Hive Mind! Questions about 1979 Annual reprints

[Grant Goggans]

Hey everybody

A fellow named Gordon Keys has asked for a little help organizing some 2000 AD info for the Grand Comic Database (http://www.comics.org).  He's looking for some additional details about two stories from the '79 Annual: The Phantom Patrol and The Guinea Pig.  These are clearly reprints, but can anybody tell where they originally appeared, and who the original writers and artists might be?

[Trout]

No, sorry, but I'd love to know myself. I read that book so many times as a kid that I know it inside out.

I even own the first page of the Robin Smith-drawn Future Shock - The Mumps From Beyond The Moon.

- Trout

[Emperor]

The Phantom Patrol came up before here and got no reply:

viewtopic.php?f=20&t=24527

And mentioned elsewhere:

http://www.2000adreview.co.uk/features/ ... nual.shtml

So perhaps this is trickier than it would seem. Barney draws a blank but the Doctor Sin information might be a clue:

http://2000ad.org/?zone=prog&page=speci ... e=2000AD79

Some of the one-offs (in this and that year's Dan Dare Annual) may have been recycled from elsewhere - in the early years they may have been pulling together material from previous pitches and sample issues for proposed  comics.

However, the two stories you are asking about seem longer and slicker than you'd imagine they'd be if they were recycled. The clue may come from the artists as they are distinctive (as it is possible the name was changed - that said Googling the names of The Phantom Patrol, like Joe Timm and Cornelius Kerrigen gets nothing). There is a Frank Hampson/Don Lawrence feel to them but I doubt its either (their work is too well documented) but it is certainly someone working in that general tradition.

Beyond that I haven't got anything to add

[Emperor]

that said Googling the names of The Phantom Patrol, like Joe Timm and Cornelius Kerrigen gets nothing).

Ah not quite true. Ironically the GCDB has the information - Phantom Patrol is actually Ghost Patrol from the 1960s comic Smash:

Confrontation with Greek Galleys
(Sequence 2 - Story , 2 pages )

Feature Story: The Ghost Patrol

Credits:
? (Script), ? (Pencils), ? (Inks), ? (Letters).

Synopsis:
Escaping the Germans in Greece in 1941, Seargeant Joe Timm and his patrol are sent back thousands of years by a time machine. 'The Ghost Patrol' find themselves confronting Greek galleys.

Character appearances:
Sergeant Joe Timm; Private Paddy; Artax

Genre: Science fiction

Indexer notes:
Ongoing black & white weekly strip

http://www.comics.org/details.lasso?id=368422

At the Mercy of the Trojans
(Sequence 2 - Story , 2 pages )

Feature Story: The Ghost Patrol

Credits:
? (Script), ? (Pencils), ? (Inks), ? (Letters).

Synopsis:
Carried back in time by a time machine 'The Ghost Patrol' find themselves confronting the Greek Trojan Army

Character appearances:
Corporal McLuckie; Sergeant Joe Timm; Private Paddy;

Genre: Science Fiction

Indexer notes:
Ongoing weekly strip

http://www.comics.org/details.lasso?id=368424

Smash:
http://www.comics.org/series.lasso?seriesid=25870

The name is problematic because there was also a DC team/story of the same name.

The Guinea Pig runs into similar problems as there is a Mike Lane who is an artist of cartoons and comic strips.

[Emperor]

The Guinea Pig runs into similar problems as there is a Mike Lane who is an artist of cartoons and comic strips.

Really me and my mouth:

The Guinea Pig started in 1965 and introduced us to Mike Lane, an Inventions Tester (Guinea-Pig) to Professor Dee at his laboratories in Dartmoor. Some of the tests made Mike more intelligent, while others made him more egotistical, fire proof or just down-right evil. Professor Dee was an inventor who went into his experiments 'feet first' which made the stories more exciting because there was always something that was overlooked or simply not tested. The story often occupied either the front cover or the coloured centre pages. It lasted until the penultimate issue (Vol.20 No.16 - 1969).

http://www.comicsuk.co.uk/ComicInformat ... ePage2.asp

That same page identifies a strip from Dan Dare Annual 1979 (starts page 45):

The Eagle was starting its downward spiral. U.F.O. Agent was similar to Can You Catch A Crook?, in that you had to use clues given in the story to work out how the E.O.S. (Enemies Of Society) caught their enemies or saved their clients. However, our two heroes Major Grant and his assistant Boffin Bailey, got their orders from strange space beings from another world, who watched Earth from a far away satellite.

