Important dates in Victor's history

colcool007 · Post by **colcool007** » 15 Jul 2007, 21:02

Now I am thinking of writing an article for Crikey on Victor and I have isolated a few important issues in the evolution of Victor. If anyone can think of adding to these then I would be most grateful.

Issue 650 First change to the Victor logo.

Issue 766 First true story to be published without a title.

Issue 1107 First time that Victor featured a coloured advert on the back page

Issue 1399 Last time that a true story was the cover page story.

Issue XXXX - First issue in glossy format.

Issue 1657 - Last issue ever!

Additional info that would be really appreciated would be a bibliography of new stories, of artists, of writers. A diary of the reprints would be nice as well... Any info would be welcome as I am horrendously ignorant of the contributors to Victor, but as a fan, I can probably quote chapter and verse on the stories featured.

Kashgar · Post by **Kashgar** » 18 Jul 2007, 11:18

Hi Col, A few important dates in the history of Victor that may help you along.
No1(25/2/61) I Flew with Braddock (first appearance on Matt Braddock)
drawn by Keith Shone.
No71(30/6/62) The Tough of the Track (first appearance of Alf Tupper) drawn by Pete Sutherland.
No109(23/3/63) first app of Morgyn the Mighty drawn by Ted Kearon.
No541(3/7/71) first all picture strip issue.
No601(26/8/72) The Swordmaker (first app of Chell Puddock 'The Hammer Man') drawn by Ted Rawlings.
No625(10/2/73) The Coward of the Fighting 43rd ( first app of Cadman) drawn by Mike Dorey.
No906(1/7/78) first V & Wizard
No1042(7/2/81) first V & Hotspur
No1078(17/10/81) first V & Scoop
No1173(13/8/83) first V & Buddy
No1288(26/10/85) first V & Champ
No1338(11/10/86) first V & Warlord
No1573(13/4/91) first glossy gravure issue.
Spin-off titles Victor Book 1964-1994 (31 editions). Victor Summer Special 1967-1992 (26 editions), Adventure - a Victor Special 1987 ( 1 edition).
Hope the above helps and gives you some food for thought.

colcool007 · Post by **colcool007** » 18 Jul 2007, 14:50

Kashgar, that's brilliant. Just going through my comics and I was surprised to find that the coloured adverts came and went. And when the adverts weren't there, the back cover would revert to true story.

The added bonuses are that you've identified the early Braddock and Morgyn artists. Thanks for that!

Kashgar · Post by **Kashgar** » 19 Jul 2007, 10:48

More than happy to help Col. One item I forgot to include on my little list was Victor No650(4/8/73) being the last to feature the original title logo. Best of luck with the article.

colcool007 · Post by **colcool007** » 05 Aug 2007, 13:24

Adding to the article, I was going to start a Victor comic guide as I now have around 850 issues and I am only missing a few of the annuals (64, 71 and 2 or 3 of the later ones, but should be able to pick them up) so does anyone feel like helping? I know a few of you have decent Victor collections (Reker, are your ears burning yet?

) or have you already done one Kash?

Kashgar · Post by **Kashgar** » 06 Aug 2007, 11:28

Hi Col, I've lots of notes which if I collected them together would add up to a fairly decent Victor Index but, even so, the answer to your question is no I haven't done a VI and if you want to go ahead and give it a go then by all means do so.
My problem is I'm a little too anal and get obsessed about including as much detail as possible in any project I'm involved in. For instance if I was doing a Victor Index it would now have to include details of where a lot of the picture strips etc had first appeared in other forms, as at least two thirds of the strips printed in the first decade owed something to text stories published previously in the Thomson boys story papers. Sadly though, all this detail takes time to amass but I wouldn't feel I'd done the project justice if I didn't include it so the end result is an impasse.

colcool007 · Post by **colcool007** » 06 Aug 2007, 15:42

To add to that, I would want to detail as much information on authors and artists, but anything has got to be better than nothing which is what's currently out there. But at least we have Mike Shawfield and Vic Whittle's work to draw on rather than having a complete blank, plus I have a very good contact at D C T that might just allow me into their hallowed files for just such a task.

The only problem would be that I would have to keep my sticky fingers off all that original art. I mean Alan Willow's covers, Ian's Kennedy's strips and many many other. Excuse me while I wreck this keyboard with drool!