Hatch, Match & Dispatch – August 2020

Welcome once again, readers, to our regular look at British comics that will be celebrating an important anniversary in the coming month. The celebrants time around include some Disney titles, a couple of appearances from everyone’s favourite future law-enforcement officer, and — from many decades back — a cluster of story-papers aimed at grown-up women.

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, Apr 2020, May 2020, Jun 2020 and Jul 2020.)

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25 years ago:
01 August – The Best of 2000AD Monthly final issue.
Publisher: Egmont
From: 01 Oct 1985
To: 01 Aug 1995
Duration: 9 years, 10 months
Issues: 119
Relaunched as Classic 2000AD.

This really was a brilliant comic — not only was it great value for money, it was a very nifty way for new readers to catch up on some classic 2000AD thrills they they’d missed. Sadly the relaunched version only ran for a further fifteen issues.

01 August – Classic Judge Dredd launched.
Publisher: Egmont
From: Aug 1995
To: Jan 1997
Duration: 1 year, 5 months
Issues: 18
Relaunched as The Complete Judge Dredd.

See the recent Pocket-Money Comics feature for more info!

02 August – Mighty Max final issue.
Publisher: Marvel UK
From: 23 Nov 1994
To: 02 Aug 1995
Duration: 9 months
Issues: 10

All I really know about Mighty Max is that he was the boy equivalent of Polly Pocket, a teeny-tiny doll that my nieces used to have. The success of the toy led to an animated TV show, which in turn led to this comic.

05 August – Thunderbirds are Go! final issue.
Publisher: Fleetway
From: 13 May 1995
To: 05 Aug 1995
Duration: 3 months
Issues: 8

This was a fortnightly relaunch of Thunderbirds the Comic, which ran from Oct 1991 to Mar 1995 for 89 issues (and which was renamed The New Thunderbirds from #67).

29 August – Fast Forward final issue.
Publisher: BBC Magazines
From: 01 Nov 1989
To: 29 Aug 1995
Duration: 5 years, 9 months
Issues: 305

Following on from The Beeb (see HM&D Jan 2020 and Jun 2020), this was the BBC’s second attempt at their version of ITV’s Look-In. Issue count is estimated (but probably pretty close…!). Strips included ‘Allo ‘Allo!, Baywatch, Bread, EastEnders, The Flintstones, Grange Hill and Gordon the Gopher. Absorbed the teen magazine Number One.

30 years ago:
01 August – The World of Wym final issue.
Publisher: Clearmark
From: Mar 1990
To: Aug 1990
Duration: 5 months
Issues: 6

I know very little about this kids’ title, other than that it was created by Andy Lanning and John Carnell and Anthony Williams… and I only know that much because Richard Sheaf mentioned it on his excellent Boys Adventure Comics blog!

30 August – Disney Weekly final issue.
Publisher: London Editions
From: 17 May 1990
To: 30 Aug 1990
Duration: 3 months
Issues: 16
Relaunch of: The Disney Magazine

From a comics historian’s viewpoint the Disney comics are nightmare to unravel… This one (not to be confused with Fleetway’s The Disney Weekly which ran from Mar 1991 to Oct 1992) is a relaunch of The Disney Magazine from 1983, which itself was a relaunch of The Disney Magazine from 1982, and which might have had different editions available in some parts of the UK, or something. A while ago I started trying to work all this out but it was too hard.

35 years ago:
August – Indiana Jones final issue.
Publisher: Marvel UK
From: Oct 1984
To: Aug 1985
Duration: 10 months
Issues: 11
Absorbed into Spider-Man Comics Weekly.

While paging through my copies (I don’t have a full set, unfortunately), I found something very interesting indeed… but I’ll save that for a later post on this blog!

10 August – StoryLand final issue.
Publisher: Marvel UK
From: 28 Mar 1984
To: 10 Aug 1985
Duration: 1 year, 5 months
Issues: 71

Long-time readers of this blog might recall that StoryLand appeared in the Marvel UK 70s & 80s Leftovers Timeline where I mentioned my suspicions that that the comic had absorbed Rupert Weekly… and then my old pal Richard Sheaf of the brilliant Boys Adventure Comics Blog came along with proof — thanks again, Richard!

