I read somewhere last week that someone is publishing a new kids' comic. It seems that there aren't many around nowadays. I suppose it's a good thing, gets kids to read.
But it got me thinking about the comics available back in the 40's, when I used to read them myself.
The only ones I can truly remember with any semblance of clarity are ' Beano', 'Dandy', 'Chips', 'Comic Cuts', 'Rover', 'Hotspur','Champion', 'Film Fun', and 'Radio Fun'. There was another one, 'Adventure' but I cant remember any of the characters in it.
The one most clear was Rockfist Rogan in the 'Champion', with his Chinese/Mongolian sidekick, who had this reinforced cricket bat which he called a 'Clicky Ba'. Needless to say he used it, not to play cricket, but as a weapon. He( Rockfist Rogan, that is), had a regular adversary called King Sharples who grew his fingernails long and sharpened them up to cut people with. The big tart. Then there was Wilson, in his black woolen one piece running gear, and Alf Tupper who trained on fish and chips, and slept under a railway arch,(the only ones I knew were at Neepsend),and Big Eggo' on the front of the 'Beano', Korky the Cat' on the 'Dandy', unforgetable really, but I'm damned if I can remember the 'Adventure'.
I suppose I could Google for information but that would be cheating. So what characters and stories did the 'Adventure' have?

I think "Braddock V.C." was in the Adventure, but having just got my bus pass the old memory is fading a bit...

Kids comics have been dieing a death in the past decade, probably due to increased access to electronic games and media.
Even the survivors like Dandy, Beano and 2000AD aren't selling in the numbers they used to.

I remember around 1950 taking the Adventure and Wizard on a Tuesday and the Rover and Hotspur on a Thursday. I remember Wilson but one of my favourite characters was Baldy Hogan, now there was a football player, I wish he played for the Blades right now. How much were the comics? I would think about 3d. but they were full of reading and would pass an evening on quite well, no TV then ~ ah! Happy Days.

We use to love swapping comic books with our friends, we'd buy one, swap it, read it and keep on swapping, after a time you'd end up with your own comic book back :hihi:

I remember around 1950 taking the Adventure and Wizard on a Tuesday and the Rover and Hotspur on a Thursday. I remember Wilson but one of my favourite characters was Baldy Hogan, now there was a football player, I wish he played for the Blades right now. How much were the comics? I would think about 3d. but they were full of reading and would pass an evening on quite well, no TV then ~ ah! Happy Days.
That's one I'd forgotten sharrovian, 'The Wizard'.

How much were the comics? I would think about 3d. ...

Yes - they cost 3d. - see for example http://i169.photobucket.com/albums/u219/twigmore/Rover2161958.jpg

The Dandy and Beano (on Tuesday and Thursday respectively) were cheaper at 2d., while the Topper and Beezer cost 3d. I think the Eagle was 4d but that was on glossy paper...

I digress Hillsboro but is V. Molotov the guy who formulated the Bloody Mary or some other cocktail?
Does anyone remember the B.O.P. the Boys Own Paper? I bought a few from Patnicks stall in a job lot, they were like a tabloid originally, but then in the 40's they'd gone up market in format and were like a little magazine. It was expensive, about a shilling I think.

who was that runner, Wilson i think and of course there was Lassie OOoo

Captain Marvel, Superman.

If it wasn't for comics I wouldn't have bothered reading books and become the genius I am, I started reading Warlord as a kid which gave me an interest in the war and by association history in general. In the late 70's 2000AD came out and 30 years on I'm still buying it, it was priced at 7p then now its £1.90. I remember when the beano used to be 2p, I really liked General Jumbo(?) the kid with the remote control soldiers and tanks, I would have done anything to have toys like that. Ahh the memories.

I digress Hillsboro but is V. Molotov the guy who formulated the Bloody Mary or some other cocktail?
Does anyone remember the B.O.P. the Boys Own Paper? I bought a few from Patnicks stall in a job lot, they were like a tabloid originally, but then in the 40's they'd gone up market in format and were like a little magazine. It was expensive, about a shilling I think.

I also remember the Boys Own Paper, or at least, hearing about it, though I don't think I ever read one. There was also the "Children's Newspaper" in the 1950s. I suspect that many of the storylines in these periodicals of half a century and more ago might not be regarded as "Politically correct" nowadays...

Mr Molotov's name is associated with a sort of cocktail, but not one that you would drink ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Molotov_cocktail ) Molotov's typical Bolshevik disdain for parliamentary democracy is perhaps shared by some of the people who throw the cocktails named after him.

I read somewhere last week that someone is publishing a new kids' comic. It seems that there aren't many around nowadays. I suppose it's a good thing, gets kids to read.
But it got me thinking about the comics available back in the 40's, when I used to read them myself.
The only ones I can truly remember with any semblance of clarity are ' Beano', 'Dandy', 'Chips', 'Comic Cuts', 'Rover', 'Hotspur','Champion', 'Film Fun', and 'Radio Fun'. There was another one, 'Adventure' but I cant remember any of the characters in it.
The one most clear was Rockfist Rogan in the 'Champion', with his Chinese/Mongolian sidekick, who had this reinforced cricket bat which he called a 'Clicky Ba'. Needless to say he used it, not to play cricket, but as a weapon. He( Rockfist Rogan, that is), had a regular adversary called King Sharples who grew his fingernails long and sharpened them up to cut people with. The big tart. Then there was Wilson, in his black woolen one piece running gear, and Alf Tupper who trained on fish and chips, and slept under a railway arch,(the only ones I knew were at Neepsend),and Big Eggo' on the front of the 'Beano', Korky the Cat' on the 'Dandy', unforgetable really, but I'm damned if I can remember the 'Adventure'.
I suppose I could Google for information but that would be cheating. So what characters and stories did the 'Adventure' have?

you and I must be the same vintage Texas. I have exactly the same memories of those.. . comics. I was reading them in 1944.

