Tom Thug was a long-running British comic strip, first published in Oink! in May 1986, then moved to Buster.[1] Created by cartoonist Lew Stringer, Tom was encouraged by his skinhead father to be a school bully like he used to be. However, Tom was so incompetent he could not even tie the laces of his boots. As the strip progressed, every issue would show Tom's attempts at bullying backfire often with slapstick consequences.
The strip proved popular enough to transfer to Buster when Oink! folded in 1988. The editor Allen Cummings asked for a focus on stories of Tom at school and the strip underwent a title change to Tom Thug's Skooldayz (a spoof in name only of Tom Brown's Schooldays). There, Tom Thug continued to run until December 1999 (Buster's final issue), although the last couple of years were reprints of earlier stories due to budget cutbacks by the publisher. Yet throughout the course of publication, Tom Thug had grown to be one of the comic's best-liked strips and occasionally even took the place of the title character, Buster, on the front cover.
In the final issue of the comic at the beginning of 2000 in a segment written and drawn by Jack Oliver, Tom Thug was revealed to have possessed great intelligence after passing all of his exams with flying colours; Tom, who had always prided himself on being a brainless bully, is disappointed to learn that he is in fact a brainy bully. However this was not the ending that the strip's creator Lew Stringer would have given the character.
The Beano is a British anthology comic magazine created by Scottish publishing company DC Thomson. Its first issue was published on 30 July 1938, and it published its 4000th issue in August 2019. Popular and well-known comic strips and characters include Dennis the Menace, Minnie the Minx, The Bash Street Kids, Roger the Dodger, Billy Whizz, Lord Snooty and His Pals, Ivy the Terrible, General Jumbo, Jonah, and Biffo the Bear.
Ivy the Terrible is a fictional character featured in The Beano. She is a four-year-old girl who annoys her parents with her misbehaviour. She first appeared in The Beano in 1985 in the comic strip of the same name, but has starred in other comic strips throughout Beano history.
Sonic the Comic was a British children's comic published by Fleetway Editions between 1993 and 2002. It was the UK's Sega comic, featuring stories about its mascot Sonic the Hedgehog and related characters, as well as comic strips based on other Sega video games, along with news, reviews, and tips for games released for Sega systems.
Buster was a British comic which began publication in 1960, originally published by IPC Magazines Ltd under the company's comics division Fleetway, then by Egmont UK Ltd under the same imprint until its closure in 2000. Despite missing issues due to industrial action during its run, the comic published 1,902 issues in total. The comic carried a mixture of humour and adventure strips, featuring the title character Buster and a host of other characters.
Ken Reid (1919–1987) was a British comic artist and writer, best known as the co-creator of Roger the Dodger and Jonah for The Beano and Faceache for Jet.
Jackpot was a British comic book magazine that ran from the issues cover dated 5 May 1979 to issue 141, 30 January 1982, when it merged with Buster.
Nipper was a short-lived British comic book magazine, published between 31 January to 12 September 1987. Unlike most British comics by this time, which had A4 paper size, this was an A5 comic, which meant it was half the size of all the others, hence the name 'Nipper'. Nipper ran for 16 Issues, had just one holiday special and just one annual in 1988. By the time of its last issue, however, it had become an A4 comic like the others. After that it merged with Buster.
Film Fun was a British celebrity comics comic book that ran from 17 January 1920 to 15 September 1962, when it merged with Buster, a total of 2,225 issues. There were also annuals in the forties and fifties. As the title suggests, the comic mainly featured comic strip versions of people from films from the 1920s to the 1960s.
Starlord was a British weekly boys' science fiction comic published by IPC Magazines from 13 May to 7 October 1978, when it merged with 2000 AD after 22 issues. The comic was created by Kelvin Gosnell, and was originally intended as a fortnightly sister title for 2000 AD with higher production values and an older audience, but late changes in production saw it converted into a weekly.
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.
Oink! was a British comic book magazine for children which was published from 3 May 1986 to 22 October 1988. It set out to be deliberately anarchic, reminiscent of Viz but for children. The creators also cited Mad magazine as a major influence.
Combat Colin is a slapstick comedy adventure comic strip created, written and drawn by humour comic artist/writer Lew Stringer. It appeared in a number of Marvel UK titles.
Lew Stringer is a freelance comic artist and scriptwriter.
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.
Ivor Lott and Tony Broke was a British strip which originally appeared in the comic book Cor!! on 6 June 1970, before moving to Buster when the two comics merged in June 1974. The comic strip lasted until the final issue of Buster on 3 January 2000. The comic was originally drawn by Reg Parlett and later continued by artists such as Jim Crocker and Sid Burgon.
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.
Keyhole Kate was a 1930s British comic strip series in The Dandy. The strip featured a nosy young girl who liked to look through people's keyholes. She appeared in The Dandy's first issue, drawn by Allan Morley back in 1937. She continued in The Dandy until 1955 and appeared as the cover strip of issue 295. She later appeared in the new Sparky comic released in 1965, alongside Hungry Horace another character who appeared in The Dandy''s first issue and was drawn by Morley. The character was featured alongside Hungry Horace on the front cover of the Sparky book from 1970 to 1972.
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.
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.
"The Astounding Adventures of Charlie Peace" is a British comic strip published in the weekly anthology Buster from 27 June 1964 to 15 June 1971, published by Fleetway Publications and later IPC Magazines. It was previewed by a single instalment in Valiant on 20 June 1964. The strip featured fictionalised adventures of the real-life Victorian era criminal Charles Peace.
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