If you could bring back 1 UK Comic which 1 would it be?

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starscape
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Re: If you could bring back 1 UK Comic which 1 would it be?

Post by starscape »

I tried to suggest once to DCT that they bring back a few stories in Commando. A bit of cut'n'paste. Bit of retouching. One or two new panels and, voilà, Union Jack Jackson (or whoever) returns. Significant sales? Then here comes Hotspur (or Victor or Warlord) Pocket Library, reprinting the best of classic DCT.

Ewan Kerr liked the idea and thought it had mileage but didn't think DCT would be interested. And didn't want to licence the stories either.

As for who I'd bring back, I probably preferred Starlord but actually it would be Tornado. I miss the non-sci-fi action, like Blackhawk, Storm, Wagner's Walk etc. We're well served with sci-fi and superhero action (although I wonder if a cheap B&W MWoM would work - needs to be very very cheap). But Vikings and Romans? Not too many in that boy's adventure style.
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philcom55
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Re: If you could bring back 1 UK Comic which 1 would it be?

Post by philcom55 »

tony ingram wrote:I loved King Cobra. Superheroes in old British titles were all so wonderfully demented. Anyone remember X-Bow the motorcycling archer from Hotspur?
Funnily enough I picked up a few 1970s Hotspurs for 50p each at the Manchester Mart on Saturday. The percentage of uninspired football and war stories that it featured have never made me want to collect it in a big way, but I have to say that some of the cover stories such as Ron Smith's King Cobra (up until then who'd have guessed that Ron was such a natural super-hero artist?) and Dave Gibbons' 'The Spy in the Sputnik' would have been equally at home in 2000AD when it was launched the following year. Of course, if they had appeared there they'd have been reprinted many times over by now!

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Digifiend
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Re: If you could bring back 1 UK Comic which 1 would it be?

Post by Digifiend »

King Cobra was in the last few issues of Classics from the Comics. It's a shame CFTC closed when it did, as I did like what I saw.

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Re: If you could bring back 1 UK Comic which 1 would it be?

Post by Raven »

philcom55 wrote:Funnily enough I picked up a few 1970s Hotspurs for 50p each at the Manchester Mart on Saturday. The percentage of uninspired football and war stories that it featured have never made me want to collect it in a big way, but I have to say that some of the cover stories such as Ron Smith's King Cobra (up until then who'd have guessed that Ron was such a natural super-hero artist?) and Dave Gibbons' 'The Spy in the Sputnik' would have been equally at home in 2000AD when it was launched the following year. Of course, if they had appeared there they'd have been reprinted many times over by now!
- Phil Rushton

I bought the issues with the first two instalments of The Spy in the Sputnik, Phil - though they forgot to name the strip for part one! I can't agree it would have been at home in 2000AD, though; the two parts I have, at least, are a stiff, fairly dire read, as dull and uninspired as much of the rest of the comic. I thought it was quite 1950s-ish with its Sputnik-based adventures, and there's none of the intelligence or sense of satire I'd associate with early 2000AD. Best thing in the comics, I think, is the Cameron RN strip artwork.

As for bringing back comics ... you can only really do so in title only, can't you, like the new Hammer films, because there'd be no other link. All the old artists, writers and editors are gone, so they wouldn't be the same. A new Whizzer and Chips or Monster Fun with today's "naive" art, and filled with lazy poo and fart jokes, or adventure strips with today's glacial 'please make this a graphic novel' pacing just wouldn't be those comics - so you'd probably end up getting angry about it! The new styles would have to work on their own terms rather than trying to revive past titles.
Last edited by Raven on 13 Mar 2012, 18:57, edited 2 times in total.

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Gilly
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Re: If you could bring back 1 UK Comic which 1 would it be?

Post by Gilly »

Raven wrote:As for bringing back comics ... you can only really do so in title only, can't you, like the new Hammer films, because there'd be no other link. All the old artists, writers and editors are gone, so they wouldn't be the same. A new Whizzer and Chips or Monster Fun with today's "naive" art, and filled with lazy poo and fart jokes just wouldn't be those comics - so you'd probably end up getting angry about it!
In reality that's all The Dandy's 2010 relaunch was. The only links to how it was when I was a child today is Desperate Dan, Korky the Cat, Bananaman and Cuddles and Dimples and they are rapidly different from how they was back then.

