LAND OF THE GIANTS JOE 90 TOP SECRET and TV 21 AND JOE 90 and TV 21 COMICS complete history
LAND OF THE GIANTS JOE 90 TOP SECRET and TV 21 AND JOE 90 and TV 21 COMICS update
JOE 90 TOP SECRET
The first three issues (there were 34 total of JOE 90 TOP SECRET) were an adaptation of the CRASH. There was also one JOE 90 TOP SECRET annual.
No. 1 January 18th 1969
THE CRASH
No. 2 January 25th, 1969
THE CRASH
No. 3 Feb 1, 1969
THE CRASH
No.4-Steve and Mark encounter a rain storm, hunting for isotopes.
No. 5 Feb 15, 1969-A swan and fish endanger Mark and Steve who find themselves
on a boating lake. A fisherman also
endangers them.
No. 6 Feb 22, 1969
Two fishermen in a boat endanger Steve and Mark who escape to an
airport…an army base.
No. 8 March 8, 1969
FULL COLOUR. Steve and Mark seek uranium fuel for their spaceship. They reach
an airforce base and decide to enlist the aid of an imprisoned giant. A spider
comes at them but the giant steps on it unexpectedly. Steve tells the giant,
who grabs them both up, that if he tries to turn them over, he and Mark will
act like dolls and the giants, who already think the man is mad, will not
believe him! One frame is shot from behind the spider’s web up on the ceiling!
Using the man’s hat to stop the sound of keys hitting the floor and using a
rifle to climb up to the table to get the keys, Steve drops the keys onto the
hat. Mark drags the hat to the cell and the giant gets the keys. The giant gets
a gun. He was once part of the air force. He locks three guards in the cell and
heads off to the other side of the air field to help the two men get the
isotope. Three giants soon learn of the man’s escape and are about to start
firing at him. The giant is heading through a mind field not seeing a sign that
is up: HALT: THIS FIELD IS MINED, NO ENTRY.
No.9 March 15, 1969
Giant Plessey is in a mine field. Two guards turn to warn him. One
guard shouts to warn him and this makes the giant turn and his foot hits the
mine. The blast kills Plessey but Steve and Mark are thrown clear, Steve in a
tree but he gets down. He and Mark plan to meet at the uranium store. When they
remeet, Mark feels bad, the poor guy was trying to help them. Steve felt glad
he was small: it was easier to avoid the mines. Steve reminds Mark of the
giant’s original plan: to turn them in. They open the door and find isotopes
but they must weight a ton. They are also miles away from Dan and the others.
These can power the ship’s engines. A fork lift and driver come in and take the
isotopes away. Mark and Steve are on the casing and go with them to…a helicopter.
They fear they will never get back to camp.
No. 10 March 22, 1969
On the helicopter, Steve gets into an inspection hatch keyhole and
inside. His plan: crash the copter and hope the pilot can save it! Steve seems
to rip his jacket sleeve. He has on the short sleeved gray shirt under his
jacket. He gets into the motor compartment and finds a loose screw as the
copter passes over the wood (singular). They were ten miles from the others and
it took 15 minutes fly time. There’s a blast (or the screw flies out at them?)
and the copter goes out of control!
No. 11 March 29, 1969
Steve and Mark have been accidentally loaded aboard a giant helicopter with a
store of isotopes. They decide to crash the aircraft over the wood where their
spaceship is out of action. Fitz worries it will hit the ship and them all. The
screw seems to fly out again? The pilot manages to get the rotor blades working
again and crashes in branches of a tree. Steve and Mark drop out onto a
cushion? The fuel tank explodes! NEXT WEEK: RESCUE BID. Full color.
No.12 April 5, 1969
RESCUE BID-The copter down and on fire thanks to its fuel tank exploding, Mark
worries about the out of action pilot. They cannot leave him. Betty hands Dan
the first aid kit when he leaves to help the two men. Soon the others arrive
with the trolley to save the isotopes. Steve uses smelling salts to wake the
downed pilot up and the giant gets away. The little people find themselves
caught between the fire and firemen...
No. 13 April 12, 1969
A blast of water hits the little people and carries them through the flames to
the other side of the copter. Steve’s jacket is ripped at the left arm and down
the side. Mark has his black jacket on. Betty wears full stewardess outfit.
Fitz has his tie on. At the ship, Mark dons a radioactive suit and from above
the canister of isotope, checks the isotope. Gas comes out from the canister
and swirls around Barry and Valerie...
No.14 April 19,1969
The giant airman Plessey told Steve and Mark the canister was an isotope store
but he didn’t know about the gas. The crystals solidify. Dan calls Mark into
the ship where the downed Barry and Valerie have solidifying gas spots on their
faces. Fitz suggests they get help from the giant hospital on the edge of the
wood. They take Val and Barry who are laid in the trolley on a makeshift bed as
in a container. A boy on a cycle hits the trolley but no one is harmed. The
newsboy, on his bicycle, rides away. But he dropped a paper which Steve sees
says REWARD! LITTLE PEOPLE MUST BE FOUND. Many sightings of tiny visitors alarm
people. Who are they?
No.15-April 26,1969
The gang reaches the hospital and contact a Dr. Jacobs. He tells them a new
germ gas effected the pair. He will help them but tells them he will have to
hand them over to the authorities afterward. Mark and Steve agree that they
have to go along with this. 2 G-men-giants with machine guns manhandle Jacobs
away...they have a patient for him to treat...
No.16-May 3, 1969
Steve contacts Dan who is outside the hospital with the girls and Fitz. Dan
uses a nail to put a hole in the fuel tank of the kidnappers’ red car. Mark and
Steve hide Val and Barry, who have only 24 more hours before they die, in a
file box on the desk of Doctor Jacobs. Steve orders Fitz to stay behind with
Betty while he, Dan, and Mark follow the trail of petrol leaking from the car.
After two hours, the car runs out of fuel and the crooks take Jacobs into a
great estate, watched by the three Earth men who climbed a hill and went into a
tree over the heads of the giants. Mark gets zapped by an electric wire fence
around the estate. They go through the mesh without touching it but giant dog
towers over them...unseen as yet by the three Earthlings...
No. 17-May 10, 1969
Inside the house, another giant named Domino, who seems in charge and is
bearded, tells Jacobs that he must help their dying accomplice Luigi. Steve
breaks a light bulb to cause a diversion. Mark and Dan manage to call the
police while Steve shows himself to the giants in an effort to cause a
diversion...
No. 18-May 17, 1969
Steve uses broken glass to wound a giant reaching for him. He ducks behind
furniture while Dan and Mark continue to try to make the phone call on a red
phone. Domino reaches under the furniture and snatches up Steve in his fist. He
uses a gun on Steve, threatening to shoot Steve if Doctor Jacobs does not save
Luigi. Jacobs agrees and must set up the kitchen to save Luigi. In the hall,
the two giant G Men spot Mark and Dan near the phone...the giants move in, Dan
spots the danger but too late...the giants wonder who the little people have
been calling...
No.19—
Dr. Jacobs, Mark and Steve (the recap in issue 21 forgot to mention Dan also)
escape from the gangsters’ house in a police car...a giant nurse discovers the
unconscious Valerie and Barry in the drawer of the file box...
No. 20-May 31, 1969
FULL COLOUR. Barry and Valerie lie dangerously ill on a doctor’s desk. The
doctor agreed to help them but has been kidnapped and forced to operate on a
gangster. Steve, Dan and Mark release the doctor but then he realizes his
loyalties lie with his own people! The doc feels he must help Luigi first.
