Doctor Who in TV21

Although The Daleks had their own regular strip in the first 104 issues of TV Century 21, and they appeared in headline news items on the cover a couple of times, Doctor Who never appeared because rival title TV Comic had the rights to the strip. However, one issue of TV21 did feature the Doctor, albeit not in strip form. Issue No.28, which went on sale 28th July 1965, heavily promoted the movie Doctor Who and The Daleks, with Peter Cushing's screen version of The Doctor on the front cover.

Inside, there was a special photo-feature on the movie, with a synopsis of the story, including the ending! Ah, where was River Song to warn of "spoilers" back then? 

TV21 had a regular little PR feature with celebrities being "interviewed" by Lady Penelope, but in this issue it was expanded to a full page, accompanied with an exclusive photo of Jennie Linden and Roy Castle reading the comic.

As stated on the cover, the big attraction of the issue was a competition to "Win a real Dalek!". The feature included a photograph of the Dalek plus the runners-up prizes of other Dalek merchandise of the sixties. Wonderful stuff. 

That issue was so Dalek-focused it had eight extra pages to accommodate all the extra features and adverts for various merchandise featuring the Daleks and other characters. I'm pretty certain the artwork on the half pager for 'Stingray Arm Fins' is by Brian Lewis. (I seem to recall either these items or the Stingray inflatable were withdrawn after swimmers got into difficulty.) Art on the ad for the inflatable is by Ron Embleton, the regular artist on the Stingray strip at the time... 

Bizarrely, despite all the Dalek promos throughout that issue, the regular Dalek strip on the back cover didn't feature any Daleks! Art by Richard Jennings...

That issue also featured all the regular strips of course, and I couldn't let the moment pass without showing one of them. A memorable episode of Fireball XL5 by Mike Noble...

This issue is highly collectible and I had it missing recently until I snapped it up on eBay recently. I now have a full run of the first series of TV21 except for No.2. I doubt I'll ever find that one at an affordable price, but no worries. 

As always, click on each page to see it much larger.

Ads from 50 years ago

It's 50 years today since the first episode of Thunderbirds was broadcast and, yes, it certainly feels like half a century! I've already done quite a few posts on Thunderbirds on this blog over the years so today I thought I'd look at what else we as kids were thrilled about back then. Much has changed over the last five decades, yet in some ways many things stay the same, as shown by these vintage adverts from TV21 comic of 50 years ago.

Above is perhaps the first Thunderbirds-related piece of merchandise, and certainly the first appearance of a Thunderbird in TV21. It's an ad for Century 21 Records from TV21 No.41, dated 30th October 1965. 

Here are a few other ads from around the last few months of 1965, when the popular things were Lego, Daleks, fireworks, and James Bond. Not much change there, although fireworks would not be advertised in comics now. Personally I think it's time for a revival of Stingray Slippers! (When I was 3 or 4 I had a similar pair with Yogi Bear heads on them! They were all the rage you know.)

As always, click on the images to see them much larger.

TV21 No.2 Highlights (Today in 1965)

UPDATE: In an earlier version of this post last night I said that every week from now on I'd be showing a few highlights from the issue of TV Century 21 that went on sale exactly 50 years ago that day. However, after sleeping on it for a few hours I realised what a crazy notion that was. Not only would the idea get old very fast, not only would it take until September 2019 to complete, but many TV21 strips are available in reprint collections anyway, so most fans who want them already have them. 

Still, now that I've done the work for this one I may as well re-post it. As I said on the original post, I don't actually have a copy of TV21 No.2 so what I've done is find a few pages from various sources. The cover shown above is actually from an eBay shop selling fridge magnets of all things! 

The Stingray strip by Ron Embleton ran across the centre pages of TV21 No.2. In its absence of the actual comic I've scanned the reprint of it from Stingray the Comic No.1 (1992), which ran across two pages, hence the gutter. Nevertheless it still conveys the impact of Embleton's dynamic and colourful artwork. 