The Beano on the other hand is closer in style to how it was many years ago even though there are different artists working on many of the old strips.

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Re: If you could bring back 1 UK Comic which 1 would it be?

Post by Raven »

Gilly wrote:In reality that's all The Dandy's 2010 relaunch was. The only links to how it was when I was a child today is Desperate Dan, Korky the Cat, Bananaman and Cuddles and Dimples and they are rapidly different from how they was back then.

The Beano on the other hand is closer in style to how it was many years ago even though there are different artists working on many of the old strips.

I'm sure the last Beano front cover I saw, a week or two ago, had a character doing a giant fart on it!

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Gilly
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Re: If you could bring back 1 UK Comic which 1 would it be?

Post by Gilly »

Your right in terms of the jokes as the humour has to appeal to today's audience.

What I meant by The Beano being closer is the characters that still appear and the art style which has not changed as much as The Dandy's.

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Re: If you could bring back 1 UK Comic which 1 would it be?

Post by Phoenix »

Raven wrote:I bought the issues with the first two instalments of The Spy in the Sputnik, Phil - though they forgot to name the strip for part one!
They didn't forget, Raven, they named it on the front cover, and therefore considered it unnecessary to do so again on the inside-front cover where the story effectively started. They maintained this approach until the end of the serial except, completely inexplicably, for issue 887 (Oct. 16 1976) when, despite the usual Spy/Sputnik front cover, they did put a title at the top of the inside-front cover. This unusual procedure continued for the new King Cobra series, which, in issue 889, was trailered as A terrific new all-action cover series (underlining mine) about the famous crook catcher. I have no explanation for this decision, other than to point out two things. First, for the previous King Cobra series, which ended in 863 (May 1 1976), the character again had the cover to himself, the story also effectively started on the inside-front cover, but with a kind of heading there saying King Cobra, underneath which was written Continued from front cover. Secondly, all issues of The Hotspur after 863 (the last issue of that earlier King Cobra series) as far as 881 (the issue before the start of The Spy In The Sputnik), advertised on the cover at least two, but sometimes three, of the serials inside. New thinking?

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Re: If you could bring back 1 UK Comic which 1 would it be?

Post by Raven »

Phoenix wrote:
Raven wrote:I bought the issues with the first two instalments of The Spy in the Sputnik, Phil - though they forgot to name the strip for part one!
They didn't forget, Raven, they named it on the front cover, and therefore considered it unnecessary to do so again on the inside-front cover where the story effectively started.

But on the (I assume) first instalment issue I have, number 883, the story isn't named on the front cover, either.

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Re: If you could bring back 1 UK Comic which 1 would it be?

Post by Raven »

Gilly wrote:Your right in terms of the jokes as the humour has to appeal to today's audience.

What makes you think today's audience is especially after fart jokes?

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Re: If you could bring back 1 UK Comic which 1 would it be?

Post by Phoenix »

No, Raven. The Spy In The Sputnik started in issue 882. See below.
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Gilly
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Re: If you could bring back 1 UK Comic which 1 would it be?

Post by Gilly »

Raven wrote:What makes you think today's audience is especially after fart jokes?
I don't think they are especially after fart jokes, I just think it's one of the things that appeals to kids these days. To be fair The Beano is not 36 pages of fart jokes, a good example is that last weeks doesn't feature that sort of humour at all.

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Re: If you could bring back 1 UK Comic which 1 would it be?

Post by Raven »

Phoenix wrote:No, Raven. The Spy In The Sputnik started in issue 882. See below.
Ah. Perhaps that's why the story seemed to start a bit abruptly! (I thought I'd checked the previous issues on sale to find the start - though I think I do now remember that cover. Perhaps Phil got it.) Well, issue 883 doesn't have the story title on the cover, unless I have a super-rare edition.

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Re: If you could bring back 1 UK Comic which 1 would it be?

Post by Phoenix »

Raven wrote:Well, issue 883 doesn't have the story title on the cover, unless I have a super-rare edition.
No it doesn't, but there is a panel of appetite-whetting text there, which would have tempted children who had not seen the previous week's initial instalment to part with their 5d, and could even have been seen by those who had, I imagine, as an opportunity to get right back into an exciting story without even noticing that the title had been omitted.

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standby4action
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Re: If you could bring back 1 UK Comic which 1 would it be?

Post by standby4action »

TV21....short, sweet and to the point!

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