Assassination! (comic story)

Assassination! was a Fireball XL5 comic printed in TV Century 21 in 1965. It was the fifth instalment of a multi-series crossover "Space War" story arc in the pages of TV21, which focused on a war between 2060s humanity and the inhabitants of the planet Astra, first mentioned in The Rescue.

It was the first comic story to bring in elements of the concurrent Thunderbirds comics starring Lady Penelope.

Summary
Following a series of battles at the borders of the solar system, the Kaplan of the Astran Empire has finally come to Earth's world capital, Unity City, to sign a peace treaty. With full media coverage and Earth's Guard of Honour in attendance, the Astran fleet hovers into sight, consisting of the imperial Great Astran Ship and its supersonic jet escort.

Nikita Bandranaik, the President of Earth, walks alone to greet the Kaplan and Kaplan Minus. The President and the Kaplan get into a car, followed by one transporting the Kaplan Minus and Colonel Zodiac. When the reporter tells Harry to angle his microphone so that what Zodiac and the Minus are saying, however, it turns out the Minus remains deeply suspicious, threatening Zodiac if the state convoy should turn out to be a trap of some kind.

As the procession enters the city centre, however, the Kaplan is hit with a deathly orange ray. In the ensuing chaos, Zodiac tries to have the area where he thinks the shot came from cordoned off, but, when he rushes there, finds the spot empty. Zodiac comes back to the arrested convoy to find the enraged Kaplan Minus hovering high over the Presidential car and accusing the humans of having organised the assassination. Blasting Zodiac with their painful ray, they tell Zodiac that he has 36 hours to find the alleged "true culprit" and bring him to justice; if he fails, the Space War will resume and be carried "to the end" by the Astrans. Panicked, the President confirms the order, telling a baffled Zodiac to "get to it".

The sensational, if dramatic, broadcast is transmitted all over the world — including in the living room of an aristocratic blond-haired woman, who observes that the whole world will be watching Zodiac's next moves instead of hers. She tells her manservant Parker to "get the Rolls Royce ready", to which he acquiesces dutifully.

Characters

 * Kaplan
 * Kaplan Minus
 * Nikita Bandranaik
 * Steve Zodiac
 * Penelope Creighton-Ward
 * Parker
 * Assassin
 * Bob Newawk
 * Harry
 * Purple Astran

Worldbuilding

 * Streamers pour down every street as the Kaplan's car is pulling into the city centre.
 * The Kaplan Minus calls the humans "dogs" and "murderers".
 * Four blue Astrans with blue hover-discs, and a Purple Astran in an all-purple hover-disc, surround the Kaplan's car.
 * The flags of Earth and Astra are seen.

Story notes

 * Narratively speaking, this story did not lead directly into the next Fireball XL5 instalment, COMIC: Zodiac Makes An Arrest, but rather into the same TV21 issue's Lady Penelope comic story, which featured an appearance from Steve Zodiac just as Penelope herself earlier cameoed in Assassination!.

Continuity

 * The assassination of the Kaplan is depicted. It took place on the afternoon of 29 May 2065. (PROSE: Kaplan Assassinated!)