1995: LAST ISSUE ALERT: THE VERY LAST TIGER

From March 1985: The end of the dirt track for IPC's venerable TIGER.

Published weekly (barring, no doubt, the odd bout of industrial action) since September 1954, the sports-centric 'paper' was a mainstay of the IPC Youth Group offering for decades and ultimately clocked-up 1555 regular issues and who-knows-how-many spin-offs.

Along the way it spun off ROY OF THE ROVERS into his own weekly in 1976 and - as was the IPC way - also absorbed a lot of its own, more vulnerable, sibblings.  HURRICANE, JAG, SCORCHER and SPEED all shared the masthead at some point.

Unusually, the combined EAGLE AND TIGER ('Big news for all readers...') was a pretty balanced combination of the two weeklies.  It really felt like someone in management thought TIGER deserved a fair send-off.  Of course, over time, the TIGER strips started to fade away and the shared masthead became smaller and smaller... and eventually (and with no fanfare) vanished entirely.  The Tiger logo was even redesigned for the merger so that it sat neatly alongside the Eagle's.

I was never a fan of TIGER so the merger - whilst a bit of an event - wasn't 'great news' for me.  Indeed, the likes of Star Rider and Golden Boy were strong clues as to why Tiger was no longer in business.  I had only ever bought one copy, published the previous summer, which just happened to be the week that BATTLE, EAGLE and TIGER all gave away free ACTION FORCE figures.  Palitoy's purge of their warehouse overstocks is still, officially, the Best Free Gift.  Ever.  I probably ended up with several copies of that week's Tiger (I was already reading the other two) but I don't remember actually reading any of it.  But I recently bought a copy of that very same once-owned issue (with convention-busting Billy's Boots cricket cover!) with the intention of finally getting around to dipping in.

1992: THE BEST OF BILLY'S BOOTS HOLIDAY SPECIAL

From 1992: THE BEST OF BILLY'S BOOTS HOLIDAY SPECIAL VOLUME 2.

This was a late-in-the-day compilation of old strips which (along with its predecesor) passed me by completely at the time.  I guess I wasn't spending enough time in newsagents.

Billy Dane, owner of the supernatural footy boots of Charles 'Dead Shot' Keen lived a transitory life in British comics.  The strip started in SCORCHER in 1970 before transferring to TIGER when the titles merged in 1974.  He spent the next eleven years of his playing career in the pages of the sports weekly.  Billy's Boots was one of the better strips to transfer to the 'new' EAGLE AND TIGER in 1985.

The strip was shuffled in the IPC portfolio again the following year, findinga  more natural home in ROY OF THE ROVERS weekly (itself a Tiger spin-off, launched in 1976) where it remained until 1990.  When Billy's playing days were finally over, the new strips were (true to Fleetway form at the time) reprints from the vaults.  The reprints later shifted to THE BEST OF ROY OF THE ROVERS.

1984: TIGER FORMAT CHANGE (IPC)

From March and April 1984: what a difference a week makes! The last old format (akin to the 1982-83 relaunch of EAGLE, or STARLORD from the previous decade) edition of IPC sports weekly TIGER and the first of the newsprint format already adopted by the bulk of the publisher's other weeklies.

This was another nail in the venerable weekly's coffin and a sure sign that sales (and therefore budgets) were seriously on the slide. Adopting what format across the range almost certainly simplified production and print contracts as well.

Tiger had launched back in 1954 and, from the start, had a heavy emphasis on sport. The changeover to a cheaper format (significantly not reflected in an amended cover price (IPC pulled the same trick with Eagle) happened exactly one year before the title folded into the pages of (surprise surprise) Eagle after 1,555 editions.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, little editorial hoopla was generated by the switch and the emphasis was placed squarely on the number of strips crammed into each issue.

1986: EAGLE JUNE COVER GALLERY (IPC)

Can you spot the difference?  Look closely at the EAGLE covers for issues 221 and 222...

Yup, the issue cover-dated 14 June 1986 was the last to appear under the EAGLE AND TIGER masthead, ending the run of the once-distinguished weekly that launched in September 1954 and (well past its prime) merged with the Eagle in March 1985.

The moment had already been prepared for with a conspicuous reduction in the size of Tiger's logo a few months earlier and - at first glance - the final disappearance barely registers.

