Thursday, May 5, 2011

THE BLACK HOLE (1979) Whitman Comics Cover Gallery

Back in '79-'80, Whitman Comics published four issues of a comic book series (and a movie adaptation collected album, not pictured) based on the Walt Disney Studios film, The Black Hole.

The first two issues adapted the movie, with art by Dan Spiegel, and the second two issues chronicled what became of the crew of The Palomino after they passed through the titular cosmic singularity. I never read - or even saw - those issues, so I have no idea what they found Beyond The Black Hole... except, apparently, you know, dinosaurs.

(And, evidently, a cover artist lacking in necessary photo reference - well, at least he got the robots right!)

11 comments:

  1. You know, I never saw #3 and 4, either. I think I got my copies of #1 and 2 in one of those multibags that used to have in stores with Gold Key/Whitman comics in them.

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  2. I had the first two issues and I looked for the promised next issues but never found them, seeing the covers here is the only evidence I have of their existence!

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  3. I owned that movie adaptation...years before I ever even saw the movie on video.

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  4. I read through the 3rd one as a kid and hated it. If I remember correctly, they discovered another "mirror universe" Cygnus with B.O.B. and Maximillian. It seems like they tried to retread the original movie a bit and that didn't cut it, so it was quickly canceled.

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  5. I own the movie adaptation mentioned that covers only the story of the movie. I'll be on the lookout for issues 3 and 4, because let's face it, the movie was very hazy as to what actually HAPPENED when they went through the black hole. Dinosaurs seem as good an explanation as any.

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  6. Yeah, number 3 was kind of a weak 're-imagining' in a parallel universe.
    But what's this? They made it to a FOURTH issue? I never knew that!
    CR

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  7. Now it gets interesting. Looks like there were six issues produced, but we only got the first four over here.

    http://boards.collectors-society.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=3985004

    Tex
    (who only got the 3rd issue in a bagged set with the first two)

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  8. There was a fourth issue!?!?!? Holy crap, that third issue scarred me for life as a child it was so bad. I think I actually still have it in my collection somewhere...

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  9. These never made it to the UK to my knowledege. I would've snapped them up otherwise, despite their rotten covers

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  10. What an incredible discovery - I never knew issues 3 and 4 existed and I was a big Black Hole fan back in the day. Then again back in the early 1980s there was no such thing as "comic book stores" in my part of Canada - we were at the whim of the local confectionery and drug stores to bring in whatever they wanted. I keep finding issues of Buck Rogers in the 25th Century I was unaware of, too. But I don't even remember reading about "Beyond" the Black Hole in the Overstreet Comic Book Price Guide.

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  11. I stil have all the issues. In the mirror universe they find a planet where there is a forest, full of dinosaurs, and a futuristic city ruled by a beautiful queen, under siege by an army of robots. It is like Jurassic Park meets Star Wars - The Phanton Menace. Disney missed the chance, they could have made that into a film, 15 years before Lucas and Spielberg. By the way, the spaceship with the name Palomino, behind the dino is the Palomino 2, a very advanced craft they found aboard the Cygnius of the mirror universe.

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