Since 2021, we've been celebrating the extended universes of Gerry Anderson's imaginative creations with our Comic Anthologies. These hugely popular hardback collections gather many classic Anderson comic strip spin-offs from the pages of TV Century 21, Countdown, Look-in, and many more. With so many action-packed strips to cherry-pick from, there remain several Anderson comics which have yet to receive a definitive collection.

Let's count down 15 Gerry Anderson comic strips that have not yet been collected in our Comic Anthologies!

15. Joe 90 (Joe 90: Top Secret)

By the time Joe 90 emerged on television in September 1968, the spin-off publishing empire from Century 21 and City Magazines was beginning to falter. Rather than launch a Joe 90 comic strip in the pages of TV Century 21, Joe became the star of his own comic. Stylised as a varied boys' adventure paper, Joe 90: Top Secret included numerous standalone adventures of W.I.N.'s most special agent. A variety of artists illustrated Joe's spy-fi dangers, which ran for 34 issues before the comic merged with TV21 in September 1969 to become TV21 & Joe 90. Thunderbirds and Joe 90 became the only Anderson staples of this newly combined comic, lasting for a further 40 issues.

14. Zero X (TV21)

Blasting off from the big screen to the printed page, Zero X remains one of TV Century 21's most celebrated retrofuture serials. Between January 1969 and September 1969, Mike Noble, Jim Watson and Eric Eden illustrated some of the comic's cosmically wild adventures that pushed the narrative extremes of TV21's space-age-charged storytelling and visual bombast into thrilling cosmic adventure.

13. Agent 21 (TV21)

One of TV21's longest-running characters is one some readers may be less familiar with. Brent Cleever, space-spy of the future, was adorned with many monikers between June 1965 and September 1969. The most recognisable of these was Agent 21 of the Universal Secret Service. Initially set in the 2040s of comic's shared Anderson timeline, Cleever battled a variety of nefarious enemy intelligences, with early storylines involving crossovers with the in-development World Space Patrol and World Aquanaut Security Patrol. Resident artist Rab Hamilton brought an unflinchingly stern visual edge to Cleever's retrofuture Cold War missions.

12. Thunderbirds (TV21 & Joe 90)

TV21 and Joe 90: Top Secret's merging brought with it a soft reboot of Thunderbirds' comic strip adventures. Frank Bellamy drew the first of these renewed storylines before future Johnny Red/One-Eyed Jack/Judge Dredd artist John Cooper became Thunderbirds' new in-house artist. Adventures included deadly space rogues, extravagant jewel heists, marauding cavemen, miniature Moons triggering climate catastrophes and more throughout this underrated era of International Rescue's heroic missions.

11. Project SWORD (TV21)

Technically not a comic strip, but the enthralling apocalypse of Project SWORD was depicted as a series of standalone illustrated short stories, drawn by a varying line-up of quality TV21 talent, including Ron Embleton, Malcolm Stokes, Don Lawrence and Jon Davies. Project SWORD's brazenly bleak premise of the Space World Organisation for Research and Development's haggard efforts to salvage humanity after the Earth is left a ticking time-bomb by a devastating meteorite makes for brilliantly dark reading. 

10. Four Feather Falls (TV Comic)

During the early 1960s, Gerry Anderson comics were thriving in the pages of TV Comic prior to TV Century 21. The earliest Anderson comic spin-off was TV Comic's long-running take on Four Feather Falls between May 1960 and October 1962. The strip was drawn by Disney artist Neville Main, who'd go onto illustrate the comic's take on Fireball XL5.

9. Catch or Kill (TV Century 21)

This space safari strip injected a primal edge into TV Century 21's otherwise unified techno-future. Millionaire adventurer Crag Gorton seeks out the wildest animals across the universe, either for the Catch or Kill zoo or tasked with exterminating monstrous aliens which prove a threat to humanity. Captivatingly illustrated by John Burns, the strip ran from October 1966 to July 1967.

