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''Valiant'' was a British boys' adventure
comics anthology A comics anthology collects works in the medium of comics, typically from multiple series, and compiles them into an anthology or magazine. The comics in these anthologies range from comic strips that are too short for standalone publication to co ...
which ran from 1962 to 1976. It was published by IPC Magazines and was one of that company's major adventure titles throughout the 1960s and early 1970s.


Publication history

The title went through a number of name changes and mergers, although always returning to its simpler one-word name. On 23 February 1963, it merged with ''
Knockout A knockout (abbreviated to KO or K.O.) is a fight-ending, winning criterion in several full-contact combat sports, such as boxing, kickboxing, muay thai, mixed martial arts, karate, some forms of taekwondo and other sports involving strikin ...
'' to become ''Valiant and Knockout''. With the issue from February 1964, the title dropped "Knockout" and reverted to simply ''Valiant''. In June of 1963,
Fleetway 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 ...
(IPC) brought out the first two (per month) issues of the digest-sized spinoff ''Valiant Picture Library'' which featured stories that had nothing to do with the main title. ''Valiant Picture Library'' cost one shilling. It ultimately ran 144 monthly issues from 1963 to 1969. With issue #137 (15 May 1965), the title went from 28 to 40 pages for one penny more (to seven pence). ''Valiant'' merged with '' Smash!'' in April 1971, becoming ''Valiant and Smash''. It was briefly published for one week as ''Valiant'' again on 25 September, but then absorbed the former
City Magazines City Magazines was a British publisher of weekly comics and men's magazines that operated from the mid-1950s to the mid-1970s. The company's most notable publications were comics magazines based on licensed television properties, including '' TV ...
title '' TV21'' on 2 October to become ''Valiant and TV21''. It merged with ''
Lion The lion (''Panthera leo'') is a large cat of the genus '' Panthera'' native to Africa and India. It has a muscular, broad-chested body; short, rounded head; round ears; and a hairy tuft at the end of its tail. It is sexually dimorphic; adu ...
'' on 25 May 1974 to temporarily become ''Valiant and Lion''. After many years, ''Valiant'' began to seem old-fashioned, when in 1975 the first example of a new type of comic was launched by IPC: '' Battle Picture Weekly''. ''Valiant'' suffered further when IPC editor
Pat Mills Patrick Eamon Mills (born 1949) is an English comics writer and editor who, along with John Wagner, revitalised British boys comics in the 1970s, and has remained a leading light in British comics ever since. He has been called "the godfather ...
launched ''
Action Action may refer to: * Action (narrative), a literary mode * Action fiction, a type of genre fiction * Action game, a genre of video game Film * Action film, a genre of film * ''Action'' (1921 film), a film by John Ford * ''Action'' (1980 fil ...
'' in February 1976. In 1975,
John Wagner John Wagner (born 1949) is an American-born British comics writer. Alongside Pat Mills, he helped revitalise British comics in the 1970s, and continues to be active in the British comics industry, occasionally also working in American comics. ...
had been installed as editor to update the title; his attempts were initially successful but ''Valiant'' struggled to find a place in the market against these more "mature" adventure titles. ''Valiant'' limped on for a few months, merging with '' Vulcan'' on 10 April 1976, but finally merged with ''Battle Picture Weekly'' on 23 October, signaling the end of ''Valiant''.


