Classics from the Comics
Encyclopedia
Classics from the Comics was a UK
comic
, published from March 1996 until October 2010. Published monthly, it was D. C. Thomson & Co. Ltd
's third all-reprint comic. It replaced The Best of Topper and The Best of Beezer, which had reprinted old strips for some years.
Classics from the Comics collected archive comic strip
s from eight comic titles – the still going The Beano
and The Dandy
, and the defunct Beezer, Topper, Nutty
, Sparky
, Cracker
, and Buzz
. During its later issues, adventure comics from the likes of The Victor, The Wizard, The Rover
, The Hotspur and The Hornet were used. It also started using Hoot! shortly before it ended.
The comic had 64 pages, which were prefaced with a contents page ("Classic Contents") and until 2007 were followed by an advert for the next month's issue, with the back cover showing original strips starring Roger the Dodger
, Little Plum
, Plug, Beryl the Peril
amongst others, drawn by Gordon Bell
or Keith Reynolds.
In 2006, the cover was redesigned to show "Classics from the Comics" with a roundel containing Korky the Cat
's head and the words Classics Collection, and a large illustration by Ken H. Harrison
. The new editor started penning a letter to the readers on the contents page, and the advert and original strip on the inside and back covers were replaced by further reprinted strips, which are always Korky the Cat and Biffo the Bear.
A small notice was published on all the pages, identifying which comic the strip comes from (Classic Beano, Classic Dandy, etc.). Near the end of each issue, a "Readers Requests" postal address was displayed, so readers could write to DC Thomson and request other archive strips to go in a future issue.
Free gifts in the form of The Fun Size Beano
s or The Fun Size Dandy
s were featured in early issues, plus free gifts originally given away with The Beano or The Dandy. In July 2004 Classics from the Comics celebrated its 100th issue, revamping the front cover at the same time, changing the logo from a plain serif
font to a sans-serif one with a 3-D effect.
The August 2008 issue was a Beano special, featuring only characters from that 70-year-old comic. It featured the oldest (Ping the Elastic Man
and Deep Down Daddy Neptune, 1938), and most recent stories (specifically the picture of Dennis
, Gnasher, Wallace & Gromit from the Beano printed only the previous day; the most recent actual story was "Crazy for Daisy
" from 2003) ever used. For this issue, the usual Korky roundel was replaced with the logo from the 70 Years of Fun collector's edition.
'D. C. Thomson & Co. Ltd
's Golden Years/60 Years/70 Years books, which are brought out each Christmas, are effectively Classic From the Comics annual, although they started in 1988, eight years before Classics launched.
Despite a further 'retro' relaunch in the spring of 2010, Classics from the Comics ended that October, the final issue being number 175.
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
comic
Comic book
A comic book or comicbook is a magazine made up of comics, narrative artwork in the form of separate panels that represent individual scenes, often accompanied by dialog as well as including...
, published from March 1996 until October 2010. Published monthly, it was D. C. Thomson & Co. Ltd
D. C. Thomson & Co. Ltd
D. C. Thomson & Co. Ltd, is a publishing company based in Dundee, Scotland, best known for producing The Dundee Courier, The Evening Telegraph, The Sunday Post, Oor Wullie, The Broons, The Beano, The Dandy and Commando comics...
's third all-reprint comic. It replaced The Best of Topper and The Best of Beezer, which had reprinted old strips for some years.
Classics from the Comics collected archive comic strip
Comic strip
A comic strip is a sequence of drawings arranged in interrelated panels to display brief humor or form a narrative, often serialized, with text in balloons and captions....
s from eight comic titles – the still going The Beano
The Beano
The Beano is a British children's comic, published by D.C. Thomson & Co and is arguably their most successful.The comic first appeared on 30 July 1938, and was published weekly. During the Second World War,The Beano and The Dandy were published on alternating weeks because of paper and ink...
and The Dandy
The Dandy
The Dandy is a long running children's comic published in the United Kingdom by D. C. Thomson & Co. Ltd. The first issue was printed in 1937 and it is the world's third longest running comic, after Detective Comics and Il Giornalino...
, and the defunct Beezer, Topper, Nutty
Nutty
Nutty was a British comic that ran for 292 issues from 16 February 1980 to 14 September 1985, when it merged with The Dandy. Published by D. C. Thomson & Co. Ltd, Nutty was an attempt to create a more lively and chaotic comic compared to many on sale at the time. Its strips included:* Bananaman as...
, Sparky
Sparky (comic)
Sparky was a British comic published weekly by DC Thomson, that ran from 23 January 1965 to 9 July 1977 when it merged with The Topper after 652 issues. From 1965-1980 the comic published an annual entitled The Sparky Book...
, Cracker
Cracker (comic)
Cracker was a British comic printed by D. C. Thomson & Co. Ltd that ran from the issues dated 18 January 1975 to 11 September 1976 , when it merged with The Beezer...
, and Buzz
Buzz (comic)
Buzz was an A3 British comic that ran from 20 January 1973 to 4 January 1975, when it merged with The Topper. Buzz ran for 103 Issues.-List of Buzz comic strips:...
. During its later issues, adventure comics from the likes of The Victor, The Wizard, The Rover
The Rover (comics)
The Rover was a British boys' comic which started in 1922. The comic merged with Adventure in 1961 and later merged with The Wizard in 1963. The comic eventually folded in 1973....
, The Hotspur and The Hornet were used. It also started using Hoot! shortly before it ended.