On the back page of that issue, the origin of The Daleks continues with art by Richard Jennings. With no comic to scan from I've used the appropriate page from Marvel's The Dalek Chronicles instead, but the result is the same. This is the strip that first appeared exactly 50 years ago today on Wednesday 27th January 1965...

I'll still be revisiting TV21 from time to time, but the plan of doing it every week like clockwork was just one of those mad middle-of-the-night ideas that seemed good at the time but not so appealing in the cold light of day. I'm sorry if anyone is disappointed by my change of mind. I'd rather keep this blog operating like a rackety old TARDIS so that readers never know what to expect from week to week. What year will we visit next? Wait and see!

Presents of Christmas Past

I don't usually post about toys or games on my blog but as it's Christmas I'll make an exception for once. Sorting through various stuff today I found a box of some of my Christmas presents of long ago - from the 1960s when life was full of optimism and promise. Happy days. Anyway - I thought I'd take a few photos to show you.

Above is the Dan Dare Radio Station. This originally came out in the 1950s I think. I had mine for Christmas 1969 or 1970. The box design was looking dated even by then but it was an enjoyable toy. Kids today would be unimpressed with its 'walkie talkies' connected by 25 feet of wire and a 'radio station' that just buzzed or did morse code with a tap key and low watt bulb but kids of my time must have loved it as it was around for so long.

Next - Mouse Trap Game! Christmas 1969 I think. The original design. No I'm not setting it up for a photo. 

Cluedo. Again late sixties. Box design has changed considerably since. Loved this game.

Stingray jigsaw. Released around 1964/65. I'll probably sell this soon but I'll have to find time to put it together first to make sure all the pieces are there. (And I've never been too keen on jigsaws.)

Doctor Who Give-A-Show Projector. Christmas 1965. I still vividly remember protecting the comic-strip slide shows onto a big white sheet my mum and dad had hung up. (We had floral wallpaper back then. 1960s eh?)

Wild West City. Like most kids in the sixties I had a lot of those small plastic figures that Timpo made (soldiers / knights / cowboys). So when they released this Western town that clipped together it was a must-have. The Timpo figures in their own 'city'! I must have played with this for countless hours back then. Again this is from the late sixties.

Haunted House. This is from around 1970/71. A three dimensional board game. You build the 'house' (four rooms) with clip together walls and have to avoid the traps that are triggered by a ball bearing being dropped down the chimney. The ball could fall into any one of the four rooms and trigger a trap that hits the player's piece. Great fun.

Wartime edition of Monopoly. Someone gave me this second hand when I was a child. It's the Monopoly game that was released under wartime restrictions in World War 2 so the components are basically made of cheap card with wooden hotels and houses. Unfortunately by the time I received it it was even more of a cut-down version as the board and one of the pieces was missing but it still fascinated me all the same. (I had a contemporary version of the game in 1970 so I played that instead.)

As you can see - most of the items are still in very good condition. One of the benefits of being an only child perhaps in that there wasn't anyone to fight with over the toys and games and pull them apart. Also I was always taught to look after things as money was tight. Wise advice as it means these games will fetch more when I eventually sell them. At present though they bring back a lot of good memories of very happy Christmases of times past. 

45 years ago: The first issue of TV21

On this day 45 years ago, City Magazines launched the first issue of a bold new large format comic that would become one of the most fondly remembered titles in UK comics history. I am of course talking about TV Century 21.

The comic later officially simplified its title to TV21 although in fact right from the start the editors and their readers often referred to it by the shorter title anyway, so that's how I'll refer to it here.

