The era of the football comic book hero may have been consigned to
history but the storylines that entertained young boys nationwide every
week would not look out of place on the back pages of today's
newspapers.
For over a hundred years, the hopes and dreams of
football fans were played out in weekly magazines such as Hotspur,
Wizard, Buddy, Champ and Tiger by heroes Roy of the Rovers, 'Hot Shot'
Hamish, Charlie 'Iron' Barr, Nipper Lawrence, Andy Steele Playmaker and
Limp-Along Leslie.
Those superstars played for Melchester Rovers
or Blackport Rovers, wore boots more appropriate to deep sea diving and
often played on pitches more akin to slurry pits.
But the
modern-day youngster now enjoys interactive, 24-hour, wall-to-wall
coverage of the nation's game played in purpose-built stadiums on
picture perfect surfaces, yet the narratives they devour are much the
same as the football stories that comic readers enjoyed.
From
corrupt chairmen to success in adversity, cup final heartache,
last-minute winners and fancy-dan players, there's much that football
lovers from different generations have had in common over the years. It
would seem that the more things change, the more they stay the same.
Continue reading (enjoying some fabulous comic strips)
here
