Space Ace Special Edition (December 2021)

John Lawrence has done everyone a great service by reprinting dozens of stories featuring Ron Turner's long-lost Space Ace over the past few years, newly coloured by John Ridgway which brings them to remarkable life for a modern audience.

It has been a while since the last issue — which was, in fact, billed as the final issue — but Lawrence has managed to find a few more stories that are worth rescuing from obscurity. To do this he has employed the Frankenstein surgery successfully used in earlier issues to seamlessly bring together elements of three stories to make a new 21-page tale. This is the centrepiece of this new Special Edition of Space Ace, 'Space Ace and The Search', in which Ace and his sidekick, Bill Crag, crash into a dome that mysteriously appears in their path.

Abandoning their spaceship, Ace and Bill find an airlock and enter, to find the dome contains a pleasant eco-system of water and trees, and friendly natives who explain that they are fleeing from a would-be dictator, the power-made Zalkar. The Earthmen help return the dome to Gylon, but before Space Patrol can rescue them, the newly arrived dome is spotted by one of Zalkar's scouts.

After dispatching the scout ship, the arrival of the Peace Patrol allows Ace and Bill to search the neighbouring planets for Zalkar. On the first they find a race living on flying islands suffering from near starvation while Zalkar drills for minerals; on the second they join a rebel group and finally face Zalkar.

While the serialised tales of earlier issues were the most smartly plotted yarns of Space Ace's career, this new, long story thunders along and makes for a satisfying conclusion to the current volume. You'll barely see the joins.

Before that there are two shorter stories, 'The Plot', the title referring to a planned hostile takeover of Kantor and all the planets in its system, and 'Space Ace & the Kidnappers', about the kidnapping of the Premier of the United Planets Organisation as he heads for Mars City. One is an early tale, the other one of Turner's last featuring the character, but the artist had clearly not lost his enthusiasm for Space Ace.

John Lawrence has included two articles, on Turner's Practical Mechanics covers (1954-62) and his foray into cut-away drawings for Express Weekly (1956). Both feature illustrations many will not have seen before.

The long-promised collection of Ron Turner Tit-Bits comic strips is still promised, but John Lawrence has said that it is likely that another collection of vintage tales will appear first. I look forward to whatever he can rescue from Ron Turner's fantastic archives.

You can get hold of this latest volume of Space Ace for £9.95 UK, £13.50 Europe and £15.50 International, all prices including p&p, 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.

Review — Beyond: A Ron Turner Special (February 2021)

The latest publication from John Lawrence takes a step away from his recent Space Ace magazine reprints and concentrates here on some more recent material. Much delayed by the pandemic (Lawrence planned it for April 2020 and it is dated November of last year), it is a welcome return.

The 40-page magazine format suits these stories, showing off Turner's artwork and John Ridgway's colouring at their best. The only negative thought I have is that it's a shame that there isn't more depth to the stories. 'The Killing Zone' is previously unpublished and crams an interplanetary war into seven pages — a little like squeezing the original Star Wars trilogy into a twenty minute short. While it's fun at a certain level, there's room for nothing more than plot, and that's heading in one direction with no deviation.

Andrew Darlington, on the other hand, managed to create a far better story in the six pages of 'Terror From Moon 33' by limiting its focus, although it, too, has its problems. When two spacemen discover an ancient alien spaceship, they try to sell artefacts from it at Callisto City. However, without authentication, they cannot find a buyer and, instead, throw the alien tech away, only for it to come to life.

But that isn't the story. The story — actually an extended joke — is that Brett and Tom, introduced at the bottom of page 3 are bored and decide to leave dull Callisto completely unaware that the city is battling alien technology. Meanwhile the tomb raiders have returned to the alien spaceship, only for it to blow up... an event witnessed by Brett and Tom who dismiss it as "one less piece of useless orbital junk."

Unfortunately, the joke doesn't land. Few readers (or spacemen, for that matter) would casually dismiss a citywide riot and an exploding moon as boring. But, then, we know nothing of the levels of excitement Brett and Tom are used to, hinted at by the fact that they were originally intended to be Jet-Ace Logan and Plumduff Charteris, reviving the old Fleetway (Comet, Tiger, Thriller Picture Library) characters. Reintroduced in a different story and with a few more adventures under their belt, the lack of any engagement between the strip's heroes and this particular plot might have worked.

The problems of these first two stories are not visible in the final two. 'Lone Eagle' relates an incident in World War Two where an R.A.F. pilot aids ground forces and is then helped in return, a neat little yarn told in four pages that are seeing the light of day for the first time. Lawrence's story notes offer some poignant background to Turner's own war exploits.

