Back in October we took a look at Spaceship Away, the acclaimed Eagle & Dan Dare magazine/fanzine which was then celebrating its twentieth anniversary, and this coverage prompted a goodly number of people to remind me that Eagle Times also exists.
Eagle Times is the acclaimed quarterly journal of the Eagle Society, a conglomeration of enthusiastic and friendly Eagle fans of all ages from all parts of the world. Their aim is simple: to celebrate Eagle, its contents and of course its creators.
To the best of my knowledge Eagle Times isn’t actually celebrating a notable “divisible by five” anniversary right now, and it’s not actually a comic, but I’m including it here because it’s definitely worthy of a mention. The most recent issue is volume 36, number 3… Assuming the magazine has always been quarterly, and that my ability to multiply by four is still working, that comes to somewhere in the region of a massively impressive 147 issues!
For more information on both the society and the magazine, check out the excellent Eagle Times Blog.
Reprint News:
TimeQuake
From the pages of Starlord (and with a short run in 2000AD following the merger), the fifth volume in Hibernia Comics’ Fleetway Files series tells of James Blocker, an ordinary bloke from the 1970s who’s recruited into the secret organization Time-Control, responsible for keeping the timelines safe from anomalies known as Time Quakes — interference with past events that can cause devastating repercussions throughout history.
Written by Chris Lowder (Adam Eterno, Victor Drago), with art by Ian Kennedy, John Cooper, Alberto Salinas and Jesús Redondo, this time-bending tale was one of the highlights of Starlord. With its pagers restored to match its original publication, this is the first time TimeQuake has been collected in any format. This limited print run of just 300 copies includes all the weekly episodes from Starlord and 2000AD, including all colour pages and centrespreads. A4, perfect-bound, 108 pages. The Fleetway Files: TimeQuake is available to order now!
Space: 1999 Comic Anthology
Collected for the first time since publication, this anthology contains all the Space: 1999 strips, stories and features from Look-In magazine, plus a wealth of background articles and interviews that put the Space:1999 material in context, as well as providing insights on the foreign reprints and its American counterpart magazines and comics.
Based on the classic ITV show created by Gerry and Sylvia Anderson, Space: 1999 tells of the crew of Moonbase Alpha, lost in space when a nuclear accident sends the moon hurtling out of Earth’s orbit.
The Look-In strip features art by comics legends John M. Burns and Mike Noble, and this collection also includes overviews of other related Anderson material from the pages of Look-In: The Worlds of Gerry Anderson, Starcruiser and Terrahawks.
Hardcover, 304 x 228 mm, 320 pages. Available to order now!
Blog News:
- Blimey O’Crikey! Our recent article on pre-Marvel UK British reprints of Marvel Comics has gone absolutely crazy ape bonkers, garnering way more visitors than the average post receives. Since it went on-line the list has received quite a few updates and additions thanks to vigilant readers who spotted holes in the data. If you can add anything to the list, or if you spot any errors, please don’t be shy about getting in touch!
- Update: You’ll see below that we’re listing the final issues of a lot of Marvel UK (and Marvel Frontier Comics) titles this month, and there were a few last month, too… But it’s important to note that these were all designed to be limited series — it’s not that they were cancelled! Thanks to John Freeman of the utterly indispensable Down the Tubes blog for reminding me!
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, May, Jun, Jul, Aug, Sep, Oct, Nov
25 years ago:
December – Manga Max launched.
Publisher: Titan Comics
From: Dec 1998
To: Oct 2000
Duration: 1 year, 10 months
Issues: 20
A relaunch of Manga Mania.
December – Sabrina the Teenage Witch final issue.
Publisher: Titan Comics
From: Oct 1998
To: Dec 1998
Duration: 2 months
Issues: 3
Possibly lasted for more than three issues… Any further info would be appreciated!
30 years ago:
December – Children of the Voyager final issue.
Publisher: Marvel Frontier Comics
From: Sep 1993
To: Dec 1993
Duration: 3 months
Issues: 4
December – Dances with Demons final issue.
Publisher: Marvel Frontier Comics
From: Sep 1993
To: Dec 1993
Duration: 3 months
Issues: 4
December – Death 3 final issue.
