I'm having another spate of clearing boxes at
downthetubes, and the following items are currently being offered on ebay... Sales help keep us going, especially at present.
Pictures of all offered items can be found here on Flickr• 1967 Lady Penelope AnnualFeaturing comic strips as follows:
Lady Penelope ("Adventure in Bereznik" - the fictional Iron Curtain country that was the nemesis of heroes in both
TV21 and Lady Penelope comics - "The Million Pound Lipstick" and "Lady Penelope versus The Fox");
The Girl from U.N.C.L.E ("Academy of Thrush Agents");
Marina ("Menace in the Weed");
The Man from U.N.C.L.E. ("Caribbean Caper");
Perils of Parker;
Creighton-Ward ("Night of Suspense");
Daktari; and
What Did That Dog Say?. Plus some text stories
Features: Biographies of Lady Penelope Creightion-Ward and 'Nosey' Parker; the secrets of Creighton-Ward Mansion; Graphology feature interpreting the personalities of the
Thunderbirds team (you didn't know puppets could hold a pen, did you?); fashion and horoscope pages; pin ups of Davy Jones, Mike Nesmith (from the Monkees)
• 1968 Lady Penelope AnnualFeaturing comic strips as follows:
Lady Penelope in "Symphony of Death", "Duel in the Jungle" and "Sabotage Session";
Captain Scarlet's
Angels in "Apres Ski";
The Monkees ("Once Upon A Time");
Perils of Parker";
Bewitched;
What Did That Dog Say;
The Spectrum, the band that sand the Captain Scarlet outro song;) and some text stories, including an Angels story with
Captain Scarlet pictures, "Deadly Decoy"
Features: "Changing Gear", featuring photos of various models of the time charting fashion across the years; an interview with The Tremeloes; a Beatles diary, charting highlights of the band's success from 1964 to 1968; "Odd Jobs" reporting on women such as Janet Rice, racing driver, Jean Lincoln, pop star manager and stunt girl Connie Tilton; "Pop Goes the Alphabet", noting top acts of the year; "Behind the Scenes" reporting on music recording in London's famous music mecca, Denmark Street;
plus pin up pages of the Beach Boys, Bee Gees, Dave, Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick and Titch; plus recipe, fashion tip and quiz pages ("How Do You Rate as a Friend?")
• 1968 Project SWORD AnnualBased on a Century 21 merchandise range that spawned its own comic strip material in
TV Century 21, it's my understanding this annual is considered something of a rarity among Gerry Anderson fans. The setting of the story is 3031, at a point in Earth's history when major natural disaster had ravaged the planet. Whether there was ever any intention to bring make this toy range the basis for a TV show by Gerry Anderson, creator of
Thunderbirds and
Captain Scarlet, remains a matter of speculation. It has some echoes with his later projects such as
Space:1999, for example.
The annual comprises a mix of comic strip and text stories plus background features on the origin of Project S.W.O.R.D., utlising stills from
2001: A Space Odyssey and blueprints of S.W.O.R.D. vehicles - The Scramble Bug, the Booster Rocket, Moon Prospector, Moon Bus, Hovertank and Survey Vehicle.
There are also mini features on contemporary space travel including an item on the Apollo rocket. One feature of note is a "bio" section of the SWORD team featuring photographs of the characters - presumably members of
Century 21's editorial staff and friends since there was never a show based on the toy range?
• 1966 Thunderbirds Television Story BookComprising largely of text stories and some comic strips, plus one fab feature - make a working model of Thunderbird Four. Something of an oddity but the art is competent throughout in a style on a par with the quality of strips in the comic
TV21.• Thunderbirds Annual 1966Cover by Frank Bellamy comprising comic strip, text stories, puzzlesand "real world" emergency features. Plenty of
Thunderbirds pictures. Features include profiles of the Tracy brothers and father Jeff, Kyrano, Tin Tin, Lady Penelope, Parker and The Hood; cutaways of Thunderbird 1, 3 and 5, an item on the Thunderbird launch sequences (some scribbling on these)
• Thunderbirds Annual 1968Comprising comic strip, text stories, games and "real world" emergency features. Strips feature art by Ron Turner and other TV21 regulars. One feature recaps the TV adventures of
Thunderbirds as well as comic strip stories from Century 21's weekly titles such as one featuring an abominable snowman. There's plenty of
Thunderbirds photographs throughout the book.
