Mystery Martian Rifle

Whilst reseraching the SWORD rifles bloglet I recently saw this toy rifle on Mark Bergin's fabulous toy site. At first I simply admired it's unusual shape, huge barrel head and Johnny Seven style butt. But then I remembered seeing an unboxed one on the excellent Metropolis Toys site and realised there must be a Gerry Anderson connection. Looking more closely at the above rifle I then saw the XL5 ringed emblem on the top. So its a Fireball XL5 rifle! Wow! But what about the box art - it looks Japanese? - there's an Astroboy-lookalike and a large tongued toad [sorry toad], which I'm sure I've seen on a gum card?

Then there's the name on the box - 'CAPITAN MARTE'. A quick google reveals that "El Capitán Marte y su XL5 is the version of Fireball XL5 shown in Latin-American countries, Colonel Zodiac is rechristened Capitán Marte ("Captain Mars")." [Wikipedia].

So the name is basically Spanish and the rifle Latin-American. Is the toy based on the comic strip and did it come out in Europe or North America? Wish I'd had one!