Comics UK

Thanks for the response, guys.

I'm not entirely sure what my first comic was. I'd say the Thomas the Tank engine comic, but I'm not sure if this classes as a comic or magazine. which I got from 1997/98 until about 2000 or '01 (But I don't think I got every issue from 1998-2001). Sadly barely any of these survive. I'm not sure what happened to them but it was probably a case of not looking after them properly. My collection was a mix of the regular comic and the "Fun to learn" editions. I didn't know the difference as a little kid, to me they were just the Thomas magazine.

It may not even be my first magazine, I've stumbled across "BBC Learning is fun" issues from 1996. I used to have this big world map poster on my bedroom wall which came from this magazine (But this edition couldn't have been before 1997, because I remember it using the current BBC logo). I've also come across issues of the toybox magazine and the Magic Key magazine from around 2000, but I don't think these were mine.

In the late 90's I got a couple of issues of the Cartoon network comic, but for some reason I was never really impressed with it. I also remember having an issue or two of a Tom and Jerry comic. The first time I read traditional non-licensed-product comics was in 2002 I think, when I first read the Beano and the Dandy. At the time, the Dandy wasn't a particularly good comic and I preferred the Beano. Again, none of my old Beanos and Dandies survive but I have a few second-hand Beanos I remember reading the first time round. I first began reading the Beano and the Dandy again in 2006, around the time Alan Digby became the Editor. (I remember the first issue I got this time was in March).

It's probably a similar story for me. I definitely read some licensed comics and magazines when I was really little, but Thomas the Tank Engine is the only one I distinctly remember.

Oddly enough I started reading the Beano in 2002, the same year as Old Freddy. I'd started watching the 1990s Dennis the Menace TV series and I really liked it, and my Dad then told me about the Beano. The first issue I ever got was number 3117, dated 13th April 2002, and the cover was the second part of a serial where Dennis helped Gordon the Gorilla escape from the zoo (it was a shame I never saw the first part but the strip was still funny without reading the previous installment). I got the next six issues, then stopped getting it for a few weeks, before starting again with issue 3129 (6th July 2002). I have every issue of the weekly since then.

I never got into the Dandy though. I remember reading the 2002 Dandy summer special, and I liked it, but I never started reading the weekly comic. Not sure why I wasn't so keen on it. In any case, if I had been a Dandy reader I think I would have stopped during the Xtreme era as there weren't enough comic. I have just three issues of the Dandy, from 1998, which I was given along with a Buster from the same year. I have liked most of what I've seen from the current Dandy though.

Yeah, 90s and 2000s Dandy just wasn't as good as the Beano. The Xtreme era especially due to often being only 40% comics. The 2004-2007 version was a bit of a rip-off financially compared to Beano, especially after it's page count dropped from 44 to 36, so you were only getting four extra pages for 31p more (99p Beano vs £1.30 Dandy). I have a few issues from both of those eras though. One issue from December 2005 was a rip-off for regular readers but a good way to attract new ones - 40 of the 44 pages were formatted as a 80 page comic (printed sideways at half size) which you could remove the cover and fold over. All the strips were reprints from the previous 14 months. As for the 90s, I never was a fan of Fiddle O'Diddle and Molly.

My first comic was probably Dandy or Beano in the early 1970's. I can still remember the first comic I wanted for myself rather than what was given to me. It was a Victor and one character on the cover said something like "that bodes ill". I had no idea what that meant and asked Dad. Strange how such minor things stick in the mind when so much else is forgotten.

The first comic I think I ever had was the Beano. The first comic that I bought that meant something to me was 2000AD. The first comic I read as a returning adult to comics was an issue of Green Lantern that featured Kyle Rayner as the new Lantern. It was read out of curiosity but some how around ten years later I am still buying the occasional Annual or trade paper back.

Digifiend wrote:As for the 90s, I never was a fan of Fiddle O'Diddle and Molly.

