Posted: 18 January 2018 at 7:46am | IP Logged | 1
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BUNTY, a British comic published for girls, went on sale for the first time sixty years ago today, its cover gift being a ladybird ring:
The comic ran from 1958 until 2001. This is worth mentioning because, whilst some US comics have ran for many decades, British comics haven't always had longevity. Sure, the likes of the BEANO (first published in 1938) is still going, but many haven't had the longevity. "My" version of EAGLE ran from 1982 until 1994, at which point it was mainly reprints. Other titles had a good run, but it seems that more UK comics had relatively short runs.
So 1958-2001, a period of 43 years, was a good run. Doubly impressive for me was that some British comics were going extinct long before 2001 so for BUNTY to last as long as that was an achievement.
I didn't really read it, but as I had three sisters, female-oriented titles were often in my home (one, called MISTY, I did read as it featured horror tales).
To provide some wider context, the UK comics industry isn't that strong nowadays. 2000 AD, first published in 1978, and the JUDGE DREDD MEGAZINE, first published in 1990, are still going strong; Marvel UK's successor, Panini, reprints Marvel titles; and Titan have the licence to reprint DC titles. Of course, the BEANO is still going strong. Other than that, though, the rest are just licensed titles, often here today, gone tomorrow.
It's very different to the days when we had EAGLE, TIGER, LION, SCREAM!, ROY OF THE ROVERS, etc.
On a final note, in these very different times, would a comic be able to market itself as a "comic for girls" or would that be seen as not being inclusive enough?
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