Publisher: Marvel UK
From: Sep 1993
To: Dec 1993
Duration: 3 months
Issues: 4
December – Death Metal vs. Genetix launched.
Publisher: Marvel UK
From: Dec 1993
To: Jan 1994
Duration: 1 month
Issues: 2
December – Die-Cut vs. G-Force final issue.
Publisher: Marvel UK
From: Nov 1993
To: Dec 1993
Duration: 1 month
Issues: 2
December – Hell’s Angel final issue.
Publisher: Marvel UK
From: Jul 1992
To: Dec 1993
Duration: 1 year, 5 months
Issues: 16
As mentioned before, this one was retitled Dark Angel from issue #6.
December – Killpower: The Early Years final issue.
Publisher: Marvel UK
From: Sep 1993
To: Dec 1993
Duration: 3 months
Issues: 4
December – The Incomplete Death’s Head final issue.
Publisher: Marvel UK
From: Jan 1993
To: Dec 1993
Duration: 11 months
Issues: 12
Reprints material from Death’s Head (see below) with new framing stories.
23 December – Hurricanes final issue.
Publisher: DC Thomson
From: 30 Sep 1993
To: 23 Dec 1993
Duration: 3 months
Issues: 7
35 years ago:
December – Death’s Head launched.
Publisher: Marvel UK
From: Dec 1988
To: Sep 1989
Duration: 9 months
Issues: 10
December – Masters of the Universe final issue.
Publisher: London Editions
From: Mar 1986
To: Dec 1988
Duration: 2 years, 9 months
Issues: 72
Absorbed into Masters of the Universe Adventure Magazine.
40 years ago:
08 December – Load Runner final issue.
Publisher: ECC Publications
From: 23 Jun 1983
To: 08 Dec 1983
Duration: 6 months
Issues: 13
See also: In-Shallow Profile: Load Runner
45 years ago:
02 December – Bullet final issue.
Publisher: DC Thomson
From: 14 Feb 1976
To: 02 Dec 1978
Duration: 2 years, 10 months
Issues: 147
Absorbed into Warlord.
50 years ago:
08 December – Hit! final issue.
Publisher: IPC
From: 02 Jun 1973
To: 08 Dec 1973
Duration: 6 months
Issues: 28
Absorbed into Fabulous.
Issue-count for this one is estimated… and it wasn’t a comic: its inclusion here is mostly because it’s part of the My Guy Timeline!
29 December – Princess Tina final issue.
Publisher: IPC
From: 23 Sep 1967
To: 29 Dec 1973
Duration: 6 years, 3 months
Issues: 227
Absorbed into Pink.
80 years ago:
December – War Comics (1940) final issue.
Publisher: Swan
From: Apr 1940
To: Dec 1943
Duration: 3 years, 8 months
Issues: 20
95 years ago:
01 December – Aldine Adventure Library final issue.
Publisher: Aldine House
From: 15 Nov 1927
To: 01 Dec 1928
Duration: 1 year, 1 month
Issues: 20
01 December – Poppy’s Library launched.
Publisher: Amalgamated Press
From: 01 Dec 1928
To: 01 Jul 1937
Duration: 8 years, 7 months
Issues: 208
100 years ago:
01 December – Chuckles final issue.
Publisher: Amalgamated Press
From: 10 Jan 1914
To: 01 Dec 1923
Duration: 9 years, 11 months
Issues: 517
Relaunched as Jungle Jinks (see below)
01 December – Pam’s Paper launched.
Publisher: Allied Newspapers
From: 01 Dec 1923
To: 07 May 1927
Duration: 3 years, 5 months
Issues: 179
08 December – Jungle Jinks launched.
Publisher: Amalgamated Press
From: 08 Dec 1923
To: 07 Feb 1925
Duration: 1 year, 2 months
Issues: 62
Relaunch of Chuckles (see above). This was later re-relaunched as The Playbox (1925).
110 years ago:
01 December – Playbox (1898) final issue.
Publisher: Harmsworth/Amalgamated Press
From: 29 Oct 1898
To: 01 Dec 1913
Duration: 15 years, 2 months
Issues: 105
115 years ago:
01 December – Every Boy’s Monthly final issue.
Publisher: Religious Tract Society
From: 01 Feb 1905
To: 01 Dec 1908
Duration: 3 years, 10 months
Issues: 47
Absorbed into The Boy’s Own Paper.
