Favourite Cartoons - Space Angel the animated comic book - Alex Toth and Glen Michael?

One of my earliest introductions to American comic book art was in the syndicated cartoon series Space Angel that appeared on TV screens in Scotland (I think before the rest of the UK) around 1966\67. The link to comic book art was that the series was designed by the great Alex Toth, in addition to this the style of animation was mostly static (like a comic book) and featured the "syncho-vox" lip technique which superimposed human lips onto the face of the illustrated character. Toth also produced a 6 page promotional Space Angel comic strip that appeared in the U.S. childrens comic magazine Jack and Jill.

The series follows the adventures of 3 astronauts who work for the Earth Bureau of Investigation's Interplanetary Space Force on board their spacecraft the Starduster. The characters, Scott McCloud (Space Angel) the Captain is accompanied by Communications expert Crystal Mace and Gunner/Engineer Taurus as they patrol space to keep it safe. Below and above some early Toth sketches for Space Angel taken from the excellent book " The Cartoon Art of Alex Toth .

So who is Glen Michael? Well to Scottish kids of a certain age Glen was a legendary TV presenter who introduced the highly popular cartoon TV show "Cartoon Cavalcade" from 1966 until 1992. At a time when cartoons were limited on TV, Glen managed to obtain some wonderful features including the early 1960s Marvel charaters, the Justice League of America, Batfink, Harvey cartoons, Birdman, Fearless Fly, Milton the Monster, Galaxy trio and of course Space Angel. When I think of many of these cartoons I always feel Glen should get some credit for introducing them to me.

Above, an early promotional photo of Glen Michael and Rusty and Rudi. Sadly Glen passed away in 2025 at the age of 99.I fear Rusty and Rudi are also no longer with us.