Comic Mergers

[big bad bri]

I was just looking through Buster iss 8/9/62 as it was the great news for all readers spiel which usually means a comic merger.inside it said news of new stories and a free gift but no mention of the word film fun,the comic it merged with. i don't have the 1st merged issue but the following week it is buster and film fun,is this the 1st time 2 comics have merged without revealing the title absorbed or was it common practise then as most of my comics are 70s on.

[jamesjohnson5551]

Yes, I think you are absolutly correct. And I don't know what exacly is. I would like to say something that you may not realize it, but DC Comics didn’t officially come into existence until 1977. Although the company had been known conversationally as DC and had used a “DC” logo in its comics, from 1946 until 1977 DC Comics was in fact National Comics. But that isn’t the end to this story; it’s only the beginning.

[philcom55]

To begin with I think mergers were just a sneaky way of transferring standing orders to the dominant title. It was only during the 1960s that publishers started to promote them as special 'events'.

[Phoenix]

To begin with I think mergers were just a sneaky way of transferring standing orders to the dominant title.

There was apparently no clear policy at DCT as to how long the consumed title would remain on the masthead. Of DCT's boys' titles the longest run was seven months for The Hotspur and Hornet, the shortest was twelve weeks for Victor and Scoop. Of their girls' papers the shortest run was eight issues for Bunty and Suzy, the longest was for Judy and Tracy, which was over two years.

[alanultron5]

Buster comic holds the record for `gobblin'` up other titles over it's life time! It must have eaten up over a dozen! I used to hate those words "Great News Folks" It never was- your fave comic going to the wall.

Re long lasting mergers- I think Lion & Thunder lasted over three years- think it did.

[Lew Stringer]

Buster comic holds the record for `gobblin'` up other titles over it's life time! It must have eaten up over a dozen! I used to hate those words "Great News Folks" It never was- your fave comic going to the wall.

Re long lasting mergers- I think Lion & Thunder lasted over three years- think it did.

Tiger and Jag had a long run as a merged title too.

I heard recently (from John Wagner I think) that mergers boosted a comic in the short term but then sales would fall off again so it didn't really have the effect they hoped for.

[Kashgar]

Tiger and Hurricane lasted something like 200 issues.

[Digifiend]

Topper and Sparky lasted over three years as well.

[alanultron5]

Oh! That's right Digi Topper & Sparky did do about three years - did Beezer and Topper last long?. Mergers were rarer in DCT, but IPC seemed to be always doing them. As for Odhams, they started 1968 with Wham, Pow, Smash, Terrific and Fantastic. Before the year was out, it was just "Smash and Pow, incorporating Fantastic" Three in one merger!! Has that ever happened before or since?

[blaing]

The Beezer and Topper lasted nearly three years, with the final issue being No. 153, in August 1993

[Digifiend]

That title restarted with a new number 1, so does it really count? The Beezer and Topper was effectively a new comic. Same thing happened with Mandy and Judy too - and it lasted from May 1991 to December 1995 before merging with Bunty, that's over four years and would be the actual record holder for DCT's girls titles mergers.

DCT mergers are so rare, that The Beano has never had one in it's entire 78 year history (though the annuals were the Magic-Beano Book for a while). The Dandy only ever had two as well, in the mid-1980s, and both only lasted a year (Nutty and Hoot) though the former cover stars from the merged titles (Bananaman and Cuddles) remained until the very end.

[alanultron5]

On the comics Brittania documentaries, it stated IPCs method was "Hatch, Match & Dispatch" Very apt I thought!

[davidandrewsimpson]

The longest running merged title I know of is June And School Friend, which ran from 30th January 1965 to 13th November 1971. June And School Friend Picture Library sort of ran for the same length of time; I say "sort of" because for most of that run (1966 to 1969) it was called June and School Friend And Princess Picture Library.
information from the Grand Comics Database

Then there was Princess, which joined with Tina to become the long-lasting Princess Tina, briefly being Princess Tina & Penelope (see http://www.comics.org/series/70795/)

Any advance on (very nearly) seven years?

[alanultron5]

When `Beezer` incorporated `Cracker` in late 1976, there were no free gifts given! Was this a first?

[Phoenix]

Same thing happened with Mandy and Judy too - and it lasted from May 1991 to December 1995 before merging with Bunty, that's over four years and would be the actual record holder for DCT's girls titles mergers.

Just got back from London where I've been spending a week with my two youngest granddaughters, aged 4 and 1, although Kelsey, the younger, turned 2 while I was there, which, to be fair, is why I went down. We've all had a lot of fun, which included a visit to the Wimbledon fete last weekend.

So, Digi, now I'm back what's all this nonsense about M&J merging with Bunty in 1995? There was a merger but it actually took place on 31 May 1997. M&J had produced 315 issues by that point, and to me didn't even appear to be in need of a merger, but I suppose Thomsons know best, especially when they are the ones counting the number of copies sold. The scan below is from issue 315 (May 24 1997) of M&J.