Steve hangs onto the doc’s pants cuff to try to stop him! Mark and Dan make
Steve see reason. They hide as police come to the house, which is guarded by a
dog, too. The cops plan to use a stun dart on the dog. Inside, the crooks plan
to escape over a fence at the back after switching off power. With the police
here, Steve convinces Dr. Jacobs to help them now that the police doctors can
help Luigi but Jacobs figures the police will delay him with a lot of
questions. Steve, Dan and Mark pull a suit of armour down on three police men.
As that happens, Jacobs scoops up the three little people and runs out. Missing
the doctor and looking for a note on his desk, a nurse finds Barry and Valerie
in the box on the doctor’s desk.
No.21-June 7, 1969
Jacobs puts the nurse off by telling her they are models and he sculpts as a
hobby. Jacobs tells the others that the Government Lab has an antidote to this
gas that effected Val and Barry. The doctor tells his nurse that the police can
have their own car back. He uses his car to transport everyone and has Val and
Barry in his medical bag. They go to the lab. The drug they want is 4Z8000 and
one tablet will do. With ten hours left, the others sneak into the vent of the
building to get to the drug store (?) within. Betty tells Fitz that giants
can’t see the dirt in the corners like they can when Fitz complains about the
filthy areas of the lab. Two hours pass with a quarter of the drug store
searched...Steve passes bottles with code numbers 4----4K1071 and 4K207 and
others. By mistake, Steve knocks into a container that falls toward Betty and
Fitz...almost hitting them. The giant, who was working with his back to them
the entire time (!) turns to look their way. Fitz leads Betty into a hole in
the wood on the wall. Fitz starts complaining, “This is disgraceful..mouse
holes in a scientific establishment...if it was up to me, I’d...” Behind him is
a scuffling mouse...a giant mouse...Fitz and Betty turn towards it!
No.22 June 14, 1969
Betty and Fitz flee the hole chased by the mouse. To knock out the waiting
giant scientist outside, Steve pushes a bottle of chloroform to the floor from
a shelf. Dan takes a flying kick at an aerosol can and spray the mouse, which
retreats to his hole. Dan is knocked out from the fumes. Mark finds 4Z8000 near
4X60. An hour later the gang leave the vent, pulling a sleeping Dan. Jacobs
crushes the tablet and forces the powder between the lips of Barry and Valerie
(!). Instead of turning them in, Jacobs brings the seven to the trolley and
lets them go. Steve thanks him and hopes some day they can return the favor.
No.23 June 21, 1969
FULL COLOR COVER! On it a giant sheep near a wire fence and the wood of a post
is cracking, the top of it flying toward Steve and a downed Fitzhugh!
“Constantly looking for things to make their enforced stay in the land of the
giants more bearable, the crew and passengersof the crashed spaceship
Spendthrift (okay that’s the wrong name of the ship Spindrift) search the
forest which has become their territory. The days are growing colder as
Fitzhugh and Barry go hunting...”
Barry wears a greenish jacket over his yellow shirt. He finds a wire fence of
giant sheep; Fitz thinks of lamb chop while Barry thinks of warm blankets. The
pair return to camp to report this and the men and Barry gather round to obtain
the wool caught on the fence. Fleeing one close by sheep, Fitz falls and has to
be saved by Steve as the wood post on the fence cracks and heads at them. Fitz
has fainted. Returning to the ship, the girls come out. Betty tells Steve the
ship’s instruments are jumping like fury and Val tells them the geiger counter
sounds like its going to explode. Mark figures the DVE on the wool is
radioactive, the farmer must use a low yield radium in the die so they can
trace the animals with instruments. Steve wonders if it can be used to get the
ship moving again. Mark tells him one pint of that stuff will get Spendthrift
(Spindrift) to the other side of the universe. Leaving Fitz to recover and the
others to help Mark build a liquid fuel system into the ship’s reactor motors,
Steve and Dan set out for the farm. Four hours later, Steve and Dan find the
sheep gone and Dan finds out why: near them is agiant brute of a bull...
No.24 June 28, 1969
FULL COLOR COVER: A DANGEROUS MOMENT FOR THE LITTLE PEOPLE IN LAND OF THE
GIANTS. On the cover--- a Fall season scene as a giant bull has speared
Spindrift between its horns while the girls, Mark in jacket, Fitz with tie, and
Barry in blue-green jacket and yellow shirt, all flee. Dan and Steve take cover
in a soup can but the bull’s hoof hits it and they go flying. The bull breaks
throught the fence and heads right for the spaceship. Steve warns them. The
girls keep watch. Dan and Steve pass a stem with a giant ladybug on it. Fitz
has recovered and helps Mark convert the the motors of liquid fuel. Fitz feeds
in tubing, complaing a bit. Chipper barks warnings to Barry and the girls as a
rumbling sound heralds the arrival of the bull which spears the ship on its
horns and leaves. Mark and Fitz with the girls, Chipper and Barry escaped
before that but..the bull heads at Dan and Steve. Mark warns them via walkie
talkie. Steve says, “Dan, without that spaceship, we’re doomed to spend the
rest of our lives on this planet!”
No. 25 July 5, 1969
On the color cover: a giant farm tractor bulldozer chases a tiny Dan and
Steve!!! DAN AND STEVE RUN FOR THEIR LIVES...READ THIS WEEK’S LAND OF THE
GIANTS! Dan and Steve lose the bull and Steve calls Mark to start a systematic
search of the farm. Dan and Steve flee a tractor. Searching near a hay stack,
the others hear a noise and are afraid but giant rabbits run out of it, making
all but Fitz laugh. Fitz scratches his head while they laugh, Mark commenting
that next they will be afraid of their own shadows. Steve and Dan clear a
ploughed field which was like climbing mountain range--even to Dan but they
cannot rest. Near a giant farmhouse, the bull dislodges the ship. Steve sees it
and feels their luck has changed. Okay now the incredible part: Steve and Dan
start to pull the spaceship using the knotted the rope attached to one of its
many newly made holes! Two giant feet tower behind them, unseen by the pair...
No. 26-July 1969
Farmer Charlie find the spaceship and he and his wife want the reward money.
Steve and Dan just escape from capture. A farmhand named Sam appears with a
double barreled rifle, finding out about the spaceship. He’s already called the
sheriff and wants the couple to put the ship on their doorstep so he can claim
the reward...a feud has begun...Steve says, “That’s all we need--a feud on top
of our troubles...”
No.27-July 19, 1969
Opening a window, Charlie’s wife drops a tea pot on top of Sam’s head. Charlie
flees the house to hide the spaceship until he’s done a deal with the
authorities. Hiding in the remains of the pot, Steve and Dan cannot find where
he hid the ship but on his return, they see straw caught on the giant’s boots
with the mud and figure he hid the ship near or in the barn. In the barn are
giant hens, roosters, and chickens..as well the containers of radium dye. Steve
calls Mark, who tells him that he and the others are on the hill above the
house and should be with them in an hour. As they talk, Mark comments he hears
a strong wind. Unknown to him, both men are unconscious with a giant rooster
standing over their prone bodies! NEXT WEEK! DANGER LURKS AHEAD!
No. 28 July 26, 1969
The cockerel flew down and Dan and Steve were downed. Dan shouts
and they run for it, Steve thinking they will never make it. Dan thinks they
will and tells Steve to dive into the straw. They do. Geraldine, the farmer’s
wife, comes in and the cockerel moves off. Dan finds the ship under the straw
where Charlie hid it. Charlie is tying up Sam when he notices a police car
arrives, called by Sam. The others are blocked from entering the barn where the
ship is. Steve called them. They get inside when Charlie leaves for the house.
The plan is to load the sheep dye into the ship, the exact amount. Fitz keeps
watch at the door. “The Sheriff. He’s here and I don’t like it. I don’t like it
one bit.” The sheriff thinks the “hicks”
have let the little people go. The man in a hat with a butterfly net and a tie
on says, “Don’t worry, Sheriff, I’ve been waiting weeks for this chance. We’ll
get them this time.” NEXT WEEK: BIG TROUBLE FOR THE LITTLE PEOPLE.
