Rebellion has added another Treasury of British Comics collection to its 2022 roster, announcing the upcoming publication of The Astounding Jason Hyde, a collection of text stories written by SF author Barrington J. Bayley, illustrated by Eric Bradbury, with a cover by Jimmy Broxton.
First published in the British weekly adventure comic Valiant, making his debut in 1965, the collection features a series of amazing text stories published in issues until 1968, starring the strangest hero of all time. Accidental exposure to a form of natural radiation had caused scientist Jason Hyde’s eyes to turn colourless and emit blue rays, which gave him the power to see through solid objects and to read the thoughts of human beings.
Hyde dedicates his life to investigating strange phenomena and protecting the world from all manner of abnormal threats! From giant sentient spiders to a warlike race of subterranean humanoids, Jason Hyde is the Earth’s only hope!
Barrington J. Bayley was born on 9th April 1937 in Birmingham. After leaving school, he had a number of jobs, including a short career as a reporter working for the Wellington Journal and, at the age of eighteen, joined the Royal Air Force.
A life-long fan of science fiction, his first short story, “Combat’s End” (aka “Cosmic Combatants”), was published in May 1954, in the Vargo Statten Science Fiction Magazine. Over the next decade, he had more stories published in Michael Moorcock’s New Worlds, first meeting his fellow author at an SF gathering at the Globe pub in Hatton Garden. Notable stories for that title included “All the King’s Men” (1965), “The Ship of Disaster” (1965), and “The Four-Color Problem” (1971).
The two writers became firm friends, often collaborating on stories together, and it was Moorcock who first introduced him to Fleetway editor David Gregory. Bayley recalls his first solo work was a commission writing “Olac the Gladiator“, but Moorcock worked with him extensively on the final script, the pair living together at the time. They also co-wrote science, historical and natural history articles for Look and Learn.
“I never really felt confident with comics,” he once said in an interview with Moorcock. “I was happier with text. Luckily, there was plenty of that work to be had as well.” When Boy’s World started to include credits, some stories by Bayley and Moorcock were, apparently, wrongly attributed.
Bayley would create various text series for Fleetway in the 1960s, including “The Astounding Jason Hyde” and “Bartok and his Brothers” for Valiant and Champion respectively. Both featured illustrations by the renowned British comic book artist, Eric Bradbury.
Bayley recalled he wrote some episodes of “Jason Hyde” at a fast pace, the process part of him learning to write more and more quickly, “a trick I have now forgotten”.
“The weekly paper Valiant, in which the ‘Jason Hyde’ serial ran, planned a ‘boom’ issue and asked me to turn in two episodes that week. Late one morning I got a phone call.
“‘Do you have those two episodes yet?’
“You like to seem reliable, so I said, ‘Yes.’
“’We’ve got a flap on. Can you bring them into the office by two o’clock?’
“‘All right,’ I heard myself saying, feeling no doubt of it. So I sat at the typewriter and wrote two episodes (five thousand words) in two hours, without even feeling the strain. Nuthin’ to it!”
Bayley’s first novel, Star Virus, was released in 1970 and followed by many more great SF titles including Star Winds, The Zen Gun and Eye of Terror (a Warhammer 40,000 novel). He would continue to work right up until his death, in October 2008.
• The Astounding Jason Hyde by Barrington J. Bayley (Writer) Eric Bradbury (Artist) goes on sale on 1st September 2022 (AmazonUK Affiliate Link) | Paerback, 208 pages | Price: £9.99 | ISBN: 9781786186386
• Buy Barrington J. Bayley novels on AmazonUK (Affiliate Link)
• Barrington J. Bayley Fan Site
• Wikipedia Guide and Bibliography
• Check out our guide to all 2022 Treasury of British Comics and 2000AD book releases here
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: Books, British Comics, British Comics - Collections, Comics, downthetubes News, Other Worlds, Science Fiction
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