Your Favourite No.1s

[SID]

First issues were always an exciting venture into new territory and characters but I suppose the one that made the biggest impact with me would be TV Century 21 back in January 1965. I was five years old and although I had Dandy and Beano regularly by then, TV21 was the first adventure comic I'd seen. The fact that it was such a high quality comic and it featured my favourite TV shows was a bonus.

I think that what I miss most. The excitement of waiting and then getting the first issue of a brand new comic.

[Lew Stringer]

First issues were always an exciting venture into new territory and characters but I suppose the one that made the biggest impact with me would be TV Century 21 back in January 1965. I was five years old and although I had Dandy and Beano regularly by then, TV21 was the first adventure comic I'd seen. The fact that it was such a high quality comic and it featured my favourite TV shows was a bonus.

I think that what I miss most. The excitement of waiting and then getting the first issue of a brand new comic.

There are still new comics being published though. It's just that most aren't stocked by newsagents.

[ISPYSHHHGUY]

WARLORD never gets a great deal of credit in comics history, but it's success paved the way for BATTLE, and in turn ACTION and 2000 ad.

Warlord was a game-changer, I even noticed it at the time.

I won't argue there, ISPY. But I would have kept quiet about Twinkle.

I never actually wore the free TWINKLE nurses outfit at the time Sid, and even if I had done, 1967 was a much more innocent time!

[SID]

I think that what I miss most. The excitement of waiting and then getting the first issue of a brand new comic.

There are still new comics being published though. It's just that most aren't stocked by newsagents.

Nor so publicized. How often would you see news of a new comic in your current comic and thought "I must get that!" Also the fact that they were weeklies. So not just the excitement of a new comic but also the fact the next issue was just seven days away.

[stevezodiac]

At the comic fair today there was a box of Fantastics and I noticed the stick on scars were in issue 2. I reminded myself to correct my post above when I got home but suebutcher has beat me to it. I think my copy of issue 1 became a bit dirty from handling so had to buy a replacement copy a few years back. I still love looking at the covers of Fantastic. And Terrific.

[Peter Gray]

I loved Wow! comic when it came out reading it with Mum...
Bill and Coo!! Spare part kid.. When he was young..also liked the shaking face maker..
School Fun number 1 and using the slimey snake down the window..
I was very excited by Big comic and bananas about Funny Fortnightly..that was exciting buying those...read and reread...it was hard waiting a fortnight for the next one...also loved Best of Beezer and best of Topper..then Classics..
Remember Buttons comic with the erm free yellow button..

[paw broon]

The only British #1 I recall buying - or having bought for me, by my granny - was Victor. The other comics I had, from whatever source, were well into their runs, including American comics. More recently, to me, I remember NOT getting 2000AD #1 as it was gone from the shops by the time I heard about it, so my reading of it started with #2.
That thing about most comics being weekly is interesting because in my conversations with older N. American comic fans, I realised they were not keen on weeklies with only 2,3 or 4 pages for each story, whereas in the U.K. we seemed to enjoy that. Different culture, I suppose, and we had many different formats as opposed to the almost monolithic format of American comics.

[ISPYSHHHGUY]

I distinctly remember the first editions of:


WHIZZER and CHIPS/ COR!!/ KNOCKOUT/ JET/ DONALD AND MICKEY/ BUZZ/ SHIVER AND SHAKE/ WHOOPEE!/ CRACKER/ WARLORD/ BULLET/ VULCAN/ MONSTER FUN.

I bought all of these, definitely.


Dammit, I even bought the revamped 1970 WIZARD debut issue, not to mention YOGI and his Toy!


I cannot remember the releases of PLUG/ STARLORD/ ACTION/ 2000 AD/ NUTTY

and a few others as I completely packed in reading comics altogether by the late 70s......this lasted a few years.

[Phoenix]

I can remember buying the first issues of School Fun and Wow! for my younger son Russell. I also bought him all the rest of Wow! week by week. It was definitely one of his real favourites. Of all the comics/story papers where I bought first issues for the children, though, one that I got for Andrew even impressed me enough to buy one for myself. It was D. C. Thomsons' Scoop. I think he lost interest by issue 10. I didn't.

[Muffy]

1st issues were always exciting in the 1970s and 1980s. As a family during this period we used to get almost all of the IPC, UK Marvel (plus US) and DC Thomson first issues. We used to like most of them and built up long runs of each. The UK ones I remember most fondly were:

Dr Who Weekly (I'd been reading TV Comic's 2 pages every week before);
Future Tense (which included the US Star Lord before he was popular, though reprinted as was most of the content);
Star Lord (IPC);
Wow!;
Jackpot (IPC);
Cheeky Weekly;
Captain Britain monthly.

So many good titles, and usually with free gifts such as Nutty's space dust; Turbo Flyer's; Spud Guns; transfers; spiders; stickers; badges; sweets and more. I've kept most of these, though did enjoy the edible ones.

[alanultron5]

At the same time Lew was about to experience `TV 21` No 1, I was only given the choice (As funds were low) of either that, or No 1 of `Sparky` (Both came on sale 16th Jan 1965) It was `Sparky` for me- a decision I have never regretted!

[big bad bri]

i remember the 1st editions of wow & scholl fun & loved those also the 1st edition of nutty & spike,scream & champ though my brother collected those 2 & i only started collecting new eagle from iss 2 as i only saw it on a school trip to pendarren luckily a friend gave me his copy of iss 1 & i stuck with it until the last monthly iss,i wish those days of inexpensive weeklies would come back i had to drop 2000ad & phoenix as they were too expensive for my non budget & only get beano as i now subscribe as i have most from the 70s on wards i want to keep on with beano until its inevitable demise one day as electronic will surely take over

[starscape]

The presence of Stan Lee made Captain Britain mouthwatering for me. Krazy was pretty exciting as it was made for kids by kids (i believed that). 2000AD was massive. I'd never read Dan Dare but all the grown ups still mentioned it, so that was exciting. The presence of Tharg was so curious. What was that thing on the weird alien's forehead? The new Eagle was also something that caught my attention. Wasn't great but the hype carried me for a while. Got a lot better mind.

I did enjoy Warlord for the medals. Myself and my grandfather really bonded over that. Bullet, Tornado, the Crunch and Star*Lord were great but I enjoyed them more than anticipated them.

Strip I was really stoked about. Unfortunately it never quite got there for me.

[alanultron5]

A few years later I got `Thunder` No 1 and really enjoyed it! Very disappointed when it was incorporated into `Lion` but `Lion & Thunder` was a good read-especially as Seven adventure, and two `fun` strips transferred from Thunder to the combined title.

In May 71, I also got first ever `Jet`. Like `Thunder` it only lasted 22 issues- part of I.P.C's "Hatch, Match & Dispatch` policy I suppose!

[Phoenix]

I did enjoy Warlord for the medals. Myself and my grandfather really bonded over that.

Of course the members of Thomsons' recycling department were never backward in coming forward whenever they sensed an appropriate opportunity, Starscape. The free gift below was issued with The Wizard 899 (Feb. 24 1940). Apologies for not being able to scan the full width of the images.