Mike Mercury in Supercar
Copyright ©1961
Pages: 48
Publisher/Printer: Wm. Collins Sons and Co. Ltd
Writer: Sylvia Anderson (uncredited)
Strips:
Operation Test Flight. Artist: Brian Lewis
V.I.P. Mission. Artist: Brian Lewis
Orient Express. Artist: Brian Lewis
Stories:
The Imposter. Artist: Brian Lewis
Professor Popkiss is expecting the arrival of an old University colleague, Professor Zuckov, when he receives a telegram informing him that his sister is gravely ill. He immediately leaves for Leipzig and, in Popkiss' absence, the rest of the Supercar team welcome Professor Zuckov, a tall man with thick hair. But Mitch finds a photograph of the students at Leipzig Univerity dated 1927, and the Zuckov pictured there is short and almost bald...
The Siege. Artist: Brian Lewis
Mike Mercury has received threatening letters and calls, which he dismisses as the work of a crank. However, when he and Jimmy set out on the weekly visit to town, the Callini gang surround the laboratory and demand to be given Supercar. They cut the telephone wires and seal all the doors, including the sliding roof. Popkiss and Mitch escape in Supercar with Dr Beaker by smashing through the roof, but then Mike and Jimmy return and are captured by the gang...
Notes:
• Like most storybooks, this is often mis-sold as an annual and is usually referred to as the ©1961 edition.
• Brian Lewis' illustrations are a joy, and he strikes a nice balance in capturing the puppets' caricatured features, and some pleasantly detailed work.

Supercar - A Big Television Book
Copyright ©1962 A.P. Films Merchandising Ltd
Pages: 24
Publisher: World Distributors
Printed in the Netherlands
Writer: George Sherman
Artist: Mel Crawford
Notes:
• This World Distributors edition was a reprint of the Little Golden Book published in the USA the same year.
• A curiously juvenile take on Supercar, and perhaps shows the difference in how the series was perceived in America. Not so much inaccurate but downwritten for a very young readership.
• George Sherman also co-wrote several children's books in the 1960s.
• Mel Crawford is also believed to be the artist for the Gold Key comic Steve Zodiac and the Fireball XL5.

Supercar on the Black Diamond Trail
Copyright ©1965
Pages: 48
Publisher: World Distributors Ltd
Printed in the Netherlands
Writer: John W. Jennison
Artist: Stewart
Synopsis: Supercar flies to San Francisco so Popkiss and Beaker can get supplies. Mike has promised to take Jimmy to the docks but is unaware Masterspy and Zarin are already there. When Mike promises to show Jimmy a coal freighter, Zarin misunderstands the slang 'black diamonds' and involves Masterspy on a mission to steal coal...
Notes:
• This is the first newly commissioned (as opposed to reprint) World Distributors storybook for a Gerry Anderson series. As well as Stingray, World also produced storybooks for Doctor Who and Space Patrol this year.
• With a single storyline through its 48 pages, this is the nearest we get to a Supercar novel, solidly told with accurate characterisation.
• Definitely one of the best storybooks produced relating to an Anderson production

Fireball XL5 - A Big Television Book
Copyright ©1964
Pages: 24
Publisher: World Distributors
Printed in the Netherlands
Writer: Barbara Shook Hazen
Artists: Hawley Pratt and Al White
Notes:
• Like the Supercar Big Television Book, a curiously juvenile publication, seemingly written without having seen the television series.
• Professor Matic is absent from the story, which describes Venus as 'nurse and navigator', and it concentrates on Jonathan Zero and Zoonie's misadventure when taken to investigate planet Geminy.
• Barbara Shook Hazen was an American children's author, writing since the 1950s.
• Like the earlier Supercar Big Television Book, this edition was a reprint of the Little Golden Book published in the USA the same year. But the final artwork page of the American edition - showing Fireball XL5 looping the loop - was omitted from the World Distributors reprint.
• Hawley Pratt was a layout artist for Friz Freleng and the Looney Tunes from 1950s to the closing of the studio. He designed Speedy Gonzales, Sylvester, Yosemite Sam, and more. He designed the Pink Panther and directed DePatie-Freleng animatedshorts until 1974, when he retired, providing layouts for the Pink Panther and Dr Suess carttons in the 1960s and 1970s. He passed away in 1999.
• Alvin White is a professional illustrator, and provided the artwork for several of the 'Golden' series of books with Hawley Pratt. He still has his own studios in California.

