New Project SWORD Comic is Go from Time Bomb Comics!

By - Fred McNamara
2 Min read
2 Min read
New Project SWORD Comic is Go from Time Bomb Comics! - The Gerry Anderson Store

Independent comic publisher Time Bomb Comics is bringing Project SWORD back from the pages of TV Century 21 in a brand new graphic novel adventure from writer Lizbeth Myles (Big Finish's Doctor Who, Blake's 7 and Survivors) and artist James Gray (IDW's Star Trek, Gerry Anderson's Space Precinct). 

Set in the apocalyptic future of 3031, Project SWORD imagines a future reshaped by catastrophe when a colossal meteorite strikes Earth and burrows into its core. Rather than ending the world outright, it destabilises the planet. Vast regions sink beneath rising seas, volcanic activity tears at the surface, and civilisation faces a slow, frightening collapse. The responsibility for saving humanity falls to the Space World Organisation for Research and Development - Project SWORD.

Project SWORD began life as a series of space exploration toys developed externally and bought in by Century 21 Merchandising, leading to Century 21 Publishing to develop tie-in media to publicise them. A popular misconception is that Project SWORD was a lost concept of Gerry Anderson's which was intended to become the latest hit TV series from Century 21 Productions. At a time when the company's merchandise efforts were arguably outstripping the television and films themselves in popularity, Project SWORD's main conceit appears to have been a determined effort to produce a wholly original concept from Century 21 Merchandising that wouldn't require a TV series to bolster its publicity.

Project SWORD was initially publicised as a black-and-white comic strip in the pages of SOLO before morphing into an ongoing series of short text stories in TV Century 21, illustrated by the likes of Don Lawrence, Ron Embleton, Malcolm Stokes, Jon Davies and more. The SWORD experience peaks with the bleakly brilliant 1969 Project SWORD annual, assembled by TV21 script editor Angus Allan and chiefly illustrated by Stokes, Tom Kerr and Michael Strand. 

Time Bomb Comics' renewed Project SWORD reimagines the core concept, with artist James Gray taking the original concept ideas and creating modern designs, vehicles and hardware inspired by the original Space World Organisation for Research and Development.

“The creator brief was simple,” explained Time Bomb Publisher Steve Tanner, “to imagine Gerry Anderson's Project SWORD as a popular contemporary TV show being produced today but still retaining the unique Anderson tone and style of old, and then create a faithful comics adaptation of one of its episodes!”

Speaking on how she rose to the challenge of building the world of Project SWORD, Lizbeth Myles said; “It was a fascinating challenge. Gerry Anderson has created many incredible worlds, but few exist as a single annual for an unmade telly show. Even with so little material, I wanted to be true to what there was, which meant drawing on nibbles of world-building, characters with only a panel or two, and epic vehicles that had pictures but were never in any of the annual’s stories."

Gerry Anderson's Project SWORD is the latest Anderson title from Time Bomb Comics, who have previously published the Spectrum anthology, comprising of new comic adventures for New Captain Scarlet, Space Precinct and Terrahawks. Gerry Anderson's Project SWORD will be blasting off to Kickstarter to raise funds for the graphic novel's completion at the end of April. The crowdfunding campaign will consist of a multitude of exciting exclusive rewards, through which advance digital and printed editions of the book will be available before the full release later this year. Discover more about Project SWORD in our examination of TV Century 21's secret heroes!

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

3 comments

I hope you all enjoy it when it comes out. Im excited, and I know what happens in the book 😁

James Gray

I remember Project SWORD! It was a fleet of toy spaceships and vehicles of different designs. The spaceships were all wheeled and powered by friction motors. I acquired a number of them as a kid. Task Force 1 was a slim red triplane with a small cockpit. Task Force 2 was a more bulbous red traditional rocket. Both had a set of black engines that were cylindrical with a central aerospike! Then there was the larger Probe Force series, which were in grey with black and red markings. Probe Force 1 had a sleek design with a red nose cone, a slim delta-wing and a tail plane and stabiliser. It seemed to be powered by four jet-engines. Probe Force 2 had a blue glass cockpit and two missiles on forward canards, and three rocket engines mounted on a larger delta wing at the rear. Probe Force 3 was a shorter, fatter rocket with a red nose, and longer side-fins which carried a number of missiles. This one also had a blue glass window over the friction drive. I can’t remember whether any of the friction drives emitted sparks. I remember that there were many more vehicles, including multi-wheeled rovers and prospectors. There was even a Cape Canaveral set, which was great, but stylistically out of character with the other more futuristic designs.

Hang on, I found a website with images of them all here: https://www.triangspacextoys.info/JackRBio/JRtoy7sw.html

Yes, there really were a large number of different models and vehicles! Just aching to have a linking storyline. Maybe Anderson Entertainment could turn this into a show?

Tony Simons

Exciting news! I was always intrigued by Project SWORD, but never really knew much about it.

Chris Halliday

Leave a comment

Please note, comments need to be approved before they are published.

More Like this

1 3