Thorpe & Porter (widely known as T & P) was a British publisher, importer, and distributor of
magazines and
comic books
A comic book, also called comicbook, comic magazine or (in the United Kingdom and Ireland) simply comic, is a publication that consists of comics art in the form of sequential juxtaposed panels that represent individual scenes. Panels are of ...
. At first, the company was known for repackaging American comics and
pulp magazines for the UK market. Later on, it became a publisher of original material. The company released more than 160 comics titles in the UK, the most prominent being ''
Classics Illustrated'', ''
MAD UK
''Mad'' (stylized as ''MAD'') is an American humor magazine first published in 1952. It was founded by editor Harvey Kurtzman and publisher William Gaines, launched as a comic book series before it became a magazine. It was widely imitated and ...
'', ''
Edgar Rice Burroughs' Tarzan of the Apes'', ''
Larry Harmon
Lawrence Weiss (January 2, 1925 – July 3, 2008), better known by the stage name Larry Harmon and as his alter ego Bozo the Clown, was an American entertainer.Dennis McLellanLarry Harmon, 83; entrepreneur made Bozo the Clown a star ''Los ...
's
Laurel & Hardy'', ''
House of Hammer
''The House of Hammer'' was a British black-and-white magazine featuring articles and comics related to the Hammer Film Productions series of horror and science fiction films. The brainchild of Dez Skinn,Dakin, John. "'Marvel Revolution' in Engl ...
'', and ''
Forbidden Worlds
''Forbidden Worlds'' was a fantasy comic from the American Comics Group, which won the 1964 Alley Award for Best Regularly Published Fantasy Comic. It published 145 issues between July/August 1951 to August 1967.
Publication history
''Forbidd ...
''. T & P's most prominent imprints were Top Sellers Ltd. and Brown Watson. Thorpe & Porter operated from 1946 to 1979.
Corporate history
Origins
Entrepreneur Fred Thorpe started with a
newsagent's shop
A newsagent's shop or simply newsagent's or paper shop (British English), newsagency (Australian English) or newsstand (American and Canadian English
Canadian English (CanE, CE, en-CA) encompasses the varieties of English native to Can ...
in
Leicester
Leicester ( ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city, Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest settlement in the East Midlands.
The city l ...
, where he recognized the appeal of American
pulp magazines and
comic books
A comic book, also called comicbook, comic magazine or (in the United Kingdom and Ireland) simply comic, is a publication that consists of comics art in the form of sequential juxtaposed panels that represent individual scenes. Panels are of ...
. After
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
, however, the UK was intent on promoting homegrown publishers, and thus banned the direct importation of American periodicals.
In 1946, Thorpe joined with the local builders merchants' company the Porter Group to form Thorpe & Porter as a publisher.
[Chibnall, Steve. "The Sign of the Tee Pee: The Story of Thorpe & Porter," ''Paperback, Pulp and Comic Collector'' Vol. 1: "SF Crime Horror Westerns & Comics" (Wilts, UK: Zeon Publishing / Zardoz Books, 1993), pp. 16–29]
Archived
at Box.com
}
Box, Inc. (formerly Box.net) is a public company based in Redwood City, California. It develops and markets cloud-based content management, collaboration, and file sharing tools for businesses. Box was founded in 2005 by Aaron Levie and Dylan S ...
. Retrieved Dec. 28, 2020.
Relationship with Arnold Book Company
In 1953, T & P seems to have acquired the
Arnold Book Company
Arnold Book Company (ABC) was a British publisher of comic books that operated in the late 1940s and 1950s, most actively from 1950 to 1954. ABC published original titles like the war comic ''Ace Malloy of the Special Squadron'' and the science ...
(ABC) as a separate line (ABC was owned by Arnold L. Miller, the "Son" in the British reprint publisher
L. Miller & Son, Ltd.). Arnold Book Company appears as an
imprint
Imprint or imprinting may refer to:
Entertainment
* ''Imprint'' (TV series), Canadian television series
* "Imprint" (''Masters of Horror''), episode of TV show ''Masters of Horror''
* ''Imprint'' (film), a 2007 independent drama/thriller film
...
on the T & P titles ''
Justice Traps the Guilty
''Justice Traps the Guilty'' was an American comic book title, a publication of the crime comics genre created by Joe Simon and Jack Kirby and published by Prize Comics from 1947 to 1958. It followed the successful revamping of ''Headline Comics ...
'', ''
Kid Colt, Outlaw
''Kid Colt, Outlaw'' is a comic book title featuring the character Kid Colt originally published by Atlas Comics beginning in 1948 and later Marvel Comics.
Publication history
Kid Colt and his horse Steel first appeared in ''Kid Colt'' #1 (Augu ...
'' ''Young Brides'', and ''Young Romance'' from that point until 1958, when ABC shut down. (T & P later published a second volume of 13 issues of ''Justice Traps the Guilty''.)
Marvel and DC distributor
In 1959, with the lifting of the UK ban on importation of American periodicals,
Thorpe & Porter became the sole UK distributor of both
DC and
Marvel (as well as
Dell
Dell is an American based technology company. It develops, sells, repairs, and supports computers and related products and services. Dell is owned by its parent company, Dell Technologies.
Dell sells personal computers (PCs), servers, data ...
,
Charlton, and
American Comics Group) comics. The comics were printed on American printing presses — along with a special cover giving the British price instead of the price in cents — and shipped across the Atlantic. (Marvel comics were issued with the covers altered
n the USAto show a UK price instead of US price; whilst the cover month was removed. DC comics were franked with a circular UK price stamp after their arrival. A few Marvels were also price-stamped in a similar fashion.) Inside the front cover, with the
indicia, a sentence mentioned Thorpe & Porter as sole distributor in the UK market. Thus it was that brand new American-printed copies of ''
Fantastic Four
The Fantastic Four is a superhero team appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The team debuted in ''The Fantastic Four'' #1 ( cover dated Nov. 1961), helping usher in a new level of realism in the medium. It was the first ...
'' #1, ''
Amazing Fantasy
''Amazing Adult Fantasy'', retitled ''Amazing Fantasy'' in its final issue, is an American comic book anthology series published by Marvel Comics from 1961 through 1962, with the latter title revived with superhero features in 1995 and in the 2000 ...
'' #15, ''
Amazing Spider-Man
''The Amazing Spider-Man'' is an ongoing American comic book series featuring the Marvel Comics superhero Spider-Man as its main protagonist. Being in the Earth 616, mainstream continuity of the franchise, it began publication in 1963 as a bim ...
'' #1, and countless others appeared in the UK.
To aid in their comics distribution, Thorpe & Porter provided newsagents with T & P-branded
spinner racks.
Sale to Gilberton
Gilberton, the U.S. publisher of ''
Classics Illustrated'' (which T & P had been distributing UK editions of since 1951), acquired Thorpe & Porter from Fred Thorpe in the fall of 1959.
[Jones, p. 315.] Gilberton had launched Gilberton World-Wide Publications as a European branch in 1956, and T & P became part of its stable of European publishers.
(After the sale, T & P's offices moved from Leicester to
London
London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...