No. 29 August 2, 1969
The Sheriff arrives with “a man who is dedicated to catching the
little people.” As they question Charlie, the Sheriff worries that the little
people could be carrying germs with them. The Sheriff is named Luke as the
“man” calls him. Luke threatens to burn the barn and the farm down since
Charlie will not tell them where the ship is. Charlie panics and tells them,
inadvertently. Mark converts the motors while Steve and Dan load the dye,
fighting the fumes and dizziness. Everyone is on board as Steve orders. Steve
finds the motors have not fired and there is no ignition…as all the giants
enter the barn! MORE NEXT WEEK!
No 30 August 9, 1969
Steve locks in instant heat and the ship flies off. The motors go
wild and the ship almost hits the farm house. The sheriff wants to shoot the
ship down. Mark into the cabin tells them the fuel is too powerful and they
will have to jettison the dye or the ship will blow up. “For the second time”
the ship makes the crashing descent to the land of the giants.” Steve pilots it to the same area in the
forest. We see some cracks in the ship. MORE HIGH POWERED THRILLS IN THE LAND
OF THE GIANTS NEXT WEEK.
No. 31-August 16, 1969
Cover of a giant truck made of mostly wood and metal that reads J. Hanson on
the side. Below are the male members of Spindrift. One morning a road through
the forest holds a giant truck of Whole J.Hanson Provisions which has broken
down. Barry and Chipper find a giant wrench and screwdriver and the truck. They
report back. Barry tells them that there are crates of all kinds of food on the
back of the truck. Dan agrees with Steve about getting food, “We’d better try,
Skipper. Winter will be here soon and we’ve got to lay in a supply of food.”
The male members go the truck, Steve telling Barry it’s his action, he’d better
come too. Mark is wearing a green jacket under his black vest. He and Fitz get
under the tailboard while Steve and Dan make their way aboard. On the back,
getting up using the tail pipe, Steve and Dan find full fat cheese, peanut
butter or butter, bacon, yogurt which Fitz gets and starts to roll away once
they drop it down to him. Fitz warns the two men on the back of the truck that
the men have fixed it. Fitz suggests they block the exhaust and the lorry won’t
start. “For once, you’ve come up with a good idea, Fitzhugh! Grab grass down
there and hurry.” Barry tells Mark to lift him on his shoulders--he’s small
enough to crawl down the exaust (exhaust) and shove the grass deep. Barry jams
it nice and tight but the men are finished now...and Charlie tells the driver
to see how it runs. NOTE: the driver’s wheel is on the right side of the truck
as it is in England, not USA or on the TV show.
No. 34 September 1969
LAND OF THE GIANTS on the cover as a giant dog on the cover is chasing Steve
and someone else.
JOE 90 TOP SECRET ANNUAL 1970 Autumn 1969
OTHER JOE 90 details:
THE JOE 90 STORIES-THE LAND OF THE GIANTS--ALTERNATE UNIVERSE--Oct. 18th,
1983--Dan, Mark, Steve, and Barry encounter a boy and his dog--and toys, Barry
teases Steve about being much older, Barry is a teenager in this alternate
universe; AIRFORCED-Steve and Mark seek uranium fuel and reach an airforce base--after
being captured by a giant who is captured, deciding to enlist the help of an
imprisoned giant, fight off a spider, they also take a wild ride in a
helicopter, NOTE: There were 34 weekly issues of Joe 90 that had LAND OF THE
GIANTS tales in them and there were also one Joe 90 Yearbook Annual with GIANT
tales in them. The little people (in the weekly series of Joe 90s) battled
through snowdrifts, thunderstorms, and are caught by every conceivable type of
giant from the friendly to the not so friendly. Soldiers, fishermen, gangsters,
farmhands, and the police all feature prominently as adversaries, and giant
animals also appear: a bull, a weasel, dogs, rats, and others.
TV 21 AND JOE 90
No. 1 September 27, 1969-some dates say Sept 13, 1969 due to a delay in
launching it is really the 27th.
When winter came to the crew and passengers of Spendthrift (!) snow and ice an
inch thick is a problem. Fitzhugh is moaning about shoring up the shelters,
negative that they will never get off this darned planet anyway. Skipper Steve
has contempt for Fitzhugh shared by everyone else. Barry in a hoodie tells them
that the food they do get will keep longer. Mark, Barry and Better formed a
fishing expedition, Barry telling Chipper to stay behind because the fish might
think he was bait. The lake is like an inland sea. An iron hard seed pod of a
bean like plant is the boat they will use. They catch a minnow but another
large fish, a pike opens its mouth and dives for them…twice! Mark says,
“Jupiter!” Betty gasps, “We’ll never escape, it can’t possibly miss this time!”
No. 2 October 4, 1969
To get food for their winter stores, the little people hook a fish from a lake
(?). The fish starts the Geiger counter ticking. It may be radioactive.
No. 3 October 11, 1969
FULL COLOUR. Mark figures the fish is radioactive and wonders if the lake is
polluted. Steve has the other folks break out tinned reserves. He and Dan make
a detailed analysis of the fish in some kind of makeshift lab! Neutherium is
the radioactive source. This is convertible in the Spendthrift’s engines. Dan
hopes they can track the source of this material and use it as fuel. The seven
build a navigable raft. There is snow on the ground and some on the ship. Above
the door is a makeshift lean to covering. Barry has a hood. Steve has a collar
on his outfit. The men and Barry sail the raft onto the lake but Mark figures
the lake might have a river feeding into it at the far end because of the
slight flow against the raft. With protective gloves they can grab the stable
and non penetrative isotopes inside what they see: a power plant or refinery at
the Mississippi size river bank. Some 100 yards below the installation, the
raft grounds. Fitz guards the raft and Barry goes with the other three men to
be a fast messenger if they need him. As they try to sneak past a guard who
wears green and green hat (military), and go under a wire fence, Steve touches
the fence slightly and is electrified.
From issue 4’s reprise we find out that in order to steal a converted isotope
that could power their stranded spaceship, Steve, Dan and Mark led an assault
raid on a military research station. The cliffhanger has Steve hit an electric
fence.
No. 4-October 18th, 1969
Mark figures the fence is not electrified but is a force field barrier. As they
hide him from a sentry that just turns around (and who is dressed like a Soviet
Union soldier), Barry figures they can sneak in through the main gate as the
barrier is raised for another truck like the one he just saw. Steve thinks that
is quick thinking and asks him to remind him to give Barry a medal someday. The
three men hide under the truck and then run to a petrol dump. They find the
isotope storehouse, Mark saying “ That’s the low yield isotope store of I’m a
Dutchman.” Steve figures they can climb up a cable that meets the store roof
and maybe there will be a ventilator inside. They swarm up a support pole and
climb the wire, above the sentry’s head. They have to jump to the roof,
avoiding barb wire but Dan almost hits the insulator (why is that a danger?)
but the cable starts to fall toward the sentry. Steve gasps to Mark that he has
to hold it or if it hits the sentry, the giant will be electrocuted. Mark can’t
hold it and it falls toward the giant! Will the little people be discovered?
See next week. NOTE: an ad has a TORNADO annual which has a VOYAGE TO THE
BOTTOM OF THE SEA story/comic in it.
