TV Express

a.k.a.: Junior Express, Junior Express Weekly, Express Weekly

Publisher: Beaverbrook

Format: Initially newspaper with strips, later weekly strip anthology

First Issue: Junior Express #1 (4th September 1954)

Last Issue: TV Express #375 (6th January 1962)

Absorbed: Rocket

Absorbed into: TV Comic

Strips: Battleground, Bengo, Biggles, Col. Pinto, Crow's Nest, Danger Man, Freedom is the Prize, Geena, Gun Law, Jeff Hawke, Jet Morgan, Lone Ranger, No Hiding Place, Revs Ransome, Wulf the Briton, Yogi Bear

Comments: Canadian born William Maxwell Aitken had emigrated to Britain in 1910 and soon after began building a newspaper empire that would include both the Daily Express and Sunday Express newspapers. In 1911 he was knighted, becoming the 1st Baron Beaverbrook, a title subsequently used for his newspaper group, Beaverbrook Newspapers. In 1954 Beaverbrook Newspapers launched the Junior Express, a newspaper aimed at younger readers, with comic strips alongside the news reports; the first issue was covered dated 4th September 1954, and cost 2d (two shillings). Among its early strips was space adventurer Jeff Hawke. Over time the news content was reduced and then dropped entirely in favour of the comic strip content, and as of issue 39, the title changed to Junior Express Weekly, then simply Express Weekly as of issue 74. A rival to the Eagle, it continued under this name for several years, with notable strips including Ron Embleton's Wulf the Briton (later reprinted in Marvel UK's Forces in Combat), Lone Ranger and Jet Morgan (Captain Andrew "Jet" Morgan), a character from the BBC radio series Journey into Space, whose strip was scripted by Charles Chilton (producer of the BBC series) and drawn initially by Ferdinando Tacconi, then Bruce Cornwall and finally Terence Patrick. The comic changed its name again to TV Express with issue 286, with new strips including Danger Man, Yogi Bear and Biggles. The last issue was number 375, dated 6th January 1962, after which it was merged into TV Comic.

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