Fleetway Index - corrections & clarifications

[Richard S.]

Thought it might be useful to have somewhere where interested folk could list any corrections and clarifications pertaining to Steve Holland's excellent 'Fleetway Companion'. This way if it ever gets reprinted we'll have done some of the work for Steve and for anyone who purchases a copy in the meantime this'll have to be the place to come. Any corrections to the corrections and clarifications (as they call it in the Guardian) welcomed.

I'll kick off with a missing title (as it was published after the index came out)

Title: Johnny Cougar's wrestling monthly
Duration: 6 issues (issue 7 was advertised but did it ever appear?)
Frequency: monthly
Dates: Oct 92 - Mar 93
Price: £1
Free gifts: issue #1 (badge), #2 (wrestling transfer tattoo)
Publisher: Fleetway Editions ltd
Printer: BPCC Magazines (East Kilbride) ltd
Pages: 48
Size: 29.5cm (h) x 22.5cm (w)
Picture strips: Johnny Cougar reprints from Tiger (14 episodes / issues - slightly edited to make them fit the page count), continuous story from issue 1-6. Story begins with Johnny and Bill arriving in the American gambling town of Goldhill.
Colour: colour cover, 8 centre pages colour, remainder b+w (40 pages)

[Digifiend]

In that case, it'll also be missing the dates when Buster and Sonic the Comic folded.

Buster became a fortnightly in January 1995, and the final issue was dated 22nd December 1999 to 4th January 2000. Sonic the Comic was the last comic to carry the Fleetway name, and ran from 1993 to 2002.

[Kashgar]

I provided info for Steve's audacious Fleetway Companion along with a number of others and it is true that much has come to light since it was first published. From memory I recall the Tiger entry being particularly patchy, certainly in its later stages.

[Richard S.]

ok so for the MASK annuals/special section it should break down like this:

Mask action book 1988
Mask holiday special 1987-90
Mask winter special 1987


For the Speed annuals/special section it should break down like this:
Speed annual 1980-81
Speed summer special 1980


Other specials would include:
The best of Billy's boots holiday special 1990-91
The best of Hotshot Hamish holiday special 1991


Confirm Tornado annual 1981 exists


and that's my lot for tonight, plenty more to come though!

[Digifiend]

Tornado 1981 confirmed.


It was on this website!

Also, there are MASK annuals for 1986, 1987 and 1989, as well as the 1988 action book you mentioned. http://www.comicsuk.co.uk/Annuals/Annua ... itle=Mask#

The Speed annuals are 1981 and 1982, not 1980. http://www.comicsuk.co.uk/Annuals/Annua ... itle=Speed

The Specials gallery shows that Speed 1980 summer special, the MASK 1987 winter special, and 1987-1989 holiday specials, but not 1990 (doesn't mean it doesn't exist though).

[Kashgar]

I think these last two posts indicate very clearly the difficulties involved in producing an all-encompassing concise index on something like the scale of The Fleetway Companion. I've always thought that contents details of all the Fleetway annuals/holiday specials should be included but again this is only upping the ante on what is already a titanic undertaking.

[Richard S.]

I agree that it would be great to have a listing of all the details of the annuals/specials but it would make the undertaking even more immense and that's going to be the probelm if you produce it in book form, it just gets longer and longer (and therefore potentially more expensive!).

Hence my idea of correcting those tiny bits of the book that I could help with (although we've see me get it wrong already!). I feel some sort of online resource where everyone can chip in and help is the only way to go really.

Anyway, back to those clarifications....

The Mask 1990 special - I finally acquired a copy the other day (after many years of trying) but haven't got around to sending a copy to Al for the specials gallery

The MASK annuals for 1986, 1987 and 1989 weren't published by Fleetway so I excluded them from my original listing

[Kashgar]

It would actually be easier to do a complete index of the D C Thomson boys' picture papers in that regard as they and their satellite publications didn't have the 'expanding exponentially' quality that IPC/Fleetway's output seemed to have.
It starts off simply enough in the 1950's of course with only the Lion Annual from 1954, the Tiger Annual from 1957 and the Roy of the Rovers Annual from 1958 to worry about, although even then I think you would have to include the details of last original Champion Annual for 1956 as, contents wise, it was really the first Tiger Annual hiding under another name.
Into the 1960's and, from memory, the next annual, from 1962, would have been Buster then Valiant from 1964, Hurricane from 1965, the ressurected Champion from 1966 and Ranger in the same year. The same year also seeing the first of the specials, or at least the first of the specials that would need to be referenced as regards the Fleetway Companion, Valiant arrive. And so begins the tangled web.

[Digifiend]

Anyway, back to those clarifications....

The Mask 1990 special - I finally acquired a copy the other day (after many years of trying) but haven't got around to sending a copy to Al for the specials gallery

The MASK annuals for 1986, 1987 and 1989 weren't published by Fleetway so I excluded them from my original listing

Well that's MASK 1990 special confirmed then. I know it's a licenced property, but it's still rather odd that the comic and one of the annuals was done by Fleetway, but other annuals weren't. I naturally assumed that they were all by Fleetway.