Dynamic Covers of D.C. Thomson comics

Unless they're bagged with a bundle of gifts obscuring the comic (as many today sadly are) the front cover of a publication is vitally important to attract attention. D.C. Thomson have always understood this, and have produced many striking full page illustrations over the years to grab the interest of readers. To my mind, this was even more evident in the 1970s, when Warlord debuted with a more dynamic attitude than its companion comics such as Victor or Hornet.

Warlord's more vibrant style was evident on its covers. Often only printed with variations of red and yellow (no doubt partly to cut costs) it gave them a fiery look that combined very effectively with the striking cover artwork and the direct tone of the excellent lettering. We often look to IPC's Battle, Action, and 2000AD as pioneers of the modern comic but Warlord got there first. Admittedly the content of those IPC titles was more street-cred and radical, but Warlord's melodramatic cover style and page layout started that new approach to comics of the seventies. 

As well as influencing its rivals, Warlord also inspired a change in the comics that followed, with Bullet and Crunch also adopting the more dramatic cover style. Anyway, enough talk. Let the pictures tell the story with this small selection of D.C. Thomson covers scanned from my collection.       

                                                                                           

When it came to The CRUNCH...

This week in 1979 D.C. Thomson had a new title on the stands. The Crunch was a more dynamic, more brutal comic than their usual adventure papers and was perhaps their attempt to rival IPC's 2000AD. 

Truth be told, D.C. Thomson had instigated this new breed of dynamic comics for boys when they launched Warlord in 1974 (which in turn inspired IPC to launch Battle, then Action, and 2000AD). The Crunch was just following what Warlord had begun with page designs that led with large splash panels and a tougher tone to the stories compared to veteran papers such as Victor or Tiger.

The lead strip in The Crunch No.1 was Arena, where a corrupt government in the 21st Century condemns anyone who speaks against them as criminals and sentences them to fight to death in an arena. (We're probably getting close to that now.) Written by Dave H. Taylor and drawn by Enrique Alcatena, Arena has recently been collected by Bear Alley Books which you can order here if you want a copy:
http://bearalleybooks.blogspot.co.uk/2014/09/arena.html

One of the most popular characters in The Crunch was The Mantracker, AKA Bounty Hunter 'Bearpaw Jay'.

Episode one was pretty violent for a DC Thomson comic, with an innocent bystander being shot in the guts by a bank robber...

Equally violent was the opening episode of The Walking Bombs which began with an impressive centrespread by Denis McLoughlin. One panel showed military leaders being incinerated by a nuclear explosion, followed by the murder of British government officials...

If the threat of the 'Walking Bombs' wasn't nerve-shattering enough, the next story revived the most evil man in history in Hitler Lives! Patrick Wright was the artist of this post-war tale of Hitler surviving WW2...

Could things get any more tense? How's about Who Killed Cassidy? - with the (fictional) American president Jack Cassidy being assassinated! A few pages later, the supposed killer is found hanged, and a conspiracy thriller begins!

I didn't pay The Crunch much attention back in 1979 as I was more into American comics by then. However, I recently bought a complete run of the comic cheaply (it only ran for 54 issues) and was very impressed. It's a great comic! (You can be sure I'll be featuring other issues at a later date.)   

Into the ARENA!

As you may already know, Steve Holland's Bear Alley Books will soon be publishing a collection of the DC Thomson strip Arena. The serial originally ran in The Crunch weekly adventure comic in 1979, and was created by Dave Taylor (not the artist of the same name) and illustrated by Argentinian artist Enrique Alcatena.

You can read more info about the strip at John Freeman's essential Down The Tubes blog here: 
http://downthetubes.net/?p=16454

The latest news is that Steve now has copyright clearance so the book is definitely on. You can see the cover above, coloured by Martin Baines, designed by Steve Holland.

I think this is the only way we'll continue to see classic UK strips reprinted, - under license to outside parties. Admittedly Egmont have reprinted classic Thunderbirds strips in book form, but I doubt they'd be interested in the more obscure strips. Similarly, DC Thomson annually reprint selected old Dandy and Beano strips but it's not worth their time to reprint material that would have a more limited appeal. So it's great that people such as Steve Holland, Titan Books, Hibernia, etc actively work to gain permission to produce the books themselves. 

To keep abreast of developments as to when Arena will be published, keep an eye on the Bear Alley Books blog:
http://bearalleybooks.blogspot.co.uk/