Hurricane (British comics)

Amalgamated Press had been taken over by the Mirror Group in 1960, and the new owners reorganised the company's comics magazines under the banner Fleetway Publications. One of the major attractions for the Mirror Group had been AP's plethora of weekly comics with their six-figure circulations. Eager to stamp their own identity on the market, they had launched Valiant in 1962. Eschewing text stories in favour of picture strips and content based on the growing interest in World War II from young boys, it had gone on to be one of the company's most profitable publications. Looking to expand the line further, Valiant creator Jack Le Grand was assigned to create a 'companion paper' along similar lines[1][2] to counter DC Thomson's successful Hornet.[3]

Coming up with the name Hurricane, Le Grand commissioned a similar range of stories, typical of boys' comics of the era - war, sport and adventure.[4] "Typhoon Tracy" (drawn by Mario Capaldi) echoed the format of "Captain Hurricane",[5] featuring an oversized sailor and trouble-shooter roving the world, putting his superhuman strength to use for good causes; Tracy's low intelligence added a comic factor to proceedings. "HMS Outcast" plumbed similar territory, featuring a crew of Royal Navy misfits thrown onto an antique destroyer in World War II, while "Sword for Hire" starred another roving adventurer, the daring 'Prince of Swordsmen' Hugo Dinwiddie helping innocents during The Protectorate. Sport was represented by "Skid Solo" - featuring the title character's attempts to launch a motor racing career against the wishes of his old-fashioned Aunt Mabel - and 19th century boxing saga "Two Fists Against the World; boarding school antics were provided by tearaway Duffy as "The Worst Boy in School" and - while less popular than the previous decade - Westerns were still catered for by mysterious gunslinger Drago in "He Rides Alone". Humour was provided by the cartoon "Rod the Odd Mod", concerning the electronics-obsessed title character and his skittish friend Percy Vere, reprints of Italian Mark Twain adaptation "Un Americano alla Corte di re Artù" as "A Yankee at the Court of King Arthur" and "Just for a Laugh", featuring cartoons of reader-submitted jokes - those chosen would be rewarded with a £1 prize.[3]

Educational content, still needed as readers were typically of an age where they required parental approval for their purchases, was provided by a back-page potted overview of a historical event. An unusual feature of Hurricane was that it did not have a front page strip - instead featuring a full-page painting, usually linked to the historical article.[3] Like Valiant and its predecessor - the revamped version of Knockout - the comic was also notable due to the high percentage of material commissioned from European studios in Italy and Spain.[6]

The first issue of Hurricane was released on 23 February 1964;[lower-alpha 1] it would be published every Monday as was Valiant, further emphasising the link between the two, and the title debuted with cover-mounted model of the much-anticipated BAC TSR-2 jet bomber.[2] At the time it took around five to six months for useful sales information to be collated by Fleetway, and this revealed that sales were less impressive than hoped for. As with other titles, Hurricane's market research was conducted by reader's letters - children were encouraged to write missives listing their three favourite features, and to include such information with submissions for "Just for a Laugh" or reader competitions.[1]

Based on this information the title was heavily reconfigured at the start of July 1964. The painted front cover disappeared in favour of football strip "'Hurry' of the Hammers" (as the name hinted, modified episodes of "Roy of the Rovers" from sister title Tiger). "Two Fists Against the World" and "He Rides Alone" were dropped, while material for "A Yankee in King Arthur's Court" had run out. Coming in were science fiction yarn "The Juggernaut from Planet Z" (featuring work by Brian Lewis), war story "Paratrooper" starring Sergeant Rock[lower-alpha 2] and another set of reprints, with Sun's "Billy the Kid" edited to become "The Black Avenger". The revamp didn't help, and further changes at the end of September saw "HMS Outcast", "Sword for Hire" and "The Worst Boy in School" end. They were replaced by disaster story "When the Lights Went Out!" (drawn by José Ortiz), mystery "The Phantom of Cursitor's Marsh" and "Rob O' the Wood". The latter purported to be the adventures of Robin Hood's son; in fact, they were slightly modified versions of the folk hero's appearances in Thriller Picture Library. Harry "Hurry" Cane was moved to the centre pages, and the front cover featured dramatic factual piece "Danger Men", featuring exploits from the likes of Donald Campbell, the Light Brigade, Louis Blériot and William Leefe Robinson before making way for a front-page return by "Typhoon Tracy".[3]

Further new features - Lion reprints "Brett Marlowe" and "Danger Island", and resurrected Tiger reject "Danny Jones, Time-Traveller" failed to halt the slide and the 8 May 1965 cover bore the headline "Big News For All Readers Inside". Said news was that just over a year after its launch Hurricane would be merging with the tabloid-format Tiger the following week as Tiger and Hurricane, designed partly to respond to City Magazines' TV Century 21.[3] "Typhoon Tracy" and "Skid Solo" - the only survivors from the opening issue - made the move, as did "Paratrooper" (reconfigured as "Sergeant Rock, Special Air Service"). Hurricane's mention on the Tiger masthead was relatively enduring, lasting until 22 February 1969, four years later. Like many cancelled Fleetway titles, a Hurricane Annual was also issued for some time after the demise of the ongoing comic - the last being dated 1974.[2]

In 1966, Fleetway would again attempt to launch a Valiant companion title with The Champion; this was even less successful, lasting just 15 weekly editions.[3] In 2018 the rights to the original material for Hurricane were among the pre-1970 AP/Fleetway/IPC library purchased by Rebellion Developments.[7]

• Holland, Steve (2020). Hurricane and Champion: The Companion Papers to Valiant. Bear Alley Books.

• Hurricane at International Hero
• Hurricane Revisited: A Whirlwind Existence at Martin Crookall – Author For Sale
• Hurricane at the Grand Comics Database