While I was at the collectors fair at the weekend I picked up a set of ten Brooke Bond picture card albums as a job lot. Included amongst them was The Race Into Space set which I’ve always liked.
The cover is drawn by Roy Cross, while the cards are illustrated by David Lawson. The text is written by Kenneth Gatland and Michael Wilson.
This was an ad for the set, and featured in the first issue of Countdown comic. I remembered as a youngster seeing other tenuous connections between Countdown and these cards.
The 'piggy back' Space Shuttle as it appeared in the album. Similar pictures could be seen in Countdown.
This same craft also turned up on a Countdown wall chart.
The wall chart also had an illustration of the Mars ship as seen on the cover of the Brooke Bond album as well as the final card of the series.
I know it was obviously the current shape of things in 1971, but I still got a buzz out of seeing the connections.
Issue 13 showed the 12 man Space Station also seen in the Race Into Space set.
I'm sure the space station illustration has turned up in other comics and magazines, along with the Moon Base design.
While it was the future of space flight that was the big pull for me with regards to the card set, it did, never the less provide me with plenty of info regarding the then current space program.
There was, of course plenty of current space stuff in Countdown, particularly the Apollo 14 mission which had taken place during February, 1971.
A final very tenuous connection occurred in issue 29 which ran a competition to win the Manned Spacecraft book, by one of the writers of the cards, Kenneth Gatland. The same issue began a series featuring illustrations from the book.
.Issue 42 had a similar competition to win Gatland‘s ‘Frontiers Of Space‘ book, but by then Brooke Bond had moved on from The Race Into Space and were now giving away their Prehistoric Animals cards.
Love these, got a set in an album and a framed set. I noticed that Brian Cox produces his copy to camera in an episode of his 'Wonders of the Solar System' series.
ReplyDeleteJust shows the power of the cards, eh Kevin. I did watch Wonders of the Solar System but I never registered that,well spotted .
ReplyDeleteGreat post. A fascinating set of cards. I've always enjoyed concept art for conceptualizing what might be
ReplyDeleteI've spoken to Roger Perry (who is writing our "Eagle Daze" features for downthetubes.net) over the weekend who was the Art Editor on Countdown and has pointed out that the images used in Countdown are different to those used on the cards - there was no re-use of the Brooke Bond images.
ReplyDeleteI did a bit of digging and found the original art for the the "Space Tug" featured in Countdown Issue 5 on Corbis - http://www.corbisimages.com/stock-photo/rights-managed/U1670658/illustration-of-spacecraft-on-planetary-soil. It was commissioned by Grumman as a publicity image for the Space Tug concept.
David Lawson has used the Grumman art as the basis for his own illustration for the "Race Into Space" card he created.
Thanks for that interesting extra info John, much appreciated.
DeleteThe Brooke Bond Space Race cards are so nostalgic to me and appeared in the days when there was so much optimism about the future of space travel.
I've only met Roger Perry once,at an Eagle comic convention in Manchester. Like you say, he is a mine of info.
Thanks again.