Zodiac Makes An Arrest (comic story)

Zodiac Makes An Arrest was a Fireball XL5 comic printed in TV Century 21 in 1965. It was the seventh instalment of a multi-series crossover "Space War" story arc in the pages of TV21 (and the fifth to belong to the Fireball XL5 series). The arc focused on a war between 2060s humanity and the inhabitants of the planet Astra, first mentioned in The Rescue.

Summary
Folllowing Lady Penelope's tip-off, Steve Zodiac and Wilbur Zero arrive at the corner of two alleyways to find Count Lugosti, an assassin responsible for the murder of the 610th Kaplan, tied to a lamp-post. They take custody of him, with Zero driving the hovercar while Zodiac keeps an eye on Lugosti to make sure he does not escape.

Zero and Zodiac's green car is rammed by another, red hovercar; with the two momentarily stunned, shadowy men manage to extract Lugosti from the wreckage and take him away towards yet a third, intact hovercar. Zodiac recovers his senses in time to shoot at the rear thrusters of the enemy car, which crashes into a store; Lugosti tries to make a run for it, but is tackled to the ground by Zodiac.

However, Zodiac is then knocked out by a blow from behind by Lugosti's unseen rescuer. Getting back to his feet, a grateful Lugosti begins to thank his saviour, only to be told that "they" have no further need of him now that he is known to the police. Betrayed, Lugosti is fatally shot in the stomach with an energy weapon.

Characters

 * Steve Zodiac
 * Commander Zero
 * Count Lugosti

Worldbuilding

 * Zodiac "picked up" Lugosti on the corner of Churchill Street and Kruschev Avenue.
 * A blue telephone box can be seen near the lamp-post.

Story notes

 * Narratively speaking, this story did not follow directly from the previous Fireball XL5 instalment, (COMIC: Assassination!) but rather from the previous TV21 issue's Lady Penelope comic story, which featured an appearance from Steve Zodiac just as Penelope herself had earlier cameoed in Assassination!.

Continuity

 * Penelope Creighton-Ward left Lugosti tied to a lamp-post for Steve Zodiac and Commander Zero to find. (COMIC: On the Trail of the Kaplan's Killer...)
 * Lugosti's attempted escape was later reported upon in TV 21 in the afternoon of the same day, being 5 June 2065. (PROSE: Stingray Searches)