Wrapping up the volume, 'Bonde Bombshell' is an adventure told over thirteen pages, its hero a sex-starved interplanetary freight hauler called Joe McGurk. The pilot is unaware that he is carrying a surprise for the intended recipient on Titan. Things look up when a space storm accidentally activates a sex robot. Turner clearly had a lot of fun drawing the strip, which features a lot of nudity (but nothing more) as it was aimed at Heavy Metal. Rejected at the time, it's good to see a story that has languished in a drawer for 25 years come to life with Ridgway's always excellent colouring. A fine way to bring Beyond to a close.

Beyond is priced £9.50 (UK) £12.95 Europe and £14.95 (Int) and you can make Paypal payments to spaceace.54@virginmedia.com.

John tells me he still has copies of Space Ace #s 1, 10 and 12, so if you have gaps in your collection, now's the chance to fill them. Just drop him a line at the above address. The good news is that he has more classic Turner material in preparation for the future

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.

Space Ace #11 (October 2018)

The latest issue of Space Ace returns to the slightly longer story format, thanks to the appearance of two 12-page stories from the third Lone Star Annual (1957), 'Space Ace and the Black Pirate' and 'Space Ace and the Tyrant of Trathane'. In between is a 7-pager, 'Space Ace and the Tower of Tongaylar' from Lone Star v.5 no.3 (1959).

The earlier tales are interesting in that they refer to Space Ace under his former name – when Lone Star began publication in 1952, it introduced ex-stratosphere pilot, scientist and Sheriff (!), Space Squadron Commander Ace Hart. Unfortunately, there was already a character named Ace Hart ("the Atom Man"), who had been active since 1948 in the pages of World Distributors' Super Thriller. The strip and its hero became Space Ace, a rather odd name, but it stuck...

Why did Space Ace revert to Ace Hart in Turner's two stories? It might (and I emphasize might) be because Western Super Thriller (as the rival magazine had become) folded in 1956 and Turner or his publisher might have been attempting to re-establish the earlier name. However, Ace Hart subsequently turned up in text form in the Super Thriller Annual, making this a one-off reappearance.

In 'The Black Pirate', a space miner has his cargo of lithanium stolen and barely escapes with his life. Space Ace and Bill are soon on the trail of the Kelly gang, led by "Killer" Kelly, a gangster with an eye-patch and a base on Deimos, where miner "Digger" Dimes pays our heroes back for earlier saving his life, by saving theirs... twice!

Ron Turner's love of science fiction comes through in the creation of "Digger" Dimes, who owes something to "Noisy" Rhysling, a character created by Robert A. Heinlein, who roams the spaceways, singing songs. Heinlein's 'The Green Hills of Earth' is directly alluded to in one of Dimes' songs.

The shorter yarn of this latest trio relates how Ace and Bill pick up a message from the rightful ruler of Ralkor, a planet that has been taken over by the ruthless Kelvax. After a thrilling prison break-out, Ralkor and his Earthman rescuers take the battle right to Kelvax's headquarters.

'Tyrant of Trathane' also begins with an alien in distress, in this case the son of the ruler of the peaceful southern half of the planet Trathane. Its northern neighbour is ruled over by a tyrant named Timar who is about to launch a strike against the south. Ace and Bill investigate and discover that Timar is using a huge, mobile, burrowing bomb to lead his forces.

The issue also has a brief article about a very scarce Ron Turner project from 1954, Into Space with Ace Brave!, a pop-up book compiled and illustrated by Turner. I imagine that the illustrations will be new to most of the magazine's readers (they were to me!).

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.

In his editorial, John Lawrence announces that this is the penultimate issue of Space Ace. The next will be the last for now, although he already has another project up his sleeve. Replacing Space Ace will be 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.

Space Ace volume 10

After a couple of issues running longer stories, the latest issue of Space Ace (#10, released May 2018) returns to its original format as an anthology of shorter yarns, but with the added bonus of an extra four pages to fit them in alongside an article and the usual letters' page.

As with one of his earlier volumes, editor John Lawrence has made some minor alterations which rescue parts of a less-than-stellar story and incorporate it into another tale where the original limited page count squeezed out any tension. I have to say that the join is invisible, thanks in part to John Ridgway's colouring, which blends the whole story together seamlessly. That Space Ace and Sergeant Bill Crag (our heroes) have to actually work to achieve the story's solution rather than to simply stumble into it makes for a far more satisfying narrative. The plot, incidentally, revolves around a stolen space freighter and how the Space Patrol team, abandoned on a battle-damaged space station, find a way to first get themselves to safety before their oxygen runs out, and second to recapture the space freighter.