Stingray Television Story Book
Copyright ©1965
Pages: 64
Publisher: P.B.S. Ltd by arrangement with A.P. Films (Merchandising) Ltd.
Printed in the Netherlands
Credited Writers: None
Stories:
Mystery From Space. Artist: Unknown
Stingray are sent to investigate an unidentified object which entered Earth's atmosphere and crashed on the sea bed. They discover it is a space craft controlled by an alien species named Orthorians. Titan has invited them to Earth and offered them a third of the oceans... if they help him destroy the Terrainians!
Lost Island. Artist: Unknown
An archaeologist thinks he has discovered the lost island of Mahkos, an ancient civilisation like Atlantis. Stingray and crew are sent to discover the precise location of the submerged island. But Titan has discovered that Mahkos contains a deadly secret: an ancient weapon which can shatter the nervous systems of whole populations!
Titan Baits A Trap. Artist: Unknown
The crew of Stingray are exploring a wreck on the sea bed when Aquaphibians try to capture Troy Tempest. Instead, they capture Marina and Titan uses her as a lure in a trap.
Strips:
Course of Destruction. Artist: Rab Hamilton
The Iceberg People. Artist: Rab Hamilton
Notes:
• An unusual storybook, more like the Supercar edition in that it features a number of strips and text stories, like an annual.
• Troy's exclaimation of 'Great Barrier Reef!' in Lost Island suggests one of the writers could be John W. Jennison, as this only appears in the novels he wrote (as John Theydon). Jennison also wrote the other two Stingray storybooks.
• Titan is described as having telepathic abilities, although he does not have in the television series, nor in the Marina - Girl of the Sea strips.
• Some of the uncredited illustrations for the text stories suggest the artist may have been using the TV Century 21 strip by Ron Embleton for reference.
• The uncredited illustrations for the puzzles on pages 20 and 47 would appear to be by Desmond Walduck.

Stingray - Danger in the Deep
Copyright ©1965
Pages: 48
Publisher: World Distributors Ltd
Printed in the Netherlands
Writer: John W. Jennison
Artist: Stewart
Synopsis: A severe earth tremor at Whale Island in the Antarctic has trapped 20 biologists in a marine laboratory below the island. They cannot be reached from the ocean bed so a special hyper speed drill is needed to reach them – but the WASP supersonic jet delivering itl crashed in deep water as a result of sabotage by Surface Agent X2O. Stingray is ordered to salvage the drill and get it to Whale Island in time to save the trapped men. Troy and his crew find the wreck but the drill has been thrown clear and is wedged in a nearby seabed fissure – the lair of a moray eel. Marina chases off the eel by grabbing its tail while Troy and Phones attempt to pull the drill free using their sea bugs – but it is stuck fast. A Mechanical Fish lurks nearby – sent by Titan to destroy Stingray. The Stingray crew need all their wits to survive this and further encounters with mechanical fish and icebergs before they finally get the drill to Whale island in time to save the marine biologists.
Notes:
• Stewart’s reference material must have been very limited – his illustrations of Troy and Phones in their WASP swim gear are really quite bizarre ie He draws Troy and Phones swimming underwater wearing their WASP caps beneath Molung style helmets (as seen in the TV series Space Patrol). This and the fact that Stewart has obviously never seen a sea bug before takes the shine of what is really some very nice painted artwork.
• The text describes Titan has having dark green features – but Stewart depicts him with blue skin
• Atlanta’s rank is given as Sub Lieutenant in this storybook.
• Stingray can travel 2000 miles in just over 5 hours at Rate 6.
• Stingray uses a hydrophone transmitter for underwater communication, and WASP underwater gear is fitted with sonar phones to allow aquanauts to hear the noises of the ocean they swim in.
• Troy and Phones appear to be able to talk to Marina while swimming underwater using their built-in sonar phones – or maybe Marina is just lip reading?
• Titan has three mechanical fish in the North Antarctic Deeps mining for Amber during the events in this storybook.

