VALIANT JOINS VULCAN - IN A JOURNEY INTO OBLIVION...

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You'd have thought IPC's VULCAN would've been more of a success, emulating, as it did, a style very similar to US comics, but the national edition of Vulcan ran for only 29 issues.  However, as it had a trial run in Scotland for six months previously, tallying up another 30, the total count, if I'm not very much mistaken (and knowing me, I very well could be) was 59.  It also had a Holiday Special and an Annual, the latter usually being listed on ebay as 'rare', despite it popping up for sale extremely regularly.  (For 'rare', read 'more expensive than it should be'.)

When its time came, it was merged into VALIANT as a 'mini-mag', which, as far as I know, was the only time this was done to an absorbed title.  I'm not sure it was successful, as it meant some adventure strips were given only one page, and The TRIGAN EMPIRE's colour art didn't reprint too well in black and white.  A mere six months later, Valiant was swallowed by BATTLE and I can't help but wonder if it was the awful typeface lettering that was being use in IPC comics at the time which led to circulation dropping on so many titles.  I won't even bother showing you some samples, because they're so bad it hurts to look at them, but the overall effect was, to use the Glasgow technical term, pure pish.

Sure, D.C. THOMSON used typeface lettering in their comics too, but it was done with more finesse that IPC could manage.  When a comic looks dreadful, it surely doesn't help it retain a loyal following.  It's merely speculation on my part, of course, but maybe there's something in it.  Anyway, here's the Vulcan Mini-Mag #1 and some humour pages (hand-lettered thankfully, so they're most likely reprints) to give you a taste of a comic weekly that had only around six months to live.  Shame really.   Still, Valiant's 14 year lifespan is hardly to be sniffed at.

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