It has always been the purpose of the Jeff Hawke Cosmos to publish the complete series of Jeff Hawke stories in English and our editor William Rudling has worked hard to do this.
Unfortunately a problem occurred with one of the stories in the forthcoming volume ( 10.no.2) because the agency from whom we have always obtained the originals had no trace or copy of “ Sails in the red sunset” . But nothing daunted William tracked down an Italian version of the story , and was able to obtain an original English text. Compiling the two together he was able to publish a complete English version, and with only a couple of weeks delay from the original deadline. It is currently at the printers and subscribers should receive their copies shortly.
For more information about subscribing to the JHC email the contact address on the main website.
A passing reference to our hero was made in one of the famous Giles cartoons , which like Hawke became a staple of the Daily Express for many years . Ronald Giles began work for the Daily and Sunday express in 1943 and continued until1 989, during which time his famous extended “Giles” family of characters became a national institution. The cartoon which mentions Hawke appeared on November 14th 1957, and makes reference to the biggest news story of the day, namely the launching of the first man-made satellite , Sputnik, which the Soviets had successfully put into orbit a month before. The reference made in the cartoon is to a speaker at the Church assembly meeting on 12th November 1957 in London which Anthony Wedgewood Benn recorded in his diary. He writes that the speaker declared that ” the Church should send a Sputnik into outer space with a bishop inside it ” and that the current generation was more concerned with technology than religion. The recent publication of CP Snow’s “The new men” just three years earlier had made this division of science and humanities a popular talking point at the time. Skipper Prossitt
Sydney rightly extols the writing talents of his collaborator Willie Patterson, who seemed to be able to turn his hand to stories of almost every genre, from a classic space epic like OVERLORD , a tense suspense story like SURVIVAL , a playful satire like THE WONDROUS LAMP and even to comedy, the best case in point being THE CHANGELING. This is a beautifully written story , and is more in the mould of the absurdist comedy of ,say ,Flann O’Brien whose novels At-swim two-birds and The third policeman are classics in the absurdist genre. CHANGELING includes the same serious and epic tone while the comedy element is situational . One has to remember that at the time of the story’s release in 1967 the phenomenon of Alien adduction was still new , the first reported case being in the USA in 1961 and rapidly followed by several others . Although dismissed by the psychiatric community as a kind of delusion it had quite a strong purchase on the popular imagination. Patterson took this theme but completely subverted it , telling his story from the point of view of three rather bored aliens. Thus this disturbing phenomenon is turned on its head. An alien abduction certainly takes place ,but in this case as a result of a drunken bet by aliens, whose boredom with their long term surveilance mission to Earth leads them to gambling and strong drink to pass the time. A baby is abducted from a cottage hospital and his mind substituted by that of one of the aliens – not for any research purpose but merely as a dare!
The forces of Earth are mustered against the alien threat
When the huge alien ship is spotted by the nursing staff in the hospital grounds, they call the police. But in contrast to the units of tanks and ground troops who respond to the Martian landing in the much earlier MARTIAN INVASION , this time two policemen on bikes( another nod to Flann O’Brien?) appear to counter the extra-terrestrial threat. Again everything is played straight. Because the changeling baby is so precocious for his age, psychiatrists and other experts are called in for their opinions and Willie Patterson has great fun in showing up their absurdities. The absurdist climax is reached, when, fearing a loss of communication with their transplanted alien colleague, his fellows conspire to send him a communicator disguised as a large teddy-bear. Hawke, who at this point has been called in to offer his opinion, realizes that the toy is an alien artifact and proposes to take it apart. Suddenly the bear speaks and informs those present that it will self-destruct if
The drunken bet that started it all
tampered with, but through it the Earthmen can communicate with the aliens. We are left with a beautifully bizzare image of Hawke and the Earth security experts negotiating with a teddy-bear. The whole story is played deadpan and serious which makes the comedy element so much more satisfying. Flann O’Brien’s Third Policeman was published a year before CHANGELING appeared and according to Sydney , was a book that his collaborator was familiar with : another example of Willie Pattterson’s amazing ability to tap into material from a wide variety of sources and hone them to his own needs. Skipper Prossitt
The Changeling – models made by one of our club members
