TECHNICAL SPECS: Published 2 pages at a time in Look-In #38-44/1980, by Angus P. Allan and Arthur Ranson.
IN THIS ONE... An old mill set for demolition attracts an evil time-child.
REVIEW: A preservation rally seems to call up Evil Time as a Victorian boy who, perhaps by using the kidnapped, contemporary Tommy, is able to instill violence in the activists, workmen, even stray bulldozers. Or perhaps there’s more at work, what with the ancient monastery found under the site of the Old Mill(TM). These Sapphire and Steel strips beget weirdness, all the more weird because their brevity doesn’t allow for much in the way of explanation. Still, there’s a good role for the missing boy’s sister even if his own is enigmatic, and at one point, Sapphire starts slapping Steel around to get him angry to lure the Evil off a school ground. I do continue to think Steel is misused in these stories as his freezing touch might have worked against the rampaging machines, at least, but he’s dumb as a stump. At least he catches a brick before it hits the sister in the head. Some points also given for the unusual resolution, using the monks to fight the Evil and giving the franchise a somewhat Christian morality it never had on television.
In terms of art, Ranson produces one unusually bad panel, showing the girl in the doorway looking like a giant, but otherwise, there’s a lot to love. The zoom-in on the time-child’s scream, the way he disappears from space-time, the violent fights, the surreal monks, the well-rendered machinery… It excuses the reuse of certain obvious photo reference. It’s too bad Look-In didn’t accept Lumley’s offer to pose for Ranson. I’m sure he felt the same way.
ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE VORTEX: Evil (and a time-tossed character) busting through an old building might put one in mind of Doctor Who’s The Awakening, but that serial is still in the future.
READABILITY: Medium-High - Both writer and artist are going outside the box and I’m liking it, weirdness and all.
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