TV Century 21

TV Century 21, later renamed TV21, TV21 and Tornado, TV21 and Joe 90 and TV21 again,[1] was a weekly British children's comic published by City Magazines during the latter half of the 1960s. It promoted the many science-fiction television series created by the Century 21 Productions company of Gerry and Sylvia Anderson. The comic was published in the style of a newspaper of the future, with the front page usually dedicated to fictional news stories set in the worlds of Fireball XL5, Stingray, Thunderbirds, Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons and other stories.[2] The front covers were also in colour, with photographs from one or more of the Anderson series or occasionally of the stars of the back-page feature.

TV Century 21
Publication information
PublisherCity Magazines
ScheduleWeekly
FormatOngoing series
GenreAction, Adventure, Science fiction, Spy-fi, Techno-thriller
Publication date23 January 1965 – 6 September 1969
After merger with Joe 90:
27 September 1969 – 25 September 1971
No. of issues242
After merger with Joe 90:
105
Main character(s)Stingray
Lady Penelope Creighton-Ward
Fireball XL5
Supercar
Thunderbirds
Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons
Joe 90
The Daleks
Creative team
Artist(s)Vicente Alcazar, Frank Bellamy, John Cooper, Gerry Embleton, Ron Embleton, Richard E. Jennings, Mike Noble, Ron Turner, Keith Watson
Editor(s)Alan Fennell (1965–1967)
Chris Spencer (1968)
Howard Elson (1968–1969)
After merger with Joe 90:
Tony Rose
John Barraclogh

Many of the leading British comic artists of the time worked for the publication, including Frank Bellamy (who drew two-page-spread adventures for Thunderbirds), John Cooper, Jon Davis, Eric Eden, Ron and Gerry Embleton, Rab Hamilton, Don Harley, Richard E. Jennings, Mike Noble, Ron Turner, James Watson and Keith Watson, and the duo of Vicente Alcazar and Carlos Pino under the pseudonym "Cervic".

The comic was adapted for the Dutch market as TV2000. Early copies of TV Century 21 are difficult to find, and attract high prices compared to nearly all other print material associated with Gerry Anderson's work.

Publication history

First iteration
TV Century 21

The first issue of TV Century 21 was published on 23 January 1965, capitalising on the popularity of the Gerry Anderson-produced Supermarionation TV series Stingray, which followed the underwater adventures of Troy Tempest and the World Aquanaut Security Patrol (WASP). Stingray strips were joined by Supercar, Fireball XL5, and Lady Penelope Creighton-Ward (from Thunderbirds). (Supercar and Fireball XL5 had ended prior to the launch of TV Century 21, but were still being broadcast sporadically on ATV in the United Kingdom.) Other than Lady Penelope, Thunderbirds (produced in 1965–66) was not featured until issue #52. (Lady Penelope herself left the comic in January 1966 to star in her own comic.)

TV Century 21 extended its licensing beyond the Anderson productions, and for its first two years published strip adventures based on the extraterrestrial Doctor Who villains the Daleks, the early scripts for which had the approval of Dalek creator Terry Nation. Many of the stories were written by David Whitaker, who alternated with Nation in writing Daleks stories for the Doctor Who TV series; however, as Polystyle Publications' TV Comic had the primary rights to adapt the Doctor Who television series itself, the character of The Doctor could not appear in the TV Century 21 comic.

The character of the "indestructible" Captain Scarlet, the hero of Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons (produced in 1967–68), made his first appearance in TV Century 21. (The back story of the Mysterons, Captain Scarlet's Martian enemies, was being revealed in TV Tornado, another City Magazines publication.)

TV21

The comic dropped the "Century" from its title in January 1968, after 155 issues, and became known as TV21.

TV21 and Tornado

In September 1968, after 192 issues, TV21 merged with its sister publication TV Tornado to form TV21 and Tornado. TV Tornado had strips featuring The Lone Ranger, Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, Tarzan, The Saint, and The Man from U.N.C.L.E.; many of those moved with the merger to TV21 and Tornado.

Relaunch
TV21 and Joe 90 — "New Series No."

