COMIC MILESTONES

[steelclaw]

When I picked up my latest Beezer's I didn't realize I had Issue 1000, come on put up a pick of your Comic Milestone. But no mention of it in any of the strips.

[Raven]

I recently got hold of Sparky no. 600 - also a high number to reach but there's no celebration or special mention of the fact at all. Perhaps DCT didn't like to make a fuss. Though in 1983, issue 104 of Buddy has "WE'RE TWO YEARS OLD TODAY!" and giant birthday cake-style malarkey all over the front cover.


(EDIT: to correct Buddy issue number)

[Digifiend]

Didn't realise Buddy was a fortnightly.

Issue 1000 of The Beano was celebrated with a giant cake on the cover surrounded by various Beano characters. No mention elsewhere in the comic. Issue 1097 was the 25th birthday issue. Biffo was in school with Buster and Lord Snooty and his Pals, and was asked several questions. When was the Great Fire of London? "1666 Miss!". When was the Battle of Hastings? "1066 Miss!" When did the first Beano come out? The response is silence, and Biffo is sent to the cane cupboard. Instead of canes, he finds a cake, which other Beano characters come running into the school to share, as the teacher states the exact date (July 26th 1938) and Snooty's page 3 from issue 1 is shown on the classroom wall. Again, no mention of the milestone elsewhere in the issue.

Issue 3007 of The Dandy saw Dandy overtake Comic Cuts as the longest running comic, this was proudly proclaimed on the cover. Beano failed to mention it when they overtook The Dandy's issue count which happened due to The Dandy's frequency reduction when it relaunched as Dandy Xtreme.

The 60th anniversaries of The Beano and The Dandy were celebrated with double length issues (48 pages instead of the then normal 24). Dandy reused the old Bellboy character, while Beano included the last Dennis drawn by Dave Sutherland - David Parkins started the serial which would introduce Bea the following week. The Beano's 70th birthday last year was also celebrated with an extended issue, 40 pages this time instead of 32. These three comics mentioned the anniversaries throughout, as did Beano 2000 in 1980. Dandy virtually ignored it's 70th birthday (not even a mention on the front cover) - I suppose that's because they'd just had the Xtreme relaunch. Beano on the overhand had two special publications (the book The History of the Beano and a magazine called Beano Collectors Edition: 70 Years of Fun) and an issue of Classics from the Comics devoted to it.

In short, Beano has made more of a fuss as the years went by. Dandy did so as well, but now completely ignores its history. With the except of Beano 2000, anniversaries seemed to only get a passing mention on the cover until the late 80s (the 50th birthdays of Beano and Dandy - I don't know how they celebrated, as I've only seen the Desperate Dan and Dennis the Menace strips from those issues, not the inside contents, bar The Beano's new strips - The Beano's 50th also saw a page count increase and gravure print introduced, but that's just coincidental timing).

[steelclaw]

Didn't realise Buddy was a fortnightly.

Nor did I but I'm sure Raven meant Issue 104 or First birthday didn't you raven?
Buddy was weekly.

[Raven]

Nor did I but I'm sure Raven meant Issue 104 or First birthday didn't you raven?
Buddy was weekly.

Gah! Sorry, I did of course mean issue 104. I've corrected the post.

[felneymike]

Here's a few more for the audience's delectation


Issue 1 of the Union Jack, the paper later famous for Sexton Blake. Minus it's cover and with some nastiness to the first page, unfortunatley. Story's there, though!


Issue 200 of the Union Jack, circa 1897.


The first issue of Boys of the Empire, an obscure and (probably) short lived paper. A mixture of complete stories, serials and articles not unlike, i suppose, The Boys' Own Paper (which i've never read XD, though it doesn't feel the same as the AP/Cassel's offerings). Oddly the covers it's bound in say Boys of OUR Empire, which i beleive was a different, 19th century publication. In fact i think there was even two carrying that title, and one of them was really old, going back into the 1880's.


Issue 1 of a "new series" of the Penny Popular that started in 1919. By now it was firmly part of the Magnet/Gem "companion papers" (the Boys' Friend went the same way sometime in the teens or twenties). I beleive in earlier life it had contained articles and short stories - including Sexton Blake ones! The stories here are still short and complete, so every issue is a joy.


An issue of the Union Jack from 1919, not a significant number (incedentally the numbering was restarted in 1904) but this issue does introduce one of Sexton Blake's greatest villains - Zenith The Albino! Despite the title both characters survive the tale and Zenith harrased Blake right into the 40's


Issue 999 of the Union Jack, 1922


Issue 700 of Adventure from 1935. Adventure was the first of DC Thomson's forays into the Boys' Own area, and one that was wildly sucessful and spawned 4 other papers that were virtually the same...


...one of which was The Skipper, last to start, first to end! Killed off by paper rationing during the war. Annuals stopped in 1941 too, only for one more annual to suddenly appear in 1949! Note the format that is closer to the modern annual format and not like the old DCT annuals (which were smaller sized, like books, and much thicker)


Very tenously a "comic" here It's issue 1 of the fifth series of the Sexton Blake Library from 1965. The SBL had been in pocket library format most of it's life, but had become paperbacks sometime late in series 4, then it vanished in 63 and left 64 as an empty year with no Sexton Blake! This return was not exactly a "triumphant" one though... The SBL finally ended in 1969, the last few books were not even marked as part of the library.


Aaaand Commando issue 4000, Actually the sequel to a story i didn't buy! But it's still brilliant, and is drawn by my favourite artist, Jose Maria Jorge.

[Digifiend]

What was the Big News mentioned on the cover of Adventure 700?

