Wednesday, October 15, 2025

Captain's 50th Anniversary Library SPACE: 1999 "Moonless Night"

Our final graphic adaptation of the pilot episode, "Breakaway", from the first issue of the color Charlton comic series.
Script by Nicola Cuti (who also wrote last week's "The Last Moonrise").
Art by Joe Staton (who, most recently, helped reboot the long-running Dick Tracy newspaper strip).
Next Week:
The Never-Seen-in-America Illustrated Short Story Adaptation of "Breakaway" from the 1975 British Space: 1999 Annual!
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Wednesday, October 8, 2025

Captain's 50th Anniversary Library: SPACE: 1999 "The Last Moonrise"

Today, we offer the second adaptation, from #1 of Charlton's Space: 1999 b/w magazine.
Written by Nicola Cuti, drawn by Gray Morrow.

It's interesting to see how much is left out of the five-page story, as opposed to the twenty-page Power Records version, which is much more complete.

Artist Gray Morrow was also the magazine's art editor, and painted all eight covers, some of which were reused on merchandise like t-shirts and puzzles.
The cover art for #1, shown above, was also used as advertising key art for first season print ads.
Next Week:
...the Four-Color Comic Adaptation!

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Wednesday, October 1, 2025

Captain's 50th Anniversary Theatre SPACE: 1999 "Breakaway"

 

Space: 1999 debuted in 1975 with a major licensing push, including audio adventures, novelizations (along with original novels), and both comic books and b/w magazines.
Power Records, the premier children's audio line of the era did two lp record albums and two comic book/45 record adventures, including the pilot episode "Breakaway".
Charlton Comics published two different series, one as a standard four-color comic, the other a b/w magazine, both of which adapted the pilot episode with far different results.
With three different graphic adaptations (not including the prose novelization from Pocket Books), "Breakaway" was the single most adapted sci-fi movie or tv show in history, until Battlestar Galactica came along in 1979.
To celebrate the 50th Anniversary of Space: 1999, on Wednesdays though October, we're going to present all three adaptations of "Breakaway", plus the prose short story from the rarely-seen-in-America hardcover Space: 1999 Annual published in England!
First up, the Power Records version, complete with soundtrack!
(After all, it was meant as a read-along adventure!)



The writer who adapted the screenplay is unknown, but the art is by Rich Buckler, Dick Giordano, Frank McLaughlin, and Neal Adams' Continuity Studios crew.
Trivia: While the various American licensors had the rights to use the likenesses of most of the cast, for some reason recently-deceased actor Prentis Hancock couldn't be used as Paul Morrow!

In all the American comics (including the two Power Records stories), artist/art director Gray Morrow served as the visual model for Paul Morrow!
However, the British comic strips in the Annuals and Look-In Magazine did use Prentiss' mustachioed visage as the stalwart Main Mission Controller!

Next Wednesday, the b/w magazine version.
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