Among the anniversaries for May we have a couple of UK Marvel titles, a British comic not in the English language, and the very noticeable effects of The Wartime Comics Purge: thanks to paper shortages during the Second World War, a lot of comics met their demise eighty years ago, in May of 1940… one week alone saw eight comics get their mortal coils shuffled out from under them.
Standard disclaimer: unless I decide otherwise, these are only the “big” anniversaries (25, 30, 35, 40, 45, 50, 60, 70, 75, 80, 90 & 100+ years); dates are cover-dates where known; monthly comics with no confirmed day of launch default to the start of the month; and this list is accurate only to the best of my knowledge, so do please let me know of any important errors or omissions! (See also Oct 2019, Nov 2019, Dec 2019, Jan 2020, Feb 2020, Mar 2020 and Apr 2020.)
25 years ago:
May – Clive Barker’s Hellbreed (Marvel UK, May 1995 to Jul 1995, 3 issues) launched.
A monthly title that reprinted strips from the US Marvel’s Hellraiser and Nightbreed comics and included interviews with Clive Barker and Pinhead actor Doug Bradley. Sadly only lasted for three issues. I definitely owned all three issues but they disappeared about fifteen years ago.
May – Manga Heroes (Manga Publishing, Feb 1995 to May 1995, 4 issues) final issue.
As featured in the February 2020 edition of HM&D, this was a monthly title that reprinted some classic Manga such as GenoCyber, Appleseed, and Dark Horse’s adaptation of TimeCop.
12 May – Biker Mice from Mars (Marvel UK, 17 Feb 1995 to 12 May 1995, 7 issues) final issue.
Another one that featured in the February 2020 edition of HM&D.
13 May – Thunderbirds are Go! (Fleetway, 13 May 1995 to 05 Aug 1995, 8 issues) launched.
A fortnightly relaunch of Thunderbirds the Comic (19 Oct 1991 to 1 Mar 1995, 89 issues). Unusually, and rather inventively, some of the comic strips were created using screenshots from the Thunderbirds TV show. However, the comic was unsuccessful and cancelled after eight issues.
30 years ago:
May – Tom & Jerry (Clearmark, May 1990 to Nov 1990, 7 issues) launched.
I’ve not seen this one, but I used to love Tom and Jerry Weekly from Spotlight (which ran for 43 issues from Oct 1973 to Aug 1974). That said, as I grew older I began to dislike the cartoon more and more, partly because of an extended run on TV of the Gene Deitch shows which were just too weird for me, but also because I’d learned all the diseases mice can transmit. Let’s face it: mice are vermin and Tom was only trying to do his job. Also: those more recent cartoons and movies in which they speak? Not a fan.
03 May – The Disney Magazine (London Editions, 01 Mar 1983 to 03 May 1990, 166 issues) final issue: relaunched as Disney Weekly.
This is actually the second incarnation of The Disney Magazine, the previous version having run from February 1982 to March 1983 for thirteen issues. This one was initially monthly, then fortnightly from #19. Maybe also weekly for a time: apparently from #8 in some parts of the UK there was a weekly edition published, leading to some confusion with identical contents in seemingly different issues. From #121, the title was simplified to Disney.
17 May – Disney Weekly (London Editions, 17 May 1990 to 30 Aug 1990, 16 issues) launched.
Unfortunately, this weekly relaunch of The Disney Magazine (above) wasn’t as successful as its predecessor, though that could be because of rights issues rather than popularity: seven months after this one ended, Fleetway launched their own similarly-titled The Disney Weekly, which ran from 06 Mar 1991 to 14 Oct 1994 for 84 issues, and which was later replaced with Mickey & Friends.
35 years ago:
May – Eagle Picture Library (IPC, May 1985 to Nov 1985, 14 issues) launched.
This one holds the honour of being the final Picture Library comic to be launched in the UK. Unfortunately, it was also one of the shortest-lived, with only fourteen issues. Its contents were reprints from other IPC/Fleetway comics, and while many of the stories were great, they suffered from having been reformatted for digest size.
May – SwiftSure (Harrier Comics, May 1985 to Jan 1988, 18 issues) launched.
Though not often remembered now, Harrier Comics were pretty successful back in the day, having published something like 140 issues over thirty-five different titles between 1984 and 1989. SwiftSure was a favourite of mine: it absorbed Conqueror from #7, #13 is titled SwiftSure Presents Tales of the Ragged Reptile, #14 is SwiftSure Presents Black Berghese Warrior. (My collection disappeared around the same time as my Hellbreed comics along with a lot of others — sometimes I dream that there’s a room in the house I’ve forgotten about, and all my missing comics are in there.)
