I SPY--------- THE SECOND EPIC SERIES

[ISPYSHHHGUY]

This story was deemed strong enough to warrant inclusion as a rerun in the 1980 SPARKY annual, though, Alan.....


SPARKY COMIC issue 334: 12/June/ 1971.

I SPY and the SEVEN-STONE SUPERMEN: part 2 of 5.

I Spy's hot on Doctor Q's trail......till he's floored by a flying fence!

synopsis: with athlete SWIFT safely in the bag, Q is on a roll as he instructs his gallery of yes-men to initiate stages two and three of his demented plan: back at the athletes' locker-room, I SPY and Boss are clueless as to why Swift was abducted, and head off for advice from prize boffin, Professor INE STEIN. Presently, strong-arm showman SAM SUNN is wowing 'em with his feats of strength; ----however, he reckons without the booby-trapped dumb-bells swapped over by Q lackeys CANNONBALL, CLINT and FLANNELFOOT: the last we see of poor old SAM SUNN is as he takes to the skies, courtesy of rocket-propelled dumbells!

At STEINS' study, the Prof is unable to add any theories to the mystery, just as I SPY receives a 'phonecall detailing SUNN'S abduction: our heroes rocket off to the scene, just as Q-cronies FINGERS and SPUDBUCKET arrive at STEIN'S abode, delivering a dodgy sofa by van. STEIN, meanwhile, is struck by inspiration, consulting his archaic files, and makes an emergency 'phone-call to the shhh! guy, who hastily rockets back with BOSS to the Profs' for the desired info.

Poor STEIN, meanwhile, is engulfed by the gadget-packed customized sofa, which smashes clean through the window, rocketing up into the wide blue yonder! I SPY and BOSS glide onwards in pursuit of the soaring, surging settee, and the oncoming threat is viewed by Q and his cronies via CC-TV: Q callously unleashes his quite literal 'de-fences', [coiled steel wire fences and posts, which blast off from ground-level, totally entrapping the pair]: the outset of this is a perilous nose-dive, as I SPY and BOSS nose-dive towards the treacherous, less-than-soft countryside below.......Q is gleefully confident as he files away the third 'component' [after SWIFT and SUNN] into his handy lil' ol' locker.






[above: accomplished layout panels in this baby: also check out that very effective charicuso effect of I SPY on the phone in the second-last frame!][/i]

[ISPYSHHHGUY]

cont: a supremely well-thought-out, expertly-paced serving of this most unique tale, with visual highlights-a-plenty, including the delightfully atmospheric gloom and sombre tone in STEINS' study, also that very effective use of light of the close-up of I SPY on the blower on page two; the shadowplay approaches WILL EISNER epic opus the SPIRIT here, in mastery of the comic-book form in terms of film-noir effect. More stunning ariel shots as we hover over STEINS' residence: BRIAN WALKER perhaps was an architect in a previous job incarnation: at any rate, he could have been one, going by his expertise in drawings of old buildings: filled with character and presence.

Also contains the inspired. hilarious sight of the rocket-powered sofa: a vintage I SPY gag setup, executed with customary skill and verve. Slightly less sinister than last weeks' opening volley, but definately impressive stuff, with the winning combination of sterling WALKER artwork and with good old PETER CLARK delivering the spot-on, eccentricly delighful goods in top-notch scriptwriting mode.


[iI SPY'S DEVICES: internal rocket-engines [twice] and hat-housed olde-stylee telephone receiver.



[/i]can I SPY escape before the CRASH! FIND OUT NEXT WEEK!

[alanultron5]

I am pretty sure this was the very final I.Spy (And `Sparky`) I read! I was set to leave School and start work-and comics back in 1971 were seen as things of one's childhood!

I sure wish I hadn't gone and sold my Sparky's, Dandy's, Wham, Pow, Smash, Fantastic collection though! (To W,Ton's "Webbs Comic Shop" in `Pipers Row!) Only got £50 the lot!

The "Dr Q" story is a better season opener than `Fatman` I too was glad to see it in the 1980 Book!

I have a suspicion that Pete Clark was a "Dr Who" fan! Why? The sofa that swallows up Ine Stein is a bit similar to the `deadly` plastic chair in Who's "Terror of the Autons"

[steelclaw]

alanultron5 have you collected any 'Sparkys' since you sold them? I did worse then you I threw most of my comics away in 1989, but I've got them all back and more now.

ISPYSHHHGUY I'm not sure if you've mentioned it before but what is your 'Sparky' collection situation do you have a lot of them?

