Fifty- seven years ago the first issue of TV Century 21 went on sale in newsagents around the country.
The striking masthead logo, and colour photo of Stingray being pursued by a mechanical fish was certainly a big pull for me! Here are the high points of the issue.
Inside there was a Burke's Law comic strip (drawn by Pat Williiams) I was, and still am a fan of the suave Police Captain. I did do a fairly extensive article on the series several years ago on the blog.
A colour comic-strip of Fireball XL5 (drawn by Graham Coton) Even pre-Mike Noble I preferred the more 'grown up' look of tv21's Fireball, and it was good to see the World Space Patrol's finest in colour!
My Favourite Martian (drawn by Bill Titcombe)
Stingray, the 'star' vehicle of the comic (drawn by Ron Embleton) and my favourite Supermarionation series.
Supercar (drawn by Toledano) I liked Supercar on TV, and in TV Comic. I can't say I was that keen on the cartoony look of Mercury and co. in the TV21 strip.
An introduction to 'Nosey' Parker in the Lady Penelope comic-strip, drawn by Eric Eden, twelve months before Thunderbirds would take star-billing!
Finally, The Daleks drawn by Richard Jennings, and the issue 1 free gift, an Identicode - a combined code breaker and I.D. card.
Yes, that brigs back memories, the only thing I didn't like was the Fireball artwork, it was not until Mike Noble took over that I really enjoyed it.
ReplyDeleteI know what you mean, Andy. Graham Coton was a good artist, and had a particular style, but Mike Noble made the strip his own.
DeleteInterestingly, when Alan Fennell was editing Thunderbirds The Comic (and Stingray and Joe 90) back in the early '90s, when he got round to reprinting the Fireball strips I asked him why he hadn't started with the Coton ones and he said because the artwork wasn't good enough. Mike Noble was, of course, THE Fireball artist, but I remember Graham Coton's XL5 strips making a big impression on me at the time.
DeleteI didn't mind Coton's style, Kid,although I suppose it was even a little dated at the time. His style reminds me of the fifties TV Express ,Journey into Space comic strip artwork done by Ferdinando Tacconi.
DeleteAs you say though, Noble is the go to XL5 artist.