[Quirky Quokka]

Hi everyone

Thanks for your comments. It seems that everyone enjoyed these stories overall. The artwork was of a high quality and the stories were interesting, though with some inconsistencies and stretches of the imagination. Though that’s understandable in sci-fi of that era.

A few people were interested in the Woomera link, and I’ve posted separately about those (See the last two posts on p. 1).

Here are a few of my thoughts about each story.

Ace O’Hara #5

I thought it was interesting that this story was published in 1956 and we’re told that it’s set in the not-too-distant future. When the story begins, there are unmanned satellites in space, but no manned missions as yet. We know, of course, that Sputnik became the first manmade satellite in October 1957, so this story is set firmly in the era of the space race. However, the British are at the forefront of that race and a few of us have pointed out that the unlikely rival is Mexico. Maybe it was too sensitive at the time to implicate Russia. Also, it’s a bit of a stretch that they go from having no manned missions to suddenly being able to launch a rocket and have astronauts working on a space station.

In panel 589, they say ‘it may be that the secret of solar power has at last been accidentally discovered’, then they go on to speculate about whether it will ever be enough to power industries. I thought it would have been used before then, so I did a quick search and found this timeline that goes from ancient times to 2001. My quick skim indicates that although this idea had been around for a long time, practical applications seemed to become more prominent in the mid-20th century. So the topic would have been quite current when this strip was produced.

https://www1.eere.energy.gov/solar/pdfs/solar_timeline.pdf

I thought Belle may have been the love interest, but she only appears briefly and then is usually addressed when her father says, ‘Be a good girl and do such and such’. Poor Belle. Maybe she becomes more prominent in other stories. I can’t remember any other women being mentioned in the story, so all this space stuff is definitely men’s business.

Some of the exploits on the space station are quite far-fetched, but it makes a good story. They even coined the term ‘voiditude’, but I guess it didn’t catch on in popular culture.

The cliffhanger ending makes us want to turn the page and ... we do!

Ace O’Hara #6

As some of you have pointed out, this story has more of the fanciful elements of sci-fi. I thought the counter-recoil system of escaping Earth’s gravity was interesting. I bet the Apollo astronauts were glad they didn’t have to use that system.

In panel 710, the rival satellite is built from scratch in under 48 hours. Amazing that the real space program didn’t get going earlier if it was that simple.

A couple of people have pointed out the Greek or Roman architecture and dress of the giant aliens. I did wonder why they needed tiny humans to build their giant-proportioned buildings etc, though the need to keep the rotators operational may have needed their skills.

Also, I’m not sure if I missed something, but why does Mortendus suddenly realise that he was wrong and that Ace was right? That seemed to come out of the blue.

In any case, I thought it was an original story and it was interesting to see where they took it.

Overall

This is my first experience of this strip and I enjoyed it enough that I’d like to go back and read them all from the beginning. High quality art and better-than-average storytelling. Back in those golden days when newspapers actually carried lots of cartoon strips, I tended to avoid the serials because you got so little each day and had to remember the ongoing saga and not miss a day. It’s great that CB+ has compiled so many great strips so you can see the whole story.

Thanks for your contributions, everyone

Cheers

Space Cadet QQ signing off

[The Australian Panther]

Last word on 'Woomera' - the meaning of the word. Probably the most appropriately named Space Base ever.
[ Spear throwers, also known as the ‘woomera' or ‘miru’, allow hunters to apply more force, speed and distance when launching their spears through the water. A woomera is usually made from Mulga wood, and serves many other purposes such as a: receptacle for mixing ochre for traditional paintings for ceremonies, deflection tool of enemies’ spears in battle, fire making saw, or a utensil for chopping game. This tool is usually 60cm long and 12cm wide, and comes in a concave, elliptical shape. In order to grip the woomera, one end is tapered and covered in a knob of hardened spinifex resin. The upper end forms into a fine point and has a sharp piece of quartz rock inserted into spinifex resin. The end of the spear is pierced into the tip of the quartz rock to hold the spear into place, until it is ready to be launched at prey or an enemy (MBantua, 2020).
The Spear and The Woomera
https://www.yarn.com.au/blogs/yarn-in-the-community/hunting-spears-and-the-woomera
The object you see attached to the Spear the fisherman is holding, is the Woomera.
Quite sophisticated for a 'primitive' people.

[SuperScrounge]

So the woomera is similar to the atlatl?

[Quirky Quokka]

So the woomera is similar to the atlatl?

And I just had to look that up  But I think the Woomera also served other functions, as Panther mentioned. But maybe the atlatl did too. I don't know enough about it. Forget the Saturn V rockets. We could have just used a jolly big woomera or atlatl to get the Apollo crews off the ground   

Cheers

QQ

[paw broon]

I immediately thought of Kemlo as I recall reading them. Another thought was Angus McVicar, but that's not right either. 
Patrick Moore wrote a number of juvenile sf books but I can't remember the plots now.  Too long ago.  Need to look them up.

[The Australian Panther]

W. E. Johns (Biggles) also wrote a Space series which was published in the mid-60's.   Great stuff. I loved them.