Comic characters merging..

Talk here about just about anything associated with British comics or story papers and the industry that does not fit in any other forum.
There are separate fora open to registered members for discussing specific comics, artists, websites etc.

Moderators: Al, AndyB

User avatar
Niblet
Posts: 672
Joined: 16 Sep 2009, 16:58
Location: STILL standing on the porch of The Lido Hotel

Re: Comic characters merging..

Post by Niblet »

Peter Gray wrote:
Am I right in thinking that at one stage the Ivor Lott and Tony Broke strip merged with The Toffs and The Toughs to become Ivor's Toffs and Tony's Toughs? If so, that's 3 strips that Ivor and Tony were involved in (the second being with Milly/Penny as mentioned by Digi).
That was two strip mixing in Whizzer and chips rather than Ivor and Tony

Smarty Pants and Tatty Ed joining The Toffs and the Toughs...

Aaah, of course, thanks, Peter :notworthy:

big bad bri
Posts: 1761
Joined: 03 Mar 2006, 15:50

Re: Comic characters merging..

Post by big bad bri »

at the moment am reading through nutty and most weeks the characters seem to be in each others strips here are a few examples.
no 73)jay r hood - guest star the wild rovers
72)the wheelies -guest star cuddles ,Wacky with bananaman
71)wacky- the school belles, sports fan - Jay r hood, Cuddles-tweet william
70)Tweet william- Bananaman
69)Steevie Star-bananaman
68)Scoopy- cuddles
64)wacky-bananaman
63)Doodlebug-scoopy
60) & 58)big 'n' bud-doodlebug
57)jay r hood- sports fan
there was a load more such as pa slobb in various stories,
Also in issue 6 of BEEZER & TOPPER Billy whizz from the BEANO was in Kelly the defective detective story.

STARBOY
Posts: 696
Joined: 12 Oct 2008, 22:05

Re: Comic characters merging..

Post by STARBOY »

In the old Odhams comics (Smash, Pow and Wham) Bad Penny joined the Swots and the Blots a few times - Smasher and Whamster joined together to form one strip - Jimmy of City and Jack of United met in a match in Score n roar or Scorcher (City won 2-1) ETC

Lew Stringer
Posts: 7041
Joined: 01 Mar 2006, 00:59
Contact:

Re: Comic characters merging..

Post by Lew Stringer »

STARBOY wrote:In the old Odhams comics (Smash, Pow and Wham) Bad Penny joined the Swots and the Blots a few times - Smasher and Whamster joined together to form one strip - Jimmy of City and Jack of United met in a match in Score n roar or Scorcher (City won 2-1) ETC
Comic characters meeting up has been the norm almost since comics began, although I think Peter was talking about more permanent pairings. You're right; Bad Penny joined The Swots and Blots (becoming a Blot, naturally) when her own strip ended. Also, didn't Big Fat Joe have his own strip before he became one of Lord Snooty's Pals?
There was also a teaming between the White Eyes and The Snake in "Masters of Menace" in LION.

In more recent times, Combat Colin became a co-star in my Brickman strip during it's run in Elephantmen.
The blog of British comics: http://lewstringer.blogspot.com
My website: http://www.lewstringer.com
Blog about my own work: http://lewstringercomics.blogspot.com/

User avatar
Digifiend
Posts: 7315
Joined: 15 Aug 2007, 11:43
Location: Hull, UK

Re: Comic characters merging..

Post by Digifiend »

I mentioned Joe already.

User avatar
dishes
Posts: 341
Joined: 29 Jun 2010, 09:12

Re: Comic characters merging..

Post by dishes »

Hot Shot Hamish and Mighty Mouse, when Tiger was absorbed by Roy of the Rovers weekly. An excellent team-up.

I'm sure there are other notable examples in the back of my mind!
Is it weird to have no interest in keeping or collecting free gifts?

My artwork: http://www.iancockburn.co.uk

User avatar
dishes
Posts: 341
Joined: 29 Jun 2010, 09:12

Re: Comic characters merging..

Post by dishes »

Actually there are loads of Football ones. IPC football heroes could always be transferred to Melchester Rovers when their strip ended (e.g. Kevin's Chance, The Hard Man Johnny Dexter) and Thomson's had United (Iron Barr, Limp-along Leslie, and for a while it was Jimmy Grant's team). I'm sure there are lots of other examples like this.
Is it weird to have no interest in keeping or collecting free gifts?

My artwork: http://www.iancockburn.co.uk

User avatar
Digifiend
Posts: 7315
Joined: 15 Aug 2007, 11:43
Location: Hull, UK

Re: Comic characters merging..

Post by Digifiend »

Newspaper example of that: after The Sun's The Premier was removed from the paper so that Striker could return, the captain of the team from The Premier, Joe Rock, joined Warbury Warriors. He ended up outlasting The Premier (which had continued online for a while), being transferred out in the last summer transfer window before Striker ended. He was never a major character in Striker like he had been in The Premier though.

big bad bri
Posts: 1761
Joined: 03 Mar 2006, 15:50

Re: Comic characters merging..

