Norvic Philatelics - GB New Stamps and Special Postmarks

World of Comics - 20 March 2012

Marking 75 years of the Dandy, this issue looks at the great British institution of comics, with a set of 10 x 1st class stamps.  Royal Mail said: "The Comics stamp issue is a wonderful opportunity to celebrate this great British institution, and some of the quite unique and iconic characters that have become an integral part of our culture."

If wizard wheezes and tales of derring-do were what you were after, it was to comics that we turned. For over a century, Britain’s uniquely eccentric comics have brought cheer to generations of readers.

More importantly it has presented us with a list of characters that, like the memories of those comics themselves, remain with us throughout our lives. The Dandy, the UK’s longest running comic will be 75 years old in 2012. The Beano, the UK’s second oldest comic will be also 75 the following year. The Comics stamp issue is a wonderful opportunity to celebrate this great British institution, and some of the quite unique and iconic characters that have become an integral part of our culture.

Set of 10 stamps showing comics newspapers.

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The Ten Stamps

The Dandy and Desperate Dan
The Dandy was first published in the United Kingdom by D. C. Thomson & Co. Ltd in 1937 and it is the world’s third longest running comic. Wild-west hero Desperate Dan first appeared in December 1937. The world’s strongest man, he shaves with a blow torch and eats cow pies complete with the horns.

The Beano and Dennis the Menace
The Beano first appeared on 30 July 1938. The Dennis the Menace strip (now known as Dennis and Gnasher) first appeared in 1951 and is the longest running strip in the comic. Other iconic strips include the Bash Street Kids, Roger the Dodger and Minnie the Minx.

Eagle and Dan Dare
The first issue of Eagle was released in April 1950. Revolutionary in its presentation and content, it was enormously successful; the first issue sold about 900,000 copies. Featured in colour on the front cover was Dan Dare, Pilot of the Future, created by Frank Hampson. Other popular stories included Riders of the Range and P.C. 49. Eagle also contained news and sport sections, and educational cutaway diagrams of sophisticated machinery.

The Topper and Beryl the Peril
The Topper was published by D. C. Thomson & Co. Ltd and ran from 1953 to 1990, when it merged with The Beezer. Mickey the Monkey was the original cover star. Beryl the Peril was created by David Law as a female Dennis the Menace (also created by Law). The strip ran from the first issue, taking over the cover in 1986.

Tiger and Roy of the Rovers
Tiger was published from 1954 to 1985, and featured predominantly sporting strips. Its most popular strip was Roy of the Rovers, recounting the life of Roy Race and the team he played for, Melchester Rovers. This strip proved so successful it was spun out of Tiger and into its own comic.

Bunty and the Four Marys
Bunty was published by D. C. Thomson & Co. from 1958 to 2001. It consisted of a collection of many small strips, typically the stories themselves being three to five pages long. The Four Marys was the longest story. The comic ran from its creation in 1958 to its end in 2001. It centered around four young teenagers who lived in a girls-only boarding school in Elmbury.

Buster and Buster
Buster ran from 1960 to 2000 and carried a mixture of humour and adventure strips. The title character, whose strip usually appeared on the front cover, was Buster. He was originally billed as Buster: Son of Andy Capp, the lead character of the Daily Mirror newspaper strip, and wore a similar flat cap to reinforce the connection.

Valiant and the Steel Claw
Valiant was a British boys’ adventure comic that ran from 1962 to 1976. It was published by IPC Magazines and was one of their major adventure titles throughout the 1960s and early 1970s. Aside from World War II characters like Captain Hurricane, Valiant ran innovative science fiction strips like the Steel Claw, a scientist rendered invisible by his artificial hand.

Twinkle and Nurse Nancy
Twinkle, ‘the picture paper especially for little girls’, was published by D. C. Thomson & Co. Ltd from 1968 to 1999. It was aimed at young girls and came out weekly, Nurse Nancy, who ran a toy hospital with her grandfather, was one of the most popular characters.

2000 AD and Judge Dredd
2000 AD is a weekly British science fiction-oriented comic, first published in 1977. It is most noted for its Judge Dredd stories, and has been contributed to by a number of artists and writers who became renowned in the field internationally, such as Alan Moore, Neil Gaiman and Grant Morrison. Judge Dredd is a law enforcement officer in a violent city of the future where uniformed judges combine the powers of police, judge, jury and executioner


Technical details:

The stamps were designed by The Chase, and are printed by Cartor Security Printing in lithography.  The 35mm square stamps are perf 14.5 in sheets of 25/50.  The stamps in row 1 are in one sheet of 25 (5x5), the stamps in row 2 are in a second sheet of 25.


Products issued: 

Set of 10 stamps (2 strips of 5) - Strip of 5 from sheet 1 or sheet 2, or vertical strip of 5 of any single stamp
First day cover - Presentation pack - Stamp cards 

Special Postmarks

Postmarks available for the day of issue are shown here.  These postmarks cannot be obtained after the date of issue.  Not to scale.

postmark with 'LOOK OUT' in speech bubble.

Dundee postmark with THWACK cartoon caption.

non-pictorial Dundee postmark.

postmark illustrated with an eagle.

postmark illustrated with an eagle.

Ref FD1215
Philatelic Bureau Official Postmark: "LOOK OUT!"

Ref FD1216
Dundee Official Postmark "THWACK!"

Ref FD928NP
Dundee Official non-pictorial Postmark

Ref M12443
Eagle Croft, Birmingham

Ref N12446
British Comics Eagle, Lincoln, GBFDC Association

postmark with logo of the Comic Book Alliance.

postmark in form of cartoon speech bubble.

postmark with cartoon SPLAT!

postmark illustrated with Dennis the Menace.

Postmark showing Korky the Cat.

Ref N12444
Comic Book Alliance Stockport

Ref N12445 Teh Heh!, Giggleswick, N Yorkshire.

S12427 Splat, Dundee

Ref S12450 Dennis the Menace & Gnasher, The Beano, Dundee

Ref S12456 75th Anniversary of the Dandy, Albert Square, Dundee
Postmark showing Desperate Dan.



<<< Ref S12457

75th Anniversary of the Dandy
Kingsway East, Dundee



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This page updated 19 March 2012


2012 stamp issues
Visit our online shop!
January
5 Olympic & Paralympic Definitives
10 Roald Dahl (author)
20 Year of the Dragon Smilers
February
2 House of Windsor & Saxe-Coburg
6 Diamond Jubilee MS & definitive
23 Britons of Distinction
24 Pictorial Faststamps - Sheep
March
8 Classic Locomotives of Scotland MS
20 World of Comics
April
10 A-Z of the United Kingdom part 2, M-Z
10 RMS Titanic Commemorative Sheet
24 Pictorial Faststamps - Pigs
25 Machin & Country Defins
25 Diamond Jubilee Defins 2
May
1 James Bond Commem sheet
15 Design Classics, Great British Fashion
24 Union Flag Pictorial Faststamp
31 HM The Queen Diamond Jubilee
June
18 Exhibition Generic Sheet
19 Charles Dickens
27 Olympic Games Generic Smiler
27 Scotland 1st & 2nd reprint
July
27 Welcome to the London 2012 Olympic Games
From 27 Olympic Gold Medals
August
27 Retail booklet
29 Welcome to the London 2012 Paralympic Games
September
27 Memories of the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games
28 Pictorial Faststamps - Cattle
October
Retail booklet
Commemorative Sheet
 -- World of Dinosaurs ->2013
16 Space Science
November
8 Christmas

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