Hibernia Comics has just released the latest volume in its glorious Lost Treasures series, dedicated to exploring the comics of the vast archive of educational comics owned by Look and Learn Ltd.
The first collection, published last year, concentrated on stories from Treasure, a title a junior Look and Learn title, published between 1963 and 1971 featuring art by John M. Burns and Jesús Blasco, and sold out within a few weeks. This second collection – also a limited edition, available here – concentrates on stories from Once Upon a Time, initially published by City Publications, packaged by former key Fleetway editor Leonard Matthews‘ Martpress firm.
Matthews, before his work for Martpress and City Publications, had previously been the managing editor at Fleetway Publications, and oversaw the launch of Look and Learn, Treasure, Valiant and many others.
After departing Fleetway Publications, he set about forming his own company, which he did by taking a controlling interest in Martspress, a company Velio Vuolo, the founder of V.V. Artists, had set up in 1962. With Vuolo, Matthews began packaging new titles, the first being Once Upon a Time for City Magazines Ltd., launched with a cover date of 15th February 1969.
“Although they were packaged for different publishers, Once Upon A Time was almost a junior companion to [Fleetway’s] Tell Me Why,” Steve Holland notes in his history of Look and Learn. “At 10″ x 13”, it was larger than Look and Learn (Tell Me Why was larger still, at 10½” x 13″) but contained only 20 full colour pages for 1/3d.
“The contents were built primarily around fairy stories and tales that would attract the same audience as Look and Learn‘s junior, Treasure. Cinderella, Pinocchio and Aladdin all featured in the early issues, alongside text stories starring Brer Rabbit and ‘The Town Mouse and the Country Mouse’, written by editor Barbara Hayes (Mrs. Leonard Matthews). Brightly coloured educational features and puzzles helped Once Upon a Time live up to its boast that “All in Colour—Makes Learning a Joy.”
“Once Upon a Time was possibly the most beautiful comic ever produced,” enthuses Hibernia Comics publisher David McDonald, “with full colour painted art by the likes of Don Lawrence, Ron Embleton, José Ortiz, Jesús Blasco, Philip Mendoza and many others. Its full coloured pages featured comic adaptation of classic books, myths, and original compositions all for the younger reader.
“The contents of the comic are so rich It was hard to choose which stories to include,” he admits. “The first I chose was ‘Jason and the Golden Fleece‘ by Don Lawrence (best know for his work on “The Rise and Fall of the Trigan Empire” and Storm), an adaptation of the Greek legend; then ‘The Water Babies‘, by Jesús Blasco, (‘The Steel Claw’) an adaptation of the book by Charles Kingsley, and finally two shorter tales based on Swedish and Germanic myths: ‘The Secret of the Trolls‘ and ‘Michael and the Mighty Men‘, both by Ron Embleton.” (Ron is best known, perhaps, for his work for TV Century 21 and the adult strip, ‘Oh, Wicked Wanda!’).
“These stories have never been reprinted in their original form, I think you will agree with me after reading this, that this is probably the most beautifully drawn comic you will have read this year!
The stories are all beautifully illustrated tales, not comic strips, which might make their appeal rather niche, but well-deserving of a definitive collection, the stories accompanied by short introductions to the tales from David. The presentation is an absolute delight, and the stories benefit from being told, it’s believed, by “one voice”, Barbara Hayes, which gives a consistency to their telling across the collection. This is most definitely a worthy addition to the library of any dedicated fan of British comics and children’s magazines.
• Lost Treasures Volume 2 is presented in full colour, 72 pages, perfect bound and available nos from comicsy.co.uk. The first print limited to 250 copies
Preview Pages…
• Lost Treasures Volume 2 is presented in full colour, 72 pages, perfect bound and available nos from comicsy.co.uk. The first print limited to 250 copies
Head downthetubes for…
• The late artist, designer, photographer and writer Roger Perry documented the career of Leonard Matthews over his 12-part “Eagle Daze” series for downthetubes back in 2016
• Eagle Daze: The Life and Times of Leonard James Matthews – Part Eight
Roger recalls the creation of Martspress, the company that would publish TV21 in its later, cheaper incarnation…
• The History of Look and Learn by Steve Holland (PDF)
• Sharon’s Sunlit Memories Blog
This delightful site features a number of posts devoted to the work of Ron Embleton, who not only worked on TV Century 21 and many other titles, but is mentioned here for his work on Once Upon A Time
• Hibernia delivers up Lost Treasures, a superb collection of little-known British comic gems
• Lost Treasures Volume 2 is presented in full colour, 72 pages, perfect bound and available nos from comicsy.co.uk. The first print limited to 250 copies
- About the Author
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John is the founder of downthetubes, launched in 1998. He is a comics and magazine editor, writer, and Press Officer for the Lakes International Comic Art Festival. He also runs Crucible Comic Press.
Working in British comics publishing since the 1980s, his credits include editor of titles such as Doctor Who Magazine and Overkill for Marvel UK, Babylon 5 Magazine, Star Trek Magazine, and its successor, Star Trek Explorer, and more. He also edited the comics anthology STRIP Magazine and edited several audio comics for ROK Comics; and has edited several comic collections and graphic novels, including volumes of “Charley’s War” and “Dan Dare”, and Hancock: The Lad Himself, by Stephen Walsh and Keith Page.
He’s the writer of comics such as Pilgrim: Secrets and Lies for B7 Comics; “Crucible”, a creator-owned project with 2000AD artist Smuzz; and “Death Duty” and “Skow Dogs”, with Dave Hailwood.
Categories: British Comics, British Comics - Collections, British Comics - Current British Publishers, Comics, downthetubes Comics News, downthetubes News
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