The Last Autograph Albert

When I recently bought a small bundle of Tiger comics I was pleasantly surprised to see that Norman Mansbridge had a strip in there. It's called Autograph Albert, and follows the adventures of a young boy donned in a traditional school uniform and cap who is trying to fill up his autograph book. I'm not sure when he first appeared but I know he had been running for roughly a year at least by the time his final strip was printed. Here is that final strip, as it appeared on page 18 of Tiger dated 9th February 1985.

The strip was cancelled to make way for new stories that were to begin in the revamped issue the following week. You may have noticed that this revamp was very close to the final issue of Tiger and that is because the revamp was simply to prepare the comic for the merger with Eagle, by making it a bit more similar. I suspect that Eagle's readership had been falling for quite some time by this point however, as it had downgraded its paper quality to standard newsprint in April 1984.

Some Early Tiger Comics

I don't own very many Tiger comics as I'm more interested in humour strips than I am adventure ones, but I did pick up a cheap bundle in a secondhand shop the other day to see what it was like. There were five issues, numbered #146, #153, #154, #155 and #159, all from 1957. Subtitled 'The Sport and Adventure Picture Story Weekly' and having incorporated The Champion, Tiger does have a nice header, but the real star of the cover is of course Roy of the Rovers, having being there since the very first issue in September 1954. Issue #155 features the first episode in a new adventure in which Roy investigates the football career of Andy McDonald, who will be retiring at the end of the season. Apologies if the images look a little weird, but the comics are a little too big for my scanner so I'm stitching two scans together as best as I can.

I noticed in the title box that it always says "by Stewart Colwyn". Stewart was Roy's scriptwriter; Tiger is good in the way that it credits the writers of the strips which is something I wish comics had done more often.

Tiger had its very own Winker Watson type character on the inside of the back cover. His name was Dodger Caine - The Lad With A Wheeze Up His Sleeve! Of course, this strip beat Winker Watson by several years, as the first adventure of Eric Roberts' creation wouldn't appear until 1961. Ted Cowan writes this strip and the name is, of course, a pun - Dodger Caine - dodge a cane - geddit?

Adverts in old comics are always interesting but these two stood out for me, a couple of adverts for the second Tiger annual and the very first Roy of the Rovers annual.

To wrap up this post I'll show one more strip, and it'll be an episode of Spike and Dusty - Frogman Daredevils. I don't know who the artist is but it has some stunning artwork - that last panel is just jaw dropping. The author is John Chester.

Football in Comics (Part 2)!

It's time for part 2 of my football in comics post! This time we take a look at the 1965 Tiger annual! First up is the mystery of Chinese football! Bet you didn't know these facts!

Of course, Tiger is known for giving birth to one of comics most successful footballers - Roy of the Rovers! This story is about a goalkeeper who gets some ancient perfume for just 5 bob! This strip was printed on glossy paper, but sadly isn't in colour. Drawn by Paul Trevillion.

Suprisingly, that's all on the footy side of things in this annual - but fear not! I'll be back soon with some more footballing antics! If your a fan of humour strips - make sure you keep your eyes peeled!

75 Years Of Comics - Stamps out now!

As I'm sure you've read on blogs elsewhere, or even seen them in your local post office, The Royal Mail has issued a collection of 10 stamps, each illustrated with a well known comic character (Some collection's even come with a free mini Dandy). The stamps were dsigned by The Chase, and are made to celebrate 75 years of British comics, as The Dandy was launched in 1937 (there were many different title's before that of course, but The Dandy is considered the first modern style comic). You can also take the British Comics Quiz - in which you can find out which comic character you are! (I'm a mix between Buster and Desperate Dan!)To take it, simply go to The Royal Mail stamps page on facebook and click 'Comics Quiz' , or click here:

https://www.facebook.com/RoyalMailStamps/app_362233747140637

You can purchase them in the shops, or online:

http://www.royalmail.com/personal/comic-stamps-and-collectibles?sic_cid=PPC120312COMICS

An article from The Sun:

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/4204773/Comic-book-stamps-are-just-Dandy.html?OTC-RSS&ATTR=News&utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter

BBC News:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-17421394

The Mirror:

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/dennis-the-menace-roy-of-the-rovers-and-desperate-765816

Who remembers Jag?

Jag No.1 hit the stores on 27th April 1968, and was the last traditional boy's comic. It was originally a 16 page tabloid sized paper, but by the end of it's run it was a 32 page regular sized comic. Jag truly was britains best doing britains best. Eric Bradbury drew the mouse patrol, a war story from 1941 set in the North African desert. It was about some boys who set out in a stolen german tank in search of their farthers, who had been kidnapped by the Nazis. They were assisted by Cleo, a Chimpanzee, who only appeared in the last box in issue one. Captain Codsmouth was the first story to grab my attention. It's about Codsmouth and his stupid crew, Fred Needle, Bos'n Mulligan and Stoker Splitpin. In the first episode, the captain discovers why they only just made it out of the harbour after three months at sea (they'd forgotten to raise the anchor)an, so he threatens his crew no pay! Brilliant art by Joe Colqhoun, and later Doug Maxted. One of Jags full colour pages was taken up by Custer, from 'The Ledgend of Custer'. The opportunity gave artist Geoff Campion a brilliant opportunity to produce some amazinghand coloured artwork. Unfortunatly it didn't last long, and merged with Tiger after 48 issues. ..................................... Just thought it would be intresting to include the Beano from the same week. This issue includes one of my favorite Dennis The Menace stories, by David Law.