Despite the distinctively aquatic appearance of Kolvorok and even more so that of Tallid, who Sydney jokingly refers to as a Portuguese man-o-war , their original inspiration did not come from sea creatures. Kolvorok , of course came first , making his debut in SANCTUARY and the design for Tallid appears to have evolved, in turn, from him. Most of the alien species that appear in the JH stories before SANCTUARY are at least vaguely humanoid in appearance; even the hideous true Martians are bifocal and bipedal, but Kolvorok is an exception to this and is utterly different in kind. Sydney remembers that he wanted to create something which was truly alien and a one-eyed creature conveyed this otherness strikingly well.Having dispensed with bifocal vision ( a phenomenon that he freely admits would not in reality by selected for in nature) he also

dispensed with the bipedalism and decided on an arrangement of tentacles .

The shape and design of Kolvorok had its origins in the plant kingdom and owed something to a childhood memory. Sydney recalled   a science fiction strip that he read as a child , possibly in Mickey Mouse weekly, though his memory is vague on this point . However one thing he remembered with great clarity were the little aliens which were encountered in the story . They were willowy plant like creatures   and this notion of an alien based on a plant returned to him years later when Kolvorok was taking shape. His excellency’ s hapless assistant was “quite plantlike” according to his originator in his earliest depictions in SANCTUARY and visually his inspiration was a plant bulb , somewhat plumper than the little plant creatures from MM weekly but equally vegitable in origin.   An example of the kind of plant that inspired his shape is the Crocus bulb. Indeed the little corms that surround the base of the bulb show an uncanny resemblance to the air sacs that surround     Kolvorok’s base , while , with a little imagination, the little roots become his tentacles.

The astronomer Duncan Lunan, an authority on the Hawke material says that despite Kolvorok’s somewhat random origins , he might nonetheless be a viable life-form and he goes on to propose a credible biological development for his species and suggests the kind of planetary environment that such a creature would need .( To read his interesting speculation in full see JHC. Vol2 no2)

It says something for Sydney’s creative talent that where most of us would see a plant bulb as just that and nothing more, he was to see within that shape the raw materials with which he could devise a design for a memorable and completely alien life form. Skipper Prossitt

24 July 2016

In conversation with Sydney recently, I asked him what, if any, were some of the  early influences that inspired his interest in science fiction.  He recalled some space stories from his boyhood and one in particular called “The last rocket to Venus” published in HOTSPUR comic in August 1939 which he remembered making a strong impression on him at the time . His recollection of the story was not detailed but he recalled the general outline ; a space programme is started which will launch a series of rockets to Venus in order to colonise the planet because the Earth is under some threat of imminent destruction.

In fact when I researched the original story , it contained some fascinating portents of what was later to appear in the Jeff Hawke universe. The story is set in the future when due to some celestial catastrophe, the Earth’s rotation has slowed and the Moon, orbiting ever closer is breaking up. A new ice age has the world in its grip and the polar regions have spread across the globe . A British engineer, Gavin Ainsworth has discovered that Venus is habitable. He is building a fleet of spaceships and is planning to send men and women to Earth’s sister planet in order to ensure that humanity survives at least somewhere in the Solar system . The story continues on for several months in HOTSPUR, and tells of the journey to this new world and the fearsome aliens, including man-eating Eagles and faceless men that they encounter when they arrive .

But the aspect which interests us is the setting of the frozen world and the unstable Moon , fragments of which are falling to Earth as the story develops.

It is interesting to note that Sydney had no conscious memory of these details but perhaps filed away the germ of this idea subconsciously, only to retrieve it and fashion it anew almost forty years later, when he set the scene for Jeff Hawke’s new incarnation after Collision Day. In the Hawke story the sun has thrown out a vast plasma bolt which grazes the Moon and alters the Earth’s orbital distance from Sol, only fractionally, but sufficient to trigger a second Ice-age. This, of course is a more sophisticated scenario but one which may owe its origins to   an exciting adventure enjoyed in boyhood.   Skipper Prossitt

17 July 2016

I recently discussed with Sydney the many changes that took place in Science-fiction writing over the period covered by the Hawke strip and how these changes are themselves reflected in the evolving themes and emphases in the strip.

