The Southern Cross

It’s the late 1930’s. The war in Europe could go either way. America was still a couple of years away from joining the war effort. Australia was, however, still very much a part of the British Empire & was committed to supporting its mother country in its efforts against the Nazi machine.

Commercial Radio was still relatively new, a little over a decade old. News Bulletins kept us in touch with what was happening around the globe & Radio serials were the everyman’s entertainment. - the most popular of which was ‘The Southern Cross’, of a national hero who inspired a nation in the time of war.

Imagine that the man who writes, produces & stars in this, Gordon Russell, through some twist of fate actually becomes the character in real life & you have the premise for the 'Golden Age' Southern Cross.

Before you start googling away wondering ‘was there ever really a Southern Cross radio serial or comic strip in the late 30’s/early 40’s?’ the answer is no. But that premise worked so well in the restrospective strip by Tad Pietrzykowski & Glenn Lumsden.

After creating The Dark Nebula Tad wanted a ‘back-up’ feature to balance & contrast with the dark & moody tone of D.N.

Originally the premise was going to be modern-day – the grandson of the original Southern Cross trying to live up to the memory of his ancestor but that seemed a little burdened with history that may never be told so it was decided that a period-piece & a fresh start would be less cumbersome.

Tad & Glenn were always fans of strips like Captain America & The Shield & it seemed a shame that there never existed a national symbol superhero for Australia. The notion of calling the character Captain Australia was out of the question &, as The Southern Cross constellation is that which looks down upon Australia in the southern night skies at night & is part of the Australian flag – obvious enough but with a touch of subtlety to it.

Tad’s background is that of Broadcasting & there was never a richer chapter in Radio than that of the old serials. Many actors who would later make the transition to the big & small screens plied their trade & earned their stripes in the old Radio theatre. This was too rich a backdrop not to use, with many radio actors working out of the old AWA building & the Phillip Street Theatre in Sydney. The main & support characters are based on actual radio stars & if you do the right research you’d see that their names are a mix & match of those same radio stars names, paying due tribute.

Being set in the 1930’s it seemed only fitting that The Southern Cross should have a Golden Age origin & gains his powers by being struck by a bolt of lightning on the top of the AWA building in a blinding thunderstorm, while chasing a Nazi spy who was using the Southern Cross radio serial to broadcast coded messages to others of the same spy ring.

Simplicity was the key to this strip. Once the background & the premise were assembled it was at that point that Tad handed everything over to Glenn Lumsden who gave the strip its tone, atmosphere, its soul – even spinning the story out on a tangent. A tip of the hat to Kirby, a liberal dose of Eisner & just a hint of Gene Colan in the art here & there as well as the ‘boots & all’ attitude of national pride, spirit & optimism made The Southern Cross as different from The Dark Nebula as day is to night. This earned him co-creation credit.

Separate to the strip being serialized in colour on www.thedarknebula.com Tad is also looking at the possibility of a Southern Cross radio special done in the style of the old-time radio serials, so that there would finally be a Southern Cross radio serial. In effect a radio serial about a comic about a radio serial. There may never have been a Southern Cross back in the 1930’s but reading the Golden Age Southern Cross strip you certainly get the feel that there was. Everything old is new again.

It would also make great reading as a Sunday comic strip, the pacing allowing for great ‘Cliffhanger’ endings, ‘To be continued’.. & the such. - & in a sense it already is, being updated every Sunday on www.thedarknebula.com