Stingray - The Deadly Alliance
Copyright ©1966
Pages: 48
Publisher: World Distributors Ltd
Printed in the Netherlands
Writer: Unknown
Artist: Unknown
Synopsis: Stingray is despatched to investigate the attack on World Navy destroyer 'South Sea', and finds a Bereznik sub seemingly working with a fleet of Titan's Terror Fish. Troy goes undercover in Bereznik to discover the truth, but is captured by the military and tortured. Phones attempts a rescue mission for his colleague and friend, and finds that the deadly alliance between Titan and the dictatorship is about to attack Marineville in a start to upset world peace...
Notes:
• For a standalone Stingray storybook, this is steeped in the TV Century 21 mythology and explains a lot about the formation of renegade country Bereznik.
• The unidentified artist also bases some illustrations on frames from the Stingray strip from TV Century 21.

Thunderbirds Television Story Book
Copyright ©1966
Pages: 64
Publisher: P.B.S. Ltd by arrangement with A.P. Films (Merchandising) Ltd.
Printed in the Netherlands
Credited Writers:
Unknown
Stories:
Voyage To Destruction. Artist: Malcolm Stokes
The master control systems of Nuclear Waste Disposal Vessel ZH 15 lock up, sending it on a collision course with San Francisco and killing the radio. While mechanic Redfearn stays aboard to attempt a repair, Captain Jorgensen risks his life to use a launch to make for nearby islands and possible help, to be found by Gordon Tracy. It is up to International Rescue to find a way of stopping the ship before it destroys a city...
Destruction Minus Five. Artist: Jon Davis
An impregnable vault is being prepared beneath Government Building in London as a 'time capsule' of life in the twenty-first century, to be sealed for two thousand years. But Mark Bannington, working for malcontents calling themselves the 'League of Freedom' - but in reality a cover for Bereznik - seals himself in the vault with a bomb that will go off in five hours...
The Deadly Rival. Artist: Michael Strand
A rival rescue organisation called 'Rescompany Incorporated' is set up by swindler Craig Connover, andJeff Tracy has his suspicions that the money raised privately to fund it may disappear. But then International Rescue has to come to the aid of 'The Tunneller', the company's own Mole-like device, which has gone out of control during tests and is heading for the centre of the Earth...
Strips:
Piracy In Space. Artist: Jon Davis
Hurricane Terror. Artist: Jon Davis
Notes:
• Like the Stingray Television Story Book, this follows a similar format of illustrated text stories and picture strips, making it more like an annual.

Thunderbirds - The Target
Copyright ©1966 A.P. Films (Merchandising) Ltd.
Pages: 48
Publisher: World Distributors (Manchester) Ltd
Printed in the Netherlands
Writer: Angus P. Allan
Artist: Emilio Frejo
Synopsis: Con Kelly, a reporter for the Continental Liberator, is in desperate need of a story to save his flagging career. Kelly overhears a man explaining how his brother, Beltsky, was rescued by Thunderbird 3, giving him an idea for the scoop of the century: to reveal the location of International Rescue's secret base! He enters White Sands Interastral Spaceport and persuades Beltsky to show him inside an unmanned mail rocket. His plan is to be in the cabin when the rocket lifts off, cutting the engines once in orbit and sending out a distress call. When International Rescue arrive he will plant a miniature transmitter in Thunderbird 3, enabling him to pinpoint their base. But things do not work to plan. Beltsky refuses to leave Kelly alone in the rocket, so the reporter knocks him out. The extra weight of two men sends the rocket off course, and instead of entering orbit it crashes into a volcano. International Rescue are called, but there is an added complication: Beltsky has a heart condition and must take medication every hour. That leaves only fifteen minutes to stage a rescue, but when Scott and Virgil try to drag the rocket from the volcano they find the heat is too great to allow the magnetic lines to work...
Notes:
• Script editor for TV Century 21, Angus Allan writes a fine and intriguing story which could have made a cracking episode.
• Likewise, Emilio Frejo turns in some superb full colour artwork for the story.
• The designation numbers of the Thunderbirds are written using roman numerals, ie, Thunderbird 5 is written as Thunderbird V.

