Football's Comic Book Heroes

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Reconciling the continuity of the monthly strip with the stories that preceded and followed it presented difficulties, forcing the story's writers to alter its history in a number of ways, a technique known as retroactive continuity. Significantly, the strip rewrote various parts of Melchester's history, and shortened Roy Sr.'s recorded playing career to a more realistic level. [37] Roy was created by the author Frank S. Pepper, [57] who had created the similar strip, Danny of the Dazzlers, but he only wrote four installments of Roy of the Rovers because of his commitments to another of his characters, Captain Condor. Pepper's role was taken by the strip's first artist Joe Colquhoun, who used the pen-name "Stewart Colwyn". [58] He was replaced after four-and-a-half years by Derek Birnage, the editor of Tiger, who had commissioned the strip. In 1960, in an attempt to whip up publicity, it was announced that the footballer Bobby Charlton had taken over as writer, although in reality it was still written by Birnage (who claimed that he did consult with Charlton occasionally for story ideas). [59] The longest-serving writer of the strip was Tom Tully, who began in 1969 on an intermittent basis and then continuously from 1974 until the end of the weekly comic in 1993. Ian Rimmer became the main writer for the strip during the Match of the Day years, until the magazine's closure in May 2001. [57] The 2018 reboot is written by Rob Williams (graphic novels) and Tom Palmer (novels). The IPO’s trade mark free and easy search database will allow you to find details of trade marks to: The rivalry between D.C. Thomson and IPC was quite intense in the 1970s, although the creators and editors themselves often had a mutual respect for their counterparts at the opposing company. Both publishers turned out a lot of different titles in the heyday of "traditional" UK comics, and in 1978 D.C. Thomson published Scoop , clearly intended to rival IPC's Tiger . The sine non qua of the football strip. It’s not that Roy of the Rovers is the best of the breed (see number two for that). It’s just that it embodies the form more completely than any other. So much so that the phrase “Roy of the Rovers stuff” (which has two entries in the index of Roy Race’s autobiography) has transcended the comic strip and is still used by football commentators of a certain age in the real world (if Match of the Day and Football Focus qualify as being part of the real world rather than a consensual dream world men enter as an alternative to real life; but that’s possibly a discussion for another forum).

They said, 'This is football! You're not interested in football' and I said, 'No I can draw anything.' People are people, figures are figures– just put a football shirt on them or whatever! Now of course I was sworn to secrecy and couldn't tell the Sunday papers that I didn't like football when I was doing the national footballing hero in comics! Obviously I've played it, but I'm a doer not a watcher. I loved playing football at school and in later years." [62] Rather than judging this list on talent, fame and fortune - where Roy Race would have easily have come out on top - I've based it on how enjoyable each character's story was to read. Everybody will have their own favourite, but after polling friends and colleagues one thing became clear: Roy of the Rovers was never going to make the top spot; the storylines were just too familiar. I, and others, recalled turning to Hot Shot Hamish first: we read it before bothering to see what else was in the comic. It was funny and unpredictable: crucial attributes for any cynical child. As I reached my teens, I discovered the delights of Billy the Fish, but, by then, it was too late - Hamish's place in my affections was already established. Race does deserve recognition for his longevity, though, and is at six after Mighty Mouse, Billy Dane and Johnny Dexter. A number of official Melchester Rovers Subbuteo teams were produced in the 1980s and 1990s. There was also an officially licensed board game in the 1980s, which saw players take on the role of Roy Race and manage the club. [74] Replica Melchester Rovers shirts have been available at various stages of the series' life, up to and including a strip designed and produced by Hummel for the 2018 reboot. Bunge, Nicole. "REBELLION ACQUIRES FLEETWAY AND IPC YOUTH GROUP ARCHIVES". ICv2 . Retrieved 4 November 2016.

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Near misses included: Ray Royce of Ray of the Rangers, which featured in Shoot! magazine; Gorgeous Gus from the Victor, the aristocrat who, during a match, was served on the touchline by his butler, Jenkins; Striker of the Sun newspaper, who was ruled out because, strictly speaking, he didn't appear in a comic; and finally Nipper Lawrence, the talented footballing orphan who had a pet dog called Stumpy.

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Especially during the 1980s, real-life personalities often made appearances. Former Division One stars Bob Wilson and Emlyn Hughes were brought out of retirement to play for Melchester in 1985, along with longtime fans of the strip Martin Kemp and Steve Norman, of the pop group Spandau Ballet. [54] Geoff Boycott served for several years as Melchester's chairman, [11] and Sir Alf Ramsey had briefly taken over as manager of Melchester in 1982, while Roy lay in his coma. [2] Players such as Malcolm Macdonald and Trevor Francis would sometimes line up alongside Roy in England matches, despite the fact that the clubs they played for in real life were never featured in the strip. [55]

In a number of areas, British comics are enjoying something of a resurgence at the moment. There are a slew of intelligent and inventive indie comics creators, particularly working in the autobiographical field, in print and online. British writers and artists are again among the foremost talents pushing the envelope in the mainstream superhero field. And even 2000 AD is going through a fresh purple patch of critical acclaim and publicity for both the weekly comic, and the cult hit Dredd movie adaptation.It was the crowd that told us what was happening given that action replays weren’t really possible. You might say they were the comic book equivalent of the chorus in ancient Greek theatre. That’s the danger of a little learning, isn’t it? Match's 2009 average weekly circulation of 100,007 is 11.5% down on its figures of 12 months earlier. While "Match" remains the biggest selling teenage football magazine in the country, its circulation seems unlikely to again reach its 200,000-plus heights of the mid 1990s, particularly in the face of stiff competition from Match Of The Day magazine. Roy of the Rovers stories– Monthly Magazine", Roy of the Rovers.com, archived from the original on 9 December 2009 , retrieved 22 June 2010 In the original strip, the club was only relegated to the old Division Two once, and made a hasty return the following year. In the years between the end of the 1990s monthly comic and the Match of the Day strips, the club was relegated from the Premiership to the new Division One, spending two seasons there before being promoted under Roy's guidance. McGinty, Stephen (15 January 2004), "A teen mag for boys–but will they buy it?", The Scotsman, archived from the original on 29 January 2005 , retrieved 10 June 2010

Comparisons have been drawn between the fictional Roy Race and the captain of England's 1966 World Cup winning team, Bobby Moore, whose playing career spanned a similar time-scale to that of Roy's. Moore's death in 1993, just days after the last edition of the Roy of the Rovers comic was published, produced a "literature of tribute", framed around themes "remarkably similar to those at the center of the Roy Race fiction and ideology... there was a clear sense of mourning for the loss of an age". [67] A number of notable football journalists have started their careers at Match, including Mark Irwin of The Sun, Hugh Sleight of Four Four Two, Paul Smith of The Sunday Mirror, Ray Ryan formerly with The News of the World and Rob Shepherd.Issue No. 1 of Scorcher was dated 10 January 1970 and contained the following features and stories: From 3rd July 1971 Scorcher merged with "Score"(originally "Score and Roar"), then finally with "Tiger" from 12th October 1974. Eventually the Scorcher and Score was dropped from the title, with "Tiger and Speed" becoming the new name from 1st November 1980."Tiger" disappeared when it merged with the" Eagle" in 1985. Acton, P.; Jarman, C. M. (1994), Roy of the Rovers: The Playing Years, Queen Anne Press, ISBN 978-1-85291-548-3