Barrie Tomlinson remembers Roy of the Rovers Christmas past

Roy of the Rovers editor Barrie Tomlinson talks about his Christmas memories to Mark Towers for the online fanzine "Racey's Rocket" in 2008.

As Editor and Group Editor of children‟s comics, it was always my policy to feature the big celebrities of the day, from both television and sport. I began this policy with TIGER and carried it on when I launched ROY OF THE ROVERS. I figured that television was playing a big part in the lives of young people and the only way we could fight it was to join in ourselves and involve the titles in the world of television. When I later launched the New EAGLE, that policy was heavily criticised and I was accused of being “star-struck”. I had to change my plans to put top celebs in EAGLE. But that‟s another story! Let's get back to TIGER and ROY OF THE ROVERS...

Light at the end of the tunnel?

Could we be about to see the return of Roy of the Rovers? It seems that Ian Rimmer and Barrie Mitchell are working on new material in the hope of getting the story picked up.

I contacted Ian Rimmer about a Q&A for this blog and very kindly accepted, so please post your questions as comments, post them to the RotR forum here or e-mail them to me (strkav@yahoo.gr) so as to forward them to the creators of the latest comic strips, who are trying hard for a comeback. You can do this until the end of December.

Have a look at Ian Rimmer's site here: http://therealianrimmer.com/real-roy-of-the-rovers-stuff/

New Look Roy of the Rovers 1992

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ILy_mh7TpIM

Roy of the Rovers stuff...literally

There are 3 pub conversations everyone reading this will have had at least once in their life –

1. Greatest album of all time?

Now this is open to a huge amount of debate - personal taste aside great bands don’t always make the truly ‘great’ albums, do you judge it on sales, mass appeal, or purely personal preference? I will simply say this without ever hoping to answer conclusively. If you say anything other than ‘The Stone Roses’ by The Stone Roses you’re wrong. If you answered with anything by Meat Loaf you can probably stop reading this and go spend some time taking a long, hard look at yourself in the mirror.

2. Greatest film of all time?

To be right just pick any one from these five – Weekend at Bernie’s, Rocky IV, Escape to Victory, Clerks, or Weekend at Bernie’s 2. Alternatively I will accept some pornography. Nothing with dwarfs though. Never again.

3. Greatest footballer of all time?

Now this is the biggie. Do you go Diego - mercurial, breath taking, the entertainer supreme and with the personality to match the talent? What about Pele, the most brilliant of the brilliant Brazilians, an institution in the game, scorer of over a 1000 goals (ish…)? How about Bestie, the wasted talent, the ‘How good could he have been’ argument? Then there’s Di Stefano, Socrates, Bobby Moore, Beckenbauer, Puskas, Messi, Ronaldo, Zidane, Gareth Bale…

Next time this comes up, let me give you a slightly different take. Let me submit to you a footballer whose career spanned decades from youth player to first teamer to player-manager. Off the pitch he survived player rebellions, a takeover of his club, a coma after being shot, a coach disaster, and a high profile marriage break up and reconciliation. On it he won everything domestically (including 9 league titles) as well as every European competition available including a personal favourite – the Cup Winner’s Cup.

Ladies and gentlemen, I give you Roy Race.

Roy of the Rovers Holiday Special 1984

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RotR artist Joe Colquhoun Interview

The Kommissar thanks Comrade Jane Colquhoun for providing the Politburo with her copy of this rare 1982 interview with her father. Comrade Joe talks about his history in comics and about Charley’s War in particular. Sadly, Joe’s comments about his own future were never to come true. A modest man, Joe rarely spoke to the press, so this is one of the only interviews he undertook:

Roy of the Rovers on Facebook

You can find us on facebook here. Feel free to post your RotR memories!

Football may regret lost values of Roy Race and the comic book heroes

Roy Race schooled you in the romance of the game – the little guy always has a chance against the big guy.

Roy of the Rovers Holiday Special 1982

A Subbuteo ...comic strip!

Ever been interested in reading a comic strip where the actual Subbuteo figures are the stars? If so have a look here! It's rather amusing, if anything!

'Among Friends' blog is sponsored by … Roy of the Rovers

If you’ve been browsing through the blog over the month of January you’ll notice I haven’t wrote that much about football especially the latest exploits.  That should come as something as a surprise to you knowing how much I love football, but it’s just because so much has been happening over the last month, that I was happy to wait until things settled down before offering my opinion, but that doesn’t mean I’ve not been keeping up with things.

Indeed in all the monitoring with what’s going on in football I got all nostalgic and hankered for a simpler time.  A time where the real excitement was represented in comic form.  Back in the day I would not be ashamed to spend all my hard earned money on football stuff – magazines, sure, but especially the football comics.

Roy of the Rovers Holiday Special 1981

These are the RotR comic strips from the 1981 Holiday Special. I've scanned some of the HS comic strips and they are to be uploaded within the next few days!

Dusting Off : Roy of the Rovers, 20th March 1993

Something a bit different for this week’s Dusting Off, as I recently dug out a pile of issues (actually borrowed off a mate) of Roy of the Rovers, in order to look something up in them – and I thought it might be fun to attempt to review one. For non-UK readers who don’t have a clue what I’m talking about, Roy of the Rovers was a weekly comic strip begun in the 1950s, chronicling the adventures of a football (soccer) player named Roy Race, and his team, Melchester Rovers. It was part of a great culture of British sporting comics – one that gradually died out as the 1980s and 1990s went on – and by far the most successful example, starting in an anthology series called Tiger before moving to its own eponymous comic in the ’70s.

