Comics UK

alanultron5 wrote: On another point- I picked up a truly strange comic in one of my local Charity Shope this morning! It's called `Z` and I think was an `in-house` publication by a Toy company called `Zodiac Toys` It features the `Scare Bears` `Miami Mice` `Colin and his Blob` etc1 Truly weird! I just cannot get scans on to this site so brief description has to suffice! I think it dates from 1986! Has anyone heard of it?

I've got that, found it at a comics fair in Manchester last year. Love little curiosities like that

Meanwhile, today the postman brought me two issues of Acne and two issues of Electric Soup.

TwoHeadedBoy wrote:

alanultron5 wrote:I picked up a truly strange comic in one of my local Charity Shope this morning! It's called `Z` and I think was an `in-house` publication by a Toy company called `Zodiac Toys` It features the `Scare Bears` `Miami Mice` `Colin and his Blob` etc1 Truly weird! I just cannot get scans on to this site so brief description has to suffice! I think it dates from 1986! Has anyone heard of it?

I've got that, found it at a comics fair in Manchester last year. Love little curiosities like that.

I don't know that specific comic but I think it may have been from later than 1986, as I worked on a comic with Miami Mice and The Scare Bears in 1989/90. If it IS from 1986, then it needs investigating. Calling it "truly strange" makes me think it IS the one I worked on! I never saw a finished copy so I don't know what it was called. Two Headed Boy, can YOU put a scan of Scare Bears up?

Certainly can!







See anything familiar?

There's no publication date anywhere in the comic, but there IS a competition with a closing date of 31/01/1987, so it can be assumed it's a 1986 comic...

Zodiac Toys was a toy store owned by Maynard's Confectionery. It was eventually taken over by Russell King, but by 1990, the chain closed, and King ended up getting done for insurance fraud.
http://www.freewebs.com/zodiactoys/

Weren't Scare Bears like cuddly transformers with hidden claws and fangs? 1989-91 sounds about the right time for them, my friend had a couple.

Yes, The Scare Bears were devised one Thursday tea-time in April 1989 (I remember Top of The Pops coming on as we were finishing up)- and that comic, supposedly from 1986, is definitely the same characters, though it's not by me, nor George Nicholas, who I worked for at the time. We worked it up over the next few weeks, and by 20 June 1989, we were working on the packaging for those cuddly/terrifying bears. So this is getting VERY curious. It's possible that if the publisher was a little shady, they may have printed the wrong date for a copyright claim? I don't know.
By the way, The Scare Bears were on TV, in the toyshops, had their own monthly comic, and cassette story tapes, and guess how much I made out of them? That's right, £0.00. I don't think George made much more.

I recently found my copy of the "Loadsa Funnies" book released to tie into ITV Telethon '88, and that contains a Scare Bears strip - same characters - and was DEFINITELY released in summer 1988. I can scan it if you like?

The bottom of the strip states "Scare Bears (C) Superbear Ltd", and signed by "Mike 'n' Caspar", if that means anything?

I know who Mike and Caspar are!!! Blimey, can of worms here!!!

By the way, the cuddlly toys were called 'Were Bears', they 'were' a slightly different project!

NP wrote:It's possible that if the publisher was a little shady, they may have printed the wrong date for a copyright claim? I don't know

If it really is 1989, then the publisher certainly was a little shady. Like I said, Zodiac's final owner ended up in court for insurance fraud.

But how would that explain the competition with the January 1987 closing date?

Never heard of Scare Bears, but I remember asking for a Were Bear for two Xmasses in a row (the one that came with a tape).

Two copies of Judge Dredd - Year One came through the post yesterday.

To be honest, I forgot I had purchased the first one when I ordered the second. Just as well that the second one has the alternative cover.

TwoHeadedBoy wrote:... I remember asking for a Were Bear for two Xmasses in a row (the one that came with a tape).

I wrote that story tape. Sorry (if you heard it).

That "Scare Bear" story is a swipe from Wrightson's "Captain Sternn" in Heavy Metal!

NP wrote:

TwoHeadedBoy wrote:... I remember asking for a Were Bear for two Xmasses in a row (the one that came with a tape).

I wrote that story tape. Sorry (if you heard it).

No worries, I never got it