Target magazine

[ripper]

I was wondering if anyone remembers a comic/magazine dating from the early 1970s called Target. I think it was published weekly, but am not sure about that. There would be articles, features and comic strips in a typical issue. In one issue there was an article on the then new James Bond film, Diamonds are Forever. Christopher Lee wrote a column on horror films and Dave Lee Travis wrote a feature called Get Clobbered on current clothing fashion. I think one of the strips was called Bovver Boy, about the comic misadventures of a skinhead. I think there were possibly more strips, but I can't remember what they wer. I have a vague recollection that there was a novel given away in multiple parts over a number of issues, and it might have had an SF or horror subject, maybe something to do with a submarine, but my memory is very hazy on this. There was a poster given away with one issue of a gent in victorian dress with his head underneath his arm and carrying a lighted candle, and it adorned my bedroom wall for years. Does anyone remember this publication? :-D

[killercrab]

Don't remember it myself but here's a link you might find interesting.

lewstringer.blogspot.co.uk/2012/04/this-week-in-1978-target.html

[justin]

Link to the wrong target ade.

The other target was published by new English library. The headless poster was jan parkers illustration for Elliot o Donnells casebook of ghosts 2 published by nel. It had columns by chris lee and dlt as well as articles on war crimes. I see it as Nels answer to look and learn!

Back issues are very collectible and go for top dollar on eBay. I have a few which I think johnny pan mains gave me.

[ripper]

Hi KC and Justin and many thanks for the links. My memory has been jogged about the fish eggs and food given away, but think I missed the issue with the eggs, so just ended up with the food. I didn't realise the publisher was NEL, though I can remember seeing adverts for Edge books in a magazine, so it must have been in Target that I saw them. The poster was great; really creepy when blown up to that size and pinned to your bedroom wall :-D. I am not sure about the multi-part novel given away; over the years I have associated it with Target, but perhaps it was another publication, though as Target was a NEL product, it would make sense that they could do something like that.

[pulphack]

Happy new year, chaps.

Target was partly put together by a certain mr James of our aquaintance, and was intended to be for mid-late teenagers as that was their pb demographic at the time. I think I may have mentioned before that my mum, in all innocence, bought it regularly for me every week even though I was only about 9! I can only assume that she never actually read any of it on the way back from the newsagent...

There was a giveaway novel, in weekly fold-out parts, and it was Jim Moffatt's The Sleeping Bomb. I remember this mostly because of the cover art, which was reproduced in b&w. I read it then and can remember nowt about it, and picked up an NEL copy about 20 years later, read it again, and still can't remember a thing about it. That's Jim for you, I guess...

I liked the giveaway novel - at that time, DC Thomson used to reprint old text stories in one of their comics - I really can't remember which, but was Victor the only one running by '73? - and I used to pull those sections out and make them into little books, too.

What are friends?

[ripper]

Happy new year to you, too, Pulphack, and to everyone else on the forum.

Thanks for the information about the novel given away with Target. I can't remember reading it all, and only have a very hazy memory that a submarine was somehow involved in the plot, though I could be wide of the mark on that. Do you know what strips were featured in Target? Bovver Boy sticks in my mind, but I also vaguely remember an adventure strip.

[jagoturner]

I remember Target well... Bovver Boy and Carrington Crimebuster as well as the Christopher Lee Writes for You. I remember one of the last magazines having an article on Dracula is Dead, Well and Living in London which became The Satanic Rites of Dracula. I may be imagining this but I think there was also a strip by Dave Lee Travis.

[jagoturner]

Here he is. He's yer actual Bovver Boy

[ripper]

Hi Jagoturner. I was struggling to remember the title of the adventure strip in Target and you have jogged my memory by mentioning Carrington, so thanks for that :-). I don't remember a strip by DLT, though my recollections on the strips are hazy, but he wrote a regular fashion feature in Target titled Get Clobbered. I didn't buy too many Targets, so I think I must have missed Chris Lee writing about the Dracula film, but I do remember him writing about I, Monster, the Dr Phibes films and The Creeping Flesh.

[sadako]

Found a few copies of Target, since I’m on a New English Library streak, and was surprised to see some articles that were soon reprinted in World of Horror.

[ripper]

Thanks for the link to the site, looks interesting.

I've been trying to recall how many issues of Target I bought. Don't think it was too many, and all have long since been mislaid. The only article that I remember for sure was the one about Diamonds are Forever, and possibly one on Leone's 'Dollars' films. I was only 10 when I bought Target, so DLT's fashion articles were of little interest to me. I used to like Christopher Lee's column and it was probably the highlight for me, though I was way too young to see any of the films he wrote about. Target had to compete with the likes of Whizzer & Chips, Cor!!, Mighty World of Marvel, US imports, sweets and chocolate, and the occasional Airfix model kit for my modest pocket money--and often lost out.

[sadako]

Apr 3, 2023 12:29:43 GMT ripper said:

Thanks for the link to the site, looks interesting.

I've been trying to recall how many issues of Target I bought. Don't think it was too many, and all have long since been mislaid. The only article that I remember for sure was the one about Diamonds are Forever, and possibly one on Leone's 'Dollars' films. I was only 10 when I bought Target, so DLT's fashion articles were of little interest to me. I used to like Christopher Lee's column and it was probably the highlight for me, though I was way too young to see any of the films he wrote about. Target had to compete with the likes of Whizzer & Chips, Cor!!, Mighty World of Marvel, US imports, sweets and chocolate, and the occasional Airfix model kit for my modest pocket money--and often lost out.

Here’s the DAF article. I’ve found copies of almost all the mags now.

[ripper]

Thanks for the link.

I was thinking about Target recently. I do believe there was an article on the Leone Dollars trilogy. I cut out some of the pictures, glued them to thin pieces of cardboard and then glued them to my school exercise books. I seem to recall getting into a bit of minor trouble for doing that.

There was also a magazine that folded out into a poster that was published monthly(?) around the time of the kung fu craze. I don't recall what it was called but it was martial arts related and most posters were of Bruce Lee. Now at the time we were encouraged to cover our school exercise books with wallpaper to keep them from becoming too dog-eared. My classmate and I had the idea of using part of the posters to cover our books, so we had Bruce Lee's face covering our maths, history, science etc books. Better than the garish 70s wallpaper that most kids used, we thought.

[andydecker]

Sept 26, 2023 17:52:24 GMT ripper said:

There was also a magazine that folded out into a poster that was published monthly(?) around the time of the kung fu craze. I don't recall what it was called but it was martial arts related and most posters were of Bruce Lee.

Those were everywhere, right? Even if I can't remember much about it and I assume it was edited for violence, Kung Fu with Carradine was a must see. There were glossy martial arts magazines and some comics, which of course also were toned down. A bit like Marvel's Deadly Hands of Kung Fu, only drawn by Spanish artists. A couple of different strips, articles about martial arts. Another even more blatant rip-off was Kung Fu Western, also very soft, a bi-weekly Heftroman, which I think had even the same basic plot as the tv-series. Recently I managed to get the first of Michel Parry's Kung Fu western, still haven't read it. I guess it also followed the formula.

As a youth I never managed to see a Bruce Lee movie which had an R rating. When I finally caught up in the video age, I couldn't understand how such low budget productions could be responsible for such a hype. I guess it must have been the charisma of their star.

[𝘗rincess 𝘵uvstarr]

Martial arts were popular in black US culture in the 1970s, there were black martial arts stars like Jim Kelly, and various groups trained there members in them.