TV Century 21

Weekly British children's comic

TV Century 21, later renamed TV21, TV21 and Tornado, TV21 and Joe 90, and TV21 again, was a weekly British children's comic published by City Magazines during the latter half of the 1960s. Originally produced in partnership with Gerry and Sylvia Anderson's Century 21 Productions, it promoted the company's many science fiction television series. 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. 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. The brainchild of writer editor Alan Fennell (who also wrote episodes of the various Anderson TV shows) and presenter Keith Shackleton, TV Century 21 was produced by the staff at the Andersons' Century 21 Publications, while printing and distribution was handled by City Magazines. Many of the leading British comic artists of the time contributed to the publication, including Frank Bellamy (who drew two page spread adventures for Thunderbirds),

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.

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. 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. (The Secret Service never appeared in TV21.) 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. After losing the Gerry Anderson license in mid 1970, TV21 became a television comic virtually in name only, with the Star Trek strip being the lone feature still related to TV. The publication became more typical of other British comics of the era, featuring a mix of adventure, humour, Western, and sporting strips, some of which were reprints from other publications. Marvel Comics reprints became a feature in the magazine's final year of publication.

The first issue of TV Century 21 was published on 23 January 1965. The comic dropped the "Century" from its title in January 1968, after 155 issues, and became known as TV21. In September 1968, after 192 issues, TV21 merged with its sister publication TV Tornado to form TV21 and Tornado. On 18 January 1969, Gerry Anderson's most recent Supermarionation production, Joe 90, was adapted into a City Magazines spinoff comic, titled Joe 90 Top Secret. The new comic did not endure, however, lasting only 34 issues before it was merged with TV21 and Tornado (According to British cartoonist and comics historian Lew Stringer, " Joe 90 was selling better than TV21 but lost out to the older title, presumably because the publisher felt that TV21 had more longevity as the name of a comic.") A small nucleus of staff from the disbanded division were taken on by Leonard Matthews and Alf Wallace – the ex managing editors of Fleetway Juvenile Comics; and Eagle and Odhams' Power Comics line, respectively – who were now operating an independent studio off Fleet Street under the name of Martspress. (which IPC had taken over from Odhams Press on 1 January 1969). The publication's name reverted to TV21 after 36 issues (the 278th overall). With issue #93 (3 July 1971), the title changed publisher name from City Magazines to IPC Magazines.

TV21 ceased publication in late September 1971 (issue #105), following its merger with IPC Magazines' Valiant and Smash! to become Valiant and TV21. Altogether, the title published 347 issues from 23 January 1965 to 25 September 1971 (242 issues before the merger with Joe 90 and an additional 105 issues thereafter).

In late 1965, with the success of TV Century 21, City Magazines began publishing a number of related annuals and specials, two of them featuring Stingray. The first Thunderbirds annual was published in 1966, with a new one appearing each year until 1972. City Magazines also published the first TV Century 21 Annual in 1966, eventually putting out five such annuals (with the last one appearing in 1970). A second Stingray Annual appeared in 1966, and two more TV Century 21 seasonal specials in 1966 and 1967. The first Captain Scarlet annual debuted in 1967; City Magazines published a new one in 1968 and another one in 1969.

TV Century 21 was launched to capitalise 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). (The Supercar and Fireball XL5 TV programs had ended prior to the launch of TV Century 21, but were still being broadcast sporadically on ATV in the United Kingdom. They also had previously been adapted into comics a few years earlier in Polystyle Publications' TV Comic.) Other than Lady Penelope herself, the Thunderbirds themselves were not featured until issue #52, the same issue the Lady Penelope strip left TV Century 21 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's 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. TV Century 21's early issues featured adaptations of two other popular TV series as well: My Favourite Martian, with art by Bill Titcombe; and Burke's Law, with art by Paul Trevillion. Issue #21 of TV Century 21 saw the debut strip of Special Agent 21, i. e. Brent Cleever of the Universal Secret Service. The character had first appeared, in text form, in issue #1, as the fictional editor of TV Century 21; readers were "drafted" as his agents and asked to address reports (i. e. letters) to Contact 21. Special Agent 21 was written by Tod Sullivan and illustrated by Rab Hamilton.

