Comics UK

In the light of Peter's recent threads about favourite humorous and adventure series from AP/Fleetway/Odhams/IPC it occurs to me that there are a lot of characters from DC Thomson and IPC who could almost be thought of as direct rivals. To my mind two of the most obvious examples are Dennis the Menace and Buster: the former having the longest run from 1951 to the present day, while the latter had a weekly comic named after him for decades - often appearing in several strips per issue.



Who's the toughest? On the face of it Dennis is clearly more of a natural misanthrope, yet it's worth remembering that he comes from a relatively comfortable, Middle Class home compared to Buster's Working Class origins as a son of the abusive (and soon to be absent) Andy Capp!

I wonder if anyone can think of other 'opposite numbers' (either humorous or serious) from Britain's two main comics publishers - and if so, who do they consider to be worthiest contender in each pairing?

I can't help thinking it's a shame that copyright considerations make it unlikely that we'll ever see any 'team ups' like the one pictured above... other than on sites like this of course!

- Phil Rushton

One of the most obvious must be Valiant's The Steel Claw versus Cracker's Iron Hand. Steel Claw had invisibility and electrical powers, whilst Iron Hand kept a variety of devices, like a pen-knife, up there. Fleetway had the better stories and art but somehow I preferred the simpler adventures of DC Thomson. Overall though, I'm a far bigger fan of Fleetway than DCT. They never really got beyond their hale'n'hearty fare, compared to the more punk of late 70s Fleetway, then into the adult market.

starscape wrote: Fleetway had the better stories and art but somehow I preferred the simpler adventures of DC Thomson. Overall though, I'm a far bigger fan of Fleetway than DCT. They never really got beyond their hale'n'hearty fare, compared to the more punk of late 70s Fleetway

I think it depends on where your starting and finishing points are, starscape. If we are comparing just the picture strip serials from the sixties onwards, then I can accept your point, but with some reservations because inevitably there were run-of-the-mill fillers even in Fleetway's offerings. Mind you, all I know about their late seventies publications comes from the ones I bought for my children, so I can't have bought any of the ones you refer to as punk. I presume you are referring to titles like 2000AD and Action. However, if your comparison is taking in the text story papers from the two publishers between the twenties and sixties, then in my opinion Thomsons win out handsomely. No contest!

I much preffered D C Thomsons' output when I was very young---the 'worlds' they created back then were on par with Disney, as far as I was concerned.

My weekly 'fix' of their comics was easily the highlight of my week-----which perhaps tells you all you need to know about my mis-spent childhood......


IPC stuff from the same period was always well worth a look but seemed to lack that 'Brand X' ingredient in ways I still can't fully describe, even today..


Taking a more open-minded view on this today, I quite enjoy vintage IPC fare and it was healthy to have this sort of competition, but there's no doubt that comics were over-produced [just too many of 'em and not enough talent out there to sustain them all] in the late 60s and early 70s.

I do think, however, that the 35 plus year of material put out in the name of 2000 AD and it's offshoots represents the most imaginitive body of work in UK comics History [even allowing for the 'duffer' material.

Under Busters cap was Dennis hair a great gag by Jack on the last Buster..

If I compare a like for like in adventure comics:

Valiant was a big improvement on Victor (as well as earlier IPC).
Although Hotspur and Victor tried to improve, it all felt a bit 50s for a child of the 70s. Warlord was the next step up but Battle then took it to another level. Less stiff-upper lip, more grit'n'blood.

2000AD (with Starlord at another level) couldn't be matched by Bullet or The Crunch.
There was no DCT answer to the adult comics, exemplified by the excellent Crisis.

Don't get me wrong. I'm not saying DCT were bad. I've a lot of time for Bullet, Warlord and The Crunch in particular. But it's The Monkees to the Beatles. Both good fun but one's not really going to challenge, just entertain (ignoring some later Monkees - comparisons only go so far).

I remember DC Thomson had a Me and My Shadow type strip - possibly in Buzz?

Not in Buzz: http://www.topper-universe.co.uk/buzz/index.php
Looking at the same site, nothing like that in Cracker or Plug either.

http://www.toonhound.com/cracker.htm

info on the characters being similar in Fleetway comics...

stevezodiac wrote:I remember DC Thomson had a Me and My Shadow type strip - possibly in Buzz?

Jimmy Jest, his shadow's a pest, from Cracker

Obviously not as pally as Me and his Shadow. Thanks for that.

Digifiend wrote:Not in Buzz: http://www.topper-universe.co.uk/buzz/index.php
Looking at the same site, nothing like that in Cracker or Plug either.

I didn't even know this site existed is there gonna be a links page to such comic sites on this site somewhere or did you have one before the revamp etc,

Ooh, I like threads like these.

There was a character in Nutty called "Jay R. Hood" which was basically the same as Junior Rotter from Whizzer and Chips. I remember when I first saw J.R. Hood in an issue of Nutty and thought to myself "They couldn't have been serious, surely?". I don't know much about Jay R. Hood in comparison to Junior Rotter, so I can't speak for it too much. However, I seem to remember hearing that, like Junior Rotter, one of his most prominent victims was a girl called Sue Helen.

An interesting comparison would be between Joker, from Knockout/Whizzer & Chips/Buster, and Tricky Dicky from the Topper/Beano, who I presume was created as DCT's response to Joker (or not; a comic strip about a prankster is maybe not the most original idea in the world). Personally I prefer Joker, because I felt the stories were better and less formulaic, but also because it felt more down-to-earth and less contrived. I.e. Joker normally used tricks that actually exist, whereas I've read Tricky Dicky strips involving life-size robot vikings and sentient alphabet letters that can punch people in the face!

I think the Jay R. Hood, Junior Rotter and Sue Helen involving strips were all heavily inspired by the television series Dallas which featured a character called J. R. and his sister Sue Ellen. I've never watched the show (it's before my time) but I knew there was a character called J. R. on it because of a famous episode "Who Shot J.R." which the Simpsons parodied as "Who Shot Mr Burns".

Tin Can Tommy wrote:I think the Jay R. Hood, Junior Rotter and Sue Helen involving strips were all heavily inspired by the television series Dallas which featured a character called J. R. and his sister Sue Ellen. I've never watched the show (it's before my time) but I knew there was a character called J. R. on it because of a famous episode "Who Shot J.R." which the Simpsons parodied as "Who Shot Mr Burns".

Sue Ellen was actually J.R's wife and you are right that Dallas spawned a whole heap of characters parodying the show. At the time (1978/79), it was the biggest show on TV.