Lady Penelope in The City of Darkness
Copyright ©1966 A.P. Films (Merchandising) Ltd.
Pages: 48
Publisher: World Distributors (Manchester) Ltd
Printed in the Netherlands
Writer: Scott Goodall
Artist: Roy Newly
Synopsis: An Astrocraft crashes on take-off at the East Anglia Space Research Centre, the third such disaster. It is thought to be sabotage to the gas used in the cooling system, and Lady Penelope decides to investigate. In Submariner 1, Lady Penelope's private submarine, she and Parker follow the North Sea gas pipeline. They are captured by the man behind the sabotage, who calls himself The Leaden One, and wears a thin lead suit which covers him completely. He reveals that it was an experiment, and sets out on the next stage of his plan, leaving Lady Penelope and Parker to die in his booby-trapped base. The two escape and track The Leaden One to Geneva where they discover his real intention: to steal all the medical isotopes from the World Isotope Bank.
Notes:
• Very much in the vein of the Lady Penelope strips seen in TV Century 21, and her own comic.
• Oops - while either writer Scott Goodall or one of the editors had the sense to refer to Penelope's yacht as Seabird II, the illustration shows Seabird I, which was destroyed in the very first Lady Penelope strip in TV Century 21. This is further compounded by the illustrations suggesting Penelope's sub Submariner I has a similar design.

Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons Story Book (CS/2)
Copyright ©1967 Associated Television Ltd
Pages: 48
Publisher: Century 21 Publishing Ltd
Printed in Italy
Writer: Unknown
Artist: Jim Watson
Stories:
We, The Mysterons, Will Destroy All The Fish In The Sea
The Mysterons pilot Moon Ferry M79 into satellite Mirror 1, which is reconstructed and sent hurtling into the Pacific Ocean. The act seems pointless until the Mysterons threaten to destroy all the fish. Colonel White deduces they will using the satellite's hyper-frequency wave transmitter to destroy sea life. Attempts by Angel Interceptors and a sea-going SPV to destroy the satellite fail, and there appears to be only one solution: to launch Mirror 2 and use its sonar wave transmitter to destroy the rogue satellite...
The Gold Vaults of Fort Knox Will Be Destroyed
George Polaski is Mysteronised on his way to a new job - cleaning the reservoirs which supply water to Fort Knox. The Mysterons issue their threat, and world trade will collapse if they succeed. Every available Spectrum agent, armed with electron guns, and the World Army help secure the area. However, the Mysteron commandeer three Dynatron tanks - unstoppable until the Angels use missiles to destroy their tracks. But Polaski shoots Captain Scarlet with an electron gun and steals his uniform, intending to gain entry to Fort Know by posing as a high-ranking Spectrum officer...
Notes:
• In the first story, Colonel White feels responsible for the war with the Mysterons because Captain Black was one of his officers.
• In the second story, Scarlet does retrometabolise, but it takes him a whole week to do so.
• The Mysterons gain control of the World Army soldiers in an odd way. A rat is Mysteronised by fumes from the coat of the Mysteron Polaski. The rat then dives into a reservoir and Mysteronises the water as it dissolves. Finally, this water is used to make coffee drunk by the six soldiers.
• A woman is witness to the Mysteronisation of George Polaksi. She describes the duplicate Polaski as appearing to come from inside the real man.
• Jim Watson was already a contributor to the Thunderbirds and Captain Scarlet annuals for 1967, and took over the Zero X strip at the beginning of 1968. He would later become regular artist on the Captain Scarlet strip.

