Victor Strip in Classics --- finally!

[felneymike]

Hmm, the British Comics (dot twenty em dot com) site had a very confused brief write-up about Wilson's story. Wasn't he born in the 1770's and "last seen" in a burning Spitfire over the channel in 1940?

Whichever way, it wasn't the last time he was seen in DCT storypapers, for i have issues of The Wizard from 1947 in which he is very much alive and well, "seeking champions" to take part in the 1948 Olympics.

[THE MOOSE]

I think that a lot of UK comic readers have no or little interest in US comics, particularly Superheroes - Although strangely a lot of folk seem to like the Black Sapper and Billy the Cat (who are super-heroes) - Personally I like most comics (if they're good) UK (mostly IPC and, Odhams) European reprints and US (and Candadian as well)

Can I ask what was the "truth" about Wilson please? I assume it was something mystical but never found out?

[Kashgar]

Their is nothing particularly mystical to be found in the denouement of 'The Truth about Wilson'. For a mystical ending to story/strip with a very similar theme you should check out the football/mystery yarn 'The Goalmaker' (aka Pickford - Past Master of Football) IMHO one of the best stories ever written for boys.

[Lew Stringer]

I think that a lot of UK comic readers have no or little interest in US comics, particularly Superheroes - Although strangely a lot of folk seem to like the Black Sapper and Billy the Cat (who are super-heroes) - Personally I like most comics (if they're good) UK (mostly IPC and, Odhams) European reprints and US (and Candadian as well)

Yes, I've never understood the animosity towards American comics either, or vice-versa come to that. When I did a fanzine on British comics in the early Eighties a lot of collectors of U.S. comics automatically assumed I had no interest in American comics! As if one couldn't like both comic cultures. Bizarre. (The reason I didn't do a fanzine on American comics was because they were already well served by many other fanzines.)

If a comic is well produced why should its country of origin matter?

Lew

[philcom55]

If anything I've always been more of a collector of American Comics than British ones, and I know far more about the creators involved. In fact it's always seemed to me that Brits such as Moore, Morrison, Gibbons, etc. were able to take the US market by storm in the 1980s precisely because they were able to draw upon a dual heritage, having grown up intimately acquainted with both traditions (unlike most European writers and artists).

- Phil R.

[philcom55]

For a mystical ending to story/strip with a very similar theme you should check out the football/mystery yarn 'The Goalmaker' (aka Pickford - Past Master of Football) IMHO one of the best stories ever written for boys.

That's praise indeed Ray - I really must try to track it down! Denis Gifford lists a strip version of 'Pickford' appearing in Victor during 1969: do you know the dates this ran between - or where else he appeared?

- Phil R.

[colcool007]

For a mystical ending to story/strip with a very similar theme you should check out the football/mystery yarn 'The Goalmaker' (aka Pickford - Past Master of Football) IMHO one of the best stories ever written for boys.

That's praise indeed Ray - I really must try to track it down! Denis Gifford lists a strip version of 'Pickford' appearing in Victor during 1969: do you know the dates this ran between - or where else he appeared?

- Phil R.

And the Red Lion digest of Pickford has just sold on Ebay for £30! I did have a punt at it, but didn't even get close.

[steelclaw]

For a mystical ending to story/strip with a very similar theme you should check out the football/mystery yarn 'The Goalmaker' (aka Pickford - Past Master of Football) IMHO one of the best stories ever written for boys.

That's praise indeed Ray - I really must try to track it down! Denis Gifford lists a strip version of 'Pickford' appearing in Victor during 1969: do you know the dates this ran between - or where else he appeared?

- Phil R.

And the Red Lion digest of Pickford has just sold on Ebay for £30! I did have a punt at it, but didn't even get close.

Blimey £30 what credit crunch?

[Spencer]

Received (as a subscriber) the latest issue through the post on Saturday. It contains the last Tough of the Track but you'll be pleased to know next month sees the return of Braddock!

It would be great if DCT would consider launching a companion 'Classics Adventure' monthly as we could have 2 or 3 episodes of each strip to read each month - think of that - a monthly fix of Tupper, Braddock, Wilson et al...

Maybe they'll gauge the market on the sales of the first Hotspur annual ...

Think I'll drop the Ed a line anyway and see what he has to say

[philcom55]

I doubt if there'd be a market for such a title, but I do think it would be worth testing digest-sized reprints of complete series from Wizard, Victor, Hotspur and Hornet in the style of the Commando books or Robinson's 'Mammoth Book of' series. For example a 'Sports' title could include 'The Truth About Wilson', 'Alf Tupper, the Tough of the Track' and 'Pickford, Pastmaster of Football', while a 'War' title might feature 'I Flew with Braddock', 'V for Vengeance' and 'Cadman'. The point is that these books would sell to adults who can still remember the comics rather than their children who can't.

- Phil R.

[colcool007]

And the Red Lion digest of Pickford has just sold on Ebay for £30! I did have a punt at it, but didn't even get close.

Blimey £30 what credit crunch?

Even more astounding was that the Wilson book sold for £74!

[thomasc1982]

I have just totally given up with finding CFTC in the shops now..used to be able to get in Tesco when I did the food shopping...oh well! Subsrcibed now.

[grumpy old man]

Ah but where would the start of a month be without playing Hide & Seek with the staff of WH Smiths looking for that elusive CFTC? If they’re in a good mood get them to tell you if you’re hot or cold, if they’re not tell them where to stick their half priced Toblerones.

[colcool007]

For a mystical ending to story/strip with a very similar theme you should check out the football/mystery yarn 'The Goalmaker' (aka Pickford - Past Master of Football) IMHO one of the best stories ever written for boys.

That's praise indeed Ray - I really must try to track it down! Denis Gifford lists a strip version of 'Pickford' appearing in Victor during 1969: do you know the dates this ran between - or where else he appeared?

- Phil R.

Phil,

Just picked up another lot of Victors, this times in the double figures and Pickford features in issue 99. At a rough guess and after a quick check of Victors that I have here, I would say that Pickford started at the earliest in issue 75 (no story finished in issue 73 therefore, it would have taken at least 2 weeks before another one started) and finished in either issue 100 or 101 (Issue 103 has no mention of it and all the stories in issue 103 had been going for at least the previous week). This is the same art as that featured in 1968/69/70. I will have to do a physical check to give you an issue update for the reprint of that story.

[Kashgar]

I'll check this but I'm fairly certain that 'The Goalmaker' ended in Victor No 100. Artwork was by Bill Mainwaring.