This information is kindly supplied by Mike Hobson.

TV Comic - News of the World publication. Published by Beaverbrook and later by Polystyle.

Edited originally by Blos Lewis.

Weekly ran for 1697 issues from 9/11/51 to 29/06/84.

Annuals 1954 – 1985. (Not printed between 1981 – 1983)

Holiday Specials 1962 – 1984.  

Issue 1 was dated 9 November 1951 - The first issue had 8 pages and had Muffin the Mule on the cover. It also contained other TV favourites of the day including Mr. Pastry, Larry the Lamb, Tom Puss, Prince Valiant (Hal Foster reprint) Jack & Jill, Prudence Kitten, Tusker & Tikki and Hank. The letters page article was called 'Lets be gay' and hosted by Jennifer who also introduced Children's TV back then.

The early issues of TV Comic where aimed at quite a young readership (perhaps 5 to 8) and other TV favourites of this time to appear in the comic where Coco the clown, Packi, Roy Rogers, Sooty and Noddy. The 1950's issues also included a fairly strong religious theme each week with text stories of Jesus and the Bible.

Around the late 50's some of the younger children's strips made way for more fictional book stories such as Treasure Island, Black Beauty, Sgt Gunn and the Lone Ranger.

The 1960's era of the comic is really its ‘Golden age’ its probably the most collectable and as the decade unfolded the comic strips changed quite substantially bringing in the best and latest Children’s TV series of the day. The first of these was the Gerry Anderson programme Four Feather Falls followed soon after by Supercar and Fireball XL5. By the mid 60’s other famous strips such as Space Patrol, The Avengers, Telegoons, and Adam Adamant and of course Dr Who were all featured. This would have changed the readership age of the comic quite profoundly as it would now appeal considerably more to older children as well.

By the early 1970's the comic had introduced more popular TV cartoon characters like Tom & Jerry, Pink Panther, Bugs Bunny, Droopy and Barney Bear as well as popular TV characters like Basil Brush and later Rod Hull & Emu. The Comic itself is still enormously collectable from this time as Dr Who and the Avengers still graced the pages as well as Dads Army.

By late 1976 the comic was literally re-launched with Television advertising and became known as 'Mighty TV Comic'. It started being printed on a lesser quality paper at this time and appearing in tabloid format until 1978 when it returned to its more conventional format. During this time when the Comic industry was being hit hard by many amalgamations and rising costs they introduced more gifts and big prize competitions. Around this time other TV favourites to feature were Star Trek, Charlie’s Angels, Kojak and Scooby Doo.

The 1980's saw the comic as only a shadow of its former self being mainly filled with reprints of 1970's issues. The only notable, collectable and original strip of this period was perhaps Battle of the Planets, which ran from 1981-1983.

The Comic finally limped out at issue 1697 (29/06/84) with no warning inside of its demise or of it being merged with another comic. It just failed to appear the following week, although both ‘The A Team' and 'Tales of the Gold Monkey' strips, which had been running, said 'The End'       

COVER STARS:

Issue   1  (09/11/51) 1st Muffin the Mule (drawn by Neville Main) cover.

Issue 193  (09/07/55) Sooty (drawn by Tony Hart) took over on the cover.                

Issue 267  (15/12/56) 1st Enid Blyton’s Noddy cover.

Issue 345  (14/06/58) 1st Lenny the Lion (drawn by Bill Mevin) cover.

(The Lenny the Lion cover era produced some of the most elaborate and colourful Christmas and Bonfire cover issues).

Issue 456  (10/09/60) 1st Popeye (drawn initially by Chick Henderson) cover. (Even after Popeye was dropped from the cover, the strip continued inside the comic into the 1980's). 

Issue 788  (21/01/67) 1st Dr Who cover (drawn by John Canning. This was a six-month period of Dr Who and the Daleks covers which are perhaps some of the most collectable issues). 

Issue 810  (24/06/67) 1st Ken Dodd's Diddymen (drawn by Bill Titcombe) cover.

Issue 909  (17/05/69) 1st Tom & Jerry (drawn by Bill Titcombe) cover.

Issue 1292 (18/09/76) 1st tabloid format with covers now showing a mixture of the strips inside.

Issue 1323 (23/04/77) Cover stars varied from Pink Panther, Basil Brush, Barney Bear and Tom & Jerry.

Issue 1377 (05/05/78) Returns to original comic format. Cover stars vary again from Pink Panther to Charlie's Angels, Buzby and Scooby Doo amongst others.

Issue 1480 (28/04/80) Reprints of Tom & Jerry's 70's covers.

Issue 1586 (14/05/82) Covers depicting the inside characters.

SOME KEY ISSUES:

Issue 384 (14/03/59). TV Comic's longest running strip Mighty Moth first appeared (but never in strip form on the cover) and ran until the comic finished.

Issue 439 (14/05/60) the first of 3 early Gerry Anderson shows 'Four Feather Falls' (drawn by Neville Main) began having recently started on TV and ran until issue 564 (06/10/62).

Issue 482 (11/03/61) was the last appearance of Muffin the Mule in TV Comic as he quietly slipped from the pages in only a half page b/w strip.

Issue 483 (18/03/61) another Gerry Anderson favourite and probably the most collectable Supercar (drawn initially by H Watts and later Bill Mevin) started. It ran until issue 667 (26/09/64)

Issue 565 (13/10/62) the 3rd and last Gerry Anderson strip to appear in TV Comic was Fireball XL5 (drawn by Neville Main) and ran until issue 672 (31/10/64).

Issue 619 (26/10/63) Telegoons (drawn by Bill Titcombe) appeared until issue 787 (14/01/67).

Issue 668 (03/10/64) Space Patrol (drawn by Bill Mevin) always in full colour in the centre pages ran until issue 719 (25/09/65).

Issue 674 (14/11/64) Dr Who begins (Initially drawn by Neville Main) it first ran (apart from a brief period away for a few issues at the end of 1970) until issue 999 (06/02/71) then transfers to 'Countdown' comic.

Issue 720 (02/10/65) 1st Dr Who colour centrespread (now drawn by Bill Mevin later from issue 748 by John Canning).

Issue 720 (02/10/65) The Avengers (by Pat Williams) begins its first run until issue 771 (24/09/66).

Issue 877 (05/1//68) The Avengers return and run until issue 1078 (12/08/72).

Issue 1058 (25/03/72) Dads Army (drawn by Bill Titcombe begins its first run until issue 1100 (13/01/73) and transfers to ‘TV Action’.

Issue 1133 (01/09/73) ‘TV Action’ merges with TV Comic. Dads Army returns until issue 1275 (22/05/76) and Dr Who also returns (drawn by Gerry Haylock and later by Martin Asbury).

Issue 1292 (18/09/76) 1st tabloid style 'Mighty TV Comic'. Free Dr Who mighty midget comic book. Star Trek (Gold key reprints) features until issue 1382 (09/06/78).

Issue 1393 (25/08/78) 1st 'TV Comic incorporating Target'. Charlie's Angels begins (drawn by John Canning) until issue 1451 (05/10/79)

Issue 1430 (11/05/79) Final issue with Dr Who - since issue 1386 the strip had been John Canning reprints with Dr Who redrawn as Tom Baker.

Issue 1530 (17/04/81) Battle of the Planets begins and finishes issue 1671 (30/12/83).