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Post by andydecker on Apr 24, 2020 9:31:50 GMT
Here is Scream.
Or the reprint. Rebellion are doing these for a few years now. It is mostly serials from 2000AD, stuff which didn't merit a trade-reprint - my guess -, and a lot of are those serials which I didn't like the first time around - to put it mildly -, but sometimes they are a nice surprise. Especially the originals they put together. They did a nice Carlos Ezquerra memorial issue.
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Post by ripper on Dec 3, 2020 17:14:56 GMT
I have in my mind that as well as the skinhead strip 'Bovver Boy' in Target, there was another called Carrington V.C. It's been nearly 50 years, so I may be off the mark, but I can't think of another comic or mag it might have been in.
I was also thinking about strips in Look and Learn. There was the well known Trigan Empire, which often appeared in full colour, plus, I believe, one set during WWI about life in the Royal Flying Corps and called something like Eagles on the Western Front. One that may have appeared in Ranger prior to its merger with Look and Learn was Jason January, a space-set strip that was in Look and Learn around 1967. I was given a pile of Look and Learns from that era in the early 70s by a neighbour--I would have been too young to have read them when published.
Two other strips sprang to mind from my recollections about Look and Learn. One strip had a supernatural theme and may have been called Spellbinder or something similar and might have been in World of Wonder. The second one was Black Max, though I don't remember where I read it. It was again set in WWI and was about a German fighter ace who controlled a number of giant vampire bats, which he sent against British RFC planes. I believe it appeared in Thunder and maybe Smash, but I thought I had read it somewhere else.
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Post by Dr Strange on Dec 4, 2020 13:44:21 GMT
I have in my mind that as well as the skinhead strip 'Bovver Boy' in Target, there was another called Carrington V.C. That was "Carrington - Crimebuster". Carrington V.C. is a David Niven film from the 50s.
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Post by ripper on Dec 5, 2020 13:11:48 GMT
I have in my mind that as well as the skinhead strip 'Bovver Boy' in Target, there was another called Carrington V.C. That was "Carrington - Crimebuster". Carrington V.C. is a David Niven film from the 50s. Thank you, Dr S. I could remember that the title had Carrington in it, so goodness knows why I attached VC to it in my mind. I presume I was correct that it was in Target?
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Post by Dr Strange on Dec 5, 2020 13:42:34 GMT
Yes, "Carrington - Crimebuster" was in Target. I used to occasionally get a copy of Target, that and TV-21 - I reckon this would have been mid-70s, before I got more into American comics. I think my favourite British comics from those days were probably Vulcan and Valiant - I especially remember "The Spider", who was a somewhat confusing (at least to my young mind) mix of villain and hero. The "Spellbinder" character you mentioned was also in either Vulcan or Valiant (or both), I think.
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Post by ripper on Dec 5, 2020 17:18:13 GMT
Yes, "Carrington - Crimebuster" was in Target. I used to occasionally get a copy of Target, that and TV-21 - I reckon this would have been mid-70s, before I got more into American comics. I think my favourite British comics from those days were probably Vulcan and Valiant - I especially remember "The Spider", who was a somewhat confusing (at least to my young mind) mix of villain and hero. The "Spellbinder" character you mentioned was also in either Vulcan or Valiant (or both), I think. Thanks for confirming that, Dr S. My purchases of Target were the early ones from issue 1 onward. Christopher Lee was talking about films such as I, Monster and Abominable Dr Phibes as just coming out in his column, plus there was a colour article on the 'new' 007 movie Diamonds are Forever. I did buy issues of TV21, but it is a bit blurry in my memory, as I get confused with TV Action and Countdown as to what strip appeared where. I did buy US comics, but did not follow a particular character, just bought what took my fancy at the time. Having said that, when Mighty World of Marvel appeared in 1972 I did buy that one every week, plus the spin-off Spiderman Comics Weekly--I remember getting my mom to iron onto a T-shirt the free Spidey transfer that came with issue 1. I sometimes bought Whizzer & Chips and Cor!!, and occasionally Lion, Valiant and The Victor.
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Post by Dr Strange on Dec 5, 2020 18:35:45 GMT
Yes, I got Mighty World of Marvel from issue 1 for I don't know how long (and loads of the later spin-offs like Spider-Man) and I remember those iron-on transfers - mine always seemed to start falling off pretty much immediately, not sure if that was down to my Mum's ironing skills or if it happened to everyone. According to wikipedia, Vulcan had a 6 month trial run in Scotland before being introduced nationally, and then after about a year it was merged with Valiant - something that seemed to happen a lot with these Fleetway titles.
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Post by ripper on Dec 6, 2020 11:29:32 GMT
Yes, I got Mighty World of Marvel from issue 1 for I don't know how long (and loads of the later spin-offs like Spider-Man) and I remember those iron-on transfers - mine always seemed to start falling off pretty much immediately, not sure if that was down to my Mum's ironing skills or if it happened to everyone. According to wikipedia, Vulcan had a 6 month trial run in Scotland before being introduced nationally, and then after about a year it was merged with Valiant - something that seemed to happen a lot with these Fleetway titles. I don't remember Vulcan at all, so I don't think I ever bought an issue. Looking at Wikipedia, many of the strips are familiar, but I am almost certain I read them in their source publications. Around 1975/76 I was reading Warlord regularly, then moved to Action for its all too brief run. Ironically, I saw it first in that expose in The Sun, where they called it the 'seven penny nightmare', and I immediately bought a copy, and stayed with it until it was taken from shelves and came back in its toned-down incarnation, when I didn't buy any more.
