Victor Strip in Classics --- finally!

[Lew Stringer]

Thanks. That may be what I remember, as I did have the occasional Rover around that time.
( I was a regular reader of Hotspur from 1969 to about 1972, but that's the longest I ever followed a Thomson adventure comic.)

Lew

[grumpy old man]

There Once Was a Game Called Football was reprinted in Hotspur in 1971 starting in 627

[Kashgar]

Thanks. That may be what I remember, as I did have the occasional Rover around that time.
( I was a regular reader of Hotspur from 1969 to about 1972, but that's the longest I ever followed a Thomson adventure comic.)

Lew

As GOM points out There was once a Game called Football was reprinted in Hotspur in 1971 Nos 626-633 so your memory was spot on Lew. It was once of six 'new' strips to appear in No 626 which itself was a free gift issue (The Squirty Ring). The new strips and the free gift did come at a cost though as the comic's price was flagrantly hiked up from 2 1/2p to 3p with the same issue.

[Lew Stringer]

Thanks. That may be what I remember, as I did have the occasional Rover around that time.
( I was a regular reader of Hotspur from 1969 to about 1972, but that's the longest I ever followed a Thomson adventure comic.)

Lew

As GOM points out There was once a Game called Football was reprinted in Hotspur in 1971 Nos 626-633 so your memory was spot on Lew. It was once of six 'new' strips to appear in No 626 which itself was a free gift issue (The Squirty Ring). The new strips and the free gift did come at a cost though as the comic's price was flagrantly hiked up from 2 1/2p to 3p with the same issue.

Ah yes, I definitely had that issue! (I may still have it somewhere.)

Lew

[Kashgar]

Just out of interest Lew, what made you stick with Hotspur out of all the Thomson boy's papers? I was more of a Victor fan myself.

[Lew Stringer]

Just out of interest Lew, what made you stick with Hotspur out of all the Thomson boy's papers? I was more of a Victor fan myself.

I can't remember what it was that specifically attracted me to Hotspur. I think it's likely that, in 1969, with the demise of the "Power Comics" I was looking for something to fill the void. I'd "gotten into" IPC adventure comics through the revamped Smash! and then Tiger and Jag, and Hotspur probably just caught my eye. The Thomson method of storytelling was significantly different to IPC's to keep me entertained I think.

I didn't care for Victor because from the cover it seemed too militaristic. It probably wasn't, but that's how I perceived it when I was 10. I never liked war stories in comics as they seemed too deceptively "clean" compared to the horrors of Viet Nam shown on the news every night, and the Civil War bubblegum cards I'd had when I was six. Not that I wanted war strips to be gory for the sake of it, but the way they were presented seemed to show war as a great adventure, which even as a child I felt wasn't right. (Perhaps I just didn't read enough of them for my perceptions to change.) Charley's War in Battle changed all that of course.

As for The Hornet, I tried it once in 1964 for the free gift, but I was five and the comic was too "old" for me then. I can't even recall seeing Hornet again until around 1973, and by then the pop & sport features put me off IIRC. I must have been a choosy kid.

Lew

[philcom55]

As for The Hornet, I tried it once in 1964 for the free gift, but I was five and the comic was too "old" for me then.

I doubt if later generations will ever understand the supremely addictive nature of British adventure comics during this period where you'd innocently pick up a title just for the free gift only to become 'hooked' for months and months by a particularly intriguing storyline and its immediate cliffhanger. Drug pushers could have learned a lot from the guys at Fleetway and DC Thomson!

- Phil R.

[Kashgar]

Given the limited amount of pocket money available Hornet was one of those title's that remained tantalizingly out of reach for the most part. I'd really enjoyed Hotspur in the mid 1960's but by the end of the decade I thought it's artwork, by and large, was a bit sub-standard at least in comparison to Victor and then Victor had Braddock, Alf Tupper and Morgyn the Mighty as well as the best football strips eg Jumping Jimi gets the Goals, The Team that Jack Built, Behind the Crimson Door, Pickford -Past Master of Football (aka the Goalmaker) etc. Happy Days!

[philcom55]

Victor had Braddock, Alf Tupper and Morgyn the Mighty as well as the best football strips

Then again Hornet had Wilson (not to mention Bernard Briggs). That was enough to make it the only Thomson adventure title that ever seriously challenged my allegiance to Fleetway during the 1960s. Like Lou I'm afraid that I always found Victor to be a bit too militaristic. Also I was particularly drawn to any element of SF or Fantasy, as in The Steel Claw or Robot Archie (hence the attraction of Wilson), whereas Victor and Hotspur always seemed to be aimed at the sort of reader who preferred 'real life'.

- Phil R.

