5 February 2020

Orbit comic - from Zambia; image gallery, part 1

I've looked at African comics before - mainly Powerman (here) and Pop (here) but Orbit isn't a title I was familiar with. A seller in Cornwall has been selling off a number of issues on ebay recently so all these images are from them. Part 2 of the cover gallery tomorrow.


Alerted to its existence by Phil Rushton (on the excellent Mighty world of British comics facebook group) a quick Google reveals one Zambian recalling...
However implausible it may have been, the Zambian space programme certainly inspired the youth of the time. The monthly Orbit magazine, a mixture of science & cartoons, with first class artwork and production, was very popular after its 1971 launch with great, fantastical stories

A quick Google search has brought up the following cover images - so there were at least 17 issues (so it lasted at least 17 months).


There's speculation that the cover artist from issue 2 onwards is Martin Asbury but with only scans to go on it's hard to be sure. I'd certainly agree with the '...first class artwork and production' comment - it looks like a high quality magazine.


If you're interested in the Zambian space programme there's an article about it from the New Yorker magazine here  



Orbit comic issue one - Zambian comic


Orbit comic issue two - Zambian comic





Orbit comic issue three - Zambian comic



Orbit comic issue four - Zambian comic




Orbit comic issue five - Zambian comic



Orbit comic issue seven - Zambian comic










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