In the nineteen fifties the solar system was a very different place, at least for the writers of Sci-fi. The carbon cloud covering the surface of Venus hid dense jungles which were the home of exotic giant reptiles, while Mars, although visibly lifeless , showed even from Earth , the traces of its dead or dying civilisation in the form of its canal network . Stronger telescopes or future spacecraft would doubtless reveal the delicate city spires, described by Bradbury and others. Our future as a spacefaring species was very near at hand. Science fiction , both pulp and  serious, reflected this optimism about our destiny among the planets. The change in this vision was slow but inexorable and occurred by degree through the succeeding decades. Sydney and I discussed this change and there seems to have been two key turning points which accelerated it. Firstly the winning of the space race by the USA , after which most of the public enthusiasm for space travel, which had been boundless until that point, seemed to dissipate, and the rest of the Apollo

missions appeared technical and anticlimactic. The second key event was the first close-up flyby of Mars by Mariner 4 in 1965, whose relayed pictures showed the red planet to be a lifeless and frozen desert, cratered and moon-like. Fact had replaced imagination and like the cartographers of the eighteenth century we could no longer write “here be dragons” on any part of the Martian surface. Science fiction also reflected this change in the public attitude and as time went on , itself became more reflective and introspective. The bright worlds envisioned in the fifties , with their gleaming domed cities , personal jet cars and regular shuttles to the moon and Mars were replaced by gloomy distopias . These new visions of the future were also fuelled by the increasing preoccupation with environmental degradation and the finite supply of fossil fuels.   Covering, as it does, the whole span of these decades , the Jeff Hawke strip , almost uniquely, plots this change in the content of its stories and it’s

changing attitudes and preoccupations . Obviously there is not a continuous trend from one story to the next   and Messrs Jordan and Patterson had their own unique take on all these themes, but taken as a whole body of work the Hawke strips serve as a barometer for this fundamental change in the way science-fiction developed.    SPACERIDER, the earliest story, gives a nod to Alex Raymond and the space stories of an earlier era , the prime examples of which are Buck Rogers and Flash Gordon, while Sydney’s MARTIAN INVASION plugs into that popular invasion theme of the fifties engendered by the 1953 movie version of H G Wells classic and the fear of the Soviet Union. Heinlein’s PUPPET MASTERS (1951)and Arthur Clarke’s Childhood’s end(1953) are also contemporary examples of this.

As scientific research progressed and the likelihood of Solar System life receded ever more, sci-fi had to look further afield to place its aliens and  other star systems became their natural choice.   The Hawke strip used the setting of Proxima Centauri , one of our near galactic neighbours for the DREAM PEDLARS series .

Another popular trope became the theme of ancient aliens visiting Earth in its distant

past, an idea made popular at the time by Velikovsky’s WORLDS IN COLLISION and later by CHARIOTS OF THE GODS . Kurt Vonnegut uses this theme of ancient aliens influencing the destiny of our species in his SIRENS OF TITAN (1959) and Arthur Orton in his influential short story THE FOUR_FACED VISITORS OF EZEKIEL (1961) explores the possibility of alien encounters in the ancient lands of the bible.This popular theme was reflected in such JH stories as SACRIFICE, THE WONDROUS LAMP   and THE IMMORTAL TOYS, though in his case Sydney anticipated rather than followed the trend .