.)
In 1962, the production of new issues of ''Classics Illustrated'' shifted from Gilberton's New York offices to Thorpe & Porter, with Gilberton's founder's son,
William E. Kanter overseeing everything beginning in 1963.
[Jones, pp. 242-243.] As a consequence, of the 181 British issues of ''Classics Illustrated'', 13 never appeared in America (additionally, there were some variations in cover art).
Bankruptcy and acquisition by DC/Warner
In July 1966, Thorpe & Porter went bankrupt,
which left many of its clients being owed substantial sums.
The company was purchased by
Independent News Distributors (IND), the distribution arm of
National Periodical Publications (DC Comics).
(Traditionally, IND distributed all DC publications, as well as those of a few rival publishers, such as
Marvel Comics
Marvel Comics is an American comic book publishing, publisher and the flagship property of Marvel Entertainment, a divsion of The Walt Disney Company since September 1, 2009. Evolving from Timely Comics in 1939, ''Magazine Management/Atlas Co ...
from 1957 to 1969, in addition to pulp and popular magazines.)
In 1967, DC and IND were purchased by
Kinney National Company, which in 1969 purchased
Warner Bros.-Seven Arts
Warner Bros.-Seven Arts, Inc. was a short-lived American entertainment company active from 1967 until 1969.
History
Seven Arts Productions acquired Jack L. Warner's controlling interest in Warner Bros. Pictures for $32 million in November 19 ...
and became
Warner Communications
Warner Media, LLC ( traded as WarnerMedia) was an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate. It was headquartered at the 30 Hudson Yards complex in New York City, United States.
It was originally established in 1972 by ...
. As a result of all this consolidation, by 1969 T & P's comics output became almost exclusively reprints of DC titles, as well as ''
Larry Harmon
Lawrence Weiss (January 2, 1925 – July 3, 2008), better known by the stage name Larry Harmon and as his alter ego Bozo the Clown, was an American entertainer.Dennis McLellanLarry Harmon, 83; entrepreneur made Bozo the Clown a star ''Los ...
's
Laurel & Hardy'', a color comic book series based on the ''
Laurel & Hardy'' animated TV series.
In 1971, Warner's international distribution operations merged with
Columbia Pictures
Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc. is an American film production studio that is a member of the Sony Pictures Motion Picture Group, a division of Sony Pictures Entertainment, which is one of the Big Five studios and a subsidiary of the mu ...
to form
Columbia-Warner Distributors. Thorpe & Porter moved its offices to the Columbia-Warner House in
Soho
Soho is an area of the City of Westminster, part of the West End of London. Originally a fashionable district for the aristocracy, it has been one of the main entertainment districts in the capital since the 19th century.
The area was develop ...
,
London
London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...
;
as now part of Warner Communications, the Thorpe & Porter brand was mostly replaced by
Williams Publishing
Williams Publishing was the short-lived European comics and magazines publishing division of Warner Communications in the 1970s. Headquartered at the Columbia-Warner House in London, Williams had European-language divisions in Denmark, Finland, F ...
. (Thanks to Gilberton World-Wide Publications,
[Jones, ibid.] Williams had European-language divisions in Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, and Sweden; most of these publishers were sold off around 1979.)
In 1976, British editor
Dez Skinn
Derek "Dez" Skinn (born 4 February 1951) Miller, John Jackson"Comics Industry Birthdays" ''Comics Buyer's Guide'', 10 June 2005. Accessed 14 August 2010WebCitation archive is a British comic and magazine editor, and author of a number of books o ...
was brought in to expand the comics arm of Williams Publishing. He took over editing ''
MAD UK
''Mad'' (stylized as ''MAD'') is an American humor magazine first published in 1952. It was founded by editor Harvey Kurtzman and publisher William Gaines, launched as a comic book series before it became a magazine. It was widely imitated and ...
'', ''
Edgar Rice Burroughs' Tarzan of the Apes'', ''
Edgar Rice Burroughs' Korak, Son of Tarzan'', and the ''Laurel & Hardy'' comic. He also launched ''
House of Hammer
''The House of Hammer'' was a British black-and-white magazine featuring articles and comics related to the Hammer Film Productions series of horror and science fiction films. The brainchild of Dez Skinn,Dakin, John. "'Marvel Revolution' in Engl ...
''.
Sale to W. H. Allen and closure
Warner sold its publishing division, including Thorpe & Porter, to
W. H. Allen & Co. in 1977, which in 1978 decided to close it down (with Skinn almost immediately moving on to the top position at
Marvel UK).
This spelled the end of most of T & P's titles, except for ''
MAD UK
''Mad'' (stylized as ''MAD'') is an American humor magazine first published in 1952. It was founded by editor Harvey Kurtzman and publisher William Gaines, launched as a comic book series before it became a magazine. It was widely imitated and ...
'' and the Brown Watson line. Former T & P production editor Ron Letchford acquired the rights to ''
MAD UK
''Mad'' (stylized as ''MAD'') is an American humor magazine first published in 1952. It was founded by editor Harvey Kurtzman and publisher William Gaines, launched as a comic book series before it became a magazine. It was widely imitated and ...
''. He formed Suron International for this purpose, eventually selling the license to London Editions, which later merged with
Fleetway Publications
Fleetway Publications was a magazine publishing company based in London. It was founded in 1959 when the Mirror Group acquired the Amalgamated Press, then based at Fleetway House, Farringdon Street, London. It was one of the companies that merg ...
. ''MAD UK'' finally ended its run in 1994. For their part, the Babani brothers of Brown Watson retained the various licenses for their hardback annuals, and in 1979 formed a new company, Grandreams, to continue publishing them. Grandreams lasted through at least 1996. After his stint at
Marvel UK, in 1982 Skinn started
Quality Communications and revived ''
House of Hammer
''The House of Hammer'' was a British black-and-white magazine featuring articles and comics related to the Hammer Film Productions series of horror and science fiction films. The brainchild of Dez Skinn,Dakin, John. "'Marvel Revolution' in Engl ...
'' (as ''
Halls of Horror
''The House of Hammer'' was a British black-and-white magazine featuring articles and comics related to the Hammer Film Productions series of horror and science fiction films. The brainchild of Dez Skinn,Dakin, John. "'Marvel Revolution' in Eng ...
''); he continued the magazine until 1984.
Publications
Paperback books
Thorpe & Porter started out as a publisher of lurid and sensationalist
paperback
A paperback (softcover, softback) book is one with a thick paper or paperboard cover, and often held together with adhesive, glue rather than stitch (textile arts), stitches or Staple (fastener), staples. In contrast, hardcover (hardback) book ...
books, originally in
digest size and later in the more traditional format.
T & P set up a number of imprints — Hermitage Publications, Knole Park Press, Beacon Publishing Co. Ltd., Strato Publications, and Jewel Books — and in the period 1947 to 1953 published over 60 titles, by such authors as
Frank Fawcett (writing under the pen name "Ben Sarto"), George C. Foster,
Paul Renin, and Leslie A. Scott.
T & P also distributed similar paperbacks from other publishers, including Muir-Watson and
Robin Hood Press.