Sydney will be appearing as guest of honour next month at the 14th Salon de la Bande Dessinee – a comic book show in the Haute Garonne department of south-west France just north of the Pyrenees . The show will be held in the town of Saint –Gaudens on Saturday 10th and Sunday 11th of June at the Halle aux Grains. The Jeff Hawke stories have been extensively published in book form in France and Sydney has a considerable following there. He has also designed the official poster for the show, which shows Hawke, Mac, Chalcedon and Kolvorok in front of the local church of St. Peter and St. Gaudens, a beautiful Romanesque building with extensive cloisters, whose earliest parts date to the 11th century. Sydney tells me that he will be taking some full size reproductions of some of the original Hawke artwork which will be available to buy at the show. Skipper Prossitt
Sydney’s poster design for the Salon BD at Saint-Gaudens
As a conclusion to Sydney’s intended Dan Dare story for the Planet on Sunday newspaper, which we have published here in the last couple of months , I am delighted to be able to present a piece of his artwork connected with this story which has never before seen the light of day. In it we see Sydney’s depiction of the Entity after it has manifested on the edge of the Flamelands in Theronland. The Mekon, in his flying chair, as the only being in the Solar system who can engage with the entity and retain his sanity, is attempting to hold its attention while the asteroid, which is intended to destroy it, hurtles toward Venus. An exciting climax to what would have been a groundbreaking Dan Dare story. Unfortunately it was not to be. Skipper Prossitt
The final confrontation between the `Mekon and the Entity on the edge of the Flamelands
Continuing Sydney’s proposed Dan dare story in the “Planet on Sunday”
Dan sets off to Saturn space where the entity lurks, in an attempt to rescue the Mekon, who has himself learned in the meantime through communication with the Entity that its next target is Venus. Although the more temperate climate of Earth is more to its taste , it considers the treens a possible threat to its existence, assuming that they are all as super –intelligent as the Mekon himself.
The Mekon also learns the important fact that the Entity will die if subjected to a sudden and drastic rise in ambient temperature.
By means of a diversion by the expedition’s Theron ships whereby the entity’s attention is momentarily distracted, Dan manages a daring rescue of the Mekon from the Saturnian ship that holds him captive . The Mekon, fearing the tremendous power of the Entity, agrees to a truce with his erstwhile enemies and to combine forces to defeat it.
On returning to the inner Solar system, a great council is held in Theronland to discuss the next step. It is agreed that once the Entity has appeared on the planet some means will be found to increase the temperature to a point which will destroy it.
The Mekon had previously developed the technology to fire asteroids towards the inner Solar system. His Asteroid base in “Space rocks” (Eagle annual 1966)
The Mekon himself , some years ago ( space rocks)had developed the means to fire asterioids at specific targets and it is agreed that he will supervise the construction of a powerful motor and attach it to a suitable asteroid , to be fired at Venus, to the point where the Entity is found . The Mekon and his Treen crew together with Theron and Earth engineers journey by swift ship to the Asteroid belt to carry out this phase of the mission. While it is hoped that only the immediate vicinity of the Entity will be affected by the asteroid impact , Dan and others help in the construction of shelters for Treen , Atlantine and Theron populations in case the impact has a greater effect than anticipated.
The Mekon and most of the engineers return to Venus leaving a skeleton crew at the Asteroid base.
A constant watch is kept for the Entity’s movement , with Dan and the Mekon on constant patrol in the Anastasia . The Mekon is the only being in the Solar system who can observe and communicate with the entity without being driven mad and taken over by it, so his presence in detecting it is vital.
Finally it manifests itself in Theronland , drawn there by its awareness of the Mekon’s presence. Signals are sent to the Asteroid crews with the precise co-ordinates for the strike and the Mekon with Dan on hand, keeps it distracted while the plans are set in motion. There is a scene where the huge golem like shape which the entity has assumed rears up in terrible form, while the tiny figure of the Mekon attempts to hold it at bay with his own mental powers.
At the last moment, Dan receives a signal and swoops in to rescue the Mekon in the Anastasia , before the Asteroid’s immanent impact.
The Asteroid hits, but not in the expected location in Theronland. Instead it strikes into heart of the flamebelt ,
The Venusian Flamebelt , a volcanic band girdling the equatorial zone of Venus ( from “The ship that lived).
rupturing the fragile tectonic plates of the planet and setting off a fiery chain reaction whose shockwave engulfs the entire globe. It is immediately discovered that the mekon’s crew remaining at the asteroid base , on pre-arranged instructions from their master, had overcome the Theron and Earth engineers who had remained there with them, and reset the Asteroid’s course for the flamebelt, thus fulfilling the Mekon’s old threat that he would destroy all treens as thay had proved unworthy of him( see. All Treens must die).
A search is immediately instigated by Spacefleet for the Anastasia, to apprehend the Mekon. It is discovered in Venus orbit much damaged by the Venusian inferno through which it had to fly. The airlock is open and Dan, fortunately spacesuited , is inside and unconscious but the Mekon is nowhere to be seen.