To be continued  Skippet Prossitt

As Hawke arrives back on Satellite 1, the station commander shows him a fragment of the bomb that has been retrieved from the wrecked ferry, a fragment which shows that the bomb was hidden in some of Professor Bodwin,s equipment. Bodwin himself, who has come up from Earth to take his nephew back home, is immediately arrested , while security police back on Earth are instructed to search his lab and home for evidence. They soon uncover documents which show Bodwin to be the mastermind of a secret group which is determined to stop mankind from ever venturing into space. Convinced that all the danger is past and because news has just come through that satellite 2 is now complete, the station commander now orders the

ferries back on Earth , which are carrying the personnel who are to work there to take off and rendezvous with the new station. Jeff however , has misgivings and   forces Bodwin to admit that there is still a powerful “Gravity bomb” on the newly built station. Taking the professor with him, Jeff returns in his moonship to Satellite 2, where the new crews and their families are already disembarking. A search reveals a small explosive device which is made safe, but the gravity bomb is still to be located.   A frantic search ensues after Bodwin reveals that the device is set to explode in just over an hour. Fortunately Scrubby and co come to the rescue when they tell Jeff of the lettering that Scrubby spotted on a patch on one of the construction girders when the boys were out on their “space-walk”.   Realising that this must be the location of the bomb, Jeff and his team quickly locate the girder, and after a few minutes, manage to extricate the device. It is taken out into space and explodes without damage to the satellite. All ends happily and the new station comes into operation.

This was the last of the Junior Hawke stories published in Express weekly . They were replaced by   a   comic strip version of Charles Chilton’s famous radio series “Journey into space”

The Junior Hawke strip never really found its pace, and each story tried a different combination of characters and scenarios in an attempt to get into its stride. The artwork was not at fault , particularly in the last story where the Italian artist Tacconi produced some beautiful colour work. It was the story lines that displayed an unimaginative and journeyman quality and one wonders   how it might have turned out had Sydney been at the helm to weave his own tales in the juvenile version of his great sci-fi creation. Skipper Prossitt

 

Sydney Jordan , creator of the Jeff Hawke strip , will be attending this year’s Lakes Cartoon arts festival in Kendal from 14th to 16th October The Jeff Hawke club will have its own stand at the festival where you can join , purchase collected editions of the Jeff Hawke stories (which are available nowhere else) , buy original artwork and meet the man who created the whole thing . Sydney will be present for both days of the festival ,which is spread across the whole town and which will also be host to a wide variety of other famous comic book illustrators and writers – See their website – comicartfestival.com for more details .   So if you are free that weekend why not visit this beautiful Lakeland town and meet the creator of Jeff Hawke in person .Members and non-members are all welcome.   Skipper Prossitt

This is a continuation of the summary of the Jeff Hawke story which appeared in Junior express weekly and which we started here on the post of april 30th.

Despite the threats of sabotage, it is decided to continue with the satellite programme and to launch the next wave of rocket ships up into orbit in order to build satellite 2. Mike Cranley , the designer,is aboard this second fleet which is to be launched into a higher orbit than satellite 1. However once the fleet is

underway disaster strikes yet again. Ship no.7 loses control and its automatic tracking system  sends it on a collision course for Satellite one. Jeff, aboard satellite 1 with the cadets, puts his young charges into emergency capsules and launches them away from the site of the impending collision. Nothing can stop the runaway rocket , but at the last moment it misses hitting the satellite by inches and flies harmlessly past. Once the rest of the fleet reach higher orbit the satellite construction begins and Jeff is ordered up to the higher orbit to assist.

He takes the cadets with him to start their space training, and also to save Scrubby from being sent back to Earth on the next ferry. On arrival he asks the cadets to keep a sharp eye out for anything that might give a clue to who is causing the sabotage.

Meanwhile another note is found on one of the ferries stating that another act of terror is about to take place. No sooner has the satellite 1 commander been informed of this when ferry 25 explodes on its approach. A rescue party is sent out and the crew – who have survived because the bulkhead doors remained intact , are brought back to station 2.

