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(Article by Shaqui Le Vesconte - with thanks
to Colin Shelborne)
The
instant success of the series spurred Western Publishing to issue a comic
series based on the show, starting in late 1964. Sixteen issues were published,
on a roughly quarterly schedule, until 1969. In the UK, a tie-in text story
series appeared in 'TV Tornado' during 1967, with some rather basic strips -
curiously renamed 'Submarine Seaview' - in the annuals.
By
the time 'Look-In' launched in early 1971, the heyday of the Irwin Allen
television series was pretty much over, with his latest offering 'Land of the
Giants' coming to an end the year before. One can only speculate on why
the formative publication should include an old American series, with only Anglia
and HTV (according to 'Look-in's own abridged TV listings) repeating it at the
time. In those pre-email (indeed pre-fax!) days, all negotiations and approval
would be done by phone and air mail, lengthening the process by which a tie-in
strip for an American series could be produced. Editor Alan Fennell was no
stranger to this, having helmed 'TV Century 21' and 'Joe 90: Top Secret' in the
1960s, which featured a number of US shows by virtue of 'Century 21
Merchandising' (a subsidiary of Sir Lew Grade's ATV) having the UK rights to
them.
'Land
of the Giants' had already been a leading strip in 'Joe 90: Top Secret' during
the past two years, but neither 'The Time Tunnel' (yet to make its debut on
ITV) nor 'Lost In Space' ('Space Family Robinson' had run in 'Lady Penelope')
were available. The compromise was presumably Allen's earliest series, and then
as reprinted material from Gold Key, pre-approved and available for a cheaper
syndication fee. This was another first for 'Look-In', and reprinted strips were
something the publication would rarely dip into during its twenty-four year run
- notable exceptions being 'The Smurfs' andd 'Garfield'. As later editor
Colin Shelbourn noted recently, 'They were known quantities, and there was
no extra value in doing our own versions'. Fennell also had links to
Western, via Manchester based publishers World Distributors (co-producing the
first 'TV Century 21' annuals) who not only (ahem) distributed the Gold Key
comics in the UK, but had used their comic strips to flesh out their own tie-in
annuals. And it was World Distributors that Fennell go to after leaving
'Look-In' in early 1975, for a lucrative managerial position.
So
from No. 20, a serialised and abridged version of the fifth Gold key issue
started. More keen-eyed readers
would recognise the style of Alberto Giolitti behind the strip, better known
for his work on the Gold Key 'Star Trek' comics, which also graced (via more
syndicated reprints) the 'World Distributor' annuals. As art editor on 'Look-In' at
the time, Colin Shelbourn recalls, 'I remember doing the title block and
have a very hazy recollection of my art colleague doing pasted-up versions of
the pages, presumably from re-sized bromides of the US originals.' There
would be a short break of four issues after this first adaptation, before the
sixth Gold Key edition was similarly cut down for a shorter dip in the waters.
'Voyage
to the Bottom of the Sea' remained the sole American show to grace the first
year of 'Look-In' as a strip, possibly either not popular enough, or too
expensive, to continue. It would be well over a year before any overseas
co-venture was tried again, and then from a new and different direction for the
publication. |
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