Comics UK

I take no credit for remembering that the Roy of the Rovers strip is 60 today, the first instalment having appeared in Tiger on the Tuesday of the week ending September 12th 1954. I would have mentioned it earlier but I've been too busy to go out for my Guardian until about 20 minutes ago, otherwise I would have noticed that most of the two centre pages of the Sport section have been given over to a retrospective. There are comments by David Sque and Paul Trevillion as well as a couple of columns by reporter James Riach, and 20 perfectly readable colour covers (3'' x roughly 2.5''), five of Tiger including issue 1 and the one with his marriage to Penny, and 15 of Roy of the Rovers, including the first and last issues. Enthusiasts should have time to nip out and buy a copy. It is £1.60 though, but look on the bright side, if you read more articles, it might just convert you at least to a liberal socialism.

I don't have many issues but I do have the "Roy Race Resigns" cover done in news-stand style.

Just found this image among my pictures.

Thanks for the tip off Phoenix , Love Roy of the Rovers so I will be buying the old Guardian on my way home, I think the last time I was getting the Guardian regularly
Neill Kinnock was the labour leader.

Was hoping that there might be a book out for the 60th anniversary but nothing except for Roy Race My life which is in text. Shame

wilsia wrote:Thanks for the tip off Phoenix , Love Roy of the Rovers so I will be buying the old Guardian on my way home, I think the last time I was getting the Guardian regularly
Neill Kinnock was the labour leader.

Was hoping that there might be a book out for the 60th anniversary but nothing except for Roy Race My life which is in text. Shame

Buying it today won't do you any good, wilsia, unless you know somewhere that sells back issues.

The article is online here: http://www.theguardian.com/football/gal ... n-pictures

In my excitement I didnt check the date. Ah well, Dishes comes to the rescue with the link. Very decent of you. Thank you

wilsia wrote:Was hoping that there might be a book out for the 60th anniversary but nothing except for Roy Race My life which is in text. Shame

Nil desperandum, Wilsia. You still have the opportunity to acquire, via Amazon, Roy Of The Rovers : The Playing Years by Colin Jarman. This apparently has strips in it. There are twelve Used from £13.95 and two New from £182.85. Alternatively, you could go for Mick Collins's Roy Of The Rovers : The Unauthorised Biography. No strips, just odd panels. There are fourteen Used from £1.03 and two New from £234.53, that one from the USA, the other from the UK will cost you a mere £3,844.68, plus of course the £2.80 UK delivery charge. Just imagine! My copy only cost me £14.99 in 2008 from Waterstones, and at the time I thought that was a bit expensive. Just goes to show.

This book, reprinting many annual strips, is excellent (assuming you don't already have it): http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Bumper-Book ... the+rovers

Lew Stringer wrote:This book, reprinting many annual strips, is excellent (assuming you don't already have it): http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Bumper-Book ...

Yes, I have that one too, Lew. I think it was Andrew who bought it for me one Christmas.

Lew Stringer wrote:This book, reprinting many annual strips, is excellent (assuming you don't already have it): http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Bumper-Book ... the+rovers

I clicked the link by mistake as i have this book as well but was shocked that there was a volume 2 produced in 2009,I didn't even know it existed as i only knew of the 3 softcover books

http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Bumper-Book ... 3Q7R9EV89B

I'm currently reading Roy of the Rovers weekly from scratch and lightly entertained. But, my main beef is that there is very little info on the other stories within the weekly. Tommy's Troubles and the Hard Man are given as regards the artist, although I still haven't discovered the writer of the Hard Man. There was a strip called 'You are the Star" and, only when I read the last panel of the series, I discovered the identity of the artist - 'cos he signed it ( a rarity in those days). But the likes of Mike's Mini Men, Millionaire Villa, and the Football - can't find anything on Google as regards writer and artist. Anyone else wiser as regards any of these titles?

geoff42 wrote:But the likes of Mike's Mini Men, Millionaire Villa, and the Football - can't find anything on Google as regards writer and artist. Anyone else wiser as regards any of these titles?

Could we see images? Might help with identification.

Yesterdays Times had a two page centre page article about the Roy Race biography - excerpts from the book with some pictures. Will the book have no illustrations?

The non-Roy stories do seem to be largely overlooked, when people talk about his own comic, though some of them ran for years and years. At least a few were even set in the same universe - I've seen one strip where he phones up "The Hard Man", offering to buy his star striker. But, at a whole two million, the guy's far too expensive, no matter how talented he is(!).

Didn't Johnny Dexter end up playing for Melchester?