Hatch, Match & Dispatch – May 2023

Apologies for the lack of activity on the blog lately… Sometimes, sadly, comics have to take a back-seat to real-world events.

My father, Patrick Carroll, died on April 2nd after a long battle with vascular dementia. My love for comics stems from him: Dad grew up reading comics like the original Eagle, Sun, Tarzan Adventures, Film Fun, and countless cowboy and war titles. It was he who bought me my first copy of The Mighty World of Marvel back in 1972, and he who encouraged me to hold onto my comics rather than swap them for marbles or toy soldiers (that said, sometimes I do wish he’d tried a little harder to discourage me from cutting out the pin-ups and colouring in my annuals!).

Dad read just about every SF, adventure or superhero comic I brought into the house. He particularly enjoyed 2000AD, especially Strontium Dog which he felt was, as times, very close in tone and theme to the cowboy comics of his youth. He was a life-long fan of the singing cowboy Gene Autry, and for his seventieth birthday I bought him a copy of Gene Autry Comics #18, published in 1948 when he would have been eight years old. After he’d read the issue, I framed it for him, and he hung it on his office wall, next to paintings of spitfires, a facsimile of a newspaper page announcing “Man Walks on Moon” and some of his own wood-carvings.

I’ve taken the comic back now, but I’ve not read it myself. Singing cowboys were Dad’s thing, not mine. I will read it one day, I think. But not yet.

Patrick William Carroll — 1940 to 2023. Rest in Peace.

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Reprint news:

The fourth collection in Hibernia Comics’ Fleetway Files collection, Sergeant Strong, is now available, reprinted from the pages of IPC’s Valiant.

Sergeant Strong collects the complete amazing adventures of Britain’s first man in space: Simon Strong! While on a mission to the dark side of the moon, a brush with a “roving nebula” changes Strong forever.

This close encounter leaves him unable to remain an astronaut, but with a new set of peculiar abilities: abilities that bring him to the attention of Inspector Zero and Ghost Squad! Written by Scott Goodall (The Indestructible Man, Marney the Fox) and drawn by British comic powerhouse Eric Bradbury (Doomlord, Invasion 1984!) Sergeant Strong exemplifies the fast-paced, ultra-compressed style of British adventure comics of the 1970s, and it’s a rip-roaring adventure that mixes sci-fi with shadowy secret agents, and straight action with an undercurrent of the bizarre.

Sergeant Strong is the fourth release in The Fleetway Files, a series of reprints from Hibernia collecting hidden gems from the Fleetway and IPC archive. Specs: 88 Pages, perfect bound, B&W interior, only available from online.

Volume 1 (The Angry Planet) and Volume 2 (The Indestructible Man) of The Fleetway Files are now sold out, but a handful of copies of Volume 3 (Captain Condor) are still available!

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Blog News:

• Only one Friday Flashback since the last HM&D — DC Action! — but it’s still worth checking out if you haven’t seen it yet.

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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, Apr

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30 years ago:

May – Codename: Genetix final issue.
Publisher: Marvel UK
From: Jan 1993
To: May 1993
Duration: 4 months
Issues: 4

01 May – Motormouth and Killpower final issue.
Publisher: Marvel UK
From: Jun 1992
To: May 1993
Duration: 11 months
Issues: 12

Initially Motormouth, title changed to Motormouth and Killpower from #4.

29 May – Sonic the Comic launched.
Publisher: IPC
From: 29 May 1993
To: 09 Jan 2002
Duration: 8 years, 8 months
Issues: 223

Update: The ever-knowledgeable Richard Sheaf of Boys Adventure Comics blog has provided correct info on Sonic’s issue-count: it ran for 223 issues, not 184 as I’d had. However, from #185 onwards, all of the comic-strip content was reprinted from earlier issues.

35 years ago:

May – Alf launched.
Publisher: Marvel UK
From: May 1988
To: Jul 1989
Duration: 1 year, 2 months
Issues: 15

May – Cuirass launched.
Publisher: Harrier Comics
From: May 1988
To: 1988
Duration: 1 month
Issues: 4

May – Madballs final issue.
Publisher: Marvel UK
From: Oct 1987
To: May 1988
Duration: 7 months
Issues: 8

May – Nightbird launched.
Publisher: Harrier Comics
From: May 1988
To: Aug 1988
Duration: 3 months
Issues: 2

May – The Best of Eagle launched.
Publisher: IPC
From: May 1988
To: Oct 1988
Duration: 5 months
Issues: 6

07 May – Girl (1988) launched.
Publisher: IPC
From: 07 May 1988
To: 14 Mar 1990
Duration: 1 year, 10 months
Issues: 98

Relaunch of Girl (1981) as more of a magazine than a comic.

07 May – The Flintstones and Friends launched.
Publisher: Marvel UK
From: 07 May 1988
To: 25 Mar 1989
Duration: 10 months
Issues: 24

Fortnightly. Possibly later relaunched as Cartoon Time.

