Only a short blog today but I thought you might be interested in seeing the ad for the very first issue of Valiant. This appeared in Fleetway's Knockout weekly dated 6th October 1962.As you can see, the ad only mentioned a few of the characters that appeared in Valiant No.1, - and no mention at all of The Steel Claw, who was to become one of the comic's most popular characters. Perhaps back then the editors expected Brett Blade and Hawk Hunter to become big hits. (Who?)
The ad appeared in the comic shown below. By 1962 Amalgamated Press' long-running Knockout comic had been revamped into an adventure comic and was the original home for Kelly's Eye. The following year, Knockout would merge into Valiant and Tim Kelly would become another of Valiant's most memorable characters.
Cover artwork by Eric Bradbury.
Love this blog post
ReplyDeleteRocket pocket looked fun...'oye you could have someones eye out with that!!!' Also a football league table as well...unusual for 2 free gifts in those days..
Never knew Knockout became for a short time an adventure comic...other than the cover star...what were the other main stories in Knockout at that time?...Billy Bunter.....
Its always a smile what character they thought would take off and given the cover...Lion had its Dan Dare type that they thought would be a winner...But Robot Archie (Jungle robot) was the silent winner...
Interesting. For a time (much later; early 1970s) I subscribed to Valiant after (I think) the Odhams comics I'd been buying sort of folded into IPC.
ReplyDeleteI used to sent my amateurish efforts at comic art to various editors and at one point I was sent a script for a four-page episode of Captain Hurricane (to compare to the printed comic, which was mailed with it.)
Unfortunately, a couple of years after I moved back to the US, that script (among many of my papers) got thrown out when my mother's home was being remodeled.
Can't remember the writer's name.
I was more a fan of superhero stuf,, but by then, any correspondence from actual comics pros was great.
--Mike Mittelstadt
Watertown NY
Interesting. For a time (much later; early 1970s) I subscribed to Valiant after (I think) the Odhams comics I'd been buying sort of folded into IPC.
ReplyDeleteI used to sent my amateurish efforts at comic art to various editors and at one point I was sent a script for a four-page episode of Captain Hurricane (to compare to the printed comic, which was mailed with it.)
Unfortunately, a couple of years after I moved back to the US, that script (among many of my papers) got thrown out when my mother's home was being remodeled.
Can't remember the writer's name.
I was more a fan of superhero stuf,, but by then, any correspondence from actual comics pros was great.
--Mike Mittelstadt
Watertown NY