With City's close association with Gerry Anderson's Century 21 productions TV21 was far more than just a comic that featured tv characters. The editor himself (Alan Fennell) was a scriptwriter on Fireball XL5 and Stingray, and Lady Penelope debuted in her own strip in issue one several months before the first episode of Thunderbirds ever appeared on tv. The comic also had access to exclusive photographs of the models and characters, which were ideal for the newspaper-style covers of TV21. All in all, TV21 was very much a part of the Gerry Anderson universe, and the exciting thing was that the comic presented all those tv shows as part of a shared universe.


As was the case for comics back then, ads for the new weekly appeared on tv. A dynamic full page advertisement also appeared in the Daily Mirror dated 20th January 1965 (seen above). However, TV21 had a turbulent start, becoming a victim of its own huge success as demand outstripped supplies. The full story of which can be read on the superbly researched Technodelic website here:
http://www.technodelic.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/Upload02/YNToday01.htm (That website also gives incredibly in-depth details about the whole run of the comic and all the other Anderson-related strips so if you haven't already checked it out please do so. I can't recommend it highly enough.)

As TV21 was such a significantly popular comic I'm going to show issue No.1 in its entirety here. Not detailed scans of every page, as that would contravene copyright, but photographs of each spread to at least give you an idea of the look and presentation of this fine venture. Click on each image to see it larger.

What's notable about the cover is the mature approach taken in presenting it as a futuristic newspaper (dated 2065) rather than leading with a strip as most comics of the time did. Straight away this made the comic stand out from its contemporaries. Notice also how low key the free gift info is, tucked away in the bottom right hand corner. It's clear that Fennell knew it was Stingray that was selling this comic, not a cheap free gift. Today's "focus groups" and sales managers would probably hate this cover, as they'd perceive the headers "Stingray Lost" and "Steve Zodiac Dead?" as too "negative". In truth it's a very exciting cover that makes the reader want to know more about the story behind the headlines.

Regarding the free gift, the Identicode was superb. Every week the taglines at the end of each strip would be written in code, and the Identicode was used to decipher them. This reader involvement was great fun and at the same time not the sort of comic "activity" that was too dumbed down. Here's the very free gift I had 45 years ago today, somewhat worn with use those many years ago but still intact. And I never did get around to sticking my photo in it...


Leading off the interior strips was the non-Anderson, non-futuristic Burke's Law. A strange choice for starters perhaps but the comic needed its Anderson material to appear on the few available full colour pages. However Gene Barry's U.S. tv cop show was popular with a family audience so it couldn't hurt to begin with something more traditional.


Pages 4 and 5 really start the ball rolling with Fireball XL5 in full colour. These initial Fireball strips were drawn by Graham Coton, who would be replaced by the slicker and more dynamic style of Mike Noble with issue No.6. Presumably the decision to bring in Mike Noble had already been decided as you'll notice the title panel actually looks like Noble's work although he has apparently denied this.


You'll also notice that the tone of the strip is somewhat darker than the tv series was. The end of the first episode, with Steve Zodiac apparently dead, would be an unlikely cliffhanger for a children's comic today.


Over the page is the first of TV21's many articles on space exploration. TV21 really knew how to capture the mood of the times and for children of the Sixties, the optimism of space travel was an exciting prospect. On the facing page is the humour strip My Favourite Martian drawn by Bill Titcombe, based on the American tv series starring Ray Walston and Bill Bixby.


Page 8 is devoted to advertising space, but even that partially has an Anderson theme with its ad for a Fireball XL5 toy rocket. On page 9, Contact 21 is the reader's input page. Later issues would see the mysterious "Twenty One" gain his own comic strip as Secret Agent 21.


The centrespread is a wonderful Ron Embleton colour job for the first Stingray strip. Artists on TV21 were allowed some flexibility to make the characters look more realistic than their tv puppets. A wise move which lent the comic an air of
maturity that caricatures wouldn't have achieved. Note the use of a few stills from the tv show as part of the strip. This practice was soon dropped from the comic, although TV21 art editor Dennis Hooper would revive the idea for the first few issues of Countdown comic when he was its editor in 1971.


