DC In The UK

[MacNimon]

While DC Comics haven't been as well represented in the UK as Marvel over the years, there have been a significant number of titles available over the years; the history of these is a bit patchy though, but covers are more readily available now than they were a few years ago so let's have a look at some of what we had in the way of UK editions.

We begin back in 1969 with the monthly Super DC title published by Thorpe & Porter, which ran for 14 monthly issues until 1970, spawning one special.

Larger versions of most of these covers can be found here.

[MacNimon]

The next attempt to crack the UK market came in 1978, when London Editions released two full-colour digest-sized titles which would appear occasionally and which ran until mid-1980. Batman Pocketbook lasted 10 issues, while Superman Pocketbook had a longer run of between 15-20 issues (although I'm uncertain exactly however, different sources give different figures) of which I have the first 13 covers.

Here, we have a look at the 10 issues of the Batman Pocketbook...

[MacNimon]

As for the Superman Pocketbooks, I'm not sure exactly how many issues were released; different sources say different amounts between 15 and 20 issues, although the figure of 18 has come up more than once. Given that the Batman one ran for 10 issues between 1978/79, and the Superman one ran from 1978-1980, I'd hazard a guess that these were released on a bi-monthly schedule alternating with each other which could have given you around 25-28 monthly issues over a 2 year-plus period.

Here are the covers for the first 13 issues:

[MacNimon]

The next attempt by London Editions at targeting the UK market came immediately after the cancellation of the Pocket Books, with the release of The Superheroes Monthly in September 1980. For the first time, DC material would be packaged in exactly the same format as their Marvel counterparts, ie glossy covers and b&w interiors, thus placing them in direct competition for the first time. The series ran for 19 monthly issues until 1982, numbering as Vol. 1 #1-12, and Vol.2 #1-7. There were also 3 spin-off annuals dated 1982, 1983 and 1984.