Phoenix Rising

Sapphire & Steel - Look-in Comic Strips

During the period the programme was on air, original comic strips based on Sapphire & Steel appeared in Look-In magazine. Billed as the “Junior TV Times”, this weekly propaganda leaflet for commercial television really was a product of the 70s. Imagine filling a kid’s comic nowadays with the women-chasing antics of Benny Hill (the guy’s a genius, but for schoolkids?) or the racial stereotyping “laughs” of Mind Your Language.

The Sapphire & Steel strips were some of the most well received, and the series actually had two Look-In runs, in the 70s and the 80s.

The following non-strip features were also involved:
Issue #29 (14/7/1979) - An introduction to the series with Joanna Lumley.
Issue #33 (11/8/1979) - An interview with P J Hammond.
Issue #33 Was also the issue where the comic strip began.

Sapphire & Steel ran for a total of 76 issues from 1979-1981 with a break of 13 issues between runs.

Below are the list of Adventures and their corresponding Issue numbers. Most of these have been scanned and I am going to try and include them here. For now, you can check out the Look-in Archives (link at the foot of this page).

First Run (1979-1980)

• Adventure 1 (3mb) - #33 #34 #35 #36 #37 #38 #39 #40.
• Adventure 2 - #41 #42 #43 #44 #45.
• Adventure 3 - #46 #47 #48 #49 #50 #51.
• Adventure 4 - #52 #1 #2 #3.
• Adventure 5 - #4 #5 #6.
• Adventure 6 - #7 #8 #9 #10 #11.
• Adventure 7 - #12 #13 #14.
• Adventure 8 - #15 #16 #17 #18 #19.

Second Run (1980-1981)

• Adventure 9 - #33 #34 #35 #36 #37.
• Adventure 10 - #38 #39 #40 #41 #42 #43 #44.
• Adventure 11 - #45 #46 #47 #48 #49.
• Adventure 12 - #50 #51 #52 #1 #2 #3 #4.
• Adventure 13 - #5 #6 #7 #8 #9 #10 #11 #12 #13.
• Adventure 14 - #14 #15 #16 #17.

Annual (1981)

• Adventure 15.

Initial Run (#33 11/8/1979 - #19 3/5/1980)

Adventure 1 (8 parts, #33-40)
Artist Jack Terriss finds himself possessed by the spirit of one of his paintings, his bitterness towards his unwanted son coming to the fore. This Alice/Hyde inspired version of the series contains some imaginative art and even manages to predate some of the themes from the televised fourth story…

Adventure 2 (5 parts, #41-45)
A deaf and dumb girl finds herself possessed by antique jewellery and a painting, causing her to attack others with her own projected reality. The most notable thing about this second story is that the roles of the two leads are reversed, Sapphire commanding and doing the physical work (like punching out the painting) while Steel is the empath, casting his mind back over a hundred years. However, while not as original as the first story, this is still a strong continuation in the series.

Adventure 3 (6 parts, #46-51)
Lee Rochester finds an old anchor that brings forth the spirit of a soldier abandoned during the Napoleonic war. As Lee’s father is an author in the story, then artist Arthur Ranson wittily draws him after the likeness of script-writer Angus Allan. There are the odd qualms with language (Sapphire’s “we’re never summoned for nothing” a particular mangling of the English language) and the emergence of French soldiers is guaranteed to produce plenty of ‘undreds and ‘aves. There’s also a superfluous cameo appearance by Lead, where he saves the day by shrinking soldiers(!) Yet this is still another fine story, even if Ranson’s thoughtful and imaginative artwork does outshine the dialogue it represents.

Adventure 4 (4 parts, #52, #1-3)

Adventure 5 (3 parts, #4-6)
After saying a poem before bedtime, young Diane Simson finds herself taken over by a witch/cat spirit, intent on destroying the Houses of Parliament.

Adventure 6 (5 parts, #7-11)

Adventure 7 (3 parts, #12-14)

Adventure 8 (5 parts, #15-19)

Second Run (#33 9/8/1980 - #17 18/4/1981)

Adventure 9 (5 parts, #33-37)
Andy Illington is on holiday with his parents when he accidentally discovers a tunnel that leads to Cawdroc, an evil sorceror from the dark ages. The art to this one is absolutely superb, remarkable in its realism. Sadly, the script again fails to match it, containing not just a slightly silly central plot, but uncostumary sexism from Steel and some overblown dialogue. Still, by no means awful.

Adventure 10 (7 parts, #38-44)
An old mill in Scanforth is the location for this story, where violence over its closure lets time creep through and bring the spirit of a Victorian child into the present. The tenth story seems to be alarmingly topical, but actually predates the violent Miner’s strike of Britain by three years. In one sense the unusually violent and gritty tone puts it outside the remit of Sapphire & Steel, but in another sense it makes it the best strip Look-In ever ran. The art is as excellent as ever, with just one point of trivia… our two leads could get out of the way of a rampaging bulldozer by teleporting. Pedantic but true.

Adventure 11 (5 parts, #45-49)
Nick Twain is taken back in time to the 1890s, taking over the life of his great grandfather in Africa, with potentially fatal consequences. Although Steel pays lip service to some form of social commentary, this is really just a load of colonialist nonsense, well outside the remit with Ranson’s photo-referencing of the two leads more obvious than usual.

Adventure 12 (7 parts, #50-52,#1-4)

Adventure 13 (9 parts, #5-13)

Adventure 14 (4 parts, #14-17)

Annual (1981)

Adventure 15 (1 part)
Adam Carter is taken back in time to the sailing ship Albatross, as time, in the form of a seagull, tries to change military history. The last gasp for Sapphire & Steel in Look-In, the rights to continue weren’t pursued after this six-page text story with four b/w illustrations. A read of the summary reveals that the show’s remit has been stretched quite significantly, and the writing isn’t the finest, but this is okay, albeit weaker than most of the cartoon strips.

Source: Look-in Archive