Discuss particular comic titles here.
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Well, thanks to a nice deal with Vic Whittle (The Man that created the British Pocket Comics website), I have broken the 1150 mark and I am well on my way to breaking the 1200 mark now. I am finding it scary as to how many Victor lots I can now ignore as there are less than 200 comics that I need to complete my run.
But anyhoo, the main reason for this post is that I am 99.9% sure that I have found a Ron Smith cover. It is issue 308 dated 14 Jan 1967. Can anyone confirm this?
With the amount of discussion about Ron Smith at the moment, I have been surprised to find it dovetail nicely into my reading as I never realised how much Ron Smith contributed to early Victor. The story of the boy that grew up to become Rock Hudson, Johnny Orchid (although I am not sure if that is my failing eyesight or whether it is a successful ghost of Ron's Style or even if it's Paddy Brennan) and the one about the moose that was called Hatrack (and it was a one-off story and it's bugging me now!) And many others. So enough burbles from me. I still have 60 comics covers to index and I want to see which gaps I can fill thanks to Ebay!
I started to say something sensible but my parents took over my brain!
Sorry to rain on your Ron Smith Victor parade Col but none of the items you mention are by him. Ron did a fair few covers for Hornet and Hotspur and a fair few picture strip serials for Hotspur also but the only thing I can remember that he ever drew for Victor was the early picture strip serial 'The Menace in Pit 19' about a mine that is terrorised by giant moles. I'll check out the cover story on No 308 and get back to you.
Kashgar wrote:Sorry to rain on your Ron Smith Victor parade Col but none of the items you mention are by him. Ron did a fair few covers for Hornet and Hotspur and a fair few picture strip serials for Hotspur also but the only thing I can remember that he ever drew for Victor was the early picture strip serial 'The Menace in Pit 19' about a mine that is terrorised by giant moles. I'll check out the cover story on No 308 and get back to you.
Spotted the Pit 19 one. But then who did draw them as it is very reminiscent of Ron's work? For the Rock Hudson and the Moose ones I will dig out a issue number and page numbers, and I looked at them two or three times at it before I tentatively mentally assigned it as being Ron's work. The Johnny Orchid one I can accept as I had it as 60% chance being Ron's but 40% of being someone else, but half the time, if I don't make a guess, I usually don't find out an answer.
Also surprised at how much work Matias Alonso did in the Victor.
I started to say something sensible but my parents took over my brain!
I've checked Col and the cover strip of Victor No 308 (14/1/67) 'No Retreat from the Menacing Mist' was drawn by George Radcliffe. He wasn't a particularly prolific artist for Victor but he did do the odd cover and also, if memory serves, a serial published in 1967 titled 'The Bombs with the Purple Stripe'.
Again without checking I think Johnny Orchid was the work of a foreign artist named Urnau. And Ron certainly didn't draw any of the 99 'When he was a Boy' features published in Victor.
'The Menace in Pit 19' (the only Victor Ron Smith strip) appeared in issues 29-36 in 1961 and like so many strips in the Thomson boy's picture papers in the 1960's owed its origins to a text story with the same title that had appeared in Rover in 1950 (1306-1313).
Kashgar wrote:I've checked Col and the cover strip of Victor No 308 (14/1/67) 'No Retreat from the Menacing Mist' was drawn by George Radcliffe. He wasn't a particularly prolific artist for Victor but he did do the odd cover and also, if memory serves, a serial published in 1967 titled 'The Bombs with the Purple Stripe'.
Again without checking I think Johnny Orchid was the work of a foreign artist named Urnau. And Ron certainly didn't draw any of the 99 'When he was a Boy' features published in Victor.
'The Menace in Pit 19' (the only Victor Ron Smith strip) appeared in issues 29-36 in 1961 and like so many strips in the Thomson boy's picture papers in the 1960's owed its origins to a text story with the same title that had appeared in Rover in 1950 (1306-1313).
Thanks for the fact-check. I am amazed at the similiarity between Ron Smith's and George Radcliffe's style.
But onto happier news. Just done a quick comic count and I now have only 133 weekly issues to collect! Just got three to index and thanks to the kindness of a stranger, I may be able to index those copies that are in the UK while I am here in not so sunny Cyprus!
I started to say something sensible but my parents took over my brain!
Digifiend wrote:Wow, Col, 43 issues obtained in the last 368 days. That's not a bad haul considering these papers are nearly 50 years old.
Unfortunately, most of the update has been getting most of my comics in the one place. I had all the 900's, but had never indexed the covers before I went overseas. My problem now is that the newest Victor I need is issue 331 which doesn't come up that often and the oldest is issue 3. Plus, when I look at the prices for the first 20 and then look at my bank balance, it doesn't always add up that I can get the comics when I want them. It seems to be a truism that the issue you are hunting most fervently always turns up when you can least afford it. Oh well, back to merging my Victor collections into my collection and doubles.
I started to say something sensible but my parents took over my brain!
Just got three to index and thanks to the kindness of a stranger, I may be able to index those copies that are in the UK while I am here in not so sunny Cyprus!
I had all the 900's, but had never indexed the covers before I went overseas. My problem now is that the newest Victor I need is issue 331 which doesn't come up that often and the oldest is issue 3. Plus, when I look at the prices for the first 20 and then look at my bank balance, it doesn't always add up that I can get the comics when I want them. It seems to be a truism that the issue you are hunting most fervently always turns up when you can least afford it. Oh well, back to merging my Victor collections into my collection and doubles.