Wednesday, 28 January 2015

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

Copyright relevant owner

As it's fifty years since TV CENTURY 21 first hit the shelves, it's now time to look at anther ten covers of what was arguably Britain's most successful adventure comic for kids (at least, it certainly was at the time).  ALAN FENNELL was the editor for the first two or three years of the comic's lifespan and it was probably never better than when under his stewardship.  Hard to believe that it's been almost a quarter of a century since some of these strips enjoyed a new lease of life for a new audience in the early '90s, in the pages of THUNDERBIRDS THE COMIC, with Alan once again being the man at the helm.  (Very fitting, I thought, and nicely bringing things full circle.)

However, that's enough verbal reminiscing for the moment.  It's now time to indulge our nostalgia by paying attention to the pretty piccies.  Got a favourite?  Don't be shy now - be sure and let your fellow Criv-ites know!









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9 comments:

  1. John Pitt28 January 2015 at 12:31

    "Got a favourite?" - THE DALEKS FACE EXTINCTION! of course! - which incidentally is a photo of the Dalek leader from the second movie, DALEKS!-INVASION EARTH, 2150 AD. There was also a GOLD Dalek in the movie, but he obeyed the black Dalek!
    The DALEKS didn't have nearly enough cover shots and it was always doubly exciting whenever they did appear on the front!

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  2. Kid28 January 2015 at 12:58

    You're right, JP - there were never enough Dalek photos. I remember desecrating a cover in late '65 for a pic of the Daleks, to make a calendar in school for the following year. Believe it or not (thicko that I was), that was the first time I knew what year it was. I thought it had always been 1965 and that, 1966 would revert back to '65 at some stage. Always had a problem with time passing, for some reason.

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  3. Anonymous28 January 2015 at 14:28

    I was born in '66, Kid, so I'm glad it didn't revert back to '65 ! But what do you mean "arguably Britain's most successful comic paper for kids" - I'd say The Beano was a teeny weeny bit more successful.

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  4. John Pitt28 January 2015 at 14:29

    Were there ever any Thunderbirds sweet cigarette cards? For some strange reason I can't look at the TB covers without remembering the taste and smell of sweet cigarettes!

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  5. Kid28 January 2015 at 14:45

    The Beano's not an adventure comic, CJ, and I meant comic paper 'of its kind'. However, in 1965, I suspect that TV21 initially outsold The Beano. (Or at least outsold any similar type of adventure comic.) Hey, and I did say 'arguably', knowing that you probably would. Certainly, in terms of longevity, The Beano is king.

    ******

    I think there was, JP - and I may even have a pic of the packet. I'll have to look.

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  6. Unknown28 January 2015 at 16:56

    John - Barrats did 2 series of Thunderbird candy cigarettes (with cards of course ) you can see them via the link at the bottom of my reply.

    I never bought TV21 when it was in this format, however I have seen a few of them in comic shops etc and they are very striking - for some reason I was never a fan of comic strips of TV shows Im the same today (films and book versions Im fine with) - I did pick up TV21 when it went to a newsprint version and featured a few Marvel strips (Spider-Man, Silver Surfer, Rawhide Kid etc) and it looked a bit like Dez Skinns Marvel comic (to me at least) in some ways but by then it was certainly not the comic it used to be by all accounts.

    Cards
    http://www.thunderbirdsvintagetoys.co.uk/BarrattSweets.htm

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    Replies
    1. John Pitt28 January 2015 at 21:02

      Thanks McScotty, the linkmaster as usual! You missed out on the best years of TV21 then. The TV21 you bought was interesting in another way though - because it was kind of like a 6th Power comic - taking over from Smash,after Marvel disappeared from it.

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  7. Kid28 January 2015 at 18:50

    You trying to put this blog outta business, McScotty? How much is he paying you? I'll double it! (just because you're paranoid doesn't mean they're not out to get you.)

    That version of TV21 was a pale imitation of what the comic had once been, alas. Overall, the comic lasted around six years, so I guess they made a bit of money on it.

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  8. Kid28 January 2015 at 22:41

    It wasn't quite as good as that, JP, because as well as resizing the pages, they redialogued the balloons and captions. The comic did fill a gap between the Power Comics and MWOM & SMCW 'though.

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