The paperback craze died down in the period 1951 to 1953, partly as the result of
Home Office clampdowns on "obscene and objectionable publications;"
and by the end of 1953, T & P was no longer in the paperback publication business.
Pulp and digest format British magazines
Next, T & P moved into the realm of
pulp
Pulp may refer to:
* Pulp (fruit), the inner flesh of fruit
Engineering
* Dissolving pulp, highly purified cellulose used in fibre and film manufacture
* Pulp (paper), the fibrous material used to make paper
* Molded pulp, a packaging material
* ...
and digest format
science fiction
Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel unive ...
and
fantasy
Fantasy is a genre of speculative fiction involving Magic (supernatural), magical elements, typically set in a fictional universe and sometimes inspired by mythology and folklore. Its roots are in oral traditions, which then became fantasy ...
magazines. Setting up relationships with American publishers
Ziff-Davis and
Columbia Publications — which were eager to license their content due to the declining popularity of pulps in the U.S.
— and also with
Galaxy Publications and
Quinn, licensing British reprint editions of their new digest format magazines, T & P published reprints in this capacity from 1949 to 1960 under their Strato Publications imprint so long as they maintained this, and then under the parent Thorpe & Porter imprint, most notably with the titles ''
Amazing Stories'' and ''
Fantastic Adventures
''Fantastic Adventures'' was an American pulp fantasy and science fiction magazine, published from 1939 to 1953 by Ziff-Davis. It was initially edited by Raymond A. Palmer, who was also the editor of ''Amazing Stories'', Ziff-Davis's other scien ...
'' (Ziff-Davis), ''
Beyond Fantasy Fiction
''Beyond Fantasy Fiction'' was a US fantasy fiction magazine edited by H. L. Gold, with only ten issues published from 1953 to 1955. The last two issues carried the cover title of ''Beyond Fiction'', but the publication's name for copyright purp ...
'', ''
Galaxy Science Fiction
''Galaxy Science Fiction'' was an American digest-size science fiction magazine, published in Boston from 1950 to 1980. It was founded by a French-Italian company, World Editions, which was looking to break into the American market. World Editi ...
'' (Galaxy), and ''
If'' (Quinn, then Galaxy), and also ''
Weird Tales'', a long-established independent fantasy & horror magazine.
* ''
Weird Tales'' — 23-issue run (November 1949 and December 1953), and another five bimonthly issues dated November 1953 to July 1954 (with the volume numbering restarted at volume 1, number 1).
[Weinberg, Robert (1985a). "Weird Tales". In Tymn and Ashley, pp. 733–734.]
* ''
Amazing Stories'' — 32 reprint issues (June 1950 – 1954)
[Brian Stableford, "Amazing Stories", in Clute & Nicholls, ''Encyclopedia of SF'', pp. 25–26.][Tuck, p. 535.] The Thorpe & Porter issues were undated, but the pulp issues were numbered from 1 to 24, and were initially bimonthly. With December 1953 came the change to digest-size and a perfectly regular bimonthly schedule that lasted until February 1955.
* ''
Fantastic Adventures
''Fantastic Adventures'' was an American pulp fantasy and science fiction magazine, published from 1939 to 1953 by Ziff-Davis. It was initially edited by Raymond A. Palmer, who was also the editor of ''Amazing Stories'', Ziff-Davis's other scien ...
'' — also in June 1950, T & P began a reprint run of ''
Fantastic Adventures
''Fantastic Adventures'' was an American pulp fantasy and science fiction magazine, published from 1939 to 1953 by Ziff-Davis. It was initially edited by Raymond A. Palmer, who was also the editor of ''Amazing Stories'', Ziff-Davis's other scien ...
'', which consisted of 24 undated issues (all but the first two of which were numbered) released through February 1954 (these were abridged versions of U.S. editions dated from March 1950 to January 1953).
* ''
Future Science Fiction and Science Fiction Stories'' — 14 numbered and undated issues (November 1951 to June 1954), corresponding roughly to the U.S. issues from March 1951 to March 1954.
[Ashley, Mike (1985a). "Future Fiction". In Tymn and Ashley, p. 283.] And starting in February 1952 and continuing through August 1955, T & P published ten issues of the second series of ''
Science Fiction Quarterly''. The issues, which were cut from the U.S. editions, corresponding to 10 of the first 13 issues, from May 1951 to May 1954. (The omitted issues were November 1951, May 1952, and August 1953.) The order of publication was not the same as for the US editions.
[Ashley, Mike (1985a). "Future Fiction". In Tymn and Ashley, pp. 549–550.]
* ''
Fantastic
The fantastic (french: le fantastique) is a subgenre of literary works characterized by the ambiguous presentation of seemingly supernatural forces.
Bulgarian-French structuralist literary critic Tzvetan Todorov originated the concept, characte ...
'' —— eight bimonthly issues from December 1953 to February 1955; the issues were not dated on the cover. These correspond to the US issues from September/October 1953 to December 1954, and were numbered volume 1, #1–8.
["Fantastic", in Tuck, pp. 557–558.][Ashley, Mike. "Fantastic", in Tymn & Ashley, pp. 230–231.]
* ''
Galaxy Science Fiction
''Galaxy Science Fiction'' was an American digest-size science fiction magazine, published in Boston from 1950 to 1980. It was founded by a French-Italian company, World Editions, which was looking to break into the American market. World Editi ...
'' — far and away the most successful of T & P's British reprint editions, began in January 1953 with the eccentrically numbered volume 3 issue 1 (of the American original vol. 5 #1), proceeded to reprint the previous American issue (vol. 4 #6) as volume 3 issue 2, followed by American vol. 5 #2 as vol. 3 #3, vol. 5 #3 as vol. 3 #4, etc, proceeding in a more or less orderly fashion — dropping the extraordinary ''Volume 3'' number after Volume 3 issue 12, continuing monthly (with the occasional hiccup) as far as issue 94. After volume 3 issue 12, one or two short stories, and quite often the reviews and a non-fiction ''department'' were dropped from the U.S. original, and from issue 80 onwards of this ''BRE'' the only differences were the printing of the U.K. price and number replacing the U.S. price and date on the cover. After issue 94, a round ink-stamped U.K. month number over price was stamped on the front cover of the original U.S. editions.
* ''
New Worlds
New is an adjective referring to something recently made, discovered, or created.
New or NEW may refer to:
Music
* New, singer of K-pop group The Boyz (South Korean band), The Boyz
Albums and EPs
* New (album), ''New'' (album), by Paul McCartn ...
'' & ''
Science Fantasy
Science fantasy is a hybrid genre within speculative fiction that simultaneously draws upon or combines tropes and elements from both science fiction and fantasy. In a conventional science fiction story, the world is presented as being scientif ...
'' — in the 1960s, T & P distributed the British science fiction magazines ''
New Worlds
New is an adjective referring to something recently made, discovered, or created.
New or NEW may refer to:
Music
* New, singer of K-pop group The Boyz (South Korean band), The Boyz
Albums and EPs
* New (album), ''New'' (album), by Paul McCartn ...
