Brick Bradford

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Brick Bradford is a science fiction - comic by William Ritt (text) and Clarence Gray (drawings), which from 1933 was published as a daily strip in the US and the first comic addressed the regular time travel. The comic was a Buck Rogers- based adventure story that developed into a space opera with dinosaurs, intergalactic villains, robots and journeys to subatomic worlds.

content

The first adventures are based on a forerunner idea of ​​science fiction, the "forgotten world" or "forgotten civilization" ( Lost World and Lost Race). The hero fights here in a foreign land against an isolated Inca tribe and then against a group of remaining Vikings.

From April 1935, the series received a time machine or time capsule, the “Time Top”, with which Brick could not only travel through the future and the past, but soon also into the micro-world of atoms. In 1939 the adventure Voyage in a Coin appeared , which takes Brick into the miniature universe of a copper coin. (This idea was first found in Ray Cummings' SF novel The Girl in the Golden Atom in 1919. ) The story was no longer tied to a specific time period or a specific space.

“If, for once, there was no mystical culture somewhere in the interior of Asia or Africa, then Brick could be content with common criminals. In other words, "Brick Bradford" was a "universal comic" that combined jungle series, crime, general adventure narration and SF. "

The series, which was successful in the USA, was reprinted in comic books early on by King Features and stayed as a newspaper strip until April 1987.

Film adaptations

"Brick Bradford" is the title of a 12-part serial (1947) from Columbia Pictures with Kane Richmond as the Brick. Brick is commissioned by the UN to protect a missile defense system designed by the scientist Doctor Tymak. Using a “crystal gate”, he first travels to the moon and then back to the 18th century - always to save the scientist and parts of the secret formula. The critics judge: “The unsteady plot is made up for by a direction that is characterized by a certain self-irony. This serial remains one of the most entertaining low-cost productions in the field of serial. "

reception

Before his death from cancer, the Canadian artist Jerry Pethick (1935–2003) designed a large bronze sculpture in the form of the Time Top, as it is known from the comic strip. Born and raised in London , Ontario in 1935 , he relates, “In 1942 we lived in a house with an arch between the living room and the dining room. For me, the arc separated the present from any other time and so I was able to let my imiginations soar with the help of this gate as in Brick Bradford's Time Top. "

After his death, his wife Margaret Pethick continued the project. The sculpture was immersed in sea water for 2 years and connected to a power source, so that the surface oxidized and a patina with shells began. In August 2006, the property was installed on a fairground on False Creek , Vancouver , British Columbia.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Horst Schröder; Imagery and world views, science fiction in the USA, Germany, England and France, Carlsen Verlag 1982
  2. ↑ Phil Hardy; The ScienceFiction Film Encyclopedia, Heel Verlag 1998, page 122.

literature

  • Dave Strickler: Syndicated Comic Strips and Artists, 1924-1995. The Complete Index. Comics Access, Cambria CA 1995. ISBN 0-9700077-0-1 .

Web links