ABritish comic is a periodical published in theUnited Kingdom that containscomic strips. It is generally referred to as acomic or acomic magazine, and historically as acomic paper. As of 2014, the three longest-running comics of all time were all British.^{[2][needs update]}

British comics are usuallycomics anthologies which are typically aimed at children, and are published weekly, although some are also published on a fortnightly or monthly schedule. The two most popular Britishcomics,The Beano andThe Dandy, were released byDC Thomson in the 1930s. By 1950 the weekly circulation of both reached two million.^[3][4] Explaining the enormous popularity of comics inBritish popular culture during this period, Anita O’Brien, director curator at London'sCartoon Museum, states: "When comics likeThe Beano andDandy were invented back in the 1930s – and through really to the 1950s and 60s – these comics were almost the only entertainment available to children."^[3]

In 1954,Tiger comics introducedRoy of the Rovers, the hugely popular football based strip recounting the life ofRoy Race and the team he played for,Melchester Rovers. The stock media phrase "real 'Roy of the Rovers' stuff" is often used by football writers, commentators and fans when describing displays of great skill, or surprising results that go against the odds, in reference to the dramatic storylines that were the strip's trademark.^[5] Other comics such asEagle,Valiant,Warrior,Viz and2000 AD also flourished. Some comics, such asJudge Dredd and other2000 AD titles, have been published in atabloid form. Underground comics and"small press" titles have also appeared in the UK, notablyOz andEscape Magazine. While the bestselling comics in the UK have historically been native products,^{[citation needed]}American comic books and Japanesemanga are also popular.^[quantify]

The descriptioncomics derived from the names of popular titles such asComic Cuts, and from the fact that in the beginning all the titles presented only comical (i.e. humorous) content.

British comics typically differ from theAmerican comic book. Although historically they shared the same format size, based on a sheet of 30 x 22 inchimperial paper, folded, British comics have moved away from this size, adopting a standard magazine size. Until that point, the British comic was also usually printed on newsprint, with black or a dark red used as the dark colour and the four colour process used on the cover.The Beano andThe Dandy both switched to an all-colour format in 1993.

Originally aimed at the semi-literate working class (in that it replaced the text-based stories of thestory papers with picture-based stories, which were less challenging for a poorly educated readership), the comic gradually came to be seen as childish (in part because, due to gradual improvements in public education, children were eventually the only remaining market for a format designed to be unchallenging for the reader). Hence by the mid 20th Century it was being marketed exclusively towards children.

Historically, strips were of one or two pages in length, with a single issue of a comic containing upwards of a dozen separate strips, featuring different characters. In more recent times, strips have become longer and have tended to continue over a number of issues and periods of time.

Whilst some comics contained only strips, other publications such asJackie have had a slightly different focus, providing their girl readers with articles about, and photographs of,pop stars andtelevision/film actors, plus more general articles about teenage life, whilst throwing in a fewcomic strips for good measure. For boys there were, historically, similar publications based upon soccer, such asShoot!, which featured non-fiction picture articles about popular footballers, league clubs, and general football news, accompanied by a limited range of football-based comic strips.

In British comics history, there are some extremely long-running publications such asThe Beano andThe Dandy published byD. C. Thomson & Co., a newspaper company based inDundee, Scotland.The Dandy began in 1937 andThe Beano in 1938.The Beano is still going today whileThe Dandy ceased print publication in 2012. TheBoys' Own Paper, another long-running publication which was aimed at boys in a slightly older age group, lasted from 1879 to 1967.

There has been a continuous tradition, since the 1950s, of black and white comics, published in a smaller page size format, many of them war titles such asAir Ace, inspiring youngsters with tales of the exploits of thearmy,navy andRoyal Air Force, mainly in the twoworld wars. There have also been someromance titles and somewesterns in this format.

