Hotspur (comics)
Encyclopedia
The Hotspur was a British
boys' paper published by D. C. Thomson & Co. It was launched on 2 September 1933 as a story paper, the last of the 'Big Five'. It was relaunched as a comic
in the 1950s and ceased publication on 24 January 1981.
The first issue of The Hotspur came with a black mask as a free gift and contained an offer for an electric shock machine:
Thomson's 'Big Five' papers were extremely successful; the name was used by both readers and the industry. In 1939 the company advertised combined weekly sales of over a million for the group; the first issue of The Hotspur sold over 350,000 copies. The Hotspur specialised in school stories; its Red Circle School stories replaced the public school
stories in The Gem
and The Magnet
as reader favourites.
Like other British children's publications, The Hotspur was published weekly, except for the Second World War and its aftermath, when as a result of paper rationing it published fortnightly, alternating with The Wizard.
The original Hotspur story paper published 1197 issues, the last on 17 October 1959. It relaunched in comic format as the New Hotspur a week later, on 24 October 1959, and ran for another 1110 issues until being incorporated into The Victor
on 24 January 1981. There had been several mergers during the 1970s: with The Hornet
in 1976, with The Victor in 1979, and with The Crunch
in 1980.
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
boys' paper published by D. C. Thomson & Co. It was launched on 2 September 1933 as a story paper, the last of the 'Big Five'. It was relaunched as a comic
Comic book
A comic book or comicbook is a magazine made up of comics, narrative artwork in the form of separate panels that represent individual scenes, often accompanied by dialog as well as including...
in the 1950s and ceased publication on 24 January 1981.
The first issue of The Hotspur came with a black mask as a free gift and contained an offer for an electric shock machine:
It's a great prize, absolutely harmless and will give hours of fun. Just watch your pal's face when you give him his first electric shock!
Thomson's 'Big Five' papers were extremely successful; the name was used by both readers and the industry. In 1939 the company advertised combined weekly sales of over a million for the group; the first issue of The Hotspur sold over 350,000 copies. The Hotspur specialised in school stories; its Red Circle School stories replaced the public school
Public School (UK)
A public school, in common British usage, is a school that is neither administered nor financed by the state or from taxpayer contributions, and is instead funded by a combination of endowments, tuition fees and charitable contributions, usually existing as a non profit-making charitable trust...
stories in The Gem
The Gem
The Gem was a story paper published in Great Britain by Amalgamated Press in the early 20th century, predominately featuring the activities of boys at the fictional school "St. Jim's". These stories were all written using the pen-name of Martin Clifford, the majority by Charles Hamilton who was...
and The Magnet
The Magnet
The Magnet was a United Kingdom weekly boys' story paper published by Amalgamated Press. It ran from 1908 to 1940, publishing a total of 1683 issues. Each issue contained a long school story about the boys of Greyfriars School, a fictional public school located somewhere in Kent, and were written...
as reader favourites.
Like other British children's publications, The Hotspur was published weekly, except for the Second World War and its aftermath, when as a result of paper rationing it published fortnightly, alternating with The Wizard.
The original Hotspur story paper published 1197 issues, the last on 17 October 1959. It relaunched in comic format as the New Hotspur a week later, on 24 October 1959, and ran for another 1110 issues until being incorporated into The Victor
The Victor (comics)
The Victor was a British comic paper published weekly by D. C. Thomson & Co. Ltd. The Victor ran for 1657 issues from 25 January 1961 until it ceased publication on 21 November 1992. Associated with it was the annually published The Victor Book for Boys. This annual was first published in 1964,...
on 24 January 1981. There had been several mergers during the 1970s: with The Hornet
Hornet (DC Thomson)
The Hornet was a British boys' comic published by D. C. Thomson & Co. for 648 issues from 14 September 1963 to 7 February 1976, after which it was merged with The Hotspur...
in 1976, with The Victor in 1979, and with The Crunch
The Crunch (comic)
The Crunch was an A4 British comic that ran from 20 January 1979 to 26 January 1980 after which it merged with The Hotspur. Its strips included:*The Kyser Experiment*Clancy and the Man*Arena*The Mantracker*Hitler Lives*The Walking Bombs...
in 1980.
Notable characters and series
- Red Circle School, a public school with pupils from all over the world.
- Union Jack Jackson, a British Royal Marine serving with the US Marine Corps in the Pacific campaign during World War IIWorld War IIWorld War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, later in Warlord. - Bill Sampson, also known as The Wolf of Kabul, an agent of the British Intelligence Corps, first introduced in The WizardThe Wizard (DC Thomson)The Wizard was launched as a weekly British story paper on 22 September 1922, published by It was merged with The Rover in September 1963, becoming Rover and Wizard, and renamed The Rover in August 1969. The Wizard was relaunched on 14 February 1970, and continued until 10 June...
, appeared in illustrated format in The Hotspur.
External links
- The Hotspur at the Grand Comics Database
- "Japers of the Red Circle", the Red Circle School story from The Hotspur issue number 1, at Vic Whittle's British Comics site