40 years ago:
May – Sboncyn (Cyhoeddiadau Mei, May 1980 to Dec 1987+, at least 92 issues) launched.
Sadly I don’t know much about Sboncyn, other than that on-line translators tell me that the title means “Squash” in Welsh (I don’t know what kind of squash it’s referring to: compression, a marrow, a drink or a ball-game) but according to notes I made when compiling my comics database the title actually means “Grasshopper” and it was relaunched as Penbwl (Tadpole) in 1989. The always reliable Lew Stringer has featured Sboncyn on his fantastic blog, but even so it’s proving to be an elusive title to pin down.
03 May – Fabulous (AKA Fab 208, IPC, 18 Jan 1964 to 03 May 1980, 851 issues) final issue: relaunched as Fab Hits.
A weekly music magazine that doesn’t really belong here because it’s not a comic… except that it’s part of the My Guy family tree and in The House of Rusty we don’t sideline our relatives no matter how weird they are. Initially titled Fabulous, it was retitled Fabulous 208 in 1966. That was then shortened to Fab 208 during the great “ulous” shortage of 1969.
10 May – Fab Hits (IPC, 10 May 1980 to 20 Sep 1980, 20 issues) launched.
Still not a comic — as far as I know it didn’t contain any comic-strips, although it did include some prose fiction — this relaunch of Fab 208 might have been fabulous (I’ve never seen a copy, but I’ve no reason to suspect it wasn’t fabulous), but it wasn’t enough of a hit to last. Though its predecessor was an all-genders, late-teens title, Fab Hits shifted its aim more towards the mid-teens female market, and it was absorbed by Oh Boy which was very definitely a female-targetted mag.
15 May – Hulk Comic (Marvel UK, 07 Mar 1979 to 15 May 1980, 63 issues) final issue: absorbed into Spider-Man Comics Weekly.
This was a great comic — shame it didn’t last. It was created to cash in on the hugely popular TV show: in fact, its very first issue featured a specially-commissioned Hulk strip in which the character doesn’t speak and would therefore be more recognisable to readers only familiar with the show. It was retitled The Incredible Hulk Weekly from #47 (23 Jan 1980), then The Incredible Hulk from #59 (17 Apr 1980). Noted strips included Ant-Man, The Black Knight (a favourite of mine), Nick Fury and the brilliant Night Raven.
15 May – Forces in Combat (Marvel UK, 15 May 1980 to 21 Jan 1981, 37 issues) launched.
The gap in Marvel UK’s schedule caused by the demise of the Hulk Comic (above) was filled with their second attempt at a war comic, following Fury (16 March 1977 to 31 August 1977, 25 issues), though at least Forces in Combat pulled a little further away from the WWII-mired strips than Fury had, with strips like Machine Man and Shang-Chi. It was ultimately absorbed into Marvel’s science fiction-themed title Future Tense, where it didn’t really fit.
45 years ago:
May – Vampirella (IPC/Warren, Feb 1975 to May 1975, 4 issues) final issue.
Yet another one that featured in the February 2020 edition of HM&D.
10 May – Bonnie (IPC, 16 Mar 1974 to 10 May 1975, 61 issues) final issue: absorbed into Playhour.
In general, nursery-age comics were non-gender-specific, but a handful — like Bonnie and its most immediately obvious rival Twinkle — were clearly aimed at girls. Contents included The Beans, The Dolly Girls, and Dougal and Florence — the latter an adaptation of The Magic Roundabout. I’m pretty sure I have a copy of this somewhere but right now I can’t face trawling through the boxes trying to find it.
10 May – Noddy Time (Woman’s Way, 10 May 1975 to 20 Dec 1975, at least 33 issues) launched.
Another one about which I know little except what I can glean from the title and the cover. I do know that it was a weekly title that ran for at least 33 issues and that it began shortly after Hudvale’s Noddy and his Friends (49 issues from 9 Mar 1974 to 30 Apr 1975, as featured in last month’s HM&D) ceased publication… so arguably this could be considered a relaunch. As always, any light you can shed on this would be very much welcomed!
60 years ago:
May – Emergency Ward 10 (Pearson, Jun 1958 to May 1960, 29 issues) final issue.
Based on a then-popular British TV soap-opera about doctors and nurses (similar to Casualty but lacking my favourite character, the tragically underused nurse Wayne) which ran for just over ten years. The comic originated in TV Picture Stories (57 issues between June 1958 and March 1960) which included adaptations of different shows in each issue. The Emergency Ward 10 issues were successful enough to warrant their own spin-off comic.
