Comics UK

Round about the time AP changed its name to Fleetway there was an attempt to split the comics line into two distinct groups. While the adventure and humour titles which were aimed primarily at boys (Sun, Comet, Lion, Valiant, Tiger, Buster, Radio Fun, Film Fun, etc.) began to carry a symbol that identified them as 'Five Star' weeklies the remaining publications were curiously bracketed together as 'Sunshine' weeklies - these included all the girls' comics (Girls' Friend, Princess, June and School Friend) as well as the popular nursery titles like Playhour, Jack & Jill and Harold Hare.



Yet in spite of the fact that there was even a Sunshine Annual at one point this initiative never really seemed to catch on with readers so that it was quietly discarded after a few years. Given that group names like Marvel Comics (and even the British spin-off Power Comics) proved to be so successful I've always wondered why you never hear collectors talking about 'Sunshine' or 'Five-Star' comics in the same way they do about Fleetway, DC Thomson or Odhams.

Then I stumbled across this advert in a 1961 issue of Princess and discovered the whole sleazy underside of this campaign that must have caused it to be brushed under the carpet by later editors. I mean - would you really be prepared to let your innocent child go on a joyride in the Sunshine Super Bus with this man???

philcom55 wrote:Then I stumbled across this advert in a 1961 issue of Princess and discovered the whole sleazy underside of this campaign that must have caused it to be brushed under the carpet by later editors. I mean - would you really be prepared to let your innocent child go on a joyride in the Sunshine Super Bus with this man???

Surely this is a case of making assumptions, Phil, in the aftermath of the scandalous events which have come to light in the last few years, rather than seeing the initiative as just an attempt by the company to try to give themselves a visible profile in holiday towns in order to raise summer sales to the same level as winter sales.

philcom55 wrote:I've always wondered why you never hear collectors talking about 'Sunshine' or 'Five-Star' comics in the same way they do about Fleetway, DC Thomson or Odhams.

Given that Fleetway, D. C. Thomsons and Odhams are companies, might this not be because neither term, Sunshine or Five-Star, would immediately bring to mind any of the titles under those banners?

I agree the climate was completely different in the early 1960s Phoenix - my 'shock' was just tongue in cheek, based on the way that advert might appear to a modern sensibility. In fact I'd guess that most people at the time would have automatically associated the idea with a long line of advertising campaigns in holiday resorts, going all the way back to 'Lobby Lud'.

As far as the company names go it's worth remembering that in America DC and Marvel were originally just brands rather than the official names of their respective publishing companies (just as 'Power Comics' were a notional entity within the larger Odhams group). I'm sure that when they launched the idea Fleetway hoped that 'Sunshine' and 'Five-Star' would soon become as well-known as Penguin, Pelican and Puffin books.

By the mid-60s children were being warned by Tufty and his chums not to accept lifts from strangers.

suebutcher wrote:By the mid-60s children were being warned by Tufty and his chums not to accept lifts from strangers.

And in Bunty from 1966 a warning was printed at the top of one page each week which said Remember, girls, never accept lifts from strange men. Also, in one instalment of Ballerina On A String in 1979, this was reinforced with a girl saying (thinking), when she was offered a lift, I remember Mum always telling me not to get into a stranger's car.

philcom55 wrote:I'd guess that most people at the time would have automatically associated the idea with a long line of advertising campaigns in holiday resorts, going all the way back to 'Lobby Lud'.

It was a good advertising ploy. I used to go over to Morecambe on such days, armed with a copy of the News Chronicle, without which you would not be awarded the prize even if you found him and challenged him appropriately. There was always a photo of Lobby Lud wearing a trilby in that morning's paper, and if I remember this correctly, the challenge was You are Lobby Lud, and I claim the News Chronicle I Spy prize, which I think was £5, not to be sneezed at in the late fifties/early sixties. He also used to leave cards in various places such as cafes, bandstands, the Central Pier, the fairground, and anywhere along the Promenade, all of which entitled the finder to £1.

The promotion I remember was, "The Hon Man" and I can't recall for which paper he worked but you approached him, holding your copy of (insert title) and said, "you're the Hon Man and I claim my ten bob". Weekly News, Daily Express? He was in Llandudno one year when we were there on holiday, perhaps the late '50's. My dad couldn't find him.
Phil is right, of course, about DC and marvel being just brands within companies, but they are the names that survived. Atlas, All American and others fell by the wayside, so,perhaps the Five star and Sunshine brands simply withered away. Mind, I think shovelling the girls' and childrens'comics into the same "bag"might not have been the brightest idea.
When I think more on this, Cowboy Picture Library, Super Detective and Thriller were all brands in the AP/Fleetway stable, which is a bit odd as there were western stories in Thriller Picture Library.

paw broon wrote:The promotion I remember was, "The Hon Man" and I can't recall for which paper he worked but you approached him, holding your copy of (insert title) and said, "you're the Hon Man and I claim my ten bob". Weekly News, Daily Express? He was in Llandudno one year when we were there on holiday, perhaps the late '50's. My dad couldn't find him.
Phil is right, of course, about DC and marvel being just brands within companies, but they are the names that survived. Atlas, All American and others fell by the wayside, so,perhaps the Five star and Sunshine brands simply withered away. Mind, I think shovelling the girls' and childrens'comics into the same "bag"might not have been the brightest idea.
When I think more on this, Cowboy Picture Library, Super Detective and Thriller were all brands in the AP/Fleetway stable, which is a bit odd as there were western stories in Thriller Picture Library.

Was the Hon Man not in the Sunday Post? I seem to remember reading a few columns by him back in the 1980s.

The HON Man was a very D C Thomson-like concern---there was almost a page devoted to him every week back in the late 60s.

He looked almost like a ghost, all in white---including his trilby-----and his cartoon image was superimposed upon a [usually] grainy black-and-white photo of that weeks' particualar talking point.

Unforgettable, quirky fare the likes of which we just don't see any more!

The Sunshine Super Bus driver looks like Bernie Winters.

Oh yes, it was The Sunday Post. Well done
As for Bernie Winters, where's Snorbitz, eh? OK, I know the big daft dug was lots later, but, in that case, where's Mike? Bernie was supposed to be the funny one but really, neither of them were very good, were they? Although, lol is just what you didn't do when they came on the t.v.
Please excuse

Mike and Bernie Winters were to Morecambe and Wise what Abbott and Costello were to Laurel and Hardy! IMHO anyway.

Just going back on topic! The scan below shows how the 'Sunshine Weeklies' symbol first looked in 1959, only for a few copies though.

The 'Sunshine Weeklies' finished in the middle of 1964, in 'Jack and Jill', and 'Playhour'.

So the imprint lasted for about five years - round about the same as Odhams' Power Comics line!

As I mentioned there was at least one Sunshine Book published during this period. Though the Sunshine logo doesn't appear on the cover it is clearly shown on the spine along with the legend 'A Sunshine Annual' (the connection with Woman's Weekly isn't explained). Does anybody know if there were any more of these issued?

This forum is great for bringing attention to small, long-forgotten aspects of British comics such as the short-lived Sunshine Years. It makes a wonderful contribution to the history of British comics and the people who research them.