1978: SUPERMAN POCKET BOOK (UK EDITION) ISSUE 1

From 1978: the first issue of SUPERMAN POCKETBOOK, a UK DC reprint title from London Editions/ Egmont.

Unlike the traditional British Pocket Libraries, this (and its BATMAN POCKETBOOK companion) was published with colour interiors.  The upgraded production standards were made possible because London Editions (who eventually had a long - albeit intermittent - association with DC) were part of a bigger European outfit, and the digests appeared in other European markets with the black plates swapped out in favour of the local language during a single print run.

The sudden pan-European interest in the character was, of course, down to that year's SUPERMAN live-action movie.

The UK-only monthly THE SUPERHEROES followed, to limited success despite boasting attractive new covers and some vintage (albeit possibly dated) reprints from the DC vaults.

Once that title faltered, London Editions turned their attentions to other licensed fare scoring hits with the likes of MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE and MY LITTLE PONY and less success with the likes of THE CENTURIONS and BATTLE BEASTS.

But, towards the end of the decade, they rediscovered their DC mojo with a slate of new reprint titles (now in colour) beginning with - as you might expect - SUPERMAN.  This expansion may have been prompted by the rising profile of DC characters (Superman celebrated his 50th with some hoopla, including a RADIO TIMES cover, in 1988), the post-CRISIS reboot of many of DC's top tier characters (making them more accessable to a wider audience), the impending BATMAN movie and MARVEL UK's retreat from the superhero market.

The new line, anchored by SUPERMAN and BATMAN but also including (at various times) HEROES, DC ACTION, ZONES and SHOCKWAVE, proved to be only a limited success and titles seemed to come and go (departing with little warning or fanfare) on a regular basis.

Robert Maxwell, now owner of the former IPC Youth Group  rebadged Fleetway, managed to annoy Egmont's European bosses by snatching the Disney license.  His ownership of MIRROR GROUP newspapers being a decisive factor in commiting to expose Disney's wares to the largest UK readership possible.  Egmont's response was to buy into Fleetway, an offer that Maxwell (no doubt very aware of the financial mess buried at the heart of his media empire) found hard to resist.  After his death, and the swift collapse of his crooked empire, Egmont bought the rest of Fleetway for a knockdown price.  

1987: CENTURIONS ISSUE 2: POWER X-TREME!

From 1987: the second issue of CENTURIONS, a British monthly based on the toy line and animated series.

This was a mix of UK-originated (although possibly drawn overseas) material and reprints of the US DC Comics strips.  The show itself aired as part of ITV's summer Saturday morning series GET FRESH, a touring collaboration between (mostly) the smaller ITV broadcasters.

This is one of a number of London Editions licensed titles of the time that seems to have been all but forgotten about today.  Copies seldom seem to pop up on my travels.  They also published MY LITTLE PONY, HE-MAN/ MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE, JEM, SHE-RA: PRINCESS OF POWER and probably others that I overlooked at the time and forgotten since.  I have a hunch that they might have done a BRAVESTAR tie-in and even - possibly - a BATTLE BEASTS comic.  The latter started life in Japan as an off-shoot of THE TRANSFORMERS but was given solo status in the West.

They also published - of course -  succession of titles repackaging DC Comics characters and strips from the States.  A long-term project which achieved varied levels of success.

1981: DC COMICS IN THE SUPER HEROES MONTHLY VOLUME 2 ISSUE 1 (LONDON EDITIONS)

From 1981: the gang's all here in this fantastic wraparound cover, by Alan Craddock, to launch Volume 2 (aka issue 13) of THE SUPER HEROES MONTHLY.

There really isn't much difference between the two volumes (still black & white interiors. Still a smorgasbord of DC reprints from across the decades) so the reboot seems to have just been publishing tradition rather than a Panini-style jumping on point dictated by storylines and reboots.

The second volume ran for a mere seven issues although the masthead continued for a few more years as a run of annuals.