'' and ''
Science Fantasy
Science fantasy is a hybrid genre within speculative fiction that simultaneously draws upon or combines tropes and elements from both science fiction and fantasy. In a conventional science fiction story, the world is presented as being scientif ...
'' (also known as ''SF Impulse''), published by
Roberts & Vinter). When in July 1966 Thorpe & Porter went bankrupt (
see below) while owing Roberts & Vinter a substantial sum, the resulting financial pressure led Roberts & Vinter to decide to focus on their more profitable magazines, and the February 1967 issue of ''SF Impulse'' was the last, though its sister magazine ''New Worlds'', survived via an
Arts Council grant.
[Ashley, Mike. "Impulse", in Tymn & Ashley, pp. 350–352.]
Comics
Because of the UK importation ban,
in the 1940s and 1950s American comics typically arrived in the UK as
ballast on ships.
T & P got into the comics business — primarily with reprints — in the 1950s with a selection of
romance,
western, and
war comics, reprinted in black-and-white from American companies like
Gilberton,
American Comics Group,
Atlas Comics Atlas Comics may refer to
* Atlas Comics (1950s)
Atlas Comics is the 1950s comic book, comic-book publishing label that evolved into Marvel Comics. Magazine and mass market paperback, paperback novel publisher Martin Goodman (publisher), Martin ...
,
Crestwood Publications,
Dell Comics
Dell Comics was the comic book publishing arm of Dell Publishing, which got its start in pulp magazines. It published comics from 1929 to 1974. At its peak, it was the most prominent and successful American company in the medium.Evanier, Mark"Wh ...
, and
National Periodical Publications (now
DC Comics
DC Comics, Inc. (doing business as DC) is an American comic book publisher and the flagship unit of DC Entertainment, a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery.
DC Comics is one of the largest and oldest American comic book companies, with thei ...
). Thorpe & Porter was one of the first British publishers to print its own clean versions of the comics, "using blocks made from imported American matrices."
Right off the bat, Thorpe & Porter's most successful comics title was ''
Classics Illustrated''
and later the spinoff title ''Pixi Tales'' (the company's new name for ''
Classics Illustrated Junior
''Classics Illustrated Junior'' is a comic book series of seventy-seven fairy and folk tale, myth and legend comic book adaptations created by Albert Lewis Kanter as a Spin-off (media), spin-off of his flagship comic book line ''Classics Illustrate ...
'', which featured
fairy tale
A fairy tale (alternative names include fairytale, fairy story, magic tale, or wonder tale) is a short story that belongs to the folklore genre. Such stories typically feature magic (paranormal), magic, incantation, enchantments, and mythical ...
adaptations). T & P published ''Classics Illustrated'' reprints (and a few original stories) from 1951 to 1963; ''Pixi Tales'', meanwhile, lasted 87 issues, from 1959 to 1963. UK issues of ''Classics Illustrated'' that were never published in the United States include ''
Aeneid
The ''Aeneid'' ( ; la, Aenē̆is or ) is a Latin Epic poetry, epic poem, written by Virgil between 29 and 19 BC, that tells the legendary story of Aeneas, a Troy, Trojan who fled the Trojan_War#Sack_of_Troy, fall of Troy and travelled to ...
'', ''The Argonauts'', ''The Gorilla Hunters'' and ''Sail with the Devil''.
Mick Anglo
Michael Anglo (born Maurice Anglowitz, 19 June 1916 – 31 October 2011)Holland, Steve, "Who's Who in British Comics", ''Comics World'' No. 43, Aceville Publications Ltd (September–October 1995) was a British comic book writer, editor and arti ...
adapted three stories — by
Edgar Allan Poe
Edgar Allan Poe (; Edgar Poe; January 19, 1809 – October 7, 1849) was an American writer, poet, editor, and literary critic. Poe is best known for his poetry and short stories, particularly his tales of mystery and the macabre. He is wide ...
,
Oscar Wilde
Oscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wills Wilde (16 October 185430 November 1900) was an Irish poet and playwright. After writing in different forms throughout the 1880s, he became one of the most popular playwrights in London in the early 1890s. He is ...
, and
Wilkie Collins — for the T & P ''Classics Illustrated''. The British ''Classics Illustrated'' adaptation of the
James Bond
The ''James Bond'' series focuses on a fictional British Secret Service agent created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels and two short-story collections. Since Fleming's death in 1964, eight other authors have ...
film ''
Dr. No'' was never published under the U.S. ''Classics Illustrated'' line (making it a collector's item in the States),
but instead was sold to
DC Comics
DC Comics, Inc. (doing business as DC) is an American comic book publisher and the flagship unit of DC Entertainment, a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery.
DC Comics is one of the largest and oldest American comic book companies, with thei ...
, which published it as part of their superhero anthology series, ''
Showcase''. (The comic followed the plot of the film with images of the film's actors rather than
Ian Fleming
Ian Lancaster Fleming (28 May 1908 – 12 August 1964) was a British writer who is best known for his postwar ''James Bond'' series of spy novels. Fleming came from a wealthy family connected to the merchant bank Robert Fleming & Co., a ...
's original
novel
A novel is a relatively long work of narrative fiction, typically written in prose and published as a book. The present English word for a long work of prose fiction derives from the for "new", "news", or "short story of something new", itsel ...
.)
In the period 1951 to 1953, Thorpe & Porter acquired a number of fellow British publisher
Arnold Book Company
Arnold Book Company (ABC) was a British publisher of comic books that operated in the late 1940s and 1950s, most actively from 1950 to 1954. ABC published original titles like the war comic ''Ace Malloy of the Special Squadron'' and the science ...
's reprint titles,
including ''
Justice Traps the Guilty
''Justice Traps the Guilty'' was an American comic book title, a publication of the crime comics genre created by Joe Simon and Jack Kirby and published by Prize Comics from 1947 to 1958. It followed the successful revamping of ''Headline Comics ...
'', ''Young Brides'', ''Young Eagle'', and ''
Young Love''. (When T & P acquired ''
Justice Traps the Guilty
''Justice Traps the Guilty'' was an American comic book title, a publication of the crime comics genre created by Joe Simon and Jack Kirby and published by Prize Comics from 1947 to 1958. It followed the successful revamping of ''Headline Comics ...
'', it continued the numbering of the ABC version; with the other titles, T & P restarted the numbering at #1.)
The T & P imprint Strato (originally created for its paperback line) published thirteen issues of a ''
Mystery in Space
''Mystery in Space'' is the name of two science fiction American comic book series published by DC Comics, and of a standalone Vertigo anthology released in 2012. The first series ran for 110 issues from 1951 to 1966, with a further seven issues c ...
'' reprint, a 68-page A4-size magazine, between 1954 and 1956. It featured black-and-white reprints of DC's ''Mystery In Space'' and ''
Strange Adventures
''Strange Adventures'' is a series of American comic books published by DC Comics, the first of which was August–September 1950, according to the cover date, and published continuously until November 1973.
Original series
''Strange Adventures ...
