An absolute gem from the 1984 Bunty annual

[Phoenix]

As to 'The Big Story' Col this cover-all title was first used to describe a long complete story in the early 1960's. It was a regular feature of both 'Rover & Adventure' and then subsequently 'Rover & Wizard'.

The first long complete under the umbrella heading of The Big Story that appeared in the first issue of Rover And Adventure (Jan. 21 1961) was The Deadly Eyes Of Gunner West, which took up roughly seven pages of text. It was described as a special double-length complete thriller. There were only five serials in that issue, as opposed to seven in the final issue of The Rover the previous week. Two of these provided continuity, while the other three serials plus The Big Story effectively replaced the four serials that had concluded the previous week. However, it needs to be remembered that Adventure and The Rover both breathed their last on the same day (Jan. 14 1961). This is pertinent for two reasons. Firstly, one of the new serials in Rover And Adventure, Flight Of The Blue Condor, had started in Adventure two weeks earlier, in 1877(Jan. 7 1961), and secondly The Big Story had already been introduced to readers of Adventure, in its Christmas issue 1875 (Dec. 24 1960), and this established the legacy of Adventure in the new combined paper.

[Kashgar]

Thanks for starting the ball rolling Derek.
As Derek points out 'The Big Story' cover-all title was first used in the final four issues
of Adventure 1875-1878 (the first titled 'The Red Flash on Blue Ice' and all illustrated
by Bill Holroyd).
It was then carried over into the pages of Rover & Adventure and then Rover & Wizard
where it continued to describe the longer, weekly completes until issue dated 26th Oct 1968 with the story titled 'The Killer Dogs of Skeleton Creek'.
In that time period 23 seperate characters/situtations appeared on more than one occasion the first being the Welsh longbowman during the First Crusade Owen Rees who clocked up five appearances. Others that followed who appeared five times or more were -
Tom Trask of the Texas Rangers (8)
The Fiery Harp stories (Special Air Service Demolition Squad) (11)
The Cornerman (Pug Wilson boxing stories) (14 the most of any in the series)
Harald Godricsson the Saxon (5)
The Frankshire Regt (WWI) (7)
John Landon secret agent (6) ( Landon would also appear in serial stories)
Shiwa Sands (young African tracker) (8) (also in serial stories)
Salado Railway (building a railroad in Paraguay) (8)
HMS Automat (nuclear submarine) (8)
Tuskers of Tawa ( WWII war stories in Burma with elephant master John Miller) (8)
Mark Bradley D.2 (Special Investigator with the Customs Service) (5)
HMS Quartz (coastal warfare off N Africa in WWI) (5)
Cornstalk (Seneca indian brave who was born to white settlers) (6)
Six or seven pages would be the usual length of these 'big' stories. I don't think any of them ran to any more than eight Col.

[Phoenix]

Six or seven pages would be the usual length of these 'big' stories. I don't think any of them ran to any more than eight Col.

A couple of thoughts here. Firstly, 7 or 8 pages of text would easily expand to 16 pages of pictures, and quite possibly to the 20/21 of completes like The Survivors.

Secondly, it is worth pointing out that the final issues of Adventure and The Rover had 24 pages whereas the first issue of Rover And Adventure had 36. The editor clearly didn't think of The Big Story as being more than twice the length of any standard serial instalment. Most of the extra pages were given over to pictorial features, basically about war or sport.

Finally, the concept of the double-length story, whether as a complete or as an initial instalment to grab the interest of young readers, was a time-honoured ploy in Thomsons' story papers. In fact, it could be argued that the concept dates from the earliest issues of Adventure, The Rover and The Wizard in 1921/22 when serial stories were far less important than the completes because all the major characters of the time were almost always presented in a series of completes over several years before being given a serial. Indeed, quite a number of them never appeared in any serials at all. Yet the editorials and the adverts for the following week's attractions were constantly focusing on the return of these individual friends in completes.

[stevezodiac]

I have always found it amusing that shows like Thunderbirds, made in the 1960s, portray a world one hundred years from now where they still use knobs instead of touchscreens and numerical/mechanical countdown timers instead of digital-dot matrix type. Any other anomalies people have spotted? Obviously its impossible to predict the future so we cannot mock them. But even in the first Daleks film their Rels counter was very old fashioned. Just thought of another one - Brains' spectacles - will we still be wearing glasses in 2065? And didn't Lady Penelope smoke cigarettes?

[ISPYSHHHGUY]

I'm sure that cigarettes will still be around in 2065, Steve.....one of the most dated items in older-era pop-culture is, of course, bulky old TV sets/round-edged screens in supposed 'futures'. Another well-worn 60s image was the open reels of large computer consoles of the day, rotating mechanically.

I quite like the old-worlde view of 'retro-futures', though, and today's real-life manual keyboards for computers will eventually be replaced by voice-activated communication [much speedier] ........at least, that's my prediction for the future of computers.........

[stevezodiac]

You're no doubt thinking of Star Trek The Voyage Home where the crew return to 20th century earth and Scotty tries talking at a computer before being reminded it is keyboard activated.

[felneymike]

Finally, the concept of the double-length story, whether as a complete or as an initial instalment to grab the interest of young readers, was a time-honoured ploy in Thomsons' story papers. In fact, it could be argued that the concept dates from the earliest issues of Adventure, The Rover and The Wizard in 1921/22

The concept of the double-length (or longer) story as an initial instalment to grab the readers is far older than that! Many of the "penny dreadfuls", starting from around the 1830's, would give away part 2 and even 3 with part 1 to lure in new readers. Jumping up to the early 20th century papers like The Boys' Friend would start off giving a new serial a length akin to the complete story in each issue (around 10,000 words) whilst a worn-out serial nearing it's end would be given piffling little scraps of page beneath the adverts.

bulky old TV sets/round-edged screens in supposed 'futures'. Another well-worn 60s image was the open reels of large computer consoles of the day, rotating mechanically.

I quite like the old-worlde view of 'retro-futures', though

Snap, that's why i thought Sky Captain was so good! A series in my own comics called Sarah Millman is set in a future a bit like this, though with mobile phones too!

[philcom55]

As a matter of interest Mandy also used the 'Big Story' label on some double-length strips during the 1970s.

- Phil Rushton

[Phoenix]

The concept of the double-length (or longer) story as an initial instalment to grab the readers is far older than that! Many of the "penny dreadfuls", starting from around the 1830's, would give away part 2 and even 3 with part 1 to lure in new readers. Jumping up to the early 20th century papers like The Boys' Friend would start off giving a new serial a length akin to the complete story in each issue (around 10,000 words) whilst a worn-out serial nearing it's end would be given piffling little scraps of page beneath the adverts.

I've known that for a good many years, FM. In fact it was E.S. Turner in his 1948 volume Boys Will Be Boys who originally drew it to my attention, and Denis Gifford confirmed it some years later. However, I was referring only to Thomsons' output when I said that the concept dated back to 1921/22 because that was the start of The Big Five. Actually one of the first things that strikes you on reading early issues of Adventure etc. is how derivative the stories were. Turner gives the impression that the Dundee School was going to launch a broadside of modernity across the bows of The Amalgamated Press, but even Thomsons couldn't possibly have employed just young, unpublished writers on their new titles. They will have been forced to rely on older career professionals, whose training, plotting and writing had inevitably been influenced by their own reading of magazines such as those you mention and, of course, by their earlier editors, many of whom will no doubt have been blooded in the nineteenth century. It would be 1930 before any substantial change of policy began to impose itself on the awareness of the readers of the fiction in The Big Five.

[RuthB]

Love that story!! Thanks for posting it, Toni!!