the magic of DC Thompson WAR & ADVENTURE comics

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In the grand narrative of British comics it is typically all about IPC - "2000AD", "Battle", and "Action", with a smidgin of earlier adventure comics thrown in. But what about the DC Thompson comics? were they any good? When I was small I spent many years reading the bloodcurdling WAR action of "Warlord" and then the war-adventure-sport mix of "Victor" (with its 'true story of men at war' on the cover). Where any of these stories any good? Do any of them compare to the magic of IPC's big three?

― DV (dirtyvicar), Tuesday, 20 April 2004 20:13 (twenty-two years ago)

Bah, you are all enemies of real comics.

I have fond memories of "The Crunch", which was kind of a DC Thompson version of Action-2000AD, kind of.

I never really read "Fireball", but my impression in retrospect is that it was way better than "Warlord", if only for the story in which a giant, Ian Kennedy drawn robot was being used by a maniac to take over the world.

― DV (dirtyvicar), Wednesday, 21 April 2004 16:37 (twenty-two years ago)

To be honest, while I have pinpoint clarity of most of the american comics I read as a kid (the glamour of America to a Dublin boy in the 1970s) most of teh British ones are mixed up in my head. I can't really remember what strips were in which comics. Not only the War comics - I get Eagle and Tiger and Hotspur mixed up with them too. The only one that really seemed to have a distinctive voice and to offer anything as special as Marvel and DC was 2000AD. Which is why it has lasted and its characters have a greater cultural presence than most of the others from British comics of that era, I think.

Because - Charlies War aside - were there any truly great stories or characters in any of these comics? I mean all UK Boys adventure/war/sports comics of the late 70s/early 80s. 2000Ad had Judge Dredd, Rogue Trooper, Slaine, Nemesis, Robo Hunter, Future Shocks, Strontium Dog etc.
The others offered ancient creations that were soldiering on : Roy of the Rovers, Dan Dare, a lot of stuff I remember fondly : Doomlord, Death Wish, King cobra, Union Jackson, and a lot of pretty poor material.
Which is not to say I didn't love it too...

― David Nolan (David N.), Wednesday, 21 April 2004 21:12 (twenty-two years ago)

David, of those only UNION JACK JACKSON was a DC Thompson story.

this proves the rubbishness of DC Thompson.

― DV (dirtyvicar), Thursday, 22 April 2004 13:58 (twenty-two years ago)

King Cobra was a DC Thompson character. He appeared in Hotspur.
Mind, that doesn't invalidate your thesis that DC Thompson adventure characters of the seventies were poor fare. They were great in earlier years, but by the seventies things had gone from bad to worse.

― David Simpson (David Simpson), Tuesday, 27 April 2004 11:24 (twenty-two years ago)

Ian Kennedy drew King Cobra, didn't he?

― DV (dirtyvicar), Tuesday, 27 April 2004 12:45 (twenty-two years ago)

No. Ron Smith drew King Cobra.

― David Simpson (David Simpson), Tuesday, 27 April 2004 14:39 (twenty-two years ago)

King Cobra had a jacket - a windbreaker if I remember correctly - which, with a tug at the right cords, became his costume. Which I thought was pretty cool at the time.

― David Nolan (David N.), Tuesday, 27 April 2004 17:19 (twenty-two years ago)

I meant Ron Smith! Bah.

― DV (dirtyvicar), Tuesday, 27 April 2004 19:08 (twenty-two years ago)

I've been wanting to see 'Major Eazy' for a while. based on all the things I've heard, it must have been brilliant if completely anachronistic on all levels with the beatnik hipster driving his Bentley at the Hun louchely... but with Charlie's War justifiably taking up the 'war reprint' slot in the Megazine, it doesn't look like we'll be seeing it too soon.

― Vic Fluro, Tuesday, 27 April 2004 20:50 (twenty-two years ago)

I read Major Eazy back in the day -- lots and lots of fun. I hope the Megazine reprints it, if only to complement the Eazy-style character who appeared in that recentish Dredd story drawn by Carlos Ezquerra.

― David Simpson (David Simpson), Wednesday, 28 April 2004 07:01 (twenty-two years ago)

David, you are a scary man if you are still buying 2000AD/the Megazine on anything like a regular basis.

― DV (dirtyvicar), Wednesday, 28 April 2004 11:16 (twenty-two years ago)

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