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Thursday, March 08, 2007

Super DC











Although the British representation of Marvel Comics in Odhams Fantastic and Terrific didn't meet with huge success in 1967/68 it didn't deter Top Sellers Ltd. from attempting a similar UK title in 1969.

Super DC was, like Fantastic, a 40 page anthology comic with full colour covers and black and white interiors. Its layout owed more to Odhams Smash! and Pow! in that it resized American pages to better suit a UK format. The logic being that British readers were used to seeing pages with 12 panels or more, not 5 or 6 like the American comics had, so layouts were re-jigged to accommodate two pages worth of US material on one Super DC page. This often led to noticeable results, with panels being cropped awkwardly or extra art added, sometimes poorly. Worse, the covers were usually sloppy composites of character poses that produced bizarre results, most infamously on the cover of No.3 which appeared to not only show Robin peering intently at Batman's crotch but also crouching down for a closer inspection!

If the reader could get past its flaws, Super DC was a good showcase for the DC heroes. The contents included Superman, Batman, Lois Lane, Jimmy Olsen and Superboy; all taken from a classic and much respected period of late fifties / early sixties DC comics. The issues also included new two page text stories (Superman or Batman), an editorial page using the DC Direct Currents logo (but being nothing like its American page), a centrespread photo-feature which usually covered tv shows of the period (anything from Doctor Who to Randall and Hopkirk Deceased or Please Sir!), a Denis Gifford strip Jolly Jack (in No.6) and "The Skipper's Mailbag" where in one issue a reader asked what a ship's captain had to do with DC comics. The question went unanswered.

The "Skipper" in question, the editor of Super DC, was Mick Anglo, more famous for the creation of Marvelman in the 1950s. His editorial pages were an eclectic mixture of info ranging from background snippets on DC characters to the rotary index of Scotland Yard's fingerprint system or the workings of London's Victoria Line.

No doubt Top Sellers intended Super DC to attract readers to the regular American titles, for Top Sellers were also the distributors of DC comics in the UK! This was pretty blatant by the advertisement that appeared on the back cover of every issue of Super DC, urging readers to "Get in on the action" and order World's Finest, Lois Lane, etc from their newsagent. (Inspired by this I tried to do so, but my newsagent told me he never knew which titles Top Sellers would sent him, so it had to be an unspecific order for "every American comic" or none. I chose none.)

Incidentally, your eyes aren't deceiving you; that DC comics ad (shown above) was indeed coloured by someone who clearly had no idea what Batman looked like, colouring him naked apart from green trunks and gloves. This was never corrected throughout Super DC's run.

Priced at 1/- (5p) and published monthly, Super DC should have worked but didn't. Perhaps the format of complete stories failed to hook the readers. (I think that's one reason I gave up on it after 7 issues. That plus the poor covers.) I understand there were 14 issues in all, although I only have 1 to 12 and have never seen any others. (
Unsold copies of the monthly were later redistributed to newsagents with a 5p sticker added.) There was also a hardback Super DC Bumper Book which was an improvement on the monthly in that it featured full colour and the pages were not resized, but bizarre recolouring (such as a brown Krypto) let it down somewhat.

Today, DC comics are represented in the UK with Titan's Batman Legends monthly and its companion comic Superman Legends (coming soon); both featuring up to date strips in full colour and running to 76 pages each. Far better designed than Super DC, but at least for a short while in 1969 to 1970 Mick Anglo's publication was an interesting if sometimes offbeat home for the DC heroes.

7 comments:

Milesc said...

Super DC- now that takes me back! Don't suppose you have a scan of the free wristwatch calendar? I have some very vague memory of it. Unlike you, i bought every issue-well at least i thought i did, as i only recall buying 12. But memory may be playing tricks as it is almost (hard to believe) 40 years ago. I do remember being so excited by it that i use to nag the poor newspaper vendor to open the brown packages to see if the latest issue had arrived. Thanks for reviving the memory Lew- and thanks for this great blog.
Miles Curtis

Anonymous said...

Denis Gifford claimed in his 1985 THE COMPLETE CATALOGUE OF BRITISH COMICS that there were 14 issues of SUPER DC. However, he also claimed that there were 91 issues of FANTASTIC when, in actual fact, there were only 89, so he could have been wrong. I have #s 1-13 of SUPER DC, along with the free gifts from issue 1. Anyone ever seen a 14th issue?

Toby Davies said...

There ARE 14. I have them all, unfortunately without the free gift from #1. Am I able to upload a scan, or send one via email to the author of this blog? (I'm new to all this!)

Lew Stringer said...

Thanks for the confirmation Toby. No need for a scan though, but the offer is appreciated.

Jim said...

Thanks for the info on Super DC! I have issues 10, 11, 13 and 14 and would like to sell them. Has anyone any idea about what they might be worth?

Anonymous said...

I saw from these Blimey! blog posts that some of you out there have issues #1-14 of this comic. I'm doing some research on these, so can anyone please tell me what the titles are of the Batman text stories from issues #2,3,4,5,7,8,13, & 14? I'd really, really appreciate it, and may even want to buy them from those willing to sell!

Anyway, thank you in advance to anyone who could tell me this info, and you can contact me at:

ebay27539@yahoo.com

Anonymous said...

Can anyone tell me what issue 4 of super DC is worth please?

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