Over on his Rusty Staples blog, comics writer and author Michael Carroll checks out the anniversaries of comics coming and going across the decades on British new stands, including the demise of what’s become known as the “New Eagle”, edited by Dave Hunt, even though it was always titled Eagle on its launch back in 1982…

Here’s the link to Michael’s latest “Hatch, Match & Dispatch” feature on Rusty Staples…

The title of Michael’s regular “Hatch, Match & Dispatch” series is a reference to the insane idea concocted by IPC management that would see a title launch at great expense – often with TV advertising and cross comic promotion, run the title for 20 or so issues, then merge it with a stronger selling stablemate.

While this practice did offer opportunities to live test characters that would go on to bolster the sales of the title they continued in – “Ro-Busters” and “Strontium Dog” being a case in point when Starlord was merged with 2000AD, for example – management seemed blind to the lack of faith readers would have in subsequent title launches, fearing they too would disappear… and they weren’t wrong.

Ultimately, “Hatch, Match & Dispatch”, to me, seems a policy that led to less and less IPC / Fleetway comics on the news stand as titles merged, until Buster and 2000AD were pretty much all that remained. Perhaps those resources used to launch new titles could have been better spent on improving the quality of those already on sale, with better pay for their creators? But perhaps that’s just me…

Previous episodes of “Hatch, Match & Dispatch”

2019: Oct, Nov, Dec
2020: Jan, Feb, Mar, Apr, May, Jun, Jul, Aug, Sep, Oct, Nov, Dec
2021: Jan, Feb, Mar, Apr, May, Jun, Jul, Aug, Sep, Oct, Nov, Dec
2022: Jan, Feb, Mar, Apr, May, Jun, Jul, Aug, Sep, Oct, Nov, Dec
2023: Jan, Feb, Mar, Apr, May, Jun, Jul, Aug, Sep, Oct, Nov, Dec

John Freeman

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, Classic British Comics, Comics, downthetubes Comics News, downthetubes News

Tags: Adventure Comics, Dave Hunt, downthetubes News, Eagle, Fleetway, Hatch Match and Dispatch, IPC, Michael Carroll, SF Comics, WebFind