120 years ago:
26 December – Funny Pips final issue.
Publisher: Pearson
From: 12 Sep 1903
To: 26 Dec 1903
Duration: 3 months
Issues: 16
Free with The Boys’ Leader. See Sparkyology 101
150 years ago:
December – Young Gentleman’s Magazine final issue.
Publisher: Routledge & Warne
From: Jan 1869
To: Dec 1873
Duration: 5 years
Issues: 60
Relaunched as Every Boy’s Magazine (1875).
This one started out as Every Boy’s Magazine (Feb 1862 to Dec 1864, 35 issues), then became Routledge’s Magazine for Boys (Jan 1865 to Dec 1868, 48 issues, see below), then Young Gentleman’s Magazine (Jan 1869 to Dec 1873, 60 issues), and then, finally, returned to being Every Boy’s Magazine (Jan 1874 to Sep 1888, 176 issues).
155 years ago:
December – Routledge’s Magazine for Boys final issue.
Publisher: Routledge & Warne
From: Jan 1865
To: Dec 1868
Duration: 4 years
Issues: 48
Relaunched as Young Gentleman’s Magazine (see above).
Rusty Staples 
Hi Michael, Any chance you could ask Andy Allard to get in touch with me? Sounds like he access to more issues of Romeo than I’ve seen (exactly one copy bought at auction recently, after David Roach made me aware of Millie’s inclusion) 🙂 Rob
LikeLiked by 1 person
Will do!
LikeLike
Hi Michael, Thanks – I’ve since found him on Facebook 🙂 Unfortunately, he did have stash of Romeo issues but sold them on 😦 Your column was very useful, and caused a revision to the first chapter, as I was unaware of the specific content of any 40’s reprint comic featuring Marvel material. It’s still a very hazy period, with lots of holes to be too precise about much of the publishing activity during those early years. Rob
LikeLike
There’s a list of novels and short stories serialised in Every Boy’s Magazine here: https://www.victorianresearch.org/atcl/show_periodical.php?jid=261
LikeLiked by 1 person
I appreciate you don’t want ti tamper with the checklist style of these items, but it might be worth noting that some of the MUK titles were always intended to be limited series.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I appreciate that this feature has a planned brevity with the focus on “checklist”, but it might be worth mentioning that a number of the MUK titles listed above were always intended to be limited series, explaining their short shelf life.
That certainly applies to “Children of the Voyager, “Dances with Demons”. “Death 3”, “Death Metal vs. Genetix”, “Die-Cut vs. G-Force”, “Killpower: The Early Years” and “The Incomplete Death’s Head” (in the latter’s case it was a reprint title Editorial Director Paul Neary had no real desire to reprint in the first place, but a demand from Marvel US for more Death’s Head after the runway success of Death’s Head II could not be ignored. The addition of the Death’s Head II framing sequence was my idea, and that it survived to its end of its planned run seems to suggest it helped its continuation).
As one of the “Genesis 92” project editors, I can confirm that we worked to a limited series format on all later MUK titles, the plan being to “test the water” in terms of sales and then commission further series if they were a success. Obviously, changes at MUK as Panini took charge of the brand, covered in Comic World in 1995, put the final nail in the coffin to the “Genesis 92” project (see https://starlogged.blogspot.com/2017/06/1995-comic-world-reports-panini.html) the same magazine reporting the year before that MUK had pulled out of the direct sale market (https://starlogged.blogspot.com/2014/10/1994-comic-world-reports-genesis.html)
Rob Kirby provided the information about the “end days” of MUK’s US-skewed titles for my series of features on downthetubes – https://downthetubes.net/british-comics-reference/marvel-uks-genesis-92-looking-back-and-what-might-have-been/marvel-uk-genesis-92-part-10-final-unrealised-projects-1994-and-a-postscript/
“Dark Angel” (originally, “Hell’s Angel”) and the original “Death’s Head” , listed above, were ongoing titles.
LikeLike