Writing an article on British adventure comics

[STARBOY]

Phoenix (not FelneyMike duh! sorry about that) Comics Heroes is available in W H Smiths and most specialist shops - the current issue (with Superman on the cover) hasn't got a lot on UK comics in the main magazine BUT the free poster has a massive full colour Hunt Emerson Frankenstein strip (the reason I bought it) - IMHO not a great issue for £7.99

I have 3 issues of this if you want them let me have your address I'll pop em in the post otherwise there going in the bin (no space)

[Phoenix]

I have 3 issues of this if you want them let me have your address I'll pop em in the post otherwise they're going in the bin (no space)

I'll take you up on that kind offer, STARBOY. Thank you very much indeed. PM on its way.

[Phoenix]

Phoenix, Comics Heroes is available in W H Smiths and most specialist shops. I have 3 issues of this. If you want them let me have your address I'll pop em in the post otherwise they're going in the bin (no space)

I'll take you up on that kind offer, STARBOY. Thank you very much indeed. PM on its way.

Can I just thank STARBOY publicly for being as good as his word. He sent me the three issues promptly, incurring a quite significant p&p charge. I owe you one STARBOY, thanks.

[STARBOY]

You're more than welcome Phoenix, consider it a return for all your interesting and informative posts over the years which I have enjoyed.

[Asger]

I hope you'll mention Rob the Rover, Britains and the worlds first adventure-comic, from Puck 1920-40.

[felneymike]

If I may perform a bump...

I'm working on this article at the moment (finally!) and hope to "go to press" this week (especially as the first issue of the comic is dated Jan-Feb!). The article has changed a little bit, and is now a broad overview rather than an attempt to list as many names as possible (though I am trying to squeeze in mentions of some more obscure titles alongside the famous ones, for instance The Boys' Magazine published by Allied Newspapers, which did some interesting sci-fi tales in the 20's and a story adaption of King Kond in the 30's).

Anyway, the size of the article is getting a bit out of hand (it may need to be 'serialised') but I've finally reached the 30's, and I'm wondering if anybody can confirm that The Pilot, published by Amalgamated Press, contained Superman newspaper strip reprints? I'm sure I've read that somewhere but now can't find it.

[Phoenix]

I'm wondering if anybody can confirm that The Pilot, published by Amalgamated Press, contained Superman newspaper strip reprints? I'm sure I've read that somewhere but now can't find it.

I don't know about The Pilot, FM, but I do know that Superman strips in black and white featured in Triumph in 1939. The example below is from issue 782 [Vol. 31] (Oct. 14 1939).

[Phoenix]

And the rest of the above instalment.

[philcom55]

Here's a link where you can see a scan I posted a while ago showing one of the issues that featured an original Superman cover:

http://www.comicsuk.co.uk/Forum/viewtop ... ton#p19293

And don't forget that Radio Fun itself began to carry the Superman newspaper strip in the late 1950s, along with some more UK-originated cover appearances.

Going by that Triumph cover posted by Phoenix it's interesting to note that at the beginning of WW2 some people were still thinking of modern warfare in terms of the barbed wire and trenches of WW1. Hitler's 'Blitzkriegs' must have come as a nasty surprise for them when he finally made his move!

- Phil Rushton

[paw broon]

I'm pretty sure Superman did not appear in The Pilot. A friend has a fair portion of the small run of the title and we've checked them. No Superman. There is a great serial featuring the Black Monk plus other "hero" style text serials.
Re. Superman, see my post on the Italian title, L'Audace, which originally reprinted Amalgamated Press material from 1934 for a few years and soon reprinted Superman with a name change to Ciclone because of the fascist authorities in Italy banning American material. (When The Blue Beetle was reprinted in Italy his name was changed to became Il Fantasma d'Acciaio. (The Steel Phantom) (In France the name was, Le Fantome d'Acier)
http://www.comicsuk.co.uk/Forum/viewtop ... f=1&t=4803
and Superman and Zorro pages here:-
http://vintagecomics.forumcommunity.net ... 090&st=855
Oddly enough, the authorities did not change Zorro's name.

[felneymike]

Aha, the Pilot was only a vague memory. Perhaps I can delete mention of it from the article to save some space now, eh?

I've just reached 1940, in only "three working days". I'd planned to get a lot of comic drawing done this week but that may go out of the window

[felneymike]

Sorry to bump again but the article is finished! I only expected it to take two days, instead it's taken a whole week of far more than "nine to five". I'll be glad to get back to the day job next week and have a rest!
If anybody could have a zip through and see if they can spot any glaring errors or famous comics that have been omitted, it will be much appreciated. Remember that I've abandoned the "mention EVERYTHING!" route, though!
I can fit in just a little more, the article got so out of hand I'm going to have to add four pages to the first issue to get it all in. But now there's not quite enough to fill them all, though the final version will have a big grand illustrated title.

http://blog.crystal-knights.co.uk/history/

I'll need to "go to press" pretty soon, as it's now technically a quarter of the way through the production period of issue 2! Though I might consider just releasing issues 1 and 2 together at the end of April (thus 'previewing' issue 1 at a pre-convention meetup I'm going to on the 7th. I'll just tell myself it's a launch party XD).

I may also gradually revise the article (and add more detail on stories and obscure comics) and re-release it is a "book", or maybe an A5 supplement to a future issue.

