Short Lived Comic Series #22 - The New People (Dell Comics)

This two-book series was a totally unexpected find at the recent Daytona Beach Comic Book Convention.  I was combing through a box of vintage Dell and Gold Key comic books when I came across this series titled The New People.  The two covers were photos rather than art, and with a copyright showing 1969 "Thomas/Spelling Productions," I assumed it must be based on a television show of which I had never heard.  I did a quick search online and discovered there were only two issues of the comic, and since this dealer had both issues in beautiful condition for only $5 each, I snatched them up.  Not wanting to be spoiled, I wanted until after I read the two issues to go online and read more about the actual television show - that way, the stories would not be tainted by any knowledge of what happened in the show.

The New People was published by Dell Comics in 1970, issues one and two bearing the cover dates of January 1970 and May 1970, respectively.  The cover to the first issue is what actually caught my attention, as it shows a crashed plane in the background, with a man and a woman burned and scarred in the foreground (although the man and woman appear more like mannequins than actual people).  The cover to issue two features a photo of six of the cast members from the show, with the actors' names placed directly below each one.  The tag lines for each issue were clearly meant to grab the readers of 1970:  "Teenagers ... Marooned Forever - Survive or Die! Which Will It Be?" on issue one and "Their Chance to Change the World.  Do They Dare?  Would You?" on issue two.  Definitely a product of its time, as the late '60s and early '70s were a period of counterculture for teenagers, and this comic (and obviously the TV show) capitalized on that.

Each issue contained two stories, and the characters varied in the four stories.  Susan, Bob, Gene, George, Ginny, and Stanley were the six main characters (and the six actors featured on the cover of issue two) - yet, not all of them are in each story.  In the first story in issue one, Bob is the only main cast member to appear, as the story centers around a young man named Jamie who spots a ship floating offshore and is determined to take it and escape the island - but ultimately with devastating results.  There are a number of people in the story, but only "Ned" and "Larry" and "Hank" are the only named characters, none of whom actually appeared in the television show.  The second story features a young man named Alf, who can't stand the thought of living out his life stranded on the island and starts acting crazy.  Sue appears, and Bob is mentioned, but again, the rest of the main cast are not present.  

If I were expecting to see any of the same characters in the second issue, well, such was not the case.  The first of the two stories features Phil, a character who appeared in only four episodes of the TV show, while the rest of the characters in this tale were all new.  Rather than focusing on someone who wants off the island, this story gave us the tale of Tom, who was determined to sabotage any chance to get off the island, as he saw the island as a way to start a new society in what he deemed to be "the right way."  The second story has nothing to do with staying or leaving, but instead is a bit of a "horror" story, with a "thing" that attacks poor Carol (again, another character not in the TV show).  While there are plenty of guys and gals in this story, only three are named - "Ivan" and "Paul" and "Bob," with Bob being the only one from the TV show, and who also appeared in the first issue. 

Now - once I had read the two issues, I went online and researched a bit about the TV show.   It aired on ABC from September 1969 to January 1970 (with only 17 episodes) and told the tale of a group of college students returning from Southeast Asia when their plane goes down.  As fate would have it, all of the adults die, as do several of the students, and all who remain alive are college students.  The island turns out to be an atomic testing site for the military, but it was never used and abandoned, so the buildings are still in tact and, oddly enough, there is plenty of food and supplies (how convenient).  The island is filled with mannequins (which explains the cover to issue one of the comic!), and the college kids ultimately decide they can create a new society - a better one than the one they had with all of the adults.  Of course, this creates plenty of drama, since everyone has a different idea on what constitutes the "new" society.  The show dealt with a number of topical issues, including death, pregnancy, sexism, racism, drugs, and violence - and the six main cast members appeared in all 17 episodes, while supporting cast members, such as Jack and Laura only appeared in 6, Rube appeared in 4, Ben appeared in 3, and a few others appeared only in two each through the show's run.

 

From what I could find out, there were originally 40 college students, and since a few died from the plane crash, that only left a little more than 30 on the island.  I find it odd that the two Dell comic book issues not only avoided using all of the main cast (in fact, Susan and Bob were the only two to appear - Gene, George, Ginny, and Stanley never made an appearance in any of the stories - only on the cover of the second issue), and the remaining characters in the stories, for the most part, went unidentified.  And in two of the stories, the "villain" (if you can call them that) is killed off.  Having not seen the show, I can't say whether any of the college students died (other than those in the plane crash).  However, the whole concept for the show seems a bit dark for the times, with so much death from the plane crash.  (Of course, how many years later, ABC created another tale of a plane crash stranding people on an island with Lost., although that was not a group of rebellious teenagers and the island was definitely not your typical island.)

The interior art for the stories is actually pretty good.  Like many of the comics of that day, there are no credits to reveal who wrote the stories and who provided the art.  A search online indicates that possibly Joe Gill wrote the stories in the second issue and Frank Springer provided the art for that issue - can't say whether that's true or not, and if it is, don't know if they also wrote and drew the first issue.  However, what I can say is, the stories are decent enough - very fast-moving, since they are only 16- pages each (the only ads in the comics were on the inside front and back covers and on the back cover itself), and the art is nicely defined - the characters are distinct, the backgrounds provide the perfect settings when necessary to remind the readers that these characters are on a remote island.  Not sure why the show was cancelled, since I found a number of blog posts from people who had fond memories of watching the show.  Perhaps it was just too expensive for its time, or maybe the fact that it was a 45-minute show instead of a half-hour show turned away some viewers.  In any event, at least viewers had a few more stories after the show ended (even if they did not actually star the cast of the show).  

While not necessarily the best comics I've ever read, I am certainly glad I picked them up.  The stories did spark enough interest that I intend to hunt down episodes of the show (hopefully there are some preserved on YouTube or other online sites, since the show has never been released commercially on DVD) and see how it compares with the comic tales!

RATING:  7 bowls of poisoned soup out of 10 for expanding on a unique television show that barely had a chance and providing some interesting tales in the spirit of Lord of the Flies!