Century 21: Classic Comic Strips From the Worlds of Gerry Anderson

Volume 1, Adventure In The 21^st Century ISBN: 9781905287932

Volume 2, Invasion In The 21^st Century ISBN: 9781905287949

Volume 3, Escape From Aquatraz ISBN: 9781904674085

Volume 4, Above & Beyond ISBN: 9781904674153

The first thing I need to mention before this post gets going is my absolute ignorance of all things Anderson. I don’t recall ever seeing a single episode of any of the puppet shows and in broad terms, the premise of the shows were not known to me.

So the obvious question is: Why would I buy these four volumes if I have no interest in the Anderson Universe?

The short answer is: Frank Bellamy. But there is a little more to it than that. It’s no secret that I’m a big fan of British comics from the 50s to the 70s and the talent that was involved in these strips in incredible. The Anderson shows were a huge phenomenon in the 60s, so it makes sense that the talent employed to further these characters adventures in a comic strip was the cream of the crop. In these pages you’ll find strips from Ron Embleton, Mike Noble, Don Harley and of course, Frank Bellamy to name a few. But, getting back to that short answer, for me at least, Frank Bellamy is the deal clincher.

Again, it’s no secret that I’m totally in love with Bellamy’s art. Regardless of the other strips reprinted I’d still want to own the few pages of his strips that are in each volume. Bellamy worked on the Thunderbirds strips and these are well represented in these books and they are an absolute joy to behold. I believe that these strips highlight some of Bellamy’s best work and any one interested in his art should really take a look at these books.



Frank Bellamy Thunderbirds strip. Scan from original comic. Bellamy draws the best explosions I've ever seen.



But the other strips don’t fall short either. I was particularly impressed by Mike Noble’s contributions, but every strip has merits. It’s to be expected, these strips aren’t reproduced in any particular order, they’re essentially cherry picked by Chris Bentley, the editor, from either the best or generally most interesting strips that appeared over the run of the original comic. In most instances the reading order is unimportant, but there are a couple of moments, particularly with the Fireball XL5 strip, when it’s obvious that a story printed in volume four takes place directly before a story reprinted in volume two. It’s not a big deal though, even for a reader like myself, who has no previous knowledge of any of the strips or characters, the writers are able to put enough subtle back story into the strips that you feel you have a grasp of the characters and situations almost instantly.

In the introduction for the first volume written by Chris Bentley, we’re told that a considerable amount of the original art was available for these reprint editions. Whilst all of the pages are reproduced to a high standard, there was one instance when, mid way through a strip, I found myself flipping back to the contents page to see who the second artist on a particular strip was. I was surprised to see that the credits listed only one artist. When I flipped back to the strip I realised that I wasn’t looking at a different artist, I was actually seeing pages that had been reprinted from the original boards, whereas the first few pages of the strip had been reproduced from a copy of the comic because the original art was not available. The difference was incredible. The level of detail that was strikingly obvious in the art board pages was non-existent in the comic pages. I think this speaks volumes for the care and attention taken by the publisher in reprinting the strips to the highest possible standards whenever possible.

There is one glitch with reprinting these strips in this format. Some instalments were printed in the centre spread of the comic. In a floppy comic without a spine, there was no problem printing panels that ran from one page, across the break and onto the opposite page. But because of the spine in these reprints this format doesn’t print in a reader friendly layout. To be honest, there’s not much that can be done about this. The only reasonable options are to artificially create a unprinted strip down the centre of the art to allow the minds eye to patch the parts together, or, as in this case, to create an overlap, so that each page prints a little over half the full image which allows the art to be viewed in spite of the spine crease. It’s a difficult call to make and one that is never going to please everyone. Personally, I’d have rather seen the former option, but it does come down to personal taste.

Unfortunately, the overall quality of the books is a fraction below standard. As I said above, the printing is fantastic, but the paperback editions feel very flimsy (I believe that there are hardback editions available, but my copies and the ISBN’s above are paperback), with lightweight card covers that I’ve protected with plastic covers as you would see on library paperbacks (available from www.bookprotectors.com if you’re interested). I imagine that this decision was made in order to keep the costs down, but I saw a copy on a shelf in Waterstones a while back that looked incredibly worn, so I’d be aware that they won’t stand up to wear and tear too well. This is a shame because the content is fantastic but the package leaves something to be desired.

