As celebrations continue for Queen Elizabeth II's Platinum Jubilee in the UK, and of course many other parts around the world I considered a fictional Century 21 royal connection - Lady Penelope Creighton-Ward.
I imagine her antecedents might possibly have moved in royal circles, so with that in mind I've taken a few photos of the first issue of Lady Penelope magazine which was launched in January , 1966, and edited by Gillian Allen, wife of writer Angus Allen. Her Majesty, The Queen would have been around forty years old at that time, but I wonder if any of the royal children read the magazine at the time.
'Lady Penelope' was obviously a girls publication, and contained lots of articles designed to appeal to young ladies, but it did have a few features and comic strips that would have piqued my interest:
I was a big Man from UNCLE fan in the day, and Lady P. carried a very well done comic strip, drawn by J. Gonzalez (possibly Juan Gonzalez, a Cuban-American artist) who produced some fine artwork. The first instalment showed Napoleon Solo and Illya Kuryakin entering 'Del Floria's shop, the secret entrance to UNCLE headquarters and receiving their UNCLE identity badges from a female UNCLE receptionist. ( Artist Ron Embleton took over towards the end of the UNCLE comic strip run in Lady P.)
The back page of Lady Penelope also carried 'Marina - Girl of the Sea', drawn by Rab Hamilton, dealing exclusively with Marina's adventures prior to her joining the WASP's.
The magazine also carried a stand alone strip called 'Space Family Robinson', drawn by John M Burns, which, apart from the title, had no connection with the Gold Key comic, which at that point would have probably now carried the 'Lost in Space' name, following the agreement between Gold Key and the Irwin Allen production.
So here's a few pages I've photographed of my own issue:
Neat stuff! I didn't know there was a Marina comic. The character was sadly undeveloped as a mute in the Stingray show.
ReplyDeleteThanks for posting this!
Just for your information, the "Space Family Robinson" comic above has the same cast of characters and vehicles from the Gold Key comic. Craig and June Robinson, Tim and Tam, Clancy and Yakker were all from the comic... The Gold Key comic really didn't have much to do with Irwin Allen's "Lost In Space."
Yeah, I knew the Gold Key comic had nothing to do with Lost in Space as it pre dates the show under the title Space Family Robinson, and Irwin Allen had no knowledge of it during the show's development. As far as I'm aware, to avoid legal stuff the comic was allowed to change the title to Space Family Robinson: Lost in Space in agreement with Irwin Allen, which would have helped sales. Gold Key, were also publishing Voyage To The Bottom of the Sea at the time, so a happy compromise.
DeleteAs to the Lady Penelope version I should really have have made it clear. As you point out they do use the same names and spacecraft designs, but I meant they were stand alone original stories, not reprints - my error.
Regarding the Marina comic strip, some are reprinted in the nineties Stingray comic, Scott. I think it's a pretty good strip; not bad stories featuring Aphony, Titan and his Aquaphibians, plus plenty of other undersea races, and some very nice artwork from Rab Hamilton.
DeleteNice to see adventures of Marina before she lost her voice! Scott Kellog has already mentioned the Space Family Robinson link, here is a Wikipedia page with more detail about the various publications.
ReplyDeletehttps://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_Family_Robinson
This is a good overview of the various LIS productions over the years.
https://www.looper.com/724302/the-untold-truth-of-lost-in-space
My interest in the subject from a production standpoint was piqued by a book called "Lost in Space, the True Story" which is a little earnest, but a good read...
https://books.google.com.au/books/about/Lost_in_Space.html?id=1GLRPAAACAAJ&redir_esc=y
I must admit I do like the Marina comic strip, it does give a nice back story. Sadly, I didn't read it as a youngster as not having sisters, I had very little access to Lady Penelope comic.
ReplyDeleteHowdy Folks,
ReplyDeleteI would like to take the opportunity to thank you for all your various posts on toys and old shows and stuff. I've been lurking for rather a while, taking inspiration for my comic strip "21st Century Fox."
http://techfox.comicgenesis.com/
As a matter of fact, for Monday's upcoming comic, I needed some kind of a heavy truck (to haul a broken down Giant Robot), so I drew an old toy I had when I was a kid: The Dinky 660 Tank Transporter, known in the real world as "The Mighty Antar"
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thornycroft_Antar
Anyway, I just want to thank you folks for the inspirations you've given me.
Thank you!
Scott Kellogg
Fun comics, Scott! I love the way modern technology has democratised the production of comics. If you have a good idea, you can now produce a pretty good looking "product"! As a fellow amateur comic maker, I "get" it!
Delete-and my T-bird understands me too!
T-Birds are GO!
Thank you! I've been having fun with the comic for a long time, and I've met a lot of nice folks along the way. Heck, my wife originally started stalking me after reading it! ;)
DeleteYou're welcome Scott. Great work your doing. Keep it up and keep us posted!
ReplyDeleteGreat post Scoop. I bet there's not many of those Lady P free signet rings around!
ReplyDelete