TV COMIC - SADLY GONE, BUT NOT FORGOTTEN...

The masthead of the very first cover



Muffin the Mule from the cover of TV Comic #1



Believe it or not, one of Britain's once-favourite comics - TV COMIC - was first published by THE NEWS OF THE WORLD, at a time when that now defunct organ was presumably regarded in a more favourable and respected light than at the relatively recent end of its one hundred and sixty-eight year reign.



"Let's be gay"? I'll pass, you feel free.



TV Comic couldn't match that, unfortunately, but it managed an extremely impressive nearly thirty-four year run, in its time featuring a variety of strips based on popular children's programmes on television and, initially, also radio. Not all its content originated on TV of course, the popular MIGHTY MOTH, TV TERRORS, and TEXAS TED strips being but three examples of original material created for the comic paper.

A 1964 issue. In the above Popeye strip, Bluto, who was also known
as Brutus in the animated cartoons, is mistakenly called 'Bruto'.
Below, Fireball XL5 from the same issue 

The first issue, dated November 9th, appeared in 1951, priced fourpence (old money of course) and consisted of only eight pages. Along with cover star MUFFIN THE MULE, other strips included MR PASTRY, LARRY THE LAMB, TUSKER & TIKKI, plus other characters who would mean nothing to children of today.

The 1st issue of the 1976 new format relaunch (#1292)

Plus free gift. Jon Pertwee strip with redrawn Tom Baker
heads. Also TV Century 21 Dalek strip

At some stage, BEAVERBROOK PRESS took over ownership of the title, before POLYSTYLE PUBLICATIONS, the company most associated with it, acquired the comic and continued to publish it until falling circulation ended its not-insignificant run in 1984. (Number 1697, issue dated June 29th.) Sadly, by then the comic was a pale shadow of its former self, containing mainly reprints - a policy TV Comic had often indulged in throughout its history, but never more so than in the last few years of its life.



2nd issue of the new format

Plus free gift. Abridged Gold Key reprint



The comic is probably best remembered from the 1960s, when it featured DR WHO, SPACE PATROL, SUPERCAR and FIREBALL XL5, the latter two being based on GERRY ANDERSON's hugely popular puppet programmes. (After ending their run in TV Comic towards the end of 1964, new adventures of these two strips then appeared in TV CENTURY 21, which debuted at the beginning of 1965.) This period was TV Comic's heyday, and apart from a time in the early '70s, was never quite as good again.

1500th Anniversary edition



Unfortunately, when the title eventually expired, I was unaware of its fate until many months after the fact and therefore missed the final issue. However, on one of my regular jaunts down to London in 1985, I spied a random selection of issues on a rack in BOB PAYNTER's office. (Bob, for those of you not in the know, was the Group Editor of the Humour Division of IPC's comics, such as WHIZZER & CHIPS, BUSTER, etc.) Editors often had a supply of other publishers' titles so that they could keep abreast of what their rivals were up to, hence the issues of TV Comic (amongst others) on his office rack. 



Last ever Christmas issue

As the title was now defunct, Bob must have considered it pointless hanging on to them, so he kindly gifted me with his own personal copy of the very last issue, which is the one pictured in this post. On the back is written: 'Bob Paynter - 2014'. (His office was on the twentieth floor of KING'S REACH TOWER, and I'm guessing that his office number was fourteen.) If I remember correctly, he also had the Christmas issue from 1983 - which I already had - but I seem to associate it more with his office than wherever it was I bought my own copy, which is unusual for me.

The very last issue in 1984

Here then is a look back at one of Britain's favourite comics, from its premiere edition to the last one ever published over thirty-three and a half years later, with a few random issues in between. Enjoy.