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Countdown (Polystyle Publications) facts for kids

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Countdown
Countdown, issue 1
Publication information
Publisher Polystyle Publications
Schedule Weekly
Format Ongoing series
Genre Action, Adventure, Science fiction, Spy-fi, Techno-thriller
Publication date 20 February 1971 – 25 August 1973
Number of issues 132
Creative team
Artist(s) John M. Burns
Inker(s) Matt Anderson (1970–73)
Danny Fox (1973)
Editor(s) Dennis Hooper
Robin Hilborn (assistant editor, 1970–71)
Peter Levy (assistant editor, 1971–73)
Roger Perry (art editor)
Bill Kidd (assistant art editor)

Countdown was a popular British comic book. It came out every week from 1971 to 1973. The comic was published by Polystyle Publications.

A cool trick about Countdown was how its pages were numbered. They went in reverse order! Page 1 was at the very end. This was a fun way to create a real "countdown" feeling each week.

Countdown first featured comic stories based on Gerry Anderson's famous TV shows. These included shows like Thunderbirds and Stingray. Many of these stories had been printed before in another comic called TV Century 21.

The comic was very high quality. It had full-colour art on the cover and inside pages. It was printed on special, smooth paper. But this made it expensive! After 58 weeks, the publisher changed the comic to save money. It was relaunched as TV Action. The new version focused more on other popular TV shows of the time.

A special part of Countdown was its non-fiction articles. These articles were about real space exploration. They often had lots of technical details, like what you might find in books for adults.

What Was Inside Countdown?

The Countdown Years (1971-1972)

Countdown was special because it had both ongoing stories and complete stories. It would switch between different TV shows. It featured a new story based on the latest Anderson show, UFO. It also reprinted stories from older hits like Stingray and Fireball XL5.

There was also a completely new comic strip called Countdown. This strip was drawn by John M. Burns. It even included cool spacecraft designs from the 1968 movie 2001: A Space Odyssey.

The comic was known for its detailed articles about space. These articles often took up five or six pages in a 24-page issue. They focused a lot on space exploration. Writers like Robin Hilborn and Peter Levy created these articles. They sometimes used other names like "Arnold Kingston."

These articles had a lot of technical information. For example, one article in 1971 explained the Doppler effect. It also gave details about US and Soviet navigation satellites.

The TV Action Years (1972-1973)

The comic strip about Doctor Who was very popular. It featured the actor Jon Pertwee, who played the Third Doctor on TV. Because of this, the Doctor Who strip became the main cover story for TV Action.

To make it even more exciting, the publisher got permission to include the famous villains, the Daleks! So, the first TV Action issue had a colour cover with the Doctor and the Daleks. Doctor Who was always popular. It had come from, and would later return to, a sister comic called TV Comic.

A comic version of the action-comedy show The Persuaders! started in issue #35 of Countdown. This continued into the TV Action era. Other TV shows that became comic strips included Hawaii Five-O, Tightrope, and Cannon.

The Man From TV Action

Roger Perry, the art editor, often visited the filming of Doctor Who. This made it easy to find pictures for articles about the show. It also made the magazine feel more flexible. Extra pages often had competitions, giving away prizes like Airfix model kits. Or they had quick articles, like a profile written by Peter Levy.

One time, Roger Perry needed to attend a funeral. This led to a last-minute filler page. Months earlier, in March 1972, Perry and science writer Dan Lloyd had visited Pegwell Bay in East Kent. Lloyd wanted to write a detailed article about hovercraft. But strong winds stopped the hovercraft from flying that day.

The hovercraft company was being very careful. Earlier that month, a hovercraft had overturned in similar winds. This accident killed five people. To make up for the disappointment, the company offered Lloyd and Perry a free ride to France next time.

Perry called the press officer and was invited to the launch of a new hovercraft. The inventor of the hovercraft, Sir Christopher Cockerell, was there. Perry took his assistant, Bill Kidd, as a photographer. He got enough material to create the first "The Man From TV Action" feature.

This wasn't the first time Perry had done this kind of reporting. In 1961, he worked on Eagle magazine. His image was used in a weekly comic strip called The Roving Reporter. Even though Perry stayed in his office, the drawings made it seem like he was always out exploring the world. Artists like John M. Burns and Eric Kincaid drew these pictures.

How Countdown Was Made

Countdown was unique because some of its content changed weekly. This wasn't planned, but happened out of necessity. The editor, Dennis Hooper, worked long hours writing scripts for the comic strips. However, the artists often didn't get the scripts early enough. This meant they couldn't finish the artwork on time.

Normally, there was a five-week gap between when the comic was sent to the printer and when it went on sale. This time allowed for text to be set and a "dummy" (a mock-up of the magazine) to be made. The dummy showed how everything would look, with pictures and text in place. It was sent to the publisher for checking. In those days, there were no computers. Designers had to make sure the text fit perfectly. Sometimes, text had to be added or cut.

Even with some flexibility, artists often received scripts very late. They then had to draw and letter the comics quickly before sending them to the printer.

Another challenge was that the artists worked on other projects too. One artist often delivered his work a day later each week. To fix this, a story would run for a few weeks, then something else would be put in for a couple of weeks. This gave the artist time to catch up. Roger Perry made this decision. People started saying that Perry, not Hooper, was editing Countdown.

Getting the comic to shops was also a problem at first. Some issues didn't even go on sale in certain areas. This was because not enough copies could be printed in time. Things got better after the first 26 weeks.

Comic Strips in Countdown and TV Action

Countdown Strips (Issues #1–58)

Many of these strips were reprinted from TV21.

TV Action Strips (Issues #59–132)

  • Alias Smith and Jones
  • Autocat and Motormouse
  • Cannon
  • Dad's Army
  • Doctor Who
  • Droopy
  • Hawaii Five-O
  • Mission Impossible
  • The Protectors
  • Tightrope

Images for kids

  • TV Action comic No. 59

    TV Action #1, 1 April 1972

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