No. 5 October 25, 1969
Steve warns the sentry before the wire can hit him but it hits his
gun and zaps him a bit. The sentry tells the other giants that a live cable
nearly “had his chips”. Mark tells Steve that what ever happens, he did the
right thing saving the giant. He doesn’t tell the other giants about the little
men. In fact, he tells the three that he will help them if he can. His name is
Gus Tollan. He will sneak them into the lab in his pocket. He goes for a
sedative for the shock he received. He
drops them off. Dan and Mark lift Steve up, each on each the other’s shoulders
but he starts to slip and rat cage, the door seemingly attached to the key
string, opens…Will Steve become aware of the peril in time? See next week.
No.6 November 1, 1969
As Steve dodges the rat, a giant Professor grabs the rat and
blames an assistant named Hughes. Key 16 is the motor pool. Key 17 is the
isotope store. Steve passes it down to Dan and Mark. They manage to get to the
store box. Mark spots neutherium. There is snow on the ground outside. A
sentry spots the door open and makes a
lunge for the little men. He falls and his gun falls and shoots pyrrithium
which causes an explosion. The guard and sentry both ran away. So did Steve,
Dan and Mark..for their lives. Barry was waiting for them with his heart in his
mouth. Steve says, “There go our chances of getting off this planet. Up in so
much smoke.” Dan says, “Luck just wasn’t
with us, skipper. There’ll be other chances…there must be.” “Yeah, Dan but I can’t help wondering if
we’ll ever make it off this hellish planet.”
Another sensational story in the land of the giants next week.
No 7 November 8, 1969
Alien invasion of the giant planet begins. The little people find out that a
spacecraft has been sighted in the skies. Captain of the Spendthrift makes
plans to infiltrate the giants’ military HQ and find out more. A spacecraft
could mean a rescue party from Earth. Steve, Dan, Barry and Fitzhugh stow away
in a mail truck. I’m not sure of the cliffhanger but it could be the mail truck
is zapped by the UFO like aircraft or it could be a truck nearby…
No. 8 November 15, 1969
Barry has a hood on. In a forgotten mail sack, the foursome realize that the
UFO is no airship from Earth. The giants attack the UFO with cannons and gun
tanks. Their shells have no effect and their weapons are blasted. Fitzhugh
complains they’ll be killed, they should have stayed in the forest. Seve tells
him to stow it. They run for it but blasts knock them down. Steve kicks at an
already cracked basement window and they jump down onto books inside. Jackal
faced aliens land, having destroyed all the guns and tanks. The aliens are
giants, too. Fitzhugh gasps, “They’re coming this way…I think they’ve seen us!”
Is this the end for the little people? See next week…
No. 9 November 22, 1969
Cover: CAPTURED BY THE ALIENS! SEE LAND OF THE GIANTS inside. The four are in
an army helmet carried by the jackal faced alien giants.
The aliens have not spotted them. The aliens are hunting for surviving giants.
Steve thinks the safest place to hide is near the alien spaceship. They hide
near an army helmet. Giant troops arrive to try to capture the spaceship and
leader shoots one of the aliens. One says, “Pakta Kasakka,” and a wide ray from
one of their guns kills the troops. The four hide in the helmet but a giant
alien picks it up, without knowing they are in it. Thrown on a console, the
foursome get out and see an advanced scanner system. The Earthlings don’t want
to leave the land of the giants this way. The aliens set a guard down and
prepare for what Steve figures the taking of the entire city on foot. A
directional long range beaming device is homed in on a top level conference of
the giants’ military. The giants plan an all out attack with planes and heavy
armor. If it fails they will withdraw HQ to the Southern forests. Steve says,
“The forests! Jimminy, if they go there, they’re bound to find our ship and the
rest of our folks! We’ve got to do something!” What is Steve planning? See Next
week!
No. 10 November 25, 1969
Cover: THE SPACE ALIENS STRIKE! See LAND OF THE GIANTS. A UFO destroying a tank
and a giant. The giant aliens monitor the giants’ defence conference. Dan
points out the layout of the alien ship means the fuel they are using could be
right for their own spaceship Spendthrift. They could escape from this hellish
planet. At first, the little foursome planned to sabotage the ship to stop the
attack but Steve makes a terrible decision, “We owe the giants nothing. They’ll
have to look after their own skins. Our responsibility lies with our passengers
and crew!” A mile away the giants planned an air strike and bomber groups Alpha
and Beta start. The air strike is blown to fragments, giving the land troops a
chance to move in. A tank hits a shot at the UFO but is destroyed by a ray
blast. The giants retreat to regroup in the forests. Meanwhile in the alien
ship, the other four find the fuel tanks and figure to manhandle it between the
four of them and get out through an exhaust port. Barry stops them, “No
Captain, I’ve just seen something on the command centre scanner screen. This
time we’ve GOT to help the giants!” There is no caption at the end this time.
No. 11 December 6, 1969
Alien invasion intends to destroy the women and children in the city. Steve and
Barry plan to shift an isotope while Dan and Fitzhugh plan to sabotage one of
the aliens’ ray projectors. Barry has to hand the tube to Steve who is inside a
long curving tube to outside. One fracture in the isotope tube and they will
both burn. Dan and Fitzhugh sneak through the ship to an electronic brain room.
They find a circuit box to stop the laser. Dan seems to have a long jacket so
it’s sort of hard to tell him apart from Fitzhugh. AND he’s not always drawn
black. Dan cuts the impulse leads and reconnects them wrongly. The aliens
finalize their target. Dan jumps down and he and Fitz run. An unforeseen bend in
the vent outlet traps the isotope tube. Dan calls in, “Steve! Are you still in
there? Get out…fast. The whole thing’s going to blow sky high any minute!”
Steve and Barry slid out and run. As the aliens press their laser ray to
destroy the entire city, their own ship blows up. Barry laments that the giants
will never know, never realise they should be grateful to them. Steve figures
it does not matter but at least now the giants won’t be all over the forest and
they still have their hideout so maybe there is another chance to get off this
“Hellish” planet. Next week: the survivors get their greatest chance ever!
No. 12 December 13, 1969
Color comics. Betty and Val are preparing a stew. Steve wonders where Dan is.
Fitz says his bad luck if his food gets cold. Fitz calls Steve captain. The
long silent motors of Spendthrift come alive. There is a makeshift roof with
ties to the bubble of Spendthrift. It is over the door to the ship. With poles
on the sides to hold it up. Fitzh splashes a drink all overhimself. Dan had
already taken the radioactive tracers from the medical kit and converted them
to power the nuclear thrusters. They are now used up and all he got was a three
second blast. Dan figures that on the other side of the forest is a hospital
that will have radioactive tracers. Barry asks Mark to take care of Chipper,
calling Mark Mr. Wilson. For some reason, Mark is left behind to take charge of
the camp! GLADES Hospital is the mission for Steve, Dan, Barry, and Fitz. They
climb up bricks to an open window. They see a lecture for medical students. A
student named Morand falls asleep and snores. The doctor doing the lecture
throws chalk at Morand and it hits Dan…who’s going to fall inside! Is Dan
doomed to capture by the giants? The ship is drawn just like Spindrift and Dan
as always other than that one comic is drawn black.
No. 13-December 20, 1969
Dan is hit by a teacher throwing chalk at a student and almost falls off the
window sill and is helped by the others: Steve, Barry and Fitz. Friendly giants
see them.
No. 14 December 27, 1969
Sneaking inside a hospital to get and convert medical tracers into
fuel, two student doctors had discovered the foursome, Steve, Dan, Barry and
Fitzhugh. Fitz has on a yellow sweater without sleeves. He doesn’t trust the
giant students, who say they want to be friendly to them. Fitz doesn’t want to
stay and dither so he makes a run for it…Fitz makes it into a pathology lab but
by accident hits a tube that knocks over
a liquid onto him. The giants come in and the one called Morry (Morand) grabs
Fitz, calling him a crazy nut. When the other giant returns with Morry (Morand)
to return Fitz to the others, Morand
calls him Curly. Steve explains that they want to get the thalomine 90. Fitz
still thinks the students will turn them in for a practical joke. Steve thinks
they students have shown good faith. Dan says, “He wouldn’t trust his own
mother.” Steve goes with them. Classes
are over for today. They intend to sneak Steve in and get the tracer. Barry
jumps for joy, “I can hardly believe it! We’ll be going home. We’ll really be
leaving the land of the giants once and for all!” At last, the refugees have a real chance of
escape!
