The Mysteries of Wonder!

If you've spent any time peeking at or poking into the history of British comics there's a very good chance you'll have come across mentions of The Wonder, or The Funny Wonder, or The Jolly Jester, or The Halfpenny Wonder, or Jester & Wonder, or some variation on those titles. You might even have thought …

Hatch, Match & Dispatch – January 2020

We're into 2020 now, which means that 1940 was a round number of years ago. This in turn means that this year we'll be acknowledging the anniversaries of the deaths of a lot of British comics thanks to the paper shortages of World War II. None for January, thankfully, but they're coming (spoiler: one of …

Hatch, Match & Dispatch – December 2019

The rules: these are only the “big” anniversaries (25, 30, 35, 40, 45, 50, 60, 70, 75, 80, 90 & 100+ years), dates are cover-cover dates where known, monthly comics with no confirmed day of launch default to the first of the month, and this list is accurate only to the best of my knowledge, …

Hatch, Match & Dispatch – November 2019

The Important British Comics Anniversaries for November 2019! As explained in more detail last month, these are only the “big” anniversaries (25, 30, 35, 40, 45, 50, 60, 70, 75, 80, 90 & 100+ years), dates are cover-cover dates (where known), monthly comics with no known day of launch default to the first of the …

Hatch, Match & Dispatch – October 2019

Say hello to a new monthly feature here on Rusty Staples... a comprehensive, mostly accurate, although certainly incomplete list of anniversaries of British comic launches, mergers and cancellations! First, some caveats... 1. I'm only noting the "big" anniversaries (25, 30, 35, 40, 45, 50, 60, 70, 75, 80, 90 & 100+ years), otherwise we'd be …

Pocket-Money Comics: Hotspur

The New Hotspur / The Hotspur / Hotspur Publisher: DC Thomson First issue: 24 October 1959 Last issue: 23 January 1981 Issues: 1110 Relaunch of: The Hotspur True story: one of my friends refused to buy this comic because he thought that by doing so he would be supporting the football team Tottenham Hotspur. We …

Pocket-Money Comics: Hanna-Barbera’s Fun Time

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 had access to a TV set, which wasn't all of us, to be honest) will almost certainly …

Marvel UK 70s & 80s Leftovers Timeline

Stop! Before you go any further, please be aware that this article has been replaced by the much more comprehensive Marvel UK 1900s Timeline! A few weeks ago we looked at the Mighty World of Marvel and Spider-Man Comics Weekly family trees, so here's a timeline of the remaining Marvel UK comics of the 70s …

Branding: Doctor Who Weekly/Monthly/Magazine

Give me a new magazine and I'll spend as much time studying the design and layout as I will reading the content... In particular I find logos and branding to be fascinating. I'm aware that it's a niche interest, but we live in a market-driven world and branding is key to marketing. For a company …

Comic Cuts, 29 November 1919

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 …