

I think it might have made more sense to have it put at the back of the book than this mish-mash, more so as its set when Zodiac is in charge of Space City and puts it in historical context. In the original TV21, ‘The Astran War’ included here had a similar spread sans International Rescue and Spectrum, as it hadn’t been created yet. There’s going to be enough problems when we have the ‘Thunderbirds’ book because of the three page parts but at least the blueprints can be used to fill the off-page. These are the kinds of books that will be used for reference in the future. I think this was a mistake that I hope isn’t repeated in other volumes.

Shaqui Le Vesconte’s introduction is spread throughout the book and writer/artist Lee Sullivan’s story involving XL5, Captain Scarlet, Thunderbirds and Stingray is also spread throughout the book. There are two big nuisances from the start. Considering NASA was getting people into space wearing spacesuits, ‘Fireball XL5’ had to evolve to show it was keeping up in the future. Over the stories, some things are remedied like the oxygen bills for living in space being pointed out for only short EVAs, therein allowing for them to wear a variety of spacesuits as appropriate and then solely which gave it the more authentic look. I can’t recall the Coton story ever being reprinted before. The TV21 Specials had other artists and only rarely was Noble relieved by Eric Eden and \Frank Hampson and then a run by Don Lawrence. Oddly, he didn’t do the first story, but Graham Coton. Noble’, Mike Noble as we learnt later in life.

The ‘Fireball XL5’ comicstrip in ‘TV Century 21’ was far superior to the TV series, mostly because of the artistic hand of ‘M.
