TV21 - ALL IS REVEALED PART 3

In September of 1968, Joe 90 aired in the UK. Obviously, it was impossible to incorporate his exploits into TV21’s continuity. So, Joe was given his own comic - Joe 90: Top Secret which arrived in January, 1969. It signalled a sort of turning point for the readership of TV21 and a choice . Apart from that years TV21 annual, a third Thunderbird and second Captain Scarlet annuals were published along with two others. The Joe 90 annual and the Project SWORD annual. The first set in the near future, the second set in 3031.

The Scarlet annual contained three excellent cutaways - The Clam Sub, first seen in the episode ’White as Snow’ , The Hovercraft seen in ’Traitor’ , and The Radar Truck first seen in ‘Manhunt‘.

The Joe 90 annual showed cutaway sketches of the Jet Air Car and Sam’s saloon, which to my mind were mildly disappointing compared to the Captain Scarlet cutaways. Both these cutaways were reprinted in colour in the Joe 90 Dossier, a booklet given away with Sutherland potted meat spreads.

However as the series was really about the transfer of brain patterns by scientific gizmo’s and computers, rather than fantastic vehicles so the annual carried some better cutaways of Culver Bay cottage and Mac’s laboratory showing the BIG RAT and the RAT TRAP.

We already know about the re used Zero X cutaway artwork in the Project Sword annual , but I also liked the traditional cutaway of the Moonbus .

By 1970 TV21 had  merged with Joe 90: Top Secret  and had changed beyond recognition. City Magazines published a second Joe 90 annual and the last TV21 annual which would maintain some of the original continuity, along with a combined Thunderbird and Captain Scarlet annual which did come across as a last gasp, the latter containing a breakdown of the Cloudbase Computer, and Dr Fawn’s Medic- Bay.

So there you have it, some of my favourite cutaways from the world of Century 21.  I hope you enjoyed them.