"The Vanishing Ray" is a Lady Penelope comic strip that appeared in TV Century 21 issues 44 - 51 as an eight part story, between 20th November 1965 and 8th January 1966. It was the last Lady Penelope strip published in TV Century 21, as it would be replaced by a main Thunderbirds strip from the next issue. The Lady Penelope strip would find itself a new home in an entirely new publication also called Lady Penelope - a TV21-like magazine aimed at girls.
With Thunderbirds having now premiered on television, and Lady Penelope herself having appeared, The Vanishing Ray solidified the strip's presence in the Thunderbirds continuity by depicting the events leading up to Penelope's recruitment by Jeff Tracy into International Rescue. Also making an appearance was the Hood, in a rare outing before he had settled his criminal eyes on the rescue organisation.
The Vanishing Ray would, in 2022, receive an audio adaptation under the same name for Anderson Entertainment's Thunderbirds Versus the Hood, alongside the Thunderbirds story Brains is Dead.
Synopsis[]
Penelope receives a strange invisibility-projecting torch in the post, with no clue of who sent it to her. But this is just the beginning of the trouble when two powerful adversaries are also interested in the device...
Plot[]
A Mysterious Gift[]
At Creighton-Ward mansion, Parker gives Lady Penelope her morning post. He discovers a small package and unwraps it first, finding a small torch. Her ladyship turns it on, and to their surprise it shines a pink beam - that makes half of the table, and then the tea tray, disappear! Penelope explains to a confused Parker about how the ray works, and finds no return address on the package... giving them no clue on who sent it... or why...
Meanwhile, at the headquarters of the British Secret Service at Whitehall, an anonymous letter is received, stating Lady Penelope is in possession of an invisibility ray. Fearing that the device would be dangerous in the wrong hands, the head of the service sends Steel, one of his top agents, to investigate.
At the same moment - on the other side of the world - the same letter is received by yet another: the Hood, at his temple in Malaysia. He decides he must have it, as it would be the perfect cover to find out the world's top secrets.
Strange Events[]
The Hood heads for England at once, vowing to get the ray even if he has to kill Penelope first. He uses a false passport to enter the country, hires a car and heads for Creighton-Ward mansion...
Steel arrives there first, and pretends to be a cookbook salesman so he can enter the mansion. Penelope kindly invites him to stay for tea and while she rings for Parker, Steel spots the ray torch on the half-vanished table and quickly pockets it before Parker comes with tea. After thanking her ladyship, Parker shows him to the door and temptingly picks his pockets. To his surprise, he finds the torch - and returns it to the equally-astonished Lady Penelope!
Later, the Hood arrives and uses the same ruse as Steel. Penelope again makes an invitation to tea. After seeing the ray on the table, the Hood upsets his tea as a distraction while he grabs the torch. He then leaves, making sure not to have his pockets picked. Lady Penelope realises the torch has gone missing again while the Hood goes to his car, confident that he now has the power to be invisible himself.
When Parker realises that the Hood has taken it, though, Penelope holds up the real torch - saying that she switched it with an ordinary torch, as a safety precaution. Meanwhile, the Hood tests the torch on a seat in the car - but when nothing happens, he angrily flings the torch aside! Realising he's been tricked, he decides to get more help... unaware that the torch has a small transmitting-signal cell, monitored by Penelope and Parker...
Stopping at a place owned by a burglar named Big George, the Hood hires him and his men to break into the stately home for him...that very night.
Lady Penelope decides to keep the ray in a secret underground safe, and to turn on the security alarms to keep the would-be thieves away...
Back at the British Secret Service headquarters, the head is angry with Steel for failing to bring the ray and decides to bring Penelope in for questioning. Many agents led by Steel arrive at the mansion and arrest her ladyship and Parker. Before they leave, though, Penelope quickly sets the alarms...
...so that when the Hood and his hired men subsequently arrive, they're unable to break in! The police arrive to arrest them...but the Hood gets away, vowing revenge...
The agents of the British Secret Service question Lady Penelope, who tells of how Steel took the device on his visit; as a result, her ladyship is set free and Steel is then questioned by his fellow agents on the whereabouts of the ray - even though he keeps telling them that Parker stole it back!
The Hood Strikes Back[]
As Penelope and Parker leave the building, she decides to call FAB 1 to collect them - unaware that the Hood, having had enough of Penelope playing games with him, is lurking in an alley nearby, with a gun aimed at her ladyship. She bends down to remove her shoe, that has a built-in radio to contact the Rolls-Royce - narrowly missing the Hood's shot that goes through the glass window of the building.
