COMIC BOOK COMPULSIVE — Spaceman #5
There’s nothing that I can really say about this mid-50′s issue of the British comic Spaceman, other than the obvious. It’s definitely of interest as an artifact, evidence of just how big the interest in space and space travel was back in the 50′s, even in England. Plus it’s a prime example of how during this era publishers other than Fleetway and DC Thomson tried their hands at comics. And of course it features a space hero named Captain Future who is completely unrelated to either the American pulp and comic book heroes of the same name. I suppose it’s better to commend the ambition involved in trying to take on the big publishers at their own game as well as compliment the talent involved. Which I’m going to go ahead and assume is the work of a bunch of enthusiastic teenagers trying to imitate American comic books who were willing to work for what I’m going to assume was next to nothing. As it has been pointed out to me while the work is rough and raw the artists involved aren’t completely untalented, and I don’t want to be (as the kids used to say ten years ago) a “hater”, but to me this looks more like an American fanzine from the 60′s than a professional comic.
— Steve Bennett
C’mon, it’s not as bad as all that. The art is no worse than many American comics of the period. “Ron” is surely Ron Embleton, who was just establishing himself as a freelancer (age 20). Here’s what Comic Vine said about the publishing company:
“Established by British artist Norman Light, who had previously worked for Scion, Gould-Light published a handful of short lived titles in the 1950s for the U.K. market: Spaceman, Comic of the Future; Worlds of the Universe; and Ace High Western Comic. All three were black and white anthologies printed around U.S comic standard size and contained original material rather than reprints.”