Writing an article on British adventure comics

[felneymike]

When I re-launch my comic (hopefully the first issue will be ready by the end of October, though at the moment every penny counts so I may not be able to afford to print many!) I want to include a "what went before" article about British adventure comics. So far though all I have is a list of titles to mention. Unfortunately beyond my own collecting area (1892-1940) I'm a bit stuck. I'm especially ignorant of the Penny Dreadful era and the second half of the 20th century.
Note that some of these will only get a passing mention rather than in-depth looks.
I'm aiming for comics that were suitable for 'school and up' ages (No Crisis, Deadline, Megazine, Robin, Swift etc) and were primarily about adventure, drama or sport (so no Beano, Dandy etc!).
Anyway, the list! I've broken it into rough 'eras' but obviously there was some overlap. Also included start dates, some significant events and characters worthy of a special mention.

Early 'experiments'
Young Gentlemen's Magazine (1777)
...new education law makes more working class children literate (early 19th century)

Penny Dreadfuls
Sweeney Todd (1830's)
Varney The Vampyre (1830's)
Wild Boys... series (1840's)

Story Papers
Boys Own Magazine (1850's)
Moral backlash against "Penny Dreadfuls" (mid 19th century)
Chatterbox (1866) ("easy" to collect whole volumes from mid 1900's on, otherwise not that significant a publication!)
Brett's "moral" stuff (1860's)
Boys Own Paper (1879)
Union Jack (1880)
Boys of The Empire (1880's)
Chums (1893)
Halfpenny Marvel (1893)
Union Jack (1894) (Sexton Blake)
Boys' Friend (1895)
Boys Herald (1900's)
Boys Realm (1900's)
Boys Friend Library (1906)
Girl's Friend Library (1906)
Gem (1907)
Magnet (1908)
Re-launches of major Harmsworth Papers (1900's)
World War 1 (price increases, hysterical anti-German stories)
Sexton Blake Library (1915)
The Schoolgirl (School Friend) (1919) (Bessie Bunter)
Adventure (1921)
Schoolgirls Own (1921)
Rover (1922)
Champion (1922) (Rockfist Rogan etc)
Wizard (1922) (Wilson, Alf Tupper)
Schoolgirls Own Library (1922)
Skipper (1930)
Hotspur (1933) (Red Circle)
Detective Weekly (1933)
Girls Crystal (1935)
Knockout (1939) (one of the first with adventure stories in comic strip format)
Graveyard Week (1940)
Comics with reduced schedules, less pages etc. Paper-saving ads and anti-Hitler ridicule

Comics
Short-lived "spiv comics" avoiding paper rationing (GG Swan's various publications, Soploway, repackaged American stuff etc)
Comet (1946)
Sun (1948)
Anger at American horror/crime comics (1949/50)
Eagle (1950) (Dan Dare)
Cowboy Picture Library (1950) (first to use picture stories in the "pocket format")
Text-only papers declining in favour of picture strips (50's - 60's)
Girl (1951)
Thriller Picture Library (1951) (first well-remembered picture library!)
A Classic In Pictures (50's)
Lion (1952)
Tiger (1954) (Roy of the Rovers)
Bunty (1958)
War Picture Library (1958)
Commando (1961) (the one 'proper' adventure comic still running in mainstream shops)
Victor (1961)
Valiant (1962)
Wizard (1970)
Tammy (1971)
Jinty (1974)
Warlord (1974) (Codename Warlord)
Battle (1975) (Charley's War / Darkies Mob)
Action (1976)
Bullet (1976)
Roy of the Rovers (1976)
2000AD (1977)
Misty (1978)
Crunch (1979)
Starblazer (1979)
Football Picture Library (70's/80's?)
New Eagle (1982)
Spike (1983)
General "collapse" of adventure comics, including titles going monthly then being cancelled (mid-80's - 1994)
Striker (1999?)
Spaceship Away (2003)
DFC (2008)
The 'British' Classics Illustrated (2008)
Comic Football (2011)
Strip Magazine (2011)
The Red, White & Blue / The Trident (2011... hopefully!)

[Phoenix]

Surely you are not planning on mentioning all those comics in just the one article, FM. You must realise that you couldn't possibly do justice to any one of them.