1986: JEM ISSUE 1 (LONDON EDITIONS)

From 1986: the launch issue of JEM, published by London Editions.

This was, of course, another toy-animation-merchandising triple play by the guys at Hasbro. The enjoyable animated series (from the Hasbro-Sunbow-Marvel alliance) was a fixture of the TV-am weekend schedules for a while. The premise was to spice up the traditional Barbie market with a range of highly fashionable dolls based around the concept of an all girl rock group.

LE quietly cut a niche for themselves by being the 'other' publisher of such licensed fare, although they seldom gave Marvel UK much to worry about. Their biggest hit was MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE (a property the British Bullpen let slip through their fingers) but they also published SHE-RA, MY LITTLE PONY (writing for that must have been painful... and just how does a pink horse play tennis anyway?), BATTLE BEASTS (originally, in Japan at least, part of the TRANSFORMERS universe), CENTURIONS and no doubt others I didn't notice or have long forgotten.

Most LE titles suffered from sub-standard - and usually uncredited - artwork which I always had the suspicion originated somewhere in Europe. Although I'm not sure if that is actually true or not.

Jem has subsequently returned to comics in a new series from IDW. There was also a underwhelming feature film reboot which managed to be a lot worse than the JOSIE AND THE PUSSYCATS film of a generation ago, not least  because they tried to bolt on a silly high-tech subplot (a nod to the original I think) onto what should have been a fairly decent flick about a teen who becomes a rock star in the age of social media. I'm still flummoxed by the fact that no one recognised her, despite apparently living an average teenage life. The now obligatory end of movie teaser, which introduced rival rockers the Misfits, promised a far more interesting follow-up, which won't happen thanks to a disastrous worldwide box office gross.

I've no idea how long the British Jem comic stayed in the charts. This is the only issue I've ever seen.

1980: DC COMICS IN THE SUPER HEROES MONTHLY VOLUME 1, ISSUE 1 (London Editions)

From 1980: the first issue of Britain's THE SUPER HEROES MONTHLY. Not to be confused with any Marvel UK weeklong Montgomery a similar name.

This was a reprint vehicle, from London Editions (aka Egmont), showcasing assorted classic strips (in black & white) from the DC COMICS archives.

The 'Showcase' approach meant each issue had a different emphasis, allowing a wide trawl of the back catalogue. Most of the reprints were self-contained and done-in-one. The line-up was varied but with an emphasis on DC's most bankable screen heroes: Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman.

Where the title really excelled was the editorial attention to detail. From the specially commissioned covers (which were usually also published on the back cover - usually prime advertising space - without the logo and cover text) through to the original feature pages... this felt altogether more classy than the cobbled together Marvel UK reprints.

The first volume ran for twelve issues. The second extended the run by another seven before the title was cancelled. LE were also publishing the British editions of the SUPERMAN POCKET BOOK and  BATMAN POCKET BOOK (editions also appeared in other European markets thanks to switching out the black plates, with dialogue and captions, at the printers) around this time. They also published a number of annuals which also used British artists to provide new covers.

London Editions, latterly Fleetway Editions, renewed their association with DC later in the decade.

1988: BATMAN MONTHLY ISSUE 1 (LONDON EDITIONS)

From 1988: the first issue of London Editions' BATMAN MONTHLY UK reprints. With free pin badge still just about attached. 

LE must have thought they were on pretty safe ground with this one. The Caped Crusader had always, along with Superman, enjoyed the highest profile of the DC heroes. That profile was particularly high thanks to what seemed like near-constant reruns of the 1960s TV show in the UK during the 1980s. 

The show popped up a lot across the ITV network, sometimes as a standalone programme and sometimes buried in a larger format like LWT's partially networked NIGHT NETWORK offering. 

Breakfast time operator TV-am had been using the show for a while as part of its weekend schedules, usually as part of the marathon kids show WIDE AWAKE CLUB. When a 24-hour ACTT technicians strike turned into a protracted lockout (followed by dismissal), the broadcaster used the Adam West show (along with FLIPPER, HAPPY DAYS and various already on the shelf animated series) to pad out their 6-9.25 schedule. 