No. 15
Cover: the two giant students watch as the Spindrift lifts off.
ESCAPE LIFT-OFF! SEE THE LAND OF THE GIANTS inside. Mr. Morand asks Susie for
Ethyl Alcohol, telling her he puts it into his car for an extra kick it gives
the car. He is distracting her so the other one can steal the tracer, with
Steve in his pocket. Fitz apologizes. The giants offer to take the bottles as
far as they can but Steve tells them the giants can take them all the way: they
don’t mind these two friendly giants seeing their camp and ship. Morand and
Curly go for fresh water and stores for the trip. Dan needed a half hour to get
the fuel ready. The fuel is poured into the bunkers. The giants tell them they
never agreed with the way their people hounded the little people. The giants think
the little people must be feeling pretty good. Morry, “Like they’ve reached the
end of a long nightmare.” Steve feels
like doing a dozen victory rolls and loop de loops. Barry comes to them in the
cabin, “Can somebody come back to the passenger compartment? Something’s wrong
with Mr. Fitzhugh!” Next week, a new
peril threatens the escapers!
Two medical students help the little people obtain fuel to power the stranded
spaceship. After months of terror, escape was in their grasp at least. Fitz
falls with some kind of fever just as the ship is hurtling skywards…
No. 16 January 10, 1970
Dan checks Fitzhugh and finds a raging fever. Fitz tells him it was the bottle.
Dan analyzes a blood sample and Fitzhugh has a bad infection of a type totally
unknown on Earth. Barry reports that Fitz is talking coherently. Fitz told him
that in the hospital they raided, Fitz broke a flask and got splashed with
liquid. It must be a virus culture that could spread to all of them. “Ye gods,”
Steve says. Val gets sick. Steve says that he has to turn them back. They can’t
risk taking an unknown virus back to Earth. It was an agonizing decision. They
also do not have enough fuel to take off again. They land in the same hideout
in the same forest. Barry and Dan go to the hospital and contact the two med
students for help. It takes them two hours. The med students are in trouble for
taking the fuel they got and there is no more in the hospital. But they have
the antidote. Steve laments, “Then we’re back to square one. It’s as though
fate’s condemned us to stay on this infernal planet forever.” Next week: new
dangers for the little people.
No. 17 January 17, 1970
Single seater military training aircraft with Lt. Brett Cannon, alpha sixty,
has a fuel feed cut dead. He crashes near the Spendthrift and is hanging
upsidedown as fuel heats up the wreck. Mark, Barry and Fitz are near a tied up
rabbit; Fitz with arrows in a case on his back! It seems they were hunting
animals! Using an arrow, Mark fires and manages to get it to on the giant.
Barry climbs up and ties the rope to the giant belt. The trio pull the giant
clear of danger. A rescue helicopter flies low. As Mark and Fitz run, Barry is
accidentally trapped under the giant pilot’s knuckles as he stirs off his chest
onto the boy. Mark says, “My stars! Barry’s trapped. They’ll catch him and there’s
not a thing we can do about it!” Next week: Barry in the hands of the giants!
No. 18 January 24, 1970
Fitz pulls Mark back from helping, fearing they will all be caught. Barry
manages to hide in the sleeve but the rescue workers, unaware he’s there, almost
squash him as they put the man on the stretcher. As the orderlys carry the
stretcher, Barry cannot get down. Barry worries that they could take him miles
from here. The copter takes off. Barry hides in the pocket as the pilot is
taken to room 16. A doctor orders a shot of heptazane. Cannon wakes up two
seconds afterward. Cannon reports that someone got him out, he didn’t do it
himself. Barry hiding knows the man might not believe the truth. Barry climbs
down the man’s jacket…Next week: Barry makes his break for freedom.
No. 19 January 31, 1970
Barry hides by the man’s boots but hides further into the closet as a nurse
comes and gives the pilot his jacket for him to get his handkerchief. The man
finds Barry’s pocket knife. Barry scutters across the room out into the huge
hallway. He runs toward the exit under a trolley being pushed by a nurse. Barry
climbs down steep steps and figures that the helicopter flew due south so if he
heads back due north he can get back to the forest. A man on a bench is giving
is dog Rex biscuits. The dog snuffles at Barry and has him trapped between two
paws on either side. The officer picks up Barry but before he is too high up,
Barry BITES the man and is dropped. As Barry runs, Rex gives chase. Barry turns
and throws a rock at Rex’s nose. He thinks there is no point in running. The
two will turn the whole place out to find him now! NEXT WEEK: BARRY’S DESPERATE
RACE FOR SAFETY.
No. 20-February 7, 1970
HUNTED! IN THE LAND OF THE GIANTS!
Barry is near a giant mushroom and mentions Chipper as he…drop
kicks into the dog Rex’s nose. Rex runs past the giant Swain and accidentally
knocks him down. Barry ducks back into the hospital. The giant Swain uses the
word nincompoop on one of the other giants and calls the little people midgets.
Lieutenant Brett Cannon is the giant Barry helped save. He finds a tiny knife
in his pocket and realizes the little people did save him. Two giants rush to
find the little people outside and one calls the other Bob. Barry flings
himself out of the way and slides into the wheel foot rail of a hospital metal
bed. Ten minutes later, Swain comes in with Rex and a captain or leader of the
military. Cannon hid Barry under his bed sheet fold and sprayed some of his
aftershave around to avoid the dog picking up Barry’s scent. “Gee, Mister, I
guess you just saved my life, but…but why?” NEXT WEEK: BARRY’S SPENDTHRIFT
FRIENDS TO THE RESCUE…AND BRING MORE DANGER!
No. 21 February 14, 1970
COLOUR! Barry has made his way back to the pilot he and his friends had pulled
out of the crashed plane. He saved Barry from capture in issue 20. He gives
Barry his pocket knife back. In one frame, clearly it is Mark who asks Steve
how they can locate Barry but Steve’s answer is to Dan! Fitzhugh thinks Steve
is crazy to follow an army sick parade from the army unit stationed not more
than a mile from camp. Steve and Dan go to the military base and find a medic
barrack. They go to the back door and slip under it. A doctor orders a man for
the duty ambulance. The man has bronchitis and is ordered to the army hospital.
Steve and Dan hide in a satchel. One of the giant’s friends wants him to breath
on him because he needs a rest, too. The giant that has the satchel is called
Joe. The Lieutenant is going to create a diversion for Barry and draws him a
map. Barry climbs out the window on a lowered blind cord at the window. The
Lieutenant makes the giants believe Barry is still in the hospital so all the
giants search in the hospital itself…while Barry is outside. One of the two
gate guards calls, “Hey, Charlie, here he comes!” Is he talking about Barry who
is heading at the gate? Next week: more perils ahead for Barry!
No. 22 February 21 1970
IN COLOUR! Barry was prone on his face as he thought the guard had spotted him.
The guard only saw the ambulance truck coming. Barry spots Steve and Dan no the
back of the truck, readying to jump off as soon as it comes to a stop.
“Jupiter! It’s the captain and Dan!” Barry tries to call to them but the engine
noise drowns his voice out. Dan and Steve in the hospital run into three
giants, two on one side, one on the other. Dan says, “My stars, we’re
completely cut off!” The Lieutenant is on his hands and knees with a gun and
orders the giants to let them go. Lt. Cannon hopes they get “clear of this
planet one day” and if he’s done a little bit to help them that’s good enough
for him.