• Stingray Annual 1966featuring a cover by Ron Embleton and a variety of comic strips (including "The Collector", drawn by Ron Turner) and text stories. The annual also features a number of background features on the technology featured in the show including items on Marineville's "Hydromic Missiles" (made of new alloy, Prexfreos - try saying that three times quickly), Marineville (sadly one page of this feature is missing), sea prison Aquatraz, Titan's Terror Fish but not, strangely, Stingray itself. This particular annual is not the best from my small collection, having suffered at the hads of its original owner with all puzzle pages completed and scribbling on some pages. Pages 33-34 (part of a Marineville feature) are missing.
• British War Comics (War and Battle Picture Library and MoreA selection British "pocket digest" war comics from various publishers.
Commando was first published in the early 1960s and continues to this day, but the other titles are long gone, their lurid covers, some great pieces of art in themselves no longer part of Britain's newsagent stands. Many of the issues in the lot are first publication but some are reprints of earlier titles.
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Commando comics published by DC Thomson comprising Issues 1015 ("Forgotten Sergeant", reprint of issue first published in 1968), 1024 ("Battle-Squad", published in 1976), 1049 ("Pacific Pirates, cover by Ian Kennedy), 1052 ("No Way But Down", published in 1976), 1536 ("Defend to the Last", published in 1981) and 1538 ("Devil Fish", published in 1981). The stories cover all three British forces in a mix of conflicts from World War Two.
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Combat Picture Library (Issue 770, "Total Death", pubished by Micron in 1970)
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Pocket War Library (Issue 123, "Terrible Task"), published by Top Sellers
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Battle Picture Library published by IPC Magazines in the 1970s and early 1980s: Issue 997 ("Clipped Wings"); 1008 ("Wolf Patrol"); 1018 ("Zone of Conflict"); 1027 ("These Men Are Dangerous"); 1028 ("Blockade Runner"); 1031 ("Stand Up and Fight"); 1209 ("Dead Heat"); 1212 ("Total War"); 1389 ("The Stronghold"); 1412 ("Men Without Mercy"); 1418 ("War of Nerves"); 1438 ("Battle Call"); 1508 ("Relic of the Sands").
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War Picture Library Titles published by IPC Magazines in the 1970s and early 1980s: 1195 ("Certain Death"); 1202 ("Second Sight"); 1206 ("No Hiding Place"); 1245 ("Commandos Die Hard"); 1247 ("Desert Patrol"); 1249 ("The Hero"); 1255 ("Fire Trap", published 1976); 1254 ("Run For Your Life"); 1258 ("Battle Drop"), Issue 1264 ("The Dark Jungle"); 1275 ("Ground Support")
• Signed "Commander Ivanova" Babyon 5 CCG Game Card and moreOver 100 individual
Babylon 5 Customisable Card Game Cards including an "Ivanova" card signed by actress Claudia Christian (given away with the game's "Deluxe Edition"). Plus some 40 or so duplicates.
• During a short interview for an upcoming issue of Star Trek Magazine about his new IDW comic, Alien Spotlight – Romulans, Ian Edginton also gave me a quick run down on his other current projects. As usual, the acclaimed writer of series such as Scarlet Traces is as busy as ever. "I’m part way through new series of Stickleback, Red Seas and Ampney Crucis Investigates for 2000AD, and I’ve also just finished a four-part Judge Dredd that’s been drawn by Dave Taylor and it looks just astonishing!" he reveals.
• Talking of comics writing, Richard Starkings, former Marvel UK editor and now First Tiger at US lettering company Comicraft as well as writer of hit US comic series Elephantmen, reports he is working on Doctor Who comic strip once again. Richard, who edited (and wrote some of) the Doctor Who Magazine comic strip in the 1980s, is scripting a