I'm sure you're right Janner. I think the last comic I ever read would be the 'Eagle', that would be late 40's. I'm sure lots of forum participants have read that. But once again I cant remember any other character apart from Dan Dare. Does anyone else think that David Beckam looks a bit like Dan Dare, or is it just me?
Can anyone remember who was the front page character in the 'Film Fun'? I know Charlie Chaplin was in it but how about Lupino Lane? Abbot and Costello had a place that's for sure.

I'm sure you're right Janner. I think the last comic I ever read would be the 'Eagle', that would be late 40's. I'm sure lots of forum participants have read that. But once again I cant remember any other character apart from Dan Dare. Does anyone else think that David Beckham looks a bit like Dan Dare, or is it just me?
Can anyone remember who was the front page character in the 'Film Fun'? I know Charlie Chaplin was in it but how about Lupino Lane? Abbot and Costello had a place that's for sure.

Does anyone remember a comic with a character, usually on the front page, by the name of 'Harris Tweed'? He was a detective of sorts.

Does anyone remember a comic with a character, usually on the front page, by the name of 'Harris Tweed'? He was a detective of sorts.

Hi Texas,
I think that you would have found Harris Tweed on the inside pages of the Eagle, along with others such as Lettice Leaf, a cowboy whose name I've forgotten and Max Hastings. The centre page spread was usually a section through some item of interest such as a ship, aeroplane, tank or a civil engineering project etc. The front page was usually devoted to Dan Dare's battles with the Mekon.

Regards m.

Wilson was fantastic. He climbed Everest solo, before 1953, without oxygen, but didn't tell anyone!

I seem to think Wilson was in the Wizard. I've mentioned this before, anyone remember 'Stuart Mcpherson' who worked with Raymond Glendenning on the B.B.C. Radio doing sports commentaries, he was characterized as a 'Secret Agent' in the 'Radio Fun'. I recall a story in one of the comics(?) about a footballer that was sabotauging his own team, he had the ability to pass the ball to a teammate and look good doing it but put some kind of spin on it so his fellow teammate could never complete properly, it did'nt matter if he was heading or whatever, he was constantly screwing his own side, can't remember why but all was resolved eventually.

Well, that's cleared that up, thanks manaman. Trawling through the memory again, I remember a strip which featured a couple of characters who were like, dead! They were a bit like zombies or something but always doing good things. Any ideas on this one? Perhaps that was in the 'Eagle' also.

I seem to think Wilson was in the Wizard.
Yes - "The Amazing Wilson" was in the Wizard. Apart from climbing Everest unaided and running a three-minute mile, he also bowled out Australia twice in a 1953 Ashes test with his 120 mph deliveries. The stories were written by Gilbert Dalton, a very prolific author who kept the pages of boys' magazines well-filled, and who also wrote books such as The Secret Legion and Operation Catapult.

"Bradock VC" was certainly my favourite story, I would wait avidly each week for the next instalment, the comics were the most exciting luxury we could afford in those days.
I still "at the age of 65" have an all abiding interest in second World War flying and the aircraft of that time.

Anybody old enough to remember a strip in either the 'Beano' or 'Dandy' called 'Musso da' Wop, is a biga da' flop'? It was during the war and based on Mussolini. Sometimes you got Adolf Hitler and Tojo in it. I think, in fact, they were in every week.

I don't remember the name of the 'Comic' but would I be right in thinking there was a half page little story every edition called 'There by hangs a tale', with a picture of an old man sitting at a table and wearing some kind of skull cap and holding a quill.

Yeah, I remember that feature fleetwood, don't think I read it much though. Mulling over these comics, remember the 'Film Fun', remember when, in a strip, the artist would depict a plate of sausage and mash, and have the mash in a big heap on the plate and all the sausages poking out the top. That was such an enduring picture in my mind that when I ever have sausage and mash, it's got to be like that. Hey, we all have our eccentricities.

Yeah, I remember that feature fleetwood, don't think I read it much though. Mulling over these comics, remember the 'Film Fun', remember when, in a strip, the artist would depict a plate of sausage and mash, and have the mash in a big heap on the plate and all the sausages poking out the top. That was such an enduring picture in my mind that when I ever have sausage and mash, it's got to be like that. Hey, we all have our eccentricities.

Hi Texas,

My eccentricity was to have a Desparate Dan cow pie with the horns sticking out through the pie crust :thumbsup:.

With regards to the more "mature" comics, I used to prefer the Wizard and the Rover to either the Adventure or the Hotspur. But having said that I still did "swaps" to read the latter two!

Regards m.

'Cannonball Kid', and 'Limpalong Leslie'. Which comic were they in? I seem to remember 'Limpalong Leslie' being able to 'bend it like Beckham'. And of course the 'Cannonball Kid' used to hit the ball so hard it would burst.
And nobody has mentioned another great comic, the 'Knockout'. Trying to remember some of the characters in that fount of knowledge, I could only come up with 'Our Ernie'.