Hatch, Match & Dispatch – July 2022

Blimey, at the risk of spoiling this article, we’ve got a lot of comic cancellations this month! Well, anniversaries of cancellations to be more accurate. Sixteen of them, with only slightly more than half that number of new launches (or relaunches). But as we’ve seen before in that article that I can’t remember what it’s called but it has lots of charts, the summer months weren’t a great time for launching a new comic: back in the days of childhoodness parents insisted that the kids ought to be pursuing outdoor pursuits such as climbing up (and down) trees or playing the foot-‘n’-ball game or running away from bees.

That didn’t stop me and the other members of my nerd cluster, though: when we went outside we just brought our comics with us. Hah! Didn’t think of that, did you, parents? No, all you were concerned about was that we got sufficient quantities of “fresh air” — whatever the heck that is — and didn’t rot our brains watching television, even though back in the day the only shows on during the day were Play School, Crown Court and Pebble Mill at One so we wouldn’t have watched it anyway.

I can’t remember where I was going with all that, but I am sure that whatever point I was trying to make, I’m still right.

Oh yeah. Summer, comics, etc., which brings up the subject of the Summer Specials, which were special versions of the regular comics with better paper and more pages. Sometimes they were called Holiday Specials, but they were the same thing: the covers generally featured your favourite characters in swimming attire on a beach and carrying plastic buckets and spades.

I’ve not covered them much here on Rusty Staples — with the exception of a few mentions of the 2000AD Sci-Fi Specials — mostly because I don’t have own many, but, yes, these comics were well-named and very much something to which we looked forward. They were packed with all-new strips and occasionally had puzzles or activity pages, or even interestingish features.

The Summer Specials, though, were rather drainful of the pocket. The Shiver & Shake Holiday Special released in 1974 cost 20p, which was five times the price of the regular issues. That was an awful lot of money for a kid in the 1970s, especially when every spare penny we had was squirrelled away in an attempt to save up for the much-more-coveted hardcover annuals which we knew were imminent… The 1975 Shiver and Shake Annual (released in the late summer of 1974) which was priced at a whoppingly enormous 80p. Eighty pence! Twenty times the price of the regular comic!

The IPC/Fleetway humour titles are long gone now, but their Distinguished Competition Thomson is still around… These days a regular issue of The Beano costs £2.99, so keeping those same ratios, the Summer Special would cost £14.95, and the Annual would set you back an astonishing £59.80. Luckily, inflation seems to have more aggressively targeted the regular comics: the 2022 Beano Summer Special has a cover price of only £5.99, and the 2022 Beano Annual was a mere £8.99. That’s good news worth celebrating — treat yourself to some comics today!

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!

Previous episodes of Hatch, Match & Dispatch:
2019: Oct, Nov, Dec
2020: Jan, Feb, Mar, Apr, May, Jun, Jul, Aug, Sep, Oct, Nov, Dec
2021: Jan, Feb, Mar, Apr, May, Jun, Jul, Aug, Sep, Oct, Nov, Dec
2022: Jan, Feb, Mar, Apr, May, Jun

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25 years ago:

July – The Mask Adventures final issue.
Publisher: Titan
From: Mar 1996
To: Jul 1997
Duration: 1 year, 4 months
Issues: 17
Monthly. End date and issue-count have not yet been confirmed, but I’m 94.2½% sure about them. (Richard Sheaf’s invaluable Boys Adventure Comics blog has lots more info about this comic!)

30 years ago:

July – Hell’s Angel launched.
Publisher: Marvel UK
From: Jul 1992
To: Dec 1993
Duration: 1 year, 5 months
Issues: 16
Retitled Dark Angel from #6. John Freeman of the brilliant DownTheTubes comics blog writes, “became Dark Angel after the Hell’s Angels sued Marvel for copyright infringement. Marvel trademarked numerous characters and properties from 1966 onwards in the UK, separate to its copyright assertions in the United States.”

July – WCW World Championship Wrestling Comic launched.
Publisher: Marvel UK
From: Jul 1992
To: Apr 1993
Duration: 9 months
Issues: 10
Update: Rob Kirby — who knows more about Marvel UK comics that anyone — has supplied correct information on WCW‘s end-date and issue-count!

35 years ago:

10 July – Barbie Magazine final issue.
Publisher: Fleetway
From: 01 Nov 1985
To: 10 Jul 1987
Duration: 1 year, 8 months
Issues: 45
Fortnightly. Occasionally reprinted strips from other comics such as Misty.

31 July – TV Help final issue.
Publisher: TV Help
From: 07 May 1987
To: 31 Jul 1987
Duration: 2 months
Issues: 7
Fortnightly. I’ve not yet confirmed that #7 was indeed the final issue, but I’ve never seen any evidence to suggest it lasted any longer.

40 years ago:

July – Chiller Pocket Book final issue.
Publisher: Marvel UK
From: Mar 1980
To: Jul 1982
Duration: 2 years, 4 months
Issues: 28

July – Spider-Man Pocket Book final issue.
Publisher: Marvel UK
From: Apr 1980
To: Jul 1982
Duration: 2 years, 3 months
Issues: 28

July – Star Heroes Pocket Book final issue.
Publisher: Marvel UK
From: Apr 1980
To: Jul 1982
Duration: 2 years, 3 months
Issues: 28
Renamed X-Men Pocket Book from issue 12.

