1943-1946 (collected 1948) / Ecomics / 63 pages / Belgium
***
Ramping up the pratfalls to help distract his fellow Belgians during Nazi occupation, the background that saw this serial interrupted in the middle is more interesting than the customarily stalling setup to an action-packed part two, but the nightmare sequence was nicely creepy.
Unknown, Terry Nation's Blakes 7 Annual 1980
1979 / Ebook / 62 pages / UK**
I like to play 1970s childhood sometimes, and it's been long enough since I binged the show that the real nostalgia blended with the imaginary one. These prose stories with variable art aren't great, but they're on brand for the series, more than the series was a lot of the time. Which is more than can be said for the features in-between, which aren't the expected in-universe profiles or makings-of, but instead cover general astronomy facts and demand an unreasonable level of space trivia for readers of any age.
1990 / Ecomic / 88 pages / France
**
Part three in the philosophical sci-fi trilogy that began as a lavish car advert, Moebius' subterranean dystopia has classic Twilight Zone charm, but it's not especially original or interesting. Better than his mad shit like The Airtight Garage though.
2007 / Ebook / 160 pages / UK
***
A nice celebration and fairly redundant analysis of the real-time period drama as it self-consciously entered the reality TV age.
2002 / Ebook / 80 pages / USA
**
There aren't many layers to this simple story, and the themes and compositions aren't so subtle that they need pointing out, but providing the historical and cultural context probably helps if you're on the fence about its classic status. I found it quite a chore to sit through, but it's stayed in the memory.