They flee before they're detained for questioning again, and just as the Hood is about to pursue them, an armed agent appears and gives chase. The Hood eludes him, but angrily vows that he'll find Penelope yet...
Penelope is finally able to safely utilize her shoe-communicator to summon the distinctive pink Rolls-Royce, and she and Parker head for home - but the Hood's still pursuing them and, from his car, fires point-blank-range at FAB 1 so he can steal Penelope's keys to break into the mansion. Parker then uses the oil-slick on the road, causing the Hood's car to crash. The furious crook gets out of the wrecked car and vows that Penelope will die!
Back at the mansion, Penelope relaxes and Parker suggests that they should analyse the mysterious torch to see who sent it to them. Suddenly there's a knock on the door and, after a warning from Penelope that they haven't seen the last of the Hood, Parker opens it - to see a policeman on the doorstep...
The constable explains about the earlier break-in and asks to see her ladyship for a statement. Parker admits him in... and is abruptly knocked unconscious...
Entering the living room, the policeman reveals himself to Penelope as the Hood in disguise. He ties her up and threatens to gun her down if she doesn't tell him where the ray is. But Penelope won't co-operate so he fires a few warning shots. When she still won't talk, he gets ready for the final kill, but Penelope activates a switch on the arm of her chair - releasing a large chandelier that crashes down on top of the crook, knocking him unconscious! Parker, still rubbing his sore head, enters and unties Penelope - and they plan a certain very special delivery for the Secret Service headquarters...
Back at Whitehall, the agents have deduced that Steel was telling the truth all along, and they should interrogate Penelope once again. One of the agents goes out to collect the milk - and find the Hood on their doorstep! They bring him inside for questioning, but the crook refuses to talk. The only charge against him is illegal entry into the country, so they arrange for the authorities to send him back to Malaysia.
The Mystery Solved[]
Next morning, Lady Penelope and Parker at last get their opportunity to analyse the invisible-ray torch in detail. They learn that its components were made by someone of vast intelligence who, in turn, sent it to her. Penelope is still confused as why the item was sent to her in the first place...
Parker arrives with the morning post, which contains a strange postcard saying "Will explain all at 10. Thunderbirds are nearly go." At 10 o'clock, there's a knock on the door - and the person turns out to be her friend Jeff Tracy, who explains that his technician Brains had invented the ray and everything that had happened to her was a test - to see how well she could handle the British end of International Rescue by holding onto something important, despite difficulties. She passed the test with flying colours - becoming their new London agent. Brains then appears, with a new table to replace the one that half-disappeared.
When Penelope asks what will now become of the ray itself, Jeff replies that it's in fact useless - as Brains couldn't work out how to reverse its beam! Jeff then tells her ladyship a plan of how the British Secret Service will leave her alone. She enters the main headquarters and goes to the head of the service, who shows her a file which has enough evidence to send her to prison. She uses the ray on it - which makes it invisible - and gives the ray to the astonished head...!
They all reach the airport, with Jeff and Brains saying their goodbyes and pleased to have her ladyship in their organisation. Parker's a little sad of all the excitement being over - but Penelope tells him that they're now part of International Rescue!
Characters[]
(in order of appearance)
- Parker
- Lady Penelope Creighton-Ward
- British Secret Service Head
- Steel
- The Hood
- Big George
- British Secret Service agents
- Big George's gang
- Simms
- Foxley Heath police officers
- Jeff Tracy
- Brains
Reprint History[]
The story would be reprinted for Thunderbirds: The Comic, between issues 9 and 14, where it would confusingly switch between being named The Vanishing Ray and The Invisible Ray.
As for dedicated comic collections, it would appear in the fourth book of the Ravette's 1992 Thunderbirds comic album series called "Lift Off!". It would next appear as The Invisibility Ray in 2002's Thunderbirds Classic Comic Strips, and later volume one of Thunderbirds: The Comic Collection in 2013, back under the title of The Vanishing Ray.
Cover Tie-Ins[]
Unusually, no direct tie-in material to the story was published on the cover of TV Century 21. There was, however, various teases to both the upcoming Thunderbirds presence and the new Lady Penelope magazine.
Trivia[]
- The ending of this story would be retold in The Complete Thunderbirds Story part 43, this time being told from Jeff's perspective.