Tales From The Crypt British Edition

In 1954 the UK saw it's own short lived run of EC comic reprints. Two issues of Tales From The Crypt, one issue of The Haunt of Fear and supposedly one issue of The Vault of Horror though I have yet to find any images of Vault. Much like in american, horror comics in the UK were used as an easy target to blame for children behaving badly so that parents didn't have to face any hard truths about their own parenting ability. As always the government were quick to jump on the bandwagon so that they could appear to be fixing a complex problem but not having to actually do anything other than censoring harmless comic books with no evidence to back up any of the accusations against such material. EC comics were quickly banned in the UK and the few issues that were produced have become rather rare and almost forgotten.

Conan the Barbarian UK Comics

Conans UK comic career started in 1975 with the weekly released Savage Sword of Conan. This title only lasted 18 issues however and was at the time considered a failure.
In 1977 the title was rebooted with a larger, magazine format on a monthly basis and would eventually become Savage Sword of Conan the Barbarian to tie in with the Arnold Schwarzenegger movie. This run proved more popular, lasting 93 issues till it's end in 1985.

Conan would continue to appear in other titles such as Mighty World of Marvel, Avengers, Valour and Planet of the Apes among others. Almost 20 years after the first release of a UK Conan comic, the character returned in 1994 with Conan the Adventurer. Released to tie in with the then current cartoon series of the same name. This title only lasted a mere 3 issues though before being cancelled without warning.

Batman Legends Ends

After 15 years and four volumes, the UK Batman Legends comic title has sadly come to and end.

In 2003, almost ten years after the last Batman comic ended in the UK, Panini picked up the license for the character and gave us Batman Legends. The comic was styled like the popular Marvel collectors edition comics Panaini have published in the UK since the mid 90s, collecting three issues of the American comics in each issue, starting with the popular Hush story line. The comic lasted 41 issues till Panini lost the license to Titan Magazines. Titan relaunched the title as Batman Legends volume 2, keeping the same format as Panini had used. 57 issues later the title was relaunched yet again as volume 3. Simply called ‘Batman’ the comic was relaunched to tie in with the release of Dark Knight Rises in cinemas and the launch of the New 52. It primarily reprints the US Batman and Batman and Robin comics. In September 2016 the title was again relaunched in it's 4th volume as Rebirth Batman, later dropping the Rebirth to simply be Batman again. It was during this time that the title, along with all of Titans DC reprints became bi-monthly releases. An indicator of poor sales. Batman having been the only Titan DC reprint series to show any level of success. Others Such as Superman, Supergirl, Wonder Woman, Suicide Squad, Green Arrow etc had all fallen by the wayside after only a few issues each. Even the Batman title had begun to suffer after poor distribution from Titan. A title change in one of the Batman comics had caused it to totally disappear from the W.H Smith database. A mistake Titan never seemed to rectify despite multiple customers informing them that their local Smiths no longer stocked the Batman comic.  The poor reception of most of the recent DC shared universe movies also can't have helped matters. 
Finally, at issue 14 of what was essentially Batman legends volume 4, the title along with all the Titan DC comics were cancelled. 

There was little send off for the DC universe from Titan. Not even an editorial inside the front cover lamenting the end of the series or thanking the customers for their loyalty. This really reflects Titans attitude towards the comics they produce. Little real care or passion seems to go into what they do. With little to no customer interaction on social media or through editorials. 

15 years isn't a bad run for a UK comic, however it is sad to think that there is once again no Batman comic in the UK. There was a span of 9 years between 1994 and 2003 where the UK had no Batman title on the shelves. Hopefully it won't be as long this time before another publisher picks up the license. Perhaps Panini will regain the rights to publish Batman as they had in 2003. 

Weird Science Transforms to Mars Attacks

Spider-man Children in Danger

 At around 1990 Marvel UK produced a short PSA comic strip in the UK that was handed out for free around some primary schools to help make children aware of stranger danger. The story features Spider-man on a trip to the UK helping to stop a criminal kidnapping a young boy before giving some advice to children about not talking ot strangers or accepting gifts from them. The mini comic was written by Simon Furman, best known for his work on Transformers.

Judge Dredd Lawman Of The Future

Judge Dredd: Lawman of the Future is a comic from the mid 90s that came out to tie in with the Stallone movie and used the designs from the film. However it didn’t seem to be particularly set in the movie universe. They wisely never had Dredd remove his helmet and no reference was made to the events of the movie. It lasted 23 issues and ended with an Action Special which contained an index of every issue released and the stories in them. The covers had some nice art work and some of the stories were illustrated by Geoff Senior who is a personal fave from his days on Marvel UK’s Transformers comic.

Transmasters UK Transformers the Continued Generation 2

 

Transformers The Continued Generation 2 issue 29 published by Transmasters UK, a UK based Transformers fan group back in the 90s features a christmas wrap around cover. A tradition harking back to the Marvel UK days in the 80s where every 50 issues the title would feature a wrap around poster cover.

Batman Monthly 6

London Editions Batman Monthly issue 6 features two christmas stories. First off is 1979's Have Yourself A Deadly Little Christmas from the US Batman issue 309 featuring Blockbuster. Next up is Silent Night, Deadly Night, originally published in the US Batman issue 239 from 1971.

Spider-man Annual 1994

The Marvel UK Spider-man annual 1994 features a christmassy cover and feature story 'The Big X-mas Blackout' where we see Spider-man save christmas from Electro!

