Before illustrating the fantastic TV21, the comic artist Eric Eden, above, worked on the iconic Dan Dare strips in the Eagle comic. Along with Dan's creator, the great Frank Hampson, he attended the Southport College of Art in my home county of Lancashire.
Whilst at TV21 Eden produced what I consider to be the first true illustrations of Project SWORD vehicles in the TV21 Summer Special published in July 1966. Despite not being referred to as Project SWORD, rather part of Highways 2066 and Defence 2066, they appeared a year before the first comic strip in SOLO during the summer of 1967. Eric Eden illustrated his vehicles in both black and white and excitingly in colour.
It would be another year, in 1967, before we saw SWORD in colour again, on the box art of the toys and two years later in 1968 before we saw it again in colour on paper, on the covers of the two Make A Model books and the cover and pages of the brilliant Annual, where Eden would continue his project of SWORD vehicles.
Consulting the superb GACCH website it would seem that he was not asked to re-use his 1966 illustrations in the Annual but rather bring his own vision to cutaways other artists' designs such as the Scramble Bug and Moon Bus. In the Annual he also produced a stunning colour Zero-X cutaway pictured below, but this appears to be an update of a previous black and white specification from the TV21 Thunderbirds Spring Extra 1967, pictured bloew as well, the artist of which remains unknown to me. Was it Eric Eden as well?
pic: modern fred
pic: Scoop
Its interesting to compare all three published renditions of 'Edens' vehicles, from his originals to the final versions in the Annual. One example I like is the Snow Train aka The Beetle galleried below.
Eric Eden 1966
TV21 Summer Special
Unknown artist 1967
Project SWORD Make A Model Book 1
Malcolm Stokes 1968 [ref. GACCH]
Project SWORD Annual
pic: modern fred
Looking at these three images we can see that Eden's Snow Train design was followed over the next two years with just a shortening of the vehicle. I personally prefer Eden's original vision of a train with multiple carraiges. I like to think that he may even have dreamt up this and his other SWORD designs whilst in Southport and travelling through Lancashire. You never know!
Despite not making it to Century 21's toy line the Snow Train would get one last artistic outing when Japanese master cover artist Shigeru Komatsuzaki [pictured] illustrated Imai's model version in 1972. Imai went for the heat-shielded form of the Snow Train, the Beetle, which they re-named Thunderbird 7, presumably to tie in with its other Thunderbird 2 pod vehicle models. Shigeru brought it to life in his unique and dramatic style giving us views both from the front and behind.
I've found this image online on a Spanish manga site which might depict Shigeru's original artwork displayed in a frame in the Roman Showa Museum in Matsudo, Chiba, Japan. Alas, I don't speak Spanish and the Museum website appears to be dormant. Maybe one of our readers has been?
Nice post, Woodsy. I always liked the Survey Vehicle which Eric drew in that same piece and which appeared in the second cut out book. I thought it was an unusual design and would have made a great toy.
ReplyDeleteThe snow train picture in the annual is the same as that on the model book, but back to front.
ReplyDeleteBest -- Paul
Using Google Translate will give a basic translation of the Spanish page into English. (click on my name for link)
ReplyDelete