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Wednesday, January 04, 2012


Number 1082


Space Ghost


The Hanna-Barbera Saturday morning cartoon character, Space Ghost, is reported to have been created by comic book veteran, Alex Toth. Toth worked for H-B as a "designer and idea man." See the story on Space Ghost at Don Markstein's Toonopedia.

I'm aware that Space Ghost had a finish to his animated career as a talk show host on Cartoon Network. I never saw him there, preferring to remember him as he was on his first go-round. This Gold Key one-shot was published in 1966. Dan Spiegle did the artwork.


























6 comments:

Britt Reid said...

The first story, Zorak's Revenge, is an adaptation of an early version of the script for the very first aired Space Ghost ep.
You'll note that Zorak, who became one of SG's primary foes, as well as the bandleader on Space Ghost: Coast to Coast, appears totally-different than his on-air appearance.
Dan Spiegle apparently had no reference for the character and the show hadn't aired at the time he drew the story, so he did his own version.

Ed said...

Wow -just wonderful! Thanks Pappy!

Chuck Wells said...

Thanks, Pap! This books been on my want list for several years, but the price for a better grade copy skews pretty high, and I'm holding out for a better deal. Patience really is a virtue when it comes to eBay.

Pappy said...

Thanks for the comments, guys, and thanks for the information, BrittReid, on Zorak. It isn't the first time I've seen artists who had to draw without photo reference. The first issue of The Man from U.N.C.L.E., drawn by Don Heck, didn't picture David McCallum as Ilya. My guess is that Gold Key wanted to release the comics simultaneous to the release of the shows, even if they were lacking those references.

Britt Reid said...

Your guess is quite correct.
Man from UNCLE #1 came out in Jan-Feb of 1965.

Allowing for a 3-4 month "lead time", the tale would've been written and drawn in late Fall 1964.

At that point, the show had just debuted on NBC, and the stories being aired were still based primarily on Solo along with that week's guest star, with Illya having little or no participation.

Photographic reference given to Gold Key would've been primarily of Robert Vaughn with the props/weapons from the pilot and early episodes, which would explain why certain elements are "correct" and some aren't.

I offered a comparison of various artists on the Gold Key Man from UNCLE stories here... http://atocom.blogspot.com/2011/03/comparison-pix-man-from-uncle.html

Pappy said...

Britt, you have definitely done your homework. Thanks.