Twenty-five years after the first issue was published on 25th February 1961, The Victor celebrated this achievement by publishing a special edition. The front cover of issue 1305 has been reproduced below. The stories in this issue included -
Tough Tests for Alf Tupper. A new series about everyone's favourite runner begins. In this series 'he challenges some of Britain's oldest and strangest records.' This strip also had a new artist (again unknown), not in my view anywhere near as good as Peter Sutherland, but the artwork was not displeasing. It should though be pointed out that I associate Sutherland with the Tupper stories, so in my view no other artist could or did do as good a job. However, see Gladiators of the Desert entry below. (See the Artist identify page of this website).
The Goals of Jimmy Grant. A football strip.
What do you Know? A sixty-five question quiz about the characters and stories that had appeared in The Victor over the previous twenty-five years. This has been reproduced below for all readers to have a go at.
Cadman - The Front-Line Coward A new series (reprint?) with Captain Cadman and Corporal Tom Smith in the Italian Alps during World War One.
Spotlight on Sport All about football unsurprisingly.
The Hammer Man. Baron Chell Puddock still going strong.
Look for the Green Lizard The First part of a story that was published in the very first issue of The Victor.
We are United An ongoing series about a fictional United football team.
Gladiators of the Desert An ongoing series about a squadron of British Gladiator fighters in North Africa. Squadron Leader Johnny Stoner has an up hill task in training the squadron so that they are a formidable fighting team. The artwork is by the artist who drew the Alf Tupper story at the beginning of this issue. I enjoyed the artist's pencils on this strip.
The back page is a colour one page story about a thief who got more than he bargained for. Further artwork by the artist of the previous strip.
The Victor's Silver Jubilee quiz.
How many questions can you answer correctly? Award yourself one point for a correct answer and half a point for almost getting the correct answer. I only achieved 27 1/2 points out of 65 questions. Which tells you how much I know! So it's just as well I'm compiling this website as a reminder for myself. Answers at the bottom of the page.
.
Answers
 |