EXTRACTS: The Fleetway Picture Library Index Volume 2: The Thriller Libraries © The Book Palace (284 PAGES in Full edition)

2 FLEETWAY PICTURE LIBRARY INDEX VOLUME 2 popular Film Fun . Retitled Radio Fun , the new comic came out in October 1938 alongside another newcomer, Happy Days . Percy Montague “Monty” Haydon, whose fiefdom within Amalgamated Press included the Companion Papers ( Magnet , Gem , Modern Boy ) and the Sexton Blake titles, was handed the task of creating a third new comic title – the first from his group. Given control of Knockout , as the new paper was to be called, Edward Holmes was to bring far more adventure to the mix than any A.P. title had previously seen. 3 Holmes had the advantage of being able to draw on two of the A.P.’s most popular characters, Sexton Blake and Billy Bunter, for his new comic. Launched in March 1939, The Knock-Out Comic 4 contained a mixture of adventure and humour picture strips and text stories but Holmes signalled his intentions from the start by introducing Wild West illustrators Derek Eyles, Eric Parker and Fred Bennett to comics. An A.P. newcomer, Hugh McNeill, was to create a new knockabout style that was to become the backbone of the humour strips that appeared in Knock-Out . McNeill had been enticed to the paper from D. C. Thomson by Knock-Out ’s sub-editor, Leonard Matthews, who was to become a major figure in the history of British comics. In 1938 he had left his job as editor of the in-house magazine for the William Whiteley department store in Bayswater, attracted to the A.P. by an advert in the Daily Telegraph . Between them, Holmes and Matthews were to reshape the Amalgamated Press juvenile division – although their chance to do so was delayed for almost a decade by the advent of the Second World War. Holmes and Matthews both served with the R.A.F. during the conflict, although Matthews was employed with the Air Ministry and able to keep in touch with wartime Knock-Out editor, Percy Clark. The two brought in adaptations of classic novels to relieve some of the pressure for finding scripts while many of the comics’ writers – more often than not the editorial staff themselves – were serving their country. Matthews, raised on adventure stories, had a fondness for classic children’s novels and the wartime Knock-Out (subtitled "The Victory Comic" between 1941 and 1945) contained picture story versions of W. H. G. Kingston’s Peter the Whaler , Captain Frederick Marryat’s Mr Midshipman Easy and Children of the New Forest , as well as older classics like Gulliver’s Travels . Ted Holmes returned to the Amalgamated Press in 1946 and continued this innovation with adaptations of Robert Louis Stevenson’s Treasure Island and Kidnapped and R. M. Ballantyne’s The Coral Island . The first of these brought Mike Hubbard into the picture story fold, the first of a line of superb illustrators that were to debut in the comics produced by Holmes and Matthews over the next few years. The Amalgamated Press had been forced to cancel many of its titles in 1940 due to paper shortages. Victory over the Axis forces did not ease the many problems the company faced. Paper rationing continued for some years after the release of soldiers from service and staff were other publishers that already had a paper allocation. The situation in Australia and New Zealand was not as restrictive and Ted Holmes was put in charge of creating a series of titles for this market. Advised of the popularity of the new American reprints, Holmes used them as a template. The new papers he created were unlike any that appeared in the UK. In Britain the anthology title had ruled for almost 60 years, but the new comics put together by Holmes each contained the adventures of a single character in a series of short (usually 8-page) stories with the occasional page or half-page humourous strip as a filler, mostly lifted from Knockout . The idea for putting together a new comic was not a new one and a dummy for a new title had been prepared as early as 1946, although it appears to have faltered by the spring of 1947. Originally to be called Action Comics , it was to feature Sexton Blake, Billy Bunter, Stonehenge Kit and Phantom Sheriff and two new strips, “A Day with the Dobsons” and “Captain Conquest and the Men from Mars” were also prepared. Action Comics was dropped – perhaps because there was already a similarly-named American comic book – and a new title, Thriller Comics , instated; however, the new title never became a reality and various strips already drawn were used in Knockout and Knockout Fun Book . By 1948, when Ted Holmes began once again to put together titles for the Australian market, the anthology format was dropped in favour of single character titles. The most popular genre for children’s adventure stories was the Western. Westerns still dominated the Saturday morning cinema and most British comics, when it came to adventure strips, headed out to the Wild West before long. Holmes was well versed in Westerns, having edited Wild West , where he had penned the adventures of 'The Phantom Sheriff'. Holmes chose as his leads two well known Western icons: Kit Carson and Buck Jones. Christopher Houston “Kit” Carson was a real historical figure (1809-1868), famous as a trapper, scout and Indian fighter. Dubbed “The King of Scouts”, he became the hero of cheap paperbacked novels as early as 1849, the stories spun around his exploits adding to his status. Carson himself, on seeing the cover of one such novel, is quoted as saying “Gentlemen, that thar may be true, but I hain’t got no recollection of it.” 5 Holmes’ second character was used to having stories woven around him. Charles Gebhart (1889-1942) was better known to the world as actor Buck Jones, star of over 160 movies in 26 years. Jones had already been a star of British comics in the pages of Film Fun , in both picture strips (1933-38) and text stories, but this was the first time he’d had a title dedicated to his adventures. However, Holmes did not limit himself to Westerns and, a third title was intended to compete directly with the American reprints in Australia: Thunderbolt Jaxon . The character was wholly inspired by American comic book superheroes and featured a young orphan boy called Jack