In 'Space Ace and the Menace from Minos', a recently-joined member of the Intergalactic Federation of Planets is attacked by a neighbour and Space Ace and Bill have to resolve a multitude of problems – from attacking a space ship to shutting down a powerful drill and preventing a submarine attack – before they can save the day.

'Space Ace and the Asteroid' opens with another planet of the Federation going strangely silent. Our heroes find the population unconscious through a nerve agent; the attackers are an alien race looking for a generator that can stimulate growth on the alien's barren homeworld. The earthmen are blasted towards an asteroid moon of the planet, only to discover it is hollow, and home to a race that has been sleeping for 2,000 years.

The final story involves a stranded exploration ship, trapped on a planet whose sun is about to go supernova. The ship has been sabotaged and Space Ace and Bill head off for Mekar to obtain a rescue ship to save Mondar, ruler of Mekar, and his 150 crewmen trapped on Raxor. Unknown to them, their presence is already known to the Mekarons behind the plot.

Editor Lawrence has also penned an interesting history of the Nick Hazard strip, also drawn by Ron Turner, and how his demise led to the publication of Space Ace.

You can get hold of this latest volume 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

Space Ace volume 9

There are more classic Fifties space adventures in the latest issue of Space Ace, which packs three tales into its 40 pages. Or, looked at another way, five tales, as the lead story for this issue is a combination, cleverly edited, of three otherwise unremarkable stories that make a far better yarn together than they did on their original appearance in 1957-58.

As editor John Lawrence explains, Ron Turner didn't always have a smooth ride when it came to producing his Space Ace tales for Lone Star Magazine and tight deadlines sometimes meant he was rushed, or the stories were repetitive. With a deft bit of editing and the addition of John Ridgway's gorgeous colour, 'Space Ace and the Fire Ship' is bulked out from its original appearance when, Lawrence explains, it had a good beginning, a good ending but sagged in the middle, into a story that now jets along at FTL speed as Ace and Bill try to resolve a situation that could turn the Earth into a cinder.

A fire creature from Sirius lands in the Arizona desert, the land around him dissolving in the extreme heat. Ace is tasked with obtaining a crystal from the Arcturians that will allow the fire creatures to power their ship away from Earth before a chain reaction causes a fatal planet-wide explosion.

And we're off... on an intergalactic adventure that sees Ace arrive on the planet Formondia, only to find the Arcturians are flooding it for their own aquatic needs. The continents are disappearing and the locals risk suffocation as the hydrogen and oxygen required to create water are being taken from the atmosphere.

To reveal more would spoil the plot. Let's just say that their trip back to Earth isn't without incident.

Two seven-page back-up strips complete the issue. 'Space Ace & the Weed of Death' finds Ace and Bill arriving on a planet where the population has been forced into living in a flying city because of a man-eating (or, in this case, Zigor-eating) plant that has smothered the land below. 'Space Ace & the Plunderers', meanwhile, begins with the evacuation of a planet of the Raxor system which has become riven by earthquakes and sudden volcanic activity – as have three others in the same system. The United Planets Organisation are not convinced that the disturbances are natural and Ace and Bill are sent to investigate. It's not a plot spoiler to say that the UPO is right and soon discover a strange alien craft burrowing into a neighbouring planet.

John has penned a companion piece that traces the early history of Space Ace in the pages of Lone Star Magazine, which will continue next issue.

You can get hold of this latest volume 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

Space Ace volume 8

The latest issue of John Lawrence's colourful reprinting of Space Ace, the classic Fifties space hero drawn by Ron Turner, arrives with four stories and a feature packed into its 40 pages. The stories in this issue are reprinted from the first of the four volumes of Atlas's annual The Book of Space Adventures (1963).

Artist Ron Turner had stopped drawing Space Ace for some years, turning instead to the more lucrative job of producing the art for paintings-by-numbers for Craftmaster and covers for Practical Mechanics. However, drawing a handful of additional eight-page stories was well within his abilities.

In their original form, the strips were spoiled by having colour overlays added to Turner's black & white art. Here they have been reconstructed by John Ridgway and presented in full colour in a style that I'm sure Turner would have appreciated.

