70's Sci-Fi Topps Trading Card Flyers

I collected a lot of Topps bubblegum cards back in the 1970's. I had tons of Star Wars cards (blue, red, yellow and green series) almost all of the Galactica cards (and still have most of them), and a small stack of Buck Rogers cards. I didn't collect the Superman or Hulk cards, but I seem to remember buying some Star Trek - TMP sets.

Anyway, here, courtesy of Star Kid (and Dark Shadows aficionado) Cousin Barnabas (of the Collinsport Historical Society), are a selection of colorful promotional flyers produced by Topps to interest retailers in carrying their various Space: 1970-era photo cards. Enjoy!

MAN FROM ATLANTIS (1977) Comic Art By Mike Zeck

From the first issue of Marvel Comics' Man From Atlantis comic book (dated February 1978) comes this pin-up portrait of the crew of The Cetacean submersible by the great Mike Zeck. I like it, but I'm not sure who he was using as a model for Dr. Elizabeth Merrill - it's certainly not Belinda Montgomery!

THE NEW ADVENTURES OF WONDER WOMAN (1977) TV Spot

Here's a 1977 CBS television preview for the revamped, "updated" version of the Lynda Carter superheroine series, The New Adventures Of Wonder Woman. Unless I'm very much mistaken, though (and the way I'm feeling today, it's possible I am), most - or at least many - of those clips are from the previous, World War II-set, ABC incarnation of the show!

PIZZAZZ Magazine Cover Gallery

I have never actually read an issue of Marvel Comics' 70s-80s tween/teen magazine, Pizzazz, but I wouldn't mind getting a look at the mag's exclusive serialized Star Wars comic, which was mixed into the usual assortment of puzzles, pop culture articles, bubble gum pop star coverage (Shaun Cassidy!), short stories and games.

Of course, being of the Space: 1970 era, it covered (and cover-featured) plenty of genre stuff, including two properties that Marvel Comics was then publishing in four-color form: Star Wars and Battlestar Galactica - and lots of Marvel superheroes. Here's a small sampling:

STAR HAWKS (1977) Paperbacks

 

As we've seen here before, back in '77, in the pop cultural afterglow of Star Wars' unprecedented success, lots of folks tried to cash in on the perceived appetite for space opera entertainment. Along with the film and television knock-offs, toys and games, there were a handful of "original" sci-fi comics, many of them with the word "star" in the titles. One of these was the Star Hawks newspaper comic strip, which I've written about here before.

As knock-offs go, Star Hawks - written by sci-fi author and comics historian Ron Goulart, and drawn by legendary comic book artist Gil Kane - was reasonably successful, running daily and Sundays for three and a half years, for a total of 1,252 strips. Some of these strips were collected into two standard-size paperbacks by Ace/Tempo books, in 1979 and 1980. To the publisher's credit, the artwork was not cut apart panel-by-panel and re-formatted to standard page size, but run intact - although the strip's unique two-tier format required that the art be run on its side, forcing the reader to turn the book sideways to read it.

Actually, I don't find that to be a problem, but the small size of the lettering does make it difficult for these aging eyes to read, even with these damned, old man bifocals I wear these days. 

Anyway, aside from two strip collections from Ace/Tempo, Goulart wrote two Star Hawks prose novels, published by Playboy Press, beginning in 1980. The first of these, Empire 99, makes its connection to the newspaper strip very clear, with a cover and interior illustrations by comics collaborator Kane - and even trumpets its comic strip origins as a selling point. The second novel, on the other hand, came out well after the strip had been cancelled, and was marketed less as a comic strip tie-in. 

I haven't included a scan of that second novel, The Cyborg King, here because a.) I don't have it (yet), and b.) it doesn't have a Gil Kane cover, and c.) I couldn't find a decent cover scan online.