Viewers liked the changes and ratings remained healthy. Although its perfectly possible audiences were just watching to see what technical mishap would strike next. With little or no technical staff left, it fell to management and non-union support staff to grapple with specialist broadcast technology. For months it looked like the station would fall off air at any moment. 

Then, of course, LE knew that the BATMAN movie was currently filming at Pinewood and was already generating some buzz. That anticipation exploded as the release date approached and the film's logo and merchandise became ubiquitous. 

LE were initially careful to select reprints which, whilst not as campy as the strip became in the sixties, weren't to far removed from the tone the general public expected from the character. Despite the mainstream press hype surrounding THE DARK KNIGHT RETURNS, this new launch was not the place to reprint it. 

As the UK public warmed to the darker tone of the cinematic Dark Knight over the next few years, the editors started to select darker and more contemporary strips to reprint. 

The heightened interest in the Bat Universe allowed LE to expand with a series of specials usually focused on one particular character. The SUPERMAN and BATMAN titles survived the expansions and contractions of the LE line (say hello, and goodbye, to HEROES, DC ACTION, ZONES and SHOCKWAVE) and the merger with Fleetway. The Supes book always looked the weaker and had its frequency reduced. Relaunches followed and both characters eventually found themselves sharing the same title. The writing was on the wall. 

1989: STAR TREK V: THE FINAL FRONTIER COMICS ADAPTATION - BRITISH EDITION

From October 1989: the British edition of DC's STAR TREK V: THE FINAL FRONTIER movie adaptation, issued by London Editions.

The UK edition benefited from better paper stock and enhanced printing compared with the US original. 

This marked the first time that a Trek comics adaptation had been widely seen on this side of the Atlantic for a decade. Marvel UK had published The Motion Picture as an annual and serialised the strips in the pages of FUTURE TENSE. 

STAR TREK II fell into the gap between Marvel ditching the license and DC launching their post-Kahn ongoing series. Treks III and IV had been given the DC treatment but, with no British editions, they could only be found in specialist stores. 

London Editions were also publishing licensed Superman and Batman British editions (and tried, with no success, to grow the line over the next few years) so this was a natural fit.

The success of THE VOYAGE HOME clearly convinced British publishers that the franchise was gaining mainstream traction as Marvel UK, under the FANTASY ZONE banner, reissued Starlog's official movie tie-in mag. Neither experiment was repeated although Titan eventually added the Trek movies to their stable of licensed tie-in. 

1988: BATMAN UK Launch Ad (London Editions)

From July 1988: a launch ad for London Edition's UK reprints of BATMAN.

LE were already running a SUPERMAN comic (which is where this ad appeared) and smartly added Batman in anticipation of the 1989 Tim Burton movie.

The ad is deliberately evocative of the Sixties live-action series and sundry spin-offs.  It was still (thanks to near-constant reruns) the incarnation of Bats most familiar to the British public.  LE shifted the tone, and the selection of strips reprinted, over time to better reflect the tone of the movies and (presumably) the rising age demographic of the readership.  UK comics were also entering the "Dark Age" of the early 1990s. 

LE had past form with DC reprints: They published a series of Superman and Batman Pocket Books (unlike Marvel UK... there's were colour) in the late Seventies.  They then launched the black-and-white monthly SUPERHEROES in the early eighties and annuals based on various top level DC characters through sister company World Distributors.  Superheroes and the annuals both often featured new art commissions from British artists.  

SUPERMAN and BATMAN plugged the gap for superpowered fare left by Marvel UK's temporary retreat from the genre following the closure of SPIDER-MAN AND ZOIDS.  The line expanded (and frequently contracted again soon after) with the launches of DC ACTION (plush reprints of the Teen Titans, Animal Man and the Creeper: see here for more), ZONES (classy reprints of Swamp Thing and others), SHOCKWAVE (Animal Man, Black Orchid and Hellblazer: see here for more) and HEROES (weekly reprints of The Legion and Brave and the Bold: see here for more).

