Not a lot to report this time, folks, except that my recent Friday Flashback that looked at Target (1978) garnered a much bigger reaction than I’d been expecting — mostly about the quality of that comic’s artwork, some which is just — to be blunt — atrociously poor.
Now, this reminded me of a conversation I had last year with an accomplished and very talented comic artist who’s also had some success writing his own scripts. He off-handedly mentioned, “I’ve been telling other artists they really should just try writing their own comics. You know, cut out the middleman.”
My immediate response was, “Oh, good. It’s not already hard enough trying to get work as a writer, now we get to compete with the artists too.” And then we laughed warmly as I tried not to let the world see that I was dying inside.
And, about two weeks ago, a similar thing happened during a Zoom chat with a different comic artist — let’s call him StinkyPoopieHead as payback for that one time he accused me of being immature — who said, “Yeah, I’m actually finding the writing pretty easy. You just come up with an idea, flesh it out, and write it down.”
I replied, “I think I’ll start drawing my own comics. It’s just putting a lot of pencil marks on a page, and then erasing the ones that aren’t meant to be there.”
He didn’t like that because it “trivialised” his work. StinkyPoopieHead has spent years learning how to draw. He argued, “You can’t just decide you’re a good enough artist to get your work published!”
“You’ve just decided you’re a good enough writer to get your work published,” said I.
“That’s completely different!” he said, and then failed to adequately explain why.
I mean, he’s technically he wasn’t wrong that writing, at its heart, is just thinking of a story, fleshing it out, and writing it down. That’s as true for me as it was for Shakespeare or Barbara Cartland or whoever it was who wrote Gilgamesh.
But from that perspective, piano-playing is just pressing the right keys at the right time, mountain-climbing is just a matter of continuing to go up until there’s no more up to go to, and becoming mega-rich is the simple process of acquiring more money than you spend and continuing to do that until your bank statements have to be printed in landscape mode.
StinkyPoopieHead snarked, “Oh, so you’re saying artists shouldn’t even try their hand at writing?”
“No, I’m saying you definitely should try your hand at writing. But don’t mistake being able to type for being able to write. Or being able to tell a story for being able to tell it well.”
He still wasn’t getting it, so I simplified my argument by sending him this drawing I made last year:
“This is obviously a robot,” I said, “so clearly I’m a good enough artist to draw my own comics.”
“Ah,” said he. “Now I get what you’re saying. Is my writing at the same level as your drawing?”
“Hah! You wish you were this good!”
The truth is he actually is quite good, but I’m not going to tell him that. He’s not the greatest writer in the world, but then neither am I. Nor is anyone else, when they start out.
The writers and artist and musicians who are at the top of their field all understand that the formula for quality is quite simple:
quantity x time
Put the hours in, don’t be afraid to try new things, ignore anyone who tells you that you can’t do it, and never quit.
Blog News:
- Updated the Playhour Timeline!
- I think I’ve successfully identified both issues of Cor!! that The Goodies are reading in the photos on the back of their album The Goodies Sing Songs from The Goodies.
- Our Friday Flashbacks since the last HM&D looked at Film Fun, Misty, Starblazer and Target — with Target receiving the most attention by a considerable margin, although Starblazer did a lot better than I’d expected. (The list of “star” titles in the Starblazer feature prompted far too many “You forgot this one…” comments. No, I didn’t forget it. I just chose not to include it!)
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, Mar
25 years ago:
08 April – Rugrats final issue.
Publisher: Marvel UK/Panini UK
From: 22 May 1996
To: 08 Apr 1998
Duration: 1 year, 11 months
Issues: 29
30 years ago:
April – Black Axe launched.
Publisher: Marvel UK
From: Apr 1993
To: 06 Oct 1993
Duration: 6 months
Issues: 7
April – Super Soldiers launched.
Publisher: Marvel UK
From: Apr 1993
To: Nov 1993
Duration: 7 months
Issues: 8
01 April – Total Carnage launched.
Publisher: Dark Horse International
From: Apr 1993
To: Jan 1994
Duration: 9 months
Issues: 10
April – WCW World Championship Wrestling Comic final issue.
