Is Captain Hurricane the one who takes on the Hun with just his two enormous fists?

Please no! I was hoping to get some work done.

God I used to love Warlord comic.

Surely the best title for a comic ever.

with the first issue of Valiant. The greatest ever comic free gift I've always thought. I got to know all the team colours because of them: Mansfield blue and yellow. Northampton maroon and gold. Man Utd red and white and green and yellow and black and blue and...........
Worst gift was those tastless, chalk like whistling sweets.

seemed to get a bad press.

I remember having the complete story in some annual or other and I was convinced - aged 6 - that it was a movie adaptation.

Did anyone else join the Warlord club thingmy? You got a plastic wallet and some codes if I remember rightly...

'Dinger Bell' in The Kids of Stalag 41, anybody?

Involved with a gang operating against the authority figure. Seems to model his pranks around acts of construction.

Perhaps David Simon just loved 70s comics?

That the generation raised on that stuff ended up lacing flowers in their hair. *Nobody* carried a weapon more threatening than a catapult. Whereas the generation who were denied war toys ended up packing heat.

How about Action?

http://www.sevenpennynightmare.co.uk/contents.htm

the best! Long live "hook jaw" Sharks not being hard enough and needing a harpoon though it's jaw to make that bit harder.
Comic should have been band as they were full subversion how dare kids from all back grounds have weekly access to cheap and colourful well written well drawn entertainment that said adults were abit dumb, that the police where fascist and that unless your dinner was huge mound of mash with fifeteen sausages sticking out it you were being robbed!
Also can I be the first to suggest Word drops the Cd and gives away code books frisbees, space dust, spud guns

What about a false beard?

http://www.comicsuk.co.uk/images/FullStrip/HarryWharton/HarryWharton_001...

Up to date...

People often used to wonder why the Tories always closed ranks and protected the likes of Jeffrey Archer when it was obvious he was a bit of a bad lad. You can see the blueprint for this 'closing of ranks' in the Billy Bunter stories where that gang of chaps (Bob Cherry, Harry Wharton, Johnny Bull, The 'Nabob' etc) would always try to bail out the bounder (Smithy) when he had run up gambling debts or got himself into yet another scrape.
Yarrroooooooooooo! as the Fat Owl himself might have more eloquently phrased it

...that I don't remember any of the strips linked to in the original post (so ner...) - I don't suppose the likes of Joe Bones the Human Fly and Alf Tupper - The Tuff of the Track are anywhere on the internet, are they?

(I also remember a Victor strip about a boxing caveman but the name escapes me...)

Surprised nobody has mentioned the great 'Charley's War' yet. For me it is the best British comic strip there has ever been, and Titan Books have collected it very lovingly indeed:

Darkie's Mob runs it a close second, though.

I agree with Lee Rimmer above – kids clearly are reading, as evidenced by the massive post-Potter boom in the likes of Artemis Fowl, Young Bond etc - but I can't help feeling sad that we can no longer sustain a proper weekly comics culture.

My nephews read Doctor Who Adventures which is fine (and highly successful) but it's just pictures and "fun facts". There is no narrative to speak of. Its equivalent in my childhood was the old Doctor Who Weekly, written by the great Pat Mills (who did Charley's War) and occasionally Alan Moore and Grant Morrison, and drawn by Steve "Judge Dredd" Dillon and Dave "Watchmen" Gibbons. In comparison to today's Doctor Who Adventures comic it might as well have been the New Yorker but it sold in the tens of thousands. Can you imagine anything like that happening now?

Perhaps Development Hell needs a character licensing department...

great link - thanks.
The lack of comics today - certainly non-tv tie-in titles is disappointing. Too often the comic seems to be little more than a leaflet accompanying the free gift - or gifts. In my day we were happy with one of those folded paper and card thingies that made a noise when you swung them and a damned good read. Here's to the Umbrella Men, Billy the Cat, Black Bob and Winker Watson.

Forget all the talk about the war stories (although Charlie's war is fantastic). They, (The powers that be etc) should reprint Raven on the wing from Valiant. A gypsy boy playing barefooted - what more could you want. Much better than Roy of the Rovers.

'The Grappling Seminole' was one of my favourites. I seem to remember him getting into heap big trouble both in and out of the ring, though I might be confusing him with Little Plum.

And, talking of free gifts, how good were the ones given away with the first few issues of 2000AD? I can still remember the stickers designed to look like your flesh had torn to reveal the robotics underneath...

