Rusty Staples – Mike Writes About Comics!
Everything you ever needed to know about comics (limited to the stuff that I know and am willing to tell you)!
Prepare yourself for a shock, comic fans: We are now further away from the last issue of Battle Picture Weekly than its first issue was from the end of World War II. Battle, to use its street name, is arguably one of the most important and influential British comics of all time. Of course, that's … Continue reading Branding: Battle Picture Weekly
Hanna-Barbera's Fun Time Publisher: Williams First issue: 1 November 1972 Last issue: 30 June 1973 Issues: 25 Relaunch of: Yogi and his Toy Just about anyone who grew up in the western world in the 1970s (and who has access to a TV set, which wasn't all of us, to be honest) will almost certainly … Continue reading Pocket-Money Comics: Hanna-Barbera’s Fun Time
In the first part of this highly-acclaimed-by-me series, we looked at how the Doctor Who Weekly comic evolved into the Doctor Who Magazine magazine. This time, it's the turn of another staple of the Marvel UK publishing group, Spider-Man Comics Weekly. A spin-off from The Mighty World of Marvel -- launched four months earlier -- Spider-Man … Continue reading Branding: Spider-Man Comics Weekly
"The what timeline?" I imagine that I hear you ask. Wonder no more, chum: those four-letter words that look a bit like they might be the names of Welsh TV stations are the commonly-used shortcuts for The Mighty World of Marvel and Spider-Man Comics Weekly, the first two titles released by the British wing of … Continue reading The MWOM & SMCW Timeline
Hello, girls and boys! Are you sitting comfortably? Well, stop fidgeting, then. And stop picking at that or it'll never heal. I swear, if you don't all settle down right now I'm going to turn this internet around and we'll all go home! Is that what you want? Is it? No? I didn't think so. … Continue reading The Playhour Timeline
Comic Cuts was, for a time, synonymous with comics in general. Indeed, no one is likely to be hanged for suggesting that it's the source of the word "comic" when applied to the medium that today we call comic-books and comic-strips: Comic Cuts was originally a compilation of amusing cartoons taken from other publications... that … Continue reading Comic Cuts, 29 November 1919
A follow-up to The Avengers Battle the Earth Wrecker, which was the first novel based on a Marvel comic, Captain America: The Great Gold Steal was published by Bantam Books in July 1968. Clunky title aside, it's actually a rather good adventure. It's better written than the Avengers novel, but the plot's a little more … Continue reading Captain America: The Great Gold Steal
