1984: BIG K MAGAZINE IPC LAUNCH AD

From 1984: Anyone remember IPC's first-generation computer magazine BIG K?

It got a fair amount of plugs in the Youth Group weeklies, presumably because it was being pitched at a similar crowd (and had Richard Burton as Assistant Editor).  Things didn't go quite as planned, despite aiming at as many platforms as possible (Spectrum, BBC, CBM 64, Vic, Electron and - err - Oric) and a Strontium Dog cover on issue 8, and the 12th issue turned out to be the last.

This March '84 IPC House Ad is for the first issue... with a winning retro freebie that actually would have been a pretty big deal back in the day.

1984: BIG K MAGAZINE HOUSE ADS (IPC)

BIG K was IPC's entry into the burgeoning 1984 computer magazine market.  Judging from these adverts, it attempted to be all things to all people by catering for a myriad of different tastes and hardware platforms.

The magazine benefited from IPC's vast size and unusual synergies by being plugged in the boys comics line (notably EAGLE) where all the scans below came from.

I was pretty indifferent to computers at this time so I was never tempted to buy an issue.  Indeed, I don't think I ever saw one on sale nor did I ever meet anyone else who owned a copy.  Nor have I ever found one since.  All this may indicate why, despite some spirited cross-promotion (including the four-page 'supplement' in October 1984), Big K didn't last long (some internet sources say a year).

Apparently, the latter issues reprinted the SHATTER computer-created comic strip that was published by First Comics in the States.  It's notable for being the first computer-generated comic... and virtually unreadable too.

Launch Ad

Eagle 10 March 1984

Issue 2 House Ad

Eagle 14 April 1984

Issue 3 House Ad

Eagle 19 May 1984

Four-page insert (EAGLE, 20 October 1984):