[ISPYSHHHGUY]

I've never counted them, Steelclaw, but I have over half of them, I estimate about 400 [there were 625 issues: I doubt if many people have the complete set.] or so: I have 2 missing from this year [1971] but overall, I have most of the issues I desire. I still require about 7 colour I SPY strips from 1972.......I mostly lack the earlier [more expensive] sixties issues which were more whimsical and very different.......if I can pick these up at a reasonable price, I will do so, but Alan's especially keen on these ones, so I don't bid on these ones for the moment.

Neither of us own the elusive Number one issue, but I have seen it about twice on e-bay, for around a very reasonable tenner or so a couple of years back.


Mater threw all my beloved comics on the fire the same week they were bought, and much of SPARKY haunted my memory for between 30-40 years! It was like trying to relieve an 'itch' getting these comics 'back' again: I got the entire 69-70 issues [my especially desired copies] in one fell swoop the first week I got a computer....of course, I was dreading revisiting the stuff in one sense: what if it looked dated or corny? For the most part, the comic has aged well: I am a lot happier knowing I have them again, and they are well looked-after.


what happened in 1989 that caused you to dispose of your childhood comics, Steelclaw?

[steelclaw]

On Ebay a few years back someone sold the full run of Sparkys bar one, I needed Mr Bubbles to grant me a wish to buy them, I'm not sure how much they went for I think in the region of £300.

I picked up 6 tatty Sparkys today from 1978/69/70.

[alanultron5]

Steel! I have 565 now! (though at leat a dozen are pretty `tatty`) The earliest one I got (No2) was on the `26.Pigs` site at £25. Of the early ones it is 3, 4, 8, 10, 12 & 14 I most need! The years 1966 and 1967 are proving the most difficult so far! I have 19 from 66 and 25 from 67, about eight of my 1967 ones are pretty rough!

[ISPYSHHHGUY]

TECHNICAL NOTE: this issue is my second--and--last -----'lost episode' from the 1971 archives. However, I had planned deriving data from the 1980 Sparky annual, which repeated this entire tale, minus the text intros/outros. Alan kindly supplied me with quality photostats of this episode, and so.....

SPARKY COMIC, issue 335.

I SPY and the SEVEN-STONE SUPERMEN, part three of five.

Victim No 3 for Doctor Q....AND I SPY IS NEXT ON THE LIST!!


synopsis: our intrpid duo are plummeting earthwards, still entangled in the steel coils of DR Q's flying fence-trap......no time for I SPY to activate his parachute, so emergency SPRING measures cushion the blow, which buys time for the 'chute to be deployed, and to saw to freedom. A search of houses in the area to locate STEIN is proposed.....DR Q is interrupted in his evil ploys by I SPY and BOSS at the door, enquiring if INE STEIN has been seen....the DOC bluffs his way out of this one, but hastily, he puts I SPY at the top of his hitlist for the 'SUPERMAN' formula.

Back at Prof STEIN'S residence, BOSS picks up the dossier dropped during the Prof's abduction: the pages are open at a file on DR Q, detailing his expulsion in the 6os for his controversial 'Superman' theory: however, they still haven't twigged that Q is the same gent they met earlier. I SPY rushes off to warn the Prime Minister [next on the list] and BOSS returns to SPY HQ, where a hi-tech chair [labelled for I SPY] has been installed. Finding a file pic of Q, Boss phones I SPY with the news, and reclines in the chair, which engulfs him, and rockets off to Q's residence! BOSS is transformed into something tiny via Q's demonic machine, [Q thinks it's I SPY, as he's too frightened to release him from the chair] and files him away. Our hero returns to the scene of BOSS' abduction, where he witnesses the scorch-marks of the rocket-propelled chair.




above: mid-air high jinks, deep in the English countryside.

[ISPYSHHHGUY]

cont: much running around like a blue-a***d fly in this one, in the quest to unravel the mystery. Great depiction of speed and action in the opening page, which gives way to the scenario where I SPY unwittingly meets Q at his front door : fantastic use of light and atmosphere on frame 2, page 2: I SPY almost looks photo-real, as the light streams in from the open door. Q's innocent-sounding do come in and have a cup of tea-- is fraught with sinister undertones: the teapot device actually activates the transforming machine! This element is expertly-handled, scriptwise, and not too obvious: the sort of thing that marks such a strip out as being especially well put-together.

The chair installed by Q's lackeys at SPY HQ [HOW they entered the premises is quite a mystery!] looks superbly 1971 in concept: state-of-the-art, if not very comfortable -looking [as noted by BOSS] : a real artefact from this era, with all it's absurdist fashion items.