8. Captain Scarlet (TV21)

Spectrum's indestructible superman enjoyed a visually eclectic era in the comic. Drawn by a varying line-up of artists, including Ron Embleton, Frank Bellamy and Mike Noble, the war of nerves was propelled into strange and exciting directions, including a more personal ongoing battle between Captain Scarlet and Captain Black as the Mysterons made frequent attempts to drag Scarlet back under their control. The strip also enjoyed a substantially cohesive continuity between other Captain Scarlet comics, including The Angels from Lady Penelope and The Mysterons from TV Tornado.

7. Front Page (TV21)

Another of TV21's original properties, this strip took the exceptionally meta-fictional approach of being a comic strip based on the journalistic reportage of TV21's own in-universe reporters. Pete Tracker and Lens Cap report on the most thrilling developments, including the connections between a secretive mission to Mars thrown into chaos when contact is lost with its colour-coded leader and the emergence of a gargantuan flying military headquarters...

6. Lady Penelope

Lady Penelope helped launch TV Century 21 into stratospheric success with hers and Parker's own adventures prior to the pair joining International Rescue. Once Thunderbirds debuted in the comic, her ladyship had her own self-titled comic launched as a sister paper to TV Century 21. Chiefly drawn by Frank Langford, along with John Cooper and Michael Strand, Penelope and Parker's espionage escapades continued in spectacularly vibrant and realistic style in the pages of Lady Penelope.

5. Supercar (TV Comic)

TV Comic freed Supercar from its black-and-white trappings to become an extravagantly coloured, double-page spread comic strip, running for an impressively lengthily run between 1961 and 1964. Artists H. Watts and Bill Melvin depicted the Black Rock gang's adventures in lushly colourful aplomb with a particular emphasis on the multifaceted functionality of Supercar itself.

4. The Mysterons (SOLO/TV Tornado)

Prior to Captain Scarlet's TV debut, 1967 saw a pair of surreal pre-war of nerves comic strips launched. In SOLO, The Mark of the Mysterons depicted the efforts of reporter John Marsh fighting to prove to a disbelieving world that an unseen race of omniscient aliens were causing havoc by destroying and replicating things. Later, The Mysterons in TV Tornado ran alongside the TV series, detailing the Mysterons destructive efforts of attempting to colonise neighbouring planets. 

3. The Investigator (TV Century 21)

Scientific trouble-shooter Bob Develin of Universal Engineering Incorporated was the second of TV Century 21's 'original' Anderson characters after Agent 21. But where Cleever's run lasted until the comic's end in September 1969, Devlin's adventures lasted for a strikingly brief period of two storylines between June and September 1966. Set against a visually brutalist backdrop of industrial sabotage, the grouchy anti-hero was made all the more real by artist Don Harley.

2. Fireball XL5 (TV Comic)

The last Gerry Anderson strip to appear in TV Comic prior to TV Century 21's launch, Fireball XL5 was drawn by Neville Main and took up residency in the comic left by Four Feather Falls. While Supercar was the strip that remained in colour, Fireball XL5 was depicted in black and white between October 1962 and October 1964 and delivered an enjoyably faithful expansion of the original TV series.

1. Thunderbirds (Countdown)

Under Don Harley's artistic stewardship, Thunderbirds blasted off into what's surely regarded as its second best-loved era after Frank Bellamy's reign in TV Century 21. Harley's muscular character likeness and surging depiction of the Thunderbird craft brings a visual maturity to an eclectically enjoyable line-up of danger zones. These range from arctic mecha jeopardies to runaway alien creatures, pressured terrors of trapped bathyscapes, and even the Hood briefly  succeeding in defeating International Rescue by forcing the UN to produce their own rescue outfit!

Discover our Comic Anthology range from the official Gerry Anderson Store and stand by for blast off as the range continues into 2027 with several exciting releases on the horizon!

Sign up to the Anderson Entertainment newsletter to receive all the latest Gerry Anderson news, exclusive releases and more transmitted direct to your inbox!