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Not what it seems like Guys Just that I mentioned this before and thought I'd bring the thread to the top of the list so more people could see it.I seem to recall sometimes seeing Pink centerfold pull out sections in a few comics(IPC or DC Thomson-can't remember which) which would advertise a new comic coming soon.Anybody remember them?Or have I taken leave of my senses?
NO YOUR NOT DREAMING MANY COMICS IN THE 60S HAD A 4 PAGE LOOSE INSERT ABOUT A NEW COMIC, IM SURE WHEN I WAS LITTLE THE 1ST ONE I SAW WAS IN THE BIMBO [YES AS A NIPPER MY 1ST COMIC WAS THE BIMBO ] THE FRONT PAGE OF THE INSERT HAD THE COMICS COVER AND FREE GIFT , MIDDLE PAGES HAD THE CONTENTS AND THE LAST PAGE HAD THE FREE GIFTS IN ISSUES 2 AND 3 . IT WOULD BE INSERTED THE WEEK BEFORE THE ISSUE CAME OUT. I CAN EVEN REMEBER IN THE MID 60S A OLD BOY STANDING UOT SIDE MY JNR SCHOOL GIVING OUT FLYERS FOR NEW COMICS. THIS WAS IN THE DAYS WHEN A FREE GIFT WAS A EVENT AND NT THE NORM , EVERN A PAPER GUY MASK HAD EVRY KID IN THE AREA RUNNING AROUND LOOKING A PLONKER.
no, you're spot on, i have some scanned on the action site from valiant/buster etc. from the week before action first came out. each issue would have 36 pages instead of the normal 32. by 1977, and the arrival of 2000ad, they'd gone, replaced by the far cheaper method of just losing four editorial or feature pages from the comic and printing the advertising material on the centre four pages on normal white letterpress paper.
With regard to pink papers,can anyone confirm,and I could be dreaming about this,I seem to recall a pink paper DC Thomson insert advertising a new comic.(Can't remember which)
I seem to remember it was advertising a LAUREL and HARDY picture strip.It was a head and shoulder drawing of the two in their trademark bowlers.
What makes this memory stick out is that it definitely wasn't the Larry Harmon cartoon strip version.I seem to recall the artwork was more along the lines of the guy who drew SEA LORD in BATTLE and HITLER LIVES in CRUNCH.(name escapes me)
Can anyone shed any light on and L and H strip in a DC Thomson comic or was I dreaming?
The latest pink paper that I have seen was for Tops a DCT junior version of Look-In in the 1983/84 region. Could this be the one that you are thinking of?
Oops! Almost forgot to say that the HITLER LIVES artist was Pat Wright.
I started to say something sensible but my parents took over my brain!
For some reason I always called them "purple pages"! I seem to remember that they appeared only in DCT titles, though I'd stand corrected if it was proved otherwise.
The D C Thomson titles were certainly the most frequent users of this type of advertising although Fleetway/IPC would use them from time to time.
As far as I know Thomsons began using these pink inserts in 1955 and continued to use them until the end of the newsprint era although as the years progressed it was often the case that the inserts were printed on beige or even white paper rather than the pink of old.
It's interesting to note that although it might have seemed so at the time not all comic titles carried the same inserts. For example the Dandy and Beano would often contain inserts for other titles that reflected the demographic of the D and B themselves. For instance the Beano was more likely to contain inserts for the girls titles as its pertcentage of girls readers was much greater than that of the Dandy while the Dandy, which featured less inserts than the Beano in any case, was more liable to contain inserts related to the boy's titles.
On a technical note if you look at a copy of say Dandy or Beano which contains an insert you will notice that the colour centrespread of the issue in question in most instances will be printed with blue as its base colour rather than the usual black.( The colour used is called bronze-blue I think) This was done to prevent the black ink from reacting with the insert pages which it was wont to do.