[STARBOY]

WOW some list but what about the Hotspur, Hornet,, Smash (IPC) and the Odhams books (inc Smash) oh and WARRIOR (that wasn't really an adult book)

[felneymike]

Surely you are not planning on mentioning all those comics in just the one article, FM. You must realise that you couldn't possibly do justice to any one of them.

This is going to a whistle-stop race through the history of such comics to explain the existence of mine (which is going to have the styles of virtually the whole 20th century crammed in), rather than an in-depth look at artists, famous stories and so on. Comic Heroes did a similar trip through 100+ years of British Humour comics in the same way (I beleive Lew wrote it, in fact!)

Hotspur - I have this one XD. I put it in the Story Paper section as it started as one, though the article would "run with" it's transformation to a comic.
Hornet - This was the DCT one that (initially) had comic strip versions of the earlier text stories wasn't it? An important part of the transition!
Smash (IPC) and the Odhams books (inc Smash) - Oops, how could I forget those legendary names
WARRIOR (that wasn't really an adult book) - Hmm, may need to investigate further. I thought it was full of swearing but I base that on scans of single pages of stories I've seen, I don't actually own an issue1

Also I forgot Buddy! Will have to remember that. It was actually a really good idea to "bridge" between the light adventures of the humour comics and the serious adventures of Victor/Commando. Shame It didn't appear in the 50's!

[alanultron5]

I wish you all the very best with the project Felneymike! I did my own history- sort of- of the `Sparky` comic which took me about a year! That was just one comic with a 12 year life! Mind you- you're bound to be quicker by far than I was/am.

All the best!

[steelclaw]

The 2 best comics ever produced are missing.
Jet
Thunder

[Phoenix]

The 2 best comics ever produced are missing.
Jet
Thunder

There are several other important modern comics missing from FM's list too. I'm thinking of Scoop, Champ, Judy, Mandy, Debbie, Diana, Spellbound, Sandie, Sally and Princess Tina. I'm bound to think of others too.

[alanultron5]

Oh yes! `Jet` & `Thunder` Thunder was the source of some great stories in my view- and it was where `Adam Eterno` started too!

Jet not as consistant- but for me it ran the finest Sword & Sorcery strip in `Bala the Briton`

[Phoenix]

Comic Heroes did a similar trip through 100+ years of British Humour comics in the same way (I beleive Lew wrote it, in fact!)

Can you please give me more details about this, FM. For example, was it a book, a pamphlet or an article, when was it published, and whatever it was, how can I get hold of a copy?

P.S. Scorcher and Score to be added to your list.

[philcom55]

I'd say that Lone Star and Marvelman should be there as well. And what about TV Century 21, Boys' World and Ranger?

- Phil Rushton

[felneymike]

Can you please give me more details about this, FM. For example, was it a book, a pamphlet or an article, when was it published, and whatever it was, how can I get hold of a copy?

You haven't heard of Comic Heroes?

Anyway it's a magazine that is primarily about US comics (not surprisingly). The first issue said something like "It's not all caped crusaders you know, we cross the pond to France to discover that country's comic history...". This from a magazine created in Britain. Anyway Lew then set the straight and the resulting article was, I believe, in issue 2 or 3.

Anyway I have a week off, though will mainly spend it drawing (entering a manga competition organised by the Japanese embassy. I have drawn in manga style 'properly' precisely 0 times before) but I'll also try and knock out an early version of the article, it's going to get very complicated cramming it all into 10-12,000 words!

[Phoenix]

You haven't heard of Comic Heroes?

No, but as I would now like to consult it, I must seek it out. Presumably it will be stocked by Worlds Apart in Liverpool, but whether they will have back numbers is another matter, especially if they have to go back a long way. What is the current issue number, roughly?

[Digifiend]

8.
http://www.comicheroesmagazine.com/

[Phoenix]

Thanks for that, Digi.

[STARBOY]

FelnyMike - Lew's article appeared in issue 2 of Comic Heroes - there a link to this on Lew's amazing blog (which has a fantastic article on UK comics the current front page) Comic Heroes is a plush expensive mag (£7>99 an issue) 90% USA comics but has the odd UK gem in it

http://lewstringer.blogspot.com/2010/06 ... rives.html