2000AD issue 2089 (2018)

Cover of a very recent copy of UK weekly comic book; 2000AD.  This is by the great Chris Weston, whose art, design and creativity is staggeringly good

Steve

Sam (2016) ...and other animals.

I think this is very cool.

Sam, a 12 meter tall monument of a monkey cosmonaut, by sculptor Denis Prasolov.  It was placed in Kronvald Park, Riga in Latvia.  It pays tribute to all the animals that died in spaceflight survival tests before manned missions were attempted.

There are also some other versions of Sam and other animal cosmonauts in alternative format.

 

....and others to view here:

https://www.denisprasolov.com/kopiya-first-crew-all-the-heroes

Enjoy

Steve

Drift Marlo (1961)

Drift Marlo, a space adventure comic was first launched on May 29, 1961

number 1

 

number 2

Steve

R:Evolution by Hawklords (2015)

Album art

Steve

Я был спутником Солнца aka I Was a Satellite of the Sun (1959)

I was a Satellite of the Sun (Or in Russian; Я был спутником Солнца) was a Soviet science-fiction film from 1959.

and as a bonus it includes a space monkey...

Steve

Bob Eggleton - Gallery III

Three more from Bob, an amazing artist of spacemen and many other things beside.  Check out his work by dropping his name into a search engine of your choice. The bottom picture is particularly interesting for being our first dolphin in a space suit...although not our last.

In the Beginning by Robert Silverberg (2006)

Subterranean US hardcover

 

(2009)

 

 

 

(1990)

Planet of the Apes - Unseen moments

One of my first great loves as a youngster was the Planet of the Apes movies, and the comics, and bubble-gum cards and the TV series and even the cartoon show.  Sci-fi and monkeys and across multimedia and at a time before we even called it that - What's not to like?

One of the great joys and fascinations of the Apes movies for me was the way that the five stories all circled round and joined back up with themselves.

And what I want to share in the this post is a little bit of that story arc with the inclusion of some stunning artwork that reveal a deleted scene or two.  I'll justify its inclusion in this blog simply by it being full of spacemen, a spacewomen and spaceapes but really its just about enjoying the artwork.

The Planet of the Apes (1968)

 

 

A crew of four reduced to three.

A ship crashed with barely time to mourn

Taking on water and beginning to sink

Evacuation, abandon the ship

The Icarus slides beneath the waters, lost forever or so it seems.

How could things get any worse.

 

Oh!  OK

 

Beneath The planet of the Apes (1970)

Oh no!  But as bad as this seems it can't end any worse than Taylor's day

 

No don't press that!

 

And here endeth the franchise, not with a whimper but with a great big bloody bang.  Everybody dies and the world blows up.  Not much chance of another sequel here, and yet....

 

At some point between the end of The Planet of the Apes and the end of Beneath the Planet of the Apes this must happen...

The illustration is by Erik Marcus Gist and is simply called: Ape Diver.  It's a truly provocative and stunning piece of work and you should go and check out it's creator online in order to appreciate and support his great talent.

 

There's a whole other film's worth of story in regard to the hows whys and wherefores of three chimps, finding, raising and fixing that ship.  Maybe they found and used parts from Brent's ship as well.  We'll most probably never know in any official cinematic and canonical way but  in the version I imagination this would be the closing shot..

 

 

This is the clean artwork used on the cover of Planet of the Apes #12 in the US and #50 of the UK weekly reprint back in October 1975.

 

The artist was Ken Barr and its the view from the commandeered, bailed-out and repaired ship as the future Earth is destroyed by the last spaceman standing.  Such a clever composition this and for me it must rank as one of my all time favourite comic covers.

 

All of which gets you to this iconic moment...

 

Escape from the Planet of the Apes (1971)

The end of the journey for our lost astronauts, finally returned home?

 Or simply the beginning of the end ?

 

 

I'm off to watch a DVD but can you guess which one.

 

Steve

Sergeant Deadhead (1965)

Sergeant Deadhead is a 1965 musical comedy film starring Frankie Avalon.  Sergeant Deadhead is bumbling soldier who is accidentally blasted into space. When he returns home he is a national hero but has also developed a massive ego. A soldier who looks exactly like him, Sergeant Donovan, is found to take his place.

Not sure I'll be looking this one up but interestingly it is another film to feature those Men into Space helmets


Steve

Planet of the Apes A Gallery of Spacesuits

Planet of the Apes (1968)

 

Beneath the Planet of the Apes (1970)

 

Escape from the Planet of the Apes (1971)

 

Planet of the Apes TV series (1974)

 

Planet of the Apes Cartoon (1975)

 

Planet of the Apes (2001)

 

...and again

 

Still waiting for that apology, Mr Burton.  That was my childhood you pissed all over.

 

Steve