MOONS OF MADNESS ENDING FULL
The full globe of planet Earth is displayed at about 30 degrees above lunar horizon. In the distance of the bleak lunar landscape lies stage four, the 'payload' section of the craft that had separated just before touchdown. This and the whole strip were drawn in black and white, which worked far better with this type of tale. This truly haunting picture, drawn to perfection by Brian Lewis, shows the by then opened (like a flower) petal arrangement of Luna-9 allowing the spring loaded aerials to function. The opening panel in the strip is an introductory sample for the tone of the story.
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Oh! And the title is nothing to do with a certain wild-man drummer of the Who rock group! The initial issue, issue two and issue six are titled Moon Madness the others are called The Moon Madness. The strip actually sported two differing titles (though nearly identical). With this mystery fresh in mind, the story of Moon Madness was unveiled to readers of Smash! in issue number 9 dated April 2 nd 1966. To this day it is unknown as to why Luna-9 moved position before recommencing transmitting again for a time and on a different frequency! It finally ceased altogether on 6 th February 1966. Inexplicably though! After a few hours it moved its position and restarted transmitting on a different wavelength! Sir Bernard Lovall at Jodrell Bank observatory was totally perplexed by the turn of events. The Russians had the technology for a few solar panels to recharge batteries when Luna-9 had finished, all expected that to be that! Back in 1966 there were no means of re-booting a probe as in the fashion the recent Voyager deep space probe had been updated from Earth recently. The probe terminated its transmissions as was duly expected. It then started transmitting data by radio signals back to Earth. The craft had safely touched down on 3 rd February 1966 in the area of the Moon known as Oceanus Procellarum (Ocean of Storms).
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Next to this was a not-too-convincing drawing of a large monstrous claw! Thankfully, the strip itself when it commenced the following week would be drawn to far, far higher degree by accomplished artist Brian Lewis.Īlf Wallace had cleverly used the real life Moon landing by the Soviets of unmanned probe Luna-9. Next to the editorial was a roughly drawn sketch of the Soviet craft about to land on the lunar surface.
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Luna-9 was the first ever successful attempt at a soft landing by an Earth probe which back in early 1966 looked to have given the Soviets a clear lead in the race to get a man on the Moon. Issue eight of Smash! actually gave a preview of the coming story by displaying part of a real life newspaper story concerning the recent Luna-9 Soviet probe Moon landing. It was actually conceived by group editor Alf Wallace and drawn brilliantly in black and white by artist Brian Lewis. It appeared in the Odhams group comic Smash! as a two-page offering for seven weeks dated 2 nd April to 14 th May 1966. However, though science fact made the premise of Moon Madness quite untenable, it did not stop it being an utter delight to read and enjoy. I do recall on the six o’clock news, a terse Patrick Moore dismissing a naïve reporter's question when the first pictures of the Moon's surface were relayed back from Luna-9, regarding the possibility of catching sight of a 'Moon creature'! Mr Moore stated, partially sarcastically, that only if virus or bacterial life might have grown very large there might such a sighting is possible. In one sense Moon Madness would have been better suited to the 1950s as by 1966 with great strides in astronomical science quite a lot about what kind of life might (or most likely not) exist on the Moon was known. Of all the quirky, oddball strips ever to appear in UK comics over the years, it must surely rank as the most 'off the wall' of all of them! However, the story that haunted me for years after I first read it, and is possibly more way out than any of those strips I just mentioned was called Moon Madness.
MOONS OF MADNESS ENDING TV
I vaguely recall a girls' comic story about a school and its inhabitants suddenly finding themselves on Mars! Then there was a really spooky Zero X strip in 1969 TV 21 concerning jet-black sentient, and very malevolent leaves, each having a large eye which could control people if it covered their face. There was the 1970 Hotspur story The Jungle from Nowhere about a tropical jungle that sprouted up across the Welsh border! Then there was the very strange (initially) Watch Out for the White Eyes in 1972 Lion and Thunder in which any person or creature which inhaled the fumes from broken glass phials became super strong and with eyes turning white. Some really way out contenders are The Mind Stealers from Lion circa 1968-69. In the history of British comics there have been many very bizarre adventure strips.