Publisher: Marvel UK
From: Jul 1992
To: Apr 1993
Duration: 9 months
Issues: 10
April – Wild Thing launched.
Publisher: Marvel UK
From: Apr 1993
To: Oct 1993
Duration: 6 months
Issues: 7
23 April – Tiny Toon Adventures (1992) final issue.
Publisher: Marvel UK
From: 28 Feb 1992
To: 23 Apr 1993
Duration: 1 year, 2 months
Issues: 31
Fortnightly
24 April – The Adventures of Superman launched.
Publisher: London Editions
From: 24 Apr 1993
To: 01 Jan 1994
Duration: 9 months
Issues: 15
Relaunch of Superman (1988). Fortnightly at first, then monthly.
35 years ago:
April – The Best of Roy of the Rovers Monthly launched.
Publisher: Fleetway
From: Apr 1988
To: Jun 1990
Duration: 2 years, 2 months
Issues: 27
Reprinted strips from Roy of the Rovers. Relaunched as Roy of the Rovers Monthly (1990), although it’s arguable that this was merely a rebranding: the new version didn’t use issue numbers.
April – Visionaries launched.
Publisher: Marvel UK
From: Apr 1988
To: Aug 1988
Duration: 4 months
Issues: 5
16 April – Lady Lovely Locks launched.
Publisher: Marvel UK
From: 16 Apr 1988
To: 01 Oct 1988
Duration: 6 months
Issues: 13
Fortnightly.
27 April – Girl (1981) final issue.
Publisher: IPC
From: 14 Feb 1981
To: 27 Apr 1988
Duration: 7 years, 2 months
Issues: 377
Relaunched as Girl (1988).
Revamped with a new look from #191 (6 Oct 1984). Last issue number and date estimated
40 years ago:
April – Dandy Comic Library launched.
Publisher: DC Thomson
From: Apr 1983
To: 1997
Duration: 14 years, 2 months
Issues: 344
Published four times a month. Replaced by The Fun-Size Dandy.
April – Escape launched.
Publisher: Escape Publishing/Titan Books
From: Apr 1983
To: Apr 1989
Duration: 6 years
Issues: 19
Dates are approximate. Published by Titan Books from #10.
20 April – Fantastic Four final issue.
Publisher: Marvel UK
From: 06 Oct 1982
To: 20 Apr 1983
Duration: 6 months
Issues: 29
Absorbed into Spider-Man Comics Weekly.
20 April – The Mighty Thor launched.
Publisher: Marvel UK
From: 20 Apr 1983
To: 11 Jan 1984
Duration: 9 months
Issues: 39
Retitled The Mighty Thor and the X-Men from #20 when it absorbed The Original X-Men (below), then Thor and the X-Men from #25.
27 April – The Original X-Men launched.
Publisher: Marvel UK
From: 27 Apr 1983
To: 17 Aug 1983
Duration: 4 months
Issues: 17
45 years ago:
April – Debbie Picture Story Library for Girls launched.
Publisher: DC Thomson
From: Apr 1978
To: 1993
Duration: 15 years, 2 months
Issues: 197
Exact end date is unknown
April – Mandy Picture Story Library for Girls launched.
Publisher: DC Thomson
From: Apr 1978
To: 1997
Duration: 19 years, 2 months
Issues: 277
Exact end date is unknown.
See also: Pocket-Money Comics: Mandy Picture Story Library
April – Superman Pocketbook launched.
Publisher: Egmont Methuen
From: Apr 1978
To: 1980
Duration: 2 years, 2 months
Issues: 18
Bi-monthly. Actual dates and number of issues unknown (at least 18 issues were published, numbered #1 to #20: numbers #10 and #12 appear to have been skipped).
14 April – Target (1978) launched.
Publisher: Polystyle Publications
From: 14 Apr 1978
To: 18 Aug 1978
Duration: 4 months
Issues: 19
See also: Friday Flashback: Target (1978)
15 April – Krazy Comic final issue.
Publisher: IPC
From: 16 Oct 1976
To: 15 Apr 1978
Duration: 1 year, 6 months
Issues: 79
Absorbed into Whizzer and Chips.
