Talk of banning smoking completely in West Lancashire council offices — no more fag breaks etc. — prompted memories of anti-smoking campaigns in 1960s comics, and the image here from TV21 #21 coincidentally arrived in my mailbox this morning.
Anti Smoking Ad: A Shock for Bully Brown
Of course it would be difficult to run such a campaign now. I don’t think you can even feature smoking in comics in the UK unless it’s an “adult” comic — although that doesn’t explain how Simpsons Comics get away with it…
The founder of downthetubes, which he established in 1998. John works as a comics and magazine editor, writer, and on promotional work for the Lakes International Comic Art Festival. He is currently editor of Star Trek Explorer, published by Titan – his third tour of duty on the title originally titled Star Trek Magazine.
Working in British comics publishing since the 1980s, his credits include editor of titles such as Doctor Who Magazine, Babylon 5 Magazine, and more. He also edited the comics anthology STRIP Magazine and edited several audio comics for ROK Comics. He has also edited several comic collections, including volumes of “Charley’s War” and “Dan Dare”.
He’s the writer of “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, downthetubes News
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I remember that. An anti-smoking message portrayed as a Mod vs Rocker fight. Brilliant! (Artist was Tom Kerr, who drew lots of stuff for Lion etc. He also did a weekly advert strip for Wayfinders shoes which appeared in the comics, if anyone remembers that.)
Lew Stringer
Were the Wayfinder shoes the ones with a compass in the sole?