Zoony the Lazoon!

Three years ago, in 2014, I had the pleasure of being invited to contribute to one of my favourite comics of all time, TV Century 21. "But that comic folded in 1971! Are you a time traveller?" you might ask. Well, that'd be telling, but in this case my contribution was for an official one-off revival of the comic, to be exclusively included in the Supermarionation box set produced by Network.

This was to be a proper, full-size issue of TV21, with the same look and format of the original, featuring all-new strips based on the Gerry Anderson TV shows. Where possible, editor Martin Cater employed the original artists too, so it included Gerry Embleton doing Stingray, John Burns drawing Lady Penelope and Martin Asbury on Captain Scarlet. The rest of the strips were commissioned from artists such as Brian Williamson, Antonio Barreti, Mike Collins, Martin Baines, and myself. 

I was asked to supply the comedy relief strip Zoony the Lazoon. I used the original strip's logo (scanned from an old TV21) and decided it would be a 'silent' strip as the old ones were. The original Zoony strops were often basic gags that could have suited any character but I couldn't resist including references to Fireball XL5 and Stingray now that I was a proper TV21 artist! (It's also a bit of a nod to Wham's Danny Dare too, in that Zoony is a daydreamer riding a cartie.) 

My initial rough pencils for the strip prior to inking.

Of all the many strips I've drawn over the decades, Zoony the Lazoon was one of my favourites as it allowed me (and my fellow comics creators) to be part of a history of TV Century 21, even if it was only for one limited edition.

You can read more about this one-off issue of TV Century 21 here:
http://lewstringer.blogspot.co.uk/2014/10/tv21-no243-return-of-yesterdays.html

...and you can buy the Supermarionation box set here:
http://networkonair.com/shop/2038-supermarionation-box-set-pre-buy-5027626708146.html