ADDENDUM: Thanks to "Tex," here's a scan of the cover of the second Goulart Star Hawks novel, The Cyborg King:

MAN FROM ATLANTIS (1977) Jigsaw Puzzle Art

Apparently manufactured and released only in England, these jigsaw puzzles based on the Patrick Duffy aquatic adventure series, Man From Atlantis, sported some funky - and fantastical - artwork. If only the show had presented such spectacles as a giant squid octopus attacking the Cetacean, or Mark Harris duking it out underwater with the Creature from the Black Lagoon's oceanic cousins outside their futuristic sea-city....

I know it's a longshot - but does anyone know who the artist was?

THE PEOPLE THAT TIME FORGOT (1977) Theatrical Posters

While I still have the dazzling Dana Gillespie on my mind, here's a selection of theatrical one-sheets (and the British quad) from her film, The People That Time Forgot, the 1977 matinee adventure that co-starred Patrick Wayne (Sinbad & The Eye Of The Tiger), Sarah Douglas (Superman II) and Shane Rimmer (UFO, Warlords Of Atlantis).

The John Dark-produced, Kevin Connor-directed sequel to their 1975 Edgar Rice Burroughs adaptation, The Land That Time Forgot, People is an entertaining lost world epic in its own right, with charmingly low-tech effects and lots of prehistoric derring-do.

January's Space Babe: Dana Gillespie

Our first Space Babe of 2013 is lost world lovely Dana Gillespie, from 1977's The People That Time Forgot. Quite fetching in her plunging doeskin, the British-born cavegirl was an appealing ally and guide to adventurer Patrck Wayne as he searched the dinosaur-infested time-lost land for the wayward Doug McClure.

Born in March of 1949, Gillispie is a popular singer of pop and "risque" blues tunes, and was the original Mary Magdalene in the first London production of Andrew Lloyd Webber's Jesus Christ Superstar in 1971. Aside from The People That Time Forgot, the shapely young actress' genre credits include a memorable role in Hammer Films' bizarre adventure film, The Lost Continent in 1968.

These days, the multiple-award-winning Gillispie still performs regularly in England and Europe with her London Blues Band. Her personal website can be found HERE.

DAMNATION ALLEY (1977) Lobby Cards

Back in 1977, 20th Century Fox had high box-office hopes for a big-budget science fiction film that they had scheduled for release that summer. That film was not George Lucas' Star Wars, but a post-Apocalyptic road movie (very) loosely based on a novel by science fiction author Roger Zelazny, titled Damnation Alley.

Starring Jan-Michael Vincent, George Peppard, Jackie Earle Haley, French actress Dominique Sanda, and Star Trek II's Paul Winfield. Damnation Alley is a bit of mess, with uninspired direction by journeyman director Jack Smight (The Illustrated Man). Also, the screenplay by Allan Sharp & Lukas Heller is pretty stupid, discarding virtually all of the Zelazny source novel in favor of an episodic, nonsensical road trip with glowing "radioactive" skies, photographically-enlarged arachnids, rubber roaches, utterly ludicrous pseudoscience - and an absurd "happy" ending. 

 

The sole redeeming cinematic element of the film is the Landmaster vehicle itself - a formidable, super-RV with a unique tri-wheel drive, armor plating and missile launchers. Built at a reputed cost of $300,000 - $350,000 by Hollywood custom car guru Dean Jeffries, the Landmaster is undeniably cool.

Which is, obviously, why it played such a prominent role in the film's advertising... including these lobby cards.

I generally don't use the adjective "cheesy" when describing vintage genre films; too often it's just a euphemism for "old" used by those with a lack of perspective or appreciation for anything created before their birth. But Damnation Alley - from its dumbed-down script to its sloppy (even for the time) optical effects work - is a cheesy science fiction film. 

It's fun - no question - but it's not really very good....

SPACE WARS (1977-1980) Cover Gallery - Part 2

Issue #8

Join us as we once again venture into the domain of the downscale genre mags of publishing mogul Myron Fass' Stories Layouts and Press Inc., purveyors of cheap newsstand fodder, with a second batch* of the lurid Space Wars covers that beckoned seductively to our adolescent eyes from the newsstand racks and tempted our meager allowances out of our pockets. Starting with issue #8, Fass' editors/art directors switched away from painted covers to garish, sloppy photo montages, as you can see here....

