The year 1969 has constantly felt particular to me. Not finest on tale of it turned into the end of the first decade I’d grown up in (and it turned into a GREAT decade to develop up in), but additionally since the UK comics landscape turned into significantly assorted at the end of that year than when it started. As a ten year outmoded advantage then, there comprise been a large range of adjustments to with out warning obtain aged to in the weekly comics I enjoyed. I view I’d show those adjustments here, which affected not finest the few comics I turned into shopping but additionally others too…
January of 1969 noticed giant adjustments for D.C. Thomson’s Sparky. It had been step by step evolving from the a miniature bit outmoded long-established comedian it had started out as into one thing extra up to date and offbeat. The biggest alternate came with its duvet valuable person Sparky, an outdated faculty racist cartoon, in the end packing his baggage and vacating the comedian with reveal No.211 (even supposing head shots of him would unruffled be considered on the letters pages for some time after)…
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| Art by Ron Spencer. |
A giant announcement on the advantage web page heralded extra adjustments with original tales arriving…
…and the following week noticed the comedian given a snazzy original mark and duvet valuable person Barney Bulldog, with paintings by Bill Ritchie…
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| Art by Bill Ritchie. |
March noticed massive adjustments for Shatter! comedian. Previously trudge by Odhams, it turned into now managed by IPC who determined on a entire revamp. One week it regarded hang this…
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| Art by Mike Lacey. |
…with its centre pages announcing the upcoming adjustments…
…and the following week it turned into modified beyond recognition into a boys adventure comedian (having beforehand been geared in the direction of each girls and boys)…
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| Art by Geoff Campion. |
IPC were determined to shake up the comics line they’d taken over from Odhams and Fleetway. A few weeks later, it turned into the flip of Jag to face even extra drastic adjustments. Most attention-grabbing launched 43 weeks earlier by Fleetway, this March reveal turned into to be its swan song…
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| Art by Joe Colquhoun. |
A merger with Tiger turned into happening!
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| Art by John Gillatt. |
The original blended Tiger and Jag integrated not finest the upper of Jag’s tales but additionally gained the superior paper quality that Jag had been the utilization of, upgrading Tiger from newsprint to web offset printing…
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| Art by Yvonne Hutton. |
Changes were happening thick and rapid. The long running Eagle turned into the next comedian to face the axe with its April twenty sixth reveal…
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| Art by Frank Hampson studio. |
…merging into Lion the following week…
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| Art by Geoff Campion. |
With comics chucking up the sponge IPC chose June of that year to begin a original comedian for ladies. Its title turned into Sally.
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| Conceal taken from Droll Vine online web page. |
Over at City Magazines, any other merger turned into afoot, with Joe 90 High Secret ending in September after magnificent 34 weeks…
…and TV21 ending its first series that similar week after 242 concerns…
…to combine into No.1 of the original TV21 and Joe 90, which command-wise turned into extra hang Joe 90 High Secret than the outmoded TV21 but I assume they felt the TV21 title had extra longevity…
Time for one thing original? IPC’s first humour comedian, the first of many, turned into launched in October 1969 as Whizzer and Chips made its debut. A miles extra restrained and “obtain” comedian than titles it had modified such as Shatter! and Wham! but it grew to alter into very current…
In a roundabout plot, additionally around October of that year, High Sellers ventured into the superhero market with Astronomical DC, that contains edited and resized reprints of 1960s Superman and Batman comics. Not as exact as Odhams’ Unbelievable which had reprinted Marvel strips and had ended twelve months earlier, but it turned into the next finest thing…
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| Art by Mick Anglo. |
What a year! Relieve then, I turned into dissatisfied to scrutinize my current, Shatter!, alternate so significantly but I persevered with the original version on and off and came to hang it. Same with TV21 which turned into some distance past its finest by 1969. But I unruffled cherished comics and so Tiger and Jag and Sparky grew to alter into my two original recurring buys. Issues didn’t in truth feel quite the identical though, and most of the magic of comics turned into long gone for me by the end of that year. Because the years passed I soon realised that it turned into magnificent a route of of rising up. Alternate turned into constantly a fixed in the comics commercial, for exact or corrupt. In most cases it turned into a disappointment but assorted times it in truth turned into, because the adverts told us, “engaging recordsdata”. Would possibly maybe well of 2020 will uncover Rise up revive Shatter! as a one-off particular, and it shall be as significantly assorted as its first two incarnations. Comics comprise constantly developed to attraction to original generations, and that’s the reason the manner it shall be.
(All covers scanned from my collection with the exception of Sally which is from the Droll Vine online web page. Sparky is ©D.C. Thomson, Tiger, Jag, Shatter!, Sally, Lion, Whizzer and Chips, and TV21 are ©Rise up Publishing, Superman is ©DC Comics.)