Three strips left the publication with issue #51 (8 January 1966) – Lady Penelope, Supercar, and Burke's Law – replaced the following issue with Thunderbirds, Get Smart, and The Munsters. Bruno Marraffa, who had been drawing Supercar, took on Get Smart, while Paul Trevillion, who had been drawing Burke's Law, was now the lead artist for The Munsters strip. A new strip joined the lineup with issue #73 (11 June 1966). The Investigator, by Alan Fennell and Don Harley, was about Bob Devlin and Marc Carter, fictional troubleshooters for Universal Engineering Incorporated, builders of the XL fleet, Fireflash, and the first Martian probe. (The strip was not related to a later unsuccessful TV pilot by Gerry Anderson.) The strip didn't last long, being canceled after issue #89 (1 October 1966). Following The Investigator was Catch or Kill, another strip taking place in the year 2066. Originally by Angus Allan and John M. Burns, Gerry Embleton later took over the art chores. With issue #105 (21 January 1967), Zero X, by Angus Allan and Mike Noble, joined TV Century 21, replacing The Daleks. Wright C. H. A. R. L. I. E., a humour strip set in the "Anderson universe" about the inventions of a Professor Wright from the Central Headquarters Atomic Research Liaison for Industrial Experimentation (C. H. A. R. L. I. E.), debuted in issue #107 (4 February 1967). It lasted until issue #131 (22 July 1967), when it – and Catch or Kill – were replaced by Front Page. That feature, drawn by John M. Burns, was a meta strip set in the year 2067 about fictional TV Century 21 investigative reporter Pete Tracker, who learns about the secretive organization Spectrum; the strip was used to promote the upcoming Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons TV series (and the accompanying comic strip). The first new TV series adaptation to appear in a while, Sgt. Bilko, debuted in issue #139 (16 Sep 1967). The character of the "indestructible" Captain Scarlet, the hero of Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons, made his first appearance in TV Century 21 in issue #141, 30 September 1967, timed to coincide with the airing of the first episode of the TV show. (The back story of the Mysterons, Captain Scarlet's Martian enemies, was being revealed in TV Tornado, another City Magazines publication.) Captain Scarlet was featured on most covers of the title until the 1969 relaunch.

The publication dropped the "Century" from its title in January 1968, after 155 issues, becoming known as TV21. With that same issue, the Special Agent 21 strip changed its name to Mr. Magnet, and the Get Smart, Front Page, and Sgt. Bilko strips were all canceled.

In September 1968, after 192 issues, TV21 merged with its sister publication TV Tornado to form TV21 and Tornado. The TV Tornado strips Tarzan and The Saint moved with the merger to the new TV21 and Tornado. This meant the cancelation of the Supermarionation strips Stingray and Zero X; Fireball XL5, meanwhile, had ended back in issue #174 (18 May 1968). The final new strip to join the publication's lineup – taking over from the canceled Tarzan – was the adaptation of the TV series Department S, drawn by Carlos Pino, which debuted in issue #212 (8 February 1969). (Tarzan would return shortly thereafter in TV21 and Joe 90.) TV21 and Tornado published its final issue, #242, on 6 September 1969.

With the new TV21 and Joe 90, the publication dispensed with the hundred years in the future cover date format as well as the focus on the Anderson universe, becoming more of a typical British adventure comic (the first four issues, in fact, featured association football imagery). According to Stringer, "the content and tone of the merged comic was more like Joe 90 than TV21." With their demise, TV21 underwent a series of strip turnovers. In short succession, four new strips joined the lineup: the adventures strips The Heat Master, S. N. O. R. K. E. L., and Danny Merlin Son of the Wise; and the humour strip Micky's Moonbugs, drawn by Graham Allen. However, because IPC had the means to publish and distribute Annuals, the first Marvel Annual, published in Autumn 1972, which featured early stories of Spider Man, Conan, the Fantastic Four, and the Hulk (all of which, except Conan, had been reprinted a few years earlier in the Power Comics titles) was published under the Fleetway imprint – as was the Annual for 1974, issued in the Autumn of 1973.