[Lew Stringer]

I think you've just hit the nail on the head why I avoided Hornet and most UK adventure comics. For all Wilson's abilities he was still "only" a sportsman, and Tupper "only" a runner. Strips like that seemed rather tame and parochial compared to Fireball XL5 in TV21 or Thor in Fantastic.

I accept I'm doing them a disservice in saying that, and I do appreciate those strips more now, but that's how I saw them as a child. As a Sixties kid, Victor etc seemed, well, a bit old fashioned compared to "with it" comics like Smash! and TV Century 21. (Or at least they were "with it" until IPC took them over.) Which is probably why I only got into Hotspur after the heyday of Century 21 and Power Comics, - I still needed my comics "fix" and settled for what was available.

Obviously I was in the minority in my comic preferences as the Thomson papers were going strong long after Power Comics and TV21.

Lew

[colcool007]

After what Lew said about the staying power of DCT comics, it would be interesting to compare comic sales at the time between DCT comics and cancelled IPC comics. I say this, as DCT may have had the 'parent power' so that dads would buy the Hotspur for their sons as that had been what they had read as a kid.

Which may explain the longevity of DCT comics as opposed to the shorter runs of the more 'with it' IPC comics.

I must admit that I can't remember Hornet as a kid, but I got hooked on it when I was offered a cheap load of them along with a pile of Warlords about 4 years back. Hornet appears to be more 'edgy' than Victor and certainly racks up the iconic heroes in Wilson (art by Ripoll), Bernard Briggs, Swamp Rat, The Big Palooka (art by Pete Sutherland), The Coonskin Grenadier (no racist overtones, just a way of describing clothing made from raccoons) and many many more.

[Kashgar]

I would have probably loved Hornet had I seen copies with Wilson in them but I didn't know anyone who got it regularly. My only childhood memories of the paper revolve around the character 'The Swamp Rat' who didn't appeal to me overmuch. In the mid 1960's my four boy's papers of choice were Victor, Hotspur, Valiant and Lion which between them, if you imagine them as one sort of 'supercomic', satisfied most of my reading desires at the time, bearing in mind monetary restraints being what they were and, as such, dread choices having to be made.

[THE MOOSE]

Personally I could never understand the attraction of the DCT adventure papers compared to US comics and IPC - I always found them to be a bit disapointing as an overall package and a tad dated (even in 1966ish) and bland at the time (looking back now they sem amazingly fresh and full of variety). Saying that for me their strength was in the odd strip that I liked in each of the comics some great story telling (IMHO) like Its Goals that Count, The Brampton Keys, the Hammer man, Brigg the Goalie, Alf Tupper, Black Sapper, King Cobra and no doubt a few I have forgotten about, but compared to say SMASH where I loved almost all the strips I didnt feel it was good value for me (although I did enjoy the early 70s Wizard and the Commando books). Yet DCT are so wlel loved even after allthese years and IPC has in efect left the building.

[steelclaw]

Personally I could never understand the attraction of the DCT adventure papers compared to US comics and IPC - I always found them to be a bit disapointing as an overall package and a tad dated (even in 1966ish) and bland at the time (looking back now they sem amazingly fresh and full of variety). Saying that for me their strength was in the odd strip that I liked in each of the comics some great story telling (IMHO) like Its Goals that Count, The Brampton Keys, the Hammer man, Brigg the Goalie, Alf Tupper, Black Sapper, King Cobra and no doubt a few I have forgotten about, but compared to say SMASH where I loved almost all the strips I didnt feel it was good value for me (although I did enjoy the early 70s Wizard and the Commando books). Yet DCT are so wlel loved even after allthese years and IPC has in efect left the building.

This might be a terrible thing to say for all comic officiandos I have never been interested in US comics at all. Give me Wizard/Lion/Valiant/ & Knockout 2 any day of the week

[philcom55]

For all Wilson's abilities he was still "only" a sportsman, and Tupper "only" a runner. Strips like that seemed rather tame and parochial compared to Fireball XL5 in TV21 or Thor in Fantastic.

If his superhuman sporting prowess was all Wilson had going for him it's likely that I'd never have been attracted to his tale. The thing that really electrified me about that first storyline was the growing mystery of his 'origin', as we discovered increasingly fantastic details of his personal history ...like the medal he'd apparently been awarded during the Napoleonic Wars!

Leaving aside the many sequels I still think "The Truth About Wilson" stands out as one of the best-written serials ever to appear in a British boys' weekly (either in text or strip form), and the final episode in which 'the Truth' is finally revealed is made all the more memorable by the way it concludes with a simple newspaper clipping telling of his subsequent tragic 'death' during the Battle of Britain. To my mind the period in which it is set (the last fleeting year of peace before the outbreak of World War Two) adds enormously to the story's appeal - and would make a superb backdrop for any future attempt to film it in the style of "Chariots of Fire"!

- Phil R.