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Blimey! | The Blog of British Comics! - Geek
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BLIMEY! The Blog of British Comics: The Christmas SCORCHER (1973)
Adventure comics didn't always bother with Christmas episodes but this issue ofScorchermade the effort for a few of its characters. No snow on the logo, but a nice festive cover by Mike Western.Inside, footballing brothersJack and Jimmy(which had started out as two separate stories inScore and Roar)
BLIMEY! The Blog of British Comics: The Christmas WHOOPEE! (1980)
Beginning this year's look back at Christmas comics of the past and to kick off here's a few pages from the issue ofWhoopee!that was on sale around this time in 1980. The cover is by Robert Nixon, one of the premier artists in humour comics of that period. Although he was very much influenced by the
BLIMEY! The Blog of British Comics: The Christmas CHIPS (1939)
Here's my final Christmas choice for this season, and indeed forever, asBlimey!will end on December 31st so there'll be no festive covers from me next year. Therefore I thought I'd make sure this last choice is a good 'un! We travel back in time80 yearsto this week in 1939 where this wonderful editi
BLIMEY! The Blog of British Comics: Preview: New Year BEANO for 2020
Here's the cover to look out for ofBeanoNo.4016 which will be in the shops onTuesday 31st December. Yes, a day earlier than usual because of the holidays.As you can see, it's the New Year issue and it's celebrated inside with a four pageTricky Dickystory written by Nigel Auchterlounie and drawn by R
BLIMEY! The Blog of British Comics: Review: THE BEANO BOOK 1956 (Facsimile)
Cover art by James Crighton.One of the books I treated myself to for Christmas was this facsimile ofThe Beano Book 1956(originally published in 1955). As the original was published four years before I was born I'd never read it before so it was all new to me.As most of you already know, you can orde
BLIMEY! The Blog of British Comics: Preview: Next week's BEANO
After its traditional break of a few weeks while the Christmas edition was on the stands, theBeanoreturns to normal weekly frequency next week with issue No.4015. This has a Star Wars theme to reflect a certain movie that's in the cinemas at the moment (I forget its name).There's a three page Dennis
BLIMEY! The Blog of British Comics: The Christmas TAMMY (1971)
Tammywas launched in early 1971 so this was its first Christmas issue. The comic was the first of a new style of IPC comics that were more streetwise, and more likely to feature working class heroes. Its success led to comics such asAction,Battle, and2000AD. Although where those three comics usually
BLIMEY! The Blog of British Comics: The End.
There's only one thing certain in life and that's by accident or design nothing lasts forever. This is my final blog post here andBlimey!will no longer be updated after today. I'll still maintain the blog to publish your comments but there won't be any new posts.My other blog,LewStringerComics, whic
BLIMEY! The Blog of British Comics: The Christmas CHEEKY (1979)
If this issue's cover had a soundtrack it'd be the "Hyak, hyak, hyak" sound of Sid James laughing. As they say, "Things were different in the '70s" and a kid's comic cover featuring a curvy blonde in mini skirt and thigh boots was a product of its time.The title character Cheeky featured in several
BLIMEY! The Blog of British Comics: The Christmas HOOT (1985)
Hootwas a D.C. Thomson comic that had a brief run of just 53 weekly issues before merging intoThe Dandy. At 16 pages it was smaller in page count than its contemporaries but it contained more colour. A fun, well produced comic, it deserved to last longer. Here are a few pages from its one and only C
BLIMEY! The Blog of British Comics: The Christmas PHOENIX (2019)
Back in the 1930s it was the tradition for comics to have a Christmas "double number" and be twice as thick because they were skipping a week. It's good to see that tradition has been revived for the last few years and this week'sPhoenixis once again a bumper 64 page edition.The gimmickThe Phoenixus
BLIMEY! The Blog of British Comics: The Christmas BEANO (1971)
As you can tell from the name written above the logo, I was havingThe Beanoreserved for me at the local newsagents every week back in 1971. In fact I'd had it saved for me since 1966. These days it's easier (and cheaper) to take out a subscription than ask shops to reserve comics, as they sometimes