On 19 March 2012, the British postal service, theRoyal Mail, released a set of stamps depicting characters and series from British comics.^[6] The collection featuredThe Beano,The Dandy,Eagle,The Topper,Roy of the Rovers,Bunty,Buster,Valiant,Twinkle and2000 AD.

In the 19th century, story papers (containing illustrated text stories), known as "penny dreadfuls" from their cover price, served as entertainment for British children. Full of close-printed text with few illustrations, they were essentially no different from a book, except that they were somewhat shorter and that typically the story was serialised over many weekly issues in order to maintain sales.

These serial stories could run to hundreds of instalments if they were popular. And to pad out a successful series, writers would insert quite extraneous material such as the geography of the country in which the action was occurring, so that the story would extend into more issues. Plagiarism was rife, with magazines profiting from competitors' successes under a few cosmetic name changes. Apart from action and historical stories, there was also a fashion for horror and the supernatural, with epics likeVarney the Vampire running for years. Horror, in particular, contributed to the epithet "penny dreadful". Stories featuring criminals such as 'Spring-Heeled Jack', pirates, highwaymen (especially Dick Turpin), and detectives (including Sexton Blake) dominated decades of the Victorian and early 20th-century weeklies.

Comic strips—stories told primarily in strip cartoon form, rather than as a written narrative with illustrations—emerged only slowly. Scottish-born newspaper proprietorJames Henderson began publishingFunny Folks in 1874. WriterDenis Gifford consideredFunny Folks to be the first Britishcomic,^[7] though at first it tackled topical and political subjects along the same lines asPunch. The magazine was heavily illustrated, with cartoons byJohn Proctor, known as Puck, among others,^[8] and benefitted from innovations in the use of cheap paper and photographic printing.^[9][10]Ally Sloper's Half Holiday (1884) is regarded as the first comic strip magazine to feature a recurring character (Ally Sloper).^[11] This strip cost one penny and was designed for adults. Ally, the recurring character, was a working-class fellow who got up to various forms of mischief and often suffered for it.

In 1890 two more comic magazines debuted before the British public,Comic Cuts andIllustrated Chips, both published byAmalgamated Press. These magazines notoriously reprinted British and American material, previously published in newspapers and magazines, without permission. The success of these comics was such that Amalgamated's owner, Alfred Harmsworth, was able to launch theDaily Mirror and theDaily Mail newspapers on the profits.^[12]

Comics were also published as accompaniments to women's magazines at the end of the century.Jungle Jinks, which held the honor of being the longest running British comic until 1954, first appeared in 1898 as a supplement toHome Chat; drawn byMabel F. Taylor, it was the first anthropomorphic animal British comic.^[13][14]

Over the next thirty years or so, comic publishers saw the juvenile market as the most profitable, and thus geared their publications accordingly, so that by 1914 most comics were standalone booklets aimed at eight- to twelve-year-olds.

Theinterwar period is notable mainly for the publication ofannuals by Eagle Press, and also the emergence ofD. C. Thomson & Co. Ltd. D. C. Thomson launched bothThe Beano andThe Dandy in the late 1930s, which thrived during theSecond World War. Their successful mix of irreverence and slapstick led to many similar titles, notablyBuster,Topper andBeezer. However, the originators of this format have outlasted all rivals, andThe Beano is still published today.

The problem which now faces society in the trade that has sprung up of presenting sadism, crime, lust, physical monstrosity, and horror to the young is an urgent and a grave one.

— The Times, 12 November 1954^[15]

