TV Comic

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TV Comic was a British comic book published weekly between November 9, 1951 and June 29, 1984 for 1,697 issues. With its bright, eye-catching covers, it featured stories based on television shows running at the time of publication. The first issue had 8 pages and had Muffin the Mule on the cover. It also contained other TV favourites of the day including Mr. Pastry, Larry the Lamb, Tom Puss, Prince Valiant (Hal Foster reprint) Jack & Jill, Prudence Kitten, Tusker & Tikki and Hank. The letters page article was called 'Lets be gay' and hosted by Jennifer who also introduced Children's TV back in the day.

The first decade of the comic clearly aimed its readership at younger Children. As well as Muffin the Mule (which ran for nearly ten years, initially on the cover until 1955, but later had to contain itself to just half a page in black & white), other 1950s favourites of the time included; Sooty, Coco the Clown, Noddy and Lenny the Lion. Each issue also featured a page of readers' letters and photographs.

As the decade passed so the comic began to have a slightly more 'grown up' feel to it, with stories like Treasure Island, The Lone Ranger and Black Beauty all gracing the pages for a time. Text stories also began to appear with religious themes such as 'Jesus and the Bible'.

The 1960s were probably the 'Golden Age' of the comic. It is notable for printing Doctor Who stories from 1964 to 1979 (except for 1971 to 1973 when he was in Countdown/TV Action). It also featured strip cartoons for the early Gerry Anderson TV shows Four Feather Falls, Supercar and Fireball XL5 until Anderson's titles became the focus of a rival publication, TV Century 21.

The 1960s issues are also noted as being the most collectable period of the comic's history. As well as Doctor Who and the Gerry Anderson strips, other highly collectable material included; Telegoons which ran from 1963 to 1967, Space Patrol which ran from 1964 to 1965 and The Avengers which ran initially from 1965 to 1966 and again from 1968 to 1972 (this refers to the TV series, not the Marvel Comics title).

A number of annuals and holiday specials were also issued over the years, including special editions concentrating on characters such as The Pink Panther and Tom and Jerry.

Originally started by Beaverbrook, TV Comic was eventually published by Polystyle Publications for much of its run. Editors included Dick Millington (who also edited Pippin and created Mighty Moth), Robin Tucheck and John Lynott. Artists included Bill Titcombe, John Canning, Neville Main, H Watts, Gerry Haylock, Mike Lacey, and Steve Maher.

Contents

[edit] TV shows featured

[edit] Non-TV shows featured

[edit] Changing format

From the start, TV Comic featured a mixture of colour and black-and-white pages, and this continued throughout its publication. In common with other British children's comics, it absorbed other less successful titles during its run, including TV Land and TV Express in 1962, TV Action (formerly Countdown) in 1973, Tom and Jerry Weekly in 1974 (Tom and Jerry already featured in TV Comic) and the short-lived Target in 1978.

TV Comic had quite a tempestuous history towards the end of its life. In 1976 it was relaunched as Mighty TV Comic (issue 1292), switching to a large tabloid format. Although the pages were larger, the content did not increase, with the frames of many strips just increased in size. The first two issues were accompanied by a smaller "Mighty Midget" supplement. Presumably this didn't achieve the sales increases hoped for, as two years later the comic reverted to an A4 format (issue 1377), on cheap newsprint. Although the paper quality eventually improved, the comic came to rely heavily on reprints of older material, or using scripts from old strips with new characters. The only notable, collectable and original strip of this period was perhaps 'Battle of the Planets' (drawn by former Dan Dare artist Keith Watson) which ran from 1981-1983.

The publication finally closed, after 33 years, in 1984 due to falling sales. The last issue (a shadow of its former self, with a fairly crudely drawn cartoon picture of the Prince and Princess of Wales) had no warning inside of its demise or of it being merged with another comic. It just failed to appear the following week, although both ‘The A Team' and 'Tales of the Gold Monkey' strips, which had been running, said 'The End'. A rather sad end to this once great comic.

[edit] Notable issues

Issue 1 (09/11/51) 1st Muffin the Mule (drawn by Neville Main) cover. Prince Valiant (drawn by Hal Foster) begins a short run until issue 44 (05/09/52).


Issue 192 (09/07/55) Sooty (drawn by Tony Hart) took over full time on the cover, although it had appeared occasionally as a ‘Special number’ on the cover since earlier in the year.


