Spike
British Comic Companion: Spike
By the earlier 1980s, when Spike was launched,
the number of boys weekly titles published by D C Thomson was on the
wane. Spike's siblings were Warlord,
which maintained the military side of things, the slightly safer and
more generally themed Buddy, and the ever
dependable Victor. At this point in its
life Victor had swallowed the 1970s version
of Wizard, the football themed Scoop and
the long running Hotspur, and it would
soon add Buddy to that list.
| OVERVIEW | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Spike was a general anthology comic which combined all themes - war, adventure, science fiction, football, athletics and humour, in one weekly package. The title character of "Spike" was a more streetwise schoolboy than "Buddy" ever was, with a ongoing quest to get one over on his parents and any other adults he came across with the help of his readers. The title was introduced with the inevitable free gifts in the first four issues - a Super Swooper Glider in issue one followed by Ten Tattoo Transfers, a Screamin' Demon Whistle, and a Ghostly Glow Badge over the following three weeks. The letters page was entitled Spike's Place and the star prize was a Spike Radio Roadshow Van which was a radio in the shape of a Transit-like van. While the title did not have a send away club to join, a Spike Fan Club card and wallet was printed in issue 13 to be cut out and kept. Sadly, sales were just not enough and fifteen months after its introduction the title was be swallowed into the then still new Champ comic. Issue 11 of Champ, dated 5 May 1984, became Champ & Spike with The Spike Report moving into Champ's "Dennis the Menace's Fun Section", while Cast Iron Bill transferred into Champ's football strip We Are United and Big Little from The Bleak Street Bunch moved into Champ's Kids Rule-OK. Some other Spike characters reappeared later and in other titles, but these were the only three to directly continue over. |
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| THE STRIPS | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Charlie "Iron" Barr is a scrap iron dealer and amateur goalkeeper for the First Division Darbury Rangers football team, which includes "Limp Along" Leslie Thomson, despite the fact that Rangers director Sir Gregory Slade is no fan of Barr. |
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"In the chaos after the collapse of the Terran Empire in the 26th Century, one man stood for law and order in the far-flung reaches of the galaxy. His name was Sol Rynn, better known as Starhawk." Starhawk, his companion robot Droid, use their ship the Space Rider to travel the universe to wherever their help is needed. • Starhawk featured in other
DC Thomson titles such as The Crunch and Starblazer.
Visit this brilliant web site for more information: www.starhawkcrunch.tripod.com |
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Squadron Leader "Lucky" Layton of 245 Squadron RAF was shot down by a German fighter but survives long enough to crash land his Spitfire. The repaired Spitfire passes to Pilot Officer Stanley "Stinker" Tinker who discovers that the ghost of "Lucky" Layton will take over it's controls each time he flies into combat against the Luftwaffe. • Gordon Livingstone was a DC Thomson stalwart drawing some 360 different Commando stories beginning with issue 4 in 1961 as well as providing many pages of art for the Thomson weekly comics and their annuals. He retired in 1999. |
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The Return Of The Ghost In
The Cockpit Squadron Leader Stanley "Stinker" Tinker leads 245 Sqn to reinforce Malta's defences. Rookie pilot Rick Starr claims to hear a voice while flying - and he is wearing "Lucky" Layton's old flying helmet. |
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 The
Man In Black Issue 1 - 16 The Man in Black Issue 17 - 38 The Truth About Wilson Issue 39 - 41 Three Tasks For Wilson Issue 42 - 57 Wilson: Maker Of Champions Issue 58 - 67 Wilson: The Missing Diaries Artist: Neville Wilson Genre: Contemporary athletics • Click here or the image for an expanded visual. A mysterious runner dressed all in black causes a sensation on the British athletics scene by smashing record times and then disappearing again. Reporter Harry Cobb eventually discovers that he is William Wilson who was born on 1st November 1795. • Neville Wilson was one of the artists on Fleetway's Captain Condor in the 1950s and 60s, and also drew a strip caled Young Fireball for Warlord |
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Ray Taylor, Tub Dutton, Hi-Fi Harris and Big Little live in Bleak Street, Slagley, north east England. When their school is closed and amalgamated with the local grammar school to become Slagley Comprehensive, the working class kids from Bleak Street and the ex-grammar kids have difficulty getting on leading to ongoing animosity. |
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 Ticker
TaitIssue 1 - 15 Artist: Neville Wilson (Issue 1-9) Artist Unidentified (10 -15) Genre: Contemporary espionage • Click here or the image for an expanded visual. "The Man With A Time Bomb In His Heart" Sinclair Tait, ex-Royal Marines Sergeant and pentathlete, collapses at an athletic meeting with a diseased heart and is deceived into accepting an artificial heart by a Mr Rogers. Rogers turns out to work for Department C, the dirty tricks department of British Intelligence, and Tait is forced to become an assassin for them, Zombi Three, otherwise they will remotely stop his heart thereby killing him. |
