TIGER TIM

Tiger Tim holds the record for being the British comics character with the longest publication. It was created in 1904 (*) by Julius Stafford Baker (1869-1961) for the Daily Mirror newspaper at the detailed request of an editor on behalf of the publisher. The model which Baker was asked to emulate was 'Jungle Jinks' which had appeared in 1898 in a supplement of a women's magazine and boosted its sales. The commissioned strip debutted on April 11st, 1904. Tiger Tim (the tentative name suggested to the artist was "Tommy Tiger") is one of the mischievous kids in a kindergarten of humanized animals. Daily Mirror's children's corner did not generate much interest, but Tiger Tim and his pals re-appeared later that year in The Monthly Playbox, the children's supplement of a magazine called The World and His Wife. In 1914, they began to be featured on the covers of The Rainbow, the pioneer British comics magazine targeted for children, from its first issue onwards. The above scan is from no. 1234, dated Oct. 9th, 1937. By this time, Baker had long been replaced by other artists. I have also seen the cover of no. 1 from 1914 and Baker's work may or may not have been up to the standarts of its own era but, while the art has improved from 1914 to the above sample in 1937, I still find it to be relatively more stiff compared to the best humanized animals comic art of the pre-war era, esp. compared to original Disney material which had already landed in the British market in 1936 with the launching of Mickey Mouse Weekly in 1936. Nevertheless, despite looking somewhat out-dated, it eludes a naive charm. Tiger Tim and his pals are also featured in the editor's corner of this issue:... and there is also a herald for an upcoming give-away from sister magazine Tiger Tim's Weekly (from 1919 onwards, Tiger Tim had also acquired its own comics magazine in addition to The Rainbow, initially titled as Tiger Tim's Tales):Tiger Tim's Weekly would continue to be published till 1940 and The Rainbow till 1956, but Tiger Tim would appear in other British children's magazines till mid-1980s.

Sources: Denis Gifford, The International Book of Comics (WHSmith, 1988) and The Complete Catalogue of British Comics (Webb & Bower, Exeter: 1985).

(*) Most online sources give an even earlier debut date for Tiger Tim, but I have stuck to Gifford's account. Other sources might be confusing 'Jungle Jinx', which (according to Gifford) was the model for Tiger Tim and his pals with actual Tiger Tim. If anyone knows any better, please let us know.

DEBUT OF BUCK RYAN (1937)

Above scan is of the first strip, dating from March 22nd, 1937, of 'Buck Ryan', a long-running British private detective serial, as reprinted in Buck Ryan volume 1: A Lady Vanishes by Newspaper Daily Comic Strip Library.
Buck Ryan was originally ran in Daily Mail, the British newspaper which pioneered British newspaper strips. Launched in 1903 by Alfred Harmsworth, the British media mogul who was also responsible for the boom of British comics magazines, Daily Mail had been running strips since 1904 including 'Mrs Hippo's Kindergarten', a historically important strip as Tiger Tim, soon to be a major British juvenile comics hero, made his first appearance there. However, the full-fledged proliferation of British strips in DM would occur in the 1930s and 'Buck Ryan' was created in that period. Writer Don Freeman and artist Jack Monk had initially created an Edgar Wallace adaptation strip, but reportedly had to to drop that one due to copyrights issues and created 'Buck Ryan' as a replacement. 'Buck Ryan' would be successful enough to run until 1962.
The first 'Buck Ryan' continuity, titled as 'A Lady Vanishes' in the reprint volume cover, has mediocre art and acceptable but undistiguished narrative about a kidnapping scheme. Visually the most interesting sequence is in the below strips:
However, the great visual potentials of an opium den setting is simply unexploited and wasted:

The same setting, on the other hand, is utilized for the utterance of some racially degrading jargon:

