Joseph Leo Baxendale was an English cartoonist and publisher. Baxendale wrote and drew several titles. Among his best-known creations are the Beano strips Little Plum, Minnie the Minx, The Bash Street Kids, and The Three Bears.
A British comic is a periodical published in the United Kingdom that contains comic strips. It is generally referred to as a comic or a comic magazine, and historically as a comic paper. As of 2014, the three longest-running comics of all time were all British.
The Amalgamated Press (AP) was a British newspaper and magazine publishing company founded by journalist and entrepreneur Alfred Harmsworth (1865–1922) in 1901, gathering his many publishing ventures together under one banner. At one point the largest publishing company in the world, AP employed writers such as Arthur Mee, John Alexander Hammerton, Edwy Searles Brooks, and Charles Hamilton. Its subsidiary, the Educational Book Company, published The Harmsworth Self-Educator, The Children's Encyclopædia, and Harmsworth's Universal Encyclopaedia. The company's newspapers included the Daily Mail, the Daily Mirror, The Evening News, The Observer, and The Times. At its height, AP published over 70 magazines and operated three large printing works and paper mills in South London.
TI Media was a consumer magazine and digital publisher in the United Kingdom, with a portfolio selling over 350 million copies each year. Most of its titles now belong to Future plc.
Revolver was a British monthly comic anthology published by Fleetway Publications from July 1990 to January 1991. The comic was designed as a monthly companion title to Crisis and was intended to appeal to older readers than other Fleetway titles in order to take advantage of a boom in interest in 'adult' comics. Revolver was not a commercial success, and lasted just seven issues before being cancelled and merged with Crisis.
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.
Valiant was a weekly British comics periodical published by Fleetway Publications and later IPC Magazines from 4 October 1962 to 16 October 1976. A boys' adventure comic, it debuted numerous memorable characters, including Captain Hurricane, The Steel Claw and Mytek the Mighty. Valiant lasted for 712 issues before being merged with stablemate Battle Picture Weekly.
The Comet was a weekly British comics periodical published by J.B. Allen and later Amalgamated Press and Fleetway Publications from 20 September 1946 to 17 October 1959. Initially a children's newspaper, The Comet was transformed into a boys' adventure comic in May 1949 by editor Edward Holmes when J.B. Allen were purchased by Amalgamated Press. Also known as Comet Comic, The Comet Adventure Weekly, Comet Weekly and simply Comet as various points the title continued until October 1959, reaching 580 issues before being merged with another AP boys' comic, Tiger.
"Bible John - A Forensic Meditation" is a creator-owned British comic story. It was originally published in the adult-orientated comic Crisis between May and August 1991. Written by Grant Morrison with art by Daniel Vallely, the story is a multimedia study of the unsolved Bible John murders carried out in Glasgow in the 1968 and 1969.
War Picture Library was a British 64-page "pocket library" war comic magazine title published by Amalgamated Press/Fleetway for 2103 issues. Each issue featured a complete story, beginning on 1 September 1958 with "Fight Back to Dunkirk" and finishing 26 years later on 3 December 1984 with "Wings of the Fleet". The editor was Ted Bensberg. Assistant editors included Geoff Kemp and Brian Smith. Other editorial staff included Pat Brookman, Terence Magee, Clive Ranger, Tony Power and Clive McGee. Art editor was Mike Jones and art assistant was his brother Dave Jones. Other art assistants at various times were Roy McAdorey, Geoff Berwick, Bill Reid and John Fearnley.
Wham! was a weekly British comics magazine published by Odhams Press. It ran for 187 issues from 20 June 1964 to 13 January 1968, when it merged into its sister title Pow!
Smash! was a weekly British comic book, published initially by Odhams Press and subsequently by IPC Magazines, from 5 February 1966 to 3 April 1971. After 257 issues it merged into Valiant.
Power Comics was an imprint of the British comics publisher Odhams Press that was particularly notable for its use of material reprinted from American Marvel Comics. Appearing chiefly during the years 1967 and 1968, the Power Comics line consisted of five weekly titles: Wham!, Smash!, Pow!, Fantastic and Terrific. The first three of these titles were essentially traditional The Beano-style British comics papers, supplemented by a small amount of Marvel and DC Comics material, while Fantastic and Terrific were more magazine-like in style and were dominated by their Marvel superhero content.
Odhams Press was a British publishing company, operating from 1920 to 1968. Originally a magazine publisher, Odhams later expanded into book publishing and then children's comics. The company was acquired by Fleetway Publications in 1961 and then IPC Magazines in 1963. In its final incarnation, Odhams was known for its Power Comics line of titles, notable for publishing reprints of American Marvel Comics superheroes.
Wildcat was a fortnightly British comics periodical published by Fleetway Publications from 22 October 1988 to 25 March 1989. A science fiction adventure comic, the title only lasted for 12 editions before being merged with another Fleetway title, Eagle.
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.
Sun was a weekly British comics periodical published by J. B. Allen, Amalgamated Press and Fleetway Publications between 11 November 1947 and 17 October 1959. During this time it was also known as Sun Comic, Sun Adventure Weekly, The Cowboy Sun Weekly, The Cowboy Sun, The Sun and Sun Weekly at various points, and ran for 551 issues before merging with Lion.
Jag was a weekly British comics periodical published by Fleetway Publications and IPC Magazines from 4 May 1968 to 29 March 1969. A boys' adventure comic, the title lasted for 48 editions before being merged with another title, the long-established Tiger.
Eagle, sometimes referred to as The New Eagle and known at various points in its life as Eagle and Scream!, Eagle and Tiger, Eagle and Battle, Eagle and M.A.S.K. and Eagle and Wildcat, was a British boys' adventure comic published by IPC Magazines from 27 March 1982 to January 1994. A revival of the famous Eagle, the title was initially a weekly publication until turning into a monthly in May 1991. The title was finally cancelled in January 1994, after 505 issues.
