Century 21 Reprint Books To Continue

With the folding of the British book publisher Reynolds and Hearn earlier this year, the continuation of the series of books reprinting comic strips from the 1960s TV Century 21 comic looked to be in severe doubt. Reynolds and Hearne had published four volumes of the series before the company was put into voluntary liquidation and had two further titles scheduled before the end of 2010 - Volume 5: They Walk Among Us and a Gerry Anderson Century 21 annual for 2011 (which was expected to be similar to the main volumes but reprinting annual strips).

Despite Amazon still listing them, these will not now be published - at least not by Reynolds and Hearn.

Marcus Hearn has set up his own publishing company named Signum Books and is planning to continue the Century 21 books at Signum. The first Signum book to be published is an autobiography entitled From Thunderbirds To Pterodactyls by actor Shane Rimmer who was the voice of Thunderbird 1 pilot Scott Tracy in the Thunderbirds TV series as well as appearing in many films over the years including The Spy Who Loved Me and Batman Begins. This book will be launched next weekend, 23-24 October 2010, at the Fanderson convention TV21 being held in Bristol.

As for the Century 21 volumes, the Signum Books website indicates that the series will be relaunched with the full support of Gerry Anderson by Signum in 2011. The website also includes a history of the comic by author Chris Bentley.

There are more details on Signum Books at their website.

Century 21 Collection News

Details of the strips in Century 21 Volume 4 - the latest in a great series of books from Reynolds & Hearn featuring some of the best strips from the Gerry Anderson-inspired weekly comic TV Century 21 and other comics - have just been released.

FIREBALL XL5: Timeslip - Art by Mike Noble
FIREBALL XL5: The Sword of Damacles - Art by Mike Noble
STINGRAY: The Flying Fish - Art by Ron Embleton
THUNDERBIRDS: Destination Sun - Art by Frank Bellamy and Don Harley

THUNDERBIRDS: The Quake Maker - Art by Frank Bellamy
ZERO X: The Ghosts of Saturn - Art by Mike Noble
CAPTAIN SCARLET: Unity - Art by Ron Embleton
CAPTAIN SCARLET: Satellite 4 - Art by Ron Embleton
UFO: The Movies - Art by Martin Asbury

The book is available in paperback (ISBN 978 1 904674 15 3) from all good bookshops but there's also a limited edition hardback (ISBN 978 1 904674 14 6) on offer only from the publisher's web site (www.rhbooks.com), signed by Thunderbirds creator Gerry Anderson.


Reynolds & Hearn have also announced that their Century 21 Annual 2011 - collecting stories from the classic TV Century 21 annuals from the 1960s - will now go ahead next year after all. Expect to see the book released in August. The released dummy cover, left comprises images from several of the original annual covers.

Century 21 Strip Collection Details Revelead!

Trailed here back in July, publishers Reynolds & Hearn have kindly given downthetubes the lowdown on the strips that will feature in their third volume of Gerry Anderson comic strips, most taken from the brilliant 1960s comic TV Century 21, due for release in a few short weeks.

Launched in 1965 to capitalise on the success of Gerry Anderson's television series Fireball XL5 and Stingray, TV Century 21 offered a colourful mix of space age stories that later included Thunderbirds and Captain Scarlet alongside other Supermarionation favourites from the Anderson studios.

Sub-titled Escape from Aquatraz, this third collection, featuring many pages reproduced from original artwork unseen for over 40 years, includes strips by artists such as Frank Bellamy, Ron Embleton, Frank Hampson, Mike Noble and Ron Turner. Each story has been meticulously restored and the book features an introduction by Chris Bentley and the volume includes a fine UFO strip from the pages of 1970s comic, Countdown, published by Polystyle who also produced TV Comic.

The strip list is as follows (most story titles are newly created as the original comic did not feature them):

• Stingray - Escape from Aquatraz (Script: Alan Fennell Art: Ron Embleton, originally published in TV Century 21 issues 31-44, August-November 2065)

Snowmen attack in TV Century 21 Issue 35! Art by Mike Noble

• Fireball XL5 - The Abominable Snowmen (Script: Alan Fennell Art: Mike Noble, originally published in TV Century 21 issues 34-39, September-October 2065)

(This is a hugely popular story with Fireball XL5 fans featuring aliens that literally turn their foes into snowmen!)

