Thunderbirds Comic Anthology Volume 1 and 2 - Anderson Entertainment's reprints

Volume Two. Cover by Lee Sullivan

It's arrived! The second volume of the complete reprinting of all Frank Bellamy's "Thunderbirds" stories from TV21 comic...well nearly all. I'll explain shortly, I neglected to review Volume One so that appears at the end of this article especially as most of what I want to say applies to both.

CONTENTS of Volume Two

•      Feature: Thunderbirds in TV Century 21 - 1967
• Operation Earthquake Issues #118 - #124 (22 April to 3 June 1967) 
• Tracy Island Exposed Issues #125 - #129 (10 June to 8 July 1967) 
• The Revolution Issues #130 - #136 (15 July to 26 August 1967) 
• The Space Mirror Issues #137 - #140 (2 September to 23 September 1967) 
•      Feature: In Profile - Frank Bellamy
• The Earthquake Maker Issues #141 - #146 (30 September to 4 November 1967) 
• Visitor from Space Issues #147 - #154 (11 November to 30 December 1967) 
• The Antarctic Menace Issues #155 - #161 (6 January to 17 February 1968) 
• Brains is Dead Issues #162 - #169 (24 February to 13 April 1968) 
•      Feature: Thunderbirds in TV Century 21 - 1968
• The Space Cannon Issues #170 - #172 (20 April to 4 May 1968) 
• The Olympic Kidnap Plot Issues #173 - #178 (11 May to 15 June 1968) 
• Revolt on Jupiter Issues #179 - #183 (22 June to 20 July 1968) 
• Devil's Crag Issues #184 - #187 (27 July to 17 August 1968) 
• The Eiffel Tower Demolition Issues #188 - #191 (24 August to 14 September 1968) 
• The Nuclear Threat Issues #192 - #196 (21 September to 19 October 1968)
•      Feature: In Profile - Scott Goodall
• The Hawaiian Lobster Menace Issues #197 - #202 (26 October to 30 November 1968)
• The Time Machine Issues #203 - #208 (7 December 1968 to 11 January 1969)
• The Zoo Ship Issues #209 - #217 (18 January to 15 March 1969)
•      Feature: Thunderbirds in TV Century 21 - 1969
• City of Doom Issues #218 - #226 (22 March to 17 May 1969)
• Chain Reaction Issues #227 - #234 (24 May to 12 July 1969)
• Jungle Adventure Issues #235 - #238 (19 July to 9 August 1969)
• Danger in the Deep Issues #239 - #242 (16 August to 6 September 1969)
•      Feature: Annual Assignments

As you can see there are six features interspersed between Thunderbirds stories and I like what Fred McNamara has done in describing the changes in story content from year to year - covered by this reprint. The two page biography of Frank Bellamy is sparse but welcome, however Swift was not seen as "girls-orientated" - that would be Girl. Swift was for younger readers than Eagle. I'm glad to see Fred McNamara has corrected an earlier error he made in an online article and returned Bellamy to the Royal Artillery (and not the RAF!). He must get credit for apologising for his "Nancy Wilson" error in Volume One of these reprints - nice touch! I enjoyed the articles which are very well-written and some insights are useful. I was surprised the Thunderbirds Annuals - mentioned in an article reviewing the contents - were not illustrated as TV21 covers had been shown in Volume One. But perhaps space constraints led to this omission. 

Now to my main concern with both volumes. It's the colour.  TV21 changed printing but not printer later in its initial run and the decline in quality from shiny glossy paper to a 'flat' paper was obvious, even to a kid like me at the time. With each reprint of Thunderbirds we see a few issues: the loss of the centre of a two page centre-spread and the murky colours presented. If we compare some of the previous reprints one can see the problem. BUT I must state I am absolutely no expert in this area. I have merely scanned each piece on an A4 Epson scanner without changing any settings or cropping etc.. 

TV21 #163 p.10

TV21 #163 p.10 Original FADED artwork

TV21 #163 p.10from Egmont's Thunderbirds Volume 2 

 

TV21 #163 p.10 from Thunderbirds Comic Anthology Volume Two

I think the nearest to the original might be Ravette's Thunderbirds: Shock Wave and I suspect they lightened all the artwork. We can see the burial in space with the figures clearly visible.

TV21 #163 p.10 from Thunderbirds:Shockwave

As I've said many times I know that viewing anything on a monitor versus the printed output are different and a digital scan versus the original photographed artwork reproduced in photogravure is different again!

Tim Keable kindly gave me permission to show his photo of the original artwork for the next page showing a huge Hood portrait. 

Photo of the original art for page 11 of TV21 #163

Compare this to the scan I made of the same in the volume discussed here - I realise it's not a fair comparison but I wanted to show those who have never seen Bellamy's original artwork how clear his colours were compared to some of the original printing and later reprints.

Page 105

and the Ravette version... 

TV21 #163 p.11 from Thunderbirds:Shockwave

Again I realise how much work has gone into this production and don't want to appear mean, I just would love to see a 'cleaner' brighter version which shows off Bellamy's artwork at its best. Unfortunately as any cursory read of this blog shows, many originals are faded so - although we might see the linework - the colours are gone or near gone on so many originals.

