Monday, 20 April 2015

ROBIN #1 (1985)...


Images copyright relevant owner

Here's a comic I picked up in Portsmouth in 1985 when I was staying down there for a few months.  I bought it purely because it was a number one, recognising it as a revival of an earlier version which had come out in 1953.  The original ROBIN was published first by HULTON PRESS, then ODHAMS PRESS, and finally IPC MAGAZINES.  It lasted 836 issues until 1969 and was then incorporated into PLAYHOUR.

This second incarnation of the comic was far less successful, lasting, I believe, only two issues (plus an Annual for '86, likely prepared at the beginning of '85) before vanishing forever.  I really must track down that second ish someday, then I'll be able to boast having the complete 'set'.  In the meantime, whenever I want to remember my time in Fratton, Portsmouth, in the first few months of 1985, one of the comics that brings it all back to me is this 30-year-old nursery title.

Here are a select few pages to give you a taste of it.








And, as a bonus, here's the cover to the first version from 1953.

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8 comments:

  1. John Pitt20 April 2015 at 21:09

    Now the first one - that I remember! It was the Eagle for infants.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Kid20 April 2015 at 21:14

    Yup, companion paper to Eagle, Girl, and Swift, I believe, JP.

    ReplyDelete
  3. DeadSpiderEye21 April 2015 at 20:14

    Dennis is a bit derivative, should've just called 'em Postman Pete and Joss the dog. Do you think that could be why they pulled the plug after two issues, the BBC breathing down their necks?

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  4. Kid21 April 2015 at 20:18

    Doubt it, DSE - Wimpole Village was a licenced property from ITV. The comic probably just didn't sell.

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  5. DeadSpiderEye21 April 2015 at 20:28

    Seems weird to go that trouble then pack it in so quick. The artwork is kinda weak for a cover feature too, the inertia's not bad though.

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  6. Kid21 April 2015 at 20:32

    Looks like most of it was reprint. I'm not sure just how well nursery comics were selling back in the mid-'80s in general - perhaps they'd had their time.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Bill the Butcher21 February 2021 at 03:32

    I used to have the 1961 and 62 annuals, being given them as a gift as achild in the mid 70s. I still remember Nutty Noddle well.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Kid21 February 2021 at 08:30

    I bought 2 or 3 Robin Annuals from the start of the '70s around a couple of years ago. Those, and this comic, are all I have of the title.

    ReplyDelete

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