Old Comic Mergers - What If?

[SID]

I would have loved it if Valiant would have continued. Hence the next merger would have been Valiant and Battle Picture Weekly.

Of course there wouldn't have been a Battle-Action merger. But then makes me wonder if the original Action had been successful, was it doing better than Battle Picture Weekly? If so, there could have been an Action and Battle Picture Weekly merger which I would have preferred.

But then again, would that have meant no 2000AD?

[Lew Stringer]

I would have loved it if Valiant would have continued. Hence the next merger would have been Valiant and Battle Picture Weekly.

Of course there wouldn't have been a Battle-Action merger. But then makes me wonder if the original Action had been successful, was it doing better than Battle Picture Weekly? If so, there could have been an Action and Battle Picture Weekly merger which I would have preferred.

But then again, would that have meant no 2000AD?

I wouldn't have thought so. Action was still going when 2000AD was launched.

[SID]

I would have loved it if Valiant would have continued. Hence the next merger would have been Valiant and Battle Picture Weekly.

Of course there wouldn't have been a Battle-Action merger. But then makes me wonder if the original Action had been successful, was it doing better than Battle Picture Weekly? If so, there could have been an Action and Battle Picture Weekly merger which I would have preferred.

But then again, would that have meant no 2000AD?

I wouldn't have thought so. Action was still going when 2000AD was launched.

But Action was already failing comic by then.

Hmmm. Saying that, when reading One-Eyed Jack and the Death of Valiant (brilliant BTW), it did indicate that as soon as Valiant was merged with Battle Picture Weekly, work was started on the new 2000AD. So before Action's problems presumably.

Anyway, going back to what I was saying earlier:

Before the ban, was Action faring better than Battle Picture Weekly? If so (and there was no ban), an Action and Battle Picture Weekly merger would have been interesting.

[Lew Stringer]

I would have loved it if Valiant would have continued. Hence the next merger would have been Valiant and Battle Picture Weekly.

Of course there wouldn't have been a Battle-Action merger. But then makes me wonder if the original Action had been successful, was it doing better than Battle Picture Weekly? If so, there could have been an Action and Battle Picture Weekly merger which I would have preferred.

But then again, would that have meant no 2000AD?

I wouldn't have thought so. Action was still going when 2000AD was launched.

But Action was already failing comic by then.

Hmmm. Saying that, when reading One-Eyed Jack and the Death of Valiant (brilliant BTW), it did indicate that as soon as Valiant was merged with Battle Picture Weekly, work was started on the new 2000AD. So before Action's problems presumably.

Yes, I'm afraid it's a myth that 2000AD was created to replace Action. (Not that you said that, but I've heard it said elsewhere.) Action was only in its early issues when production began on 2000AD. They were both part of IPC's new tougher range of comics that had begun with Battle.

[SID]

Hmmm. Saying that, when reading One-Eyed Jack and the Death of Valiant (brilliant BTW), it did indicate that as soon as Valiant was merged with Battle Picture Weekly, work was started on the new 2000AD. So before Action's problems presumably.

Yes, I'm afraid it's a myth that 2000AD was created to replace Action. (Not that you said that, but I've heard it said elsewhere.) Action was only in its early issues when production began on 2000AD. They were both part of IPC's new tougher range of comics that had begun with Battle.

Then more the pity Action did not go on. Who knows, it could have been another 2000AD success story if it had done. I certainly preferred it to Battle Picture Weekly nor did Action had the restriction in what type of strips it could host.

[dishes]

Score and Roar and Cor!
Rover and Spike
Whizzer and Chips and Chips
Look-in and Knock-out
Girl Magnet
Misty June
Swift Action
Andy Pandy's Candy Dandy Mandy

[SID]

Score and Roar and Cor!
Rover and Spike
Whizzer and Chips and Chips
Look-in and Knock-out
Girl Magnet
Misty June
Swift Action
Andy Pandy's Candy Dandy Mandy

LOL.

[blaing]

Now what if the A. P. did not turn Knockout into an adventure paper for boys and kept it as a comic for boys and girls, would Knockout had instead merged into Buster instead of it being merged into Valiant?

[SID]

Don't know, but for some reason they didn't. Maybe they were hoping that the Dandy could be somehow revived... but it's now been a year since the digital comic was cancelled. I think the ship has sailed and summer specials and annuals will be it's future now.

If it was because Dan did not fit into the character type used in The Beano then they could have always reverted back to his childhood and called it "Young Dan", "Young Desperate Dan" or even "Young Dan the Desperate Kid." Though the last one could sound a little naff.

Going back to mergers. The Crunch was my favourite DCT adventure comic so was sad to see it merge with Hotspur. I would loved if it had continued and outlasted everything else.

Another one I was sad to see was the Victor and Hotspur merger. I had started getting Hotspur before The Crunch came out and got to really like it. Now if it had been a Hotspur and Victor merger on the other hand.

[AndyB]

As far as I can tell, Bananaman appeared in both the Dandy and the Beano (remembering that until Nutty closed, his comic libraries appeared under the Beano banner) partly to promote the Dandy, but with the announcement of the film, I'd say they decided early in the film's development that he needed more public awareness, the Beano was the place to do it, and that was the primary reason.

I think Dan didn't make it into the Beano because they'd committed themselves to the Digital Dandy, and they still haven't ruled out giving it another shot. Perhaps it would have been formally merged otherwise.

[Phoenix]

Another one I was sad to see was the Victor and Hotspur merger. I had started reading Hotspur after it had incorporated The Crunch and got to really like it. Now if it had been a Hotspur and Victor merger on the other hand.

Ah, but the giants always beat the minnows. Just ask any MK Dons supporter!!

[geoff42]

as regards "Action" from earlier posts, if you read "Action - story of a violent comic", it is generally felt that the brakes were off and the comic was free wheeling into big trouble. It's grittiness came too soon. Strips that featured a protagonist's girlfriend being a football hooligan alongside young lads seemingly attacking police constables on the front cover (of course, they weren't officially pc's in the interior strip) was always going to meet with a backlash. The establishment couldn't do anything about the "Sex Pistols" (remember "God Save the Queen"?) but they were definitely going to clamp down on a comic with a mood of anarchy. They could have tolerated "Hook Jaws" chomping limbs off right and centre but not an underlying threat to authority - that was too much for 7p!

[SID]

As for the merger topic, here's another suggestion: What if Plug, being based on a Beano character, had merged with that instead of the Beezer?

I must admit, I always thought that Plug would have merged with The Beano. Then again, I always found it curious that DCT would base a comic on a character who never even had his own strip (unless I am wrong) up to that point. However, I always believed that this was their answer to Cheeky Weekly right down to plucking a character from a group (Cheeky being in the Krazy Gang).

[geoff42]

hit the nail on the button as regards plug, sid. Note the time of both "Cheeky Weekly" and "Plug" debut, there's no mystery. For me, Cheeky won out.

[SID]

I preferred Cheeky Weekly to Plug. In fact, I didn't really like Plug at all apart from the lead strip (artwork was good). Even then, he seemed a little out of character compared to what he was like in The Beano.

Going back to mergers, I would have liked Cheeky to have merged with Buster rather than Whoopee!. Seeing Buster and Cheeky interact with each other would have been fun.