A noteworthy aspect of 'A Lady Vanishes' is the presence of remarkably brutal instances of violence against women, far more shocking than found in American mainstream strips of the same era as far as I am aware, one of which is in the below strip:
There are a few instances of pretty decent action sequences as well, such as the below strip:
There is also a relatively high body count:
I've also purchased vol. 9 of NDCSL's Buck Ryan reprint series and can attest that the strip had improved in terms of both art and story in two years from its inception. At some point in the future, I hope to post about that extremely interesting war-time (and war-related) continuity titled 'The Mystery of the Silent Bomber' as well. Artist Jack Monk would stay on board 'Buck Ryan' till the very end, but writer Don Freeman would eventually be replaced by others. It should be pointed out that this British comics writer (1903-72) should not be confused with an American children's books author and illustrator with the same name. The British Freeman would also contribute scripts to other leading Daily Mail strips such as 'Jane' and 'Garth'.
Newspaper Daily Comic Strip Library's reprint series appear to be computer printouts, but are quite acceptable in quality and the producers must be congragulated for the effort they put into compiling them. As I'd noted in an earlier post, these are the only available English-language reprints of Buck Ryan.

SMOKING MARMADUKE STRIP (1939)

Above scan of Basil Reynolds' Marmaduke strip from no. 187 (dated Sept. 2nd, 1939) of Britain's Mickey Mouse Weekly is a testament to times of a different attitude towards smoking...

"UGH!" 'PUSSYFOOT THE REDSKIN' (1922)

Above scans are from the central pages of the no. 1653 (dated Jan. 14th, 1922) and no. 1656 (dated Feb. 4th, 1922) of the British comics magazine Comic Cuts, featuring the strip 'Pussyfoot the Redskin' by an unknown artist. It is the earliest comic strip that I've come across which headlines an American native and while the character's name might not sound flattering, it is noteworthy that he outwits the whites with his intelligence in these two samples. I cannot find any info on this interesting strip, so if anyone knows anything about it, please let us know.

THE COMIC CUTS COLONY

Above scan is from the back cover of the no. 1653 (dated Jan. 14th, 1922) of the British comics magazine Comic Cuts and the below one from no. 1656 (dated Feb. 4th, 1922):
According to Denis Gifford (The International Book of Comics, W H Smith Exclusive Books, London: 1988), the Comic Cuts Colony had debuted in 1894 and was created by one Frank Wilkinson, about whom I cannot find any info anywhere. While I am admittedly reluctant to speak positively about it, the art is quite high-calibre and the humour is nowhere as repugnant as similar fare from most other racial-stereotying comics.

PERCY COCKING IN COMIC CUTS (1922)

Recently, I had a chance to get two 1922 issues of Britain's pioneering comics magazine Comic Cuts from ebay (for an amazingly low price of app. 1 pounds each!). Comic Cuts, the first magazine to use the word "comic" in its title, was started by Alfred Harmswoth in 1890, and priced at 1/2 penny, half the price of similar magazines like Funny Folks, kicked off the boom of comics magazines in Britain. Above scan is of the cover of no. 1653 (dated Jan. 14th, 1922), featuring 'The Side-Splitting Adventures of Jolly Tom, the Merry Menagerie Man' by British comics artist Percy Cocking (1881-1964) who had been drawing the exploits of Tom in Comic Cuts since 1910. I find his art quite pleasing and high-calibre 'though the title character's twin nemesises are clearly modeled on Katzenjammer Kids. The back cover of this issue includes another strip by Cocking:

This strip is highly innovative in its utilization of the depiction of each flat as if a panel within the panels. Cocking's Mulberry Flattites had debutted in Comic Cuts in 1906. Cocking, a staffer for Harmsworth's Amalgamated Press (today's Fleetway), is better known as the artist who took over the hugely popular series 'Weary Willie and Tired Tim' created by the highly influential Tom Browne in 1896 for Illustrated Chips and continued it for more than four decades till the magazine folded in 1953.

BUCK RYAN - THE ITALIAN REPRINTS

'Buck Ryan' was a detective strip published in the British newspaper Daily Mirror from 1937 onwards till 1962. During its heydays, there has been only a single one-shot Buck Ryan comics published in the UK (in 1946) and there was also an Australian Buck Ryan comics periodical. Other than what appears to be a fan-based reprint series from Newspaper Daily Comic Strip Library, there has not been any English-language reprints. However, there were some Buck Ryan albums published in Italy. The first one, in oblong format (see above image for cover) came in 1973; I don't know about its contents. Later in the same decade, the same publisher, Milano Libri Edizioni, also published a series of four albums, which appear to be hardcover editions, reprinting in chronological order from 1937 through 1940:

I've just ordered two issues of the British NDCSL reprint series and will post about them when I receive them.
Sources on the 1946 British one shot and the Australian comics: Denis Gifford, The Complete Catalogue of British Comics (1985: Webb & Bower, Exeter) and ibid, The International Book of Comics (1988: W H Smith) resp.