No. 23 February 28, 1970
COLOUR. High Octane 101 truck has its clutch break and the crew of the truck
has to jump out. The fuel failed to ignite by some miracle. The truck crashes
at the bottom of a cliff and into water. Five miles away, Dan, Mark and Barry
are fishing. Barry wishes they could use live insect bait but Dan reminds him
that insects on this planet are mostly big enough to eat them. They use weed
bait. Barry gets the bite of a perch. Just as Dan is about to cut the line
because the fish was about to pull them into the water, the fish is knocked
out. Mark finds the river afloat with petrol. Dan thinks he can convert the it
to fuel for Spendthrift. Barry gets the others and they bring every available
container. They can siphon the fuel out of the water which will “float” to the
bottom.
No. 24-March 7
Cover: TRAPPED IN THE FIRE FLOOD! See the LAND OF THE GIANTS
inside!
Steve believes using the fuel, they can get clear of this planet
once and for all. Fitzhugh doubts it as they’ve said that before. To convert
the fuel for their use, Dan has to have electric power. He figures the fuel
must have come off a crashed lorry (UK) and that might have a battery they can
use. It takes two hours to reach it. The crew must have jumped clear after it
came off a precipice and crashed. Barry has a long sleeved red shirt on and
looks a bit older though the rest of the others seem to be wearing early first
season clothes. This shirt is seen in some of the promo stills taken before the
show aired or very early first season. They break the battery free of the truck
and a driver in the truck had an air cushion to sit on which forms a raft for
them to tow the battery down river. Barry calls Steve skipper. Fitz slips on
wet rocks and drops a crowbar. This hits rock and a spark ignites the truck! An
explosive blast… HOW CAN THE LITTLE PEOPLE SURVIVE THE FIRE FLOOD? See next
week!
No. 25 March 14
COLOUR. The little people have managed to salvage a battery from the wreck of
the crashed fuel tanker. But thanks to Fitzhugh’s clumsiness, a crowbar struck
sparks off some rocks…Barry chances the fire that rages on the river to pull
the cord of the float that holds the battery. The float burns and they have to
leave the battery anyway. Fitz tells them the captain is hurt. Police and fire
men arrive in red trucks and there is also a yellow truck, too. The fireman
calls for Section Alpha help to the southern forest area. Aircraft appear to
deal with the fire and the foam pushes blazing water at the little men and
Barry. Mark reminds Dan that not only will they have to lose the battery but if
the fire spreads, they could lose the spaceship, too. A fireman calls (his
number on his hat is 37126), “Fire is totally out of control! Repeat, out of
control!” WHAT CHANCE TO THE LITTLE PEOPLE HAVE? SEE NEXT WEEK!
No. 26 March 21 1970
COVER: THE RING OF FLAME: SEE LAND OF THE GIANTS INSIDE. A blast hits with the
tanker exploding as Steve, Dan and someone else run. A plane is overhead.
Waiting at Spendthrift, Betty smells smoke. Giant animals run past, nearly
trampling the girls, who hide in the ship. Steve has woken up and answers
Barry’s “What are we doing to do, captain?” with, “I don’t know, Barry. I just
don’t know.” Firebird One to control tells them that the fire is not stopping.
They recommend military action. A cop tells them that there is a party of
school kids on summer adventure camp somewhere in the edge of the forest area.
The men and Barry must take the direct route back to the ship to get Val and
Betty. A plane destroys the tanker with a bomb. The wind is in favor of the
camp being saved but it might change as the fire spreads. A helicopter calls,
“Hear this, hear this: we know you‘re down there.” This makes them think that
they’ve been spotted. “We’re trapped!” THE LITTLE PEOPLE ARE NOT THE ONLY
LITTLE PEOPLE IN TROUBLE. SEE NEXT WEEK.
No. 27 March 28, 1970
Steve says, “My stars! We’re caught in the open and no place to run!” The
copter crew are not calling to them but to Combined Schools Summer Adventure
Camp. A fox comes out at them but Barry smacks it with a tree branch. The wind
changes. The men and Barry finally arrive back at the ship camp and figure that
they have to abandon it and the fuel that they have managed to bring back to
it: it might all go up anyway. Without the battery, the fuel cannot be
converted anyway! Fitz grabs Steve, “But that means we’ll never get away from
this planet. You’re mad!” Val hears children crying. A boy and a girl are
yelling for help. The boy yells, “We’re going to die in the fire!” NEXT
WEEK—THE GIANTS SMASH THROUGH THE FOREST—STRAIGHT FOR THE LITTLE PEOPLE!
No. 28 April 4, 1970
COLOR. As the little people hide, Mark is with Val. Betty tells Steve they have
to help the two children. The kids got separated from the Adventure Camp. Bob
and Annie are their names. The girl knows there is a reward out for little
people. Steve suggest they get together to help each other. Bob wishes he had a
model like the spaceship and he carries it away from that area but possibly not
very far from it. Fitz hears a noise, “Something’s coming towards us…something
enormous!” The fire squad bulldozers are mashing a huge path through the
forest, making a fire break. They should just miss the new area. Steve
sacrifices the fuel to make a ring around the clearing. When he lights it, he
hurls himself away as it explodes into flames! NEXT WEEK THE LITTLE PEOPLE ARE
CAUGHT IN THE FIRE FLOOD!
No. 29 April 11, 1970
COLOUR. With fire all around them, the seven take cover under two tarps. Fitz
yells they will be roasted alive. Steve tells him to shut up. Seconds of heat
later, the fire makes its way outward. When it gets here the fire will have
nothing to burn. Huh? Val notes that there is not a scrap of cover for the ship
now. Her hair looks brown in this. The wind is south, south west and increasing
to force five. Sparks of the fire leapfrog the carpet of chemicals. The
military try to blow the fire out! Huh? Bob reminds Annie not to talk about the
little people so loud; they gave their word and are not going to tell anyone
about the little people. Annie wants to slip away and see if the little people
are all right. Bob tells her not to be soft, the little people are brave, they
will manage. Wind moves north now and so the giants have to bulldoze another
break, right angles to this one The giants come straight for the new camp and
even if the seven scatter, the giants will find the ship. NEXT WEEK: A LIFE OF
DEATH BATTLE WITH THE BULLDOZERS!
No. 30 April 13, 1970
COVER: Seve runs from a giant bulldozer with the caption: ONSLAUGHT OF THE
MACHINE MONSTERS! See Land of the Giants inside. Dan thinks the new fire break
will be “clean” over them. Fitz feels they should just give themselves up.
Without the ship, all their chances of leaving this planet go west. Steve says,
“Darn it!” He has a plan. He makes Mark raid the ship’s stores for sugar. Steve
gets onto a bulldozer and tries to pour sugar into the gas tank. He could not
get the cap off. He signals Mark and Dan not to try. Steve admits that they
have to give themselves up and throw themselves on the mercy of the giants. The
three men find the ship gone. Val signals to them: the two kids moved the ship
to a new location—a new clearing just as good as the old one. Val tells them
the fire shifted again with the wind and it is now driven back on itself and
burning out. The men feel now they’ve been granted new life, more hope… Steve
wants to thank the youngsters, friends on this darn awful planet mean more ot
them than a ton of gold dust. Dan thinks if the kids are willing to help, the
youngsters could be their ticket back to earth.
