- You may be looking for another thing named "countdown".
TV Action was the final title of a weekly comic published by Polystyle Publications, Ltd that began its run under the name, Countdown. Published in Britain between 1971 and 1973, the publication contained comic adaptations of various television programmes, including Doctor Who, but targeted a slightly older readership than its long-established sister publication, TV Comic. Under the Countdown title it also published a range of well-researched and surprisingly sophisticated space-related factual articles.
Overview
Origins
In the late 1960s, Polystyle Publications, Ltd was eager to start a weekly comic magazine that appealed to a slightly older audience than its de facto television adaptation flagship, TV Comic. Whereas that publication had debuted in 1951 with "funny animal" strips and adaptations of young children's shows like Muffin the Mule, the publisher now wanted something to compete with mid-1960s success TV Century 21, which had been replete with comic strips based on the numerous puppet series produced by Gerry and Sylvia Anderson.
By the time TV21 was finally "merged" into weekly comic Valiant – with only really the former's British-produced Star Trek strip surviving – the publication had dropped its license to print comic strips based on the numerous Supermarionation series. Polystyle seized on this opportunity, buying not just the rights to publish new strips but also to reprint (if only to help reduce costs) material first used in TV21. They also believed that the Andersons’ first full live-action series, UFO, was likely to be a big success—consequently, the UFO comic strip appeared on many of the comic’s front and back pages.
However, to further widen the appeal of the new comic, editor Dennis Hooper successfully persuaded his colleagues at TV Comic to let him take on Polystyle's ongoing licence to produce a Doctor Who comic strip, which had been appearing in TV Comic since November 1964. Despite – or perhaps because of – the largely Earth-based focus of the television series at the time, the Third Doctor's adventures would ultimately prove to be the longest-running strip during the publication’s entire run, missing just six issues in total.
Countdown
There was some initial uncertainty within the company about the new comic’s name: Countdown was eventually chosen, given the “space-age” themes of much of its contents and shows like Stingray, Thunderbirds, UFO and Fireball XL5. (However, the original indicia listed the title as Countdown and Rocket, the latter referencing Rocket, “The First Space-Age Weekly”, which one of Polystyle’s predecessors had published for 32 issues back in 1956.) To reinforce the name, the pages were numbered backward, so that readers were effectively "counting down" to page one (the back cover).
Wishing to also repeat the high production values of TV21, the small team at Polystyle managed to make what they initially considered a good deal: Sun Printers Ltd, based in Watford, agreed to print Countdown for one calendar year (52 issues) on their photogravure presses for material costs only, in order to keep those presses rolling. Despite this saving, however, Countdown remained an expensive proposition on the UK’s newsagents’ shelves, its glossy paper and pages of colour ensuring a cover price of 5p (one shilling)—effectively double that of most other (largely monochrome, newsprint) weekly comics published by IPC Magazines and D C Thomson.
Even once distribution improved across the UK, Polystyle soon began to realise that the publication – from issue 19 subtitled “The Space-Age Comic!” – was failing to attract sufficient sales to ensure its long-term survival. It appeared that Polystyle had simply overestimated continuing public enthusiasm for the various Supermarionation properties, especially those no longer on the air. Nor did it help that, thanks to inconsistent broadcasts across the ITV Network, the Andersons’ first full live-action series, UFO, had failed to be the big success everyone had hoped.
The first sign of the changes that were to come to Countdown was the launch (from issue 35) of a new comic strip based on the highly popular ITC action/adventure series The Persuaders!, starring Roger Moore and Tony Curtis. This new strip was given the prime spot on both the front cover and two interior full-colour pages, in the process temporarily shifting the Doctor Who strip to the monochrome pages. The Persuaders! also gained Harry Lindfield, who had produced the first 32 instalments of Doctor Who in Countdown. Consequently, the Doctor Who strip was eventually passed on to former UFO artist Gerry Haylock, who would remain working on the strip for the next four years.
The comic’s masthead switched to Countdown for TV Action! from issue 45; heralding the future, issues 57 and 58 ran with TV Action in Countdown.
TV Action + Countdown
After 58 weeks, and the end of their favourable printing deal, Polystyle opted to relaunch the title as TV Action + Countdown, re-orienting their publication towards popular action/adventure and crime shows either still in production or at least still on air in the UK. Production costs were also slashed—the publication shifted to using newsprint, and a different printer, David Brockdorff Ltd of Walthamstow and Harlow.
