Paragon City, once a city with a reputation of excellence. But no more. Gangsters have taken control, with the mayor and many police officers in the pay of the criminals. But a few hardy men will not bow down and form themselves into a Citizen's Council. Their sole aim to rid Paragon City once and for all of crime and criminals. In order to this, they need the help of a brave individual. Enter Big Bill Roberts, soon to be better known as Red Star Roberts.

A strip from The Victor. The series originally appeared in text form in The Wizard and also in The Hotspur picture comic.

The images above show from left to right Red Star Robinson from the text paper, The Wizard (artist not known), then The Victor (artist Sutherland) and finally, the Hotspur version, (artwork by Terry Patrick).

First appearance in The Wizard text comic:-

October 15th 1932 issue 515 - 532 February 11th 1933.
562 September 9th 1933 - 579 January 6th 1934.
635 February 2nd 1935 - 662 August 10th 1935. under the title: The Ventures of Red Star Roberts.
935 November 2nd 1940 - 941 December 14th 1940.
1320 June 2nd 1951 - 1329 August 4th 1951.

Picture stories

See The Victor issues 55 - 57, 253 and 255.

Writer:- The Victor editorial team. Artist:- Pete Sutherland.

Main cast:- Big Bill Roberts, but soon to be better known as Red Star Roberts.

Time period:- 1960's.

The below image is from the front cover of the text comic Wizard 2nd February, 1935, issue 635. Price 2 old pence.

The text story introduces Big Bill Roberts who is working at a fairground as an attendant in charge of a shooting booth. It's not a job he particularly enjoys, but it pays his bills. We learn that Roberts is a crackshot with guns, but his main interest is inventing new gadgets. For example, a special type of gum that once applied to a surface, cannot be removed. It is this gum that Roberts uses when sticking his red stars to a villain's forehead. Thus his name Red Star Roberts. (The character isn't a communist and he's not from Russia).

(The information about the gun, and Roberts working as a fairground attendant and being a crackshot with a gun, isn't mentioned in the picture stories, probably due to shortage of space).

Appalled at the senseless violence and death of innocent bystanders and a dog, after a gunfight breaks out between two rival parties of gunmen, Roberts agrees to end the gangsters greedy and deadly grip on the City. His adventures show how he goes about achieving his aim. Roberts would later tackle gangsters in Zentih City and the City of London, Great Britain.

You can read the very first Red Star Roberts text story published in The Wizard, issue 515 below. The text story makes it clear that he is an crackshot with guns and an inventor of gadgets.

My thanks to Vic Whittle for the scans of Roberts adventures from issues 55 to 57 and the scans of the Roberts text story from The Wizard.

All five of the picture adventures of Red Star Roberts are available to view below and are from issues 55, 56, 57, 253 and 255 respectively.

Publishing History of the picture stories.

Picture stories about this character were never published as a series. As far as I know only five of the text adventures were ever published as picture stories in The Victor. Three stories were published in issues 55 to 57. Readers then had to wait until issues 253 and 255 to read two further picture stories about Roberts. Are there other picture stories about this character still to be published, that are hidden away in the D.C. Thomson archive?

The second picture version introduced a new character Red Star Robertson and appeared in The Hotspur picture comic. This version of the strip had a young boy, Tom Robinson as the main hero, who was assisted by a large robot called Mr. Syrius Thrice. A mysterious crimefighter, The Watcher seeing Robinson thwart a bank raid, equipped the seventeen year old with various gadgets including a gun that marks criminals with a red star, Mr. Thrice and a flying car.

This series of Red Star Robertson, started in the Hotspur issue 520. Artist and the issue number the series ended is not known at present. The first episode in which our hero Tom Robinson meets the mysterious Watcher can be read below.

The episode below that is a story from a later series again, from the Hotspur issue 742. Artwork is by Terry Patrick.