[Raven]

!
If anybody could have a zip through and see if they can spot any glaring errors or famous comics that have been omitted, it will be much appreciated.

It's late, so I've only had the briskest of looks for the moment, but a few little things I noticed:

You say "Score ‘n Roar was 9d for the same thing, and other adventure and sport comics of the time were 32 pages and only 7d. All readers got for their extra tuppence was a page wasted creating a “second cover” inside!" which isn't quite correct, as the comic was printed on high quality paper, allowing vivid colour photograph reproduction. High quality paper, hence extra tuppence. (I also thought you were a bit dismissive of probably IPC's best sports comic, there!)

Also, it's 'Dolmann', not 'Dollman', and you misspell 'Phoenix' several times.

I'll look forward to having a proper read over the weekend.

[tony ingram]

When I re-launch my comic (hopefully the first issue will be ready by the end of October, though at the moment every penny counts so I may not be able to afford to print many!) I want to include a "what went before" article about British adventure comics. So far though all I have is a list of titles to mention. Unfortunately beyond my own collecting area (1892-1940) I'm a bit stuck. I'm especially ignorant of the Penny Dreadful era and the second half of the 20th century.
Note that some of these will only get a passing mention rather than in-depth looks.
I'm aiming for comics that were suitable for 'school and up' ages (No Crisis, Deadline, Megazine, Robin, Swift etc) and were primarily about adventure, drama or sport (so no Beano, Dandy etc!).
Anyway, the list! I've broken it into rough 'eras' but obviously there was some overlap. Also included start dates, some significant events and characters worthy of a special mention.

Early 'experiments'
Young Gentlemen's Magazine (1777)
...new education law makes more working class children literate (early 19th century)

Penny Dreadfuls
Sweeney Todd (1830's)
Varney The Vampyre (1830's)
Wild Boys... series (1840's)

Story Papers
Boys Own Magazine (1850's)
Moral backlash against "Penny Dreadfuls" (mid 19th century)
Chatterbox (1866) ("easy" to collect whole volumes from mid 1900's on, otherwise not that significant a publication!)
Brett's "moral" stuff (1860's)
Boys Own Paper (1879)
Union Jack (1880)
Boys of The Empire (1880's)
Chums (1893)
Halfpenny Marvel (1893)
Union Jack (1894) (Sexton Blake)
Boys' Friend (1895)
Boys Herald (1900's)
Boys Realm (1900's)
Boys Friend Library (1906)
Girl's Friend Library (1906)
Gem (1907)
Magnet (1908)
Re-launches of major Harmsworth Papers (1900's)
World War 1 (price increases, hysterical anti-German stories)
Sexton Blake Library (1915)
The Schoolgirl (School Friend) (1919) (Bessie Bunter)
Adventure (1921)
Schoolgirls Own (1921)
Rover (1922)
Champion (1922) (Rockfist Rogan etc)
Wizard (1922) (Wilson, Alf Tupper)
Schoolgirls Own Library (1922)
Skipper (1930)
Hotspur (1933) (Red Circle)
Detective Weekly (1933)
Girls Crystal (1935)
Knockout (1939) (one of the first with adventure stories in comic strip format)
Graveyard Week (1940)
Comics with reduced schedules, less pages etc. Paper-saving ads and anti-Hitler ridicule

Comics
Short-lived "spiv comics" avoiding paper rationing (GG Swan's various publications, Soploway, repackaged American stuff etc)
Comet (1946)
Sun (1948)
Anger at American horror/crime comics (1949/50)
Eagle (1950) (Dan Dare)
Cowboy Picture Library (1950) (first to use picture stories in the "pocket format")
Text-only papers declining in favour of picture strips (50's - 60's)
Girl (1951)
Thriller Picture Library (1951) (first well-remembered picture library!)
A Classic In Pictures (50's)
Lion (1952)
Tiger (1954) (Roy of the Rovers)
Bunty (1958)
War Picture Library (1958)
Commando (1961) (the one 'proper' adventure comic still running in mainstream shops)
Victor (1961)
Valiant (1962)
Wizard (1970)
Tammy (1971)
Jinty (1974)
Warlord (1974) (Codename Warlord)
Battle (1975) (Charley's War / Darkies Mob)
Action (1976)
Bullet (1976)
Roy of the Rovers (1976)
2000AD (1977)
Misty (1978)
Crunch (1979)
Starblazer (1979)
Football Picture Library (70's/80's?)
New Eagle (1982)
Spike (1983)
General "collapse" of adventure comics, including titles going monthly then being cancelled (mid-80's - 1994)
Striker (1999?)
Spaceship Away (2003)
DFC (2008)
The 'British' Classics Illustrated (2008)
Comic Football (2011)
Strip Magazine (2011)
The Red, White & Blue / The Trident (2011... hopefully!)

What about Star-Lord and Tornado? Or Speed?

[felneymike]

I mentioned all three of those XD

Also I was using a review of Score N Roar on Lew Stringer's blog as I don't actually own any, But he didn't mention the interesting "linked" stories of brothers playing for different teams, so I'll probably change it.

Also the mention of Comic Football was stuck in the middle of the Strip Magazine section, which wasn't too bright. "Comic Football" now appears to have turned into an art agency providing cartoons for match programmes, so I suppose the actual comic isn't going to return!