By the way, Hotspur launched after Skipper, so Skipper wasn't "last to launch first to end" as you said. Hotspur launched in 1933, Skipper in 1930. The Magic, however, the companion paper to Beano and Dandy, was last to launch, first to end, as it launched in 1939 and closed in 1941, the week before Skipper. A bit of speculation: had it not been for paper rationing forcing these two to close, Magic might well have survived to this day, or at least lasted until the 90s. Topper and Beezer would've probably launched 10 years earlier as well, as Dandy, Beano and Magic were meant to be another "Big 5", as Thomson's collectively called their boys papers. An interesting thought, don't you think?

[Phoenix]

What was the Big News mentioned on the cover of Adventure 700?

The editor of Adventure was advertising the All-British Writing Championship. This was a competition across all of Thomsons' Big Five titles and, to the great disappointment of many schoolboys, it took the place of what in the two previous years had been a major free gift of collectable cards, running for sixteen and twenty-one weeks respectively. In 1933 it had been Football Team Cards and in 1934 boys were given Motor Cards. This is a perfect example of a theme that was touched on yesterday on another thread, that of the different expectations parents and children have of comics and story papers. There were cups to be won and hundreds of medals but I suspect that boys just looked on the task as another piece of homework. If you had been alive and at school at the time, what would you have thought? Fortunately the company must have seen sense because in 1936 normal service was resumed with an eighteen-week bonanza of cards. The three sets were Boys Of All Nations, Secrets Of Cricket and Punishment Through The Ages.

[Phoenix]

The first issue of Boys of the Empire, an obscure and (probably) short lived paper. A mixture of complete stories, serials and articles not unlike, i suppose, The Boys' Own Paper (which i've never read XD, though it doesn't feel the same as the AP/Cassel's offerings). Oddly the covers it's bound in say Boys of OUR Empire, which i beleive was a different, 19th century publication. In fact i think there was even two carrying that title, and one of them was really old, going back into the 1880's.

Just as an attempt to shed a bit more light on this matter, the original that you refer to, FM, was called Boys Of England, which was published by EJ Brett and ran from 1866 to 1899. Brett also started the title Boys Of The Empire sometime in the 1870s but I'm not sure when that title ceased publication. However, a new series of Boys Of The Empire saw the light of day on October 9th 1900. It had sixteen pages and cost a ha'penny. The price went up to a penny for a new series on June 22nd 1901 and the paper ran until September 15th 1906. The following week Brett started a new series of the previously defunct Boys Of England but this title breathed its last on December 22nd with issue 14.

Nevertheless, Brett's publications had no connection with the Boys Of The Empire title whose cover you have posted. Seemingly coincidentally but almost certainly the result of the cut-throat opportunism abounding at the time, your title appeared two weeks after Brett's. It was published by Andrew Melrose, it cost a penny and had twenty-four pages, although it would immediately revert to sixteen but keeping its price at the penny, unlike Brett's. It ran until issue 36 on June 22nd 1901. The following week it emerged under the title Boys Of Our Empire and was clearly popular for well over a year, giving away a plate called Wild Animals on April 26th 1902, and adding four extra pages on June 21st. Another free plate followed on October 4th 1902 but I have no record of the title after that date.

[felneymike]

By the way, Hotspur launched after Skipper, so Skipper wasn't "last to launch first to end" as you said. Hotspur launched in 1933, Skipper in 1930. The Magic, however, the companion paper to Beano and Dandy, was last to launch, first to end, as it launched in 1939 and closed in 1941, the week before Skipper

Ah right, i must confess to going on vague memories from that "british comics" website which i resad ages ago I mainly only go there to see the Commando covers now!

Nevertheless, Brett's publications had no connection with the Boys Of The Empire title whose cover you have posted. Seemingly coincidentally but almost certainly the result of the cut-throat opportunism abounding at the time, your title appeared two weeks after Brett's. It was published by Andrew Melrose, it cost a penny and had twenty-four pages, although it would immediately revert to sixteen but keeping its price at the penny, unlike Brett's. It ran until issue 36 on June 22nd 1901. The following week it emerged under the title Boys Of Our Empire

Aha. My bound volume goes up to October 26th 1901 and now that i look the title has actually changed! The "of the" and "of our" writing is pretty small though, and is black against a "grey" background, so i missed it on my initial flick-through when i bought it.

The editorial in the first changed issue states that the name change has come about because the other Boys of the Empire was planning to increase it's price to one penny. I suppose before then they were referred to by readers and shopkeepers as "the halfpenny one" and "the penny one", so a title change was nessescary when the prices became the same!

[Phoenix]

The editorial in the first changed issue states that the name change has come about because the other Boys of the Empire was planning to increase it's price to one penny. I suppose before then they were referred to by readers and shopkeepers as "the halfpenny one" and "the penny one", so a title change was nessescary when the prices became the same

Brett was reputedly ruthless and he was almost always ahead of the game. Economic necessity will no doubt have forced him to double his cover price but his eye for the main chance worked for him in spades on this occasion because when Melrose felt the pressure and unnecessarily changed his title, Brett regained the upper hand. He must have been absolutely ecstatic to be back in the publishers' driving seat again.

[Phoenix]

Here are three favourite number ones from my collection for you, steelclaw. I'm particularly fond of these.

[steelclaw]

Some nice covers their, I like the old football ones. Never heard of or seen School Cap before.

Union Jack looks good as does No.700 of Adventure.

[steelclaw]

Number 100 & 200.

[colcool007]

Just to add to SC's post, the only Victor cover to take note of the passage of time was the 25th anniversary one in 1986 (issue 1306). It featured a montage of some of the best known characters and cheekily re-used a story that had run from issue 1 (The Green Lizard)