In the early 1950s, "lurid American 'crime' and 'horror comics' reached Britain", prompting what in retrospect has been characterised as amoral panic.^[15] Copies ofTales from the Crypt andThe Vault of Horror, which arrived asballast in ships from the United States, were first only available in the "environs of the great ports ofLiverpool,Manchester,Belfast and London", but by "using blocks made from imported Americanmatrices", British versions ofTales from the Crypt andThe Vault of Horror were printed in London andLeicester (by companies likeArnold Book Company)^[16] and sold in "small back-street newsagents."^[15] The ensuing outcry was heard inParliament, and at the urging of the Most ReverendGeoffrey Fisher, theArchbishop of Canterbury, MajorGwilym Lloyd George, theHome Secretary andMinister of Welsh Affairs, and theNational Union of Teachers, Parliament passed theChildren and Young Persons (Harmful Publications) Act 1955.^[17] The act prohibited "any book, magazine or other like work which is of a kind likely to fall into the hands of children or young persons and consists wholly or mainly of stories told in pictures (with or without the addition of written matter), being stories portraying (a) the commission of crimes; or (b) acts of violence or cruelty; or (c) incidents of a repulsive or horrible nature; in such a way that the work as a whole would tend to corrupt a child or young person into whose hands it might fall."^[18] Although the act had asunset clause, in 1969 the Act was made permanent,^[19] and continues to be in force today, represented, for example, in theRoyal Mail prohibition against mailing horror comics and thematrices used to print them.^[20]

During the 1950s and 1960s, the most popular comic for older age-group boys wasEagle published byHulton Press.Eagle was published in a more expensive format, and was agravure-printed weekly, with regular sales of nearly one million.^[21] (This format was used originally byMickey Mouse Weekly during the 1930s.)Eagle's success saw a number of comics launched in a similar format —TV Century 21,Look and Learn andTV Comic being notable examples. Comics published in this format were known in the trade as "slicks." At the end of the 1960s, these comics moved away from gravure printing, preferringoffset litho due to cost considerations arising from decreasing readership.

However, the boys' adventure comic was still popular, and titles such asValiant andTiger, published byIPC Magazines, saw new adventure heroes become stars, includingRoy of the Rovers who would eventually gain his own title.Odhams Press was a company that mainly printed (adventure-oriented) new material; it also reprinted AmericanMarvel Comics material in itsPower Comics line, which included the titlesSmash! andFantastic.

By 1970 the British comics market was in a long-term decline, as comics lost popularity in the face of the rise of other popular pastimes for children. Initially, the challenge was the rising popularity oftelevision, a trend which the introduction of colour television to Britain during 1969 set in stone. In an effort to counter the trend, many publishers switched the focus of their comics to television-related characters. The television shows ofGerry Anderson, such asThunderbirds andCaptain Scarlet and the Mysterons, had begun this in the mid-1960s with the launch of tie-in comics such asTV Century 21 andLady Penelope, which included strips related to Anderson's TV shows (as well as other popular programs of the era).Polystyle Publications already published a TV-related comic for young children calledTV Comic, and in 1971 moved into the older market withCountdown (later retitledTV Action). The teenage market sawLook-in magazine feature strips solely based on popular television programs.

Another strand of the reaction to television was the launch of comics focused entirely onassociation football (a sport as popular as television amongst boys), with titles such asShoot andScorcher and Score. Those comics that didn't compete with the popularity of television began to close down, merging with the few survivors.

In the 1970s very few boys' comics in the "slick" format were launched, although Polystyle'sCountdown was one exception, launching in 1971 with content similar toTV21 (which had disappeared by then) andTV Comic.Vulcan, a reprint title, was another, in 1976.Girls' titles which had launched in the slick format in the 1960s continued in that format into the 1970s; and others, such asDiana andJudy, changed to become slicks. They found themselves in the same market as teenage titles for girls such asBoyfriend andBlue Jeans, which had changed their content and were featuring mainly product-related articles andphoto comics.

In1972,Marvel set up a publishing arm in the UK,Marvel UK, reprinting American superhero strips. These proved extremely popular, and a range of weekly titles was being published by 1975. So much so that in 1976 the parent company briefly published a minimal amount of new material specifically for the UK market inCaptain Britain. The American reprint material proved to be more successful and continued to appear into the 1980s, at which stage Marvel UK also began diversifying into home-produced original material, both UK-originated strips featuring American created characters such as Captain Britain, theHulk and theBlack Knight, and wholly original strips likeNight Raven. They also began producing television-based material, initially withDoctor Who Weekly, launched in 1979.

