Captain's Library & Theatre: FIREBALL XL5 "Moon Masters" Conclusion

When Last We Left Our Puppets...

Art by George Wilson

Sent to the Moon to investigate energy beams affecting Earth's orbit, the crew of patrol ship Fireball XL5 encounter aliens who capture Colonel Steve Zodiac and Doctor Venus...

This one (and only) issue of Gold Key's Steve Zodiac and Fireball XL5 was meant to be the first of an ongoing series like the previous Anderson show Gold Key adapted; Supercar.
However, for reasons unknown, no other issues were ever published.
Written by Paul S Newman and illustrated by Mel Crawford.
Fun Facts:
The model for Steve Zodiac on the painted cover by George Wilson is Steve Holland, best known as the model for James Bama's Doc Savage paperback covers which define the "look" of the Man of Bronze for the last few generations of fans!
Fireball XL5 is the only Gerry Anderson show to air on a network (NBC) rather than syndicated to local stations! (It ran as part of NBC's Saturday morning kid-show block in 1964.)
Both Gerry and Sylvia Anderson did voices on the show.
(Sylvia was Dr Venus and Gerry (using a voice filter) was Robert the Robot.)

As a special treat to Supermationation fans...The premiere episode of the series "Planet 46", written by Gerry & Sylvia Anderson!

Captain's Library: FIREBALL XL5 "Moon Masters" Part 1

Last time we showed you a British Fireball XL5 comic strip...

...now we present the American version, with a decidedly-different "look" for the characters (though the Fireball itself and the other vehicles and devices look as they do on the show!

Discover if Earth survives...tomorrow!

As you can see, artist Ray Bailey "corrected" the characters' anatomy to more realistic human proportions as opposed to the on-screen puppets' over-sized heads with exaggerated features.

The heads had to be bigger than "normal" to accomodate the primitive electronics that controlled synchronizing the mouths to previously-recorded dialogue tracks.

As technology progressed, the heads became smaller until, by the time of Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons, the puppets had "normal" human proportions.

This was the lead story in Gold Key's Steve Zodiac and FireBall XL5 (1964) one-shot.

Previously, Gold Key had done four issues of Mike Mercury and Supercar with more cartoony art that accurately captured the "look" of the puppet characters.

We'll be presenting one of them later in the month.

Captain's Library: FIREBALL XL5 "Unknown Planet"

With the passing of legendary creator/producer Gerry Anderson...

...we'll be devoting January to comic adaptations of his massive body of work, beginning with Fireball XL5! and this unseen-in-America story from the British 1963 Fireball XL5 Annual by Collins Publishing.

This strip, one of several in the hardcover Annual, doesn't have creative credits. 
However, the title page of the Annual lists all the comic strip creators without specifying which stories they did!
Writers: Dennis Spooner and John Hynam
Artists: Eric Eden, Eddie Paul and Gerry Embleton
(Note: Spooner contributed a number of scripts to Anderson tv series including Fireball, Stingray, Thunderbirds, and UFO, as well as writing the new "framing" sequences for Alien Attack, the movie adapting the Space: 1999 episodes "Breakaway" and "War Games".)
Be back next week when we present more Gerry Anderson creations in all their graphic glory!