It’s nearly the end of the year, and a good time to take a break to catch up on your reading – or listening, if you’re a fan of our audio dramas and audiobooks! Here’s a look back at the exciting releases from Anderson Entertainment‘s publishing arm throughout 2023!
From audiobooks and audios dramas…
Danger and Deception, the latest collection of our popular Thunderbirds audio drama adaptations of classic TV21 Thunderbirds comic strip stories has been so popular that it’s already sold out! If you’re among those lucky enough to have procured a copy, we’d really appreciate your thoughts on the release by leaving a review and a rating!
The highlight of this year’s Captain Scarlet Day celebration on July 10th was the launch of a new CD audiobook, Martian Menace! Adapted by Chris Dale from an original TV21 strip story, and read by Wayne Forester, this 77 minute audio epic was released in card packaging echoing the design of the classic Century 21 mini-album records, alongside re-releases of the Fireball XL5 audio drama Cloud of a Billion Lights and the Stingray audio drama Terror Fake, both previously only available in the deluxe Network Blu-ray releases of their respective series. These titles are available individually, or as a discount bundle with a saving of 33%!
Big Finish’s audio reimagining of UFO also continued in 2023 with Breaking Point, a collection of three brand new full cast audio dramas for the new SHADO – still available to order on CD from the Official Gerry Anderson Store!
Supercar fans can enjoy an audiobook reading of The Siege, an adventure first published in the 1961 storybook Mike Mercury and Supercar! Read by Chris Dale, featuring original music and sound effects from the series, The Siege is available to download for FREE for anyone with an Official Gerry Anderson Store account! So there’s really no excuse not to, is there?
…to new novels…
From an early Anderson production to an unfilmed one that has recently seen new life on the printed page, 2023 saw publication of the second and third 5 Star 5 novels; The Doomsday Device and The Battle for Kestra. Developing and exploring the universe of the unfilmed 1978 movie script written by Gerry Anderson and Tony Barwick, these two novels complete the 5 Star 5 trilogy from author Richard James.
…to vintage comic anthologies & new graphic novels…
Time Bomb Comics recently produced a second volume of Spectrum, a graphic novel collecting three new stories from the worlds of Terrahawks, Space Precinct, and New Captain Scarlet! Both volume 2 and a few copies of the previously-released volume 1 are now available to order from the Official Gerry Anderson Store!
As part of the celebrations of the 40th anniversary of Terrahawks, Anderson Entertainment are proud to launch a new graphic novel Deep Blue Z! This 104-page softback graphic novel features two new adventures for the Terrahawks team, written by Chris Thompson and Andrew Clements with artwork by Connor Flanagan.
This year saw several long out-of-print Space:1999 graphic novels reprinted through the Official Gerry Anderson Store, starting with To Everything That Was – a graphic novel that attempts to bridge the two very different seasons of the television series by reworking a specially curated selection of stories from the pages of both Look-in and the American Space:1999 strips from Charlton Comics. This newly updated volume also includes material left out of the 2013 release including a first-ever look at the unproduced Space: 1999 ‘Season 3’ graphic novel series by BLAM! Ventures.
Following that, we re-released Aftershock and Awe, a similarly out-of-print Space:1999 graphic novel retelling the events of the show’s first episode from the perspectives of additional characters on Alpha and those left behind on Earth across a beautiful 184 page hardback volume!
Last month also saw the launch of the Space:1999 Comic Anthology! Following in the footsteps of our UFO and Fireball XL5 comic anthologies, this 320-page hardback collects all the Space:1999 comic strip stories from the pages of Look-in comic, plus associated articles and features, as well as additional material features written by comics historian Shaqui Le Vesconte providing a wealth of insight into the making of these classic adventures!
Terrahawks fans can also celebrate with their own comic anthology; a beautiful 144-page hardback collecting all the Terrahawks comic strip stories from the pages of the 1980s Look-in comic!
…to ‘making of’ books…
Fancy learning about the production of Gerry and Sylvia Anderson’s final Supermarionation series, 1969’s The Secret Service? If so, we’ve got you covered with The Secrets of the Secret Service, a brand new bookazine written by Chris Dale which delves into all 13 episodes of the series, including both an interview with voice artist Gary Files and the complete comic strip run of The Secret Service!
Terrahawks fans, you can dive into the history of the show’s origins, productions and afterlife with Flaming Thunderbolts!, the definitive story of the making of Terrahawks by Fred McNamara – a 140 page hardcover reference book!
…to technical operations manuals…
Our critically acclaimed technical operations manual range continued in 2023 with the Project 90 Technical Operations Manual, uncovering the hidden world of Joe 90!
Grab your hardback copy of this 120-page guide to the vehicles, technology and personnel from WIN, featuring over 150 new illustrations including schematics and new images of vehicles designed by Mike Trim and Derek Meddings, to skilled personnel and gripping mission case studies!
…and how about a little music while you read?
Newly released from Silva Screen and now shipping from the Official Gerry Anderson Store is this wooooonderful 2-CD Terrahawks 40th anniversary soundtrack collection, featuring Richard Harvey’s score for the series – as well as demos, cover versions and a handful of Kate Kestrel’s songs! If your listening tastes lean more towards Barry Gray we’ve got you covered, as also still available on CD from the Official Gerry Anderson Store are the previously released Silva Screen soundtrack CDs for Thunderbirds, Captain Scarlet, Fireball XL5, Supercar and Joe 90!
As Doctor Beaker would say, “most satisfactory!”. There’s certainly enough reading (and listening) material there to keep you entered over the festive season – but which of these 2023 releases has been your favourite? Let us know in the comments below!
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