Embleton captured the design of Stingray perfectly. The 1960s were a marvelous time for UK adventure strips as larger and more experimental panel layouts became more commonplace, allowing for more dynamism in the comics.

Although the puppet shows were fantastic, the strips offered the kids scenes that could not have looked as convincing on tv with models, such as this dramatic giant jellyfish terrorizing the ship...


Page 12 gives us another article, the first in the Oceans of Mystery series. With Stingray being the main strip in TV21 it was probably assumed that kids would be interested in life under the sea as well as space exploration. On page 13, ads for Corgi Toys and the popular Anglo bubble gum.


Pages 13 and 14 feature Supercar. Interestingly it was treated as a comedy adventure strip in TV21, perhaps because by 1965 this earlier Gerry Anderson series was seen as less sophisticated than Fireball XL5 and Stingray.


Over the page, impressive artistry by Eric Eden for the first episode of Lady Penelope. This strip seemed an oddity for readers in January 1965 as Thunderbirds was still only in the production stage so we had no idea who she was. However, the opening episode introduced us to the characters and even showed us how Parker first met Lady Penelope. A year later Lady Penelope would spin off into her own highly successful comic for girls.


Interesting work here by Eden who manages to provide dramatic artwork whilst still retaining the distinctive qualities of the puppets. It was a great idea for these characters to have their genesis in TV21 before appearing in Thunderbirds and I don't think any other licensed comic has used this approach before or since.

On page 18, Cosmic Capers was a lighthearted feature to bring some lightness from the tension in the strips. (And, yes, the title did inspire me to come up with Robo Capers in the 1980s.) Zoony the Lazoon, who was the comedy relief in the Fireball XL5 tv show, was considered inappropriate for the more serious tone of the Fireball XL5 strip so he had his own humour strip here. Also featured is a regular Music Box feature by Barry Gray, the composer of the themes for Gerry Anderson's shows.


Note the introductory editor's letter below. Again, it's TV21 playing it straight with the readers, with editor Alan Fennell using his own name instead of the jokey pseudonyms used in some comics.


On page 19 it's the Corgi Model Club, - the only enduring feature of the entire run of TV21. Presumably City Magazines received some sponsorship fee for this as Corgi Toys were plugged on the cover of every single issue. Beneath that, another aquatic article.

On the back page, a strip that had no connection to the Anderson universe but still used popular tv icons, - The Daleks. The first Dalek comic strips had appeared a year earlier in Panther Book's The Dalek Book and the TV21 strip continued the aspects set up in that annual, some of which would later be adopted into the 2005 Doctor Who tv series (such as the Dalek's golden flying saucer design). In this first TV21 episode we're presented with an origin for The Daleks. The strip was written by Terry Nation and David Whittaker but Nation would contradict this origin somewhat with his Genesis of the Daleks serial for Doctor Who in the 1970s. Artwork here is by Richard Jennings.


I was five years old when TV21 was launched, so a little under the target age of 7 to 12 year olds. Nevertheless, like many kids, I was thrilled by this new comic. I became an avid reader of TV21 throughout 1965, and so did many other kids apparently, with the comic becoming the most successful launch of the period. (It's initial print run of 450,000 being insufficient to meet demand. Incredible, when comics today are considered a success for selling 60,000.) Its nearest rival, Eagle, was immediately made to look old fashioned by this modern looking newcomer. Sadly toward the end of the sixties, the quality of TV21 began to decline, and interest in "space" petered out after the first moon landing. By the time TV21 merged into Valiant in 1971 it was little different to any other boys adventure comic of the time. However, for today, it's time to remember when TV21 was fresh and innovative, and when "Adventure in the 21st Century" was something to look forward to every Wednesday.

Note: To see how much TV21 had changed by 1969, read my blog on the first combined issue of TV21 & Joe 90 here:
http://lewstringer.blogspot.com/2007/11/flashback-1969-tv21-joe-90-no1.html