Keeping it in the family...

Taken from the MotD annual 2001. As always open in a new tab to read. Enjoy!!!

The 10 best comic book footballers

Surprisingly enough, Roy is NOT No1 on this list! Click below to see more

"Να γίνουμε σαν τον Ρόυ"!!!

Άρθρο του αγαπητού φίλου Νίκου Νικολαϊδη στο ανανεωμένο blog http://roycomesback.blogspot.gr/

Για όλους εμάς που μεγαλώσαμε στις δεκαετίες του'70, του '80 αλλά και του '90 διαβάζοντας (πρώτα στο περιοδικό "Ζαγκόρ" κι έπειτα στο "Δυναμικό ΑΓΟΡΙ" ή στο "ΓΚΟΛ") τις περιπέτειες του "Άσσου των γηπέδων", του "κανονιέρη" αρχηγού της φημισμένης 'Melchester' Ρόϋ Ρέης ("Roy of the Rovers"), η μαγεία αυτού του χαρακτήρα δεν έχει σβηστεί από τη μνήμη.

The Match of the Day Years - February 2001

This is the RotR strip published in the last issue of MotD magazine in February 2001. You can download the full series of the MotD era strips on the right column of the blog. Let's hope we see more new RotR adventures in the future...

The Match of the Day Years - January 2001

The Match of the Day Years - December 2000

The Rovers are alive...

...in Stroky Knoght's fantastic blog. The guy's done an excellent job in keeping the Rovers alive and much more than that. He's a very talented person and has brought old stories back to life. Literally! So don't forget to check http://royoftheroversstorkyk.blogspot.gr/ every now and then and see what Stroky has come up with. He's even made a 3-D RotR story! Magnificent work, really!

The Match of the Day Years - November 2000

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The Match of the Day Years - October 2000

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The Match of the Day Years - September 2000

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Football Comics

On this site I have drawn a distinction between football magazines and football comics. (My definition is that magazines are aimed at adults and comics are aimed at children/teenagers)

Comic strips existed in post war newspapers but the stand out launch in British football comics was the "Tiger- The Sport and Adventure Picture Story Weekly" on the 11th of September 1954.This first issue featured for the first time "Roy of the Rovers" and was an immediate hit. Derek Birnage edited the comic. Roy of the Rovers became synonymous with the Tiger comic and during the 1960's Tiger had a circulation of over 300,000 copies. Tiger survived for 1555 issues and incorporated a number of titles including 'Champion' (1955), 'Comet' (1959), 'Hurricane' (1965), 'Jag' (1969), 'Scorcher' (1974) and 'Speed' in 1980 before being incorporated itself into 'Eagle' (second series) (1985).

The Match of the Day Years - August 2000

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The Match of the Day Years - July 2000

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Profiles Of the Great and Good: Roy Race: It's Real Roy of the Rovers Stuff Here!

Roy of the Rovers was by far the most popular football comic ever.

Running from 1954 to 2001, stories covered various issues—Roy as a teen trying to break into the famed "Melchester Rovers" team, winning every trophy imaginable, representing his country in the World Cup, playing with pop stars and even relegation.

He even had an unstoppable shot called the "Racy Rocket"....ah, those were the days.

Roy Race made his debut in the Tiger comic in 1954. Tiger was from the same stable as the famed "Eagle Comic" which focused on the science-fiction end of things, with Dan Dare as it's banner character.

The Match of the Day Years - June 2000

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Roy of the Rovers Corinthian re-paints

Check them out here

The Match of the Day Years - May 2000

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Roy of the Rovers - a lesson in fair play?

Last week’s demise of The Dandy brought to mind another childhood source of entertainment and insight, Roy of the Rovers.
Like most other 10 year olds, each week I eagerly awaited the arrival of The Tiger comic, featuring the life and times of Melchester’s star player.

Fair Play?
However, on one shocking occasion, a rival player, in full view of the reader, but out-of-sight of the referee, actually flicked the ball with his hand to enhance his shot. This unlawful move so outraged me I rapidly scanned the rest of the strip in vain for evidence that the move had been noted as the subject of a penalty, at least..

The Match of the Day Years - April 2000

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Η προσφορά συνεχίζεται!

Το site των Ελλήνων φίλων του Roy παίρνει την ιστορία από την αρχή! Κατεβάστε εντελώς δωρεάν εδώ το comic strip της ιστορίας όπως δημοσιεύτηκε στο περιοδικό Tiger το 1976 . Τα strips είναι διάσπαρτα, η σειρά κάθε άλλο παρά πλήρης είναι, αλλά σίγουρα είναι ένα δείγμα αρκετά σημαντικό.

Τα strips από το περιοδικό Tiger, τις εβδομαδιαίες εκδόσεις, από το 1976, εως και το 1993, και τα Μonthlies από τα έτη 1993-95 θα τα βρείτε στη δεξιά στήλη του blog. Καλό διάβασμα σε όλους!