Talk here about just about anything associated with British comics or story papers and the industry that does not fit in any other forum.
There are separate fora open to registered members for discussing specific comics, artists, websites etc.
philcom55 wrote:Unlike Danger Man I don't think there were any British comic strips or annuals based on The Prisoner, but it did appear on one TV Tornado cover.
There was a much later short series of comics in the 80s by DC I think. Motter rings a bell. 4 comics I think but I'll have to have a look to confirm.
I saw some of Kirby's `take` on the Prisoner. While he could draw the intricate machinery & devices superbly; capturing McGoohan's likeness - or his No6 persona was quite beyond him! This wasn't just my view on his work- most of the `Six-of-One` members felt that too.
philcom55 wrote:Unlike Danger Man I don't think there were any British comic strips or annuals based on The Prisoner, but it did appear on one TV Tornado cover.
There was a much later short series of comics in the 80s by DC I think. Motter rings a bell. 4 comics I think but I'll have to have a look to confirm.
philcom55 wrote:Unlike Danger Man I don't think there were any British comic strips or annuals based on The Prisoner, but it did appear on one TV Tornado cover.
This is the closest British comics came to doing a Prisoner strip:
I see you mentioned Orlando there. I remember watching Crane as a kid in which Orlando was a supporting character. Crane was played by Patrick Allen. I even remember the theme song which began "In Morocco there's a man who's always in the air..."
I have a photographic memory for sixties theme tunes and regard Department S as the best of all time.
stevezodiac wrote:I see you mentioned Orlando there. I remember watching Crane as a kid in which Orlando was a supporting character. Crane was played by Patrick Allen. I even remember the theme song which began "In Morocco there's a man who's always in the air..."
I have a photographic memory for sixties theme tunes and regard Department S as the best of all time.
Yep, you can't beat a good TV theme tune and proper title sequence. The 1960s had some crackers. The theme to Dept S was excellent.
I remember Crane. Patrick Allen guest starred in loads of shows afterwards. Sam Kydd (Orlando) went on to play Mike Baldwin's dad in Coronation Street!
It really was a golden age for British TV themes. As far as comics are concerned it's worth remembering that the great Barry Gray actually had his own regular 'Music Box' feature in early issues of TV Century 21.
From books I've read, McGoohan was under extreme pressure to finish the series on time as the series was already being broadcast. He couldn't and, as a result, two episodes of Danger Man that had been produced but never televised (originally intended for the next series that was cancelled abruptly in favour of the Prisoner) were shown to give Patrick a little more time. It wasn't enough time, in my opinion. They should have ended it with the penultimate episode and then done a second series
"Ace of Wands" had (in my view) a superb theme titled "Tarot" - I think! It was by Andy bown and released on Parlophone label 1970. VERY hard to track down!
I would think this is a good time for buying old comics and annuals.The basis for this thought?
Each week I go by a shop in the centre of town which sells all kinds of antiques and collectables and on show attached to the inside of the glass door he has a number of comics such as Chick's Own , Rainbow which are priced at £7 each and two or three other old comics.The thing is these have been on display from early last year and there have been no takers.
Secondly when I am touring carboots and see on display old and for me must have annuals at a very low price I realise I am not up against a lot of competition for buying them.
Alternatively when watching antiques programmes on tv the expert will say of a valuable item that years ago you could pick these up for a few pence.Maybe the high value of old comics and annuals is yet to come.Or is that wishful thinking?
Last edited by abacus on 02 Jun 2016, 06:02, edited 1 time in total.
Exactly Abacus, the issue is which comics are for sale - if they're "hot", i.e. tied to a famous character (like Judge Dredd) or TV/Film (e.g. Thunderbirds, Dr Who) then they could fetch a lot of money, or if they're rare or first issues; but the vast, vast majority of old comics will never be worth much. I speak of financial worth of course because they can have a lot of value to anyone who collects them, regardless of the cost. Anytime is a good time to buy comics if buying comics gives you a good time
babington wrote:Exactly Abacus, the issue is which comics are for sale - if they're "hot", i.e. tied to a famous character (like Judge Dredd) or TV/Film (e.g. Thunderbirds, Dr Who) then they could fetch a lot of money, or if they're rare or first issues; but the vast, vast majority of old comics will never be worth much. I speak of financial worth of course because they can have a lot of value to anyone who collects them, regardless of the cost. Anytime is a good time to buy comics if buying comics gives you a good time
Plus there's less interest in the very old comics now simply because most people who remember them have either stopped collecting or have sadly passed on. It's a diminishing market. Most fans are only interested in their own nostalgia unfortunately. When I post about pre-1950s comics on my blog it draws less hits and less comments than comics of more recent decades.
Personally, I'm interested in the entire history of comics but Rainbow and Chick's Own have far less appeal to me than Radio Fun or Ally Sloper so I wouldn't pay seven quid each for them.
There has been some talk recently of US collectors getting interested in UK reprints of Marvel/DC material - once they've collected all the American issues, that's the next place to go. Some characters like Captain Britain were only published in Marvel UK issues. If this trend really does happen, then some UK comics could become very expensive!
