Just published by the Jeff Hawke Fan Club and available to members is this collection of Jeff Hawke Jnr., containing all the Jeff Hawke strips from Junior Express weekly.
The 128 page book is the same large format as the Club’s COSMOS magazine which features strips from the Express, but is full colour throughout. In addition to the four strips published in the comic – “Spacerider”, “Planet of Fire”, “The Space Frontier” and “Operation Danger” – the book will include biographical information on the various artists and writers that created the strip, together with articles on the Jeff Hawke collector cards and club, with contributions from astronomer Duncan Lunan and our very own Jeremy Briggs, among others.
Although tangential to the main body of Jeff Hawke stories that featured in the Daily Express, once described as “the first adult science fiction strip in the UK”, Jeff Hawke Jnr. was an alternative incarnation of Sydney Jordan’s space hero who appeared in the pages of Junior Express weekly, launched in February 1954, only seven months after Hawke’s first appearance in the Daily Express. The publishers considered that Jeff Hawke would also appeal to younger readers in stories that were tailored to their tastes.
Jeff Hawke as seen in Junior Express Issue One
The stories were not drawn or written by Sydney and featured a different cast of supporting characters (including a young schoolboy); but there are a number of similar elements, such as Hawke’s encounter with a flying saucer and the Shining Ones in Sydney’s first story “Spacerider”.
Strips included “Wulf the Briton“, created by Jenny Butterworth and Ruggero Giovannini but best remembered for the strips by Ron Embleton (reprinted as Ron Embleton’s Wulf the Briton: The Complete Adventures by The Book Palace), “Lone Ranger”, drawn by Mike Noble, “Jeff Hawke” (based on Sydney Jordan’s newspaper strip for the Daily Express) and the “Battle Brothers” drawn by Harry Winslade.
• To join the Jeff Hawke Fan Club visit www.jeffhawkeclub.com| Follow their blog here | For ordering information contact jeffhawke@williamrudling.co.uk
Jeff Hawke © Daily Express
John Freeman
The founder of downthetubes, John works as a comics editor, writer, as Creative Consultant on the Dan Dare audio adventures for B7 Media, and on promotional work for the Lakes International Comic Art Festival. Working in British comics publishing for over 30 years, his credits include editor of titles such as Doctor Who Magazine, Star Trek Magazine and Babylon 5 Magazine. He also edited the comics anthology STRIP Magazine and edited several audio comics for ROK Comics. He has also edited several comic collections, including volumes of “Charley’s War and “Dan Dare”. He’s the writer of “Crucible”, a creator-owned project with 2000AD artist Smuzz, published on Tapastic; and “Death Duty” and “Skow Dogs” with Dave Hailwood for digital comic 100% Biodegradable.
Categories: British Comics, British Comics - Newspaper Strips, downthetubes Comics News, downthetubes News
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