In the late 1960s and into the 1970s, theunderground comics movement inspired two new comics in the UK:Oz andNasty Tales were launched with the underground premise of counter-culture rebellion.Oz notoriously featured the children's characterRupert the Bear performing sexual acts.^[22] Both magazines were tried at theOld Bailey under theObscene Publications Act because of their content. TheOz defendants were convicted,^[23] although the conviction was overturned on appeal.^[22] TheNasty Tales defendants were cautioned.^{[citation needed]} However, both these comics ceased publication soon after their trial, as much due to the social changes at the end of the counter-culture movement as any effect of the court cases. These were always adult magazines, not aimed at the mainstream children's market.

In the mid-1970s, British comics became more action-oriented. The first such title to be launched wasWarlord in1974. Published byDC Thomson, it proved to be a success, and led to its then-rival,IPC Magazines Ltd, producingBattle Picture Weekly, a comic notably grimmer in style than its competitor.Battle's success led to IPC launching another, similarly styled title,Action, which became a success too but also became controversial, due to its violent content, such as a front cover illustration which appeared to show armed children beating up a helpless police officer. Complaints about its tone eventually led to questions being asked in theHouse of Commons. As a result, and despite the comics' popularity, IPC decided to drastically tone down the content after 36 issues, and issue 37 was pulped. When it returned to newsstands it was far less violent, which neutered the comic's appeal. The title quickly declined and was merged withBattle.^[24]

Action's position as the UK's most popular title was taken over by2000 AD, a science-fiction comic launched in1977 by IPC. Created as a comic for older boys, it also held appeal for teenage and even adult readers. In the 1960s IPC began to source comic art fromSpain, mainly for financial reasons. This trend was continued through to the launch of2000 AD.Carlos Ezquerra is the most notable Spanish artist to have worked in British comics, having worked on bothBattle and2000 AD, and is credited with the creation of the look ofJudge Dredd.^[25]

Star Wars Weekly, published by Marvel UK, launched in 1977, lasted until 1986. In1982Eagle was relaunched, this time including photo comics, but still withDan Dare as the lead story. The comic moved it from the front page to the centre pages to allow a more magazine-style cover.

In 1978The Adventures of Luther Arkwright byBryan Talbot began serialisation inNear Myths (and continued in other comics after that title folded).Luther Arkwright was later collected as agraphic novel, and has been called the first British graphic novel.^[26]

In 1982Dez Skinn launchedWarrior, possibly the most notable comic of the period, as it contained both theMarvelman andV for Vendetta strips, byAlan Moore.Warrior was a British equivalent ofHeavy Metal magazine. Marvelman was aCaptain Marvel clone that Skinn acquired, although the legality of that acquisition has been questioned. In Moore's hands, the strip became an "adult" stylesuperhero, and was later reprinted, with the story continued, in an American full-color comic, with the name changed from "Marvelman" to "Miracleman" to avoid any lawsuits thatMarvel Comics may have considered. Eventually,Warrior succumbed to copyright issues.^[27]

Adult comics also witnessed a slight resurgence withPssst!, an attempt to market a French-style monthlybande dessinée, andEscape magazine, published byPaul Gravett, formerPssst! promotions man.Escape featured early work fromEddie Campbell andPaul Grist, amongst others. Neither comic managed to survive in the vagaries of the comics market,Escape beset by lack of publisher interest.

During this period a number of smaller publishers were formed to provide inventive publications appealing to niche markets.Congress Press was one of these companies, releasing titles such asBirthrite,Heaven & Hell and a graphic novel,Spookhouse. Other small publishers of the era includedHarrier Comics (1984–1989) andAcme Press (1986–1995).

