Century 21: Classic Comic Strips From The Worlds Of Gerry Anderson Volume 2 (graphic novel review).
These ‘Century 21: Classic Comic Strips’ volumes collect reprints from the famous ‘TV Century 21’ British comic, later just ‘TV21 that first came out in 1965-66. They are produced on high-quality paper, mostly from scans of the original artwork, not the comics, and you won’t see those pictures more elegantly displayed. Here’s what you get in volume 2. As with the first volume review, I include details about the writers, artists, and original publications for aficionados. The issue dates are a century ahead of the actual release, as the comic was pretending to be a newspaper from the future.
Fireball XL5: ‘The Giant Ant Invasion’. Script Alan Fennell and art by Mike Noble. Originally published in TV Century 21 # 27-33 July-September 2065. Returning to Earth from Astra, Fireball XL5 picks up an SOS. Steve Zodiac straps on a jetpack and, without spacesuit or air supply, nips across to the vessel in distress. He is attacked by a butterfly with a twelve foot wingspan which shrinks back to normal size when he kills it with his ray gun. How? The next attacker is a giant mouse which also shrinks when dead. Unless Steve’s gun is a shrinking ray, there is no reason for this to happen. Evil criminals turn their growth ray on New York and all the animals become big. This is a silly story but the art is great as usual.
Stingray: ‘Monster Weed Menace’. Script Dennis Hooper and art by Ron Embleton. Originally published in TV Century 21 # 62 – 71 March-May 2066. A stolen freighter carrying experimental chemicals explodes near Venus and three of the twenty drums on board land in Earth’s seas. One bursts and causes seaweed to grow huge. Big things are going to happen in this century. Commander Shore smokes a cigar in some panels and looks oddly like Jack Kirby.
Thunderbirds: ‘Operation Depthprobe’. Script Alan Fennell and art by Frank Bellamy. Originally published in TV Century 21 # 105-109, January-February 2067. International Rescue gets involved when a top secret rocket project in the Nevada Desert goes wrong and new fuel pentatroleum may explode and destroy the whole state. Some word balloons are lost to the centre crease in the two-page layout.
Zero X: ‘Prisoners Of The Eye-Leaves’. Script Angus P Allan and art by Mike Noble. Originally published in TV21 and TV Tornado # 231 – 237 June-August 2069. Zero X is sent to investigate freak ring planets. Not ringed like Saturn but like a pair of ring doughnuts interlinked. Looking through a telescope, they see some strange vegetation with eyes. This gets very weird. Two men go down to the planet and the eye plants attack the crew left behind on Zero X by taking control of the film made of them, which is impossible. Why didn’t they just take over the Earthmen landing on the planet? The writer could have put a bit more thought into this.
Captain Scarlet: ‘Formicide.’ Script Angus P Allan and art by Don Harley. Originally published in TV21 # 170-171 April 2068. Ants threaten the crops in northern India, so the government bombs them. They are resurrected. Captain Buff, fully clothed, explains the problem to Captain Scarlet, ‘Mysteronised ants! So bombs or sprays won’t stop them!’ It all works out in the end.
Thunderbirds: ‘Curse Of The Elastos’. Script Scott Goodall and art by Ron Turner. Originally published in the ‘Thunderbirds Annual’ September 1968. Five ships carrying ten alien coffins arrive at Earth, on course for a crash landing. International Rescue respectfully saves them but all is not what it seems. This is short and sweet with a clever scientific solution from Brains.
Fireball XL5: ‘Planet Of Fire’. Script Tod Sullivan and art by Mike Noble. Originally published in TV Century 21 # 90-100 October-December 2066. Planet Styrax is finally united under Marshal Golgath after five years of bitter civil war. On a diplomatic mission there, Fireball XL5 unwittingly smuggles in an invasion force of fiery beings from the planet Volkanos. I love Mike Noble’s art on XL5, which is bright, clear and easy to follow.
Lady Penelope: ‘The Androids Of London Affair’. Script Alan Fennell and art by Frank Langford. Originally published in Lady Penelope # 17-28 May-July 1966. Two million pounds worth of goods are stolen from the London Silver Vaults by six strange identical women who seem immune to its electrical defences. Lady Penelope investigates. The art is a bit quirky with sketchy backgrounds sometimes and odd colour choices but interesting. Sadly, the two-page layout means some word balloons are lost in the centre crease, a minor flaw with these books.
Thunderbirds: ‘ Secret Of The Iceberg’. Script Scott Goodall and art by Frank Bellamy. Originally published in TV21 # 155-161 January-February 2068. The Transoceanic highway linking Antarctica to Australia opens and a fleet of hovertrucks carrying raw materials to Australia for processing sets off. Robot penguins attack and spray oil across the road, causing the trucks to slide off it. But they are hovertrucks, not in contact with the ground, so why do they skid? Oh well, the art is very nice as usual but I do wonder if the kids back in 1968 spotted these errors. I bet they did.
Fireball XL5: ‘The Silent Colony’. Script Tod Sullivan and art by Don Lawrence. Originally published in TV Century 21 # 136-140 August-September 2067. Space freighter Transit lands on Krata, a recently established colony in the Alpha Centauri system and the crew finds the city completely deserted. Fireball XL5 is sent to investigate. Unusually, this is a one-page-per-episode yarn with only five pages overall, so very compressed storytelling. It’s notable for art by Don Lawrence of ‘Trigan Empire’ fame.
Captain Scarlet: ‘The Beginning Of The End’. Script Howard Elson with art by Jim Watson and Mike Noble. Originally published in TV21 and TV Tornado # 196-198, October-November 2068. Captain Black is restored to normality with no memory of the Mysterons. Their power is waning and Spectrum can destroy them at last, which it does even though they beg for mercy. A bit ruthless. Spectrum is disbanded and the staff are reassigned but all is not what it seems.
An introduction by editor and compiler Chris Bentley gives background information on the stories and art. There are short biographies of the writers and artists at the end. Looking at the odd front page of the old comic republished, I see that ‘TV21’ cost 7d back in 1968, before decimalisation, but I don’t recall ever buying it, though I did watch the puppets on television. By then, I had already succumbed to American cultural imperialism and spent my pocket money on Marvel Comics. Compare these stories to what Lee and Kirby were doing at the time and you can see why. Still, the art here is wonderful and it’s nice to look back to a simpler age. The collections are nostalgic for the loyal British kids who devoured the homegrown product and make decent art books for everyone else.
Eamonn Murphy
April 2025
(pub: Reynolds & Hearn Ltd, 2009. 160 page graphic novel softcover. Price: varies. ISBN: 978-1-90528-794-9)