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Sapphire & Steel
"Disappearing Act"
Look-In (1979) #52 - (1980) #3
Written by: Angus Allan
Art by: Arthur Ransom |
When a man actually disappears during a magic act, he is
replaced by an evil Egyptian god.
Notes from the Sapphire & Steel chronology
Read the story summary at the Internet Archive copy of Animus
Web
Didja Know?
Comic strips in
Look-In magazine were generally not credited to
author and artist. According to the
Animus Web site, the
Sapphire & Steel strips were written by Angus
Allan and drawn by
Arthur Ransom.
All of the strips feature Sapphire and Steel dressed in the
clothes they wore in the first television storyline,
"Escape Through a Crack in Time".
The artist must have had only photo references from those early
episodes.
This story appeared in six issues of Look-In, a UK
magazine geared towards kids. The story is told in comic strip
form and appeared in two-page chapters of each issue.
The story itself is untitled. I borrowed the title
"Disappearing Act" and short description from the
Sapphire & Steel Chronology on the
Look-In wiki.
Characters appearing or mentioned in this story
The Great Boldini (Arthur Penman, dies in this story)
Bernard Smith
David Smith
Sally Smith
theatre manager (unnamed)
Sapphire
Steel
(David?)
Devant
Didja Notice?
On page 1 of the story, a nervous Bernard Smith in the Great
Boldini's Chinese vanishing cabinet sings to himself, "Wear
a smile all the while, never mind the dark." As far as I can
tell, these are lyrics to a fictitious song.
On page 3 of the story, Boldini says the vanishing cabinet
is a rebuilt job, originally by Devant in the Victorian Age.
He must be referring to David Devant (1868-1941), a British
master magician of his time.
The ram's head Egyptian god seen on page 4 of the story may
be a representation of Khnum, the ancient Egyptian god of
water and fertility.
On page 6 of the story, Sapphire refers to the lion-headed
god who has replaced Bernard Smith as the Egyptian god of
destruction. The Egyptian god of destruction is generally
said to be the serpent god Apep (or Set), not a lion-headed
god.
Page 8 of the story reveals it takes place at the Majestic
Theatre in Clayport,
London.
This appears to be a fictitious theatre in a fictitious
district of London.
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