The Astonishing Spider-man 35

Marvel UK/Panini's Collectors Edition Astonishing Spider-man issue 35 features a christmassy cover. not only reprinting the cover and story from the Marvel US Spider-man/Deadpool issue 12 but also featuring Spider-man sprting a Santa hat and snow covering the title. A common sight on comic book covers of the 80s but rare now, especially in the UK.

An American Batman in London

Batman Monthly issue 35 reprints the Detective Comics 590 story An American Batman in London. Where we see Batman on a rare trip outside Gotham but to a similarly appropriate city, London in England. After preventing an attack in Gotham by two criminals shouting ' Allahu Akbar!' Batman has tracked down a islamic terrorist organization to the England capital and tries to prevent them from doing what Guy Fawkes failed to by blowing up the houses of parliment on the 5th of November.

 At the end of the story, Batman is faced with a possible uncomfortable truth that our Western society may well provoke some of these terrorist attacks and attitudes. 
Even though this story is over 25 years old, it still holds relevance today. With islamic terrorist attacks on London and other major Western cities still prevelant. Though with our cultural sensitivity, the depiction of someone shouting Allahu Akbar whilst commiting a crime would probably never appear in a modern comic book.

Zodiac Toy Store Comics

In the late 60s a toy store emerged in the UK known as Zodiac. By the mid 80s it was one of the largest and most successful chain of toy stores in the UK. Unfortunately in 1990 the company closed down due to mismanagement.

During it's heyday in the 1980s the store started to produce it's own comic book and sticker albums featuring unique characters to spread brand awareness of the store and engage children more.

The comics featured such characters as the Miami Mice (a take on Miami Vice, but with mice) and the Star Bears, a team of teddy bears that each had a super power based on one of the signs of the zodiac.

One of note is the Scare Bears, created by Werebear creator George Nicholas and very similar to the Werebears but covering all classic monsters in the form of teddy bears.

The Real Ghostbusters Frightful Four

When people think of the Frightful Four, they tend to think of the supervillain group who would oppose the Fantastic Four in Marvel comics. Howeverthere is another Frightful Four from Marvel. Marvel UK's The Real Ghostbusters issue 118 introduced readers to a group of ghosts based on the classic universal monsters but wearing uniforms similar to the Ghostbusters. This quartet were sent to capture and punish the Ghostbusters for their crimes against the spirit world. Basically, Ghostbuster Busters. The team consisted of Frank (the Frankenstein monster), Arnold the Werewolf, Wilbur the Mummy and Vigor the Vampire the leader of the group. Their first appearance was in a text only story but in their second outing in issue 136 they would get a full comic strip story.

Combat Colin

 

Combat Colin was created by Lew Stringer and originally featured as a half page comedy strip in Marvel UK's Action Force comic, the UK version of G.I Joe, starting from issue 5. Once that title was cancelled at issue 50, Colin moved along with G.I Joe to the successful Transformers comic with issue 153 and stayed with that title till it ended with issue 332. Now Colin and his side kick Semi-automatic Steve return with their own title. Available from Lew Stringer's site the series will last six issue until every story from the Action Force and Transformers era have been collected and published together.

He-man and the Masters of the Universe UK Comics

 

 Published in the UK by London Edition Magazines, the fortnightly comic series lasted for 72 issues with an additional monthly comic (Masters of the Universe Adventure) running for 28 issues and featured The New Adventures of He-Man for the last part of it's run before reprinting classic MOTU strips from the fortnightly comic. The 'Secret Files of Scrollos' strip featured origin stories for many characters including Sy-Klone, Rio Blast and Snout Spout, and the series included the characters Horde Prime and Scrollos. There was also a short-lived She-Ra comic title, that lasted for 14 issues.

In late 2003 to tie in with the then new Master of the Universe cartoon (now known as 200X) a comic was published by Toontastic Publications reprinting the US MVC MOTU comic which lasted 18 issues.

 

Marvel UK also publsihed two Master of the Universe specials for summer 1985 and winter 1988. The first reprinted the US DC mini series. This was a strange occurance as London Editions had the license to publish DC comics in the UK and published the UK original MOTU comic series so it seems odd that Marvel UK would then reprint the DC MOTU series.  The second special published reprinted the Marvel/Star US adaptation of the 1987 Master of the Universe motion picture but using the traditional cartoon designs for the characters rather than the movie outfits. All except Beast Man who for some reason still sported his movie design.

Batman 465

 Batman issue 465 from July 1991 featured the first outing of Tim Drake as the new Boy Wonder sporting an updated, more modern Robin costume. The cover was later used for the 1993 UK Batman annual though the story from issue 465 was not featured.

Transformers UK 100

Issue 100 of the Marvel UK Transformers comic marked the start of a tradition that would be carried on every 50th issue of having a wrap around cover poster.

Transformers UK 200

Marvel UK continues it's tradition of a wrap around cover poster every 50 issues of Transformers with issue 200, containing one of the final parts of the epic Time Wars storyline. Inside we see the Autobot Wreckers and Decepticon Mayhem Attack Squad combine forces to combat Megatron and his future incarnation, Galvatron. Meanwhile Rodimus Prime with the help of Optimus tries to unite the rest of the Autobots and Decepticons past and present to take on the threat Galvatron poses to the universe.

Transformers UK 150

From issue 100 onwards it was a tradition with Marvels UK Transformers comic that every 50 issues there would be a wrap around poster cover. For issue 150 we see Rodimus Prime unleashing the power of the Matrix as Unicron attacks Cybertron.

Nick Roche's early Transformers work.

 A decade prior to working on the US IDW Transformers comics, artist Nick Roche provided art work for the Transformers UK fan group Transmasters UK and it's continued Generation 2 comic. Pictured are his covers for issues 25 and 26.