Post by big bad bri »

dishes wrote:Hot Shot Hamish and Mighty Mouse, when Tiger was absorbed by Roy of the Rovers weekly. An excellent team-up.

I'm sure there are other notable examples in the back of my mind!

tiger merged into eagle not roy of the rovers even though it may as well have as hot shot hamish went into rotr billys boots went into eagle then transfered into rotr and johnny cougar went into rotr in the early 90s

User avatar
dishes
Posts: 341
Joined: 29 Jun 2010, 09:12

Re: Comic characters merging..

Post by dishes »

big bad bri wrote:
dishes wrote:Hot Shot Hamish and Mighty Mouse, when Tiger was absorbed by Roy of the Rovers weekly. An excellent team-up.

I'm sure there are other notable examples in the back of my mind!

tiger merged into eagle not roy of the rovers even though it may as well have as hot shot hamish went into rotr billys boots went into eagle then transfered into rotr and johnny cougar went into rotr in the early 90s
Good point, sorry for my careless talk. I thought as I was typing it that I wasn't sure about that, just jumping to conclusions from the fact Billy's Boots and Hamish were both in Tiger, then they were both in ROTR.
Is it weird to have no interest in keeping or collecting free gifts?

My artwork: http://www.iancockburn.co.uk

User avatar
Captain Storm
Posts: 898
Joined: 01 Mar 2006, 21:15
Location: 1981
Contact:

Re: Comic characters merging..

Post by Captain Storm »

Very interesting to see sibling comic characters jump ship from their parent title to separate comic titles! Wonder if there are other examples of this practice? Usually they would all migrate together to the same merger title.

The Cap.

User avatar
swirlythingy
Posts: 562
Joined: 17 Mar 2011, 00:16
Location: Wimbledon, UK

Re: Comic characters merging..

Post by swirlythingy »

When Beezer and Topper folded, the Numskulls (and latterly Fred's Bed) went into the Beano, whereas Beryl the Peril got the Dandy. Tricky Dicky was in the Beano for a short time, too, along with the Banana Bunch in the Dandy a few years later. There's probably other examples.
Help! Help! We're being held prisoner in a signature factory!

User avatar
Digifiend
Posts: 7315
Joined: 15 Aug 2007, 11:43
Location: Hull, UK

Re: Comic characters merging..

Post by Digifiend »

Banana Bunch's Dandy appearance was very brief. A new story in the 2005 annual (originally drawn for the cancelled Beezer Annual 2004) and a few reprints in Xtreme. Another former Topper character Splodge also appeared in The Beano, debuting in the 2000 Summer Special. Dandy also took on Blinky, another Beezer character.

User avatar
Jonny Whizz
Posts: 1079
Joined: 03 May 2009, 14:17

Re: Comic characters merging..

Post by Jonny Whizz »

When the Beano celebrated its 65th birthday in 2003, characters from the first issue in 1938 appeared alongside the then current stars (it was issue 3185, can't remember the exact date off hand but it was late July/early August). From memory, the list of character pairings was as follows:

Dennis the Menace - introduced the characters from the first issue. There was also a reference to Jimmy's Magic Patch, but he didn't appear until the 1940s.
The Numskulls - Tom Thumb
Gnasher and Gnipper - Big Eggo
Little Plum - Whoopee Hank (with a guest appearance by Baby-Face Finlayson)
Ivy the Terrible - Uncle Windbag
The Bash Street Kids - Lord Snooty
Billy Whizz - Big Fat Joe
Ball Boy - Hairy Dan
Bea - Tin-Can Tommy
Freddie Fear - Hooky and his Magic Bowler Hat
Roger the Dodger - Cracker Jack
Crazy for Daisy - Mighty Morgan
Minnie the Minx - Ping the Elastic Man (already been mentioned)

That's what I can remember from the issue. I tried to put the strips in the order I think they appeared in, but having not checked it I could be wrong.

As for other strips, I have the Beano book of Britain where Roger and Ivy share a strip. I remember a Tim Traveller strip where Billy Whizz appeared, and they were also paired in one of the fun-sizes, looking at Digifiend's list.
'Michael Owen isn't the tallest of players, but his height more than makes up for it' - Mark Lawrenson

User avatar
Old Freddy
Posts: 197
Joined: 11 Jun 2009, 19:51
Location: In front of the computer

Re: Comic characters merging..

Post by Old Freddy »

I think you're right about the characters that teamed up with current characters, though I've not read the 65th anniversairy issue for about a month (When I got it second hand along with a load of other beanos from 2001-2007) but I'm pretty sure they're the characters that appeared.

I'm not familiar with the Beano book of Britain though. Is it anything like the Beano book of amazing Facts? (Roger and Ivy share a strip in that book too, and I think Billy Whizz appears in the strip)

I also really like the long stories by Mike Pearse (And later Kev F) featuring lots of characters; they're really good, and they're the type of strip where I don't mind other characters in the issue not appearing, because the quality of those long stories were always top-notch, in both artwork and story terms.
Last update to http://comiccentral.jimdo.com: 7/4/2011

Sammy Shrink, Korky, Dennis and the Dandy all updated
Beryl the Peril Page Added
Navigation altered

Post Reply