Tiger (Fleetway)

This article is about the British comic magazine. For the American comic strip, see Tiger (comic strip).

Tiger
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Publication information
Publisher	IPC Magazines Ltd Fleetway
Schedule	Weekly
Format	Ongoing series
Publication date	September 11 1954 – March 30 1985
Number of issues	1555
Main character(s)	Roy of the Rovers
Editor(s)	Derek Birnage

Tiger was a British comic magazine published from 1954 to 1985. The comic was launched under the editorship of Derek Birnage^[1] on 11 September 1954,^[2] under the name Tiger – The Sport and Adventure Picture Story Weekly,^[3] and featured predominantly sporting strips. Its most popular strip was Roy of the Rovers, a football-based strip 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.^[4]

The comic was merged with the football magazine Scorcher in the mid '70s, and became known as Tiger and Scorcher (unusual for such mergers it kept this title for several years). Later there was a further, less successful, merger with another comic called Speed. The end finally came on 30 March 1985, with some strips moving to The Eagle.^[5] In all, 1,555 issues were published, as well as a number of hard-cover annuals.^[6]

List of strips

This list is incomplete. You can help to complete it.

• Billy's Boots – moved to Eagle, then Roy of the Rovers
• Death Wish – moved to Eagle
• Fairs Please!
• File of Fame
• Fisty Flynn
• Football Family Robinson about a lower division side called Thatchem United. All players had to be Robinson family members under the tutelage of Grandma Robinson. Team members included Crash Robinson (goalie), Alf Robinson, Fred Robinson, Grizzly Bear Robinson, Ron Robinson and Tich Robinson. Their biggest moment was when they got to Wembley and won the League Cup, in a manner similar to Swindon Town's 1969 victory over Arsenal in the same competition. The story resumed in Roy of the Rovers in the late 1970s.
• Golden Boy – moved to Eagle
• Hot Shot Hamish – moved to Roy of the Rovers
• Jet-Ace Logan
• Johnny Cougar – A native American wrestler who grappled with a number of colourful opponents.
• King Of The Track
• Martin's Marvellous Mini
• Nipper
• Olac the Gladiator
• Paceman
• Rod And Line
• Roy of the Rovers – spun off into its own comic in 1976 (but continued to have stories in Tiger for a couple of years after this)
• Skid Solo – a British Formula 1 Driver in the 70s/80s
• Sintek
• The Strong Guy
• Star Rider – moved to Eagle
• The Suicide Six
• Tallon of the Track – tomboy Jo Tallon runs the Flying Ospreys speedway team
• Topps On Two Wheels (title later changed to Topps)
• The Tough Game – a rugby league story involving the exploits of three friends, Duggie Batson, Big Ernie Barnes and Ape Man.
• Typhoon Tracy, Trouble-shooter

In addition, sports stars such as Geoff Boycott, Trevor Francis, Ian Botham and Charlie Nicholas wrote columns for Tiger.

Notes and references

1. ^ Philip, Robert (January 31, 2004). "Philip on Saturday: Roy Race creator dies". The Telegraph. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/main.jhtml?xml=/sport/2004/01/31/sorp31.xml&sSheet=/portal/2004/01/31/ixportal.html. 
2. ^ "Comic Stories". Roy of the Rovers.com. Archived from the original on 2005-02-05. http://web.archive.org/web/20050205025452/http://www.royoftherovers.com/comicstories.htm. Retrieved 2005-06-09. 
3. ^ "Collectors Corner – Bibliography and Guide Prices". Roy of the Rovers.com. Archived from the original on 2005-02-10. http://web.archive.org/web/20050210183935/http://www.royoftherovers.com/collectorscorner/guideprices.htm. Retrieved 2005-06-09. 
4. ^ O'Meara, Tom (September 20, 2004). "He shoots ... he scores!". The Guardian. http://www.royoftherovers.com/comicstories.htm. 
5. ^ "Comic Stories". http://www.royoftherovers.com/comicstories.htm. 
6. ^ "Tiger Comic". British Comics.com. http://www.britishcomics.com/tiger.htm. Retrieved 2005-06-09. ^{[dead link]}

External links

• Roy of the Rovers official website