Traitor Black Gives In! (comic story)

Traitor Black Gives In!
Main character(s):	Paul Metcalf Adam Svenson Charles Grey Conrad Turner
Featuring:	Younger, Zodiac, Robert, Zero, Shore, Twenty One, the Kaplan
Main enemy:	The Mysterons
Main setting:	Earth, Astra and Mars, 2068
Key crew
Publisher:	City Magazines
Editor:	Howard Elson
Artist:	Mike Noble, Jim Watson
Release details
Printed in:	TV21 196 - 198
Release date:	19 October - 2 November 1968
Format:	3 parts - 12 pages
Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons crossover stories
← Previous	Indestructible Army!
Next →	A New Threat!

Traitor Black Gives In! was the title of the opening part of a Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons comic story printed in TV Century 21 in 1968.

It was partly set on the planet of Astra, first mentioned in the Doctor Who television story The Rescue. The story also featured the native inhabitants of the planet, the Astrans, who had been introduced in The Daleks comic story Duel of the Daleks.

Summary

to be added

Characters

• Paul Metcalf
• Conrad Turner
• Charles Grey
• Adam Svenson
• Doctor Fawn
• Lieutenant Green
• Destiny Angel
• Symphony Angel
• Rhapsody Angel
• Melody Angel
• Harmony Angel
• T.J. Younger
• Steve Zodiac
• Robert the Robot
• Commander Zero
• Major Ninety
• Agent Twenty One
• Commander Shore
• The Kaplan
• Lim-Po
• Bill
• Howard
• General Downside

Worldbuilding

• When Captain Black is freed of the Mysterons' influence and loses all memory of his role in the Mysteron War, he accuses Scarlet of talking in riddles upon being questioned on his loyalty.
• The electrode cannon is tested in a cave near Fort Johnson before being loaded onto a ship at Helsinki Spaceport.
• After World President Younger disbands Spectrum, the Angels and their craft are reassigned to the World Army-Air Force while the World Army takes the S.P.V.s and the Universal Secret Service get the maximum security vehicles and Spectrum saloons.
• Black retires when Spectrum is shut down, hoping to take up gardening and writing in a cottage in Berkshire.
• Paul and Adam quickly pass the World Space Patrol's training school on Mars, each quickly earning the rank of Colonel and gaining the ship Fireball XL19.
• Fireball XL3 is present in Space City.
• Upon Ambassador Grey arrival on Astra, the Kaplan comments that having a military man around will make for a nice change.
• Conrad substitutes for somebody in a cricket match, saying he "used to be quite a good batsman".
• The Second Battalion and the Electrode Rifle Brigade are military forces based near to the Mysteron City.
• White is loaned a ship from the Astran space fleet in order to return to Earth while the experimental T-S is utilised to fetch Scarlet and Blue from Andromeda once the President orders that Spectrum be reformed.
• Scarlet states that the indestructibility of the Mysterons depends upon their retrometabolism ray. He earlier reported there was no sign of retrometabolism upon his destruction of their city.

Story notes

• As well as a crossover with the Doctor Who universe, this story also crossed over with Fireball XL5 by featuring Colonel Zodiac, Robert the Robot and Commander Zero, as well as Stingray by featuring Commander Shore. Unlike similar crossovers, however, by this point in time both the Fireball XL5 and Stingray comic strip had been axed from TV Century 21.

Continuity

• Ambassador Grey is forced to Astra after his predecessor hit the Kaplan. Another ambassador later expressed a similar disliking for the planet and its peoples, albeit while they were on the brink of a civil war. (COMIC: Flash: XL5 Crew Held on Astra)