Regular readers will know that this blog is about looking back — occasionally with rose-tinted contact lenses, sometimes with utter scorn, frequently with typos — rather than focussing on the present day, so we rarely feature new news.
Mostly, this is because I’m forever trailing behind everyone else. As we stroll down the avenues of life, I’m the one constantly distracted by interesting items in shop windows or because there’s a friendly dog or cat in need of a cuddle, or noticing interesting numbers on the registration plates of passing cars — the other day, in the space of about ten minutes, I saw 7177 (a prime), 4096 (square of 64, which is itself the square of 8) and my favourite, 108801 (a palindromic number that also reads the same upside-down). Or sometimes just because I forget where we’re going.
Where was I?
Oh, right. Yes, I’ve never been tremendously au fait with current comics news unless it involves me directly — and even then I’m rarely entirely sure what’s going on — so I’ve generally avoided mentioning upcoming comics and the like. There are plenty of other places on the web that do that far better than I ever will, can or want to.
But of late it’s occurred to me that I really should be including the sort of news that particularly snags my attention. That is, news about comics-related publications or events that directly pertain to old comics.
News about comics? Not for us. News about books about comics? Ah, now you’re talking! For example, Douglas Wolk’s All of the Marvels would be a good fit here, as will Dave Gibbons’ forthcoming Confabulation. Likewise, reprint volumes of British comics are a must, such as The Complete Johnny Future, The Tom Patterson Collection, or Hibernia Comics’ reprint of The Angry Planet.
So to kick things off, here’s a new book that should be on every Judge Dredd fan’s must-buy list…
I Am the Law — How Judge Dredd Predicted Our Future, by Michael Molcher
Now, this isn’t just a look at Judge Dredd and how it’s mega-awesome that his gun can fire six different kinds of bullets… this is an in-depth and insightful analysis of how much real-world policing has changed since Dredd first appeared in 1977, and the ways in which the Judge Dredd strip has predicted — or at least anticipated — those changes.
Sure, the Judge Dredd comic strips are often tremendous fun and feature cool sky-surfers and giant smashy robots and freaky aliens and all sorts of awesome science-fictiony elements, but they frequently also highlight the darkness that germinates in the hearts of the disassociated, the powerful and the greedy. Just because a story gives you a thrill or makes you laugh, that doesn’t mean it’s not relevant or resonant.
A thing can be funny and serious at the same time: Terry Pratchett once said something like, “Funny is the opposite of serious in the same way that green is the opposite of triangular.” In I Am the Law, Michael Molcher demonstrates that perfectly. As the book’s blurb says, “what began as a sci-fi action comic quickly evolved into a searing satire on hardline, militarised policing and ‘law and order’ politics, its endless inventiveness and ironic humour acting as a prophetic warning about our world today – and with important lessons for our future.”
I Am the Law is intelligent, knowing, frequently moving and at times very unnerving — just as it should be. Buy it today: it’s a brilliant and necessary book that makes you wish it was fiction.
I Am the Law is available from all good bookstores and of course the 2000AD shop!
Blog News:
- Since last month’s HM&D I’ve started a new regular feature: Friday Flashback, which each week will take a quick look at a comic you might have forgotten about, or not even known about… So far, we’ve featured Zig and Zag’s Zogazine, The Incredible Hulk Presents, Marty and Chiller Pocket Book (got a comment on that one from Dez Skinn himself!).
- Even More Advance Comic Storage is another entry in the highly irregular series in which I explore solutions to the problem of storing comics — well worth a look!
- My old Dateline: 26 Feb 1977 feature — in which I take a look at the shelves of the average newsagent around the time 2000AD was launched (26 February 1977 being the cover-date of the first issue) — has always had a few gaps where I wasn’t able to track down specific covers. Well, we’re a little closer to completion now, with a couple of recent finds. (Although I’m tempted to tweak it a little to include the missing covers in the main list… if only to stop people helpfully pointing out that I’ve “forgotten” The Beezer.)
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, Jul, Aug, Sep, Oct, Nov, Dec
2023: Jan, Feb
30 years ago:
March – Batman Monthly (1993) launched.
Publisher: London Editions
From: Mar 1993
To: Jan 1994
Duration: 10 months
Issues: 11
Relaunch of Batman Monthly (1988)
March – Battletide (1992) final issue.
Publisher: Marvel UK
From: Dec 1992
To: Mar 1993
Duration: 3 months
Issues: 4
March – Digitek final issue.
Publisher: Marvel UK
From: Dec 1992
To: Mar 1993
Duration: 3 months
Issues: 4
March – Johnny Cougar’s Wrestling Monthly final issue.
