A Year in Orbit

Sorry for the lack of updates lately.  I've been preoccupied with other stuff, such as getting replacement computer stuff to ease back into my comfort zone (most of the devices I'd been using for years wasn't compatible)  For some reason, Keyboards are notoriously difficult to find cheap.  When sold as a set with a computer, they're reasonably priced, but all on their own, they're little more than novelty controllers.  Now, it wasn't just finding the prospect of a single keyboard that irked me, but finding the RIGHT keyboard suited to my tastes.

The other reason is that in addition to going on garage sales, I've been delving into Newspaper comic archives, copying as much old material that's not available elsewhere in the short time frame I'm allowed.  Because these personal projects are so laborous & time-consuming, I often wonder if sharing my finds is somewhat of a cheat.  However, since no one else seems to be doing this kind of stuff, (and I want to tame my rampant memories) I might as well go ahead and do it.

Here then, is the remainder of the Orbit strips for the last of 1985, with a few running onto the next year.






After the events of last time, causing a diplomatic incident on a Musical planet, this batch of strips is fairly tame in comparison.  They can't all be Nautical Space Disasters.  This is the equivalent of having filler in the comic's page.

Of course, this sense of calm doesn't last very long.



Yup, it's another series of out-of sequence Christmastime comics.  At this rate, by the time Xmas rolls around, I won't have ANY comics about the holidays left.






And with the perfunctory stress of timing up comics to be lined up with the days they're assigned to appear over and done with, all that's left is to open up the presents.





I mentioned some years ago that the art of speedlines and movement in Newspaper comics was something of a dying art.  How often do you see circular speed lines that traverse a whole panel these days?







And in closing, we get our first instance of product shilling via Newspaper.  Given the hurdles of mailing submissions, you'd have to wonder how any kid would be enthusiastic enough to fill out these forms with their claustrophobic borders.  Advertising via the airwaves (Buy your Ovaltine!) was even riskier, since you couldn't see the products they were hawking.  Frankly, I'm amazed that there were children out there who were enthusiastic enough to sign up in the first place.  I'm guessing they must've had help from their parents who were helpful (willingly or unwillingly) to do the ordeous task of filling in the labels for the kiddies themselves.

Maybe if Bruce Hammond had opted for an Orbit doll, he might've had more success.