45 years ago:
16 August – Kick-Off Football Weekly launched.
Publisher: Soccer File
From: 16 Aug 1975
To: 29 Nov 1975
Duration: 3 months
Issues: 16

Info on this one is a little scarce. According to the Grand Comics Database it ran for twenty-nine issues, but there were only sixteen weeks between the start and end dates, and we know it was a weekly comic because that’s in the title…

29 August – Donald and Mickey final issue.
Publisher: IPC
From: 04 Mar 1972
To: 29 Aug 1975
Duration: 3 years, 5 months
Issues: 182
Relaunched as Mickey and Donald.

As mentioned above, the history of Disney comics in the UK is  often a bit baffling. This one absorbed Goofy (20 Oct 1973 to 11 May 1974, 29 issues) but that’s not the confusing bit: it was relaunched as Mickey and Donald, which lasted for only seven issues before being re-relaunched as Mickey Mouse (which subsequently ran for 283 issues before being re-re-relaunched as Mickey Magazine, which died after seventeen issues).

60 years ago:
August – Picture Stories of World War II launched.
Publisher: Pearson
From: Aug 1960
To: Mid-1962
Duration:
Issues: 85

I still find it astonishing that a comic can run for eighty-five issues and yet there’s very little on-line about it. Some time ago I came across a theory that this comic was relaunched as Sea War Picture Library (which ran from 1962 to 1963 for forty-three issues), but I’m almost certain that’s not the case: Sea War PL seems to have been launched in February or March 1962, several months before PSofWWII met its end.

August – Space Ace launched.
Publisher: Atlas Publishing
From: Aug 1960
To: Mar 1963
Duration: 2 years, 7 months
Issues: 33

A science fiction anthology comic based around the title character who actually originated in the publisher’s Lone Star Magazine, a Western comic.

70 years ago:
11 August – Woman’s Friend final issue.
Publisher: Pearson
From: 16 Feb 1924
To: 11 Aug 1950
Duration: 26 years, 6 months
Issues: 1380
Absorbed into Glamour.

A weekly story-paper. (Start date and issue count are estimated… if you can confirm them for me, I would be much appreciative!) When Glamour absorbed Woman’s Friend the title became Woman’s Friend and Glamour, though the “Woman’s Friend” part of the logo was much smaller than the “Glamour” part: a reversal of how most comic mergers were titled (Glamour was eventually relaunched as New Glamour, a comic),

80 years ago:
01 August – Extra Fun launched.
Publisher: Swan
From: Aug 1940
To: Nov 1940
Duration: 3 months
Issues: 4

Another WWII-era comic from Gerald G. “I’ve got stocks of paper and you haven’t, nyah, nyah, nyah!” Swan. See the April 2020 episode of Hatch, Match and Dispatch for more info.

10 August – Peg’s Paper final issue.
Publisher: Pearson
From: 15 May 1919
To: 10 Aug 1940
Duration: 21 years, 3 months
Issues: 1114
Absorbed into Glamour.

A weekly story-paper ended its days absorbed by Glamour, exactly ten years and one day before Woman’s Friend (above) reached that fate. And speaking of Woman’s Friend…

10 August – Lady’s Companion final issue.
Publisher: Newnes
From: 12 Mar 1921
To: 10 Aug 1940
Duration: 19 years, 5 months
Issues: 1012
Absorbed into Woman’s Friend.

… here’s one that was absorbed by Woman’s Friend on the very same day that Peg’s Paper finally pegged it. There’s always a bigger fish, right?

17 August – Golden Star final issue.
Publisher: Pearson
From: 04 Mar 1939
To: 17 Aug 1940
Duration: 1 year, 5 months
Issues: 76
Absorbed into Silver Star.

I’ve not been able to find a cover for this one. Sorry! If it’s any consolation, Woman’s Friend, Peg’s Paper, Lady’s Companion, Glamour and Golden Star are all part of the My Guy Family Tree.

115 years ago:
12 August – The Boys’ Leader final issue.
Publisher: Pearson
From: 12 Sep 1903
To: 12 Aug 1905
Duration: 1 year, 11 months
Issues: 101
Absorbed into Big Budget.

As mentioned in my article on researching comics, this story-paper included a comic-book, Funny Pips, for the first sixteen issues.

130 years ago:
30 August – Illustrated Chips (1) final issue.
Publisher: Harmsworth
From: 26 Jul 1890
To: 30 Aug 1890
Duration: 1 month
Issues: 6
Absorbed into Illustrated Chips (2).

This initial run of six issues was clearly successful: Illustrated Chips was immediately relaunched under the same title and ran for sixty-three years… Not bad going!