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Perhaps it should come as no surprise that Countdown lasted only 58 issues before being relaunched as TV Action, given the fact that, despite top-notch artists working on the comic, the extremely tight deadlines meant they couldn't always devote the necessary time or attention to the art, which was sometimes devoid of detail. Shortcuts were taken and some of the strips occasionally looked rushed - mainly because they were.
Take a look at the panel on show below. I find the art curiously uninvolving, and I've never liked these 'half faces' since* - regardless of whether they were as a result of stylistic choice, or because the artist had little or no time to lavish on his artwork. Harry Lindfield (oddly uncredited) was responsible for this particular example, but though the pages were colourful and well-drawn, they lacked a certain something overall. Not the artist's fault really, as he was working under extreme conditions, but such an approach probably didn't help the comic.
(*I say 'since', but I probably first saw this type of thing in 1966 in Frank Bellamy's Thunderbirds, which was never my favourite strip in TV Century 21. He painted pretty skies, but his depictions of the craft weren't always accurate, and his 'half' drawings similar to the one below didn't appeal to me.)
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| Half page from Countdown #39 |
I passed on Countdown when it first came out, but started picking it up when Fireball XL5 and Stingray reprints began. No one could quibble about the quality of Mike Noble's or Ron Embleton's art, but perhaps the fact they were reprints that some readers still remembered meant that they weren't the draw (npi) they should've been. Especially as in 1971 Gerry Anderson-related material didn't seem to be the attraction it had once been.
So - 58 issues of Countdown, 74 of TV Action - 132 issues in all. That's better than Fantastic, Terrific, Thunder, Jet, and other weeklies managed, yet those of us who bought them at the time still fondly recall those titles from our youth. And it's the same with Countdown and TV Action, which despite its flaws, deserved to have been around a lot longer than it actually was.
If you were a fan of the periodical, then you may enjoy Steve Holland's book about it, which tells you everything you ever needed to know (and a few things you didn't). You can order by clicking here.
