(Updated): As the countdown to the launch of Thunderbirds Are Go on ITV and CITV on Saturday draws ever nearer and ITV rolls out numerous story tie-ins for fans young and old, including missions for agents signing up at Thunderbirds.com and BeyondTheStory busy with their tie-in story app for the project, many fans are wondering – when will DC Thomson’s Thunderbirds Are Go publication be released – and what will it include?

Thunderbirds Head of Security Tanusha “Kayo” Kyrano – clamping down on magazine secrets?

Unfortunately, it seems Thunderbirds Head of Security Tanusha “Kayo” Kyrano has clamped down on the release of any information on the tie-in magazine, so we’re still in the dark about whether it will follow the usual format of modern tie-in titles like Doctor Who Adventures and Ben 10 and offer more feature-based pages than comic strip. (Or, indeed, at this stage, whether it will include comic strip at all – although given the long tradition of tie in strip stories dating back to TV Comic‘s “Fireball XL5” strip and TV Century 21, you’d certainly hope so).

But we can reveal that the magazine – whatever form it takes – may now not see release until October 2015.

This may of course worry some Thunderbirds fans, who might argue the tie in title might miss the boat after the huge PR push ITV have given the show over the past few months… indeed, you could argue the broadcaster’s publicity for the show rivals that for the BBC’s relaunch of Doctor Who in 2005.

But we shouldn’t forget that the new show has already been renewed, even before it launches, and the huge merchandising of the show in other sectors – with tie in toys, clothing, lunch boxes and much more on the way – our feeling is that DC Thomson won’t be too worried by the delay. After all, it took Doctor Who many years to get its own dedicated magazine in 1979…

Update 13th April 2015: New episodes of the 26 episode series of Thunderbirds Are Go are to be screened in two blocks, the first 13 screening now followed by repeats, with new episodes later in the year. We can only speculate at this point but presumably they will be shown in the un up to Christmas – explaining, perhaps, the October launch date for the comic.

• Thunderbirds Are Go debuts on Saturday 4th April 2015 with an hour-long episode, simulcast on both ITV and CITV, repeated the next day, in case you miss it. (As if you would). After that, the show will be on CITV and ITV (in glorious HD) every Saturday at 8.00am Web: Thunderbirds.com

Thunderbirds © 2015 ITV Studios Global Entertainment

John Freeman

The founder of downthetubes, which he established in 1998. John works as a comics and magazine editor, writer, and on promotional work for the Lakes International Comic Art Festival. He is currently editor of Star Trek Explorer, published by Titan – his third tour of duty on the title originally titled Star Trek Magazine.

Working in British comics publishing since the 1980s, his credits include editor of titles such as Doctor Who Magazine, Babylon 5 Magazine, and more. He also edited the comics anthology STRIP Magazine and edited several audio comics for ROK Comics. He has also edited several comic collections, including volumes of “Charley’s War” and “Dan Dare”.

He’s the writer of “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: British Comics, downthetubes Comics News, Other Worlds, Television

Tags: BeyondTheStory, CITV, DC Thomson, ITV, ITV Studios Global Entertainment, SF Comics, Thunderbirds, Thunderbirds are Go