Most of the surviving titles published by IPC, Fleetway, and DC Thomson were merged into each other in the late 1980s and early 1990s, as the popularity of comics waned further in response to a surge in the popularity of television (a popularity which received another major boost from the late 1970s onward as domesticvideocassette recorders became available), and due to the popularity ofvideo games (as inexpensive home computers such as theZX Spectrum, mainly used for gaming, became available from 1980). Although new comics titles were launched in this period, none seemed to find a sustainable audience.

Notable comics of the period includedDeadline,Toxic!,Crisis, andRevolver.Deadline was conceived bySteve Dillon andBrett Ewins, and mixed original strips with reprints of U.S. strips, notablyLove & Rockets, and articles and interviews on the British independent music scene of the time.Tank Girl was its most notable strip.Crisis was published byFleetway Publications, a company formed fromIPC's comics holdings. It was aimed at readers who had outgrown2000 AD, and featured first works byGarth Ennis andSean Phillips amongst others.

One publication of that period did find an audience.Viz began life in1979 as afanzine style publication, before, in 1989, becoming the biggest-selling comic in the country. Based upon bad taste, crude language, crude sexual innuendo, and the parodying of strips fromThe Dandy (among themBlack Bag – the Faithful Border Bin Liner, a parody ofThe Dandy'sBlack Bob series about aBorder Collie), the popularity ofViz depended entirely upon a variant of Sixties counter-culture; and it promptly inspired similarly themed titles, includingSmut,Spit!,Talking Turkey,Elephant Parts,Gas,Brain Damage,Poot!,UT andZit, all of which failed to achieveViz's longevity and folded, whileViz remained one of the United Kingdom's top-selling magazines.

Beginning in 2000, the British market arrested its long decline. However, there is no sign of any great growth in circulation for the few remaining titles, and no sign of any new launches from mainstream publishers into the comics arena.^[28] An ever-increasing number ofsmall press andfanzine titles are being produced, such asSolar Wind orFutureQuake, aided by the cheapness and increasingly professional appearance ofdesktop publishing programs. It is from this scene that the UK's new talents now tend to emerge (e.g.Al Ewing,Henry Flint orSimon Spurrier).

The English musicianPeter Gabriel issued in 2000The Story of OVO which was released in a CD-booklet-shapedcomic book as part of the CD edition with the title "OVO The Millennium Show". The 2000Millennium Dome Show based on it.^[29]

After they were purchased byRebellion Developments, both2000 AD and theJudge Dredd Megazine have seen the release of more adaptations andtrade paperbacks, including complete reprint collections of the entire runs ofJudge Dredd,Strontium Dog andNemesis the Warlock. Starting in 2006 theMegazine began a regular small press section^[30] which usually features an article on a title by Matthew Badham or David Baillie and a small press story.

While British companies and creators have helped create the market forcollected volumes there have, with a few exceptions likeRaymond Briggs, been very few Britishoriginal graphic novels published.^[31] Briggs himself has said "On the Continent, graphic novels have been as accepted as films or books for many years, but England has had a snobby attitude towards them. They've always been seen as something just for children".^[32] However, thanks to the strong sales for Briggs'Ethel and Ernest, andJimmy Corrigan winningThe Guardian's best first novel award, publishers have started expanding into this area.Random House UK's imprintJonathan Cape has tripled its graphic novel output and Random House has also establishedTanoshimi to publish manga. Other publishers have also been increasing their output, which, as well as producing original works likeAlice in Sunderland, have also been included adaptations of works of literature.^[31] There are a number of new publishers who are specifically targeting this area,^[33] includingClassical Comics^[34][35] andSelf Made Hero, the latter having an imprint focused onmanga adaptations of the works of Shakespeare.^[36]

This highlights another recent change, as there has been an increase in Britishoriginal English-language manga. Self Made Hero's 'Manga Shakespeare' imprint draws on talent discovered inTokyopop's UK/Irish version ofRising Stars of Manga, including members of the UK collectiveSweatdrop Studios,^[37] who have also contributed to other British-based efforts likeILYA'sMammoth Book of Best New Manga andMangaQuake. Creators involved in those collections who have gone on to do several manga style graphic novels include British based Japanese creators such as Chie Kutsuwada and Michiru Morikawa, as well as, conversely, a British writer based in Japan, Sean Michael Wilson.

