The Vanishing Ray (comic story)

The Vanishing Ray was a Thunderbirds comic printed in TV Century 21 across 1965 and 1966.

The story crossed over with the Doctor Who universe by marking the reappearance of the invisible ray torch, which had debuted in The Daleks comic story The Menace of the Monstrons.

Summary
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Characters

 * Penelope Creighton-Ward
 * Parker
 * Jeff Tracy
 * Brains
 * The Hood
 * Head of the British Secret Service
 * Steel
 * Big George
 * Simms

Worldbuilding

 * Penelope explains that the invisible ray torch is an optical illusion: the focal point of the concentrated beam is invisible to the naked eye, so the mind does not register the target object in the light.
 * Parker jokes that he could have done with something similar when he attempting to break into the Bank of England.
 * The Hood's base is a temple in the Malayan jungle.
 * The Hood reaches London Airport by Fireflash Airliner using a false passport. He also uses it to hire a car.
 * Both Steel and the Hood gain access to Creighton-Ward Manor by claiming to be salesman for the new Universal Cook Book but Penelope already has "every" cookery book ever published.
 * The Hood steals an ordinary flashlight which Lady Penelope substituted in place of the invisible ray torch.
 * According to Parker, alarms and locks have never stopped Big George before.
 * When MI5 come to arrest Lady Penelope and Parker, she notes that, unlike Parker, she has never been arrested in the United Kingdom before.
 * Penelope's stockings are ruined when she runs outside without any shoes on. Her feet also become sore.
 * Lady Penelope's car has a remote controlled signal and has an automatic pilot drive capable of speeds of up to two hundred miles per hour.
 * Parker uses an oil slip function on Fab One to ensure that the Hood crashes into a tree.
 * The Hood impersonates a police officer to get to Lady Penelope, but she knocks him unconscious by dropping a chandelier on his head. Parker leaves him outside the Secret Service building to be found with the morning milk.
 * Jeff recruits Lady Penelope as the London agent for International Rescue. He invites her to the International Rescue Island the following week to meet everyone again.

Story notes

 * This story marked the last instalment of Lady Penelope printed in TV Century 21. Beginning with the next issue, the Lady Penelope strip was replaced with stories focusing on the entire Thunderbirds team which, on occasion, featured guest appearances by Penelope and Parker. Their solo adventures continued on a more regular basis in a sister magazine, Lady Penelope, launched the same month as the conclusion of this story, and which was aimed at girls.
 * Like most of TV Century 21's The Daleks comic stories from the same era, this comic serial was not given a title in the pages of TV Century 21 during its original printing; the title instead comes from later reference sources.

Continuity

 * Scientists are interested in the discovery of the invisible ray torch and have been trying to develop something like it for years. (COMIC: The Menace of the Monstrons)
 * Steel was unaware of Parker's previous profession as a pickpocket. (COMIC: Mr. Steelman)