BEACH BUM COMICS : BLAST OFF WITH CHARLTON COMICS SPACE: 1999 MAGAZINE !!!

In the TV series Space: 1999, the crew of Moonbase Alpha must struggle to survive when a massive explosion throws the Moon out of orbit into deep space.

As a tie-in to the hit TV series, Charlton Comics branched out with a fantastic Space: 1999 magazine, targeting an adult market for a change. For that reason, and especially the Gray Morrow art, I highly recommend this series. Writers included Nicola Cuti, Joe Gill & Mike Pellowski. Great artists included Gray (Black Hood) Morrow, Vicente Alcazar, Pat (Peacemaker) Boyette, Dick (Sgt. Fury) Ayers, Adolfo Buylla, Carlos Pino, Carl (Alien Legion) Potts, Doug Beekman & Ed Davis, with beautiful Gray Morrow painted (he did go many wonderful paintings) covers and black & white interiors.

Space:1999 #1
"How Space: 1999 was Born"
"The Last Moonrise"
Introductory story setting the stage for the series.
"Cornucopia"

An alien ship being pursued by two others is detected, and a flight of Hawks from Alpha are sent to assist. The two pursuers destroy a Hawk and Koenig is forced to retaliate, destroying one ship and crippling the other.
Article on visiting the stars of the hit TV series.
"Endgame"

Koenig's landing party discovers what appears to be a beautiful woman survivor in suspended animation on a ravaged planet.

Space:1999 #2
Article on life on Moonbase Alpha.
"The Possessed"

Investigating an alien derelict spaceship, Alan Carter is taken over by a strange cloud creature and behaves in an odd manner

"E Pluribus Unum"

On the seemingly prehistoric planet Volcania. Koenig, Helena and Bergman are captured by an armed force who take them to a vast metropolis.
"The Mind of the Snark"

Moonbase Alpha encouters a space station, the USSS Snark, which apparently broke out of orbit before the Moon's departure but which has been rebuilt on a vast scale and is on a collision course.

Space:1999 #3
Text article on the moon.
"The Old Gods are not Eternal"

An Earth-like planet offers more hope to the Alphans but a valley close to the landing site reveals structures identical to the Mayan civilisation.
"Spores"

Carter leads a flight of Hawks to intercept and destroy a meteor on a collision course, but the missile burst the meteor like a seed pod, dispersing large alien spores over the Moonbase.
"Dawn of Extinction"

On a lighter note, the Alphans are seen socialising with aliens.

Space:1999 #4
Behind the Scenes, Early Theories on the Universe & Space Suits articles.
"A Lonely Emperor"

The Moon is approaching planet Epsilon Rudea IV, and conflicting information from Doctors Mastambi and Edwards mean an Eagle mission.

"Class Determination: Alien Insecta"

Approaching a planet, Alpha is attacked by giant bees which are intercepted by a flight of Hawks.

"Another Name for Hell"

On a world which can support life but doesn't, Koenig, Helena, Bergman and crewman Lonnie find a strange doorway to nowhere.

Dick Ayers Space: 1999 art! I'd forgotten this gem in the series.

Space:1999 #5
How the Universe Came to Be & Behind the Scenes articles.
"The Strange Ones"

With morale at an all time low on Alpha, the Moon's passage close to a new solar system offers little more hope to the depressed Alphans. This turns out to be more so, as the atmosphere of one Earth-like planet proves to contain a poison which has killed the inhabitants.
"An Alien Charm"

Investigating a small derelict ship, Koenig finds a beautiful alien woman.

"Undisturbed"

Strange readings and an ore sample from the Cordillera mountain range leads the Alphans to discover an artificial environment in a vast cave.
Gray Morrow substituted himself for one of the crew in the story.

Space:1999 #6
Text articles on Mars & Nuclear Power.
"Just Like Home"

Signals from an Earth-like planet the Moon is approaching bring a strange surprise as morale hits a low point on Alpha.

"Snowball"
Surveying a frozen world which Carter has dubbed 'Snowball', the Eagle comes under attack from giant horned creatures.
"The Paradise Progression..."

On a large asteroid which sustains a habitable atmosphere, Koenig's landing party find two barely clad humanoids - a man, Adan, and a woman, Eva - in a lush paradise.

Space:1999 #7
Articles on Nuclear Power & the Atom.
"The Perpetual Metamorphosis"

A Sky Lab from Alpha encounters an alien satellite and, retrieving it, Alan Carter returns with it for closer examination. A hatch reveals an organic cocoon from which a small creature emerges.
"The Cosmic Headache"

Koenig leads Helena and Bergman on a covert mission into an enclosed city, to discover the fate of an earlier expedition led by Karen Lanford on an Earth-like planet.
"The Infinity Mechanism"

A spaceship brings a sole alien who claims to be the survivor of a dead world, but on landing Infinity is found to be a cyborg - part organic, part android - from a planet called Xeron.

Space:1999 #8
Behind the Scenes, Man Made Moons & Scanning the Solar System articles.
"The Metamorph"
Faithful adaptation of the origin of Maya from the 1st episode of the 2nd season.
"The Primary Life Form"
Erratic sensor readings act as a prelude to the arrival of Nucleon, an immortal elemental being with god-like powers.

It's art like this that I love Vicente Alcazar for!

Nicola Cuti had a comment on the changes in the 2nd season: "I felt it had run out of steam by then and was attempting to rejuvenate itself with the character (of Maya). It is unfortunate, but when the fantastic becomes commonplace then space opera becomes soap opera."