Apocalypses & Algorithms: Investigating Project SWORD: List of Life

Throughout the 1960s, TV Century 21 boasted a multitude of original characters and concepts that never appeared in any of Gerry and Sylvia's Supermarionation TV series, but nonetheless occupied significant runs in the newspaper of the future. There were the adventures of space-spy Brent Cleever, aka Agent 21; the scientific troubleshooting of The Investigator; the space safari wildness of Catch or Kill; and the metafictional journalism of Front Page. The post-apocalyptic terror of Project SWORD, set in the 3000s, marked a peak of these creative pursuits. Serialised in the pages of sister paper SOLO before transforming into short illustrated stories for TV21 and an accompanying annual, Project SWORD was quickly consigned to history once the comic ceased publication in 1969 after 242 issues and began afresh when it merged with Joe 90: Top Secret.

Now, Time Bomb Comics has revitalised Project SWORD in a brand new official graphic novel adventure, written by Lizbeth Myles and illustrated by James Gray. Project SWORD: List of Life swaps out the freakish post-nuclear paranoia of classic SWORD and instead reinvigorates the concept with a slow-burn mystery thriller that bears a more contemporary narrative aesthetic throughout its dialogue and characterisation. 

Indeed, List of Life upgrades Project SWORD's approach to these elements without scarifying its retrofuture space-age appeal. Project SWORD's mission is to salvage humanity when a colossal meteorite strikes the Earth, destroying entire continents and leaving the planet's remains a ticking time bomb. SWORD's advanced technologies are used to evacuate the very best of humanity, all the while battling malignant strands of society dubbed the Casuals. List of Life takes aim at this core premise when a suspected saboteur causes havoc with the algorithmically chosen humanity, sending SWORD's evacuation plans into disaster. 

Project SWORD: List of Life's questioning of humanity's reliance on algorithmic technology was never something explicitly apparent in the 1960s, in turn lifting the SWORD concept into the very real 21st century. The hugely successful Kickstarter campaign for List of Life details how Lizbeth and James were tasked with revitalising Project SWORD as if it were a modern sci-fi series. That modernisation is most keenly felt in both this questioning premise and in the approach to our protagonists - the sullen Professor Helen Bannock, a former SWORD member, now defected to aiding the Casuals, and the hot-headed, sharp-shooting covert operative Agent Peake. 

Lizbeth script tests this mismatched duo to comedic effect early on, their stances clashing and bonds eventually deepening when the shocking truth behind the sabotage of SWORD's computers challenges the philosophy behind SWORD's efforts to salvage what it can of humanity. Our story bounces across planetary bodies as Bannock and Peake assemble and expose this mystery, enabling James' artwork to capture the cosmic industrial scale of Project SWORD's universe. Compared to the black-and-white short stories from TV21 and the 1969 annual, which employs a typically garish colour overlay technique to its stories (as was common at the time), James' art is far more straight-faced and mechanically minded, shifting Project SWORD into a more contemporary visual edge. It's wonderful to see many classic SWORD vehicles back in action, including the Hover Tank, coupled with several designs unique to List of Life.

Project SWORD: Life of Life nimbly balances menacing intrigue in exposing the mystery of SWORD's sabotage with visually riotous mecha-action that's moulded in the classic Gerry Anderson style. James depicts lunar landscapes, human colonies, and mechanical marvels with a dirtied-down attitude that feels perfectly at home within Gerry's worlds. Matching that moody visual style are the seeds of discontent sown within the SWORD hierarchy. From Dr Bannock's dismissal of SWORD's ethos that she herself helped create to the idea that someone within SWORD itself may be responsible for sabotage, volatile dissatisfaction is rife within the world of Project SWORD. We are living on the edge of things; a power keg ready to erupt, much like the remains of the Earth itself.

However, what distinguishes List of Life from its brilliantly bleak source material is its climaxing on a note of hopefulness once Bannock and Peake unravel the mystery, which unexpectedly hardwires the events of the comic firmly within the classic world of SWORD itself. List of Life doesn't act as a sequel or a reboot; rather, it slots comfortably within SWORD's original timeline without the need for the reader to commit to too much homework to understand its original outline. 

Project SWORD: List of Life delivers compelling techno-mystery which grapples in questions of humanity's reliance on digital technology, a topic permanently relevant in the age of social media algorithms and AI dominance, all the while packing in some explosive cosmic Anderson action. The comic's focus on characters unique to this story emphasises Project SWORD's ensemble nature, hopefully prizing the door open for more avenues of this vast universe to be coloured in by further original adventures in the future. 

Project SWORD: List of Life is available now from the Gerry Anderson Store!

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