So the PROS are that we have an almost complete reprint of Frank Bellamy's Thunderbirds comic strip in these two volumes - we are still waiting for TV21 & Joe 90 #1-4 (27 September 1969 - 18 October 1969) - the start of the new series before Bellamy left altogether - will this appear in another volume from Anderson Entertainment reprinting the 38 stories from TV21 & Joe90?. The issue with the centre gutter soon disappears as Bellamy changed his art to be two separate pages in lieu of a centre-spread of two pages. It's great to be able to grab two books and get all the stories in one place. The CONS are basically the colours, although they emulate many other reprintings in this, I wish they had been lightened more. 

BIBLIOGRAPHIC DETAILS (Volume Two)

• Features writer and researcher: Fred McNamara
• Layout and strip restoration: Robert Hammond
• Cover art: Lee Sullivan
• Cover design: Robert Hammond
• Publisher: Anderson Entertainment 
• Format: Hardcover (printed), 304 x 228 mm (portrait)
• Pagination: 248 pages
• Publishing Date: June 2026 
• ISBN: 9781917142151 
• Price: £37.99 

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 Thunderbirds Comic Anthology Volume One

Cover by Lee Sullivan

CONTENTS OF VOLUME ONE

•      Feature: 21st Century Elegance 
•  Mr. Steelman Issues #1–#11 (23 January to 3 April 1965) Artist: Eric Eden. 
• Behind Enemy Lines Issues #12–#18 (10 April to 22 May 1965) Artist: Eric Eden. 
• The Astran Assassination Issue #19 (29 May 1965) Artist: Eric Eden. 
• Mr. Steelman Strikes Back Issues #20–#34 (5 June to 11 September 1965) Artist: Eric Eden. 
•      Feature: In Profile – Eric Eden 
•  The Isle of Arran Riddle Issues #35–#43 (18 September to 13 November 1965) Artist: Eric Eden.
• The Vanishing Ray Issues #44–#51 (20 November 1965 to 8 January 1966) Artist: Eric Eden.
•      Feature: In Profile – Alan Fennell 
•      Feature: Rescue Stations 
• Blazing Danger Issues #52–#58 (15 January to 26 February 1966)
• Mission to Africa Issues #59-#65 (5 March to 16 April 1966)
• Talons of the Eagle Issues #66-#72 (23 April to 4 June 1966)
•      Feature: Renegades, Gambles & Outlaws
• Atlantic Tunnel Issues #73-#82 (11 June to 13 August 1966)
• Solar Danger Issues #83-#98 (20 August to 3 December 1966) Artists: Frank Bellamy (#83-#92); Don Harley (#93-#98)
• The Big Freeze Issues #99-#104 (10 December 1965 to 14 January 1966)
• Operation Depthprobe Issues #105-#109 (21 January to 18 February 1967)
• The Trapped Spy Issues #110-#117 (25 February to 15 April 1967)
•      Feature: Targeted Hardbacks 

This volume starts with the TV21 "Lady Penelope" stories drawn by the excellent Eric Eden and then we get to the actual "Thunderbirds" strip reprints. From TV21 #52 through to #117 we see the Bellamy illustrated stories and for the first eight (presented here) the problem is the same as with many reprints of such comics. The centrespread of a comic is difficult to reprint properly as stuff gets lost in the margins of the gutter. Recently Book Palace bravely reprinted "Wrath of the Gods" from Boy's World (together with Bellamy's "Ghost World") in a landscape fold-out, thus avoiding the problem. In their "Heros the Spartan" reprint, Book Palace "doubled up" the edges of the pages that fell in the gutter so nothing was lost. But I have to say it's a universal problem when reprinting centrespreads. The word balloons all appear to be replaced with clear lettering and I'm guessing that any anomalies in the scanning process meant Robert Hammond has had to correct them, i.e. folds, tears etc. For some reason the blurbs at the bottom of pages ("Next Episode" announcements) have been deleted (except for the issue #91's "Tommy Buster" advert). An opportunity missed in my opinion. They could have also included the Secret Agent code - especially as the aim is to highlight the wonderful world of Alan Fennell's editing and immersion in the Anderson productions. 

Errors have crept into the features, for example - the worst - on page 123, Bellamy's wife is called Nancy Wilson - her maiden name was not even Wilson, let alone her married name! [CORRECTED in Volume Two above] In the feature on the published annuals the images for the TV21 1967 and 1968 annuals are mixed up. I wondered why a gallery of annuals and "targeted hardbacks" - as Gerry Anderson associated titles are called here - could not be shown when a small gallery of TV21 covers are! maybe I'm being too critical as space constraints must have had some part to play. 

Overall, a nice production with added features of interest.  

BIBLIOGRAPHIC DETAILS (Volume One)

• Features writer and researcher: Fred McNamara
• Layout and strip restoration: Robert Hammond
• Cover art: Lee Sullivan
• Cover design: Robert Hammond
• Publisher: Anderson Entertainment 
• Format: Hardcover (printed), 304 x 228 mm (portrait)
• Pagination: 296 pages
• Publishing Date: September 2025 
• ISBN: 97819171422106 
• Price: £37.99