July – The Fabulous Fantastic Four Pocket Book final issue.
Publisher: Marvel UK
From: Apr 1980
To: Jul 1982
Duration: 2 years, 3 months
Issues: 28

45 years ago:

06 July – Captain Britain (1976) final issue.
Publisher: Marvel UK
From: 13 Oct 1976
To: 06 Jul 1977
Duration: 9 months
Issues: 39
Absorbed into Spider-Man Comics Weekly.

09 July – Sparky final issue.
Publisher: DC Thomson
From: 23 Jan 1965
To: 09 Jul 1977
Duration: 12 years, 6 months
Issues: 652
Absorbed into The Topper.
L-Cars was later revived as Krazy Kops in Spike.

16 July – See-Saw final issue.
Publisher: IPC
From: 09 Oct 1976
To: 16 Jul 1977
Duration: 9 months
Issues: 41
Absorbed into Toby.

50 years ago:

29 July – Golden Hours final issue.
Publisher: Shelbourne/Williams Publishing
From: 01 Jan 1972
To: 29 Jul 1972
Duration: 6 months
Issues: 31

65 years ago:

July – Schoolgirls’ Picture Library launched.
Publisher: Amalgamated Press
From: Jul 1957
To: Sep 1965
Duration: 8 years, 2 months
Issues: 327
This digest was, confusingly, later rebranded as June and School Friend Picture Library: the first issue of that comic appeared in October 1965 and had the issue number #328. But that’s not the confusing part. See, there already was a School Friend Picture Library that came to an end at the same time as this one, but it had only reached issue #88. It was the digest counterpart of the regular comic School Friend (20 May 1950 to 23 Jan 1965, 766 issues) which had been absorbed into the other regular comic June (18 Mar 1961 to 15 Jun 1974, 690 issues). In order to capitalise on June‘s success, Schoolgirls’ Picture Library was rebranded.

85 years ago:

01 July – Poppy’s Library final issue.
Publisher: Amalgamated Press
From: 01 Dec 1928
To: 01 Jul 1937
Duration: 8 years, 7 months
Issues: 208

90 years ago:

02 July – Chums final issue.
Publisher: Cassell & Company/Amalgamated Press
From: 14 Sep 1892
To: 02 Jul 1932
Duration: 39 years, 10 months
Issues: 2101
Absorbed into The Modern Boy (1928).
Story-paper. Weekly until #2077 (1 Jul 1932, monthly thereafter). After it was absorbed into The Modern Boy (1928) it appeared as monthly compilations from 1932 to 1943, annual compilations thereafter.

15 July – Boys’ Wonder Library launched.
Publisher: Amalgamated Press
From: 15 Jul 1932
To: 01 Jul 1933
Duration: 1 year
Issues: 26
Reprinted stories abridged from Chums and Boys Own Paper.

15 July – Ruby Library launched.
Publisher: Amalgamated Press
From: 15 Jul 1932
To: 01 Jul 1933
Duration: 1 year
Issues: 26

95 years ago:

01 July – Romance (1923) final issue.
Publisher: Odhams Press
From: 01 Feb 1923
To: 01 Jul 1927
Duration: 4 years, 5 months
Issues: 54

09 July – Up-To-Date final issue.
Publisher: Allied Newspapers
From: 14 May 1927
To: 09 Jul 1927
Duration: 2 months
Issues: 8
A relaunch of Pam’s Paper (1 Dec 1923 to 7 May 1927, 179 issues). Apparently unrelated to Up-To-Date Comic (17 Sep 1928 to 20 Apr 1929, 28 issues).

16 July – The Boys’ Realm (1919) final issue.
Publisher: Amalgamated Press
From: 05 Apr 1919
To: 16 Jul 1927
Duration: 8 years, 3 months
Issues: 432
Relaunched as The Boys’ Realm of Sport and Adventure (see below).

23 July – The Boys’ Realm of Sport and Adventure launched.
Publisher: Amalgamated Press
From: 23 Jul 1927
To: 26 Jan 1929
Duration: 1 year, 6 months
Issues: 80
Relaunch of The Boys’ Realm (1919) (see above)

100 years ago:

01 July – The Violet Magazine launched.
Publisher: Amalgamated Press
From: 01 Jul 1922
To: 01 Nov 1939
Duration: 17 years, 4 months
Issues: 309

130 years ago:

06 July – The World’s Comic launched.
Publisher: Trapps & Holmes
From: 06 Jul 1892
To: 28 Nov 1914
Duration: 22 years, 4 months
Issues: 1161
Often incorrectly listed as absorbed by Funny Cuts (1908). Lasted until at least November 1914.

30 July – The Wonder (1892) launched.
Publisher: Harmsworth/Amalgamated Press
From: 30 Jul 1892
To: 28 Jan 1893
Duration: 6 months
Issues: 27
A story-paper, relaunched as a comic: The Funny Wonder (1893). See also our extensive article The Mysteries of Wonder.