18 May – Buster (Amalgamated Press, 18 May 1960 to 04 Jan 2000, 1902 issues) launched.
Ah, Buster! A classic comic that far surpassed its humble origins: the title character was originally the son of Andy Capp (a character for whom I hold little to no reverence, or possibly even less than that). Highlights from Buster are many — too many to list here — but among my own favourites were Val’s Vanishing Cream, Chalky and of course the sublime adventure strip The Leopard from Lime Street.
70 years ago:
May – Love Romance (Amalgamated Press, May 1950 to Jun 1950, 2 issues) launched.
One of those comics that’s been exceptionally well-hidden from yer Uncle Rusty. I’ve never even found a cover for this one. (Muddying the search-engine waters are an American comic of the same name, and a 1956 single-issue comic called Love Romances from L. Miller.)
20 May – School Friend (Amalgamated Press, 20 May 1950 to 23 Jan 1965, 766 issues) launched.
This incarnation of School Friend was a comic featuring strips such as Bessie Bunter, Lucky’s Living Doll, The Silent Three and Terry Brent. It was a revival, in many ways, of the story-paper The School Friend which was launched on 17 May 1919 and ran for 303 issues before being relaunched on 7 March 1925, running for a further 229 issues, at which point it was relaunched as The Schoolgirl on 3 August 1929. The Schoolgirl was absorbed into Girls’ Crystal on 18 May 1940 (see below), and it was all neatly wrapped up when Girls’ Crystal was actually absorbed back into this 1950s incarnation of School Friend: see the My Guy Family Tree!
80 years ago:
11 May – Puck (Amalgamated Press, 30 Jul 1904 to 11 May 1940, 1867 issues) final issue: absorbed into Sunbeam (1926).
First of the comics to succumb to The Wartime Comics Purge, Puck had been very successful — thirty-six years ain’t nothin’ to sniff at — but not enough to keep its head down, or above water, or some other similar idiom…. It was absorbed by its sibling Sunbeam, but as we’ll see later, that doesn’t mean it survived.
11 May – Golden (Amalgamated Press, 23 Oct 1937 to 11 May 1940, 134 issues) final issue: absorbed into Jingles.
Having already absorbed Dazzler the previous year didn’t save the short-lived Golden from the ravages of the Purge. Luckily, its new home, the very similar Jingles, lived on for a further fourteen years.
18 May – Boy’s Cinema (Amalgamated Press, 13 Dec 1919 to 18 May 1940, 1063 issues) final issue.
Having risen from the ashes of the First World War, Boy’s Cinema was sadly unable to survive the second. It was one of the few publications from this month that fell to the Purge without surviving in any form, even though there were plenty of other titles that could have absorbed it, had they wanted to.
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8 May – Tiger Tim’s Weekly (Amalgamated Press, 19 Nov 1921 to 18 May 1940, 965 issues) final issue: absorbed into The Rainbow.
I might be thinking of something else, but as I remember it, Tiger Tim was the only one who could save the ship, but it would mean sacrificing his own life. The Rainbow tried to stop him, but Tiger Tim knocked him out with a nerve pinch and then placed his paw on The Rainbow‘s face in order to transfer his katra into his old friend’s body. Of all the comics I have known in my travels, Tiger Tim‘s was the most… the most feline.
18 May – Butterfly (Amalgamated Press, 24 Oct 1925 to 18 May 1940, 760 issues) final issue: absorbed into Tip Top.
Butterfly‘s very complex history (which took me a very long time to unravel!) came to an end here, courtesy of The Wartime Comics Purge, but its fans can take some consolation in knowing that it became part of the noble My Guy Family Tree.
18 May – Larks (Amalgamated Press, 29 Oct 1927 to 18 May 1940, 656 issues) final issue: absorbed into Comic Cuts.
This was the second major publication called Larks, the first being from 1 May 1893 to 29 December 1906 for approximately 239 issues (and which temporarily changed its title to The Best Budget for twelve weeks in 1902 as part of the universe’s relentless campaign to make things hard for comics historians).
18 May – The Joker (Fleetway/Amalgamated Press, 05 Nov 1927 to 18 May 1940, 655 issues) final issue: absorbed into Illustrated Chips.
Another victim of The Wartime Comics Purge, The Joker was one of those eight-page broadsheets with a mixture of comics and text-stories, similar to Comic Cuts issues of that era. It was notable for some particularly nice-looking strips by the likes of Arthur Pease and Colin Merrett.
18 May – The Thriller (Amalgamated Press, 09 Feb 1929 to 18 May 1940, 578 issues) final issue.
This adventure story-paper renamed itself Thriller Library from #423 (13 Mar 1937), absorbed The Wild West Weekly (49 issues between 21 Mar 1938 and 11 Mar 1939) along the way, then when to attempt cash in on the popularity of war stories it became War Thriller from #579 (9 Mar 1940). Sadly, that action only served to draw the attention of the fiendish scouts of The Wartime Comics Purge…
18 May – The Schoolgirl (Amalgamated Press, 03 Aug 1929 to 18 May 1940, 564 issues) final issue: absorbed into Girls’ Crystal.