'' stories with slightly adapted covers from the original ''Mystery In Space'' series. T & P published a hardback ''Mystery In Space Annual'' in 1968. Although it used the cover to ''Mystery In Space'' #95, the contents of the annual were complete random issues of remaindered comics from a number of companies including their covers, and not ''Mystery In Space'' stories.
Other reprint titles with which T & P had some success included ''
Blackhawk'', ''
Gene Autry
Orvon Grover "Gene" Autry (September 29, 1907 – October 2, 1998), nicknamed the Singing Cowboy, was an American singer, songwriter, actor, musician, rodeo performer, and baseball owner who gained fame largely by singing in a crooning s ...
Comics'', ''
Forbidden Worlds
''Forbidden Worlds'' was a fantasy comic from the American Comics Group, which won the 1964 Alley Award for Best Regularly Published Fantasy Comic. It published 145 issues between July/August 1951 to August 1967.
Publication history
''Forbidd ...
'', ''
Kid Colt, Outlaw
''Kid Colt, Outlaw'' is a comic book title featuring the character Kid Colt originally published by Atlas Comics beginning in 1948 and later Marvel Comics.
Publication history
Kid Colt and his horse Steel first appeared in ''Kid Colt'' #1 (Augu ...
'', ''
Tomahawk'', and ''
Young Romance
''Young Romance'' is a romantic comic book series created by Joe Simon and Jack Kirby for the Crestwood Publications imprint Prize Comics in 1947. Generally considered the first romance comic,Ro, Ronin. ''Tales to Astonish: Jack Kirby, Stan L ...
''.
In October 1959, T & P began publishing ''
MAD UK
''Mad'' (stylized as ''MAD'') is an American humor magazine first published in 1952. It was founded by editor Harvey Kurtzman and publisher William Gaines, launched as a comic book series before it became a magazine. It was widely imitated and ...
''. The British version of ''
Mad'' magazine received access to the publication's back catalog of articles and was also encouraged to produce its own localized material in the ''Mad'' vein. Essentially, T & P repackaged ''Mad'' to a 32-page monthly from a 48-page-eight-times-a-year U.S. publication. Conflicts over content occasionally arose between the parent magazine and its international franchisee; when a comic strip satirizing the
English royal family was reprinted in a ''Mad'' paperback, it was deemed necessary to rip out the page from 25,000 copies by hand before the book could be distributed in Great Britain. ''MAD UK'' was published by T & P from 1959 to 1979, and then continued on with other publishers until 1994, producing 290 issues in all.
The Brown Watson imprint,
launched in the early 1950s, originally published genre paperbacks like ''Sinister Forces'' by Alvin Westwood (1953) and ''The Horror from the Hills'' by
Frank Belknap Long
Frank Belknap Long (April 27, 1901 – January 3, 1994) was an American writer of horror fiction, fantasy, science fiction, poetry, gothic romance, comic books, and non-fiction. Though his writing career spanned seven decades, he is best known ...
(1965). In the period 1959 to 1966, Brown Watson published T & P's
war comics series ''Conflict Picture Library'' (200 issues, 1959–1966) and ''Romance in Pictures'' (235 issues, 1960–1966), the latter of which featured stories reprinted and translated from Spanish
romance comics. Other long-running titles from the 1960s included ''
Pocket War Library'' and ''World Illustrated'' (reprints from
Gilberton's ''World Around Us'' series).
In 1966, T & P published a 68-page ''
Avengers
Avenger, Avengers, The Avenger, or The Avengers may refer to:
Arts and entertainment In the Marvel Comics universe
* Avengers (comics), a team of superheroes
**Avengers (Marvel Cinematic Universe), a central team of protagonist superheroes of ...
'' comic, with original art by
Mick Anglo
Michael Anglo (born Maurice Anglowitz, 19 June 1916 – 31 October 2011)Holland, Steve, "Who's Who in British Comics", ''Comics World'' No. 43, Aceville Publications Ltd (September–October 1995) was a British comic book writer, editor and arti ...
and
Mick Austin
Michael J. Austin is a fine artist who lives and works in the UK. Initially a comic book artist and illustrator, his painterly style led to him leaving this genre and concentrating on fine art in 1996.
Biography
Mick Austin started his artistic ...
consisting of four 16-page stories. Anglo also illustrated comics version of the television series ''
Charles Rand'' and ''
Danger Man''.
Between 1967 and 1970, T & P released an unusual line of 128-page comics called ''Double Double''. Each issue was made up of four
remaindered DC comics (with their covers removed) glued together with a new cover. (Most covers were probably illustrated by UK artists.) 24 ''Double Double'' titles were published, mostly featuring
Superman
Superman is a superhero who appears in American comic books published by DC Comics. The character was created by writer Jerry Siegel and artist Joe Shuster, and debuted in the comic book ''Action Comics'' #1 (cover-dated June 1938 and publi ...
or
Batman
Batman is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. The character was created by artist Bob Kane and writer Bill Finger, and debuted in Detective Comics 27, the 27th issue of the comic book ''Detective Comics'' on ...
(and their associated supporting characters). The titles with the most issues were ''
Action Double Double Comics'' (5 issues), ''
Adventure Double Double Comics'' (4 issues), and ''
Batman Double Double Comics'', ''
Detective Double Double Comics'', and ''
Superboy Double Double Comics'' (3 issues each). According to owners of some of the comics, the oddest thing about the ''Double Double'' line was, "not all issues had the same four comics inside. It was possible to purchase two copies of ''Double Double Detective'' #3 and find different coverless DC issues within. It was even possible to sometimes find a
Marvel comic mixed in with the DCs!"
In the 1970s, the Brown Watson imprint was known for the hardback comics
annuals it published based on popular film, television, animation, and comics properties. The annuals featured a mix of comic strips and illustrated text stories.
(The hardcover annuals tradition was a staple of the UK comics scene; the company most known for this type of publication was
World Distributors, which started producing them in the 1950s.) Brown Watson's most popular, long-running annuals were ''Hanna Barbera
Scooby Doo Where Are You...'' (8 annuals, 1973–1980), ''
Tarzan
Tarzan (John Clayton II, Viscount Greystoke) is a fictional character, an archetypal feral child raised in the African jungle by the Mangani great apes; he later experiences civilization, only to reject it and return to the wild as a heroic adv ...
'' (7 annuals, 1972–1979), ''
Laurel and Hardy
Laurel and Hardy were a British-American Double act, comedy duo act during the early Classical Hollywood cinema, Classical Hollywood era of American cinema, consisting of Englishman Stan Laurel (1890–1965) and American Oliver Hardy (1892–19 ...
'' (6 annuals, 1969–1980), ''Superman/Batman with Robin the Boy Wonder Annual'' (5 annuals, 1974–1978), and ''
Planet of the Apes
''Planet of the Apes'' is an American science fiction media franchise consisting of films, books, television series, comics, and other media about a world in which humans and intelligent apes clash for control. The franchise is based on Frenc ...
'' (3 annuals, 1975–1977). Artists who worked on the annuals included
John Bolton,
Ian Gibson, and
David Lloyd.
Brown Watson was run by the brothers Brian Babani and Peter Babani.