Alien raiders steal the meteor deflector from a space research station in order to rain a deflected meteor shower onto a neighbouring enemy planet in the opening story, 'Space Ace and the Rain of Death'. 'Space Ace and The Revolt' relates how an entire alien race has been robbed of its independence by ruthless enemies, meaning that the handful of remaining rebels are battling a coerced army of their own people. Giving a lift to a magician, Ace and Bill land on a recently invaded planet and are held prisoner; escaping, they hope to free the planet with the aid of Marvolo in 'Space Ace and the Conjuror'. And, finally, in 'Space Ace and the Rescue' Ace and Bill have to save a transport ship that crashlands on Pluto to stop its cargo of arms falling into the hands of one of the planet's warlike races.

Of the four, my favourite was the last, which contains a genuine problem for Ace and Bill to solve, although it also conforms to the typical plot that Turner loved, with Ace finding himself on an alien planet between two enemy races.

John Ridgway, meanwhile, pens an interesting feature on how he approaches each story with an eye to colouring it. While some would argue that Turner's artwork ought to be seen the way it was originally presented, I'm more than happy to see John's interpretation; in this particular volume, I don't think anyone would argue, as the strips, some originally printed in red rather than black, were never shown in the form Turner drew them.

You can get hold of this latest volume 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.

Space Ace volume 7

Ron Turner's Space Ace returns with a new serial story from the pages of Lone Star that was originally curtailed in favour of a rather more action-packed yarn: "Trouble on Titan" ran for only three episodes before Turner, feeling nervous that SF was on the downturn, decided to increase the emphasis on Ace's Space Patrol activities, just in case, and wrapped up the 6-part storyline with a new direction for part four and a new 2-part conclusion, "Slaves of the Zirkons".

Turner had nothing to worry about, as the strip would run for quite a few years. However, it means that this is a somewhat fragmented story, with the disappearance of the research ship Pandora from Saturn's moon, Titan, resolved with no real explanation.

But it's the artwork that most will be buying the magazine for, and that doesn't disappoint. Turner's designs for the Titan natives and wildlife is up to his usual high standards and while the story is slight (and you can easily see the point where Turner gave up on the original storyline), it is engaging enough to carry you through to the end.

This issue also contains a back-up tale from Lone Star Annual in which Space Ace and Bill track down a time-travelling inventor who has found himself trapped in the past with an invading alien race.

As always, the original black & white strips are enhanced by John Ridgway's colours, which take full advantage of what modern computer colouring can do whilst retaining the spirit of Turner's own colour palette.

You can get hold of this latest volume 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.

Space Ace volume 6

The latest issue of Space Ace—or, more properly, Ron Turner's Space Ace—has arrived. Dated April but released in June, it is always well worth the wait. This issue contains the last of Ron Turner's Space Ace serial stories, written and drawn for Lone Star comic back in 1956 and an interesting background feature by editor John Lawrence on what happened to make this the last serial.

In 'The Collectors From Space', Ace's meteor-damaged spaceship is approached by a mysterious sphere which draws the spaceman and his second-in-command Sergeant Bill Craig inside. Unconscious, they are unaware that the sphere continues on to Earth where it gathers items of architectural interest. Meanwhile, the military fight back; their war craft have been immobilised, but they are able to use horses to drag a trailer, loaded with an atomic mine, under the sphere. The explosion destroys the stabilisers of the alien ship and launches it towards space. Inside, the creatures the aliens have been gathering for their intergalactic zoo escape...

And that's just the first two episodes. There are still four more episodes to go in this rip-roaring yarn which sees Ace and Bill saving the lives of the aliens and reveals how you escape the gravity of a Jovian moon when all you have is a submarine.

The 'science' in this science fiction is what you'd expect of a boys' comic from the 1950s, but that doesn't make the story any the less exciting, and Turner's artwork—and John Ridgway's colouring—are as good as we've come to expect from this series.

You'll find more excitement in 'Space Ace and the Lens', in which an alien race wants to use a solar reflector to revive a dead world at the expense of another planet whose unhappy inhabitants seek the aid of the Space Patrol. Space Ace and Bill are almost roasted alive when they intervene.

You can get hold of this latest volume for £8.95 (UK) or £14.00 (Overseas) 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.

Space Ace volume 5

It's always a pleasure to receive the latest volume of Space Ace and John Lawrence must be heartily congratulated for keeping his collections of Ron Turner's 'Space Ace' going and for maintaining the quality of each full-colour issue. The quality is a reflection of John's undying enthusiasm for Ron's work and we're lucky to be able to be able to share that enthusiasm in magazine format!

The fifth volume (October 2015) contains another 6-part serial combined into one full-length, 24-page story. 'The Nine-Bomb Menace' is a follow-up to the previous volume's 'The Island Universe' storyline, and we will be discovering what happened to the Methanons, the aliens from the earlier tale whose home planet Space Ace had destroyed with their own planet-busting bomb.