As mentioned above, The Schoolgirl was a relaunch of the second incarnation of The School Friend. It was also, arguably, a revival of Shurey’s Publications’ The Schoolgirl which ran from 21 Feb 1922 to 13 Mar 1923 for 56 issues.
18 May – The Magnet (Amalgamated Press, 10 Aug 1929 to 18 May 1940, 563 issues) final issue: absorbed into The Knock-Out Comic.
As I covered recently in the Eagle Timeline (well worth a look, folks! You don’t want me to get the impression that I put all that work in for nothing, do you?), The Magnet was a relaunched version of the famous Magnet Library which ran from 15 Feb 1980 to 3 Aug 1929 for 1120 issues).
25 May – The Triumph (Amalgamated Press, 18 Oct 1924 to 25 May 1940, 814 issues) final issue: absorbed into The Champion (1922).
Another entry in the Eagle Timeline, The Triumph began life as The Rocket, which ran from 17 Feb 1923 to 11 Oct 1924 for 87 issues. The Triumph is probably most famous for being the first British publication to feature Superman (in the 5 Aug 1939 issue — seen here on the right — only a year and a bit after the character first appeared in Action Comics).
25 May – Sunbeam (Amalgamated Press, 30 Jan 1926 to 25 May 1940, 747 issues) final issue: absorbed into Tiny Tots.
In the manner of those breath-taking cliff-hangers from the classic Saturday morning movie serials, a few weeks after it valiantly saved Puck from The Wartime Comics Purge, Sunbeam itself fell victim to that terrible blight and had to be rescued. Luckily, Tiny Tots didn’t live down to its name and was able to save the day.
25 May – Detective Weekly (Amalgamated Press, 25 Feb 1933 to 25 May 1940, 379 issues) final issue.
Another comic orphaned by The Wartime Comics Purge. Like Boy’s Cinema (also from the same publisher), Detective Weekly could have been saved by absorption, but wasn’t. My theory is that either these comics threw themselves at the enemy to help others escape, or they were infected with something so truly horrible that someone came from the future to kill them off before they could spread their poison to other comics.
90 years ago:
09 May – Frolix (A. J. Barton & Co., 28 Jun 1929 to 09 May 1930, 46 issues) final issue.
Subtitled “The Children’s Weekly Comic,” this one about which I know very little. The only issue that ever seems to show up on-line is #24 (6 Dec 1929), thanks to Lew Stringer covering it on his blog. Interestingly, though, zooming in on that first page we see the usual animals in human clothing — mandatory for a kids’ comic of the era — and right there among them is our old pal Tiger Tim! Except of course it’s not Tiger Tim because that fellow had his own comic published by Amalgamated Press at this time. Examination of the caption reveals that he’s actually “Tiger Ted.” I suspect that this is not a coincidence.
115 years ago:
01 May – Schooldays (Commonwealth Pub., May 1891 to May 1905, 173 issues) final issue.
A monthly publication that seems to have disappeared completely. Confusing matters is a later publication of the same name (although sometimes spelled with a hyphen) by Amalgamated Press that ran from 3 Nov 1928 to 2 May 1931, for 131 issues, which was absorbed into the 1929 edition of The Schoolgirl (for more on which, see above).
125 years ago:
03 May – The Boys’ Home Journal (Harmsworth, 05 Apr 1895 to 03 May 1895, 5 issues) final issue: relaunched as Comic Home Journal.
As mention in last month’s Hatch, Match & Dispatch, I’ve never been able to find a cover for this one! I’m going to go out on a limb and declare that absolutely no copies of The Boys’ Home Journal have survived. (You see my clever plan, readers? If there are some copies out there, this bold statement will certainly rouse the “Actually, I Think You’ll Find…” Brigade from their slumber in order that they will be able to correct me! Chortle! Etc.!)
11 May – Comic Home Journal (Harmsworth, 11 May 1895 to 10 Sep 1904, 488 issues) launched.
This one again… The comic into which The Boys’ Home Journal metamorphosed. This one ended up in Butterfly (see above), but along the way it had some fun: issues #238, #240, #243-#245 & #249 were special editions for the Boer war and were titled War Comic Home Journal.
130 years ago:
17 May – Comic Cuts (Amalgamated Press, 17 May 1890 to 12 Sep 1953, 3006 issues) launched.
Not the first ever comic, but very likely the one that really got the ball rolling! Often imitated, and almost as often bettered.
Rusty Staples 
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