Graham Bleathman recalls the successful revival of Gerry and Sylvia Anderson’s Thunderbirds as a comic property, back in October 1991…
Thirty five years ago this week, the first issue of Thunderbirds the Comic was published. As one of the main contributors (in more ways than one, as I’ll mention shortly), I felt I couldn’t let the anniversary pass without giving the much-maligned comic a mention, just in case nobody else does!
Much maligned is probably too strong an expression in some ways. For younger readers, it was hugely popular, riding on the wave of renewed interest in Thunderbirds following the BBC2 repeats in September that year, but I think there was a perception among long-time fans that “it’s not as good as TV21 or Countdown”, which still persists – and is still true, of course.
But on its own terms, I feel the comic is worth remembering for its new artwork, plus the reprinting of classic art from TV21 (which, to the target audience, would appear to be newly created), though perhaps not for its page layouts and graphics, which were, er…variable, shall we say!
Whilst I found regular work on the cutaways (and a few covers) for all the Fleetway Anderson comics, new artwork across all the titles was produced by Steve Kyte, Andrew Skilleter, Rod Vass, Lynn Simpson, Jon Haward, Keith Page, Mike White, Barrie Mitchell, plus ex-TV21 artists Mike Noble, John Cooper, Keith Watson, Alan Willow and Malcolm Stokes.
A mention must be made of writer Graeme Bassett, too, who helped out with captions on some of my cutaways and who wrote comic strips and character profiles. My apologies to all those I’ve missed out!
As most will know, these comics were edited by Alan Fennell, who, as editor of TV21, had file copies of the comic but unfortunately these were bound archival copies, which meant they couldn’t be scanned to reprint the Frank Bellamy strips. So my own collection became the basis of the majority of reprinted material in the comic, at least in the beginning. My cutaways were sent to Alan every fortnight, and often in the package would be a run of Thunderbirds strips carefully removed from my collection of TV21s for use in the comic. These would be eventually returned, but sadly a few were damaged – and in some cases scribbled on in the margins by the printers, on the lines of “please reduce by 50%” or its equivalent. Alan was very good about this, though… he simply told me to buy replacements (at comic marts, etc) and send the bill to him…. which meant a few issues got upgraded!
The story of this comic probably deserves a longer article or a feature somewhere, and some of the new stories created at that time – especially the episode adaptations – are probably due for a reprint. My cutaways were reprinted by Egmont under their Classic Comics brand in 2013 and 2015, but how those particular volumes came about is a story for another time…
The comic sold phenomenally well, but many missed out on the first few issues, so Fleetway reprinted them as ‘Special Editions’. The first issue was also initially printed on poor quality paper with a yellow coloured background on the cover (instead of the white, as seen on Steve Kyte’s cover shown above). Most of the print run was pulped, although a few did make it so some outlets… it took me years to find one of the originals!
The comic launched a whole new career for me, even though I had been producing paid-for Anderson-related art since the mid 1980s, and it lead to all those other cutaway books I’ve done in the 2000s onwards, and other bits and pieces too. It still surprises me when I hear that those centrespread cutaways were indeed sometimes removed and stuck on bedroom walls; I always thought that was a myth, but some readers actually did that!
So here’s to 35 years since that launch – I just had to put my pennies-worth in today to make sure it wasn’t forgotten!
Graham Bleathman
Graham originally published his memories of Thunderbirds the Comic here on Facebook; this iteration is republished with his kind permission
Graham Bleathman is best known for producing cross-section, “cutaway” illustrations of spacecraft, vehicles and locations, his work published in numerous books, including the Dan Dare: Spacefleet Operations Manual, Inside the World of Gerry Anderson, and Thunderbirds FAB Cross-sections.
He’s also provided over 300 covers for DC Thomson’s People’s Friend. He started illustrating for fan magazines in the 1980s, and since then his illustrations have appeared in a number of books, magazines and comics. Graham’s other work includes historical subjects, alongside production art on animated releases of Doctor Who and Dad’s Army episodes.
• Books by Graham Bleathman available from AmazonUK (Affiliate Link)
Head downthetubes for…
• There’s a detailed listing for Thunderbirds: The Comic on the Thunderbirds Fandom wiki | Part One is here
• The Official Gerry Anderson Site
• Thunderbirds Comics Collections – Pair Offer
• downthetubes: Comic Connections: TV Century 21, Dan Dare and Eagle – and Doctor Who
- About the Author
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John is the founder of downthetubes, launched in 1998. He is a comics and magazine editor, writer, and Press Officer for the Lakes International Comic Art Festival. He also runs Crucible Comic Press.
Working in British comics publishing since the 1980s, his credits include editor of titles such as Doctor Who Magazine and Overkill for Marvel UK, Babylon 5 Magazine, Star Trek Magazine, and its successor, Star Trek Explorer, and more. He also edited the comics anthology STRIP Magazine and edited several audio comics for ROK Comics; and has edited several comic collections and graphic novels, including volumes of “Charley’s War” and “Dan Dare”, and Hancock: The Lad Himself, by Stephen Walsh and Keith Page.
He’s the writer of comics such as Pilgrim: Secrets and Lies for B7 Comics; “Crucible”, a creator-owned project with 2000AD artist Smuzz; and “Death Duty” and “Skow Dogs”, with Dave Hailwood.
Categories: Art and Illustration, British Comics, Comics, Creating Comics, downthetubes Comics News, downthetubes News, Events, Other Worlds
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