As you might guess from the title, there is something of a thematic continuation in this latest story. The Discovery is making its way to Libra, a new planet that has been discovered on the outer limits of the solar system, with Space Ace commanding the escort vehicles also making the journey.

As the huge spaceship descends into the atmosphere, it is attacked. A space battle ensues with all but one of the enemy craft destroyed, which Ace takes care of by ramming it. Aboard the wreckage they find a robot pilot.

The Discovery is ordered back to earth but, as Ace nears the planet, the robot awakes and attacks; Ace needs to keep the robot intact if he's to find out anything about the natives of Libra, and in subduing the robot answers one of the mysteries of the age: do robot antennae have Edison screw or bayonet fittings?

Questioning the robot, the earthmen discover that Libra has been taken over by the Methanons and a nine-part bomb is to be used to destroy the inhabited planets, leaving the Sun to Libra. Earth puts together a plan of action: to land on the dark side of the invading planet and make an overland sortie to the bomb sight and disable the weapon.

You can see strong reflections of the (then recently fought) Second World War in the command structure and action in Space Ace that date the story. But reading Space Ace in 2015, sixty years after this story's first appearance in Lone Star, is about the fun to be found in its storyline and the simplicity of its conflict.

John Ridgway deserves a word of praise for his efforts in turning the original black & white art into seamless colour, recapturing the essence of Turner's old Vargo Statten covers. Oddly, this strip appeared at a time when Turner thought that science fiction was losing  traction with publishers; the SF paperback boom had come to an end, as the cheap paperback firms disappeared; his Tit-Bits Science Fiction Comic had faded away after only six issues and even his regular post on Rick Random was not safe. To counter this, Turner poured every effort into Space Ace in the hope that it would survive.

And survive he did, as proven by the second story this issue, 'Space Ace and the Magnetic Meteor', which appeared two years later. The issue also includes extracts from John's conversations with Turner, offering some interesting insights into the main story, and a lively letters column.

You can get hold of this latest volume for £8.95 (UK) or £14.00 (Overseas) 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.

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Space Ace Volume 4

The latest (April 2015) issue of John Lawrence's quarterly Ron Turner's Space Ace magazine takes on one of Turner's longer stories this issue, combining the pages of a six-part serial into one long 24-page story. 'The Island Universe' originally appeared in Lone Star, the anthology weekly published by DCMT in the 1950s and 1960s. Turner had taken over the character Space Ace with issue 17 in 1954 and would later take over the artwork for Rick Random later that year, cementing his place as Britain's premier science fiction comic strip artist.

'The Island Universe' was Turner's debut on the strip and reflects Turner's early enthusiasm for bringing variety to the shapes of his panels. This falls away as the strip progresses due to Turner taking on Rick Random, which allowed him less time to experiment. However, the insistence of Super Detective Library editor Ted Holmes that Turner make Rick Random look more realistic—following the style laid down by Bill Lacey—also spilled over into Space Ace.

As for the story, five strange spacecraft are approaching Earth and the Space Patrol are sent out to investigate. When they receive no response to their attempts at contact, Space Ace and his Black Spade co-pilot Bill fire a shot across the bows of the alien craft. They are immediately attacked by robot ships that disable the Black Spade. Boarded and taken captive by the aliens, the creatures reveal their plans... and Space Ace watches in astonishment as a quartet of flying saucer-shaped spaceships fire beams of light towards the Earth—and the planet vanishes!

Despite efforts to shoot their way out of danger, Space Ace and Bill are still captive when the aliens use their transender drives to cross galaxies to the planet Metharon, near to where the planet Earth has reassembled. But not for long, as their alien captives plan to blow up the planet, releasing untold energy that will power the alien's home world.

As writer/artist of 'Space Ace', Turner created a run of action-packed and entertaining adventures and it is a pleasure to see them back in print, especially in colour thanks to the efforts of John Ridgway, who has made every effort to capture the essence of Turner's painted covers and the later 'Daleks' comic strip. My first exposure to Ron Turner's work was in colour—his fantastic covers for Vargo Statten novels—and while it is nice to have strips reprinted in their original form (in this case black & white), I have no problem with seeing them coloured. In this I suspect I'm like most readers, who won't remember the original b/w versions anyway.

There is a second Space Ace story backing up the longer lead strip and John has printed some extracts from his conversations with Ron Turner, which offer some of the artists insights into the 'Island Universe' story, and a lively letters column rounds off another fine 40-page issue.

You can get hold of this latest volume for £8.95 (UK) or £14.00 (Overseas) 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.