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By the time the TV21 Annual for 1973 hit the shops, it was a far different yearly publication than it had once been. For a start, gone were all the GERRY ANDERSON related stories and in their place were strips typical of just about any other book for boys. The one exception to blandness was STAR TREK, which maintained the outer space theme once represented by FIREBALL XL5, ZERO X, and even, to some degree, THUNDERBIRDS. (The previous two Annuals had also lacked any 'CENTURY 21' content.)
So, let's take a look at the first of two ST strips which appeared in the last-ever Annual of what had, for a time, been the best-selling children's publication to grace the counters of Britain's newsagents. I'll present the second titanic tale soon, so keep your palpitatin' peepers peeled for those pulse-pounding pages.
No Anderson? No Marvel? By now it seems Star Trek was the ONLY thing left in TV21!
ReplyDeleteWhat a crying shame for this to happen to one of Britain's finest!
The cover of the Annual for '71 claims to include Joe 90, but he appears nowhere inside. Yeah, I don't think I've ever seen another comic change its identity in such a radical way, JP.
ReplyDeleteThat'll be because when TV21 absorbed Joe 90, it absorbed several strips EXCEPT Joe 90 - the very ON.E that actually belonged in TV21!?!?
DeleteThank goodness Countdown/TV Action came along!!
Actually, when TV21 and Joe 90 merged, the comic DID include the Joe 90 strip, JP. Also, the name isn't used as a sub-title on the annual cover - it's listed as a strip included in the book (along with Star Trek, The Saint, etc) - but it's nowhere to be seen inside.
ReplyDeleteI've got fond memories of a couple of Star Trek annuals I had in the mid '70s - I was sure I remembered the cover for the 1976 one but when I looked at a cover gallery of the Star Trek annuals it wasn't what I was thinking of. That picture of the Enterprise on the TV21 annual cover looks a bit odd - the saucer section is too small.
ReplyDeleteThere's a lot more than that wrong with it, CJ - the perspective is all wrong as well!
ReplyDeleteI think I recall that Enterprise is a recycled panel, the perspective being deliberately distorted for the original context. I could be wrong though, there's a kind of Ron Turner look about the first one and I couldn't turn anything up like it with a search.
ReplyDeleteIt does have a kind of Ron Turner look about it, but more so on the splash page than on the cover - even 'though it's the same illustration. Strange, that.
ReplyDeleteHa ha, just found one of these at a car boot sale. Lovely cover! Shame about the content. TV21 and Century 21 - how could it all end so quickly?
ReplyDeleteAlso, how could it all end so badly? Great start, poor finish. Such is life, I suppose.
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