Hi Guys,

I was wondering why it is that there seems to be a greater presence of DC in the UK versus Marvel?

JB has written that Marvel comics were scarce when he was a kid in the UK and his first comic were DC. Moreover, there seem to be many more notable runs on DC heroes by British writers than Marvel, or at least it seems that way.

Any input from the British forum members on this one?

Thanks,

Kyle

Interesting - I would have thought the opposite - Marvel has a greater presence in the UK. When I was a kid (1970s) Marvel UK were publishing "The Mighty World of Marvel" and "Spiderman Comics Weekly"... there was nothing similar from DC.

And prior to the "Mighty World of Marvel", some Marvel stories were being printed in comics like "Pow!" as well as Alan Class publications like "Creepy Worlds".

Also, Marvel UK launched a couple of original Marvel Universe characters here - Captain Britain, Nightraven, The Knights of Pendragon - as well as writing original stories (not reprints) featuring existing characters like the Hulk and the Black Knight.

Eaglemoss decided to launch their Marvel figurine collection before the DC collection.

British writers and artists do tend to work more for DC, though.

Just what was available from DC in the UK prior to about 1980?  The black-and-white magazine THE SUPERHEROES MONTHLY launched that year, and in one issue of that title, Bob Rozakis (doing a 'British edition' of the Answer Man) confirmed a reader's assumption that DC titles were easier to obtain since the switch from 17 to 25 pages (cover date Sep. 1980-price increase from 40 to 50 cents for US readers).

When I was younger (70's/80's), US Marvel comics had a lot better distribution in our Newsagents (even though that was still rubbish), with only an occasional DC comic visible on the racks. As stated above it was a lot easier to get the UK reprints and these tended to favour Marvel (I also cannot think of a DC reprint title in the 70's, although there was an occasional Batman or Superman annual). 

I think the majority of UK artists/writers working for DC happenened because a) DC specifically had a UK recruitment drive in the 80's; and b) the UK writers/artists they got in the first place were fans of DC comics since the majority grew up in late 50's/early 60's.

Ah, I remember the Superheroes monthly fondly - however few issues I was able to locate! I remember them as having painted covers, but am not totally certain.

I also remember 'pocketbook'-sized DC reprints in the late 1970s/early 1980s? I go my first taste of Solomon Grundy and the Justice League of America from them, maybe also the seminal Batman run featuring Deadshot, the Jokerfish and Bruce Wayne's luscious, silver-haired girlfriend. What the heck was the name of the bald, bespectacled madman who imprisoned Batman in a 'hospital'?

DC reprints featured also in the hardback annuals; Batman and Superman seemed to get top billing.

other than christmas annuals,Marvel always had a bigger presence in the UK,with pow and terrific reprinting US titles like Thor,before Marvel UK got up and running

american marvels always seemed to have better distribution when i was groing up in the 70's,newsagents would have a huge pile of Marvels,with a handfull of DC's mixed in.In the early 80's DC published a black and white reprint title mentioned up thread which lasted about 18 issues or so.nowadays you can go into the newsagent and buy UK Marvel(panini) titles with new UK exclusive spider-man etc.