MARMADUKE IN COLOR (1942) AND THE RETURN OF MARMADUKE (1947)

British comics artist Basil Reynolds, who had been on board at Britain's Mickey Mouse Weekly comics magazine since its launch in 1936, was drafted into the British army in October 1940. However, little "bits and pieces" of material he had earlier produced and un-used at the time occasionally continued to appear in the now understaffed magazine till mid-1942. A few of these were some Marmaduke strips. Unlike the original run of Marmaduke which was in black&white (see the earlier post on this blog covering the debut of Marmaduke), these extra strips were printed at the bottom rim of the back cover and hence in color. The above scan is from no. 307 (dated Apr. 11th, 1942) and the below ones from the two subsequent issues:Reynolds would return to Mickey Mouse some time after the war and would revive his mouse character, this time simply as a host, in a new b & w strip titled 'Marmaduke Presents .. ?' in 1947-48. Below samples are from no. 448 (Sept. 20th, 1947) and 451 (Nov. 1st, 1947):Pinky Green in the strip from 448 is another character Reynolds had created in 1940 for a separate strip (see the earlier post on this blog covering the debut of Pinky).

ALADDIN JUNIOR

One of the non-Disneyic comics ran in Britain's Mickey Mouse comics magazine in the wartime era was 'Aladdin Jr.', chronicling the humorous exploits of a magic lamp genie accompanying a boy. 'Aladdin Junior' or alternatively 'Aladdin Jr' was an American import, a King Features Sunday newspaper comics written by Les Forgrave and drawn by William M. Prince. It had been syndicated in the US in 1942-43. According to Andy Madura's 'Comics and Paper Collectibles' site, "the story of the strip revolved around a young lad named Jack who was living the country life with his Aunt Belle and Uncle Pete. One day, his aunt breaks down and gives Jack a crate that his father had bequeathed to him. Inside was an arabian lamp, and when he rubbed the lamp a very mischevious Genie popped into Jack's life." The above scan is from MM no. 331 (dated March 13th, 1943) and the below ones from no. 358 (dated March 25th, 1944) and no. 371 (dated Sept. 23rd, 1944):

RADIO FUN

Radio Fun was a British weekly magazine featuring comics based on popular radio shows and/or radio personalities. It was published between 1938-61 by Amalgated Press. Above scan is of the cover of no. 291 (dated May 6th, 1944). The "Big-Hearted Arthur" of the comics on the cover is Arthur Askey, a popular British radio comedian (who also had a subsequent film career). On the other hand, I couldn't find out what this interesting comics on the back cover was derived from:

Note the text beneath the first row of panels where the black character abases himself by saying "No fish will understand Coon Language." This comics is the work of leading British comics artist Roy Wilson (1900-1965), best remembered for the 'Chimpo's Circus' published on the covers of the short-lived Happy Days comics weekly from 1938-39:

note: above image of no.1 of Happy Days is scanned from Denis Gifford's The Complete Catalogue of British Comics (1985).

SPADGER'S ISLE

Above scan is of the cover of no. 991 (dated Feb. 7th, 1942) of British children's weekly The Wizard, featuring the humorous comics known as Spadger's Isle by British artist Chick [Charles] Gordon (c.1890-1952). As can be seen in the above example, Spadger's Isle depicted African natives of an island ran by two Brits in 'funny' situations. The above example is also noteworthy for integrating World War 2 context. Spadger's Isle was reportedly very popular and published on the covers of The Wizard throughout the 1940s. The Wizard itself was a very long-lasting magazine, running from 1922 to 1963. It was published by D.C.Thompson, a major British publisher who had also put out the influential comics magazines Dandy and Beano. The Wizard, however, featured mostly illustrated stories rather than comics.

DEBUT OF BASIL REYNOLDS' PINKY GREEN (1940)

Above scan is from no. 217 (dated Mar. 30th, 1940) of Britain's Mickey Mouse Weekly, featuring the debut of Basil Reynolds' Pinky Green half-page strip.