21 May – Adventures of the Galaxy Rangers launched.
Publisher: Marvel UK
From: 21 May 1988
To: 10 Sep 1988
Duration: 4 months
Issues: 9

Fortnightly

40 years ago:

May – The Mighty World of Marvel (1972) final issue.
Publisher: Marvel UK
From: 07 Oct 1972
To: May 1983
Duration: 10 years, 7 months
Issues: 397

Absorbed into The Daredevils.
Initially weekly. From #38 (23 Jun 1973) until #329 (17 Jan 1979) the title was The Mighty World of Marvel Featuring The Incredible Hulk, with many variations depending on the most recently absorbed title. Retitled Marvel Comic from #330 (24 Jan 1979), then revamped as a monthly title, Marvel Super-Heroes, from #353 (Sept 1979).

Note that Spider-Man Comics Weekly #334 boasts ‘and Marvel Comic’ on the cover, with the implication that it’s absorbed this title: it did so only in name, really, because MWOM was actually rebranded as the monthly Marvel Superheroes and then absorbed into The Daredevils.

See also: Marvel UK 1900s Timeline

45 years ago:

13 May – Starlord launched.
Publisher: IPC
From: 13 May 1978
To: 07 Oct 1978
Duration: 5 months
Issues: 22

See also: Altered Images: Starlord #1

50 years ago:

May – My Horse launched.
Publisher: Thorpe & Porter
From: May 1973
To: 1974
Duration: 1 year(ish)
Issues: 6

Exact end date unknown.

55 years ago:

04 May – Jag launched.
Publisher: Fleetway/IPC
From: 04 May 1968
To: 29 Mar 1969
Duration: 10 months
Issues: 48

Launched as a tabloid-sized comic; shrunk to standard IPC size with issue #43 (22 Feb 1969).

60 years ago:

May – Amazing Stories of Suspense launched.
Publisher: Alan Class
From: May 1963
To: Mar 1989
Duration: 25 years, 10 months
Issues: 241

Reprinted material from the US Marvel series Astonishing, Mystic, Strange Stories of Suspense, Marvel Tales, Strange Tales, Spellbound, Journey into Mystery, Tales to Astonish, Tales of Suspense, Strange Tales of the Unusual and more. The title was Tales of Suspense for the first two issues, and also for issues #133, #134, #161, #167, #199 and #205. Covers (and occasionally contents) were reused now and then. The cover of #1, for example, comes from issue #60 of Marvel Comics’ Astonishing, and reappears on #134, #167 and #205.

May – Bunty Picture Story Library for Girls launched.
Publisher: DC Thomson
From: May 1963
To: 1997
Duration: 34 years, 1 month
Issues: 455

May – Judy Picture Story Library for Girls launched.
Publisher: DC Thomson
From: May 1963
To: Jul 1994
Duration: 31 years, 2 months
Issues: 375

May – Thriller Picture Library final issue.
Publisher: Amalgamated Press
From: Nov 1951
To: May 1963
Duration: 11 years, 6 months
Issues: 450

Initially Thriller Comics, renamed Thriller Comics Library with #41, then Thriller Picture Library with #163.

May – Uncanny Tales launched.
Publisher: Alan Class
From: May 1963
To: Feb 1979
Duration: 15 years, 9 months
Issues: 187

Reprinted material from the US Marvel series Young Men, Strange Tales, Tales to Astonish, Adventures into Weird Worlds, The Amazing Spider-Man Annual, Mystic, Journey into Mystery, Astonishing, Mystical Tales, Marvel Tales, and others.

18 May – Girls’ Crystal final issue.
Publisher: Amalgamated Press
From: 26 Oct 1935
To: 18 May 1963
Duration: 27 years, 7 months
Issues: 1437

Absorbed into School Friend (1950). Titled The Crystal for the first nine issues. Became a comic on 21 Mar 1953.

95 years ago:

12 May – Joy final issue.
Publisher: Amalgamated Press
From: 14 Feb 1925
To: 12 May 1928
Duration: 3 years, 3 months
Issues: 169

Absorbed into Eve’s Own.

12 May – My Story Weekly final issue.
Publisher: Amalgamated Press
From: 15 Oct 1927
To: 12 May 1928
Duration: 7 months
Issues: 31

Absorbed into Poppy’s Paper (1924).

125 years ago:

21 May – The Coloured Comic launched.
Publisher: Trapps & Holmes
From: 21 May 1898
To: 28 Apr 1906
Duration: 7 years, 11 months
Issues: 415

Dropped full colour from #72. Later relaunched as Smiles.

130 years ago:

01 May – Larks! (1893) launched.
Publisher: Dalziel Brothers/Trapps Holmes
From: 01 May 1893
To: 29 Dec 1906
Duration: 13 years, 7 months
Issues: 239

Title temporarily changed to The Best Budget for twelve weeks in 1902. Issue-count is estimated.