Issue #9

Issue #10

Issue #11

Issue #13

Issue14

Issue #15

 * Check out the first Space Wars cover gallery HERE.

STAR WARS (1977) Marvel Comics Art By Howard Chaykin

I'm up to my ears in a comic script this week, and as I am neither a prolific nor speedy scribe, it isn't leaving me much time for writing blog posts... thus, my heavy leaning on image-centric posts again. Having space comics on the brain ('cause that's what I'm working on at the moment), I thought I'd share this gorgeous original art by penciler Howard Chaykin and inker Tom Palmer for the first issue of Marvel's Star Wars comic.

The printed version altered the art slightly (most notably in the addition of various spaceships) and was clearly colored by someone without access to any color reference material (a green Darth Vader? A ginger Leia?), but the B&W line art original is really beautiful.

THE BIONIC WOMAN (1977) Charlton Comics Cover Gallery

Jack Sparling

Jack Sparling

Jack Sparling

Jack Sparling

Jack Sparling

It's been a while since I last compiled one of these comic book cover galleries, but I thought it was time to showcase the 5-issue, bi-monthly Bionic Woman series published by Charlton Comics back in 1977-78.

Because Charlton comics had spotty distribution in my area in the 70s, I never saw any of these issues on the stands - and, to be honest, I probably wouldn't have bought them if I had. I enjoyed the show on TV, but I don't think I would have wanted to carry a Bionic Woman comic up to the counter of my local general store. I took enough crap from people about buying comics as it was; I sure didn't need to be accused of buying a girl's comic on top of everything else.

It wasn't easy being a geeky kid in the 1970s....

Coming Attractions: CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE THIRD KIND (1977) Theatrical Trailer

Hope you're all having a great weekend. For your nostalgic viewing pleasure, here's the original theatrical trailer for the other big science fiction classic of 1977, Steven Spielberg's Close Encounters Of The Third Kind.

I haven't posted nearly enough about this fantastic sci-fi film on the blog over the last three years. It was highly influential on me back in '77, and its commercial and critical success re-ignited public interest in Unidentified Flying Objects, inspiring everything from Ed Hunt's low-budget Starship Invasions to Jack Webb & NBC's Project U.F.O.

Looking back on it 35 years later, the trailer is surprisingly dry & serious, with Columbia clearly determined to make sure that CE3K is not dismissed by audiences as mere "entertainment," but as a serious piece of cinema. Of course, it's both - terrifically entertaining and a great movie.

November's Space Babe: Katie Saylor

November's Space Babe is the lovely and mysterious Katie Saylor as the half-alien Liana of the 1977 television series The Fantastic Journey. The character first appeared in the second episode of the short-lived series, "Atlantium," and joined our inter-dimensional castaways Varian (Jared Martin), Scott (Ike Eisenmann) and Fred (Carl Franklin) as they traveled through the various time zones of a mysterious island in the heart of the Bermuda Triangle.

According to the series, her father was Atlantean and her mother was an extraterrestrial from a heavy-gravity world. Liana possessed superhuman physical strength (due to her being born on a higher gravity planet than Earth) and various psionic abilities. She traveled with a pet cat that she could telepathically communicate with, named Sil-El, which often acted as a scout for the adventurers.

There's very little information online about Ms. Saylor. She became gravely ill during the production of The Fantastic Journey and was written out of the final two (and a half) episodes. She appears to have retired from acting at that time. Conflicting information online states that she either passed away in 1991, or is still alive and living a quiet life in California with her husband. Prior to Journey, she appeared in exploitation films like Invasion of The Bee Girls and The Swinging Barmaids.

Wherever she is now - this world or the next - I hope she knows how many of us remember her fondly for her strong, dignified portrayal of the heroic Liana.