| Jag | |
|---|---|
 The cover ofJag from 22 June 1968. | |
| Publication information | |
| Publisher | IPC/Fleetway Publications |
| Schedule | Weekly |
| Format | Ongoing series |
| Genre | |
| Publication date | 4 May 1968 – 29 March 1969 |
| No. of issues | 48 |
| Creative team | |
| Artist(s) | Jesús Blasco Eric Bradbury Geoff Campion Joe Colquhoun |
| Editor | Tony Power |
Jag[a] was a weeklyBritish comics periodical published byFleetway Publications andIPC Magazines from 4 May 1968 to 29 March 1969. A boys' adventure comic, the title lasted for 48 editions before being merged with another title, the long-establishedTiger.
Jag - named after the big catjaguar to complement the existing IPC boys' comicsLion andTiger[1] - was an attempt by the company to sell a higher quality production comic.[2] Much like theEagle (at the time being published by rivalOdhams Press),Jag featured glossyphotogravure printing for the covers and centre pages, compared to the four-colour newsprint paper stock used for the covers other weeklies; it also included four further interior four-colour pages.[2][3][4] The printing was undertaken by Steel Bros. ofCarlisle. The new title would also attempt to stand out by using atabloid size of 11.75 x 15 inches for the pages, larger than the 9.25 x 11.25 inches of their standard comics. As a result, it would contain 16 pages, around half the size of its stablemates; this allowedJag to be sold at the same price of 7d as Fleetway's other regular titles.[5]
Content was of the typical makeup of boys' weeklies of the time, though strips were typically allotted a single oversized page each, using between 12 and 15 frames.[3] Front cover strip "New World for Old" blended war and fantasy; set in 3209 it featured a society in schism between factions modelled on different Earth time periods. With art byJesús Blasco, "The Indestructible Man" was another fantastical story, starring anancient Egyptian who had been entombed alive and used lost knowledge to cheat death, among othersuperhuman skills.World War II thrills were provided by "The Mouse Patrol", telling the story of three boys who set out to free their prisoner-of-war fathers inNorth Africa, with the aid of a monkey and an abandoned tank; the serial was drawn byEric Bradbury.Geoff Campion provided both the painted centre page fictionalised biography story "Custer" and football story "The Penalty Area", whileJoe Colquhoun contributed nautical humour cartoon "Cap'n Codsmouth". Colquhoun would also draw sport story "Football Family Robinson", which rapidly displaced "New World for Old" from the front cover and was written byTom Tully.[3][5]
Issues were released on Saturdays,[2] and the first issue includedBobby Moore's Book of the World Cup as a free gift, with a two partSoccer '68 wallchart distributed with the second and third issues. Spin-offs included theJag Annual and theJag Football Special.[3][5]
WhileJag survived the 22-week "hatch, match and dispatch" period intact, from 22 February 1969 it was reformatted into a 32-page standard format comic, albeit retaining higher quality paper. To fill the increased pages, additional stories joined the line-up, including Western "The Boy Bandit" (drawn byTom Kerr) and war story "MacTavish and O'Toole". However the changes were not enough for the comic to survive and the 29 March 1969 edition promised "exciting news for all readers", announcing the title would be merged intoTiger. At the time Fleetway were undergoing considerable upheaval as they and Odhams were reconfigured intoIPC Magazines;[6] cartoonist and comics historianLew Stringer has speculated thatJag might have been cancelled as much to make room in the company's portfolio for other titles as for particularly poor sales. Regardless,Jag was the final new title launched under the Fleetway brand.[2][3]
"Custer", "MacTavish and O'Toole", "Castaways of Shark Island", "Black Patch the Wonder Horse" and "Football Family Robinson" all survived intoTiger,[7] where the latter especially would enjoy a long continued run. TheJag Annual would continue to run until 1972, notching up four editions.[5]
In 2018Rebellion Developments were able to complete their purchase of the AP/Fleetway/IPC comic library, giving them rights toJag and its contents.[8]
Stable boy Davey Tyler buys a fast horse called Black Patch from a mysterious gypsy, and plans to use the steed as a champion racer and save Garsdale Racing Stables from financial trouble.
After his father is imprisoned by government forces during theMexican Revolution, Pepe Churro sets out to enlist the aid ofPancho Villa to help free him.
The incompetent Captain Codsmouth and his equally idiotic crew try to carry out freight runs in theS.S.Scuttlebutt.
A class from the Atelco Oil Company's special school in England are shipwrecked on aPacific Ocean cruise toSingapore, and must work together to survive on a desert island.
In 1866,George Armstrong Custer arrives atFort Riley to take command of the7th Cavalry Regiment.
Thatcher United would be an average unremarkable lowerDivision Four side but for the bizarre nature that their entire squad and staff are all part of the massive extended Robinson family, who must try to keep the club from falling into the hands of local businessman Max Sharkey and his plans to turn their ramshackle ground into asupermarket.
Being dead doesn't stop a mischievous young girl from terrorising local grown-ups from beyond the grave.
The captain ofRamesses II's royal cavalry is betrayed by Copher, the evil High Priest ofAnubis, who murders his father and manipulates the pharaoh to be entomb the captain alive with his late father. However, inside he finds sacred scrolls which teach him numerous parahuman traits, including immortality, immunity to fire, becoming able to transform elements and the ability to fire bolts of energy from his fingers. Freed by archaeologists in the present day, he sets himself up as the heroic adventurer Mark Dangerfield.
After being mocked and bullied during a trial for crack youth side Peel Street Rovers, spindly Billy Martin resolves to transform himself into a powerhouse so he can play for Newpool United and England.
TwoCommando sergeants, Scotsman MacTavish and Irishman O'Toole, fight Germans while constantly bickering.
A young boy puts his skill at reproducing noises to use playing pranks.
After their fathers' unit is overran by theAfrika Korps, three boys - Blackie Knight, Ginger Hobb, and Cyril North - and their pet monkey Cleopatra hijack aM3 Stuart and set out into the desert to find them.
Space policemen taking felons to a prison in 3209 are drawn into a vortex and emerge on an Earth-like planet in a state of internecine war, with each faction seemingly modelling themselves on a different period of Earth history.
Star centre forward Tony Marsden unexpectedly returns from playing inItaly to help out hometown team Bradfield Town, struggling in theFootball League Third Division. However, his plan is complicated by the arrival of hisidentical twin brother Tom, on the run from Canadian police. Tony reluctantly agrees to help hide his brother while he clears his name with the pair swapping places when the situation requires - though Tom's dearth of footballing ability begins to raise questions when he has to take Tony's place on the pitch.
Young schoolmaster Owen Jenkin earns a post at the prestigious Weeton College, but finds both the pupils and his fellow staff look down on him due to hisworking class background in a Welsh mining village.
Demolitions expert Bill Thunderhead's skill and enjoyment of his work with explosives soon earns him the nickname 'Thunder Bill'.
A cohort of the world's finest athletes are kidnapped by a mysterious figure known as The General and forced to compete against each other on a hidden island.