London Editions, part of a larger European group, became Egmont and entered into a joint-venture with Robert Maxwell's Fleetway.  After his death, and the collapse of his smoke-and-mirrors empire, Egmont took full control of the Fleetway side of the business.  Superman (always the weaker of the two titles) faltered and eventually the two titles combined... and then shuttered altogether. 

1981: BATMAN DOES CHRISTMAS from THE SUPER HEROES (London Editions)

From December 1981: a UK-only Bryan Talbot festive-themed full colour piece from the back page of London Edition's THE SUPER HEROES (a UK black & white monthly dedicated to reprints of various DC strips of various vintages) volume 2, issue 3. 

1985: DC SUPER POWERS ANNUAL (Marvel UK)

This is probably one of the strangest Marvel publications of the 1980s: the DC SUPER POWERS ANNUAL.  Yup, for one time only (I think!) Marvel reprinted DC's marque name characters here in the UK.

The 1985 annual, based on the DC/ Kenner toy tie-in, reprinted three DC strips.  The line-up consisted of the first chapter (more of that in a mo) of the first SUPER POWERS limited series, Superman and the Green Lantern in Between Friend and Foe (from DC COMICS PRESENTS 26) and Batman/ Hawkman in The Treasure of the Hawk God's Tomb (THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD 186).

It's a poor line-up as the the Super Powers strip ends with an obvious cliffhanger and a vague promise that the strip would be continued in the near future.  Quite where (and when) Marvel thought this would happen is something of a mystery.  If they harboured plans for a regular Super Powers comic then it would be a bit tough on readers to start the storyline on the second instalment.  And it's unlikely that readers would want to wait a whole year for a second annual (which never appeared anyway!).  All-in-all, not a great way to treat the reader!

I've posted about SUPER POWERS once before (see here) so - to summarise:
- The toys, and other pieces of merchandise, were sold in the UK.
- This was the only British edition of the Super Powers strips published in the UK, although I think the limited series were included in the monthly batch of DC books available in British newsagents.  The tie-in was also (of course) available through comic book stores.
- The TV show was - surprisingly - not shown on British TV.

The reprint was part of a deal between Marvel UK and DC to reprint selected output in Great Britain.  Quite how wide-ranging this arrangement was meant to be is unknown but - ultimately - the only other comic to emerge was the 1985 MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE SUMMER SPECIAL (see here).

Around the same time, and presumably entirely unrelated to the UK deal, Marvel and Warner Brothers entered into preliminary talks to explore the possibility of Marvel publishing DC characters under license.  Warner Brothers saw the value of the characters in other media but were less sure that they actually needed to go through the motions of publishing the comics.

The Marvel UK/ DC tie-up proved short-lived.  Whether this was the result of poor sales on the initial projects (both the Super Powers Annual and the MOTU one-shot appeared to suffer from limited distribution and are amongst the hardest to find Marvel UK publications of the eighties) or whether someone more senior in the companies nixed the deal is unclear.

The DC license was subsequently acquired by London Editions who launched regular titles reprinting Batman and Superman material.  These survived through various relaunches, and the merger of LE with Fleetway, into the nineties before eventually succumbing to poor sales.  Attempts to expand the line further, with titles like DC ACTION (see here), ZONES, SHOCKWAVE (see here) and HEROES (see here) all floundered.

1991: DC HEROES Weekly

Dial "H" for Heroes, dial "C" for cancelled.

This is a blink-and-you-missed-it (and, judging by its hasty cancellation, pretty much everyone did) DC-centric weekly from those guys at London Editions Magazines (LEM).  And, like many of their other offerings (DC ACTION, ZONES and SHOCKWAVE) it couldn't even muster an official last issue, quietly vanishing without trace after only two months.

