Great news inside for all readers

[Lew Stringer]

Next up, since Peter Gray and I were sort of discussing this one:
the merger of Whoopee and Shiver and Shake in late 1974 - I note IPC took advantage of this one to shrink the page count of Whoopee from 40 to 32...

So the page count dropped but the price stayed the same? What a cheek! At least when the Beano, Dandy, and I presume many other comics did that during World War 2, they had an excuse (paper rationing). What was IPC's excuse for this one?

Economics. 32 pages or less was the norm for comics then. Whoopee had been a rare exception to have as many as 40 pages. Buster, Tiger, Valiant (and I think, June) jumped up to 40 pages for a while in 1965 but when they dropped to 32 the price stayed the same also.

[swirlythingy]

Economics. 32 pages or less was the norm for comics then. Whoopee had been a rare exception to have as many as 40 pages.

The Beano and the Dandy had far less than 32 pages at the time, didn't they? Did that make them a rare exception as well?

[Lew Stringer]

Economics. 32 pages or less was the norm for comics then. Whoopee had been a rare exception to have as many as 40 pages.

The Beano and the Dandy had far less than 32 pages at the time, didn't they? Did that make them a rare exception as well?

As I said, the rare exception was to have more than 40 pages. 32 or less was the norm, not the exception.

Dandy, Beano, Topper and Beezer had 16 pages throughout the 1960s. Dandy and Beano increased to 20 pages each in 1971. By that time comics such as TV Comic, Sparky and Countdown had 24 pages. Most of the others (Lion, Victor, Whizzer & Chips, etc) had 32, which became the standard page count for most comics for years.

[stevezodiac]

But whereas the Beano and Dandy were, say, 2p in 1972 the Buster, Valiant, Whizzer and Chips etc. would have been 3p I think. (I remember Knockout being 2 and a half pence at one point but that was always thinner than its stablemates). Did any other comics have the odd half pence in their price? Post decimal I mean.

[Raven]

But whereas the Beano and Dandy were, say, 2p in 1972 the Buster, Valiant, Whizzer and Chips etc. would have been 3p I think. (I remember Knockout being 2 and a half pence at one point but that was always thinner than its stablemates). Did any other comics have the odd half pence in their price? Post decimal I mean.

Whizzer and Chips was 3½p from early 1972. Buster too, in 1972 and '73. And Cor!!'s first decimal price was 3½p in 1970 (Cor!! had better quality paper; maybe a factor). Valiant went up to 3½p in 1972.

Shiver and Shake started in 1973 at 4p for 36 pages.

[swirlythingy]

32 or less was the norm, not the exception.

Oops... sorry, I didn't read the "or less" properly.

[Digifiend]

Economics. 32 pages or less was the norm for comics then. Whoopee had been a rare exception to have as many as 40 pages.

The Beano and the Dandy had far less than 32 pages at the time, didn't they? Did that make them a rare exception as well?

I always wondered why it took nearly 60 years (they increased from 24 to 32 pages in 1998) to restore their original page count (28) after rationing knocked it down to 12. Obviously, that's how they managed over 20 years (launch to about 1960) without a price increase from the original 2d. The explanation for that was also economics.

[Power fan]

Back on topic , here's another merger, this time between two IPC girls' comics: Jinty and the short-lived (20 weeks) Lindy.

There was something odd about the actual announcement inside the Jinty comic though, see if you can work out what it was...

What was a bit odd about the announcement?

[Lew Stringer]

Economics. 32 pages or less was the norm for comics then. Whoopee had been a rare exception to have as many as 40 pages.

The Beano and the Dandy had far less than 32 pages at the time, didn't they? Did that make them a rare exception as well?

I always wondered why it took nearly 60 years (they increased from 24 to 32 pages in 1998) to restore their original page count (28) after rationing knocked it down to 12. Obviously, that's how they managed over 20 years (launch to about 1960) without a price increase from the original 2d. The explanation for that was also economics.

It wasn't just economics. There was no need for them to increase to 32 pages back then. Their sales were very strong, and numerous other comics also had less than 32 pages so it's not as if there was an immediate need to compete with 32 page rivals, as there was later.

[kiwijohn]

Back on topic , here's another merger, this time between two IPC girls' comics: Jinty and the short-lived (20 weeks) Lindy.

There was something odd about the actual announcement inside the Jinty comic though, see if you can work out what it was...

What was a bit odd about the announcement?

I'm not sure I want to give it away yet

Hint: compare the announcements I've posted from the Whoopee issue and the Jinty issue and see if it becomes any clearer...

@Lew Stringer, Digifiend and Swirlythingy: Jinty had 40 pages when it launched in 1974, went to 32 pages after 6 months and after 18 months went to 36 when it merged with Lindy. I dunno when it went back to 32 pages though, not without getting them all out of my cupboard again...

[ISPYSHHHGUY]

A lot of my 1971 Sparkys have a combined 2 and a half-pence /sixpence 'real money' price tag.
IPC comics had more pages, but they carried lots of ads for non-comics related stuff. 'super Mousse' chocolate bars was a fave in the very early 70s. DCT of course put out loads of in-house ads for other comics, one of the joys when revisiting them today.

IPC often tended to put in a lot of 'filler' material, like pages of illustrated jokes and puns, which often looked like they were just making up the numbers, even to an seven-year-old reader.: Thomson also done this, but it was kept more for the annuals and Summer Specials. I was also dismayed at the near-absolute lack of colour in some late 60s BUSTERS I recently acquired: other than that, they're fine, with loads of pages [if loads of ads, again.] I think the price was 7d in 60s money.

A bit of a swings and roundabouts job: DCT had less pages but were cheaper and more reliable; IPC had more material but a bit more scattershot, if still entertaining.

[Lew Stringer]

Depends on what comics you're comparing Rab. Most Thomson comics had 32 pages too. (Victor, Hotspur, Hornet, Cracker, Bunty, etc.)

Yes, Buster was mostly black and white in the mid Sixties to 1970s but so were most other Fleetway/IPC comics (Lion, Valiant, Smash, etc). Even Tiger for a while.

[ISPYSHHHGUY]

Fair point, Lew. Like yourself, I looked through every comic I could get my hands on in the 60s and most of the 70s: even my cousin's Mandy and Judy! I always preffered the cartoon-style graphics, though: I would scour through the likes of Tiger or Valiant, but I was always hoping to find the 'comic'-style graphics I still appreciate today.

There were loads of talented artists working in the non-funnies field, though: I accept that. A shame a lot of them have never even been named or identified in some cases.

[Lew Stringer]

There were loads of talented artists working in the non-funnies field, though: I accept that. A shame a lot of them have never even been named or identified in some cases.

Yes. It's also a shame that very few of them had the opportunity to meet each other or their readership, in those days before comic gatherings. On the occasions when some of those veteran 50s/60s artists have attended conventions they're pleased to discover how appreciated their work was (and still is).

[felneymike]

Oddly enough further back in time a lot of the old story papers were very "chummy" with their readers. The editor of The Boys' Friend talks of visiting towns and talking to people he spots reading it, for instance. And whilst not quite comic conventions various "leagues" were set up that would hold sports/social meetings and outings of diverse people bought together by a common interest in their favourite paper. (One issue from mid 1902 does mention a "club" of Boys' Friend readers that would get together and discuss the stories - were these the first comic conventions??)
I wonder where "the rot" started that led to this obsession with anonymity?