Issue 267 (15/12/56) 1st Enid Blyton’s ‘Noddy’ begins. It starts off it’s two year run on the cover, before finishing inside issue 371 (13/12/58).


Issue 345 (14/06/58) 1st Lenny the Lion (drawn by Bill Mevin) cover. (The Lenny the Lion cover era produced some of the most elaborate and colourful Christmas and Bonfire cover issues).


Issue 384 (14/03/59). TV Comic's longest running strip Mighty Moth (drawn by Dick Millington) first appeared (but never in strip form on the cover) and ran until the comic finished.


Issue 439 (14/05/60) the first of 3 early Gerry Anderson shows 'Four Feather Falls' (drawn by Neville Main) began having recently started on TV and ran until issue 564 (06/10/62).


Issue 444 (18/06/60) The Lone Ranger (drawn by Mike Noble) begins and ran until issue 507 (02/09/61).


Issue 456 (10/09/60) 1st Popeye (drawn initially by Chick Henderson) cover. The strip had started inside issue 449 (23/07/60), but even after Popeye was dropped from the cover, the strip continued inside the comic into the 1980's.


Issue 482 (11/03/61) was the last appearance of Muffin the Mule in TV Comic as he quietly slipped from the pages in only a half page b/w strip.


Issue 483 (18/03/61) another Gerry Anderson favourite and probably the most collectable Supercar (drawn initially by H Watts and later Bill Mevin) started. It ran until issue 667 (26/09/64).


Issue 508 (09/09/61) The Range Rider (drawn by Mike Noble/Ron Embleton?) begins and ran until issue 658 (25/07/64).


Issue 565 (13/10/62) the 3rd and last Gerry Anderson strip to appear in TV Comic was Fireball XL5 (drawn by Neville Main) and ran until issue 672 (31/10/64).


Issue 619 (26/10/63) Telegoons (drawn by Bill Titcombe) appeared until issue 787 (14/01/67).


Issue 668 (03/10/64) Space Patrol (drawn by Bill Mevin) always in full colour in the centre pages ran until issue 719 (25/09/65).


Issue 674 (14/11/64) Doctor Who begins (Initially drawn by Neville Main) it first ran (apart from a brief period away for a few issues at the end of 1969) until issue 999 (06/02/71) then transfers to 'Countdown' comic.


Issue 720 (02/10/65) The Avengers (by Pat Williams) begins its first run until issue 771 (24/09/66). Also first Doctor Who colour centrespread (now drawn by Bill Mevin, later from issue 748 by John Canning).


Issue 788 (21/01/67) 1st Doctor Who cover (drawn by John Canning). This was a six-month period of Doctor Who and the Daleks covers which are perhaps some of the most collectable issues.


Issue 810 (24/06/67) 1st Ken Dodd's Diddymen (drawn by Bill Titcombe) cover.


Issue 877 (05/1//68) The Avengers return and run until issue 1078 (12/08/72).


Issue 909 (17/05/69) 1st Tom & Jerry (drawn by Bill Titcombe) cover.


Issue 1058 (25/03/72) Dads Army (drawn by Bill Titcombe begins its first run until issue 1100 (13/01/73) and transfers to ‘TV Action’.


Issue 1133 (01/09/73) ‘TV Action’ merges with TV Comic. Dads Army returns until issue 1275 (22/05/76) and Doctor Who also returns (drawn by Gerry Haylock and later by Martin Asbury).


Issue 1292 (18/09/76) 1st tabloid style 'Mighty TV Comic'. Free Dr Who mighty midget comic book. Star Trek (Gold key reprints) features until issue 1382 (09/06/78).


Issue 1377 (05/05/78) Returns to original comic format. Cover stars vary from Pink Panther to Charlie's Angels, Buzby and Scooby Doo amongst others.


Issue 1393 (25/08/78) 1st 'TV Comic incorporating Target'. Charlie's Angels begins (drawn by John Canning) until issue 1451 (05/10/79).


Issue 1430 (11/05/79) Final issue with Doctor Who - since issue 1386 the strip had been John Canning reprints with The Doctor redrawn as Tom Baker.


Issue 1530 (17/04/81) Battle of the Planets (drawn by Keith Watson) begins until issue 1671 (30/12/83).


Issue 1656 (16/09/83) Tales of the Gold Monkey (drawn by Geoff Campion) begins and finishes in the last ever issue of TV Comic 1697 (29/06/84).

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

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