I've spent a little time over the years trying to catalogue all the issues of Beano and Dandy that contained an insert although, as they were detachable, this is obviously a task fraught with the possibility that you might literally be 'missing' something.
Small talking point, if a comic was issued with an insert that is no longer present would you consider the comic complete given that, technically at least, it is missing some printed material that was present on the day of publication?
Kashgar wrote:...As far as I know Thomsons began using these pink inserts in 1955 and continued to use them until the end of the newsprint era although as the years progressed it was often the case that the inserts were printed on beige or even white paper rather than the pink of old.
Haven't they been used for longer than that as I am sure that some pull-outs were on sale advertising the first Dandy and Beano somewhere? Or were they in a different format?
Kashgar wrote:....Small talking point, if a comic was issued with an insert that is no longer present would you consider the comic complete given that, technically at least, it is missing some printed material that was present on the day of publication?
Interesting poser that. I would consider the comic as complete with or without the 'pink pages' but would consider any 'pink pages' as a welcome bonus. However, if you had any story pages missing but have the pink pages, thereby still giving you the 32 page count, I would consider that as incomplete. Nobody said I had to be consistent!
I started to say something sensible but my parents took over my brain!
One other point to note here is that when a pink insert appeared in a DCT comic it meant the two red overlay strips near the centre pages were printed in black and white - probably to offset the extra cost. I recently sold a Fleetway comic on ebay that had a four page insert for Shoot!
Glad I brought this topic back to the top Just goes to show,eh? I never expected so many responses.Some may see this topic as being anal retentive but I feel it justifies study as a by-product of the medium we all love so much.After all,they were advertising comics.It would be great to see a page on the site with as many of these as can be mustered!Even the spot ads in comics.I'm off for my medication now Thanks to everybody who responded.Thanks Moose for the Action ads..brill!
Gawds that was a blast from the past - totally forgot about those inserts = although I do remember (as Kashgar noted) The Beano and Dandy inserts advertisingthe others comic a few time when new strips appeared (rememebr one advertising new "Grandpa" strip among others - not Reids inthe early 70s ) although I thought it ws on yellow paper - colour blind memory - I had a look through my collection and found a few in Lion, Valiant and Scorcher (for the new JAG and Thunder comics).
...Here's one for Victor, provided as an insert with Hotspur no.221 (Jan 11th 1964). I love the suggestion that the cardboard boomerang is only free to BOYS: presumably GIRLS had to pay sixpence extra!
Whereas later inserts just tended to show scenes from the comic being advertised the nice thing about this one is that the dramatic background to the centrespread (below) appears to have been specially drawn - though probably not by Pete Sutherland.
The final page goes on to describe the next issue with its Free 'Spinning Puzzler'.
Incidentally I always thought these supplements were printed in blue ink, but looking at this one in artificial light I'm starting to wonder whether it's just an optical illusion caused by the effect of black ink on a pink background. Can anybody tell what colour it really is?
philcom55 wrote:
Incidentally I always thought these supplements were printed in blue ink, but looking at this one in artificial light I'm starting to wonder whether it's just an optical illusion caused by the effect of black ink on a pink background. Can anybody tell what colour it really is?
- Phil Rushton
They were definitely printed in navy blue ink.
I thought those supplements were great. They really fired one's anticipation for a new comic. Contrast that with the situation when BeanoMAX was launched - a half page ad as I recall. Not quite the same impact.
I have some sort of vague memories that when Beezer and Topper took over Plug and Sparky respectively the A4 pullouts may have been on different coloured paper as well.
Just that I mentioned this before and thought I'd bring the thread to the top of the list so more people could see it.I seem to recall sometimes seeing Pink centerfold pull out sections in a few comics(IPC or DC Thomson-can't remember which) which would advertise a new comic coming soon.Anybody remember them?Or have I taken leave of my senses? 
I seem to remember that they appeared only in DCT titles, though I'd stand corrected if it was proved otherwise.
Here we go again 
