Fifty Year Flashback: TV21 goes back to basics

Fifty years ago this week, TV21 had one of its revamps, returning to the newspaper-style cover designs that made it so unique in its first three years. In January 1968 it had switched to using comic strips on the covers, but presumably sales had suffered, so now, in March 1969, after dabbling with a few news-style covers over a few weeks, it was going back to basics full time.

With a beautifully designed masthead echoing the Century 21 TV company ident (which itself had been based on the original TV21 logo) the cover gave us tasters of what to expect inside, told in the form of newspaper reports. 

Inside, the previous "editorials" by Colonel White were gone, replaced by Agent Twenty One's message to the readers alongside the Secret Agent 21 strip itself. (Strip art by Rab Hamilton. No idea who drew the cartoon.)

Captain Scarlet, which had previously been the cover strip for a year, was now inside, illustrated in grey wash by Jim Watson...

Reflecting its new "First with the Space and Spy News" sub-title, Department S was based on the ITC series starring Peter Wyngarde, Joel Fabini, and Rosemary Nichols. Not the most flattering photo of Wyngarde for the title header...

The strip did feature good likenesses of the three stars though, with art by Carlos Pino and Vincente Alcazar...

It's easy to see why TV21 was so highly regarded by its readers during the 1960s when the centre pages featured Thunderbirds illustrated by Frank Bellamy. It was a real coup for Century 21 to have this artist on the payroll...

My favourite artist on the comic was always Mike Noble. His Zero X strip had such dynamic power...

I think most of us were probably buying TV21 at this stage for those colour strips, but the black and white strips were entertaining. The Saint and Tarzan were very popular TV shows, and their strips (which had joined the comic the previous year from TV Tornado) had the right tone but were not the main selling point of the comic. 

The back page of this issue of TV21 was part of a series depicting man's journey to Saturn. Yes, by this time, the comic's attempts at connected continuity with its stories was out of whack. How could man only just be landing on Saturn in 2069 when Fireball XL5 had been regularly roaming the galaxy four years previously in 2065? Best not to think too deeply about it. Nice painting though.

This issue also featured two adverts related to Joe 90, who had his own comic at that stage. Ah, Sugar Smacks and Sutherlands spreads. All part of the wonderful 1960s....

It was around this time, a month later, when I started buying TV21 regularly again, so the revamp definitely hooked me. Sadly it wasn't to last. I suspect the change was too late and didn't boost sales enough, so this first series of TV21 ended in September 1969, replaced by TV21 and Joe 90, starting with a new first issue, and unfortunately losing most of what had made it so unique. 

My post on TV21 and Joe 90 No.1:
https://lewstringer.blogspot.com/2007/11/flashback-1969-tv21-joe-90-no1.html

Joe 90 Top Secret No.1:
https://lewstringer.blogspot.com/2015/05/joe-90-top-secret-1969.html

TV Tornado:
https://lewstringer.blogspot.com/2014/08/tv-tornado-1967.html

TV Century 21 No.1:
https://lewstringer.blogspot.com/2015/01/50-years-ago-today-tv-century-21-no1.html

A selection of comics from one week in 1965:
https://lewstringer.blogspot.com/2008/07/flashback-this-week-in-july-1965.html

A Tribute to Mike Noble, by Lee Sullivan

As mentioned on this blog last year, the wonderful artist Mike Noble passed away in November after an illness. Fellow artist Lee Sullivan, who worked with Mike in his later years, has produced this heartfelt tribute to the great man. I agree with every word. Mike was my favourite adventure strip artist too, and a fine man. 

Follow this link to see the video:
https://youtu.be/V-3kRxx6nFI

Mike Noble 1930 - 2018

It's with deep regret that I have to convey the news to any of you who haven't already heard that the artist Mike Noble passed away last week at the age of 88.

As I've mentioned on my blog before, Mike Noble was my favourite adventure strip artist, from when I first saw his Fireball XL5 strip in the pages of TV Century 21 back in 1965. His crisp, dynamic style turned each story into an exciting, explosive experience, making his adaptations of TV shows more thrilling than the programmes themselves. I was pleased, and privileged, that I had a chance to meet him at a comic con in Bristol several years ago and tell him how much his work meant to me. 

I was also pleased that Mike attended the event, to know how much his work was highly regarded. Not a lot of UK artists of his generation ever had that opportunity.