Released at the start of the 21st century wasToxic, a comic which mixed comic strips alongsidegame reviews and other articles. Beginning in 2002, this comic proved very successful and is still running. Its influence can be felt on other comics as well most notably whenThe Dandy, Britain's longest-running comic at the time, became theDandy Xtreme in August 2007; it borrowed many of the features prevalent inToxic, mixing articles alongside comic strips. However,The Dandy eventually moved away with this strategy in October 2010, when the comic was revamped, and published its final issue on its 75th anniversary in 2012.^[38] TheBeanoMAX (which also started in 2007) also borrowed some ofToxic's features. That title was then replaced byThe 100% Official Dennis the Menace and Gnasher Megazine, which was later renamedEpic before ending in 2019.

The DFC launched at the end of May2008 drawing together creators from the small press and manga, as well as figures from mainstream British comics and other fields,^[39] including authorPhilip Pullman.^[40] As it transpired, it didn't make it to its first birthday, ending with issue 43. A new more successful comic, however,The Phoenix, began in January 2012, a successor toThe DFC^[41] which has already reached 500 issues.^[42]

Starting in May 2023, Rebellion published a five-issue series ofBattle Action, with each issue featuring two complete stories. Ten more issues were published in 2024-25.

AfterWorld War II, the UK was intent on promoting homegrown publishers, and thus banned the direct importation ofAmerican periodicals, including comic books.^[43] As a result, U.S.comic books typically arrived in the UK as ballast on ships.^[44] Although the comics-reading public in the UK was not always able to get reliable supplies of American comics, it has always enjoyed the different approach to comics writing from the other side of theAtlantic.

Sheena, Queen of the Jungle — a female version ofTarzan (with an element ofH. Rider Haggard's"She who must be obeyed" – She... Na!)^[45] — was licensed from theEisner & Iger studio for a British/Australasiantabloid,Wags, in 1937.^[46] The success of this character led to the Sheena stories being repackaged for publication in theUnited States forFiction House'sJumbo Comics, thus exporting the character back to her country of origin.^[46]

Beginning in the 1940s, the available American comics were supplemented by a variety of black-and-white reprints ofFawcett'sCaptain Marvel, characters such as Sheena,Mandrake the Magician,The Phantom, andMarvel Comics' 1950s monster comics. Several reprint companies were involved in this repackaging American material for the British market, notablyL. Miller & Son, theArnold Book Company,Alan Class Comics, and the importer/distributor/publisherThorpe & Porter.

Thorpe & Porter began by publishingDell'sFour Color series andClassics Illustrated in the UK. They also republished similar formatted titles under various names. Thorpe & Porter' Stratos imprint published a long-runningWestern comics series,Kid Colt, Outlaw, which contained black-and-white reprints from bothAtlas Comics andDC. T & P also published some material never published in the US.

WhenCaptain Marvel ceased publication in theUnited States because of alawsuit,L. Miller & Son copied the entire Captain Marvel idea in every detail, and began publishing their own knock-off under the namesMarvelman andYoung Marvelman, taking advantage of different copyright laws.^[47] These clone versions, created by British writer/artistMick Anglo, continued for a few years and, as seen above, were revived years later inWarrior. The British publishers reprinted many other American series, including the early 1950sEerie andBlack Magic in black-and-white format. These usually contained the American stories related to the cover but also additional backup stories to fill up the 64 pages.^{[citation needed]}

In 1959, the UK ban on direct importation was lifted.^[43] Thorpe & Porter became the sole UK distributor of bothDC andMarvel comics. The comics were printed on American printing presses — along with a special cover giving the British price instead of the price in cents — and shipped across the Atlantic. Thus it was that brand-new American-printed copies ofFantastic Four #1,Amazing Fantasy #15, and countless others appeared in the UK.