Venus itself is an inferno of flame and heat . The entity is no more but it is feared that the bulk of life of the planet has also ceased to exist. The surface temperate has risen to hellish levels and the lush jungles and abundant fauna that populated the planet are incinerated in the catastrophe. Skipper Prossitt
Following our piece on Larkie last week , below are a couple of photos of a model that one of our club members has made of this character. It is based on his appearance in IMMORTAL TOYS. Skipper Prossit
A recurring character in the Jeff Hawke strip is Larkie, to whom Hawke refers for scientific advice of all kinds. Employed by the British museum, Larkie has expertise in many fields , including physics, archaeology and paleontology . Although usually based in the museum itself , as we see him when the Shiva jewels are analysed in IMMORTAL TOYS or when the time travelling pots are discovered in MADE IN BIRMINGHAM, he also gets out and about occasionally. For example, he accompanies Hawke on his expedition to the Antarctic to unearth a plesiosaur in OVERLAND. The model for Larkie was based on Ray Hawkey, a friend and colleague of Sydney’s at the Daily Express . A graduate of the Royal college of Art, Hawkey was the first design director to be appointed by any Fleet Street newspaper. Described by Sydney as an intelligent and immaculately dressed man, Hawkey also lent these characteristics to his alter ego.
Larkie at the British Museum – from THE IMMORTAL TOYS
After leaving the Daily Express Ray Hawkey became a very successful designer in the publishing industry, breaking new ground with his cover design for Len Deighton’s Ipcress file. He also revamped the design of the covers of the James Bond book series for Pan paperbacks with his distinctive layout displaying the words JAMES BOND in huge sans-serif letters which took up half the cover which all of from that era will remember vividly. He passed away in 2010. Skipper Prossitt
Part three of Sydney’s take on the Dan Dare story which he began in the “Planet on Sunday ” newspaper
The Mekon , who had been lurking in the outer Solar system ever since Xel’s failed invasion of Earth , and anxious not to risk his very diminished forces on an all out assault upon Venus, sought some new strategy to augment his strength. With this in view he attempted to make contact with the entity in the Saturnian system in the hope of somehow subverting its vast power for his own ends. It had the ability to communicate with biological life forms by using other such forms which it had already subjugated; in this case those few surviving Saturnians of sufficiently high intellect, not to have been driven mad by its presence. In Dan’s case it had utilized the minerals of one of the Saturnian moons to construct a kind of vast Golem form with which to reveal itself to him. The Mekon, whose huge brain was able to resist subjugation and madness , attempted to turn the entity to his own purposes. He learned the valuable information that the entity needed a temperate and moist climate to thrive optimally and that too high a temperature would destroy it. The, entity, however, aware of the machinations and duplicity of the Mekon and the potential danger that he posed , subjugated his Treen underlings to its own will, and incarcerated their master in the remnant of the Saturnian fleet that was now, nothing but an extention of itself.
The Mekon’s previous hideout in deep space as depicted in “The solid space mystery” (1961)
One of the Mekon’s cruisers, however, had escaped the enthrallment and sped back to the inner Solar system, where it was eventually intercepted by Sondar’s ships. A meeting was held between Treens, Therons and Earth in an attempt to form a united strategy against the entity. Dan had recovered sufficiently now, to be able to remember his awful encounter with it and to realise and reveal its threat to the inner Solar system. The Mekon’s escaped crew also informed the gathering that their master had told them before their escape that he had learned of the entity’s weakness. It was therefore decided to send a joint Spacefleet/Venusian expedition out to Saturn space headed by Dare with the objective of rescuing the Mekon as he probably held the key to the entity’s destruction.
Skipper Prossitt
The only other occasion when the Mekon is rescued by Dan – a story in the New Eagle holiday special (1983)
Our editor , William Rudling, has proposed that the club might issue a colourised version of one or more of the Hawke stories. While the strips have indeed been colourised in various versions in the past, notably in Italian editions, none have been done with the subtlety and depth that the artwork in the strips deserves.
To this end our editor has recruited the talents of one of our leading comic strip artists who has provided some sample illustrations of what we might expect to get with a colorised story. The artist has worked closely with Sydney in order to achieve the subtle colour palette that will fit in seamlessly with the existing artwork.
Our editor is keen to know if club members would be interested in owning colour versions of the Jeff Hawke stories which were done to this quality. If you are interested please contact him at the email address on this website. Skipper Prossitt
A sample colorised version of one of the Hawke strips “Star venturer”