The Angels Story Book (A/2)
Copyright ©1967 Associated Television Ltd
Pages: 48
Publisher: Century 21 Publishing Ltd
Printed in Italy
Writer: Unknown
Artist: Gerry Wood
Stories:
We, The Mysterons, Will Destroy Madame La Roche
Rhapsody is on leave, and meets a friend from her pre-Spectrum days, Lee Johnson. He appears to drown when water-skiing, and after behaves oddly. The Mysterons threaten to kill French Minister Madame La Roche. Captain Scarlet escorts the Minister to Miami Airport where she will board an aircraft for Marrakech... which is piloted by Johnson! When the aircraft moves off course and it becomes apparent Lee is a Mysteron agent, the Angels are sent in pursuit.
We, The Mysterons, Will Destroy Corsica
Corsica is a playground for the rich and powerful, and the Angels have pooled their resources to buy a villa on the island. Harmony and Symphony are staying at the villa, and befriend Sally Samain, distribution manager for a robotics factory. The robots are designed to perform houseworks, and she offers to let the two Angels borrow one to clean the villa. But Sally drowns and is Mysteronised. She damages the robots, which are also Mysteronised, and they begin attacking people with no way to stop them.
Notes:
• Like the Supercar storybook, this is sometimes incorrectly referred to and sold by dealers as an Angels annual.
• Artist Gerry Wood returns to the Anderson fold, having already contributed to the Supercar and Fireball XL5 annuals some years earlier.
• After she has helped Mysteronise the robots, Sally appears to be released from Mysteron control and forgets what she has done. She is one of the victims of the rampaging robots.
• The DT19 airliner from the Catain Scarlet episode 'Winged Assassin' makes a cameo appearance on the last page, as a WAAF plane.

Joe 90 Story Book (JSB1)
Copyright ©1968 Century 21 Publishing Ltd
Pages: 48
Publisher: Century 21 Publishing Ltd
Printed in Spain
Writer: Unknown
Artist: Jon Davis
Stories:
Joseph Ninetski
Joe is sent behind the Iron Curtain as a child prodigy concert pianist. His mission is to delay the installation of an anti-matter projector - a super weapon capable of destroying every atom within a radius of a thousand miles.
Forbidden Island
In 1971 Karolin Island is used as the test site for the cobalt bomb. Twenty years later the island appears surrounded by a barrier which negates all electrical activity. Joe is sent to Karolin where he finds a prehistoric jungle and the inventor of the cobalt bomb... who is now quite insane.
Notes:
• Artist Jon Davis would later draw some of the Joe 90 strips in Countdown comic.
• Forbidden Island is quite clearly stated to be set in the 1990s.

Joe 90 Story Book (JSB2)
Copyright ©1968 Century 21 Publishing Ltd
Pages: 48
Publisher: Century 21 Publishing Ltd
Printed in Spain
Writer: Unknown
Artist: Jim Watson
Stories:
Appointment With Death
Chai Ken Tsai, the Asian Head of State, is left with a bullet lodged in his brain after a failed assassination attempt. Only one man, Professor Jacques LeBec, has the skills needed to save his life, but he is too ill to perform the operation. Joe 90 is given LeBec's brain pattern, unaware that an assassin has been sent to the operating theatre to ensure that the Head of State dies.
The Big Steal
Petty criminal Louie Spencer, acting under post-hypnotic suggestion, breaks into McClaine's cottage and photographs the plans for the B.I.G.R.A.T. It is essential that W.I.N. retrieves the plans, and the trail leads to The Skeleton's Finger, a mountain in Switzerland. Joe is given the brain pattern of an expert mountaineer and with another W.I.N. agent, Heinz Schultz, he finds a cave on the mountain. But them Schultz reveals that he is the person behind the theft...
Notes:
• A part of the plot of The Big Steal involves recording a brain pattern from a person's voice. This is a not uncommon misunderstanding in some of the Joe 90 stories.
• Jim Watson would also contribute to the Joe 90 annuals.

