Comic Shades (short story)

Comic Shades was a Spectrum Shades short story printed in TV Century 21 that contained elements from the Doctor Who universe.

It marked the return of Philip Bevan, formerly a Universal Secret Service agent who reported on the activities of the Daleks, now having transferred to Spectrum.

Summary
In response to the request for Shades' own comics in a previous issue of TV 21, Colonel White finishes examining readers' work. With the magazine asking him to choose one of the comics for review that week, he selects The Pillager by Philip Bevan. A black and white photograph is eventually printed depicting the three main characters, a police robot called the Law-keeper, the eponymous enemy and Richard, whose job it is to destroy the evil Pillager.

White elaborates that he was very impressed with Bevan's use of colour in his drawings and specifically noted the amount of action in the story. Reportedly, Bevan's story was one of ten he had written, drawn and coloured, each with two hundred pictures. White thinks "such determination and interest" to be worthy of a reward and so sends him ten pounds.

Characters

 * Philip Bevan
 * Colonel White

Story notes

 * This story was the first known to feature a Spectrum Shade who had previously appeared in TV Century 21 as a USS Junior Special Agent. Transfer from the Universal Secret Service to Spectrum was heavily encouraged in late 1967 as part of the promotion for Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons. Colonel White replaced Agent Twenty One as the steward of the letters page while the newly-formed Spectrum was stated to have taken over all duties of the USS on Earth.

Continuity

 * Philip Bevan is still a keen producer of comics, which sometimes feature robots and police. (PROSE: From Philip Bevan)