I really liked both of those! Molly in particular, I'm a big fan, I think it's fantastic.

(Always fun to join a forum and drag up all the old posts)

Some really nice stories here about growing up and all that. From memory, my introduction to comics was a tricky one:

I was obsessed with monsters of every variety as a youngster, and would be drawing them constantly, with The Trap Door being my favourite TV show. The first couple of comics I remember being bought were an issue of Teenage Mutant Hero Turtles which featured a huge insect/alien type monster, and a 2000AD which had some monsters conversing, and one of them threw a spear through a female monster as she was talking.

Problem was, I wasn't reading these comics, just looking at the monster pictures, which wasn't really helping me with learning to read properly (I was 5 or 6 at the time). Then one hot day in 1992 I got the Beano Summer Special and the Dandy Summer Special, and was hooked instantly. Started getting the Beano regularly (first issue being the 3rd part of the time when Gnasher was replaced by a panther), and I quickly became one of the "top" readers in school. The Beano saved the day!

Within a few weeks we'd put in a regular order at the newsagents for them to put away the Beano and Dandy for me, which I'd pick up every Saturday. This order was still standing in 2000!

I'd say my first was "Jack And Jill" circa 1962. I look at these comics now, and I can see characters I strongly identified with my maternal grandparents (Cuddly, and Harold Hare) and and my dad's father (Terry Tortoise). These were the people who supplied me with comics on holidays, and in the case of Cuddly and my grandmother, the resemblance was startling!

One big problem when I started reading comics was car sickness. I knew it would make me sick if I read while the car was moving, but I just couldn't stop looking at the pictures. After a couple of accidents, my parents hid the things from me until we arrived.

In my case I can easily pinpoint the first UK comics I ever laid my hands on. They were Whoopee! and Shiver and Shake dated 22th February, 1975 and Tammy dated 19th March, 1977. It’s easy for me because I was on the wrong side of the iron curtain where comics were non-existent and one day I got a package with the two comics from my penfriend in Leeds. I still remember the impression that they made on me, especially Whoopee. I was particularly fascinated by the fact that they were weekly publications and I found the idea of being able to follow adventures of Scared Stiff Sam, Frankie Stein and Scream Inn week after week mind-boggling. Whoopee! was in its prime then so I received it at the right time for me. I doubt if a copy from the early 80s would have made the same impression and triggered off my collecting hobby some 30 years later when the tender age of 40 kicked in

KP, that's a great introduction to British comics, sounds like it could be out of a spy movie! By the way where are you now? Or is that too much information, in case the comic police are watching! Also thanks for the Kid Chameleon posts on your blog, loved that strip as a kid!

While Im on here. I cant remember exactly the first comic I read, I did read Treasure, I was also reading Rupert very early, and Im sure at some point Andy Pandy, was he in a comic? And of course the Beano from about 1964.

Andy Pandy appeared in Robin.

Digi beat me to it but here are two more covers from 1953 and 1967 respectively to show what a long run Andy had. At one point I think his strip was illustrated by the amazing twin sister team of Janet and Anne Grahame Johnstone (as were Bill and Ben).



(...Up until the final panel I had a horrible feeling the above strip was going to turn into 'CSI Watch With Mother'! )



Robin was, of course, the third of Hulton's family of comic titles, aimed at the younger brothers and sisters of Eagle and Girl readers (Swift was the fourth - this time catering to the intermediate age range). Given the predominant bird theme (presumably 'borrowed' from the sub-divisions of Allen Lane's Penguin Books) one can't help wondering why Girl wasn't called something like Jenny Wren!

- Phil Rushton

matrix wrote:KP, that's a great introduction to British comics, sounds like it could be out of a spy movie! By the way where are you now?

I am still where I was but the World has sure changed a great deal since then!

Yep! An evil and oppressive empire collapses and Whoopee! gets discontinued. Some you win, some you lose!

- Phil R.