The pace and plotting are all nicely tied up here, paving the way for a sinister showdown over the remaining two chapters.



I SPY'S DEVICES: internal rocket-engine [twice]/ hat-elevated spring [hi-tension]/ parachute/ saw.


DOCTOR Q HAS MADE HIS FIRST MISTAKE! NEXT WEEK................LOOK OUT, DOCTOR Q!

[alanultron5]

Its a fine episode! This is possibly one of the most underatted I.Spy stories ever! It has a very good plot, slightly based on the Neitsche `Superman` thesis that a certain 1930s dictator took to abominable extremes!

I love that mention of Mr X and Mastermind by Q. It shows who he admired!

[AndyB]

I love the artwork in the first panel of the last row of the page.

[ISPYSHHHGUY]

glad you liked it, Andy...there's loads of great artwork within this series, so here's another cool example from the same previous episode: especially good atmosphere on frame 2:

[ISPYSHHHGUY]

SPARKY COMIC issue 336: 26 June, 1971.

I SPY and the SEVEN-STONE SUPERMEN, part four of five.


Face to face with Doctor Q! IMPRISONED IN A BOTTLE!

synopsis: As the twisted DR Q prepares for the Prime Minister as his final 'ingredient' victim for his 'superman' theory, the still-free I SPY rockets round to 10 Downing Street, where a Q-lackey [Flannelfoot] is disguised, and is handing over a booby-trapped 'important despatch' to the PM. I SPY rocket-blasts into the vicinity in the nick of time, opening up the deviant briefcase himself: metallic 'gripper' hands bond our hero, as he blasts clean out of the office, towards Q's residence!

Q is almost beside himself as he dreams of conquering the world: his evil dream hits an immediate problem, however, as the unexpected I SPY crashes into the chair housed by the doc's demonic machine. Trembling at the actual encounter with the dreaded and dangerous I SPY, Q offers to return the missing people: BOSS, SWIFT, SUNN, and STEIN----but the tiny labelled bottles he produces appear nonsensical, and the shhh! guy quickly loses patience........Q eventually demonstrates his hi-tech transforming machine which is situated behind the seated I SPY, who has been duped into being positioned so that he, too, is victim to the deadly rays of the machine..........a quick ZAP! later, and I SPY is reduced to a pitiful blob of black, ink-like liquid!!!!!------and Q is squeezing our hero into a captive bottle!!!!





above; fantastic moody ambience and sinister drama in one of the all-time great I SPY cliffhangers......DOCTOR Q's demonic, satanic leer in that final frame is the stuff of nightmares!i]

[ISPYSHHHGUY]

cont: this is one of the most memorable----and original----episodes in the entire spy-saga, as the Prime Minister once again falls victim to sinister ploys and an impatient I SPY [see last story!] in the early thrill-charged sequence, which paves the way for the obligatory BOND-like encounter between I SPY and Q in the second act. The villains' TOMORROW, WE RULE THE WORLD! [/i] cry is clearly modeled on the same utterings of MR X, from the debut extended serial back in 1969. Q is visibly terrified and timid when confronted by the actuality of the dreaded I SPY, but his deviant, cunning instincts soon come to the fore, as his self-preservation instincts take over.

I SPY clearly believes Q has lost his marbles, or at the very least is pulling a fast one, in the absurd 'little bottles' sequence. The deadly machines' inhuman capabilities are finally revealed in a chilling setpiece, which reveals that the victims are concentrated into tiny black blobs, ready for Q's 'SUPERMAN' formula.........the cliffhanger in this one is quite literally the tightest-ever, as poor I SPY is sponge-squeezed into a tiny ink-bottle with perhaps his most memorable closing quip:


'Oh, boy! I've been in some tight spots in my time, but this one takes some beating!


I SPY'S DEVICES: internal rocket-motor, medium-caliber shell-blaster.



WH-WHAT NOW? DON'T MISS NEXT WEEK'S HAIR-RAISING STORY!

[alanultron5]

Dr Q does seem `slightly` miffed on seeing it is I.Spy rather than the P.M. A mite bothered would you say?

I am a bit surprised at I.Spy's reluctance to believe Q's boast of `liquidation` Has he not encountered `Superspy` the `Copycat` Tempest's `Sun Blocker` `Matic Men` etc? Though for the plots sake it has to show I.Spy `cynical` and more ready to be trapped!

Loved the drawn effect of the ray with all those little flames dancing about in the beam- and Brians use of shading as I.Spy is `liquidated` is magnificent!

Speaking of liking art! I adore the expressions on the faces of those two cats!