1991: DC HEROES Weekly

Dial "H" for Heroes, dial "C" for cancelled.

This is a blink-and-you-missed-it (and, judging by its hasty cancellation, pretty much everyone did) DC-centric weekly from those guys at London Editions Magazines (LEM).  And, like many of their other offerings (DC ACTION, ZONES and SHOCKWAVE) it couldn't even muster an official last issue, quietly vanishing without trace after only two months.

- Each issue reprinted, under license, THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD, THE LEGION OF SUPER HEROES and BLUE DEVIL.

- Heroes was pitched at a younger audience than the rest of LEM's DC line: more of an "all-ages" title.

-  The Brave and the Bold allowed Heroes to showcase a second DC hero alongside Batman without the complicated continuity of the mainstream Batman titles.  Marvel UK used the Spider-man-centric Marvel Team Up reprints in the same way.

-  Issues one to three came with free cover-mounted postcards (reproduced below) showcasing famous DC covers.

-  Batman, already the star of his own UK title (as well as the quarterly BATMAN PRESENTS), was (of course) flavour of the month thanks to the feature film series.

-  The Flash, teamed with Batman in issues 4-6, had recently starred in his own live-action TV series (unseen in the UK at this point).  Issue 4 features a competition to win the pilot episode on VHS.  The TV series, very much in the Batman movie style, ran (ahem) for a single season.

-  The weekly was cancelled after only 8 weeks, presumably as soon as the sales figures for the first issue became available.  The decision was so hasty that the contents of the ninth issue (replacing Blue Devil with the Green Arrow) were announced, as usual, in the eighth.

- Issues 9-13 were certainly planned... and announced in the usual Definitely Collectable (geddit?) column for May 1991.  Amongst the unseen highlights:  The debut of the Green Arrow and Black Canary (issues 9-10) followed by Firestorm (from 12), a Batman/ I-Vampire team-up (issues 10-12) and Batman/ Scalp Hunter (from 13).  Issue 13 was billed as "not a bad issue, really" although we only have editor Martin Gray's word for it.

-  In common with other LEM titles (don't they know collectors like to catalogue these things?), there's no cover dates on any of the issues so we've used on-sale dates.

- SHOCKWAVE, also launched in 1991 (replacing the defunct ZONES and DC ACTION, albeit in a cheaper format) also shuttered around the same time without warning.  BATMAN, SUPERMAN and BATMAN PRESENTS all continued.

ISSUE 1

7 March 1991

With cover-mounted postcards.

ISSUE 1

Clean cover.

ISSUE 1

Free cards.

ISSUE 2

14 March 1991

With cover-mounted postcards.

ISSUE 2

Clean cover.

ISSUE 2

Free postcards.

ISSUE 3

21 March 1991

With cover-mounted postcards.

ISSUE 3

Clean cover.

ISSUE 4

Free postcards.

ISSUE 4

28 March 1991

ISSUE 5

4 April 1991

ISSUE 6

11 April 1991

ISSUE 7

18 April 1991

ISSUE 8

25 April 1991

ISSUE 8

Preview for issue 9.

Planned titles for May 1991, including the unpublished Heroes 9-13.

London Editions Magazines in-house advertisement for the DC reprint line, including Heroes. 

1990: DC IN THE UK: SHOCKWAVE

Following the failure of the pricey album-format bi-monthlies DC ACTION (6 issues) and ZONES (4 issues) in 1990, UK licensee London Editions had another crack at the Vertigo-reprint mature-readers market with SHOCKWAVE.

The new monthly, priced 99p and in a much cheaper format than its predecessors, reprinted BLACK ORCHID (previously announced for the never-published ZONES issue 5), ANIMAL MAN (following a truncated run in DC ACTION) and HELLBLAZER.

Animal Man was suspended after two issues in favour of CATWOMAN reprints.  He was due to resume in issue five but, true to London Editions form, it was never published.

Shockwave had the working title SHADOWS which survived into pre-launch house ads.

Unlike the demise of its predecessors, LEM didn't have a third crack at repackaging the same material.

ISSUE ONE

ISSUE TWO

ISSUE THREE

ISSUE FOUR

PRE-LAUNCH ADVERT FOR SHADOWS

LEM HOUSE-AD FROM 1991.

SUPERMAN, BATMAN and BATMAN PRESENTS proved to have some longevity, the weekly HEROES and, of course, SHOCKWAVE didn't.

1990: DC COMICS IN THE UK: DC ACTION

DC ACTION was an album-format (68 pages, stiff card covers, full colour interiors on heavy paper stock) bi-monthly reprint compilation of DC material, published in the UK by London Editions in 1990.  It survived for six issues before being cancelled without warning.

Its (relatively) hefty cover price (£1.75), long gaps between issues and a character line-up largely unfamiliar to the typical punter probably signed its death warrant.

The core line-up was THE NEW TEEN TITANS and ANIMAL MAN with the third feature occupied by SECRET ORIGINS followed by (an unexpectedly truncated) HISTORY OF THE DC UNIVERSE. Some nice articles rounded out an attractive, if not terribly commercial, package.  The nice format allowed the artwork to be reproduced to a high standard on A4 pages, ensuring the reprints were better presented than their US originals.

Issue 1 came with a free cover-mounted badge.

Issue 7 was scheduled to appear in January 1991 but vanished without trace.

ANIMAL MAN continued in London Edition's cheaper (95p) 1991 replacement, SHOCKWAVE.  That lasted four issues before pulling a similar vanishing act.

DC ACTION's companion, in the same format, was the Vertigo-themed ZONES, cancelled (again without warning) after 4 issues.

ISSUE 1

1990

THE NEW TEEN TITANS

SECRET ORIGINS: THE CREEPER PT1

ANIMAL MAN: THE HUMAN ZOO

ARTICLES: DC Q / ANIMAL MAN / CONVENTIONS

ISSUE 2

1990

NEW TEEN TITANS: TODAY… THE TERMINATOR!

SECRET ORIGINS: THE CREEPER PT2

ANIMAL MAN: LIFE IN THE CONCRETE JUNGLE

ARTICLES: DC Q / DC COMICS IN THE BEGINNING / TEEN TITANS

ISSUE 3

1990

NEW TEEN TITANS: THE FEARSOME FIVE!

SECRET ORIGINS: THE MANHUNTERS PT1

ANIMAL MAN: THE NATURE OF THE BEAST

ARTICLES: SUPERBOY & KRYPTO / MANHUNTER / DC Q / AQUAMAN: WATERSPORTS

ISSUE 4

1990

TEEN TITANS: AGAINST ALL ODDS

SECRET ORIGINS: THE MANHUNTERS PT2

ANIMAL MAN: WHEN WE ALL LIVED IN THE FOREST

ARTICLES: LOIS LANE / JLA 

ISSUE 5

1990

ANIMAL MAN: THE COYOTE GOSPEL

HISTORY OF THE DC UNIVERSE PT1

NEW TEEN TITANS: TRIGON LIVES!

ARTICLES: DC Q / DC HEROES ON SCREEN PT1 / CONGORILLA

ISSUE 6

1990

ANIMAL MAN: BIRDS OF PREY

HISTORY OF THE DC UNIVERSE PT2

NEW TEEN TITANS: LAST KILL

ARTICLES: DC Q / UKCAC 90 REPORT / DC HEROES ON SCREEN PT2

ISSUE 6 CONTENTS PAGE

Includes details of the planned line-up for issue 7: 

ANIMAL MAN: The Red Mask

BATMAN: The Player On The Other Side