No. 31 April 25, 1970
FULL COLOUR. After the ravages of the fire, the Spendthrift survivors settle
down. Steve says he does not mean to be mean but calls Fitzhugh an all time
loser. Everything he touches, Steve says, turns sour. Barry tells Captain not
to be so hard on Fitzhugh, even though Steve tells the boy that it is for the
good of their community, the boy knows how he always ruins their plans. Mark
thinks that it is worth another try for the hospital to get that radioactive
isotope. Steve thinks the heat may have died down. Ready to eat grub (soup) the
others call for Fitzhugh. Dan thinks Fitz may have tried a plan of his own on
his own. Fitzhugh to show them he’s not a jinx or an empty headed fumbling
person goes off alone. An hour’s hard trek brought Fitzhugh to the edge of the
forest. Two kids that helped them in the forest fire named Annie and Bob will
come from the town’s school. Fitzhugh wants to make contact with them. He climb
up the rough bark of a roadside tree. He drops onto a canvass topped lorry.
Cops are behind the driver giant ---a man named Barney. Another man is in the
truck, too. NEXT WEEK: BIG TROUBLE WHEN FITZHUGH HITS THE HEADLINES!
No. 32 May 2, 1970
Black and white, the colour now being given to the more popular STAR TREK. As
policeman Jim holds the cop car steady, his partner fires a gun at the truck.
He hits the tire and crashes the truck. Fitz falls onto grass but the police
car driver Dave spots him as he waits alone for a recovery truck to pick up the
stolen load: tobacco. Barry thinks that Fitz is trying to make contact with the
two school children that helped them before. Fitz already told Steve that but
Steve thinks that is the way Fitz’s mind works as if he never heard that plan
before. “Could be, Barry…” Mark figures it will be about ten hours before they
get to the school. They travel through the night. A newspaper boy, a teen,
passes by them. Mark sees a headline on a thrown newspaper INVADER CAPTURED.
He’s been arrested and is in jail. Dan thinks if the giants give Fitz the
chance to save his own skin, he will talk. NEXT WEEK: STEVE’S PLOT AGAINST THE
PRESIDENT.
No. 33 May 9, 1970
Police find lead on little people is part of the headline. Steve doesn’t like
it: Fitz might talk to save his own skin. Left wingers at the local university
plan a protest demonstration when President Wilcox arrives tomorrow. The shop
keeper of a shop called ROBINSON is busy reading the news when the trio of men
sneak in under cover of early morning. They have an envelope and a piece of
paper. Steve writes a note in all capital letters: “This is a warning, we will
kidnap President Wilcox.” The hope is that all available men will go to the
airport. They leave it at the foot of the door of the Police HQ while hiding
inside HQ itself. The desk sergeant sees it. Mark or Dan want to spring the
keys but Steve thinks it is too risky and that they should lie low for now. A
giant has a police dog named Brutus and he thinks the dog has picked up a
scent! A TERROR-TRAIL FOR THE LITTLE PEOPLE NEXT WEEK. The dog’s eyes have no
pupils drawn in them, making him look very scary.
34-Ship is called Spendthrift. Brutus, a guard dog, chases the group. They hide
in a prison cell, that seems empty. Steve comes up with a plan--to get a
hostage, President Wilcox is going to be kidnapped by them!
No. 35 May 23, 1970
Now, it seems the President is a foreign President here for a state visit. At
the hospital, Steve makes contact with Morand and Tennant, two medical students
sympathetic to the little people and who are known to them from a previous
adventure. Mark throws something at Morry Morand who alerts Curly Tennant to
them. Steve asks for a gauge treble zero hypodermic needle and an ampoule of
cerovenamine. It is a nerve drug and he figures it is better the two do not
know the details. At the airport, the police hold off demonstrators who are for
peace and no violence. The men get to the airport, past a chauffeur and into
the limo the President is going to be taking. They wait in the back seat. Steve
tells Mark he doesn’t know how they are going to fix the kidnap and that they
will have to play it by ear. NEXT WEEK: THE PRESIDENT PROVES AN OUTSIZED
PROBLEM!
No. 36 May 30, 1970
The motorcade takes a road through the hills overlooking the capital city.
Wilcox says his country is mountainous but has no views like this one. The
driver calls the upcoming view what it is named: the Long Descent. Steve
needles the chauffeur and tells the President to take the wheel before they
pile up. Wilcox by mistake, knocks open the driver’s door and the driver falls
out. The car also seems to crash into a motorcycle and cause the motorcade to
crash. They think Wilcox has gone mad. Steve threatens Wilcox with the nerve
gas blaster. Wilcox has heard of them and knows they are hunted. He proposes to
defy them even if it means death for all of them! NEXT WEEK: THE LITTLE PEOPLE
WORK A BIG HOAX.
No. 37 June 6, 1970
Amazingly, the President defies the little people and stops the
car but Steve throws the drug and knocks him out. They manage to get the door
open and then somehow get the car to fall off a cliff which makes everyone
think Wilcox is dead. The little people somehow got Wilcox out of the car.
Next: The Double Deal.
No. 38 June 13, 1970
Steve delivers a ransom note. The giant
government releases Fitz but plant a device on him to track his whereabouts.
No. 39 June 20, 1970
Dan, Mark and Steve made a trade of hostages to save Fitzhugh from jail. Steve
scouts by backtracking to check if the giants are following and finds that the
Giants’ Prime Minister is staying behind. Steve overhears them talking about a
radio. A radio man, Joe, is tracking them. Fitzhugh must have some kind of
transmitter inside him, probably put inside him via his food. A giant spider
attacks Steve. Steve kicks it and it gives up but he falls from its grip as it
was on a web. He is unconscious as the police sergeant walks across the room…toward
his prone body, the giant unaware he might step on Steve! NEXT WEEK: THE WEB OF
DESTRUCTION!
No. 40 June 27, 1970
Steve rolls out of the way of a giant boot. Steve manages to plant fake leads
toward Fitz so that the giants cannot trace him. He also manages to escape.
No. 41 July 1970
Dan, Steve and Barry go to a giant gas station to get kerosene.
No. 42 July 11, 1970
Steve, Dan, and Barry are on their way to get kerosene from a local garage.
Barry could not turn off the kerosene tap as two giants approach. The giants
seem to be two male crooks aiming to break into the garage. One of the crooks
is named Dave. Barry shoots the kerosene into his eyes to escape and Barry
climbs down. A garage attendant attacks the two men with a wrench but is hit by
the other one, Brad. The man’s body falls and his hand knocks over Dan, Barry,
and Steve. This allows Dave to grab them all. While it is not in Steve’s nature
to plead, he does. The crooks don’t like the police but know there is a reward
out. They put the trio into a glove compartment in their getaway car after they
rob the garage.
No. 43 July 18, 1970
Barry has his claspknife and he thinks they can cut into wiring. They cut
through to the chassis but first try to cut the engine. Steve (Dan calling him
skipper again) climbs over the ignition system. He attacks the wires and stops
the car. One of the giants points a gun at Dan and Barry. When cops pull up,
the crooks grab all three of them up. Brad seems to have all three but as Steve
prepares to use the knife on the hand of Brad, we don’t see Barry. Steve’s plan
is to make Brad give them “the long drop.” THE LITTLE PEOPLE FALL HEAD FIRST
INTO MORE BIG TROUBLE NEXT WEEK.
No. 44 July 25th, 1970
Steve’s plan works and the trio are dropped as Steve stabs Brad’s hand. Barry,
unconscious, is grabbed up again by Dave. Steve banged his head but is okay.
Steve warns Dan to stand still as police nearly flatten them, giving chase to
the crooks. The police reckon it is Brad Hagon and Dave Donatti. Their regular
haunt: the Big Roll Casino. The police plan to go their plain clothes style.
Dan once saw the Casino when they got lost in the city once. Early dawn as
Steve and Dan trudge through the city outskirts. The two do not want to get
caught in rush hour. A street cleaning machine almost drowns them. Steve and
Dan sneak past a tired door man into the round the clock casino. BIG TROUBLE
WITH BARRY INVOLVED IN A BANK RAID, NEXT WEEK!