Stories

The stories in ''Valiant'' were mainly two or three pages long, and in black and white (apart from the coloured covers). Many of them were story arcs, which continued week after week, with cliff-hanger endings so readers had to buy the next issue to see how the various characters escaped from dangerous or deadly situations. ''Valiant'' contained a mix of conventional war stories, such as ''
Captain Hurricane ''Captain Hurricane'' is a 1935 American drama film about the life of fishermen in Cape Cod.Richard Jewell & Vernon Harbin, ''The RKO Story''. New Rochelle, New York: Arlington House, 1982. p. 81. Plot Cast * James Barton as Capt. Zenas Henry ...
'' from the first issue, which was a semi-humorous strip set during the
Second World War 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 opposi ...
about a massive ex-sea skipper who became a Captain in the
Royal Marines The Corps of Royal Marines (RM), also known as the Royal Marines Commandos, are the UK's special operations capable commando force, amphibious warfare, amphibious light infantry and also one of the :Fighting Arms of the Royal Navy, five fighti ...
, and who could be provoked into "ragin' fury" berserker rages which gave him great strength; classic humour strips, such as ''The Crows'' who were in almost all issues from the first issue, and ''The Nutts'' (Ginger Nutt, the teenage daughter, only really had one panel in issue 3; she was too good-looking to be a figure of fun), also from the first issue, and ''
Billy Bunter William George Bunter is a fictional schoolboy created by Charles Hamilton using the pen name Frank Richards. He features in stories set at Greyfriars School, a fictional English public school in Kent, originally published in the boys' weekly ...
'' from issue 21; as well as classic detective strips, such as
Sexton Blake Sexton Blake is a fictional character, a detective who has been featured in many British comic strips, novels and dramatic productions since 1893. Sexton Blake adventures were featured in a wide variety of British and international publications ...
. It also had a number of innovative new heroes. In ''
Kelly's Eye ''Kelly's Eye'' was a British adventure comic strip. It first appeared in ''Knockout'' in 1962, moved to '' Valiant'' in 1963, and lasted until sometime in 1974. The strip was revived in '' 2000 AD'' in 1991–1993. Tim Kelly possesses a jewel, th ...
'' from issue 21, for instance, Tim Kelly wore a jewel called the Eye of Zoltec (obtained from a Mayan idol) around his neck, which protected him from all harm, making him invulnerable. '' Adam Eterno'' (who originally appeared in ''Thunder'') was thousands of years old, and could only be slain by a fatal blow from a weapon made of gold. ''
The House of Dolmann was a British comic strip from the pages of '' Valiant''. The serial ran weekly from 1966 to 1970, with a brief revival as a reprint strip in 1974. The serial was among the titles reprinted in '' Vulcan'' from 1975 to 1976. Tom Tully wrote many ...
'', which started with issue #210 (8 October 1966), featured an inventor and ventriloquist who constructed remote-controlled "dolls", or puppets, with strange abilities, such as stretching, drilling, and vision powers, that helped him in his fight against crime. '' Jack O'Justice'' from the first issue, always accompanied by his girlfriend and eventual wife Moll Moonlight, was a swashbuckling 18th-century adventurer who fought criminals, the supernatural and monsters; both Jack and Moll were experts with their swords and on horseback. In time, the Jack O'Justice stories ended; in issue #195 (1966) the series was replaced by ''Jack Justice'', a contemporary crimefighting adventurer 200 years later, who was the direct descendant of Jack and Moll. The celebrated anti-hero '' The Steel Claw'', from the first issue, with his fantastic power of invisibility and the capability to electrocute his enemies, due to his body's ability to store electric current, would influence comic creators such as
Alan Moore Alan Moore (born 18 November 1953) is an English author known primarily for his work in comic books including '' Watchmen'', ''V for Vendetta'', '' The Ballad of Halo Jones'', ''Swamp Thing'', ''Batman:'' ''The Killing Joke'', and '' From He ...
and David Lloyd. ''
Mytek the Mighty "Mytek the Mighty" is a British comic adventure strip, appearing in titles published by Fleetway Publications. The story revolves around Mytek, a large and powerful robotic ape. The strip first appeared in the boys' anthology title '' Valiant'' ...
'', a giant robot ape from issue #104, started out as a villain in the hands of a criminal named Gogra, but eventually became a hero who battled other robots and giant creatures. The same issue featured ''Legge's Eleven'', about a crazy team of footballers. Both ''Mytek'' and ''Legge's Eleven'' ended in issue number #282 (24 February 1968) but Mytek was back in issue #297 (8 June 1968).
Tom Tully Thomas Kane Tulley (August 21, 1908 – April 27, 1982) was an American actor. He began his career in radio and on the stage before making his film debut in ''Northern Pursuit'' (1943). Subsequently, he was nominated for an Academy Award for hi ...
and
Mike Western Mike Western (b. Southampton, 4 February 1925; d. 13 May 2008)Ian WheelerMike Western remembered, Down The Tubes, 21 May 2008 was a British comics artist. He worked as a clean-up artist for GB Animation after military service in the Second Wor ...
's '' The Wild Wonders'' debuted in 1968, about a pair of wild boys, brought up by animals, who turn out to be fantastic athletes, for which Western used a semi-cartoony style which was much imitated.Holland, Steve
Mike Western (1925-2008)
Bear Alley, 20 May 2008
The strip ran until 1973. Issue #137 introduced an ongoing two-to-three-page text story titled '' Jason Hyde'' about a mystery man from whose eyes poured blue rays (he normally wore special sunglasses) that allowed him to see through solid objects and read minds. He had many strange adventures: including deep inside the Earth; in another dimension; fighting giant spiders; and fighting a man with incredible superpowers. His last story was in #293 (11 May 1968). Also ''Fort Navajo'' with Mike Blueberry, from the Franco-Belgian comics. A number of strips inherited from '' Smash!'' moved to ''Valiant'' in April 1971, including the adventure serials '' The Incredible Adventures of Janus Stark'' and ''The Thirteen Tasks of Simon Test'', and the humour strips ''The Swots and the Blots'' and ''His Sporting Lordship''. Of these, the longest-running was ''Janus Stark'', about a Victorian escapologist and private detective, written by
Angus Allan Angus Peter Allan (22 July 1936 – 16 July 2007) was a British comic strip writer and magazine editor who worked on ''TV Century 21'' in the 1960s and ''Look-in'' magazine during the 1970s. Most commonly known as Angus Allan and sometimes credit ...
with art by the studio of Solano López; the strip lasted in ''Valiant'' until 22 March 1975. Two new strips introduced by John Wagner in 1975 were ''Death Wish'', a World War Two story, and '' One-Eyed Jack'', about a New York detective. Another late-appearing strip was ''The Prisoner of Zenga'', about a powerful robot with the brain of an arch-criminal named Max Zenga.