...but for children of the 1980s you can get serious anthologies of Judge Dredd, Strontium Dog and Nemesis the Warlock at all good comic shops (and some bad book shops). Carlos Ezquerra's art on 'The Apocalypse War' still sends shivers down my spine.

Surely the greatest "Comic Strip Hero is Alf Tucker...A strippling who,even though from an underprivledged background,found time from his job as a welder to kick the collective arses of Snob Athletic club on a regular basis.A better Labour V Tory allegory,I've yet to see.

A real working class hero with a "Mozzer" haircut WAAAAAY before his time and with two fingers to Mockney Chef Jamie Oliver,ate fish and chips to gain sustenance for every meet,as he was always late due to some unforeseen "Welding Problem..."

Paul Weller went for Cycling shorts,Italian fashion and espresso culture in the eighties...Would have had my respect if he got out the old singlet and green flash plimsoles instead.Might have made that "Red Wedge" platform more real,Paul.

If they made a movie..I'd go for Dave Gedge from The Wedding Present as Alf...

Didn't last long, I was 10 but I thought it was brilliant.

Amazingly it came out on the day after my 10th birthday trivia fans!

He's one of the gentlest, nicest men I've met - as was Paul Cornell who write everything from Dr Who to the fantastic 4

It was at Newcon4 in Northampton - I wrote it up here
http://quims.org/gigs/newcon4/
Cheers!

sausage munching lily-livered krauts, whose longest line was "Doner und Blitzen, " ragin' furies, Half-Pint Malone and nips.

Was there a downside ?

Can't remember whether it was Hotspur, Victor or something else but The Wolf Of Kabul, accompanied by his loyal if slightly neanderthal manservant Chung, seemed well enough equipped to sort out trouble in that part of the world. It could all be done with the wide end of a cricket bat apparently. If only the western powers had taken more notice of his astute observations and enforcement methods...

Guess what I've found. The lot. Johnny Red. Click on link and click again for each page. Enjoy. Because this is up there with Darkies Mob. Absolute brilliance.

http://www.falconsquadron.sevenpennynightmare.co.uk/story/1977/1977.htm

Battle Picture Weekly talks to David Bishop the man behind Judge Dredd Megazine and 2000 AD on his Blog. Interesting stuff if your are interested.

http://viciousimagery.blogspot.com/2007/01/john-wagner-talks-about-battl...

Cheers.

... was in the Hotspur I think. An amazing athlete who caried on running and winning races until somewhat elderly. However he did seem to rely somewhat on a variety of unnamed substances somewhat clandestinely obtained from a mysterious character. Was he ahead of his time? Would he now face a lifetime ban? Fair play to Alf Tupper - they haven't yet banned Fish and Chips but, given Jamie Oliver's messianic approach to cooking, it can only be a matter of time!

Minnie the Minx
The Three Bears
Bash Street Kids
Little Plum
Baby Face Finlayson
Dennis the Menace
Roger the Dodger
Faceache

I loved them all.

Also, the Roy of the Rovers comic. I left it just as he was getting vulnerable and human. I remember the really very sad strip called "YOU are the Star" where you were supposed to glue a photograph of yourself onto the blank face of the player scoring a hattrick in the FA Cup Final. The text had helpful blanks as well "What a terrific goal by _______ "
"Yes, ________ really IS the best player in the world".

Even at eight years old, it was a bit depressing to find yourself actually writing in your own name.

My favourite comic in the form of a weekly diary type strip where Cheeky would meet various characters (Ah Sew - a Chinese tailor, Hid Kid - a boy who hid and Willie Brushton - a painter). Interspersed with some character strips it was especially a joy because they used to fill the gaps between the picture boxes with terrible jokes.

Bunty!

Anyone remember those two. They were the size of a newspaper if I can remember, definitely A3 size at least. My life was lived through Danny's Tranny and The Numbskulls and 2 kids from the planet OZ with a flying car.

And The Clash's "Topper" Headon was named after Mickey The Monkey.

Weekly story in the Victor told by his navigator, George Bourne.
Superbly illustrated, Braddock fearlessly took on Jerry flying Mosquito's Lancaster's , even a Lysander one week.
Given that Commando is currently being reproduced by Carlton Books, would'nt it be great to see Braddock,Alf Tupper and Morgyn the Mighty back on the bookshelves. Come on DC Thomson-sort it!