[Emperor]

The Guinea Pig runs into similar problems as there is a Mike Lane who is an artist of cartoons and comic strips.

Really me and my mouth:

The Guinea Pig started in 1965 and introduced us to Mike Lane, an Inventions Tester (Guinea-Pig) to Professor Dee at his laboratories in Dartmoor. Some of the tests made Mike more intelligent, while others made him more egotistical, fire proof or just down-right evil. Professor Dee was an inventor who went into his experiments 'feet first' which made the stories more exciting because there was always something that was overlooked or simply not tested. The story often occupied either the front cover or the coloured centre pages. It lasted until the penultimate issue (Vol.20 No.16 - 1969).

http://www.comicsuk.co.uk/ComicInformat ... ePage2.asp

Which gets us closer to the credits:

Steve Winders provided the following information "'The Guinea Pig' was originally written by William Patterson, who wrote many of the best 'Jeff Hawke' stories for the Daily Express. Other writers to work on the strip were Tom Tully, David Motton, Robert Bartholemew, Frederick Smith and Alfred Wallace. The strip was first drawn by Colin Andrew, but Brian Lewis took over after a few instalments. The longest serving artist on the strip was Gerald Haylock."

http://www.internationalhero.co.uk/g/guineapg.htm

[Bolt-01]

Excellent detective work there Emperor.

I love the Guinea Pig strip in that annual.

[Emperor]

Excellent detective work there Emperor.

Well it has niggled me since I read it (which is a long time to be niggled). I've made my best stab at indexing the contents here (integrating all the bits of information where it is clear who did what):

http://www.comicbookdb.com/issue.php?ID=140011

Looking at some of the others I suspect it should be possible to identify a few more of the artists but others (like Rufus) have a better eye for that kind of thing.

[Emperor]

What a weird coincidence:

viewtopic.php?f=10&t=25272

Seems Phantom Patrol is being reprinted:

http://bearalleybooks.blogspot.com/2009 ... atrol.html
http://bearalleybooks.blogspot.com/2009 ... cover.html

Apparently the artist was Gerry Embleton (one of the artists on the Mills/Tomlinson/Wagner Dan Dare in the revamped Eagle) and it was originally published in Swift (the little brother of The Eagle) in the early sixties. Making the original name Phantom Patrol - the name must have been changed for the Smash reprint.

[OpusAndBill]

Hi, I'm the guy who asked the original question. Between here and the Comics U.K. forum the concensus of opinion seems to be it was drawn by Gerry Embleton, written by Willie Patterson, and first appeared in Swift before it merged with Eagle, circa 1962.

I'll go with that in the GCD index, with everything question-marked just in case.

I'll have plenty more questions about the early 2000AD annuals, as well as UK comics in general, so I look forward to your help.

Are we allowed to post samples of art here, to help with artist identification?

Many thanks to everyone who chipped in above. BCNU.

Gordon.

[Richmond Clements]

Are we allowed to post samples of art here, to help with artist identification?

Yup- I think that would be a good idea!

[Emperor]

Hi, I'm the guy who asked the original question. Between here and the Comics U.K. forum the concensus of opinion seems to be it was drawn by Gerry Embleton, written by Willie Patterson, and first appeared in Swift before it merged with Eagle, circa 1962.

For the record it has been confirmed that Willie Patterson wrote it:

http://bearalleybooks.blogspot.com/2009/06/phantom-patrol-update.html

Also note that both the Phantom Patrol and Cursitor Doom books are available to pre-order.

[Emperor]

Steve Holland has given some details on the 2000 AD Phantom Patrol reprints:

Although the stories featured in The Phantom Patrol first appeared back in 1962-63, many readers only know them from the pages of 2000AD Annual where three storylines were reprinted in the editions dated 1979-1981. Not many people are aware that these stories were abridged and had artwork redrawn or otherwise altered to make the story fit the pages available.

Including shuffling panels around and missing out an important panel.

http://bearalleybooks.blogspot.com/2009/08/phantom-patrol-2000ad-reprints.html

[OpusAndBill]

I notice the Phantom Patrol is copyrighted to IPC. That used to be Fleetway, right?

Do IPC currently publish any comics, and if not, how did Steve Holland talk them into agreeing to the reprint?

[IndigoPrime]

how did Steve Holland talk them into agreeing to the reprint?

I imagine something like this:

Steve: "I'll do all the work and you'll make money out of an otherwise dead property."

IPC: "We like it!"