The discovery of 80 cans of film in a Dundee print-works basement has led to a collaborative project between the Archives team at DC Thomson and the National Library of Scotland’s Moving Image Archive, and many classic comic advertisements for titles such as The Beano, The Dandy, Hornet and more are now available to view online.
After an initial inspection of the films by the team at DC Thomson, led by Archive Manager, David Powell, the films were found to be adverts promoting well-known DC Thomson publications such as The Dandy, The People’s Friend, Bunty, Jackie, Hotspur, and Bimbo. An essential part of the collaborative project was a knowledge exchange and work shadowing programme to ensure the films were correctly identified and contextualised.
What became clear quickly was that these films are important. While many cover the launch of new magazines like Cherie, Romeo and Jackie, many relate to “pushes” where titles free gifts were included to help increase sales.
The films dated from the late 1950s and early 60s and were produced by Mather & Crowther, a major London advertising company, broadcast on the new medium of commercial television. The NLS collection holds few TV adverts from this time, and this treasure trove contains some of the earliest surviving TV adverts from this period.
This collaboration has unlocked an important piece of Scottish and UK broadcast advertising, corporate and social history. The films also lend themselves to presenting opportunities for NLS’ public and academic audiences, and for DC Thomson to use them as commercial and promotional tools with its own audiences.
Now, if only a similar find of IPC and Fleetway and Marvel UK comic advertisements from the 1960s could be found…
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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, Comics, Creating Comics, Digital Media, downthetubes Comics News, downthetubes News, Other Worlds
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