Sunday 5 April 2009

"Greetings!"



Vintage ad for the galaxy's greatest comic. How swish is that spaceship landing animation? They must've blown some coin on that. Maybe that's why Tharg looks so stiffly rotoscoped? And since when was 2000 AD's editor yellow? Maybe that was before a shedding. How exciting does Massimo Bellardinelli's gaudy space-splash look? Casts the surrounding motion action in an alarmingly drab light, that's for sure.

Makes sense they'd lead with Dan Dare shilling when you consider the moral outcry over IPC'S previous Boys rag Action. Dare'll fool the parents with Eagle nostalgia, while Tharg drip-feeds Britain's youth sci-fry. Everybody's a winner! I wonder how much attention Dan Dare commanded in the late 70s? He's a UK comic staple, and he'd certainly lend the emerging title some exposure, but would kids be particularly interested? I suppose you do have to consider the buying power of browsing parents, and that children aren't going to be well versed in 60s Lion mergers. He'd be a brand new space-man to them. Han Solo, with added grubbiness.

Can't help feeling it's a missed opportunity though. Imagine how lurid it could have been: blood-thirsty dinosaurs, anti-gravity scrums, guerrilla warfare, and a Mecha-Bond who can karate chop a chap's head clean off. All dancing around a space-office in a 70s gasp micro-ad.

SPACE SPINNER!
Posted by Chris Ready at 15:16:00
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