetway) don't complain, so I wish I knew why DDC won't co-operate.

If it came into court DDC wouldn't have a leg to stand on, as it's legal to use low resolution scans for criticism or review. They are just filthy, savage cowards who like throwing thier weight around.

It's just a shame i don't have any scannable Eagle's or i'd throw up loads of images on my oen blog (which is due an update anyway!) to irritate them.

[Steve Bright]

Lest there be any lingering doubt...

[Digifiend]

Lest there be any lingering doubt...

Bananaman #1.jpg

BANANAMAN home.jpg

Never seen Bananaman #1 before, thanks Steve! And I see from the other image, that you restored the original origin. Although the 90s one was presented as a reminise, rather than a true flashback.

[Peter Gray]

Steve nice to have you back hope your work is alright..and that its a drawing job..

[alanultron5]

`Luna-9` The Soviet probe was the first man made object to alight safely on the Moon on 3rd February 1966 (it was launched 31st Jan 66) At that time it did seem that the Soviets might beat the US to a `manned` landing!

The real life event of it's landing was cleverly incorporated into the opening scenes of the brilliantly bizarre `Moon Madness` strip in `Smash`