Edited by Steve Holland (Prion)
ISBN: 978-1-85375-673-3
During the science fiction boom of the 1950s thrill hungry kids just couldn’t get enough of The Great Beyond. Fuelled by seemingly daily technical advances and the groundbreaking weekly adventures of Dan Dare in the Eagle they devoured everything Outer Spacial and the rest of Britain’s entertainment industries had to adapt or die.
Super Detective Library was a pocket-sized black-and-white digest magazine launched in 1953, and published fortnightly by Amalgamated Press as companions to Thriller Picture Library and Cowboy Picture Library. As the name suggests the complete picture stories starred a number of famous crime-busters including Sexton Blake, The Saint, Nick Barton, Bulldog Drummond and even Fu Manchu – although obviously the steely-eyed Nayland Smith was the titular star there – as well as newspaper strip heroes such as Rip Kirby, Buck Ryan and others.
In response to the demand for outer space drama editor Edward Holmes created Rick Random, who worked for the Interplanetary Bureau of Investigations and the Interplanetary Council. Set in 2040 after a cataclysmic global war, the adventures dealt with a society expanding into unknown space bringing civilisation with it: A realm of pure adventure on the borders of comfortable safety and security.
Originally scripted by Holmes and Conrad Frost with art from Bill Lacey and the brilliant Reg Bunn (whose masterpiece The Spider: King of Crooks ISBN 1-84576-000-X is still available from Titan Books) Rick Random reached a peak of excellence when the Canadian Bob Kesten and American Harry (Stainless Steel Rat) Harrison were teamed with the artist Ron Turner, whose sense of style and colossal imagination made it the only real rival to Dan Dare.
This too brief volume (the first of many, I hope) collects ten of the best in its 650+ pages. ‘Kidnappers from Mars’, ‘Emperor of the Moon’, ‘Planet of Terror’, ‘Space Pirates’, ‘Perilous Mission’, ‘Mystery of the Frozen World’, ‘Mystery of the Robot World’, ‘Killer in Space’, ‘Threat from Space’ and ‘Kidnapped Planet’ are reproduced here about half as large again as when they first appeared and on much better paper stock.
These are wonderfully clear, crisp, uncomplicated romps that will appeal as much to your granddad as your kids, but you’d best get everyone their own copies so they won’t steal yours!
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