Most of T & P's other publications in the 1970s were listed under the Top Sellers Ltd. imprint. Formatted like American comics, with 32 pages of content, the company's most successful comics launched during this period included the long-running titles ''Funny Half Hour'', ''
Edgar Rice Burroughs Tarzan of the Apes'', ''
Edgar Rice Burroughs Korak, Son of Tarzan'', and the various ''Pocket Library'' titles, particularly ''
Western Library'', ''
Chiller Library'', and ''
Romance Library''. Skinn's ''
House of Hammer
''The House of Hammer'' was a British black-and-white magazine featuring articles and comics related to the Hammer Film Productions series of horror and science fiction films. The brainchild of Dez Skinn,Dakin, John. "'Marvel Revolution' in Engl ...
'' was a
horror
Horror may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media
Genres
*Horror fiction, a genre of fiction
** Japanese horror, Japanese horror fiction
**Korean horror, Korean horror fiction
* Horror film, a film genre
*Horror comics, comic books focusing o ...
-themed magazine of all original content, which combined text articles with comic strips, and helped launch the careers of a number of British comics creators, including
Steve Moore,
Brian Bolland
Brian Bolland (; born 26 March 1951)Salisbury, Mark, ''Artists on Comic Art'' (Titan Books, 2000) , p. 11 is a British comics artist. Best known in the United Kingdom as one of the definitive Judge Dredd artists for British comics anthology '' 2 ...
,
John Bolton, and
David Lloyd. Skinn and Brown Watson line editor John Barraclough often used some of the same artists for their comics properties.
''House of Hammer'' was given the 1977
Eagle Award for "Favourite Specialist Comics Publication — Pro."
[Previous Winners: 1977]
at the official Eagle Awards website, archived at the Wayback Machine
The Wayback Machine is a digital archive of the World Wide Web founded by the Internet Archive, a nonprofit based in San Francisco, California. Created in 1996 and launched to the public in 2001, it allows the user to go "back in time" and see ...
. (Retrieved 9 September 2018.) ''Mad UK'', meanwhile, won the 1977 Eagle Award for "Favourite Black & White Comicbook — Humour."
[Dakin, John. "'Marvel Revolution' in England," ''The Comics Journal'' #45 (Mar. 1979), p. 14.]
Men's magazines
Starting in the 1950s, Thorpe & Porter published a number of men's magazines of questionable taste, an early title being ''Clubman'', and another being ''Comic Cuties''.
In the 1960s and 1970s, T & P and then Williams published a line of
softcore pornography magazines with titles like ''Sex International News'', ''True Love Stories'',
''
Cinema X'', ''Cinema Blue'', ''
Parade
A parade is a procession of people, usually organized along a street, often in costume, and often accompanied by marching bands, float (parade), floats, or sometimes large balloons. Parades are held for a wide range of reasons, but are usually ce ...
'', ''Game'', ''Blade'', ''Voi'', and ''Sensuous''.
Many copies of those magazines were seized and forfeited in a series of police raids in 1972 and again in 1975.
In response, in 1976 Williams created the General Books Distribution (G.B.D. Ltd.) imprint for its adults-only titles.
[Skinn, Dez]
"Warner Bros. (Williams),"
DezSkinn.com. Retrieved Dec. 19, 2020.
Imprints
*
Arnold Book Company
Arnold Book Company (ABC) was a British publisher of comic books that operated in the late 1940s and 1950s, most actively from 1950 to 1954. ABC published original titles like the war comic ''Ace Malloy of the Special Squadron'' and the science ...
(1953–1958) — comics
* Beacon Publishing Co. Ltd. (1948–1951) — paperback books
*
Brown, Watson Ltd. ( 1956– 1979) — ''Conflict Picture Library'' and ''Romance in Pictures'' in the early part of the 1960s, standard format paperbacks after ceasing to use the ''Digit Books'' imprint, and hardback annuals in the 1970s
*
Digit Books
Digit may refer to:
Mathematics and science
* Numerical digit, as used in mathematics or computer science
** Hindu-Arabic numerals, the most common modern representation of numerical digits
* Digit (anatomy), the most distal part of a limb, such ...
(wholly-owned paperback imprint of ''Brown, Watson Ltd.'') (1956 - 1966) - general and category fiction, and some non-fiction, initially; standard format paperback books
* General Books Distribution (G.B.D. Ltd.) (1977–1978) — men's magazine titles (like ''
Cinema X'' and ''
Parade
A parade is a procession of people, usually organized along a street, often in costume, and often accompanied by marching bands, float (parade), floats, or sometimes large balloons. Parades are held for a wide range of reasons, but are usually ce ...
'', and, originally, ''
The House of Hammer
''The House of Hammer'' was a British black-and-white magazine featuring articles and comics related to the Hammer Film Productions series of horror and science fiction films. The brainchild of Dez Skinn,Dakin, John. "'Marvel Revolution' in Engl ...
'')
* Hermitage (1947–1948; 1952–1953) — initially a paperback imprint, then used for some comics
* Jenson (1952–1953) — comics
* Jewel Books (1949–1954) — paperback books
* Knole Park Press (1948–1949) — paperback books
* Strato Publications (1949–1962) — originally paperback books, then science fiction and fantasy digest format magazine reprints, and science fiction, super-hero and western comics reprints
* Thorpe & Porter ( 1951–1965) — pulp magazine reprints; science fiction and fantasy digest magazine format reprints after the closure of the ''Strato Publications'' imprint through the 1966 bankruptcy, though over-stamping U.S. editions at the end; and the ''
Classics Illustrated'' comics line
* Top Sellers Ltd.( 1956– 1979) — most comics and magazines
*
Williams Publishing and Distributing Co. Ltd. (1971–1977) — men's magazines;
Tarzan
Tarzan (John Clayton II, Viscount Greystoke) is a fictional character, an archetypal feral child raised in the African jungle by the Mangani great apes; he later experiences civilization, only to reject it and return to the wild as a heroic adv ...
and
Korak comics, and other comics titles
Imprints timeline
Titles published (selected)
Pulp magazines
T & P Comics
; Titles that published 30 or more issues.
* ''
Benjy and His Friends'' (Thorpe & Porter, 30 issues, 1971–1972) — translations of a European children's comic
* ''
Blackhawk'' (Thorpe & Porter, 37 issues, 1956–1958)
* ''
Classics Illustrated'' (Thorpe & Porter, 181 issues, Oct. 1951–June 1963)
* ''
Fox and Crow'' (Thorpe & Porter, 31 issues, early 1970s)
* ''
Gene Autry
Orvon Grover "Gene" Autry (September 29, 1907 – October 2, 1998), nicknamed the Singing Cowboy, was an American singer, songwriter, actor, musician, rodeo performer, and baseball owner who gained fame largely by singing in a crooning s ...
Comics'' (Thorpe & Porter, 36 issues, 1953–1954)
* ''
Edgar Rice Burroughs Korak, Son of Tarzan'' (Thorpe & Porter, 71 issues, 1971–1976)
* ''
Edgar Rice Burroughs Tarzan of the Apes''
st series
ST, St, or St. may refer to:
Arts and entertainment
* Stanza, in poetry
* Suicidal Tendencies, an American heavy metal/hardcore punk band
* Star Trek, a science-fiction media franchise
* Summa Theologica, a compendium of Catholic philosophy an ...