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Post by Dr Strange on Dec 6, 2020 11:52:11 GMT
Yes, until I read the wikipedia articles I hadn't realized how incestuous the Fleetway/IPC publications were - republishing strips across different titles, and various titles merging with others, often after very short runs. I guess it was "market forces" - better to focus on fewer titles carrying tried and tested favourites, rather than flooding the market with different titles and ending up just competing against yourself for sales.
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Post by cromagnonman on Dec 7, 2020 15:48:41 GMT
Two other strips sprang to mind from my recollections about Look and Learn. One strip had a supernatural theme and may have been called Spellbinder or something similar and might have been in World of Wonder. The second one was Black Max, though I don't remember where I read it. It was again set in WWI and was about a German fighter ace who controlled a number of giant vampire bats, which he sent against British RFC planes. I believe it appeared in Thunder and maybe Smash, but I thought I had read it somewhere else. The Spellbinder remains one of the great unsung jewels of British comics of the 1970s, for my money. It was originally titled Turville's Touchstone and ran exclusively in Lion for five years. It was a light-hearted fantasy romp based upon the simple premise of an Elizabethan alchemist called Sylvester Turville surviving into the 20th century. Awakened from his sorcerous slumber by his descendant Tom, the pair get into increasingly exuberant scrapes as a result of one mishap or another. The strip was always light on plot but flamboyant in invention. It would take a conceit such as characters escaping from a magical book and then riff on Sylvester and Tom's efforts to recapture them, sometimes for months. The strip's most triumphant storyline saw Sylvester accidently send someone into the past where he wreaked havoc on established history resulting in increasingly wacky consequences in the modern day: [if memory serves the Spanish Armada arrives in the form of a fleet of steam powered airships]. It was an utterly delightful strip. One very Catweazleish in tone though it predated the tv show by more than a year. Regrettably the strip didn't survive Lion's merger with Valiant in 1974. And yet perversely when THE VALIANT BOOK OF MYSTERY & MAGIC was published in 1975 it featured a heavy compliment of Spellbinder material. I'm not very conversant with Black Max but I do know that it originated in Thunder and carried over into Lion when the two titles merged. Am posting a page for your nostalgic delectation:
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Post by helrunar on Dec 7, 2020 19:22:34 GMT
The Spellbinder looks awesome. Great strip!
Thanks for the scan, Richard.
cheers, H.
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Post by andydecker on Dec 7, 2020 21:40:12 GMT
Black Max got a nice reprint from Rebellion 2 years ago, as a hardcover and a trade. In the Treasury of British Comics edition. I considered buying it, I like WWI tales. Also wondered how much it was inspired by the old pulp series G8 and his Battle Aces.
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Post by ripper on Dec 8, 2020 19:35:53 GMT
Two other strips sprang to mind from my recollections about Look and Learn. One strip had a supernatural theme and may have been called Spellbinder or something similar and might have been in World of Wonder. The second one was Black Max, though I don't remember where I read it. It was again set in WWI and was about a German fighter ace who controlled a number of giant vampire bats, which he sent against British RFC planes. I believe it appeared in Thunder and maybe Smash, but I thought I had read it somewhere else. The Spellbinder remains one of the great unsung jewels of British comics of the 1970s, for my money. It was originally titled Turville's Touchstone and ran exclusively in Lion for five years. It was a light-hearted fantasy romp based upon the simple premise of an Elizabethan alchemist called Sylvester Turville surviving into the 20th century. Awakened from his sorcerous slumber by his descendant Tom, the pair get into increasingly exuberant scrapes as a result of one mishap or another. The strip was always light on plot but flamboyant in invention. It would take a conceit such as characters escaping from a magical book and then riff on Sylvester and Tom's efforts to recapture them, sometimes for months. The strip's most triumphant storyline saw Sylvester accidently send someone into the past where he wreaked havoc on established history resulting in increasingly wacky consequences in the modern day: [if memory serves the Spanish Armada arrives in the form of a fleet of steam powered airships]. It was an utterly delightful strip. One very Catweazleish in tone though it predated the tv show by more than a year. Regrettably the strip didn't survive Lion's merger with Valiant in 1974. And yet perversely when THE VALIANT BOOK OF MYSTERY & MAGIC was published in 1975 it featured a heavy compliment of Spellbinder material. I'm not very conversant with Black Max but I do know that it originated in Thunder and carried over into Lion when the two titles merged. Am posting a page for your nostalgic delectation: Don't think I ever read Thunder, so I must have read Black Max in Lion. About Spellbinder...I could have sworn there was a strip in World of Wonder of that name, but must have gotten it muddled with something else. The one I am thinking about was really quite serious in tone, so I'm puzzled now what it was called.
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Post by ripper on Dec 8, 2020 19:39:11 GMT
Black Max got a nice reprint from Rebellion 2 years ago, as a hardcover and a trade. In the Treasury of British Comics edition. I considered buying it, I like WWI tales. Also wondered how much it was inspired by the old pulp series G8 and his Battle Aces. I was wondering that as well.
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