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 The
Spike Report Issue 1 - 67 Artist: Brian Walker Genre: Humour • Click the image for a larger version Spike, the schoolboy that the comic is named for, reports on "Mums, Dads, Teachers and other Adults Nuisances". Readers are offered cash to send in tips to deal with adults - £2 for any that are used and £5 if they work! |
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"Explosives
expert Sergeant T N T Telford, together with Cretan partisans lead
by Tinos, a bandit, and ex-police chief Dmitri, have captured the tiny
rockbound island of Theros in the eastern Mediterranean . It had become
their base for striking against the Axis powers in every possible way." |
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Komic kapers with policemen Cedric (the thin one) and Frederic (the hungry one). • Reprint from Sparky, where it ran as "L-Cars", loosely parodying BBC TV's Z-Cars. |
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Fifteen year old Mickey Collins returns from a holiday with his aunt to his home town of Woorra Flats in the Australian Outback to discover that it has completely disappeared and that the suspicious Doc Boyle wants him dead. With his aboriginal friend, Billy Bullabee, Mickey sets out to discover what happened to his home. • Carlos
Cruz, who now lives in Malaga, went from working
in a flour factory in Buenos Aires to become a comics artist
in the 1950s. He has many credits for a wide range of British
publishers including strips for Fleetway -- appearing Buster
(Mighty McGinty, Crabbe's Crusaders and
others), Tiger
(Battling Boffins),
Smash! (The
Pillater Peril), Eagle (Blood
Fang, Dan
Dare), Champion (When
the Sky turned Green) and Melanie
(Pauline) --
while still drawing the strip Juanjo for
the Spanish market. |
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The brother of Luftwaffe pilot Manfred Von Stodt was killed by the Gestapo and Von Stodt swore vengeance against his Nazi masters. |
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"A distant land stranded in time", medieval swordplay. Megax is the only man in the land of Braxas who dared resist Gorab the Terrible. Having escaped Gorab's soldiers, Megax tries to rally the people against Gorab. |
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 Taming
Of Johnny Tough Issue 42 - 56 Artist: Tony O'Donnell Genre: Contemporary football • Click here or the image for an expanded visual Johnny Tough, a young tearaway from the East End, is a talented but undisciplined footballer. Dr John Barton takes him under his wing to train him to become a professional. |
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American Indian, Bearpaw Jay is a bounty hunter on the trail of The Sandman, the boss of a drug peddling ring. • Jose Casanovas has worked extensively on titles such as the 1980s Eagle (Star Rider), Sonic the Comic and 2000AD in the UK and Sweden's Fantomen title |
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Desert Fury In 1942 Sergeant Pilot Fury joins 83 Sqn RAF flying Hurricane fighters to defend El Kaza from the Africa Korps. He is as deadly in the sky as he is cold and remote on he ground.
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Teenage Midshipman Adam Coward of the Royal Navy is assigned to HMS Hester and regularly leads onshore raiding parties against the French and their allies. • Enrique Alcatena was born and lives in Buenos Aires with his wife and children. His fascination with comics started in his childhood, and has never flagged. He taught himself drawing, though he has never failed to pay his dues to the artists who have remained his main influences and mentors to this day: Carmine Infantino, Gil Kane, Jack Kirby and others. While he is well known for his superhero work (including Batman for DC Comics and Doctor Strange for Marvel), he says his most characteristic ouvre belongs to the field of fantasy, to which he brings his love for myth and legend, often wrting them himself or working with long-time partner Eduardo Mazzitelli |
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 On
The Run! Issue 57 - 67 Artist: Carlos Cruz Genre: Contemporary adventure Setting: Yorkshire Moors. • Click here or the image for an expanded visual Schoolboy Tommy Thompson's dog Ben is accused of killing lambs when the real culprit was a poodle called Simpkin owned by Joe Marsh and his wife. Fearing the police will take Ben, Tommy runs away with his pet. |
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Jim Stagg is Britain's most daring secret agent, operating behind
enemy lines wherever he is needed, including France, Greece, Russia
and Italy. |
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Magnet "Meet the man with the fingertip laser-gun, the strength of ten men, the ability to stop bullets, and magnetic super power! He's Mike Ironside, codename Magnet - Britain's most amazing secret agent!" Crushed when part of a crane fell on him during a spying mission, Ironside is given a bionic arm to continue his work. • Keith Page started his career
in comics in 1976, when he joined the Temple Art Agency. He has worked
on several Fleetway and DC Thomson titles, including Thunderbirds,
the 1980s Eagle (Dan
Dare), Sonic the Comic, MASK, Revolver,
StarlordStingray,
Supernaturals,
Wildcat, |
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| All images © DC Thomson. Spike and all characters © DC Thomson | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
The
Bleak Street Bunch 
Issue
1 - 26 5 Minute Mystery 
