Comics UK

As mentioned before, summer, and holiday specials have a lot of reprints in them, some were complete reprints and some had captions added with titles changed.
A lot of members have probably seen this many times before, but for those that have not, here are some samples.

"The Silent Mountain' was first printed in "Princess" comic in 1964, then reprinted with captions added, and a new name, in a "Tina" Holiday special in 1979.

Can anyone add any more?

Loads, probably. It happened in annuals too.

Possibly one of the strangest was a story of 'Catch or Kill', originally printed in 'TV Century 21', which was re-edited and completely re-scripted as a complete 'Countdown' story in the 1971 'Countdown' Holiday Special. As both 'Catch or Kill' and 'Countdown' shared the same artist - John M. Burns - it probably was not quite as incongruous as readers suspected.

Another unusual entry was Victor Drago, in 'Tornado', which was originally 'Sexton Blake' until IPC found they didn't have the rights. Some old 'Sexton Blake' strips were reprinted as 'Victor Drago' in either the Tornado Summer Special or one of the annuals.

It's worth remembering that the weekly Princess/Princess Tina also began to carry a number of reprints during the later 1960s. Many of these were colour strips such as 'Marie Curie' (drawn by the excellent Gerry Haylock) and 'Vicky in Australia' which had originally appeared in Girl.

- Phil Rushton

philcom55 wrote:It's worth remembering that the weekly Princess/Princess Tina also began to carry a number of reprints during the later 1960s. Many of these were colour strips such as 'Marie Curie' (drawn by the excellent Gerry Haylock) and 'Vicky in Australia' which had originally appeared in Girl.

- Phil Rushton

Which does make it more confusing! There is some great artwork hidden away in "Princess". Would your quote include the lovely colour strip "The Daughter of Lorna Doone" Phil? I have noticed that there must have been two artists on that strip? Can you add to that Phil?

Actually the legacy of Lorna Doone in Princess stretched over several years Matrix. To begin with the original R.D. Blackmore novel, featuring Lorna herself, was drawn in strip form by the famous illustrator H.M. Brock (though I think this must have been adapted from an earlier picture library version). Later, her daughter Amber Ridd starred in a long-running series of brand new tales - the first of which were graced with truly memorable artwork by Eric Parker (the classic Sexton Blake artist) and Ron Embleton (famous, among other things, for the TV credits of Captain Scarlet). Thereafter, the experienced magazine illustrator Clive Uptton took over to produce a series of adventures in varying formats which saw Amber travelling all over Europe before taking the perilous North West Passage to America where she settled down and raised a daughter of her own called Scarlet. Finally, this Grandaughter of Lorna Doone became the heroine of a text serial, accompanied by Upton's painted illustrations, in which she faced native americans and mountain lions with all the courage of her maternal forebears.

All in all it was a really nice series which hasn't received nearly enough attention from collectors (I'd post some examples but my scanner's playing up at the moment! ).

- Phil Rushton

Here are those three versions of Amber Ridd, Daughter of Lorna Doone. Firstly by Eric Parker - possibly the greatest designer/draughtsman ever to work for British comics (though by this stage in his career he didn't worry too much about unnecessary details).



Then by the fantastic Ron Embleton. Pure colour without any black outlines (it really doesn't get much better than this imho!).



...And finally the ever-dependable (if slightly dull) Clive Uptton.



- Phil Rushton

Shaqui do you have any examples of the "Catch or kill" story?

Thanks for the info on the Lorna Doone strips Phil. I think it is great that they used different artists for those stories. I have scan of the H. M. Brock example which I did not realise I had! I have also included two more Ron Embleton examples it seems such a waste to be hidden away.
In respect to not receiving much attention from collectors, I just wonder how many know it is in there? Along with many of the other strips, as the covers could be misleading, looking at them I would expect a lot of fluffy cat and rabbit stories!

Did a lot of the reprints start after the merge with Girl, to keep a lot of previous Girl readers happy?

Here's the original 'Catch or Kill' page, from issue 97, and the rescripted page from the Countdown Holiday Special.

I have a Girl's World Annual 1968 with a few strips in it. Its published by Odhams but I have no idea if the strips are new or reprint. If the latter where would they have originated? The titles are Aztec Adventure, Christmas Casualty, Holiday Houseboat, The High Glen, Horse Laugh (John Burns art), Be careful, Cathy!, Tell It To Emma and Cindy And A Pop Star. All of the strips are four pages and very well drawn. Some in full colour.

I had the impression, from my own editions of Boys World and Girls World, that they were mostly originals - artists like Luis Bermejo, Don Harley, Jim Watson and Mark Peppe all feature.

Yes Don Harley is one of them - recognised the style but couldn't put a name to it.

Those early 'Girls' World' Annuals - like the 'Boys' World' Annuals they complemented - featured some excellent material, all original as far as I can recall. Later editions were much less impressive, however, being mostly composed of dull photo features. The separate Daily Mirror Annuals for boys and girls produced at the same time also used a similar lineup of 'top name' contributors in the same format.

In fact the series was quite a curiosity in that, unlike Boys' World, there was never a 'Girls' World' comic associated with it - even though the logo was clearly modelled on the one designed for its companion title. I've often wondered whether Odhams or IPC did at one time consider releasing it as a weekly publication.

- Phil Rushton

I've got the Boys World and Daily Mirror book for boys mentoned but I don't really know where to start with collecting the "good" (i.e. using great artists rather then just full of photos) Girls Worl annuals - any tips appreciated on which are the best years


ta

stevezodiac wrote:Yes Don Harley is one of them - recognised the style but couldn't put a name to it.

I know what you mean, seeing artists' work out of recognised or more famed context. When I first saw Mike Noble's work for 'The Justice of Justine' in 'Sally':

http://www.technodelic.pwp.blueyonder.c ... ble02f.htm

- I was sitting there staring at it for ages, thinking 'I know this artist, I'm sure I do...' before the penny finally dropped!

Not sure of the dates offhand, but I think the 'good' Girls' World Annuals lasted for about as long as the Boys' World ones were being published.

I know what you mean about spotting a familiar style in an unfamiliar setting Shaqui. I had the same experience with the painted covers of a number of 1950s Western novels published by Pearson's - until I made the connection with Mike Noble's 'Lone Ranger' and 'Range Rider' strips.



- Phil Rushton