As ever, there are a couple of down points with these volumes, but I’m sure you’ve noticed that they are all related to the package as opposed to the content. The content is superb, with some of the finest British artists to ever have worked in the medium represented in these books. Anyone interested in a master class of story telling should give these books a go. Recommended.

So this was another one of my purchases that I was unsure of before I started reading it. But all things considered, it’s worked out quite well I think.

Mad Thinker Reads…………..

FAB, SIG, PWOR and any other TLA’s that come to mind.



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Dan Dare by Frank Hampson (Part Four)

Classic Dan Dare (Titan Reprints, Hardback)

Vol 11: The Phantom Fleet – ISBN: 9781848561274

Vol 12: Safari in Space – ISBN: 9781848563728

Vol 13: Trip to Trouble – ISBN: 9781848563667

Phantom Fleet continues a fantastic run of art by Frank Hampson and Don Harley. At this point in the Dare strip the art has reached it’s peak. The story concerns a total communications and radar blackout covering a large section of the Solar System. When the lights come back on, so to speak, there are several high ranking political leaders missing and Sir Hubert Guest is amongst them.

The race is on for Dan and Dig to locate the missing leaders, but all is not as it seems, and the rescue mission turns into diplomatic negotiations. And a larger threat revealed.

This volume offers everything a Dan Dare story should, great art, a well crafted mystery and finally a cover credit for the superb Don Harley.

Safari in Space is the final volume of the Dan Dare reprints that has Frank Hampson’s involvement. It really is bitter sweet, the art, design and storytelling are as good as any comic you will ever read and better than most that are published. The story concerns Dan’s journey into deep space in search of an Earth like planet and, possibly, his Father. This volume contains the stories Safari in Space and it’s continuation, Terra Nova, it has all the gang from previous stories and in many ways could have been the perfect ending to Hampson’s ten year run on Dan Dare.

Unfortunately, it isn’t a perfect ending, in fact Hampson isn’t able to provide us with an ending at all. Frank left the strip part way through the Terra Nova story, with the plot far from resolved (it isn’t tied up until half way through the next volume) It was left in the hands of others, and as skilled as those hands are, they do not have the same vision as Mr. Hampson.

Originally, I didn’t intend to purchase the 13^th volume, Trip to Trouble, but when I realised that

a) it completed the story that began in the previous volume, and

b) by owning it, I would have all of the Dan Dare stories produced by Hampson’s successor, Frank Bellamy,

there really was no choice I had to own it.

But it gets complicated. The first part of this volume completes the story from Safari in Space and the second part tells a complete tale called Project Nimbus. The writing of trip to Trouble is weak, Hampson set up a great many plot threads and mysteries which are either ignored or resolved all too quickly, which is all the more bitter as this could have ended as one of the greatest Dan Dare epics in the history of the strip. Combine this with the jarring visuals and this volume is a difficult story to read.

I need to make it clear that Frank Bellamy is one of the top five illustrators of comics ever, there are few people able to match his skill, and whilst there are those that would disagree, I think that the Dan Dare strips he produced are some of the finest work that he has ever done. But, the style changes dramatically between every page, and that isn’t an exaggeration. As you may know, Dan Dare was produced as two pages every week, one of those being the front page/cover of the comic. The front page was produced in the old, Hampson style, the second page looks as though it was drawn entirely by Bellamy in his own manner and whilst both pages are gorgeous, they do clash, particularly the look of Dan himself, Bellamy’s Dan looks very different indeed and I found it very distracting.

Unfortunately, with Hampson gone, a change of ownership for the Eagle’s publisher and the end of the story arc finishing with Trip to Trouble, it was decided that the Dan Dare strip needed a shake up. The editorial decision was made to “update” the Dan Dare world, this was easily accomplished by having Dan and crew return to Earth some considerable time after leaving it without having aged themselves (a probable effect of Near FTL travel as imagined in 1959) and also handing the artistic reigns to Bellamy, along with the order to modernize the look of the strip.

Everything is different. It is a shock, it’s like reading a totally different strip. It is impressive, it is beautifully drawn and interestingly designed, but combined with the solid, but not quite Hampson quality writing, the story flounders and I believe the readership were unhappy with the results.

It’s worth noting that after completing Project Nimbus, the only story that could be described as pure Bellamy, Bellamy was no longer drawing the strip, hence my earlier comment regarding owning the complete Bellamy Dare. I have no idea whether he left by choice or was forced out. It doesn’t matter, the Golden Age of Dan Dare was over, never to be recaptured again.