Publisher: IPC
From: Oct 1992
To: Mar 1993
Duration: 5 months
Issues: 6
01 March – My Little Pony final issue.
Publisher: London Editions
From: 05 Sep 1985
To: 01 Mar 1993
Duration: 7 years, 6 months
Issues: 223
Mostly fortnightly, though occasionally weekly… End date is unconfirmed. Much like the ponies themselves, the actual details of this comic are wild and free and hard to pin down. OK, I don’t know anything about One’s Little Ponies — they’re magic, right? And there’s a rainbow or something, I think. Anyway, there’s more info about the comics on mylittlewiki.org.
March – MyS-Tech Wars launched.
Publisher: Marvel UK
From: Mar 1993
To: Jun 1993
Duration: 3 months
Issues: 4
March – Superman (1988) final issue.
Publisher: London Editions
From: 16 Jun 1988
To: Mar 1993
Duration: 4 years, 9 months
Issues: 56
Relaunched as The Adventures of Superman.
Fortnightly until #20, monthly until #46, bimonthly thereafter.
March – The Batman Adventures launched.
Publisher: Fleetway
From: Mar 1993
To: Aug 1994
Duration: 1 year, 5 months
Issues: 18
I’m not 100% sure about the dates for this one… If my data is right, then it ran concurrently with the relaunch of Batman Monthly (above), although from Fleetway rather than London Editions.
20 March – Roy of the Rovers final issue.
Publisher: IPC
From: 25 Sep 1976
To: 20 Mar 1993
Duration: 16 years, 6 months
Issues: 851
After a six-month absence, the comic was revived as Roy of the Rovers Monthly (1993)
35 years ago:
March – Bacchus launched.
Publisher: Harrier Comics
From: Mar 1988
To: Aug 1988
Duration: 5 months
Issues: 2
March – Harrier Preview single issue.
Publisher: Harrier Comics
From: Mar 1988
To: Mar 1988
Duration:
Issues: 1
March – Moon Fighting single issue.
Publisher: Harrier Comics
From: Mar 1988
To: Mar 1988
Duration:
Issues: 1
04 March – Hi! for Girls launched.
Publisher: DC Thomson
From: 04 Mar 1988
To: 1992
Duration: 4 years, 3 months
Issues: 217
Fortnightly. Title simplified to Hi! around issue #132 or #133 (Sep 1990). At least 217 issues — possibly more: actual end date is unknown. No known connection with IPC’s mid-1970s magazine Hi! (17 May 1975 to 3 July 1976, 60 issues), which was actually a relaunch of its older-targetted women’s mag Petticoat.
04 March – Super Naturals final issue.
Publisher: Fleetway
From: 31 Oct 1987
To: 04 Mar 1988
Duration: 5 months
Issues: 9
Fortnightly. A free preview issue was given away with other Fleetway comics.
23 March – TV Fun (1988) launched.
Publisher: Fleetway
From: 23 Mar 1988
To: 21 Sep 1988
Duration: 6 months
Issues: 14
Fortnightly. Nursery-age revival in name only of TV Fun (1953). Update: Richard Sheaf of the great Boys Adventure Comics blog tells me that Denis Gifford’s ACE Newsletter #102 (Oct/Nov 1988) confirms that TV Fun‘s last issue was on 21 Sep 1988 — it doesn’t seem to have been absorbed into another title.
26 March – Funtime (1986) final issue.
Publisher: IPC
From: 14 May 1986
To: 26 Mar 1988
Duration: 1 year, 10 months
Issues: 62 (estimated)
Fortnightly until issue #33, weekly thereafter. Update: Richard Sheaf of the Boys Adventure Comics blog informs me that Gifford’s ACE Newsletter #93 (Aug/Sep 1987) confirms that Playhour was indeed absorbed into Funtime from #34… This’ll mean an update to my Playhour Timeline!
Further update: Did some recalculations given the start and end dates and that we now know that Funtime switched to a weekly schedule from issue #33… It’s looking like there were 62 issues of Funtime, not 50 as previously estimated.
26 March – The Real Ghostbusters launched.
Publisher: Marvel UK
From: 26 Mar 1988
To: 01 Sep 1992
Duration: 4 years, 6 months
Issues: 193
40 years ago:
March – The Disney Magazine (1982) final issue.
Publisher: London Editions
From: Feb 1982
To: Mar 1983
Duration: 1 year, 1 month
Issues: 13
Relaunched as The Disney Magazine (1983) — see below.
March – The Disney Magazine (1983) launched.
Publisher: London Editions
From: Mar 1983
To: 03 May 1990
Duration: 7 years, 2 months
Issues: 166
Relaunch of The Disney Magazine (1982) — see above.
