The British Silver Age of comic papers (defined here as 1950-1969) was a period of creative advancement and commercial success. It began with the launch of Eagle on April 14 1950 and tapered off some twenty years later with the takeovers and consolidation of the publishing industry which led to the creation of International Publishing Corporation (IPC), and its move away from Lord Northcliffe’s iconic Fleetway House (soon demolished) on London’s Farringdon Street.
Paper rationing had been introduced on July 1 1940, nine months into the 1939-1945 war and didn’t completely end until around the time of the Queen Elizabeth’s Coronation in 1953. Despite the government paper quotas, Eagle’s first issue printed and sold upwards of 900,000 copies. It was an immediate success and other publishers inevitably leapt in to attempt to imitate the inimitable. Notable was Amalgamated Press’ Lion which, despite its smaller size, rougher paper and printing and unsophisticated frontpage artwork, turned out to be a winner.
Encouraged by this the Amalgamated Press (AP) launched new titles and rebooted others. AP’s Tiger was another success, selling 450,000 copies a week at one stage. It’s métier was sports and spawned the iconic football star Roy of the Rovers initially written by the great Frank S. Pepper and drawn by the masterful Joe Colquhoun. Tiger ran for over 30 years and Roy Race got his own title in 1976-1995. A new realism was evident: Roy got married (his wife later left him), had children; he left Melchester Rovers (rejoining later) and was shot by an aggrieved actor. More followed. The ultimate being when Roy’s playing career concluded with him losing his foot in a helicopter crash. All of this a huge credit to editor (from 1969) Barrie Tomlinson and his team of creative pioneers. And the Silver Age was just starting! More was to come. Much more.
BOOK ONE features EAGLE, DAN DARE, LION, TIGER, SUN, COMET, GERALD G. SWAN, SCION, STREAMLINE, KING GANTEAUME, MARVELMAN, COWBOY COMICS, THRILLER PICTURE LIBRARY, SUPER-DETECTIVE, SEXTON BLAKE LIBRARY, SCHOOLGIRLS’ PICTURE LIBRARY, GIRS’ CRYSTAL, SCHOOLGIRLS’ PICTURE LIBRARY, SCHOOL FRIEND, T.V. BOARDMAN, DENIS McLOUGHLIN, KNOCKOUT, BILLY BUNTER…
BOOK TWO features THE BROONS, OOR WULLIE, BLACK BOB, DENNIS THE MENACE, LITTLE PLUM, LEO BAXENDALE, MINNIE THE MINX, BASH STREET, BEANO, KEN REID, JONAH, ALLAN MORLEY, DUDLEY D. WATKINS, DESPERATE DAN, PADDY BRENNAN, JAMES CRIGHTON, TOPPER, BEEZER, TOM BANNISTER, HOTSPUR, VICTOR, HORNET, THE WIZARD, SPARKY, WHAM!, JASPER THE GRASPER, FRANKIE STEIN, SMASH!, POW!, FANTASTIC, TERRIFIC, THE CLOAK, JUDY, MANDY, PRINCESS, TINA, JUNE, TAMMY, T:V. COMIC, MUFFIN THE MULE, T.V.FUN, SUPERCAR, DANGER MAN, TV TORNADO, THE AVENGERS, DR WHO, TV EXPRESS, VALIANT, HURRICANE, ROY OF THE ROVERS, CHAMPION, THE PHANTOM VIKING, ROBOT ARCHIE, TEXAS JACK, THE SPIDER, GADGETMAN & GIMMICK-KID, JEFF HAWKE, JOURNEY INTO SPACE, GALAXUS, ZIP, ROCKET, RANGER, TRIGAN EMPIRE, WRATH OF THE GODS, BATTLE PICTURE LIBRARY, WAR PICTURE LIBRARY, CLASSIC IN PICTURES, ALAN CLASS, THORPE & PORTER, BIGGLES, THE SAINT, ACE HART, SUPER THRILLER, WORLD DISTRIBUTORS, ATLAS, CAPTAIN ATOM, LONE STAR
BOOK ONE: 308 pages, approximately 30,000 words.
BOOK TWO: 308 pages, approximately 25,000 words.
616 pages in all. 55000 words. Hundreds of illustrations.
Scores of artists and writers biographies with many photos of same. Both books profusely illustrated.
Get it here (you may have to wait until more in stock)
ComicScene magazine 
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