- Each issue reprinted, under license, THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD, THE LEGION OF SUPER HEROES and BLUE DEVIL.

- Heroes was pitched at a younger audience than the rest of LEM's DC line: more of an "all-ages" title.

-  The Brave and the Bold allowed Heroes to showcase a second DC hero alongside Batman without the complicated continuity of the mainstream Batman titles.  Marvel UK used the Spider-man-centric Marvel Team Up reprints in the same way.

-  Issues one to three came with free cover-mounted postcards (reproduced below) showcasing famous DC covers.

-  Batman, already the star of his own UK title (as well as the quarterly BATMAN PRESENTS), was (of course) flavour of the month thanks to the feature film series.

-  The Flash, teamed with Batman in issues 4-6, had recently starred in his own live-action TV series (unseen in the UK at this point).  Issue 4 features a competition to win the pilot episode on VHS.  The TV series, very much in the Batman movie style, ran (ahem) for a single season.

-  The weekly was cancelled after only 8 weeks, presumably as soon as the sales figures for the first issue became available.  The decision was so hasty that the contents of the ninth issue (replacing Blue Devil with the Green Arrow) were announced, as usual, in the eighth.

- Issues 9-13 were certainly planned... and announced in the usual Definitely Collectable (geddit?) column for May 1991.  Amongst the unseen highlights:  The debut of the Green Arrow and Black Canary (issues 9-10) followed by Firestorm (from 12), a Batman/ I-Vampire team-up (issues 10-12) and Batman/ Scalp Hunter (from 13).  Issue 13 was billed as "not a bad issue, really" although we only have editor Martin Gray's word for it.

-  In common with other LEM titles (don't they know collectors like to catalogue these things?), there's no cover dates on any of the issues so we've used on-sale dates.

- SHOCKWAVE, also launched in 1991 (replacing the defunct ZONES and DC ACTION, albeit in a cheaper format) also shuttered around the same time without warning.  BATMAN, SUPERMAN and BATMAN PRESENTS all continued.

ISSUE 1

7 March 1991

With cover-mounted postcards.

ISSUE 1

Clean cover.

ISSUE 1

Free cards.

ISSUE 2

14 March 1991

With cover-mounted postcards.

ISSUE 2

Clean cover.

ISSUE 2

Free postcards.

ISSUE 3

21 March 1991

With cover-mounted postcards.

ISSUE 3

Clean cover.

ISSUE 4

Free postcards.

ISSUE 4

28 March 1991

ISSUE 5

4 April 1991

ISSUE 6

11 April 1991

ISSUE 7

18 April 1991

ISSUE 8

25 April 1991

ISSUE 8

Preview for issue 9.

Planned titles for May 1991, including the unpublished Heroes 9-13.

London Editions Magazines in-house advertisement for the DC reprint line, including Heroes. 

1990: DC IN THE UK: SHOCKWAVE

Following the failure of the pricey album-format bi-monthlies DC ACTION (6 issues) and ZONES (4 issues) in 1990, UK licensee London Editions had another crack at the Vertigo-reprint mature-readers market with SHOCKWAVE.

The new monthly, priced 99p and in a much cheaper format than its predecessors, reprinted BLACK ORCHID (previously announced for the never-published ZONES issue 5), ANIMAL MAN (following a truncated run in DC ACTION) and HELLBLAZER.

Animal Man was suspended after two issues in favour of CATWOMAN reprints.  He was due to resume in issue five but, true to London Editions form, it was never published.

Shockwave had the working title SHADOWS which survived into pre-launch house ads.

Unlike the demise of its predecessors, LEM didn't have a third crack at repackaging the same material.

ISSUE ONE

ISSUE TWO

ISSUE THREE

ISSUE FOUR

PRE-LAUNCH ADVERT FOR SHADOWS

LEM HOUSE-AD FROM 1991.

SUPERMAN, BATMAN and BATMAN PRESENTS proved to have some longevity, the weekly HEROES and, of course, SHOCKWAVE didn't.