SPACE ACE: RON TURNER ART

As a continuation from my Rick Random Helicarrier post and Andy B mentioning his preference for Ron Turner’s earlier Space Ace comicbook character I thought I’d better dig out an example for those of you unfamiliar with the strip.

 Space Ace had been originally drawn by another artist and featured in Lone Star Magazine. Lone Star was produced in arrangement with Die Casting Machine Tools Ltd who were the company behind Lone Star toys. 

The characters in the magazine would have some association with Lone Star’s toy line, usually guns.

 The Space Ace strip was due to be terminated when Ron Turner took over during July 1954. Initially it was a four page serialised strip, however Ron, who also took writing credits, soon changed it to a seven or eight page complete adventure. He stayed on the strip for seven years.

Unlike the fifties British space hero, Dan Dare, Space Ace and his partner, Bill Crag were very Americanised to keep in line with Lone Star’s main character, the cowboy Steve Larrabee.

Here’s a complete story I’ve scanned from one of my old copies of Lone Star.

So, for Andy B and anyone else who’s fond of Ron Turner’s fantastic art work, get ready for ‘Space Ace and The Exiles’.