No. 45 August 1, 1970
A fight breaks out in the casino, with a man claiming the roulette wheel is
rigged. Dan and Steve sneak past the fighting giants including one casino
staffer named Jules. The pair find themselves in a big manager’s office. Here,
while Jules and Mick are away, two other strong arm men meet with the boss. One
is named Bertram. Their target is the Bullion State Bank. They will break the
state by stealing three million in bullion. And retire aboard. Steve and Dan
figure if they can warn the state maybe the state will think them heroes and
lay off hounding them. The boss wants Hogan and Donatti to help as front men.
Donatti shows the boss Barry…who can help them rob the bank without noise.
“This kid can climb in and release it.” Meaning the vault lock. A SURPRISE
BREAK IN BRINGS MORE PROBLEMS FOR BOTH CROOKS AND THE LITTLE PEOPLE, NEXT WEEK!
No. 46 August 8th, 1970
The boss puts Barry in a matchbox. In 2 frames, Steve seems to have the knife
in his mouth! He and Dan climb up the waste paper basket. Dan tosses him up to
the chair. Steve cuts the matchbox as it sits in the boss’s pocket. When an
alarm sounds, the police are coming, the boss stands up and knocks Steve off
the chair into Dan on the waste paper basket and both fall. The basket falls
and Dan and Steve lay there unnoticed. The boss tells the crooks to get out the
back way through the cellar manhole.
No. 47 August 15th 1970
The police tailed Dave and Brad here. The boss tells Barry he will still open
the lock. Barry calls back, “Make me, you thug.” The boss dangles Barry over
the roulette wheel as it spins with the heavy metal ball in it. He wants Barry
to agree to do it for him and then he will let him go. He says. Steve and Dan
shimmy up a pole toward…what? The table? The boss tells a thinking Barry that
the boy has an agile brain for a young man. He has already set a trap that has
already caught its prey. CAN STEVE AND DAN SUCCEED? SEE NEXT WEEK.
No. 48 August 22, 1970
The gang boss had no intention of harming Barry. He uses the roulette stick to
stop Dan and Steve. “My win I believe, banker takes all.” The boss puts Dan and
Barry in the matchbox and Steve into another one. If Steve fails to help, Dan
and Barry will die. On a private telephone link, the box, calling himself
Number One calls his crooks. He wants his men to keep the cops busy and they
will still get a cut. He will do the job. One cop loses a gang member in a
museum. The boss goes round and round on a subway train until the vaults close
this evening. When he checks the matchbox, Steve is gone. HAS STEVE REALLY
VANISHED? Find out next week!
No. 49 August 29 1970
Having cut out using the knife, Steve hides under a newspaper and shimmies down
the seat lucky the seat is made of soft material. During rush hour, Steve gets
out the sliding doors and avoids giant feet everywhere. “Great Scott, I’ll be
crushed!” He makes it. Steve thinks that telling the police about the robbery
ought to get them a pardon and maybe even a way off this planet. A rush hour
stampede makes Steve hide against a wall as commuters flood the platform. Steve
hitches a ride on the end of a giant’s pants, the bottom hemmed up in a roll.
Steve wonders what will happen if the cops do not believe him. THE BIG RAID
BEGINS.
No 50 September 5, 1970
Steve sabotages the traffic light from the inside so that it turns green,
thinking that sometimes being small has its advantages. This brings a policeman
on motorcycle. Steve hitches a ride on the speed cop’s boot. The boss explains
to Dan and Barry that a knock out gas in the vault air conditioning system will
take care of the guards and the dogs. Photo electric systems will miss Dan as
he climbs inside. Dan must do as he wants or the man will kill Barry. Dan will
turn off the systems and let the boss in. He will go in through the lock. He
will drive the gold out in their own lorry. Inside the bank after the gassing,
the boss puts Dan up to the vault lock. “No tricks or your pal here gets it.” A
double break in by the little people, next week!
No. 51 September 12, 1970
“…or I put the squeeze on your pal,” he says. Dan can’t move the springs but as
the boss hurts Barry and Barry yells in pain, Dan calls up extra strength to
move the spring. He gets the boss into the vault. A huge door has a hole in it
for air in case anyone got shut in. Dan goes through it and into the
combination lock. Dan will use cotton as a rope to swing into it. Steve is
outside police HQ but wants to reach the top man. He climbs up a brick wall and
then walks on the telephone wires! Inside the police wonder what is happening
to their ears as they hear noise on the phones just like the time pigeons
landed on the wires. The two men prepare to look outside. NEXT WEEK: HUNTED BY
THE GIANT POLICE!
No 52-September 19, 1970
Two police open up a window and plan to throw a book at the wires!? Steve makes
a dash as the men spot him and put out an alert that he’s trying to get into
room six. Steve avoids a massive search by all the cops by hitching a ride on
one of their pockets. Outside the room he finds sand he can jump into and hide
until the heat is off. Way across the city, the boss threatens Barry some more
to make Dan hurry up. Barry tells him, “I’m not scared of you, mister.” One of
the patrol dogs has missed the full dose of the gas and comes at them. The boss
slams a cell door between him and the dog but he drops Barry…at the dog by
accident! IS BARRY DOOMED? DON’T MISS NEXT WEEK’S EXCITING EPISODE!
No. 53 September 26, 1970
Last GIANTS issue?
Barry lands on his feet. As often happens in cases of impossible danger, Barry
felt his fear drain away. He talks to the dog and tells him about his own dog
back where they have their spaceship. The dog is friendly. He is still dazed
from the gas. Barry laughs at the boss who is trapped behind the bars. Barry
calls to Dan to come out. Dan is already climbing down and avoids being stamped
on by the crook’s foot. Barry pets the dog’s nose. Not sure what Steve is
clinging to: a door knob? A key chain on a pocket? He tries to reach the chief
who is the only one Steve figures will give him a hearing. He goes down a hall
that is private and under a door. Steve overhears the chief get a direct
underworld tip about the raid on the bank. Steve feels beaten by a couple of
minutes. “Now they’ll find Dan and Barry with that crook and that’ll be the
end.” WILL DAN AND BARRY FALL INTO THE HANDS OF THE POLICE? See next week!
No. 54
Last GIANTS issue: Giant dog that likes Barry helps the little people. Steve
rides on a giant car tire? The crooks are captured and Steve tells Dan they
will start all over again, looking for a way to get off this terrible planet.
T V21 Annual 1971 Autumn of 1970
TV21 Annual 1972 Autumn of 1971
Text stories for GIANTS.
DANGEROUS LINE--a reward is out for their capture; in this parallel universe,
Dan's last name is Bailey; an old man, a former conductor for the trains,
captures Barry, Dan, Mark, and Steve for his grandson's train sets; the real
train leaves with the little people in a shoe box--and they must get away from
the train, Dan always wanted to be a railroad driver, Val tells Barry,
"You should go on a train ride everyday--then perhaps, we wouldn't have our
usual trouble in getting you to bed." Betty uses a toy tea cup they found
on their second day on the land of the giants; SOLDIERS OF DOOM---Mark rides a
giant bumper of a car when Steve, Barry, and Dan are carried away in the
trunk--put there by a family of picnicking giant; the son takes them for his
battle games; GIANT MAKER---Magnus Karsh is a professor nearing the spaceship
Spendthirft (?!?--a parallel universe don't forget), others made a laughing
stock of this genius but he can make things grow to "normal"
size--attempting to make the little people into giants. NOTE: there were 54
issues of TV 21 with LAND OF THE GIANTS serials in them and there were also TV
21 Annuals with GIANTS tales in them.
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