- To Be Continued - 

1985: EAGLE APRIL COVER GALLERY (IPC)

Here they are... the first four issues of the freshly merged EAGLE AND TIGER from April 1985.

It's interesting to note that, after the excitement of the merge issue, it quickly returns to business-as-usual with Dan Dare recapturing his traditional cover slot from the very next issue.  For readers of Tiger, it must have been pretty obvious that they were the runners-up in the coming together of 'equals'.

1985: EAGLE AND TIGER MERGE (IPC)

"I am programmed to please you"

Here's a death notice from the final March 1984 issue of EAGLE: the demise of IPC mainstay TIGER, launched in 1954.

The merger was unusual as, unlike SCREAM's hasty death, it really did feel like a coming together of equals with the two titles sharing a joint masthead and a conspicuous effort to make the merger feel like a relaunch.

I must admit that I'd never been a fan of TIGER and the only issue I'd ever bought was the one with the free ACTION FORCE figure (see posts past) and I don't remember giving the comic itself anything more than a cursory look before discarding it.  That meant the sports-based refugees (Death Wish, Billy's Boots, Golden Boy and Star Rider) were all entirely unknown to me.  And, to be honest, only Billy's Boots and Death Wish (actually a hardened survivor from SPEED) seemed remotely like they were worth reading.  The BMX riding alien Star Rider seemed particularly poor in a we-need-to-do-E.T type way.  If these were the best of Tiger's final line-up then it must have been in dire straits indeed.

The relaunch also introduced the IPC mainstay of the fictional editor to the Eagle for the first time.  Max, of Scream and The Thirteenth Floor fame, suddenly started moonlighting at King's Reach Tower.  This really helped to cement the Eagle's editorial positioning as the comic for kids interested in computers and video games.  A canny move as both were swiftly eroding comic sales across the board.

One tradition that continued for a while was the various strips retaining a creator credit 'box' that retained the design of their previous home.

The merger didn't extend to the various Eagle spin-offs with no sign of the Tiger masthead on specials and annuals.

1984: BARON IRONBLOOD MASK HOUSE AD (IPC)

This is the IPC house ad, published in weeklies dated 6 October 1984, promoting the BARON IRONBLOOD cardboard mask giveaway in the following week's copies of EAGLE AND SCREAM!, TIGER and (of course) BATTLE ACTION FORCE.

I'm sure the giveaway was bankrolled by Palitoy as a way of drumming-up a bit of extra business for the toys in the crucial pre-Christmas sales period.

The mask, which (sadly) I no longer have (despite having at least two at the time: I was a regular reader of both Eagle and BAF), was a flimsy cardboard affair which, when elastic was added, made you look (a bit) like Action Force's bucket-headed villain.  Why anyone at Palitoy thought the Ned Kelly look was a good one is beyond me (although the mighty Hasbro made a similar blunder with G.I. JOE: Cobra Commander first appeared with a tea towel as a disguise).

The top of the page is a plug for the third of the (new) EAGLE ANNUALS.  Click here for a full rundown. It's weird to think that, by 1984, it had already become a Birthday/ Christmas tradition.  

1984: ACTION FORCE FIGURE FREE GIFT (IPC)

Was this the greatest gift ever?  At the time it certainly seemed like it!  Yup, in the summer of 1984 IPC and Palitoy paired-off to give away (surely surplus*) ACTION FORCE figures with copies of EAGLE, BATTLE ACTION FORCE (inevitably) and TIGER.

With the figures selling for between £1 and £1.50 each (I think), it certainly seemed a no-brainer to stock-up on multiple copies of the three weeklies, at 22p a time, to get as many different figures as possible.  Indeed, this was the only time I ever bought a copy of TIGER prior to its merger with the EAGLE.  I'm certain I didn't read any of it.

The figures were bagged (not carded) with each issue.  I seem to recall Palitoy's marketing mandarins also chucked in a glossy toy-flogging poster, or something similar, although I don't recall exactly what now.

I distinctly recall thinking it was a shame that Palitoy couldn't do a similar deal with Marvel UK to shift some Star Wars figures but - sadly - it was not to be.

* I recall a depressing abundance of Black Major figures.  Was that a regional thing or did they have an awful lot of 'em to shift?

1985: THE MERGER OF EAGLE AND TIGER (IPC)

Here's a key moment in the Starlogged timeline: the merger of IPC weeklies EAGLE (launched in 1982) and the veteran TIGER (launched in 1954). 