The comic had 64 pages, which were prefaced with a contents page ("Classic Contents") and until 2007 were followed by an advert for the next month's issue, with the back cover showing original strips starring Roger the Dodger
Roger the Dodger
This is the article for The Beano comic strip, for other uses please see Roger the Dodger Roger the Dodger is a fictional character featured regularly in the UK comic The Beano...
, Little Plum
Little Plum
Little Plum is a fictional character in the UK comic The Beano.The eponymous hero and his friends Chiefy, Pimple and Hole-in-um-Head are members of the "Smellyfeet" American Indian tribe, who spend much of their time clashing with their rivals the "Puttyfeet" tribe. Other characters include Dr...
, Plug, Beryl the Peril
Beryl the Peril
Beryl the Peril is a fictional character created by David Law, the creator of Dennis the Menace, for Issue 1 of The Topper comic published by DC Thomson & Co. Limited. Like Dennis, she had black and red apparel, and devilishly tormented her parents and other members of her community...
amongst others, drawn by Gordon Bell
Gordon Bell
C. Gordon Bell is an American computer engineer and manager. An early employee of Digital Equipment Corporation 1960–1966, Bell designed several of their PDP machines and later became Vice President of Engineering 1972-1983, overseeing the development of the VAX...
or Keith Reynolds.
In 2006, the cover was redesigned to show "Classics from the Comics" with a roundel containing Korky the Cat
Korky the Cat
Korky the Cat is a fictional character in a comic strip in the UK comic The Dandy. It first appeared in issue 1, dated 4 December 1937, and was The Dandy's original cover star. He was on the front cover of Dandy for several decades only missing out one issue, No. 294 when Keyhole Kate was on the...
's head and the words Classics Collection, and a large illustration by Ken H. Harrison
Ken H. Harrison
Ken H. Harrison is an artist at DC Thomson, who drew Robbie Rebel, Big Brad Wolf and Lord Snooty for The Beano, The Hoot Squad for Hoot , The Broons and Oor Wullie for the Sunday Post, Skookum Skool, Spookum Skool and The Snookums for Buzz and Cracker comics.He drew Desperate Dan for The Dandy...
. The new editor started penning a letter to the readers on the contents page, and the advert and original strip on the inside and back covers were replaced by further reprinted strips, which are always Korky the Cat and Biffo the Bear.
A small notice was published on all the pages, identifying which comic the strip comes from (Classic Beano, Classic Dandy, etc.). Near the end of each issue, a "Readers Requests" postal address was displayed, so readers could write to DC Thomson and request other archive strips to go in a future issue.
Free gifts in the form of The Fun Size Beano
Fun Size Comics
The Fun Size Beano and Fun Size Dandy were small-format, full-colour children's comics, originally published four times monthly by DC Thomson and Co. Ltd between 1997 and 2010. They replaced the Beano and Dandy Comic Libraries, originally printed in red, white and black and published from 1982 to...
s or The Fun Size Dandy
Fun Size Comics
The Fun Size Beano and Fun Size Dandy were small-format, full-colour children's comics, originally published four times monthly by DC Thomson and Co. Ltd between 1997 and 2010. They replaced the Beano and Dandy Comic Libraries, originally printed in red, white and black and published from 1982 to...
s were featured in early issues, plus free gifts originally given away with The Beano or The Dandy. In July 2004 Classics from the Comics celebrated its 100th issue, revamping the front cover at the same time, changing the logo from a plain serif
Serif
In typography, serifs are semi-structural details on the ends of some of the strokes that make up letters and symbols. A typeface with serifs is called a serif typeface . A typeface without serifs is called sans serif or sans-serif, from the French sans, meaning “without”...
font to a sans-serif one with a 3-D effect.
The August 2008 issue was a Beano special, featuring only characters from that 70-year-old comic. It featured the oldest (Ping the Elastic Man
Ping the Elastic Man
Ping the Elastic Man was a fictional character who had his own comic strip in the UK comic The Beano. His first appearance was in issue 1, dated 30 July 1938. Ping was an elastic man who could stretch everywhere, the only one in the world...
and Deep Down Daddy Neptune, 1938), and most recent stories (specifically the picture of Dennis
Dennis the Menace (UK)
Dennis the Menace, later called Dennis the Menace and Gnasher and now Dennis and Gnasher, is a long-running comic strip in the British children's comic The Beano, published by D. C...
, Gnasher, Wallace & Gromit from the Beano printed only the previous day; the most recent actual story was "Crazy for Daisy
Crazy for Daisy
Crazy for Daisy was a comic strip in the UK comic The Beano. First appearing in issue 2865, dated 14 June 1997, it was part of an ongoing selection of six comic strips that were to be voted into the comic by readers. This strip was the winner, beating Camp Cosmos, Have a Go Jo, Sydd and Trash Can...
" from 2003) ever used. For this issue, the usual Korky roundel was replaced with the logo from the 70 Years of Fun collector's edition.
'D. C. Thomson & Co. Ltd
D. C. Thomson & Co. Ltd
D. C. Thomson & Co. Ltd, is a publishing company based in Dundee, Scotland, best known for producing The Dundee Courier, The Evening Telegraph, The Sunday Post, Oor Wullie, The Broons, The Beano, The Dandy and Commando comics...
's Golden Years/60 Years/70 Years books, which are brought out each Christmas, are effectively Classic From the Comics annual, although they started in 1988, eight years before Classics launched.
Despite a further 'retro' relaunch in the spring of 2010, Classics from the Comics ended that October, the final issue being number 175.