Girl | |
---|---|
Publication information | |
Publisher | Hulton Press, Odhams Press, IPC |
Schedule | Weekly |
Format | Ongoing series |
Publication date | 2 November 1951 – 3 October 1964 |
No. of issues | 675 |
Editor(s) | Marcus Morris, Jean Crouch |
Girl was the name of two weekly comics magazines for girls in the United Kingdom.
The first and more well-known volume was published from 1951 to 1964. It was launched by Hulton Press on 2 November 1951 as a sister paper to the Eagle Girl was very much an educational magazine whose heroines, including those who got into scrapes, became involved in tales that had a moral substance. A considerable number of pages were also dedicated to real-life tales of heroic women in various fields.
A second volume of the series was published by IPC from 1981 to 1990, during which time Dreamer and Tammy were merged into it. [1]
Like the Eagle, Girl was founded by the Rev. Marcus Morris, with the close participation of Morris' fellow clergyman Chad Varah. The lead strip was originally Kitty Hawke and her All-Girl Air Crew , drawn in full colour by Ray Bailey, about a group of women running a charter airline. The strip was not very popular — it was apparently felt to be too masculine — and it was moved to the black-and-white interior pages, replaced on the cover by the schoolgirl strip Wendy and Jinx , written by Michael and Valerie Hastings and drawn by Bailey. [2] [3] [4]
Other strips included:
Girl | |
---|---|
Publication information | |
Publisher | IPC Magazines |
Schedule | Weekly |
Format | Ongoing series |
Publication date | 14 February 1981 – March 1990 |
No. of issues | 478 |
According to Jacqueline Rayner, writing about girls' comics in The Guardian , the second volume of Girl "was a stepping stone between the traditional 'picture-story papers' and . . . teen mags such as Jackie and Blue Jeans." It "had photo-stories, boyfriends, pop stars and problem pages, alongside its occasional illustrated story." [22]
The IPC title Dreamer, which debuted on September 19, 1981, merged into Girl after Dreamer's May 15, 1982, issue. The merged publication carried the title Girl and Dreamer in the period 1982–1983 (issues 89 to 110 at least). [23]
The fellow IPC title Tammy (launched 1971) was intended to merge with Girl in the summer of 1984, but, according to the Grand Comics Database, "a printer's dispute in June 1984 prevented the final issues being published and it was simply cancelled. Girl did carry the Tammy masthead for several issues from 25th August 1984 but these issues contain no material from Tammy." [24]
In March 1990, Girl was merged into its fellow IPC title My Guy , which became My Guy and Girl for a period. [25] Girl volume 2 published 478 issues.
John Wagner is an American-born British comics writer. Alongside Pat Mills, he helped revitalise British comics in the 1970s, and continues to be active in the British comics industry, occasionally also working in American comics. He is the co-creator, with artist Carlos Ezquerra, of the character Judge Dredd.
Eagle was a British children's comics periodical, first published from 1950 to 1969, and then in a relaunched format from 1982 to 1994. It was founded by Marcus Morris, an Anglican vicar from Lancashire. Morris edited a Southport parish magazine called The Anvil, but felt that the church was not communicating its message effectively. Simultaneously disillusioned with contemporary children's literature, he and Anvil artist Frank Hampson created a dummy comic based on Christian values. Morris proposed the idea to several Fleet Street publishers, with little success, until Hulton Press took it on.
Gerry Finley-Day is a Scottish comics writer, prolific from the 1960s to the 1980s, best known as the creator of "Rogue Trooper".
Tiger was a weekly British comics periodical published by Amalgamated Press, Fleetway Publications and IPC Magazines from 11 September 1954 to 30 March 1985. The title was initially launched in a large tabloid size to mimic newspapers; while it featured some action-adventure stories Tiger contained a large number of sport strips. The most famous of these was "Roy of the Rovers", which debuted in the first issue and was the comic's most popular feature, eventually transferring to its own comic in 1975. Tiger would go on to become one of the company's longest-running titles, with 1,573 issues published before being merged with Eagle in 1985. Over the course of its run, Tiger featured columns by numerous famous sports figures, including Ian Botham, Geoff Boycott, Tony Greig, Trevor Francis and Charlie Nicholas.
Notable events of 1984 in comics.
Lion was a weekly British comics periodical published by Amalgamated Press from 23 February 1952 to 18 May 1974. A boys' adventure comic, Lion was originally designed to compete with Eagle, the popular weekly comic published by Hulton Press that had introduced Dan Dare. It debuted numerous memorable characters, including Captain Condor, Robot Archie, Paddy Payne and the Spider. Lion lasted for 1,156 issues before being merged with stablemate Valiant.
Notable events of 1999 in comics.
This is a timeline of significant events in comics in the 1920s.
Tom Kerr was a British comic strip artist whose work has appeared in comics such as Look-in, the Eagle, Valiant, and TV21. He has also drawn for many annuals of the 1960s and 1970s, including the Monkees annuals, Look-in annuals, etc. He is not to be conflated with the Australian cartoonist of the same name, who was responsible for such creations as Daddles, an animated duck that would walk along the TV screen when a cricketer scored a duck.
John Armstrong was a British comics artist, best known for his work in Misty and Tammy, for which he drew the long-running strip Bella. Other strips he has drawn include The Secret Gymnast in Bunty.
Notable events of 1986 in comics.
Ruth Augusta Adam, née King, was an English journalist and writer of novels, comics and non-fiction feminist literature.
Swift was a British weekly comics magazine published by in the UK as a junior companion to the Eagle.
Robert Norton Ayton (1915–1985) was a British comics artist and illustrator who worked for the Eagle and Ladybird Books.
Celebrity comics are comics based on the fame and popularity of a celebrity. They are a byproduct of merchandising around a certain media star or franchise and have existed since the mass media and comics came into existence in the 19th century. Celebrity comics are usually not held in high esteem by critics, because of their purely commercial nature. They are solely created to capitalize on media trends and therefore published so quickly and cheaply that drawings and narratives tend to be of very low quality.
British girls' comics flourished in the United Kingdom from the 1950s through the 1970s, before beginning to decline in popularity in the 1980s and 1990s. Publishers known for their girls' comics included DC Thomson and Fleetway/IPC. Most titles appeared weekly, with the content primarily in picture-story format. The majority of the stories were serialized, with two or three pages per issue, over eight to twelve issues. They were marketed toward young teen girls.
Princess was a British weekly girls' comic anthology published by Fleetway Publications and, later, IPC Magazines. The first version was published between 30 January 1960 and 16 September 1967, and featured a mix of comic strips, text stories and a large proportion of features; it was merged with Tina to form a new title - Princess Tina - after 399 issues.
The Cat Girl is a British comic character who has appeared in eponymous strips published by IPC Magazines and Rebellion Developments. The character, a girl called Cathy Carter who finds a suit that gives her the attributes of a cat and becomes a crimefighter, first appeared in the launch issue of weekly girls' comic Sally on 14 June 1969.
"The Dracula File" is a British comic horror strip published by IPC Magazines and Rebellion Developments. It debuted in the first issue of the weekly anthology comic Scream on 24 March 1984. The story was written by Gerry Finley-Day and later Simon Furman, and was drawn by Eric Bradbury. The story featured Count Dracula escaping from the Eastern Bloc at the height of the Cold War before appearing in modern-day England, with KGB Colonel Stakis in pursuit. Scream was short-lived, being merged into Eagle in June 1984 after only 15 issues.