GERRY ANDERSON'S TV CENTURY 21 COVER GALLERY - PART FIVE...

Characters copyright relevant owners

I reckon it's time for another ten covers of Britain's best-ever comic of the '60s - TV CENTURY 21.  With a headline that's topical for today, issue 46 features a photo of one of the fantasy females of my childhood - ATLANTA SHORE.  (Fancying a puppet - I was a right little perv and no mistake!)  I'm sure that most of you will know that LOIS MAXWELL, alias MISS MONEYPENNY from the JAMES BOND films, was the voice of hoverchair-bound COMMANDER SAM SHORE'S daughter - and if you didn't, you do now!

I wish that someone would publish deluxe, actual-size omnibus collections of at least the first 104 issues of TV21 (when it had The DALEKS), as it would be good to have sturdy, high-quality volumes of this classic comic from 100 years in the future.  It's increasingly unlikely it will happen, as the 'nostalgia market' target audience it would appeal to is dwindling with every passing year.  If I ever win the Lottery, I'd publish them myself - even at a loss -  simply because it would be good to preserve such a treasure for future generations.

Anyway, enjoy the covers on offer, and if you'd like to share any reminiscences relating to them, feel perfectly free to do so.

This was either the last issue bought while in the house we'd lived in for only 15 months, or the first one
bought in the house we moved to.  My uncertainty is because TV21 seems to have gone on sale only three
days before the cover date, whereas most British comics traditionally came out the week before

DETECTIVE COMICS #27...

Images copyright DC COMICS

DETECTIVE COMICS #27 is the first of The NEW 52 series that I've actually bothered reading and, for the most part, I actually enjoyed it.  I bought a few early issues of the relaunched titles when they first came out, but after browsing through them, felt less then compelled to devote any serious attention to them.  (And this from a guy who loves comics and wants to read them.)  They just seemed so pretentious - and underwhelming.

However, I liked this issue's cover, so I brought it home from a local Glasgow comicbook store several weeks back and have just got 'round to reading it recently.  The mag celebrates The BATMAN's history and contains 7 stories, the first of which is called - aw, you guessed - "The CASE Of The CHEMICAL SYNDICATE!"  There are several pin-ups from various creators which are worth seeing, so if you're lucky, your local comics shop might yet have an odd copy or two lingering on the shelves.

You know what?  I may even buy #28 & 29, as one of the stories is a three-part tale.  It's a long time since I've felt like that about a modern comic, that's for sure.