I thought it time to return to the theme of comics and TV in this which will be the first of a weekly series focusing on the relationship between the two mediums. Today we start with TV Tornado's Annual which has no cover date and issued for Christmas 1969 but would have been advertised the 1970 edition since it was the practice of publishers to use the following years date to ensure a longer shelf life.
I have to say this is the first time I have purchased one of TV Tornado's annuals as the comic itself was not amongst my favourites as a child in the sixties. I much preferred TV 21 and even the occasional Lady Penelope weeklies.
I recall only only having the odd copy of this comic which was a strange mix of actual TV related strips and stories including The Man From Uncle, Tarzan, The Lone Ranger, Voyage To The Bottom Of The Sea and The Saint all of which I used to watch back then but for some reason included reprints of Magnus Robot Fighter 4000AD which was a frankly unremarkable comic published by Gold Key in the USA. I assume they were offered it alongside their Voyage To The Bottom Of The Sea comics which were also reprinted by TV Tornado.
The quality of the strips vary and there are a number of text stories which don't appeal to me. I buy comics for comic strips. However getting this as an addition to my collection of annuals did bring back memories. I have seen episodes of The Saint on ITV 4 but would welcome repeats of of the adventures of Seaview and see Napoleon and Ilya continue their fight against T.H.R.U.S.H. Those were the days!
TV Tornado was published from from January 1967 to September 1968. It ran for a total of 88 issues and merged with Solo before itself being subsumed by TV 21.
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