Who doesn't love to read a comic?
On 20th February 1971, Polystyle Publications began publishing UFO comic strips in a UK magazine titled "Countdown" for 58 weeks. Later renamed "TV Action + Countdown", then just "TV Action" after 100 issues until the last issue (Issue 132) on 25th August 1973. This would not only include new strips from UFO but also included strips from Fireball XL5, Stingray, Thunderbirds, Captain Scarlet, Zero X, Joe 90 and The Secret Service, with many being reprints from the TV21 comic. Newer strips were included from Anderson's The Protectors, Doctor Who (now starring Jon Pertwee), Dad's Army, Mission: Impossible, Countdown (starship Countdown, which can beam around like the Star Trek's Enterprise that fights against an oppressive Earth world government) and Hawaii Five-O. Edited by Dennis Hooper and the art edited by Roger Perry, Countdown/TV Action would see problems including its distribution and content (Hooper working long hours writing lots of scrips for many of the strips).
A "Secrets of SHADO" was featured inside Issues 11 and 12, but for the stories themselves; the first untitled story featured 5 black and white pages, with an introduction describes in detail much of the SHADO scenario - in the very first issue. The second unnamed story across issues 2-6 is featured in colour and only 2 pages of UFO per issue. The third story runs from Issue 7-11, with Issue 8 first having a story name on the first frame of each issue - "Too Old At 32". "The New Boss" would run from Issues 12-18, "The Forcefield", Issues 19-25, "Arctic Affair" Issues 26-31 and "The Snatch" from Issues 32-37, which also had a title from another strip in the comic. From Issue 35, the issue number starts to be inside the letter "C' of the title. From Issue 38, the UFO stories had more than two pages per issue and be in black and white/shades of grey, as not all comics could be afforded to be printed in colour. "The Renegade" ran on Issues 38 and 39, with "Trojan Horse" (Issue 40), "The Alien Heart Attack" (Issue 41), "Catch Of Doom", (Issue 42), "The Colour Is Green" (Issue 43), and "The Hillbilly Affair" (Issue 44).
From Issue 45, "Alien Espionage", the first frame of UFO episodes starts having a round logo with "A Countdown kingsize story" around "UFO". Issue 46 would be "Straker Smells A Rat", continuing with "The Movies" (Issue 47), "The Alien Ally" (Issue 48), "Clouds Of Madness" (Issue 49), "A Near Thing" (Issue 50), "Shock-Wave" (Issue 51), "The Ghost Ship" (Issue 53 - no 52), "Waters Of Fear" (Issue 54), "The Kidnappers" (Issue 55), "Terror In The Tank" (Issue 56), "The Alien Revolution" (Issue 57) and "Alien Brainwave" (Issue 58). From Issue 59 "Let The Aliens Land", the comic was now called "TV Action + Countdown" and the round "UFO" logo stops being used. UFO now had 2 pages per episode with its page numbers run from 1 at the front in the usual book order. This story would last up to Issue 66.
"The Final Climb" would feature in Issues 67-70 with Issue 71 featuring 3 pages of UFO, the first two in colour and last in black and white. "Small World" ran from Issues 71-77, with "Eyes Of Terror" from Issues 78 - 82, "Voyage Of Disaster" ran from Issues 83-87, "Brotherhood Of Evil" from Issues 88-92, "The Destructive Decoy" Issues 93 - 95 whilst "Scanner Shut Down" lasted from Issues 96-100. The UFO strips were absent for two issues until "The Million Four Year Old Trap" where the strips were now in full colour across two pages, the story lasting from Issues 103-106. "The River Of Death" featured on Issue 107, with more absences. " from Issues 108 and 109. "Spirit Of Fear" ran from Issues 110 to 113 and the "Project Of Doom" in Issue 114. With another absence for three issues, UFO strips returned with "The Assassin" from Issue 118 - 121 with "Recordbreakers" on Issue 122. UFO was once again absent from Issues 123 and 124, returning with "They Walk In Darkness" lasting from Issue 125 to Issue 128, with "The Last Pharaoh" on Issue 129 being the last UFO comic strip (on I believe 4th August 1973). The comic would last another three issues until the end at Issue 132.
UFO would feature in special comics such as the Countdown Holiday Special 1971, appearing in "The Alien Totem". "Robot Renegade" appeared in the TV Action + Countdown 1972 Holiday Special, "The Circus" featured in the Countdown 1972 Annual, "Smash And Grab" and "The Haunted Mine" featured in the Countdown Annual published 1972. The final original comic for UFO appeared in was in the TV Action Annual 1974.
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UFO: The Vault
Non-FictionGerry Anderson's UFO was the first big budget British live-action television series of a secret government organisation named SHADO (Supreme Headqauters Alien Defence Organisation) combat a dying alien race who have come to Earth in order to survive...