Character re-appearances and legacy

Several of ''Valiant'' 's characters have made appearances since the comic's cancellation. Alan Moore and
Alan Davis Alan Davis (born 18 June 1956) is an English artist and writer of comic books, known for his work on titles such as ''Captain Britain'', ''The Uncanny X-Men'', ''ClanDestine'', ''Detective Comics'', ''Excalibur'', '' JLA: The Nail'' and '' JLA: ...
used several (renamed) characters in their ''
Captain Britain Captain Britain is a title used by various superheroes in comic books published by Marvel Comics, commonly in association with Excalibur. The moniker was first used in publication by Brian Braddock in ''Captain Britain Weekly'' #1 by writer Ch ...
'' strip. Also,
Quality Comics Quality Comics was an American comic book publishing company which operated from 1937 to 1956 and was a creative, influential force in what historians and fans call the Golden Age of Comic Books. Notable, long-running titles published by Qualit ...
released a four-issue mini-series of ''The Steel Claw'' in 1986, featuring recoloured reprint material, with new material drawn by Garry Leach that acted as a framing device. The Steel Claw and several of IPC's 1960s heroes were also featured in ''
Zenith The zenith (, ) is an imaginary point directly "above" a particular location, on the celestial sphere. "Above" means in the vertical direction ( plumb line) opposite to the gravity direction at that location ( nadir). The zenith is the "high ...
'' in '' 2000 AD'', followed by a one-off special featuring old ''Valiant'' and IPC characters, the ''2000 AD Action Special'' in 1992. In 2005–2006, many ''Valiant'' characters were featured in a
limited series Limited series may refer to: *Limited series, individual storylines within an anthology series *Limited series, a particular run of collectables, usually individually numbered *Limited series (comics), a comics series with a predetermined number of ...
called ''
Albion Albion is an alternative name for Great Britain. The oldest attestation of the toponym comes from the Greek language. It is sometimes used poetically and generally to refer to the island, but is less common than 'Britain' today. The name for Scot ...
'', published by the
Wildstorm Wildstorm Productions, (stylized as WildStorm), is an American comic book imprint. Originally founded as an independent company established by Jim Lee under the name "Aegis Entertainment" and expanded in subsequent years by other creators, Wild ...
imprint of
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 the ...
, plotted by Alan Moore and written by
Leah Moore Leah Moore (born 4 February 1978) is a British comic book writer and columnist. The daughter of comics writer Alan Moore, she frequently collaborates with her husband, writer John Reppion, as Moore & Reppion. Biography Moore was born to comics ...
&
John Reppion John Mark Reppion (born 1978) is an English comics writer. He is married to Leah Moore, the daughter of Alan Moore, and he has worked with both on the comic ''Albion''. John Reppion and Leah Moore have co-writing credits on '' Wild Girl'', a 6 ...
; these included Danny Doom, Eric Dolmann, Janus Stark, Jason Hyde, Mytek the Mighty and Gogra, and The Steel Claw. In March 2012,
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launched a special stamp collection to celebrate Britain's rich comic book history. The collection featured ''Valiant'', along with ''
The Beano ''The Beano'' (formerly ''The Beano Comic'', also known as ''Beano'') is a British anthology comic magazine created by Scottish publishing company DC Thomson. Its first issue was published on 30 July 1938, and it became the world's longest-run ...
'', ''
The Dandy ''The Dandy'' was a British children's comic magazine published by the Dundee based publisher DC Thomson. The first issue was printed in December 1937, making it the world's third-longest running comic, after '' Il Giornalino'' (cover dated 1 O ...
'', ''
Eagle Eagle is the common name for many large birds of prey of the family Accipitridae. Eagles belong to several groups of genera, some of which are closely related. Most of the 68 species of eagle are from Eurasia and Africa. Outside this area, j ...
'', '' The Topper'', ''
Roy of the Rovers ''Roy of the Rovers'' is a British comic strip about the life and times of a fictional footballer and later manager named Roy Race, who played for Melchester Rovers. The strip first appeared in the ''Tiger'' in 1954, before giving its name to a ...
'', '' Bunty'', '' Buster'', '' Twinkle'' and '' 2000 AD''.


Notes


References

* * * * * * * * *


Further reading


Valiant
at 26pigs.com, a site for British comics * "Adventure Time" by Stephen Jewell, in ''Judge Dredd Megazine'' no. 432 (June 2021), pp. 40–43 {{Buster Comics magazines published in the United Kingdom 1962 comics debuts Defunct British comics Magazines established in 1962 Magazines disestablished in 1976 Adventure comics Magazines about comics Defunct magazines published in the United Kingdom Publications of Sexton Blake