(Thorpe & Porter, 7 issues, 1970–1971)
* ''Edgar Rice Burroughs Tarzan of the Apes''
nd series(Thorpe & Porter, 116 issues, 3 March 1971 – 1975)
* ''
Forbidden Worlds
''Forbidden Worlds'' was a fantasy comic from the American Comics Group, which won the 1964 Alley Award for Best Regularly Published Fantasy Comic. It published 145 issues between July/August 1951 to August 1967.
Publication history
''Forbidd ...
'' (Thorpe & Porter, 145 issues, 1950–1969)
* ''Funny Half Hour'' (Thorpe & Porter, 171 issues, 1970–1979)
* ''Golden Hours'' (Williams, 31 issues, 1972)
* ''
House of Hammer
''The House of Hammer'' was a British black-and-white magazine featuring articles and comics related to the Hammer Film Productions series of horror and science fiction films. The brainchild of Dez Skinn,Dakin, John. "'Marvel Revolution' in Engl ...
'' (Top Sellers/General Books, 23 issues, Oct. 1976–July 1978) — changed title to ''Hammer's House of Horror'' and ''Hammer's Halls of Horror''; later revived as ''Halls of Horror'' by
Quality Communications
* ''
Kid Colt Outlaw
''Kid Colt, Outlaw'' is a comic book title featuring the character Kid Colt originally published by Atlas Comics beginning in 1948 and later Marvel Comics.
Publication history
Kid Colt and his horse Steel first appeared in ''Kid Colt'' #1 (Augu ...
'' (Thorpe & Porter, 58 issues, 1950–1960) — contained black-and-white reprints from both
Atlas Comics Atlas Comics may refer to
* Atlas Comics (1950s)
Atlas Comics is the 1950s comic book, comic-book publishing label that evolved into Marvel Comics. Magazine and mass market paperback, paperback novel publisher Martin Goodman (publisher), Martin ...
and
DC Comics
DC Comics, Inc. (doing business as DC) is an American comic book publisher and the flagship unit of DC Entertainment, a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery.
DC Comics is one of the largest and oldest American comic book companies, with thei ...
* ''
Larry Harmon
Lawrence Weiss (January 2, 1925 – July 3, 2008), better known by the stage name Larry Harmon and as his alter ego Bozo the Clown, was an American entertainer.Dennis McLellanLarry Harmon, 83; entrepreneur made Bozo the Clown a star ''Los ...
's
Laurel & Hardy'' (Thorpe & Porter, 142 issues plus eight extra-large issues, 1969–1974)
* ''
Mad'' (Thorpe & Porter, 290 issues, Oct. 1959–June 1986)
* ''Pixi Tales'' (Thorpe & Porter, 87 issues, 1959–1963)
* ''Pocket Chiller Library'' (Thorpe & Porter, 137 issues, 1971–1977) — reprints of Italian and Spanish horror comics followed by some original stories by European and British creators
[ Freeman, John]
"The Perplexing Origins of 'Pocket Chiller Library,'"
DownTheTubes.net (Aug. 11, 2020).
* ''Pocket Detective Library'' (Thorpe & Porter, 67 issues, early 1970s)
* ''Pocket Romance Library'' (Thorpe & Porter, 113 issues, 1971–1974)
* ''Pocket War Library'' (Thorpe & Porter, 229 issues, 1965–1972)
* ''Pocket Western Library'' (Thorpe & Porter, 188 issues, 1970s)
* ''
Tomahawk'' (Thorpe & Porter, 41 issues, 1954–1957)
* ''World Illustrated'' (Thorpe & Porter, 34 issues, 1960–1963)
* ''
Yogi
A yogi is a practitioner of Yoga, including a sannyasin or practitioner of meditation in Indian religions.A. K. Banerjea (2014), ''Philosophy of Gorakhnath with Goraksha-Vacana-Sangraha'', Motilal Banarsidass, , pp. xxiii, 297-299, 331 Th ...
and His Toy'' / ''
Hanna-Barbera
Hanna-Barbera Cartoons, Inc. ( ) was an American animation studio and production company which was active from 1957 to 2001. It was founded on July 7, 1957, by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera following the decision of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer to c ...
's Fun Time'' (Williams, 60 total issues, 1972–1973)
* ''Young Brides'' (Thorpe & Porter, 38 issues, 1953–1955)
* ''
Young Love'' (Thorpe & Porter, 46 issues, 1953–1955)
* ''
Young Romance
''Young Romance'' is a romantic comic book series created by Joe Simon and Jack Kirby for the Crestwood Publications imprint Prize Comics in 1947. Generally considered the first romance comic,Ro, Ronin. ''Tales to Astonish: Jack Kirby, Stan L ...
'' (Thorpe & Porter, 39 issues, 1953–1955)
Brown Watson annuals
* ''
Batman
Batman is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. The character was created by artist Bob Kane and writer Bill Finger, and debuted in Detective Comics 27, the 27th issue of the comic book ''Detective Comics'' on ...
&
Robin
Robin may refer to:
Animals
* Australasian robins, red-breasted songbirds of the family Petroicidae
* Many members of the subfamily Saxicolinae (Old World chats), including:
**European robin (''Erithacus rubecula'')
**Bush-robin
**Forest rob ...
Annual'' (1972)
* ''
The Bionic Woman
''The Bionic Woman'' is an American science fiction action-adventure television series created by Kenneth Johnson based on the 1972 novel ''Cyborg'' by Martin Caidin, starring Lindsay Wagner that aired from January 14, 1976, to May 13, 1978. ' ...
'' (2 issues, 1977–1978)
* ''Casper's Ghostland Annual'' (1973)
* ''
Charlie Chaplin
Sir Charles Spencer Chaplin Jr. (16 April 188925 December 1977) was an English comic actor, filmmaker, and composer who rose to fame in the era of silent film. He became a worldwide icon through his screen persona, the Tramp, and is consider ...
Annual'' (1974)
* ''
Flash Gordon
Flash Gordon is the protagonist of a space adventure comic strip created and originally drawn by Alex Raymond. First published January 7, 1934, the strip was inspired by, and created to compete with, the already established ''Buck Rogers'' adve ...
Annual'' (2 issues, 1968 and 1981)
* ''
The Flintstones Annual'' (1976)
* ''
The Funky Phantom Annual'' (1974)
* ''
The Gemini Man
''Gemini Man'' is a short-lived American action-adventure drama series that aired on NBC in 1976. The third television series based on H. G. Wells' 1897 science fiction novel ''The Invisible Man'', ''Gemini Man'' was created to replace the pre ...
Annual'' (1978)
* ''
The Great Grape Ape Annual'' (2 issues, 1977–1978) — 1977 annual featured
Hong Kong Phooey
''Hong Kong Phooey'' is an American animated television series produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions and originally broadcast on ABC. The original episodes aired from September 7 to December 21, 1974, and then in repeats until 1976. The show wa ...
