DC Thomson Comics Timeline

[Updated 20180907! Scroll all the way down to the end to see the update notes!] After three family trees focussing on IPC/Fleetway comics, it's time to take a look at their main rival, the noble Scottish house of DC Thomson, not to be confused with DC Comics (or even DC Thompson with a P as …

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Pocket-Money Comics: Captain America

Captain America Publisher: Marvel UK Issues: 59 First issue: 25 February 1981 Last issue: 7 April 1982 Absorbed: Marvel Action, Marvel Super Adventure By February 1981, Marvel UK had been running for nine years and had published over thirty different titles, to varying degrees of success (for example, the 1975 weekly edition of The Savage …

Eaglution of British Comics, part 3

Amazingly, it turns out that comics aren't just for boys! No one saw that coming, right? Except, of course, for the countless millions of readers of non-boy-exclusive comics whose voices are still frequently being either ignored or silenced. Younger readers might find it hard to believe, but back in the day (that day being roughly …

Can You Help Me Track Down My Guy?

“My guy’s mad at me,” sang Tracey Ullman in her gender-swapped version of the classic 1979 hit “My Girl” by Madness. I’m guessing, however, that no matter how mad Tracey’s guy was at her, I’m even madder at My Guy. That’s My Guy the magazine, of course. But why am I mad at it, I …

Eaglution of British Comics, part 2

Buster was a monster. Buster the comic, that is, not Buster the character, who was a nice kid. His father, on the other hand, was the monster: the alcoholic, gambling-addicted, spouse-abusing Andy Capp from the same-titled cartoon strip that's been running in the British tabloid newspapers The Mirror and The Sunday Mirror since 1957. Buster …

Pocket-Money Comics: Jet

Jet Publisher: IPC Issues: 22 First issue: 1 May 1971 Last issue: 25 September 1971 Merged into: Buster Absorbed: None Jet was one of those IPC comics with a life so brief that it almost didn't exist at all. Its first issue was cover-dated 1 May 1971 and its last was a mere twenty-two weeks …

Eaglution of British Comics, part 1

As I mentioned before (in Deciphering the Logo), in 1969 the legendary British comic Eagle ended its nineteen-year run when it was absorbed into Lion, which was then absorbed into Valiant in 1974, which was in turn gobbled up by Battle in 1976, and then in 1988 it all came full-circle when Battle was consumed …