What made this unusual was the fairly democratic (not to mention seismic) nature of the merger.  After a few years of collecting, I was getting used to mergers and already knew the formula pretty well.  The host title would offer sanctuary to - at best - a couple of refugees from its cancelled companion as well as sharing the masthead for a few months.  Then the deceased would be allowed to quietly slip away.  Heck, when Marvel UK had rolled FORCES IN COMBAT into FUTURE TENSE, the joint-billing had lasted all of one issue!

This was different: the two comics enjoyed joint-billing on the masthead, the TIGER logo continued to appear on the surviving strips and a whopping four strips transferred across.

I must admit that I wasn't a TIGER reader at all.  I think the ONLY time I ever bought it was the week that IPC gave away a free ACTION FORCE figure in Eagle, Battle and Tiger.  That was an offer too good to pass up.  But - I have no recollection of ever looking at the copy of Tiger I bought that week.  I wasn't interested in sports strips so Tiger, and its spin-off ROY OF THE ROVERS, were always ignored on the newsagents shelves.

Judging by the transferred line-up, there was a good reason why Tiger succumbed to falling sales.  They were a motley bunch: Billy's Boots I rather enjoyed despite being a football strip (at least it was better than Thunderbolt and Smokey, the Eagle's own football photo-strip back in '82).  Death Wish (transferred to Tiger from the short-lived SPEED) was a destruction-packed adventure strip (if only TV's THE FALL GUY was this good) of some distinction.  Star Rider, on the other hand, was a wretched piece of post-E.T dreck about an alien BMX rider.  Golden Boy stirs no memories whatsoever. 

The Eagle leftovers were a stronger line-up although, in retrospect, they were all already past-their-prime: Dan Dare (of course), Doomlord, Robo Machines (the toy-funded advertising strip) and The Thirteenth Floor (which had begun its life in the short-lived SCREAM!, which had expired the previous year).

The Thirteenth Floor also provided the 'new' comic with its first fictional editor: Max, the computer previously housed in the strip's Maxwell Tower.

Although momentous at the time, Tiger didn't remain an equal partner for too long.  It had to make way for BATTLE, M.A.S.K and WILDCAT.  The Eagle itself, last-man-standing (with the honourable exception of Tharg's organ), succumbed to a collapsing market in 1992. 

1982: EAGLE 30TH ANNIVERSARY - PART ONE

Thirty (!) years ago this week, IPC's big new launch of 1982 hit newsagents shelves in a (relative) blaze of publicity.  The EAGLE (1950-1969), and Dan Dare (last seen slumming it, albeit in-name-only, in 2000AD) were back!

The relaunch was radical stuff.  Traditional comic strips (notably Dan Dare and The Tower King) were still in the mix but the big selling point was photo-strips, a storytelling device previously reserved for girls' romance mags.  And the photo-strips required better paper and printing to make them readable.

Of course, it wasn't rocket science to realise the limitations (and the inherent costs) of such new-fangled storytelling techniques.  Which is why IPC cut costs (and production standards) 18-months later and relaunched EAGLE as a traditional comic with bog-standard (and quality) paper and printing already familiar to readers of 2000AD, TIGER and BATTLE.

Despite the early set-back, the EAGLE soldiered on into the 1990s (albeit in a much diminished, and monthly, form in the final years) becoming almost last-man-standing in the boys comic field (having absorbed SCREAM!, TIGER, BATTLE, M.A.S.K and WILDCAT along the way).

By the time it finally slipped away, most of its reprinted content was accumulated from other titles despatched to the Fleetway vaults.

To celebrate the anniversary, Slow Robot presents, over the coming days, all the covers from the photo-story era (and the first few from the bog-paper period for the sake of completeness).

And - something else as well...

ISSUE 1

27 MARCH 1982

FREE GIFT: PLASTIC SPACE SPINNER

ISSUE 2

3 APRIL 1982

FREE GIFT: GOLD EFFECT EAGLE BADGE

ISSUE 3

10 APRIL 1982

Last numbered issue

ISSUE 4

17 APRIL 1982

ISSUE 5

24 APRIL 1982

ISSUE 6

1 MAY 1982

ISSUE 7

8 MAY 1982

FREE GIFT: MEKON POSTER

ISSUE 8

15 MAY 1982

ISSUE 9

22 MAY 1982

ISSUE 10

29 MAY 1982

- MORE SOON -