Lion (comics)

Lion was first published on 23 February 1952, and was a weekly boys' adventure comic designed to compete with Eagle, the popular weekly comic that had introduced Dan Dare. Lion's first issue contained a mix of text stories and comic strips; its flagship story was Captain Condor – Space Ship Pilot, a science fiction adventure in the Dan Dare mold. The premiere issue also contained the first adventure of Robot Archie (called The Jungle Robot in early adventures) who would go on to become one of the title's most popular characters. The most popular story was Paddy Payne, written by Val Holding and drawn by Joe Colquhoun. Reg "Skipper" Clarke ran the letters feature.

Editor Bernard Smith was always proud to say that he had the latest issue of Lion delivered to Buckingham Palace every Friday, the young Prince Charles being an avid reader. (In 1960, Prince Charles was 11 years old.)

By the 1960s Lion had settled into being one of the most popular British weekly titles of the time.

Karl the Viking, by Ken Bulmer and Don Lawrence, set in the Dark Ages, featured battles against a weird but impressive collection of legendary and fantasy monsters. It ran from 29 October 1960 to 29 September 1964, as a set of 13 stories).[1] and is well-remembered.[2] It was reprinted in Lion from 1 October 1966 – 7 October 1967, retitled as Swords of the Sea Wolves, with the lead character renamed Rolf the Viking.[1] (It would later be reprinted again, in the European version of Vulcan, on that occasion translated into German and retitled Kobra.)

In the 1960s, Lion began to feature an increasing number of anti-hero characters such as The Spider and The Sludge (who would later battle Robot Archie in his own strip).

Lion merged with several other comics during its life,[3] including Eagle in 1969[4] and Thunder in 1971.[5] But by the early 1970s sales were slipping, and in 1974 it was merged with Valiant. Several strips continued in Valiant, but that title merged with Battle Picture Weekly in 1976. Lion Annuals were published until 1983.

In 2005 many of IPC's characters, including several from Lion, were featured in a mini-series called Albion published by the WildStorm imprint of DC Comics.

• Adam Eterno — A man who lived forever and could not be killed except by gold. He was transported through time each week.
• Battler Britton - World War Air Ace
• The Bartoc Brothers — 2-page text story. Bartoc, a scientist makes four duplicates of himself. One has strength, one speed, one courage and one genius and they fight crime. However, two doubles are finally killed because the courageous one wanted more excitement and betrayed them. He and the genius died, and the series ended.
• Britain in Chains (later retitled The Battle for Britain) (29 February 1964 – 28 May 1966; later reprinted in Smash!) — Secret agent Vic Gunn (and his assistant Tubby) fights against Baron Rudolph, a usurper who has seized control of Britain using a secret weapon. The weapon emits a sound wave that paralyses anyone who isn't protected against it. Rudolph sets up a police state, similar in emblems and uniforms to medieval England at the time of King John, and Gunn leads the resistance against him.
• Carson's Cubs
• Captain Condor — Space Ship Pilot
• Dan Dare — stories from Eagle were reprinted in Lion after the comics merged.
• Karl the Viking (29 October 1960 – 29 September 1964; reprinted 1 October 1966 – 7 October 1967; later reprinted in Smash!)
• Maroc the Mighty — a returning English crusader whose magic armlet The Hand of Zar gave superhuman strength.
• Mowser — occupying the back cover, he was a cat who would always outwit his enemy, James the Butler.
• Paddy Payne - Fighter Ace.
• Phantom Viking — donning a magic helmet, a professor transforms into a Viking with great strength and the ability to fly but can lose his powers when the wind blows from the wrong direction.
• Robot Archie — a powerful robot under the control of two men.
• Secrets of the Demon Dwarf
• Sergeants Four
• Spot the Clue
• The Sludge
• The Spellbinder — An ancient sorcerer in modern times.
• The Spider — Part villain, part hero, he would fight master criminals using his skills and weapons.
• Texas Jack — Wild West hero based on John Baker Omohundro, real-life partner of Buffalo Bill Cody.
• Zip Nolan — Highway Patrol — A one-page comic story where he would spot a clue and so catch a crook.

• Editor: Bernard Smith
• Script Editor: Ken Mennell
• Assistant Editor: David Gregory
• Editorial: Peter Smith, Geoff Kemp, Roger Protz, Terence Magee, Pat Brookman, Chris Lowder
• Art: Royman Brown, Geoff Berwick, John Michael Burns, Ian Stead

• Lion: King of the Story Papers, by Steve Holland (Bear Alley Books, 2013)
• "The Comic That Roared: Lion", by Stephen Jewell, Judge Dredd Megazine #421, July 2020, pp. 40–44

• History of Lion at comicsuk
• 26pigs.com-British comics website