Howie's Top Ten British Comics #10, #9 & #8

I thought it might be fun to do a few personal "Top Tens" over the coming months as that's the reason I blog in the first place! Comics are a great hobby and have been part of my life since I was a nipper and probably read things like Jack & Jill, certainly Harold the Hare. I remember that one! 

Back in the sixties there was a huge variety of comics ranging from humour comics for both boys and girls to separate "papers" as the publishers called them for boys and the girls though we didn't read those did we lads! Well maybe Lady Penelope if anyone wasn't looking! Then there were the American ones which attracted so many of us into adulthood and still form part of my second childhood as i traverse through my sixties!

Over the next six days I'm going to be ranking my favourite British comics and I make no excuses for allowing my childhood memories to dominate proceedings if any more modern publications don't make the list. It doesn't mean I think any less of them, there's plenty of great comics and I subscribe to both 2000AD  and Judge Dredd Megazine both of which I recommend and support. They don't however make this list.

In fact I've excluded a number of comics from this list for a variety of reasons. Don't expect to find any sports related titles. Not a fan. I also decided not to include the Alan Class comics because they are in a category of their own along with other publishers such as L. Miller. Additionally I have left out the various "pocket picture libraries" as I may do something separate about them in the future.

So let us begin...............

#10: TV Century 21

The Gerry Anderson puppet shows were very much part of my childhood. I vaguely remember Supercar but more memorable was Fireball XL5 but both Stingray and Thunderbirds were the shows that really caught my attention! That these adventures appeared in comics was a bonus and along with other strips including the totally out of continuity Daleks feature TV Century 21 was a regular fixture of my reading list for a long time.

Launched in 1965 I do recall picking up or being given the oversized editions of this fabulous publication and even on the odd occasion surreptitiously read it's sister title Lady Penelope and did even pick up some copies of Joe 90 a little later down the line.

TV Century 21 eventually became just TV 21 and merged with Joe 90 in 1969 though sales were dropping at this stage and I had stopped reading it myself. The comic was relaunched with a second volume containing Spider-Man and some other Marvel stories but that never appealed. Eventually it was to be absorbed by Valiant.

#9 Victor

Of all the DC Thomson adventure titles Victor was the only one I read on a regular basis though did on the odd occasion pick up two of their other companion comics Hotspur and Hornet. I even got a Hotspur Annual one year from a relative but only Victor really appealed to me.

The stories varied and contained two of the only sports stories I ever bothered with Tough of the Track who always managed to get a fish & chip supper and there was that one about the aliens thinking the Olympics was a civilised replacement for war.

I can't remember what it was called and don't have any issues from that period. I was also a fan of their various war strips including a very brutal one set in the trenches. Can't remember what that was called either. My memory is fading a bit these days so if any reader can advise please leave a comment below. I would be appreciated.

I did get the odd annual (or "Book for Boy's as they were called) but one thing I always like were DC Thomsons oversized Summer Specials. Managed to grab the one a few years back!

Victor was one of the longer running comics starting in 1962 and lasting right through to 1994 when having absorbed Hotspur and even the newer more gritty Warlord finally fell a victim of the falling sales of British comics.

#8 Whizzer & Chips

Humour comics were very much part of our childhood back in the day and of those Whizzer & Chips was always one of my favourites. I think I started reading it from the first issue though I'm not entirely sure but it's dual format having a two comics in one was a unique selling point and the competitive spirit between the two amusing. I never chose sides loving the contents of both.

Sid's Snake & Shiner were amongst the strips I remember best along with Minnie's Mixer and Slow Coach. Whizzer & Chips eventually fell off my buying schedule as I got older but I'm always happy to pick up the odd issue, summer special or annual when I come across one.

Whizzer & Chips was IPC/Fleetway's second longest running comic until it merged with it's older sibling Buster in 1990. Along the way it absorbed a number of comics that I never really got around to reading Knockout, Krazy and Whoppee, the latter being a popular choice for a later generation of fans.

Join me tomorrow for the next two entries in my personal Top Ten British Comics!