At the same time , in the higher orbit, the three cadets , scrubby, Bobby and Andy are excitedly watching the construction of the second station. They are investigating some odd lettering on one of the construction girders when Jeff signals to them that they must return to satellite one , as the commander has found an important clue as to the identity of the saboteur .   Skipper Prossitt

 

It was announced by NASA in March that a new piece of equipment is to be launched into orbit later this year from the Kennedy space center, to be tested on the International Space station. It is called the Bigelow expandable activity module ( BEAM)   and is an inflatable space habitat that will be attached to the space station   and provide extra living/ working space for the crews. The ultimate aim is to test its space-worthiness   as an aid to a future Mars landing. Surprisingly these inflatable habitats offer greater protection against both radiation and space debris , than the traditional metallic structures

which have housed life-support systems hitherto.

And as with many other developments , anticipated and predicted in the Jeff Hawke strips , which have been pointed out over the years, this inflatable space habitat was described and drawn by Sydney in the story “Poles apart” which appeared in the Daily Express in 1958 – 59. When Hawke’s expedition to aid the Ptyrrans arrives at the planetary pole of Ptyrr in order to fix the giant magnet which will stabilize the global weather . Hawke’s crew make their base-camp   in the bowels of the great structure called the compensator where they erect an inflatable pressurized dome, in which they can shed their space-suits and eat and rest under normal Earth conditions . Indeed the first words uttered when the structure is erected are “ Tea up!”,  a cry unlikely to be repeated in the new NASA test unless Major Tim Peake is the first inside!   Skipper Prossitt

 

 

 

This year’s meeting of the Jeff Hawke club will be held in Bosham ( pronounced Bozzum) in west Sussex. Bosham is a strikingly beautiful village with its own natural harbour which abuts onto that of Chichester, a mere two miles to the east. It has a rich history with connections to the Danish king Cnut (1016 – 1035) and its ancient parish church is believed to hold the remains of his daughter Gunhilda.

It also has many earlier Roman and Saxon connections and is very near to the extensively excavated pa

lace of Fishbourne, dating from the time of the Roman invasion of 43CE. The museum there is certainly worth a visit – though it is to be hoped that none of the excavated pottery has “Made in Birmingham” stamped underneath it!

We are also organizing a club trip to nearby Tangmere air museum on 24^th so there will be plenty to see and do.

As in other years we will have a club dinner on both `Friday and Saturday night at venues chosen by our editor who has an uncanny ability to pick out superb restuarants !

Club members are all welcome and if you would like to meet Sydney and William ( our club editor)   along with other members, then join us from 23^rd to 25^th September .As in previous years, you will have to make your own accommodation arrangements , but we look forward to seeing you there. Skipper Prossitt

18 May 16

Next month sees a publishing first for the Jeff hawke club.   The EARTHSPACE volume which will be available from the club from June 1^st contains five stories, four of which have never appeared in print anywhere since their original publication in the Scottish Daily record in 1976 and 1977. Chronologically they come directly between “ Heir apparent” and “The woman who would be king”   and are important in the series as they set the scene for the new post-collision world   in which the remainder of the Hawke stories are set, and introduce important characters like Fortuna and Otto. Surprisingly, neither the Milano libri nor Albi avventura , both comprehensive collections, have included them. The stories comprising  EARTHSPACE are:

THE LAST FRONTIER                                                                                                                                                                               

ANGEL OF MERCY

CHIMERA
LYSISTRATA 2

THE ACHENE ON AMALTHEA

 

The price is £21 for this 110 page volume but only £19 if you order before 1^st June.    Skipper Prossit

The webmaster of the Italian Jeff Hawke website, Illario Vernelli, has kindly sent me two amusing little  illustrations of Kolvorok.  The coloured picture was drawn by Sydney as the back cover for one of the Italian Jeff Hawke editions while the black and white sketch was Sydney’s little gift to  Illario made during their meeting at a comics festival in  Falconara  in 1997, when they discussed the setting up of  the Italian website.  Skipper Prossitt