Space Ace vol.12 (April 2019)

The final issue! This ought not to be a chock to regular readers, as it was announced in the previous issue that this twelfth number would be the last. But don't panic, dear readers, as there are plans to continue reprinting Ron Turner's work in colour in the future.

Before we get to that, the latest issue is a bumper 48 pages with a square spine and four stories, as well as a couple of bits of bonus material. As ever, the stories are the meat of the issue, and these are, as always, gorgeously coloured by John Ridgway, who has taken Turner's original black & white images and brought them beautifully to life in colour without losing the underlying art that is still recognisably Ron Turner.

Turner was also his own scriptwriter, but with only between seven and nine pages to play with – these stories coming from the pages of Space Ace (1960-61) – the plots could only ever be limited in scope and never so complicated they would confuse the juvenile audience they were aimed at. Despite this, Turner's imaginative chiaroscuro artwork made the simplistic stories memorable and, even almost sixty years later, they still entertain.

In 'Space Ace and the Two Enemies', Ace and Bill stumble upon a space battle between the Zakarons and Balkorians over a technology that keeps the Zakaron seas free of ice and the climate habitable. When the Balkorians steal the Thermovak, it is up to Ace and Bill to disguise themselves and head into the lion's den to get it back.

The barrier of 'Space Ace and the Barrier' is a protective force field stopping a corrosive gas that has surrounded a planet – and which causes Ace's Interstellar Patrol spaceship to disintegrate – from making planetfall.

'Space Ace and the Hollow Planet' begins with an emergency message sending Ace and Bill to Medron, a hollow planet with a sun at its centre, which a neighbouring race plans to destroy by drawing the central sun up to the inner surface.

Finally, and aptly as it was the last Space Ace Turner drew, 'Space Ace and the Arizona Crater' sees something mechanical exit a mile-wide crater in the wilds of America. Similar machines appear on the surface of all the planets in the solar system and begin systematically destroying everything in their path. Ace and Bill are captured as specimens of Earth.

As I said, they're thoroughly entertaining little yarns and I'm glad editor John Lawrence has brought them back from the brink of obscurity. John also provides a checklist of Turner's Space Ace stories and a feature on what Turner went on to draw in the aftermath of leaving Space Ace behind.

The good news is that John has announced that while Space Ace is coming to an end, he already has plans for a replacement, namely Ron Turner's Tit-Bits SF Comics, which will reproduce, with John Ridgway's superb colouring, Turner's contributions to the scarce 1953-54 Pearson comic. The smaller paperback format made it impossible to reprint the stories in the same format as Space Ace without extensive cropping and resizing. One story from the first issue will be the previously unpublished (in English) 'Diamonds of Death', which has only ever appeared in France.

You can get hold of this latest volume of Space Ace for £8.95 (UK) or £12.50 (Europe) and £14.50 (International) including p&p — and that's pretty much at cost, I can assure you — with payments through Paypal via spaceace.54 AT virginmedia.com or by cheque or postal order to John Lawrence, 39 Carterweys, Dunstable, Beds. LU5 4RB.

John tells me that he has some back issues available from volume 7 onwards, but it is best to check for availability before trying to order.