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| Copyright REBELLION |
Latest arrival at Castel Crivens, Volume Two of Treasury Of British Comics' Adam Eterno - Grunn The Grim, from the combined Lion & Thunder. In his introduction, Chris Lowder says the following:
"Ironically, Thunder itself was a massive con from the start, since it was by no means built to last but created solely as a weekly that, after six months or so, would be merged into another paper (In Thunder's case Lion), thus boosting the latter's readership. This neat trick had been practised by the Amalgamated Press/Fleetway/IPC since the 1900s and, in business terms, was usually highly effective."
Trouble with that is, it flies in the face of common sense. Sure, no new comic was ever published without the knowledge it would be merged with another title if it failed to live up to expectations, but it is seriously unlikely that a new periodical would ever see the light of day without the hope that it would be a smash hit that would run for years. Here's why: the sheer expense of launching a new comic was immense and usually took around two to three years to recoup its launch-costs, so going to all that time, trouble, and financial outlay simply isn't practical unless you have long-term aspirations for it.
A comic was usually only merged with another when its circulation was declining, so adding a shrinking readership to another comic may not have increased the circulation of the senior title by enough of a margin to make it worthwhile. It would make far more sense to have given Lion a boost by a run of free gift issues and new characters, than go to the expense of launching a new comic for the purpose of boosting the sales of another a few months down the line. After all, would the bigwigs really risk that approach, knowing that a new comic could be a dud from the start? Very much doubt it.
Anyway, this looks like a great book and I can't wait until I have a surge in energy so that I can settle down to reading it - I therefore heartily recommend it in advance.
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