• Thunderbirds - Atomic Runaway (Script: Scott Goodall Art: Frank Bellamy, originally published in TV21 and TV Tornado issues 192-196, September-October 2068)

• Captain Scarlet - The Deadly Sea (Script: Howard Elson Art: Ron Turner, originally published in the TV Century 21 annual, September 1968)

• Zero X - The Hollow Men (Script: Angus P Allan Art: Mike Noble, originally published in TV21 and TV Tornado issues 197-202, October-November 2068)

• Stingray - Icebreaker (Script: Alan Fennell Art: Ron Embleton, originally published in TV Century 21 issues 45-51, November 2065-January 2066)

Frank Bellamy's Thunderbirds, from TV21 and TV Tornado Issue 198

• Thunderbirds - Atoll of Doom (Script: Scott Goodall Art: Frank Bellamy, originally published in TV21 and TV Tornado issues 197-202, October-November 2068)

• Zero-X- WaxWorld (Script: Angus P Allan Art: Mike Noble, originally published in TV21 and TV Tornado issues 210-217, January-March 2069)

• Fireball XL5 - Mystery of the Magnetoid (Script: Alan Fennell Art: Mike Noble, originally published in TV Cenrury 21 issues 40-43, October-November 2065)

• Captain Scarlet - The Banner Vine (Script: Scott Goodall Art: Mike Noble, originally published in TV21 issues 176-177, June 2068)

• Thunderbirds - The Manafu Trench (Script: Scott Goodall Art: Frank Bellamy, originally published in TV21 and TV Tornado issues 239-242, August-September 2069)

• UFO - The Colour is Green (Script: Dennis Hooper Art: Brian Lewis, originally published in Countdown issue 43, December 1971)

• Gerry Anderson's Century 21: v. 3: Escape from Aquatraz is on sale 30 November: buy it from amazon.co.uk


Also Available from Reynolds & Hearn:


• Buy Century 21: Classic Comic Strips from the Worlds of Gerry Anderson Volume 1 from Amazon.co.uk

• Buy Century 21: Classic Comic Strips from the Worlds of Gerry Andserson Volume 2 from amazon.co.uk

• Buy Gerry Anderson's UFO: The Technical Manual from amazon.co.uk

• Reynolds & Hearn web site

New Century 21 Cover Exposed

Publishers Reynolds & Hearn have just given us a 'first look' at the cover of their third collection of comics from 1960s comic TV Century 21.

Titled Escape from Aquatraz, it features the submarine Stingray, as realized by the late, great Ron Embleton.

This volume will hopefully emulate the success of the company's first two volumes, which feature a range of superb strips from the classic British comics TV Century 21 and Lady Penelope.

Also just released by R&H is the UFO Technical Manual, which, if you buy it from their web site, comes with a free Skydiver poster.

In the early 1980s, Earth was engaged in a deadly war against hostile extra-terrestrial aliens from a dying world. Unbeknown to the general population, our only line of defence in that war was a secret paramilitary organisation with a manned lunar outpost and headquarters hidden beneath a British film studio. This organisation maintained a fleet of advanced vehicles and spacecraft in order to combat the alien menace - a secret army of sophisticated hardware on constant patrol on land, in the sky, under the sea and far out in the depths of space.

Now, 30 years on, details of that secret war are finally emerging with the publication of the previously top secret documents of SHADO - the Supreme Headquarters Alien Defence Organisation. Within these pages, spectacular computer-generated illustrations and plan views of the many SHADO vehicles reveal the organisation's incredible machinery and weaponry, together with verified accounts of the role played by that hardware in the defence of the Earth.

• S.I.D. - Space Intruder Detector advance warning satellite maintaining scan for UFOs
• Skydiver - nuclear-powered submarine on patrol beneath the world's oceans
• Sky One - supersonic strike aircraft ready for action in Earth's atmosphere
• Mobiles - amphibious ground vehicles with overwhelming firepower
• Space Interceptors - first line defence spacecraft based on the Moon

Gerry Anderson's UFO Technical Manual celebrates the 40th anniversary of the ground-breaking live-action adventure series UFO, which originally captured the imaginations of television viewers in the early 1970s and has gone on to become one of British TV's best-loved and most highly-regarded science fiction programmes.

• Buy Century 21: Classic Comic Strips from the Worlds of Gerry Anderson Volume 1 from Amazon.co.uk

• Buy Century 21: Classic Comic Strips from the Worlds of Gerry Andserson Volume 2 from amazon.co.uk

• Buy Gerry Anderson's UFO: The Technical Manual from amazon.co.uk - But don't forget, the Skydiver poster is only offered via the Reynolds & Hearn web site

Gerry Anderson at Forbidden Planet

(Date Updated): Gerry Anderson, who is 80 on 14th April, will be making a public appearance at the Forbidden Planet flagship store in Shaftesbury Avenue, London, on Saturday 18th April, from 1.00pm.

He'll be there to sign copies of Reynolds and Hearn's two Century 21: Classic Comics books, which will have just been published (see news story).

(Thanks to FP for corrected date info)