Looking for the title of two comics I read in the 1990s

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caninesapien
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Joined: 28 Nov 2017, 12:12

Looking for the title of two comics I read in the 1990s

Post by caninesapien »

Hi all. I'm looking for the title of two specific comics that I read around the mid to late 1990s in the UK. I was nine years old in 1995 and that's when I started to read as many comics as I could get my hands on.

The first one I'm trying to remember was probably bought between 1995-1999 but unfortunately I don't remember a great deal about it - other than it had a strip in the second half of the comic (or possibly back page) of an "Ugly Bug Ball". Memories are hazy but I think the main strip of this comic involved a female character who was kind of mischievous. I believe I only had the one issue and I don't recall seeing any others which is why i'm finding it so hard to remember! Other details: I think it felt more like a "glossy" magazine style comic, along the lines of Quiz Kids (the Puzzler comic) or Sonic the Comic - two other titles I was reading around the same time. It was certainly more "glossy" than DC comic titles for example. I would estimate that I had it around 1997 or so, but it could have been any time between 1995 and 99.

The second one was an anthology style comic that - if I remember correctly - was made up of syndicated strips from around the world. I seem to remember that it included Garfield, Dilbert, the Far Side and a strip called The Duplex, amongst others. Again, i'm not sure if this was a series or just a kind of one-off, and I would have bought this around the same time as the comic above, but maybe slightly earlier (1995 or so). I remember the rough date as I remember my mum buying it for me at the same shop she'd bought me Fizz ("The Magazine for Teenagers") a few weeks previously. For info - Fizz was a comic designed for teenagers (which apparently reprinted old Acne strips) and it seemed to be a kind of more mature Beano, if not with the same strip quality - not quite at Viz levels!

Apologies for the lack of detail here but I've been racking my brains trying to remember these for a long time now! Hope someone can help. Cheers.

Lew Stringer
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Re: Looking for the title of two comics I read in the 1990s

Post by Lew Stringer »

caninesapien wrote: The second one was an anthology style comic that - if I remember correctly - was made up of syndicated strips from around the world. I seem to remember that it included Garfield, Dilbert, the Far Side and a strip called The Duplex, amongst others. Again, i'm not sure if this was a series or just a kind of one-off, and I would have bought this around the same time as the comic above, but maybe slightly earlier (1995 or so). I remember the rough date as I remember my mum buying it for me at the same shop she'd bought me Fizz ("The Magazine for Teenagers") a few weeks previously. For info - Fizz was a comic designed for teenagers (which apparently reprinted old Acne strips) and it seemed to be a kind of more mature Beano, if not with the same strip quality - not quite at Viz levels!

Apologies for the lack of detail here but I've been racking my brains trying to remember these for a long time now! Hope someone can help. Cheers.
Not sure about your first query, but your second sounds like it would by Zoo comic, published around that time. There's one on eBay. Could this be it?
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Zoo-comic-N ... SwmLlX-pPu

caninesapien
Posts: 5
Joined: 28 Nov 2017, 12:12

Re: Looking for the title of two comics I read in the 1990s

Post by caninesapien »

Lew Stringer wrote:
caninesapien wrote: The second one was an anthology style comic that - if I remember correctly - was made up of syndicated strips from around the world. I seem to remember that it included Garfield, Dilbert, the Far Side and a strip called The Duplex, amongst others. Again, i'm not sure if this was a series or just a kind of one-off, and I would have bought this around the same time as the comic above, but maybe slightly earlier (1995 or so). I remember the rough date as I remember my mum buying it for me at the same shop she'd bought me Fizz ("The Magazine for Teenagers") a few weeks previously. For info - Fizz was a comic designed for teenagers (which apparently reprinted old Acne strips) and it seemed to be a kind of more mature Beano, if not with the same strip quality - not quite at Viz levels!

Apologies for the lack of detail here but I've been racking my brains trying to remember these for a long time now! Hope someone can help. Cheers.
Not sure about your first query, but your second sounds like it would by Zoo comic, published around that time. There's one on eBay. Could this be it?
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Zoo-comic-N ... SwmLlX-pPu
Wow, yes - the second one was Zoo! Fantastic. Thanks so much for this. I see this one is from 1989, so I guess it was an ongoing thing? I definitely would have had the copy I'm thinking of in the 1990s.

Thanks again! :)

caninesapien
Posts: 5
Joined: 28 Nov 2017, 12:12

Re: Looking for the title of two comics I read in the 1990s

Post by caninesapien »

And incidentally - one of the related auctions for that Zoo issue was a 1997 Cosmic magazine, which I remember having at the time and it is very very close to how I remember the first of my queries, but as I look through the images available, I don't think it's exactly the one I'm trying to remember.

caninesapien
Posts: 5
Joined: 28 Nov 2017, 12:12

Re: Looking for the title of two comics I read in the 1990s

Post by caninesapien »

Oh also - apologies for triple post - didn't realise it was you, Lew, who replied! Thanks again for the info. Big fan (and I was only reading some old Sonic the Comic issues this morning)!

Lew Stringer
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Re: Looking for the title of two comics I read in the 1990s

Post by Lew Stringer »

caninesapien wrote:Oh also - apologies for triple post - didn't realise it was you, Lew, who replied! Thanks again for the info. Big fan (and I was only reading some old Sonic the Comic issues this morning)!
Thank you. Yep, STC was very enjoyable to write for. Glad you liked it.
The blog of British comics: http://lewstringer.blogspot.com
My website: http://www.lewstringer.com
Blog about my own work: http://lewstringercomics.blogspot.com/

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Digifiend
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Re: Looking for the title of two comics I read in the 1990s

Post by Digifiend »

caninesapien wrote:And incidentally - one of the related auctions for that Zoo issue was a 1997 Cosmic magazine, which I remember having at the time and it is very very close to how I remember the first of my queries, but as I look through the images available, I don't think it's exactly the one I'm trying to remember.
I had that Cosmic mag too, it was bundled with Take a Break magazine and had a mix of comics and puzzles. Don't know if it launched as an ongoing, didn't last long if it did.

Richard S.
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Re: Looking for the title of two comics I read in the 1990s

Post by Richard S. »

and there was a Cosmic annual don't forget

http://boysadventurecomics.blogspot.co. ... osmic.html
my blog: http://boysadventurecomics.blogspot.co.uk/
facebook: Richard Sheaf
facebook group: Boys adventure comic blog
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Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/BoysAdventureComics/

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