Charlton’s Space 1999: The Comic Book

With the spectacular failure of U. F. O., Gerry Anderson tried to pull a gem from the ashes with Space 1999. Charlton Comics got the license to produce comics for the new television show that promised to be the next Star Trek. This was done in two ways: a regular comic and a magazine. The regular comic ran for seven issues from November 1975 to November 1976. The transition from Year One and Two made little difference for the comics creators, seamlessly adding the new characters and removing older ones. The show broadcasted until November 1977.

Issue One began with a really good water color cover by Joe Staton. “Moonless Night”, written by Nick Cuti and drawn by Joe Staton, recapped how the Moon was pushed from Earth by a nuclear accident, then goes into its own story. An Eagle lands on a world dubbed “The Pearl” with the mission of seeing if the Moonbase crew should adopt it as their new home. Koenig, Russell and Carter find ruins and a race of humanoids living on the planet. These are attacked by giant cockroachy monsters.

The spacemen subdue the giant beast but it flees with Helena. The men go in pursuit, discover a spaceship and that the cockroaches are the intelligent race. A two-pager called “The Kammerer Effect” is a unrelated text story by Nick Cuti and illos by Tom Sutton.

Issue Two

“Survival” was written by Nick Cuti and drawn by Joe Staton. Koenig, Victor Bergman and another guy (cannon fodder) are on their way to Actaen to see if it is a possible planet to colonize when an alien ship appears. The Eagle attaches to the ship and they go inside to meet the inhabitants. The pilot is hiding and kills Mr. Expendable before Koenig shoots some part of the ship and they crash land on the planet. Koenig and Bergman get separated. Koenig uses his survival skills to build a bike with cart and a tent. At this point the pilot attacks and Koenig captures him. His name is Bruin.

Slowly over time, as different monsters attack them, the two men begin to trust each other. When a savage beast captures Koenig, it places him in a larder where Victor is also kept. The two Earthmen are rescued by Bruin. Helena shows up with an Eagle. They can’t take Bruin since he is from Actaen and the locals are hostile to the Alphans. They fly away and Bruin watches, saying one word: “Friend”.

This story reminds me a little of “Enemy Mine” by Barry B. Longyear (still four years in the future) though both pieces could have been inspired by certain war movies. A two page text article on stars by Nick Cuti followed.

Joe Staton drew the first two issues and he did a pretty good job of making his characters recognizable. This is always the biggest challenge for an artist working on a comic based on a show. It is easy in that the show gives you all the designs, but it then demands that you always make everyone and everything look that way. Staton’s cartoony style works for the most part, with his own design for Bruin being pretty cool.

“Bring Them Back Alive” was written by Nick Cuti and drawn by John Byrne. Koenig, Russell and Bergman gets taken by aliens for an intergalactic zoo. The zoo-keepers are never seen but their killer androids are. Koenig and his new friends trick a machine into the pool and steal his weapons. Now free on the ship they head for the control room.

Victor figures out that the zoo-keepers are one of the exhibits, pretending to be captives. He reasons out it is the flying creatures, Silray and Cora. They are prepared to kill Bergman when the others capture them. In the end everyone is returned home. A two page text story called “The Space Sirens” filled out the issue. The Moonbase crew go to a new planet that is covered in plants. The foliage calls like a siren, luring in Alan Carter. A vine tries to crush him. Koenig tells everyone to shoot at the roots. Alan is saved and the Alphans continue their search.

“Demon Star” was written by Nick Cuti and drawn by John Byrne. Near a binary star, Moonbase Alpha is attacked by aggressive aliens, who kidnap crew members including Helena Russell by beaming them off the ship. John and Alan pursue in the “Hawks” rather than Eagles, faster more military ships. They land on the planet to find the aliens peaceful (almost frog hippies).

Examining their old temples Victor realizes that the movement of the binary star has a Jekyll-and-Hyde effect on the locals. Once again aggressive, they attack. John saves them when he shoots their leader with a stun blast that brings him back to his peaceful self. The anonymous one-pager called “The Micron Metamorphosis” followed. The Eagle is landing on a microscopic world they name “Micron”. Once there the surface begins to rupture and the planetoid shatters. It was never a planet but the cocoon of some form of space insect.

“Gods of Planet Olympus” was written by Nick Cuti and drawn by John Byrne. Another planet to scope out, this one is inhabited by Greek mythological beings. John and the crew face off against the Cyclops, then Lord Zeus. When things look their worst, the Alphans realize the gods are childlike and mean no harm. There is a fun bit where the visitors stun the Cyclops and he lands on their Eagle.

A two page text story called “The Contaminator” followed. The author is not known but illustrated by Joe Staton.

“Flotsam” was written and drawn by John Bryne. Millennium before two aliens have a showdown in space, but one uses a stasis field as a weapon. Much later, Koenig flies into this field and his Eagle is damaged. He and another pilot named Mal have a desperate race to disconnect the head of the Eagle and use it as a rescue craft. Most of the episode takes place in space.

A two page text story called “The Presence” followed. The author is not known. While exploring a dead planet, Koenig brings a deadly fungus onboard. Helena kills it, and save everybody.

John Byrne’s drawing is better than Staton’s most of the time though he tended to draw central characters well but background ones with less detail. He experiments with groovy panels in “Demon Star” which are often diagonal. In “Flotsam” he adds numbers into the panels to show the counting down of time. This was years before Byrne would go onto his super-popular gigs on Marvel’s Starlord and The X-Men. He paid his dues here at Charlton.

This was the only issue from the second series, adapting “The Metamorph”, Maya’s origin story. The Alphans come to her world where her father, Mentor (played by Brian Blessed) shows he has great mental powers, making an entire Eagle disappear. Koenig explains they only want a mineral they need and come in peace. All looks good but Mentor has a secret, a device called Psyche. He secretly drains the brains of aliens to enhance his own mental abilities. Maya believes the device is harmless, but Koenig shows her the poor wretches who have been turned into zombies. She agrees to help the Alphans escape, going with them. This was written by Mike Pellowski , then the script was used again for the last issue of the magazine with different art.

Pellowski also wrote “Escape From Vipon”. The Alphans come to the planet Vipon where primitive lizard men covet their sophisticated weapons. The Viponians jump them, take their ship and lock up the crew. Fortunately Maya can shapeshift and rescues everybody. Koenig punches their leader in the face as a parting gift. Pat Boyette drew both stories and did the cover. “Primitive Planet” was the text feature by an unknown author. The story has Koenig, Russell and Maya landing on a frozen planet. While they are descending something seems to be draining their radio systems. Once on the snowball, they see no life except an amoeba-like energy creature. Discretion being the better part of valor, they leave.

Pat Boyette only got to do the last issue, though he did get the one with Maya in it. Boyette’s art is as exciting as Byrne’s but he doesn’t do as well with the faces of the actors. I like Boyette’s style. It reminds me more of classic Alex Toth type stuff. I wish he had done more.

Next time: A look at the Space 1999 the Charlton magazine with covers by Gray Morrow.