British Update: First Quenchers! Doctor Who, Look-In & Target inc Free Gift Farrago
*TV & Film Related Comics: We have three separate premier issues for you in this category from our First Quenchers event. First, Doctor Who Weekly, from 1979, with the Free Gift stickers. This launched during the Tom Baker era, and featured new comic strips by soon-to-be superstar Dave Gibbons. Doctor Who Weekly later regenerated – appropriately – into Doctor Who Monthly, and then into Doctor Who Magazine, but it has become the official World’s Record Holder for longest-running periodical devoted to a single TV series – and this is where it all began! Next, Look-In, the ‘Junior TV Times’ which launched in 1971 with a Magpie-heavy emphasis for its first year of life (it was originally going to be named after the ITV ‘Blue Peter’ copycat, but for a last-minute change of heart). Look-In lasted for more than 1,000 issues, ending in 1994, and is best remembered for its comic-strip adaptations of TV series. Finally, Target, a short-lived attempt in 1978 from Polystyle, publishers of TV Comic, to broaden their market; featuring adaptations of popular crime shows such as ‘Kojak’, ‘Charlie’s Angels’, and, unusually for a kiddie comic, the decidedly post-watershed ‘Hazell’ and ‘Taggart’, it lasted a mere 18 issues before becoming a footnote in comics history. Doctor Who Weekly #1 is VF with Free Gift Transfers (also VF) at £25; Look-In #1 is VG at £35 and Target #1 in VG/FN with FN Free Gift (Superbikes poster!) at £30.