DEBUT OF BASIL REYNOLDS' SKIT AND SKAT (1936)

Above scan is of the debut of British comics artist Basil Reynolds' 'Adventures of Skit and Skat' in no. 1 (dated Feb 8th, 1936) of Britain's Mickey Mouse Weekly. Born in 1916, the talented Reynolds, who had already done strip work for several newspapers, was only 20 years of age when he was given the full 3rd page of MMW, the flagship British Disney publication with more than half a million circulation. In his memoirs (reprinted in http://www.mouseplanet.com/), Reynolds has noted that he was recruited into the staff of MMW at the magazine's founding with the endorsement of his draft of 'Skit and Skat' by British Disney artist Wilfred Haughton.

The mouse which appears in the second panel of this first installement is the prototype of Marmaduke who would soon make semi-regular appearances in 'Skit and Skat' and eventually have his own strip.

Below is the scan of the 'Skit and Skat' page from no. 2 of MMW:

'Skit and Skat' would shift between gag-a-week or continuity narratives and lasted uninterrupted till (including) no 66 (dated May 8th, 1937). It would resume at no. 97 (dated Dec. 11th, 1937), retitled as 'Skit, Skat and the Captain', and last till 1940.

'THE ADVENTURES OF SIR ENDOR NEVAH THE KNUTTY KNIGHT' (1938)

'The Adventures of Sir Endor Nevah the Knutty Knight' is a very interesting humorous adventure comics serialized in Britain's Mickey Mouse Weekly in 1938 (no.'s 115-126, above scan is of the first episode). It features the exploits of the title hero and his page as they try to rescue a princess. What makes it stand out as almost avanguard is the presence of weird pseudo-futuristic motifs in its medieval setting:

I am surprised to find absolutely no mention of this exceptional comics anywhere on the net. If anyone knows anything about its writer and/or artist, please tell us...

ADDENDA FROM OCT. 2010: I've just realized that this obscure comics has also been serialized in the weekly Turkish children's magazine Afacan in 1939 as 'Kral İle Devin Resimli Masalı [The Illustrated Fairytale of the King and the Giant]'.

'HEAVENLY TWINS' (1936)

Above scan is of the first installement of the gag-a-week comics 'Heavenly Twins' ran in Britain's Mickey Mouse Weekly in 1936 (no's 28-44).

FILM FUN

I give a break to my coverage of the pre-history of comics in Turkey to post scans from two pre-war issues of the British film comics magazine Film Fun which I recently acquired. Film Fun was published by Amalgamated Press, pioneer of platinium (pre-golden) age comics boom in Britain, between 1920-1962. The two issues I acquired contain comics featuring comedy film stars of the era, as well as text stories.
No. 446, dated Aug. 4th, 1928 (which became the earliest comic in my collection [costing me 12.5 pounds]) has 10 of its 24 pages (including covers) reserved for comics. A 2-page Harold Lloyd gag comics starts at the front cover [above scan] and ends at the back cover:

Other comics in this issue are Lupino Lane (1 pg), Grock (2 pgs, which appears to be part of a continuity), Jackie Coogan (2 pgs), Ben Turpin & Charlie Conklin (1 pg), Buster Keaton (1 pg) and Charlie Murray (1 pg)

British artists known to be working in Film Fun in its first decade include George Wakefield and Tom Radford.

For no. 730, dated Jan. 13th, 1934, Harold Lloyd's place had been reduced to a single page...

... while Laurel and Hardy take up the two centre pages:


Other comics in this issue are Joe E. Brown (2 pgs: front and back covers), Sydney Howard (1 pg), Tim McCoy (2ps, part of continuity), Wheeler & Woolsey (2 pgs), Lupino Lane (1 pg) and Schnozzle (1 pg).
Some of the comics from Film Fun were reprinted in Turkey in the children's magazine Afacan (1932-34). See my post dated Dec 22nd, 2007 for a coverage of film comics in general, including the Turkish reprints. For a nice round-up of the evolution of Film Fun itself over the decades, see the post dated Jan 14th, 2010 at http://lewstringer.blogspot.com/