Thorpe & Porter went bankrupt in 1966 and was purchased by the distribution arm ofDC Comics, then known asIND. As a result, T & P's output became almost exclusively reprints of DC titles.Marvel Comics superhero reprints appeared inOdhams Press'Power Comics line in 1966–1969, overlapping for a period withAlan Class Comics' reprinting of some of Marvel's superhero characters. Marvel reprints also appeared inCity Magazines'TV21 in 1970–1971. And in 1972 Marvel launchedMarvel UK, cornering the market on Marvel reprints; key titles includedThe Mighty World of Marvel andSpider-Man Comics Weekly. The importation of Marvel's American comics continued to be erratic due to Marvel UK's promotion of their own reprints, which meant some titles were not offered for periods —The Amazing Spider-Man being a prime example.^[48]

The reprint market really took off in the 1980s withTitan Books releasing collections of British material, as well as signing deals withDC Comics to release that company's titles in the UK.Igor Goldkind was Titan's (andForbidden Planet's, which was owned by the same company) marketing consultant at the time; he helped popularise the term "graphic novel" for thetrade paperbacks they were releasing, which generated a lot of attention from the mainstream press.^[49]

Panini Comics took over in 1994, reprinting many ofMarvel's titles, as well asMarvel UK reprints. Panini's titles includeUltimate Spider-Man (originally holding two issues of eitherUltimate Spider-Man orUltimate Marvel Team-Up, now existing as a double feature withUltimate X-Men) and also aCollector's Edition line of comics, featuring a cardboard cover, three stories and aletters page on the inside back cover. Other titles includeAstonishing Spider-Man,Essential X-Men, andMighty World of Marvel, which reprints a variety of Marvel Comics. Beginning in 2003, Panini also published one DC comic,Batman Legends, reprinting variousBatman adventures (e.g. two parts of a multi-title crossover and an issue ofBatman: Year One); this title is now published byTitan Magazines.

Since 2005, a small selection of American translations of the most popularJapanese comics have been reprinted in the UK by major publishers such asRandom House (through theirTanoshimi imprint) and theOrion Publishing Group. Both no longer publish British versions of Japanese comics; Random House abandoned all Japanese comics translations in early 2009, while Orion switched to publishing the original American versions.

Simultaneously, the very small press Fanfare/Ponent Mon published a few UK-exclusive English-language editions of alternative Japanese manga and Frenchbande dessinée.^[50]

There have been hundreds of comics in the UK over the years, including:

• List of British comic strips
• List of DC Thomson publications
• List of comic creators in the UK
• British small press comics
• The British Invasion of American comics, that took place during the late eighties
• Comics Britannia,BBC Four documentary series on the history of British comics presented byJonathan Ross
• Welsh comics

• Help for Researchers: British Comics Collection from theBritish Library
• Comics UK
• History of British ComicsArchived 30 January 2019 at theWayback Machine from britishcomics.com
• downthetubes.net (British comics news, interviews, and other features)
• IndieReview^[usurped] (UK indie comics news and reviews)
• British Comics Top-10 Issue-Count Chart – 2021b edition! byMichael Carroll, 19 September 2021. A list of the 10 longest-lasting British comics. (Retrieved 20 September 2021.)
• The Eaglution of British Comics (part 1) by Michael Carroll, 26 May 2018. Article featuring a chart showing which comics (published by IPC/Fleetway) were merged with which, with the dates they were founded and merged. (Retrieved 27 May 2018.)
• DC Thomson Comics Timeline by Michael Carroll, 25 August 2018, about comics published by DC Thomson. (Retrieved 24 September 2018.)
• BBC Cult presents: 2000AD and British Comics fromBBC Online (last updated September 2005)
• British Comics Free Gifts Database (Detailed descriptions and images of free gifts given away with classic British comics)