Comics UK

Hi, I was wondering if any of you here have been able to access that archive. I have no access to it because of my location and no library around me subscribing to it, but I'm curious if any comic strips or panels from the classic comic series Teddy Tail are intact with the pages, or if the archive is text only. Has anyone looked on that archive at all?

I haven't, but I do have a Teddy Tail annual from the late Fifties if you'd like to see some images. The art's by W. St J. Glenn.

You could if you think others might like to see them. I actually happen to have the whole span of Teddy Tail annuals from the 1948-1962 period and I spent most of last year collecting them. I was browsing newspapers on ebay UK last night and someone was nice enough to show me the panel in a 1956 issue which was part of a story I didn't recognize, so it's been increasing my desire to seek out more of the comics that I know are out there.

Here are all the Teddy Tail books that I have:

I see you already have the annual in my collection, the one with the railway engine on the cover on the bottom row. The strips in this seem to be from the late Fifties. Unlike Rupert, the stories have a contemporary setting and a wry satirical slant. I imagine the strip must have been intended to appeal to adults as well as children.

I would agree with that a great deal, especially since he was a character from the childhood of those who were grown up at the time. William St. John Glenn was also a good artist that kept the series looking bright for as long as he could draw it, earlier in the 1950s there were two other artists such as Arthur Potts who wasn't as refined in his style and Roland Davies who was better but often drew the eyes of characters kind of small.

I don't have any of the books from the earlier eras, but I did find some Teddy Tail comics from 1919 in an online archive of the Detroit Free Press newspaper of all places although not all the images went through. I do like Charles Folkard's original style which did more to influence the character design in the postwar revival era. Herbert Foxwell who took over in the 1930s did a good job with coming up with stories and new characters, but I think he took too much ownership of the character by making him look more like his prior creations.

Funnily enough I've got the annual with the engine on the cover as well; I'll have to check if I have any others. Anthropomorphic comic strip characters like Teddy Tail and Rupert seem to have been an important part of the circulation wars between major newspaper publishers during the early part of the 20th century.