BLIMEY! The Blog of British Comics: Comic Oddities: CANDY (1967)
The last in my occasional series ofComic Odditiesbrings us to the weirdest one ever. It's hard to believe that the company that gave us the greatest comic of the 1960s inTV Century 21also gave us the weirdest inCandyin 1967. LikeTV21,Candywas a co-production between City Magazines and Gerry Anderson
BLIMEY! The Blog of British Comics: New for 2020: REJECTED
A New Year is coming so what better than a new comic?Rejectedis a compilation of stories written by Baden James Mellonie and illustrated by a variety of great artists. Why call itRejected? Well, all the strips "ended up in development hell or I gave up on" says Baden, but now you have a chance to se
BLIMEY! The Blog of British Comics: My top five classic comics recommendations of 2019
This year has once again seen a load of books reprinting classic British comic strips of the past. Frankly, they'veallbeen great, and this is just my personal top five although I enjoyed more books than that. It hasn't been easy to minimise it to just five titles though, and really I consider all of
BLIMEY! The Blog of British Comics: Out Now: COMMANDO Nos.5291 to 5294
This has been a great year forCommandocomics under the editorship of Georgia Battle. The surprise revivals of classic D.C. Thomson characters such asCode Name: WarlordandBraddockin new stories, and other great issues such asCommandos vs Zombies. This week, new charactersA-Forcereturn in another stor
BLIMEY! The Blog of British Comics: A Seasonal Selection of favourite Annual Covers
We always associate comic annuals with Christmas Day because, traditionally, that's when we received them. In reality of course they're published in August, (or these days as early as July). It's only because they're given as presents that we think of them as "Christmas annuals".However, as it's Chr
BLIMEY! The Blog of British Comics: The Christmas... THOR AND THE X-MEN? (1983)
When is a Christmas comic not a Christmas comic? When it's a Marvel UK comic reprinting stories out of season I guess. The short-livedThor and the X-Mencomic from 1983 was a merger of two of their weekly titles and reprinted 1960s and 1970s material from their American counterparts.The editor didn't
BLIMEY! The Blog of British Comics: The Christmas MERRY MAKER (1947)
I mentioned before that the UK had a lot on independent comics after the war, and this was one of them.The Merry Makerwas a monthly published by L. Burn and Co. Ltd. and was about the size of an American comic but only had 8 pages. Its cover price of 2d was common for the time but there were other c
BLIMEY! The Blog of British Comics: The Christmas EAGLE (1964)
There's not a lot of festive material in this issue ofEaglefor 1964 but I've found a bit to show you. Adventure comics mostly avoided festive themes in their stories as it would throw an awkward plot into the serials that would look forced. SomeDan Dareserials managed it (such as the first one in 19
BLIMEY! The Blog of British Comics: The Christmas SPARKY (1972)
We've arrived at the early 1970s. Flared trousers are in, as are chopper bikes, clackers can't be far off, and this issue ofSparkywas in newsagents this week in 1972. The cover is drawn by Bill Ritchie, with a novel approach to wishing the readers a Merry Christmas.Inside,The Sparky People's Christm
BLIMEY! The Blog of British Comics: My first DANDY (1964)
I've mentioned before that the very first comic strips I saw were a fewNoddy's Tall Bookseditions (see here) and one issue ofYogi Bear's Own(see here). However the first "proper" comic I read, and the one that stirred my enthusiasm to read it every week, wasThe DandyNo.1155, dated January 11th 1964.
BLIMEY! The Blog of British Comics: THIRD WORLD WAR arrives on January 9th
The next collection from theTreasury of British Comicswill beThird World War, the series that ran in Crisis comic in the 1990s. Ahead of its time perhaps, but certainly relevant now, and it should appeal to a more politically engaged public than ever before.The book will be published on 9th January.
BLIMEY! The Blog of British Comics: Ken Reid's Centenary
Today marks the 100th anniversary of Ken Reid's birth. Sadly he passed away in the 1980s but his superb darkly comic humour is still much appreciated today in hardback collections of his notable works.I'm lucky to own the original art for Ken's final Nervs strip fromSmash!No.162 (1969) and I blogged