Lunar Controller Sam Bellingham

A crisp product of the early Bronze Age, Lunar Controller Sam Bellingham made his debut in the very first issue of Countdown in 1971, launched by Polystyle Publications with art by the talented John M. Burns and scripted by Dennis Hooper. That premiere issue alone signals key-issue status, placing Bellingham at the ground floor of a British comics anthology that brought together an impressive roster of characters — including the likes of Captain Scarlet, Jeff Tracy, and Captain Blue. His handful of appearances may be compact, but for collectors with a taste for the distinctive world of early-seventies British comics, stumbling across Sam Bellingham is a genuine find.