Despite appearances, however, TV Action + Countdown was not a “merger” of two existing titles; it was, simply, a “pivot” towards a title with more contemporary material. Strips based on Anderson-produced shows – with the exception of UFO – gradually faded, replaced by the likes of Hawaii Five-O, Tightrope, Alias Smith and Jones, and Cannon.
From issue 59 – the first edition titled TV Action + Countdown – the front page incorporated the opening frames of the issue’s now otherwise monochrome Doctor Who strip; this positioning underscored the popularity of both the television show and the comic strip at the time. The prominence of Doctor Who on the front cover undoubtedly helped with sales of the publication.
TV Action
Having successfully reached its 100th issue, the editorial team opted for one more “relaunch” which saw the masthead change simply to TV Action. The revised title’s new “USP” was the introduction of a seven-page, "complete this issue" “Big Story” based on one of the comic’s regular strips, which would also inspire a full-page illustration on the front cover. The first "Big Story", featured in issue 101, was based on the comic's new acquisition, the Gerry Anderson-produced crime series The Protectors. The first Doctor Who "Big Story" followed three weeks later, in issue 104. This would be followed by a further four before the publication's ultimate closure.
Given that the overall pagination of the comic had not increased, incorporating a strip with an additional four-to-five pages required some strips to be occasionally "rested"—usually after they had featured in the "Big Story" slot. Consequently, Doctor Who did not always appear in subsequent issues of TV Action; indeed, it "missed" the final issue, number 132.
Unfortunately, although leading to several impressively painted front covers during its subsequent run – often produced by Doctor Who artist Gerry Haylock, regardless of the illustrator of the actual strips – these changes seemingly failed to improve the comic's overall situation.
Doctor Who was one of three comic strips (the other two being Droopy and Dad's Army) which constituted TV Action's advertised "merger" into TV Comic (from issue 1133). However, it should be noted that these three strips had all first appeared in TV Comic before shifting to Countdown/TV Action.
Title
The oft-changing title of this publication has created confusion amongst some fans of Doctor Who, who are generally uninterested in the historical specifics of British weekly children's comics. Some have mistakenly believed that TV Action and Countdown were originally two – even contemporaneous – weekly comics which merged to create TV Action + Countdown. The change in title only appeared to be a merger; in fact it was a rebranding which was sufficiently gradual to ensure no bright dividing line between what was originally Countdown and what was finally TV Action. A plurality of issues were actually published under both names. Moreover, the numbering system for the title was preserved throughout, confirming they were a single publication.
Cover titles
Although the title on the cover changed every few months, it was stylistically similar throughout the first hundred issues. While the word Countdown appeared on the cover, the title was always placed in a red banner across the top sixth of the page. After the title became just TV Action, this practice was abandoned. On the final thirty-two issues, TV Action became merely a logo at the top of a full page of art.
- 1-18 Countdown
- 19-45 Countdown The Space-age Comic!
- 46-56 Countdown for TV Action!
- 57-58 TV Action in Countdown
- 59-100 TV Action + Countdown
- 101-132 TV Action
Indicia titles
The situation is even more confusing if one looks at the indicia, or legal, title:
- 1-45 Countdown
- 46-56 Countdown to TV Action
- 57-58 TV Action incorporating Countdown
- 59-100 TV Action & Countdown
- 101-132 TV Action
Legacy
Thanks to the perceived higher quality of the Doctor Who strips in Countdown/TV Action (a significant number of which were originally published in full colour), the comic was generally well-remembered by contemporary Doctor Who fans, particularly in comparison with the show's relatively poor "consigned towards the back" treatment in later issues of TV Comic.
By 1977 there were some reports in the DWAS fanzine TARDIS that Polystyle were considering launching a new TV title – aimed at a somewhat older demographic than TV Comic – which they suggested would become a new home for Doctor Who. However, when a new stablemate for TV Comic did finally arrive in April 1978, it was focused specifically on "current" police and crime dramas such as Kojak, Charlie's Angels, Hazell and titular show Target.
Thanks to generally poor production values and uninspiring front covers, Target – its masthead boldly describing itself as "Your TV Action Paper" – survived just 19 weeks before it was "merged" into TV Comic. Although most of its featured comic strips were new, several of the Cannon strips featured in later issues were reprinted from the latter issues of TV Action.
Stories by issue
Special issues
Holiday specials
- Countdown Holiday Special 1971
- TV Action + Countdown Holiday Special 1972
- TV Action Holiday Special 1973
Annuals
- Countdown Annual 1972
- Countdown for TV Action Annual 1973
- TV Action Annual 1974
External links
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