On 18 January 1969, Anderson's latest Supermarionation production, Joe 90, made the transition from TV series to comic. The Joe 90 Top Secret comic did not endure, however, merging with TV21 and Tornado in September 1969 after only 34 issues.

At this time, the issue numbering of TV21 and Joe 90, as the comic was now called, was reset to 1, with a "New Series No." printed on the front cover. (The final issue of TV and Tornado was #242, published 6 September 1969.) While the general format of the old comic was preserved, the Thunderbirds and Joe 90 strips were now printed in black-and-white in deference to the new colour favourites Star Trek and Land of the Giants.

TV21 again

The Joe 90 aspect gradually disappeared from the comic, whose name reverted to TV21 after 36 issues (the 278th overall). In 1970, City Magazines acquired the Marvel Comics license, with some Marvel superhero stories being reprinted in TV21. With issue #93 (3rd July 1971), the title changed publisher-name from City Magazines to IPC Magazines. IPC opted not to renew the expensive Marvel Comics license in TV 21.[3]

Cancellation/merger with Valiant

TV21 ceased publication in 1971 following its merger with IPC Magazines' Valiant and Smash! to become Valiant and TV21.[4]

Altogether, the titles published 347 issues from 23 January 1965 to 25 September 1971 (242 issues from 23 January 1965 – 6 September 1969 before the merger with Joe 90; and an additional 105 issues thereafter from 27 September 1969 – 25 September 1971).

Content

In contrast with Polystyle Publications' TV Comic, which was a traditional strip comic, TV Century 21 was conceived as a newspaper for children with a front-page containing "Stop press"-style news items and photographs.

The majority of the strips in TV Century 21 were set in the same shared future history. Even strips without a related TV series tied into it; for example, Special Agent 21 was set in the relative "past" and depicted the formation of the World Space Patrol seen in Fireball XL5.[5] The primary setting was the 2060s, with each newspaper-style issue covering the "top stories" of the decade. Earth was depicting as having a World Government — based in the fictional Unity City, Bermuda, and incorporating a President and a Senate — whose authority encompassed most of the planet. Besides Spectrum, the World Navy, the World Aquanaut Security Patrol (WASP) and the World Space Patrol, all of which were seen in the Anderson series, the future Earth also boasted a World Army, World Air Force, and Universal Secret Service (USS).

Elements of these would feature in multiple strips, including ones based on other series; elements of Fireball XL5 appeared several times in the Captain Scarlet adventures. Various textual commentaries established backstories for the characters that also connected the various series; for example, some of the Spectrum officers seen in Captain Scarlet were revealed to be former World Space Patrol agents. This did not necessarily contradict any of the TV series themselves as all were assumed to be set in the mid-21st century at least up until Captain Scarlet; Anderson's final two Supermarionation series, Joe 90 (1968–69) and The Secret Service (1969), had more contemporary settings.

A recurring plot element was the fictional Eastern European nation of Bereznik, a country not part of and hostile to the World Government. It appeared most frequently in the Thunderbirds and Lady Penelope strips, usually as an antagonist.[6]

Legacy

Issue "#243" of TV21, an homage dated "13 September 2069", was published in 2014 by Network, with editing by Martin Cater.[7]

References

Notes
  1. "Technodelic's feature on Captain Scarlet, which ran as the magazine changed named". Technodelic.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk. Archived from the original on 6 June 2011. Retrieved 15 January 2011.
  2. "Anthony Simons: TV Century 21". Dcs.shef.ac.uk. Retrieved 15 January 2011.
  3. Murray, Chris. "Mergers and Marvels (1962–1980)," The British Superhero (Univ. Press of Mississippi, 2017), p. 173.
  4. "Valiant and TV21," #2nd October 1971, Grand Comics Database. Retrieved Feb. 3, 2021.
  5. "Special Agent 21, Year 3". Technodelic.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk. Archived from the original on 12 September 2012. Retrieved 15 January 2011.
  6. "Lady Penelope - TV Century 21, 1965". Technodelic.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk. Archived from the original on 18 September 2012. Retrieved 15 January 2011.
  7. "TV21 #243," Grand Comics Database. Retrieved Jan. 18, 2021.

Sources

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