What would have been your Alternative Favourite Comic(s)?

[SID]

Wednesday morning this time.

Here is my question:

Think of your favourite comic(s) as a child/teen.

Now what if they never existed but you liked comics anyhow.

What comic(s) would have filled that void? It doesn't necessarily have to be your second favourite.

For example:

My two all-time favourite comics as a child was the Dandy followed later as a teen by 2000AD.

If the Dandy had not been around, I would have read the Beano. However, it would have been Cracker that would have taken that slot (it may have done if it hadn't had merged with the Beezer).

With 2000AD, the candidate would have been Warrior (followed very closely by Starlord). I wonder what would have happened if either hadn't disappeared so quickly.

Now the replacement(s) would not have necessary been around at the time (this was the case in both Cracker and Warrior), but you could have just 'discovered' them later.

I hope this makes sense.

[Digifiend]

Other way around for me. Beano's my favourite, so Dandy would've been the alternative - the 90s version, not that Xtreme one they do nowadays.

[Muffy]

Me and my brother and sister had most of the early 1980s comics between us (and some of the late 1970s). I collected Buster; Cheeky and Wow (and TV comic), whilst my brother had Whizzer and Chips; Jackpot and Whoppee - so I think these three would be my 'alternatives'. I also started getting Jinty which merged with Tammy, though would have probably got Penny (or maybe Misty), or maybe Dreamer if they hadn't been around.

Used to read my brothers 2000ads (and Battles), and agree about 'Starlord' being a good alternative. Never read Warrior, but loved the V for Vendetta film (though don't know if Alan Moore did?) Never read bro's football comics or Warlord though or sisters Mickey Mouse (she was 4 years younger); Princess or Beano. Very occassionally I'd read her Dandy which was ok. We also regularly had the GB marvel reprints, which are pretty much interchangeable with each other (Future Tense for Star Wars/TESB etc).

[Jonny Whizz]

As a Beano reader, almost certainly the Dandy. I probably would have stopped buying it after it went 'Xtreme' though. If I'd been older, then I would have preferred Beezer to the Dandy as second choice - reading through Classics, I always find the Beano strips the best, the Beezer ones are funny, but not so much the Dandy ones. I wouldn't say they were bad, just not quite as good somehow.

[Digifiend]

Totally agree, I rank the big four Thomson funnies as Beano, Beezer, Dandy, Topper. But the Beezer and Topper was gone before I started buying The Beano, which automatically made the Dandy my choice.

[ISPYSHHHGUY]

the difference between reading the BEEZER or TOPPER in their heyday [ie when they were a large-format size ] and most funny comics today is on par with the difference between watching a film at the cinema, or watching it in chunks on 'youtube'.

[stevezodiac]

My favourite comic is TV Century 21 so the obvious alternative would be Countdown which, when it first appeared, was a godsend as TV21 was on its last legs. (Or gone completely). The latter I think or absorbed into Valiant.

[Digifiend]

TV21 merged with Valiant on 25/9/1971.
http://www.comicsuk.co.uk/FamilyTree/Fa ... ntury%2021
Countdown launched 20/2/1971, so TV21 was still going, but only just.
http://www.comicsuk.co.uk/FamilyTree/Fa ... =Countdown

[colcool007]

Considering the caveat and the almost near 100% saturation that DCT had on my home area, I think that my alternative to Warlord would have to be Battle (even though it took me six years to find Battle existed!)

As to 2000AD, my alternate was the Crunch and I did love that comic. So much so, I wouldn't waver from getting Crunch if it meant giving it up to get 2000AD.

[Lew Stringer]

TV21 merged with Valiant on 25/9/1971.
http://www.comicsuk.co.uk/FamilyTree/Fa ... ntury%2021
Countdown launched 20/2/1971, so TV21 was still going, but only just.
http://www.comicsuk.co.uk/FamilyTree/Fa ... =Countdown

By the time Countdown appeared TV21 had lost the license to print Gerry Anderson strips, and Countdown had gained the rights, so Countdown was practically TV Century 21 under a new name.

Lew

[stevezodiac]

i'm pretty sure thats what attracted me to it. Plus some new John Burns art featuring the spaceships from 2001 A Space Odyssey. And it also reprinted some nice Frank Langford Lady Penelope strips from her own comic which I hadn't seen before as couldn't afford her title as well. I think I was pretty lucky in getting a really good TV21 substitute.

[Digifiend]

By the time Countdown appeared TV21 had lost the license to print Gerry Anderson strips, and Countdown had gained the rights, so Countdown was practically TV Century 21 under a new name.

Lew

That must be why TV21 dropped the Joe90 extension from its name in 1970 then.

[Lew Stringer]

i'm pretty sure thats what attracted me to it. Plus some new John Burns art featuring the spaceships from 2001 A Space Odyssey. And it also reprinted some nice Frank Langford Lady Penelope strips from her own comic which I hadn't seen before as couldn't afford her title as well. I think I was pretty lucky in getting a really good TV21 substitute.

Yes, Countdown was great. I never missed an issue. Unfortunately it was the wrong time for a science fiction comic. TV Century 21 had succeeded because the Anderson shows it featured were new, and us Sixties kids were all into learning about the space race. As soon as the Sixties ended, and the Moon landing was history, that genre took a nose dive. I'm amazed Pollystyle thought there was still a market there really when they launched Countdown.

Lew

[Phoenix]

I would have been hard pressed to decide which was my favourite between Adventure, The Wizard, The Rover and The Hotspur. At the time the only alternative was The Champion, which I didn't much care for. Since then there have been no others for me to choose from because all Thomsons' picture papers developed out of their text papers and, if those had never existed, nor would the picture papers, at least not any that I would recognise. Under those circumstances, I would have to opt for Tiger. That is a quite interesting choice for two reasons. First it wasn't a Thomson paper, and second it was a kind of spinoff from The Champion which, as I've already said, I didn't really enjoy. A friend at primary school used to get The Champion so I read his copy on the same basis as I read his sister's Girls' Crystal and School Friend. I was always fascinated by children's literature of any sort and I read it avidly, but I did have standards and The Champion just didn't cut the mustard. I think I only persisted with it as long as I did because it was sport orientated. Rockfist Rogan was a boxer, Tuffy Tufton of the Roving Rovers and later Danny of the Dazzlers were in football stories, Fireworks Flynn was a school's sports master and there were sometimes speedway or motor racing tales. I did quite like the Colwyn Dane detective stories, though. I think that realistically the only stories that kept me interested were written by Edward R. Home-Gall, and I had already come across his work for Boys' Favourite Library titles, all of which he wrote. At 7d a month they were manageable but after I discovered The Wizard etc. all of them really did stretch my pocket money. I think that had no Thomsons been available to me I would have lasted about three years maximum with The Champion, and a smidgen longer with Tiger. But Thomsons' story papers were an obsession from day one. If they had never existed I would be bereft, but I wouldn't know why.

[SID]

Considering the caveat and the almost near 100% saturation that DCT had on my home area, I think that my alternative to Warlord would have to be Battle (even though it took me six years to find Battle existed!)

As to 2000AD, my alternate was the Crunch and I did love that comic. So much so, I wouldn't waver from getting Crunch if it meant giving it up to get 2000AD.

Interesting! Crunch was my favourite DCT adventure paper too (far superior IMHO to Hotspur, Victor and the like) and was second to 2000AD (Starlord had already gone). Plenty of potential but it was too quickly merged with Hotspur.