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 changed to Disney. Later relaunched as Disney Weekly. It’s comics like this that sometimes make me want to abandon this website and go and live in a cave instead.
09 March – Worzel Gummidge (1983) launched.
Publisher: Marvel UK
From: 09 Mar 1983
To: 10 Aug 1983
Duration: 5 months
Issues: 23
12 March – Chips’ Comic launched.
Publisher: IPC
From: 12 Mar 1983
To: 10 Jul 1983
Duration: 4 months
Issues: 21
45 years ago:
01 March – Tarzan Monthly (1977) final issue.
Publisher: Byblos
From: 01 Nov 1977
To: 01 Mar 1978
Duration: 4 months
Issues: 5
04 March – My Guy launched.
Publisher: IPC/Other
From: 04 Mar 1978
To: 01 Mar 2000
Duration: 22 years
Issues: 873
Weekly until Sept 1995, thereafter monthly. End date and issue-count estimated. Retitled MG from issue #730 (4 Jun 1992). Latest confirmed issue is #873, dated 25 March 1995. The mag was taken over by its editor Frank Hopkinson at some point in 1995: the British Library lists this era as running from “June 1995-Mar./Apr. 2000” — see the extensive My Guy Timeline for lots more info!
50 years ago:
03 March – Tarkan launched.
Publisher: Simavi
From: 03 Mar 1973
To: 20 Oct 1973
Duration: 7 months
Issues: 34
10 March – Shiver and Shake launched.
Publisher: IPC
From: 10 Mar 1973
To: 05 Oct 1974
Duration: 1 year, 7 months
Issues: 79
Completists should note that due to a printers’ strike, no issues were published in July 1974. “Shiver and Shake” was also the name of a strip that appeared in Cor!!.
17 March – Toytown final issue.
Publisher: Williams Publishing
From: 07 Oct 1972
To: 17 Mar 1973
Duration: 5 months
Issues: 24
24 March – Pink launched.
Publisher: IPC
From: 24 Mar 1973
To: 14 Jun 1980
Duration: 7 years, 3 months
Issues: 377
60 years ago:
March – Long Bow final issue.
Publisher: Atlas Publishing
From: Sep 1960
To: Mar 1963
Duration: 2 years, 6 months
Issues: 31
March – Space Ace final issue.
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.
02 March – Swift final issue.
Publisher: Hulton
From: 20 Mar 1954
To: 02 Mar 1963
Duration: 9 years
Issues: 461
Absorbed into Eagle (1950).
Number of issues from GCD and Wikipedia (only 468 weeks elapsed between start and end dates). Along the way, Swift absorbed Zip in a stealthy fashion: it wasn’t mentioned on the cover!
65 years ago:
15 March – Roxy launched.
Publisher: Amalgamated Press
From: 15 Mar 1958
To: 14 Sep 1963
Duration: 5 years, 6 months
Issues: 235
70 years ago:
March – Super Detective Library launched.
Publisher: Fleetway
From: Mar 1953
To: Dec 1960
Duration: 7 years, 9 months
Issues: 188
Renamed Super Detective Picture Library from #155
18 March – Enid Blyton’s Magazine launched.
Publisher: Evans Brothers
From: 18 Mar 1953
To: 09 Sep 1959
Duration: 6 years, 6 months
Issues: 162
28 March – The Robin launched.
Publisher: Hulton/Longacre/Odhams/IPC
From: 28 Mar 1953
To: 25 Jan 1969
Duration: 15 years, 10 months
Issues: 836
85 years ago:
23 March – The Wild West Weekly launched.
Publisher: Amalgamated Press
From: 23 Mar 1938
To: 11 Mar 1939
Duration: 1 year
Issues: 49
Renamed Wild West from #26 (3 Sep 1938)
90 years ago:
18 March – Red Arrow final issue.
Publisher: DC Thomson
From: 19 Mar 1932
To: 18 Mar 1933
Duration: 1 year
Issues: 52
Absorbed into Adventure.
95 years ago:
March – Tales for Little People (1923) final issue.
Publisher: Aldine House
From: Nov 1923
To: Mar 1928
Duration: 4 years, 4 months
Issues: 100
100 years ago:
13 March – The Schoolgirl (1922) final issue.
Publisher: Shurey’s Publications
From: 21 Feb 1922
To: 13 Mar 1923
Duration: 1 year, 1 month
Issues: 56
105 years ago:
30 March – The Penny Popular (1912) final issue.
Publisher: Amalgamated Press
From: 12 Oct 1912
To: 30 Mar 1918
Duration: 5 years, 5 months
Issues: 286
Absorbed into The Boys’ Friend.
A revival — The Penny Popular (1919), later renamed The Popular — appeared almost a year after this title’s demise.
Rusty Staples 