Mike Noble had a long and distinguished career in comics. Strips such as The Lone Ranger for TV Comic, Fireball XL5, Zero X, and Captain Scarlet for TV21, and Timeslip, Follyfoot, Robin of Sherwood and others for Look-In were just a few of his accomplishments. Even until recent times, he was still doing the occasional drawing, working with fellow artist Lee Sullivan (another lifelong fan of Mike's work) on limited edition prints. 

You can read a more detailed memoriam of Mike Noble's work over on John Freeman's Down the Tubes blog:
https://downthetubes.net/?p=102470

I'll always be grateful for being fortunate enough to grow up reading Mike Noble's strips that helped made childhood so enjoyable. My sincere condolences to his family and friends on their loss. 

The best way to remember Mike is through his artwork, which will always be with us. Here's a selection of his fantastic strips from the 1960s and 1970s. All images have been scanned from the physical comics in my collection and are copyright their respective publishers. 

This week in 1968: TV21 No.163

To take our minds off the oncoming snow storm, let's go back to 1968 to see which issue of TV21 was out exactly 50 years ago this week. It was issue 163, and by this time the newspaper-style covers had been replaced with comic strip and Captain Scarlet dominated the comic.

The Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons TV series had debuted on TV a few months earlier so it made sense to make him the star of TV21. It was easier than producing a spin-off Captain Scarlet comic and it gave TV21 a boost. I do wonder though if revamping the comic so much was counter-productive to sales? I presume they must have been sliding anyway, so it was worth a shot.

What's notable about comics of the 1960s is how lively they were; full of movement and action, and no one did it better than Mike Noble...

The newspaper-style cover that TV21 had for its first 154 issues was now an interior feature as TV21 Stop Press. Perhaps for the best, with alarmist headlines like this. Ha! 

The centre pages featured Frank Bellamy's stunning work on Thunderbirds, and this was the week where this memorable panel of the Hood first appeared...

Full colour printing was still a luxury for most British comics in the 1960s. Adventure comics such as Valiant and Victor only carried one or two pages of full colour for example and were printed on newsprint. TV21 had top class glossy photogravure printing, allowing for painted artwork (as opposed to the flat colours of Lion or Buster). Artist Jim Watson used it to its best advantage with his vibrant colour work on Zero X. (Incidentally, the cliffhanger of this episode must be one of the strangest ever!)

There you have it. Just a few pages from this issue of TV21 from this week in 1968 (or 2068 as they preferred). Don't forget that you can click on the images to see them much larger to study the artwork. 

Snow's a'comin'. Wishing you all a safe week!

The New Year LOOK-IN (1972)

There's time for one final post this year so here are a few pages from the issue of Look-In dated 1st January 1972 (published at the end of 1971). Look-In had proved to be the big hit of 1971 when it was launched. I always preferred rival comic Countdown (also launched that year) but Look-In had its own distinct style and I can understand why it was so popular. 

The cover is by Arnaldo Putzu, who contributed many painted covers for the comic over the years. You'll notice it's issue No.1. Look-In renumbered itself at the start of every year, presumably to entice new readers. It didn't seem to do it any harm.

Inside, Leslie Crowther tries to keep up his New Year's Resolution in Crowrther In Trouble, drawn by Tom Kerr...

This issue featured three pages of horoscopes for the TV stars of the day. One of whom has definitely fallen from grace in recent times. Here's one of the pages...

The Please Sir! strip now featured the less distinctive class of 'Four C', as the original cast of 'Five C' had left to spin off into their own TV series. Artwork by Graham Allen, who until a few years earlier had been drawing The Nervs for Smash!

Follyfoot had no connection to a New Year theme but I couldn't resist showing artwork by Mike Noble...

The aforementioned class of 'Five C' had left school to star in their own TV show The Fenn Street Gang, so Look-In featured a strip based on that too. Artwork by Tom Kerr...

Even On the Buses had its own strip. Artwork by Harry North...

Subtitled 'The Junior TV Times', Look-In always featured selected highlights of ITV schedules for the week, focusing on the times children would be watching TV. Most of these regional TV stations have merged into others now...

Here's the schedules the right way up so you don't have to tip your computer on its side. ;-) 

The back page of that issue featured a teaser for an Apollo badge offer that was coming in the following issue. Did any of you have these badges? 

All that remains to be said is to wish you all a Happy New Year again and thank you for following this blog. Whatever you're doing this evening, have an enjoyable time!