========================================== ********************************* * PART 11 - SPECTRUM HISTORY 5 * * - Lunar Jetman * ********************************* Taking a break this month from our usual look at the various Sinclair machines and instead look at one the Speccy's most fondly remembered characters. The "Loony" Jetman was a cartoon strip originally based on the game of the same name, although it soon developed into something in it's own right. The cartoon strip ran in Crash Magazine from Issue 6 (July 1984) right up until it's demise in mid 1992, a massive run spanning over 8 years and totalling nearly 100 cartoon strips! Reproduced here is an interview with the cartoonist responsible for bringing the Loony to life, originally published in Crash No.37 - February 1987. Until issue 6, Crash had been carrying on nicely, dedicating itself to reviewing the latest in computer games. Light-hearted perhaps, humourous hopefully, but fairly earnest nonetheless. Then along came Jetman, and nothing at Crash towers has been the same since. It all started quietly. No fanfare, no blurb, no introduction - he just appeared, suddenly and silently. The original excuse for the strip was a game called Lunar Jetman (lost in the midsts of time but recently released on a US Gold/Ultimate compilation). Reviewed in the very first issue of Crash, it got the highest every "value for money" rating - a "perfect" 100%. Obviously flushed with this success, Tim Stamper (the reclusive head of Ultimate) decided he wanted to promote the game with a comic strip. Tim had seen John Richardson's work in other magazines and commissioned the strip from John, who explains his involvement with the computer games world: "Tim sent me a copy of the game on tape. I tried loading it on my Sirius computer, but it didn't seem to work so I've never actually seen it. In fact, the only computer game I've ever played since then is Star Trek on my Sirius That was so awful I've never tried to play one since. I must admit I've never met Tim. The nearest I ever got was when the strip was rather late and his father came and picked it up." Since then, Jetman has taken on a life of his own. The game has faded from memory, and even Ultimate isn't the name it once was. But Jetman lives on. In fact, if Jetman misses an issue, there are howls of anguish. It makes the rest of us toiling minions at Crash Towers feel really insignificant sometimes.... So who is the warped mind behind this intergalactic goon? A sign on the door of a Middlesborough studio proudly announces Richardson freelance. Inside I found John busy toiling away on a strip for "Custom Car". Obviously aimed at a slightly different audience, this follows the adventures of a superhero called Super C C and his topless assistant (no, she doesn't stop at the waist). Well - what do you expect from these car freaks - they can't even have a motor show without spraying the place with scantily clad young ladies! Amongst John's other commissions are a strip featuring Tina Tailpipe for Super Bike and Pwlong for a CB magazine. Pwlong is, so John assures me, the Greek God of CB (well, the Greeks were a pretty advanced civilization.) Apparently, Pwlong was born deaf, and only the advent of CB has given him the ability to hear. By way of a complete change of style and emphasis, John also produces a Famous Five strip for a Enid Blyton fanzine. "Fortunately, I only have to draw the pictures for this - they supply the plot line. It's published in Denmark and appears in lot's of different languages. It's really weird to see your speech bubbles filled with some totally unheard of language. I suppose there must be a lot of Enid Blyton fans out there somewhere that just can't get enough of the Famous Five," John explains. CONTINUED NEXT ISSUE. ==========================================