Joe 90 Story Book (J11)
Copyright ©1968 Century 21 Publishing Ltd
Pages: 24
Publisher: Century 21 Publishing Ltd
Printed in Spain
Writer: Unknown
Artist: Jim Watson
Stories:
The Cracksman
Joe is given the brain pattern of safe breaker Pat Malon, to open a vault in the Eastern Bloc's Warsaw Embassy. Returning home, Joe's passenger Jet crashes at London Airport, and when he regains consciousness he thinks he really is Pat Malon...
The Homing Pigeon
When the Eastern Bloc's head of Special Security Police, Akrim Kruski, visits Britain, W.I.N. records his brain pattern. Joe is given his brain pattern so he can break the Eastern Bloc's codes, but instead finds Kruski has stolen the plans for Portas - the deadliest weapon ever invented!
Notes:
• The third Joe 90 storybook, along with the fourth, half the page count to a mere 24 pages.

Joe 90 Story Book (J12)
Copyright ©1968 Century 21 Publishing Ltd
Pages: 24
Publisher: Century 21 Publishing Ltd
Printed in Spain
Writer: Unknown
Artist: Jim Watson
Stories:
Double Agent
Someone breaks into a high-security research establishment and steals the plans for a revolutionary rocket formula, callously shooting two scientists before leaving. One of the scientists manages to report the incident before dying, reporting that it was carried out by a nine-year-old boy wearing glasses...
Flying Visit
Lucas Lander, a millionaire businessman, wants to buy the plans of McClaine's flying car and turn it into a production model. Professor McClaine refuses to sell so Lander frames him for murder and robbery...a robbery which involved the use of a flying car!
Notes:
• The story Double Agent has no connection with the Joe 90 episode of the same name.
• With the dissolving of Century 21 Publishing as a separate commercial concern, this would be the last Gerry Anderson-based storybook to be published.

Space:1999
Copyright ©1977
Writer: Mary A. Mintzer
Artist: Frank Bolle
Pages: 36
Publisher: Western Publishing Company Inc.
Printed in the USA
Stories:
The Return of the Metamorph
Queen Brain
Notes:
• This edition falls between a storybook and a comic, being a softback, but is also a Golden All Star like the early Supercar and Fireball XL5 books.
• Like the American Charlton comics, the stories show a different take on the Space:1999 format.
• Both stories are set in the Year Two format of the series, and like the Charlton publications, feature Maya in the outfit seen in the episode 'The Exiles'. Both also start with characteristic Moonbase Alpha Status Reports by Helena Russell.
• The Return of the Metamorph is probably the better of the two stories, calling heavily on continuity from the episode 'The Metamorph': The spirit of Mentor attempts revenge on his 'traitorous' daughter Maya by taking over the body of a human pilot, left on Psychon but who returns to Alpha after three years in space.
• For a book supposedly written for children, The Return of the Metamorph is uncommonly bold in suggesting Maya would contemplate suicide after losing her shape-changing abilities.
• That said, Queen Brain is an interesting tale of a near mutiny, caused by diminishing resources on Alpha, leading to a potentially disasterous exodus to a seemingly idyllic planet where mental energy powers everything. The story bears some similarities to the episodes 'The Guardian of Piri' and 'Seance Spectre'.

Terrahawks
Copyright ©1984
Pages: 80
Writer: Angus Allan
Artist: Walt Howarth
Stories:
Expect the Unexpected
The Midas Touch
Gunfight at Oaky's Corral
Thunder Path
Mind Monster
To Catch A Tiger
Notes:
• Purnell had the rights to adapt the episodes as storybooks, and this bumper large format hardback is the best of the three versions they issued.
• Alongside the Playmates: 'Thunder Roar', 'Happy Madeday', 'Space Samurai' & 'From Here To Infinity', and the Square Storybooks 'Close Call', 'The Gun', 'The Ugliest Monster Of All' and 'The Sporilla', Purnell adapted all bar 'Gold' from the first 16 episodes.
• Gerry Anderson reputedly told artist Walt Howarth that his artwork for the storybook was the best depiction of Terrahawks he'd ever seen.

Any additions, corrections or notes about any of the annuals featured here, please contact technodelic@blueyonder.co.uk.

The Gerry Anderson Complete Comic History would like to thank:
Angus Allan
Charles Brubaker
and Howard Elson
- for their help with this feature.


Version 1.2 - 01.05.06

All text © The Gerry Anderson Complete Comic History, and its respective writers, and may not be reproduced without permission.
All images © their respective copyright holders