50 years ago:
04 April – It’s Here! And Now! launched.
Publisher: IPC
From: 04 Apr 1973
To: 12 Jan 1974
Duration: 9 months
Issues: 40
A weekly music magazine. Don’t know whether it had any comic-strip content, but it’s here because it’s part of the My Guy Timeline.
60 years ago:
April – Lone Star Magazine final issue.
Publisher: Atlas Publishing
From: 1957
To: Apr 1963
Duration: 5 years, 10 months
Issues: 75
Continued from Lone Star Comics. Vols 3 to 7 have twelve issues each, then issues are numbered #85 to #88, Vol 8 #4, #90 to #99
70 years ago:
03 April – Tarzan – The Grand Adventure Comic final issue.
Publisher: Westworld Publications
From: 15 Sep 1951
To: 03 Apr 1953
Duration: 1 year, 7 months
Issues: 62
Relaunched as Tarzan Adventures
08 April – Tarzan Adventures launched.
Publisher: Westworld Publications
From: 08 Apr 1953
To: 26 Dec 1959
Duration: 6 years, 8 months
Issues: 340
Relaunch of Tarzan – The Grand Adventure Comic
85 years ago:
02 April – Ovaltiney’s Own Comic final issue.
Publisher: Target Press
From: 20 Oct 1935
To: 02 Apr 1938
Duration: 2 years, 6 months
Issues: 128
Each issue was four pages long, and distributed as a giveaway with comic magazines like Rattler, Dazzler, Chuckler and Rocket.
02 April – The Pilot final issue.
Publisher: Amalgamated Press
From: 05 Oct 1935
To: 02 Apr 1938
Duration: 2 years, 6 months
Issues: 131
Absorbed into The Wild West Weekly.
90 years ago:
11 April – Films & Fiction final issue.
Publisher: Pearson
From: 29 Oct 1932
To: 11 Apr 1933
Duration: 6 months
Issues: 24
100 years ago:
14 April – Ally Sloper’s Half-Holiday (1922) final issue.
Publisher: Sloperies
From: 05 Nov 1922
To: 14 Apr 1923
Duration: 5 months
Issues: 23
Continued in Half-Holiday.
21 April – Half-Holiday launched.
Publisher: Sloperies
From: 21 Apr 1923
To: 29 Sep 1923
Duration: 5 months
Issues: 24
Issues were numbered #24 – #47: continued from Ally Sloper’s Half-Holiday (1922).
105 years ago:
20 April – Our Girls (1915) final issue.
Publisher: Amalgamated Press
From: 06 Mar 1915
To: 20 Apr 1918
Duration: 3 years, 1 month
Issues: 164
Absorbed into The Girls’ Friend.
110 years ago:
19 April – Fannie Eden’s Penny Stories (1908) final issue.
Publisher: W.B. Horner & Son
From: 27 Jun 1908
To: 19 Apr 1913
Duration: 4 years, 10 months
Issues: 252
Absorbed into Horner’s Penny Stories.
26 April – Horner’s Pocket Library final issue.
Publisher: W.B. Horner & Son
From: 16 Jun 1900
To: 26 Apr 1913
Duration: 12 years, 10 months
Issues: 672
Absorbed into Woman’s Own.
Rebranded as Horner’s Pansy Library from 20 Jul 1907, Horner’s Pansy Library Stories from 20 Jun 1908, Horner’s Pansy Stories from 17 Apr 1909, Jeannie Maitland’s Stories and Pansy Stories 15 Jul 1911, Jeannie Maitland’s Weekly Stories from 26 Oct 1912 and Jeannie Maitland’s Stories from 4 Jan 1913
125 years ago:
April – The Wide World launched.
Publisher: Newnes
From: Apr 1898
To: Dec 1965
Duration: 67 years, 8 months
Issues: 805
Rusty Staples 
I remember that first issue of Carnage! It was pretty good. Great to see it again. Cover looks exactly how I remember!
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