A stack of goodies from Egmont arrived at our secret base yesterday: the first print products from the Egmont Classic Comics range and their new Thunderbirds comic collection, comprising strips from TV Century 21 and TV21, along with cutaways by Graham Bleathman (the inclusion of a numbered FAB1 print by Graham in the package a smashing bonus).
I’ll review Thunderbirds in another post, once I’ve savoured the classic stories drawn by Frank Bellamy and John Cooper, but the first, let’s tackle the company’s initial postcard sets, featuring of images from their girls comics, Battle and the Thunderbirds TV series, presented in special gift boxes.
The Battle collection also comprises covers and other images, from Rat Pack and Major Eazy to Johnny Red and Charley’s War – an abundance of classic images in a sturdy gift box.
The collection is a fine mix of both covers, interior art and some carefully selected frames from the title’s more popular strips such as Charley’s War, as you can see from the selection snapped above. The art chose reflects both the diversity of strips in Battle and the range of artists. Reproduction – some of it of course scanned from the comics, but some of the Charley’s War cards from Joe Colquhoun’s original art, just like the recent Titan Books – is excellent considering the source material. It’s a fun collection of material from this ground-breaking comic.
For me, despite the quality of the art in Battle, the material chosen for the Girls Comics collection works better as postcards, comprising (mostly, but not entirely, covers) from Tammy, Jinty, Misty, Sally and Penny. From gymnastics and school hijinks to spine-tingling mystery and menace, there’s an abundance of classic images included, and again, as you can see from the selection above, there are some striking images that will surely spark some memories among British girls comics fans. The Misty work, for me, is particularly haunting.
The third release is a Thunderbirds collection comprising photographs from the TV show rather than Egmont’s Thunderbirds comic and ties in with the release of a collection of some of the 1990s Thunderbirds comic strips.
The selection of photographs is great, including images from the show’s iconic title sequence, character images and plenty of terrific ‘vehicle’ shots. I’m sure Thunderbirds fans will have great fun trying to spot the source episode of some of the photographs chosen although it does seem to me that many of them are from the ‘staged’ photographic material shot for the covers of TV Century 21, as well as promotional imagery for the Thunderbirds films.
All three sets offer a fantastic selection of images that should have a strong appeal for fans of the source material. The Egmont team have done a good job on these and I hope they’re a success, as I’m sure it will pave the way for more collections.
Buster anyone?
• Buy the Girls Comics Postcard Collection from amazon.co.uk
• Buy the Battle: 100 Postcards collection from amazon.co.uk
• Buy the Thunderbirds: 100 F.A.B. Postcards collection from amazon.co.uk
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The founder of downthetubes, which he established in 1998. John works as a comics and magazine editor, writer, and on promotional work for the Lakes International Comic Art Festival. He is currently editor of Star Trek Explorer, published by Titan – his third tour of duty on the title originally titled Star Trek Magazine.
Working in British comics publishing since the 1980s, his credits include editor of titles such as Doctor Who Magazine, Babylon 5 Magazine, and more. 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 “Pilgrim: Secrets and Lies” for B7 Comics; “Crucible”, a creator-owned project with 2000AD artist Smuzz; and “Death Duty” and “Skow Dogs” with Dave Hailwood.
Categories: British Comics - Books, Classic British Comics, Merchandise, Other Worlds