; 1978 annual featured
Boss Cat
* ''Hanna Barbera
Scooby Doo Where Are You... Annual'' (8 issues, 1973–1980)
* ''The
Harlem Globetrotters
The Harlem Globetrotters are an American exhibition basketball team. They combine athleticism, theater, and comedy in their style of play. Created in 1926 by Tommy Brookins in Chicago, Illinois, the team adopted the name ''Harlem'' because of i ...
Annual Featuring
Dastardly and Muttley
''Dastardly and Muttley in Their Flying Machines'' (or simply ''Dastardly and Muttley'' in the UK and Ireland) is an American animated television series produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions, and a spin-off from '' Wacky Races''. The show was ...
and
The Perils of Penelope Pitstop
''The Perils of Penelope Pitstop'' is an American animated television series produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions that premiered on CBS on September 13, 1969. The show ran for one season with a total of 17 half-hour episodes, the last first-run e ...
'' (1973)
* ''
Inch High Private Eye
''Inch High, Private Eye'' is a short-lived American animated television series produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions and broadcast on NBC from September 8, to December 1, 1973.
The character was modeled after Maxwell Smart, the main character ...
&
Pixie & Dixie Annual'' (1977)
* ''
Laurel and Hardy
Laurel and Hardy were a British-American Double act, comedy duo act during the early Classical Hollywood cinema, Classical Hollywood era of American cinema, consisting of Englishman Stan Laurel (1890–1965) and American Oliver Hardy (1892–19 ...
Annual'' (6 issues, 1969–1980)
* ''
Logan's Run
''Logan's Run'' is a science fiction novel by American writers William F. Nolan and George Clayton Johnson. Published in 1967, the novel depicts a dystopic Malthusianism future society in which both population and the consumption of resource ...
Annual'' (1978)
* ''
The Magician Annual'' (1975)
* ''Marvel Presents the Superheroes Annual'' (1978)
* ''
The Muppet Show
''The Muppet Show'' is a sketch comedy television series created by Jim Henson and featuring the Muppets. The series originated as two pilot episodes produced by Henson for ABC in 1974 and 1975. While neither episode was moved forward as a ser ...
Annual'' (1978)
* ''
The New Avengers Annual'' (2 issues, 1977–1978)
* ''
The Pink Panther Annual'' (1976)
* ''
Planet of the Apes
''Planet of the Apes'' is an American science fiction media franchise consisting of films, books, television series, comics, and other media about a world in which humans and intelligent apes clash for control. The franchise is based on Frenc ...
Annual'' (3 issues, 1975–1977)
* ''Popeye Annual'' (2 issues, 1972–1976)
* ''Science Fiction in Pictures Outer Space'' (2 issues, 1963)
* ''
The Six Million Dollar Man
''The Six Million Dollar Man'' is an American science fiction and action television series, running from 1973 to 1978, about a former astronaut, USAF Colonel Steve Austin, portrayed by Lee Majors. After a NASA test flight accident, Austin is reb ...
Annual'' (3 issues, 1977–1979)
* ''
Star Wars
''Star Wars'' is an American epic film, epic space opera multimedia franchise created by George Lucas, which began with the Star Wars (film), eponymous 1977 film and quickly became a worldwide popular culture, pop-culture Cultural impact of S ...
Annual'' (1978)
* ''
Superman
Superman is a superhero who appears in American comic books published by DC Comics. The character was created by writer Jerry Siegel and artist Joe Shuster, and debuted in the comic book ''Action Comics'' #1 (cover-dated June 1938 and publi ...
Annual'' (1972)
* ''Superman/Batman with Robin the Boy Wonder Annual'' (5 issues, 1974–1978)
* ''
The Sweeney
''The Sweeney'' is a 1970s British television police drama focusing on two members of the Flying Squad, a branch of the Metropolitan Police specialising in tackling armed robbery and violent crime in London. It stars John Thaw as Detective Ins ...
Annual'' (2 issues, 1977 & 1978)
* ''
Tarzan
Tarzan (John Clayton II, Viscount Greystoke) is a fictional character, an archetypal feral child raised in the African jungle by the Mangani great apes; he later experiences civilization, only to reject it and return to the wild as a heroic adv ...
Annual'' (7 issues,
ept.1972–
ept.1979)
* ''
Wacky Races
Eccentricity (also called quirkiness) is an unusual or odd behavior on the part of an individual. This behavior would typically be perceived as unusual or unnecessary, without being demonstrably maladaptive. Eccentricity is contrasted with norm ...
Annual'' (3 issues, 1973–1976) — 1973 annual featured
Motormouse and Autocat
''Cattanooga Cats'' is an American animated television series produced by Hanna-Barbera which aired on ABC from September 6, 1969, to September 4, 1971.
The show was a package program similar to the Hanna-Barbera/NBC show ''The Banana Splits' ...
; 1975 annual featured the
Harlem Globetrotters
The Harlem Globetrotters are an American exhibition basketball team. They combine athleticism, theater, and comedy in their style of play. Created in 1926 by Tommy Brookins in Chicago, Illinois, the team adopted the name ''Harlem'' because of i ...
See also
*
W.H. Smith
WHSmith (also written WH Smith, and known colloquially as Smith's and formerly as W. H. Smith & Son) is a British retailer, headquartered in Swindon, England, which operates a chain of high street, railway station, airport, port, hospital and m ...
*
John Menzies
*
World Distributors
*
L. Miller & Son
*
Alan Class Comics
Alan Class Comics was a British comics publishing company that operated between 1959 and 1989. The company produced comics anthology, anthology titles, reprinting comics stories from many U.S. publishers of the 1940s to 1960s in a black and white ...
*
Odhams Press
*
Marvel UK
References
Notes
Citations
Sources consulted
*
*
*
*
*
* Ashley, Mike (2005). ''Transformations: The Story of the Science Fiction Magazines from 1950 to 1970''. Liverpool: Liverpool University Press. .
* Jacobs, Frank (1972). ''The Mad World of William M. Gaines''. Lyle Stuart, Inc. p. ???. Library of Congress Card No 72-91781
* Jones, William B., Jr., ''Classics Illustrated: A Cultural History, with Illustrations'' (Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland & Company, Inc., 2002). Second edition, 2011.
* Tuck, Donald H. (1982). ''The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction and Fantasy'': Volume 3. Chicago: Advent: Publishers, Inc. .
* Tymn, Marshall B.; Ashley, Mike (eds.). ''Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Weird Fiction Magazines''. Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press. .
External links
"Thorpe and Porter,"The Magic Robot
"More Thorpe and Porter,"The Magic Robot
Thorpe & Porterat ComicVine
{{DEFAULTSORT:Thorpe and Porter
1949 establishments in the United Kingdom
Book distributors
British companies established in 1946
British companies disestablished in 1979
Comic book publishing companies of the United Kingdom
Comics industry
Companies based in Leicester
Companies based in London
Defunct comics and manga publishing companies
Privately held companies of the United Kingdom
Publishing companies established in 1946
Publishing companies disestablished in 1979
Warner Bros.