Thunderbirds Comic Anthology Volume 2 (graphic novel review)
This second volume of ‘Thunderbirds’ features 21 stories, all under the hand of artist Frank Bellamy. Unlike Mike Noble and Ron Embleton who strove to combine their artwork into painting, Bellamy was essentially coloured inkwork and heavily design orientated across the double-pages than regular panel-work. As such, it allowed more room to show the various Thunderbirds vehicles, even if TB1 and TB2 were using their main boosters to show motion. I should point out that after some of the opening stories, Bellamy does change from regular than double-pages and so you only have the problem of the centre crease a few times. The writing started off with Alan Fennell and then Scott Goodall takes over, although not exactly defined a where.
I do agree, to some extent with the opening uncredited article that the TV and comicstrip version diverged from each other. Take the second story, ‘Tracy Island Exposed’, where the Hood’s plan to damage the Thunderbirds hanger and reveal the vehicles. Firstly, its hardly as if the Tracy Island was secret or the family would never have visitors but more a question of where the vehicles were hidden. I doubt if anyone would have noticed them. Secondly, where was the protocol of them never being photographed for Jeff Tracy to have a wooden mock-up of TB2 on display for a celebration of International Rescue? Tracy Island’s location might be known but it is still off the beaten track to avoid Thunderbirds’ launchings to be seen, let alone have tourists. Do we really want to explore TB1 and TB2 being put into orbit near TB5 to be kept out of the way as neither are really space-worthy. Why wasn’t TB3 also sent away come to that. An odd point generally here is Alan Tracy practically becoming a secondary often missing character in preference to Gordon and John. When I was young, I let it slide to some extent because this was only for one story but my experience as a writer and reviewer does make it rather too easy to pick holes in this story. He appears a couple times but often to fly TB3 solo than with Scott as co-pilot.
On some positive notes, as with the story ‘The Revolution’, having International Rescue involved in a country’s politics and possible revolution did allow us to see how they had to cope with, shall we say, less well-off countries to enable rescues. This would have been a lot harder to put over on television but with TV21 where its audience was growing up there, it allowed some exploration without necessarily preaching about it.
I hadn’t realised ‘Brains Was Dead’ was originally done as a comicbook story. I’m beginning to wonder if it’s been omitted in other releases of the ‘Thunderbirds’ comicstrips. My criticisms with the audio version with the blu-ray ‘Thunderbirds’ a couple months still stands. The main difference between them is having Grandma Tracy on TB5 in the audio. The article writer in his piece afterwards has similar feelings, especially as new writer Scott Goodall moves towards International Rescue sorting out crimes than rescuing. In some respects, I can see the problem. How many different sorts of rescues can you do without getting boring or not have side-plots? Likewise, unlike television, you can have a lot more movement and the Tracy brothers certainly do a lot more running.
Alan does finally make an appearance in eleventh story, ‘Revolt On Jupiter’, although really it’s his father’s story. Having the Solar System colonised does tend to work against the Zero-X storyline when it took some effort to get to Mars. Do we need to discuss how fast TB3 would have to go to get to Jupiter so quickly? Am I being over-critical of a story from 1968 or conscious of how many factual articles TV21 did at the time.
Of note is the serious damage done to the various Thunderbirds. TB4 had to be totally rebuilt, TB2 twice more than it did in ‘Terror In New York’ and even TB1 has had some damage. They were all rebuilt the same way, so presumably Brains thought he had the ultimate designs with them all.
Contrary to ‘The Time Machine’, which I’ve commented on before on the problems of dissembling TB4 to fit in it twice, the next story, ‘The Zoo Ship’, still springs a surprise. There’s too much of a surprise that is spoiler here, although you do have to wonder why Jeff Tracy leaves the main Thunderbirds hangers open all the time. I’m also a little unsure about using TB3 in Earth’s atmosphere to do anything as it is designed for power not manoeuvrability.
There are various articles spread through this book on Frank Bellamy and his second writer, Scott Goodall, as well as features about TV21 and its annuals. There is a puzzle with the latter. Granted the annuals stories weren’t the best but there’s an absence of most of their covers. If there is going to be a third volume and the stories reprinted there then surely the article deserved to be there and the cutaways of the various Thunderbirds, FAB 1, various pod vehicles and non-International Rescue vehicles could have had those pages instead.
I deliberately spread my reading of this book over a week. It can be very easy to get a little punch-drunk reading them in only a couple sittings and you really do need time to let them sink in. Bellamy’s art keeps the action going all the time and we rarely see the Tracy family take any downtime. Back in the day, you’d never have gotten any analysis like this and with only two pages a week, you would be quickly reading TV21 in a matter of an hour as it had text information articles as well. The fact that these stories still stand up today is a testament to the quality they carried at the time. The only question now is will there be a volume 3 covering the rest of the stories?
GF Willmetts
June 2026
(pub: Anderson Entertainment, 2026. 280 page graphic novel large hardback. Price: £37.99 (UK). ISBN: 978-1-917142-15-1)
check out website: https://gerryanderson.com/products/thunderbirds-comic-anthology-volume-two-hardcover
