Hatch, Match & Dispatch – July 2026 – Rusty Staples

Welcome to Rusty Staples’ regular look at British comics that are celebrating (or commiserating) a notable anniversary in the coming month!

Blog News:

• On a recent fact-finding trip to Fuengirola, Spain, I was fortunate enough to stumble across a copy of a Spanish comic that reprinted King Cobra and other DC Thomson strips!

• My inexplicably suspended Facebook account was disabled at the end of May, so I’ve had to set up a new account. Hopefully this one won’t fall foul of whatever it was that got the other one terminated.
  I’ve now lost hundreds of posts, photos and messages, so please be careful and NEVER trust important data to Facebook or Messenger without making sure that the people with whom you interact have an alternate way to contact you!

Standard disclaimer: unless I decide otherwise, these are only the “big” anniversaries (25, 30, 35, 40, 45, 50, 60, 70, 75, 80, 90 & 100+ years); dates are cover-dates where known; monthly comics with no confirmed day of launch default to the start of the month; and this list is accurate only to the best of my knowledge, so do please let me know of any important errors or omissions!

25 years ago (2001):

July – Bunty Monthly final issue.
Publisher: DC Thomson
From: Mar 2001
To: Jul 2001
Duration: 4 months
Issues: 5
Seems to have been mostly reprints. Renamed The Best of Bunty from #3

30 years ago (1996):

24 July – Beavis and Butt-Head final issue.
Publisher: Marvel UK
From: 24 Aug 1994
To: 24 Jul 1996
Duration: 1 year, 11 months
Issues: 26

35 years ago (1991):

13 July – Havoc launched.
Publisher: Marvel UK
From: 13 Jul 1991
To: 07 Sep 1991
Duration: 2 months
Issues: 9

45 years ago (1981):

July – Frantic final issue.
Publisher: Marvel UK
From: Mar 1980
To: Jul 1981
Duration: 1 year, 4 months
Issues: 18
Absorbed into Marvel Madhouse.

08 July – Marvel Action final issue.
Publisher: Marvel UK
From: 01 Apr 1981
To: 08 Jul 1981
Duration: 3 months
Issues: 15
Absorbed into Captain America (1981).

15 July – First merged issue of Captain America (1981) and Marvel Action.
Usually with a merged title the “winner’s” name comes first, so this should have been something like Captain America with Marvel Action but in this case logic came out on top and the comic was renamed Marvel Action Starring Captain America from issue #21 until #30 (16 Sep 1981).
See also: Pocket-Money Comics: Captain America

50 years ago (1976):

03 July – Hi! final issue.
Publisher: IPC
From: 17 May 1975
To: 03 Jul 1976
Duration: 1 year, 2 months
Issues: 60
Absorbed into OK.
Issue-count estimated. This was a relaunch of Petticoat: most (all?) issues featured ‘with Petticoat’ under the Hi! Logo.

10 July – First merged issue of OK and Hi!.
Unfortunately I’ve not been able to find the cover of the first merged issue of OK and Hi!… The best I can do right now is this partial cover for the 24 July issue, two weeks later.

14 July – The Avengers final issue.
Publisher: Marvel UK
From: 22 Sep 1973
To: 14 Jul 1976
Duration: 2 years, 10 months
Issues: 148
Absorbed into The Mighty World of Marvel (1972).

21 July – First merged issue of The Mighty World of Marvel (1972) and The Avengers.
The Mighty World of Marvel had long since added “Starring the Incredible Hulk” to the title, and now with issue #199 it’s become The Mighty World of Marvel Starring the Incredible Hulk and The Avengers, which it remains until issue #211 (13 Oct 1976).
See also: Marvel UK 1900s Timeline!

55 years ago (1971):

03 July – First merged issue of Scorcher and Score ‘n’ Roar.
The comic remains Scorcher and Score for the rest of its days — over three years later. However, Score ‘n’ Roar itself wasn’t a merged comic: like Whizzer and Chips and Shiver and Shake, it started as a single comic with a split personality, but unlike those two, it managed to settle down to one identity, with the title simplified to Score from issue #34 (8 May 1971).

60 years ago (1966):

01 July – Tales of Terror Picture Library final issue.
Publisher: Famepress
From: 1966
To: 01 Jul 1966
Duration: 1 month
Issues: 14

July – Buster Adventure Picture Library launched.
Publisher: Fleetway
From: Jul 1966
To: Dec 1967
Duration: 1 year, 5 months
Issues: 36

65 years ago (1961):

July – Commando Comics launched.
Publisher: DC Thomson
From: Jul 1961
To: Ongoing
Duration: 64 years, 11 months
Issues: 5970+
See also: British Comics Top-10 Issue-Count Chart!

July – Lone Rider Picture Library launched.
Publisher: Fleetway
From: Jul 1961
To: Feb 1962
Duration: 7 months
Issues: 16

July – Princess Picture Library launched.
Publisher:
From: Jul 1961
To: Jun 1966
Duration: 4 years, 11 months
Issues: 181

July – Tiger Sports Library launched.
Publisher: Fleetway
From: Jul 1961
To: Dec 1961
Duration: 5 months
Issues: 12

75 years ago (1951):

July – Daring Hero Comic final issue.
Publisher: Scion
From: 1951
To: Jul 1951
Duration: 1 month
Issues: 5

July – Little Sheriff launched.
Publisher: Westworld Publications
From: Jul 1951
To: 1958
Duration: 6 years, 11 months
Issues: 94

90 years ago (1936):

July – Broadsheet Novels launched.
Publisher: Amalgamated Press
From: Jul 1936
To: Jul 1936
Duration: 1 month
Issues: 6
Novels in newspaper format, each wrapped in a colourful paper band as a ‘cover.’

95 years ago (1931):

02 July – Children’s Sketch launched.
Publisher:
From: 02 Jul 1931
To: Unknown
Duration: Unknown
Issues: Unknown

100 years ago (1926):

15 July – Sunny Stories for Little Folks launched.
Publisher: George Newnes
From: 15 Jul 1926
To: 15 Nov 1936
Duration: 10 years, 4 months
Issues: 250
Edited by Enid Blyton.

105 years ago (1921):

23 July – Wonderland Tales final issue.
Publisher: Amalgamated Press
From: 01 Jun 1919
To: 23 Jul 1921
Duration: 2 years, 1 month
Issues: 106
Absorbed into Young Folk’s Tales (1921).
Renamed Wonderland Tales Weekly on 5 Jun 1920, then Wonderland Weekly on 5 Jul 1920.

30 July – First merged issue of Young Folk’s Tales (1921) and Wonderland Tales.

120 years ago (1906):

28 July – FMN Handy Stories launched.
Publisher: Amalgamated Press
From: 28 Jul 1906
To: 13 Feb 1926
Duration: 19 years, 7 months
Issues: 1021
Retitled Handy Stories from 16 Mar 1907.