Nipper Issue No. 1!

Nipper issue one went on sale on Saturday 31st January 1987 for 28p, two pence more than other Fleetway comic at the time. Unlike other comics which went on sale a week earlier than their cover date, Nipper (at least according to the advert in the free preview comic) actually went on sale on January 31st.

CONTENTS:

1: Nipper, Full Colour, Artist: Gordon Bell
2: Nipper (cont.), Full Colour
3: Nipper (cont.), Full Colour, and half page welcome letter, full colour by Gordon Bell
4: Brad Break, Black and White, Artist: Steve Bright
5: Brad Break (cont.), Black and White
6: fLapper, Full Colour, Artist: Gordon Bell
7: fLapper (cont.), Full Colour
8: Magic Trainers (cont.), Black and White, Artist: Unknown (same artist as for Wonder Boy on page 16 - 17)
9: Magic Trainers (cont.), Black and White
10: Kelpie's Kingdom, Part Colour, Artist: Unknown
11: Kelpie's Kingdom (cont.), Part Colour 
12: Kelpie's Kingdom (cont.), Black and White
13: Advertisement for Weetabix cereal with free gift (stickers with stand up cards), Full Colour
14: Blaster and Bignoise!, Black and White, Artist: Clive Hanning
15: Blaster and Bignoise! (cont.), Black and White
16: Wonder Boy, Full Colour, Artist: Roy Mitchell
17: Wonder Boy (cont.), Full Colour
18: Double Trouble, Black and White, Artist: Terry Bave
19: The Savers, Black and White, Artist: Mark Bennington
20: The Savers (cont.), Black and White
21: The Savers (cont.), Black and White
22: The Savers (cont.), Black and White
23: Advertisement for free sweets with No. 2 of Nipper, Full Colour
24: Ricky Rainbow, Full Colour, Artist: Jimmy Hansen
25: Ricky Rainbow (cont.), Full Colour
26: Strongarm - Command Kart, Black and White, Artist: Mike Lacey
27: Strongarm - Command Kart (cont.), Black and White
28: Strongarm - Command Kart (cont.), Black and White
29: Frankie's Flashlight, Full Colour, Artist: Unknown
30: Frankie's Flashlight (cont.), Full Colour
31: Frankie's Flashlight (cont.), Full Colour
32: Roys Toys, Black and White, Artist: Sid Burgon
33: Roys Toys (cont.), Black and White
34: Mighty Mouth, Black and White, Artist: Terry Bave
35: Mighty Mouth (cont.), Black and White, and advert for 'Treasure Hunt' in Buster and Whizzer and Chips, Black and White.
36: My 'Dad' Mum, Full Colour, Artist: Anthony Hutchings
37: My 'Dad' Mum (cont.), Full Colour
38: Advertisement to sign up for Nipper's Register, Black and White
39: James Pond (cont.), Full Colour, Artist: Unknown
40: James Pond (cont.), Full Colour
41: James Pond (cont.), Full Colour
42: School Funds, Black and White, Artist: Sid Burgon
43: School Funds (cont.), Balck and White
44: First Time Fred, Full Colour, Artist: David Jones
45: Selection of advertisements, two for stamps, one for pranks
46: Felix the Pussycat (cont.), Full Colour, Artist: Tom Paterson
47: Felix the Pussycat (cont.), Full Colour
48: Felix the Pussycat (cont.), Full Colour

Issue one came with a pack (presumably a very small one) of Anglo Bellamy Wilkinson "Childrens Mix" sweets. Issue two and five also came with this gift, but unusually issue three didn't come with a gift at all!

Blonde Nipper!

[From issue 10] 

In Nipper's run, he always appeared as a little ginger kid (he sort of reminds me of a younger version of Sid from Sid's Snake in Whizzer and Chips)! However, on issue numbers #10 - #12, he was blonde! Maybe the colourist had a complete blonde moment! (Ba-dum-TISH!)

[Issue 11 at top, #12 bottom]

Then, after he'd gone blonde, he appeared on the cover for the last time before the comic ended. This time, his hair was both light and dark orange!

And finally, the true red-head Nipper we know and love!

Nipper Character Profiles: Nipper!

Nipper was the star of the comic! Our fun little lad was always having lots of fun, but things didn't always go the way he wanted them to! Illustrated by Gordon Bell, Nipper appeared on every cover of Nipper, except for #15 and #16. He appeared in a full colour comic strip in every issue (except the Holiday Special), and went on to continue in Buster, where he would last another two years! He was last seen in Buster dated 7th October 1989.

No. Of Comic Strips in Preview Comic	1
No. Of Comic Strips in Fortnightly	16
No. Of Comic Strips in Holiday Special	2
No. Of Comic Strips in Annual	1
Total No. Of Comic Strips	20

No. Of Pages in Preview Comic	2
No. Of Pages in Fortnightly	22
No. Of Pages in Holiday Special	2
No. Of Pages in Annual	2
Total No. Of Pages	28

Nipper also appeared in other a few comic strips throught the title's short run.

Appearences in Flapper	14
Appearences in Advertisements	5
Appearences in Nipper's Register	11
Appearences in Nipper Bitz	11
Total No. Of Appearences Not In Own Strip	41

Nipper Bitz was bascially the letter's page, where readers could send in letters, jokes and drawings to get printed in the comic!


Fun Fact! - Nipper always appeared with orange hair - except on the front covers of issue #10, #11 and #12, where he was blonde!

Advertisement Comic (Part 2)

Usually, to advertise comics, 4 page flyers would be given away in other titles. But a whole free comic was something special, and only a few comics had these instead of flyers. Eagle had one in 1950, Oink in 1986 and more recently The Phoenix had one in late 2011.

The comic only had half the amount of pages as the actual fortnighlty edition, which may have confused readers, since 28p for a tiny 24 page comic wasn't good value for money, since you could buy other titles such as Buster and Whizzer and Chips for 2p less. Nipper was printed on glossy magazine paper, however (the same type as Oink!).

Oink on the other hand was 30p, 4p more than Buster! This free preview issue also given away free with comics, was the same size as the actual thing. But when it was launched Nipper was 48 pages for 28p.

There were 4 pages of advertisements around the centre pages in this comic. The first one was on page 11, and it was an ad to 'Sign Up For Nipper's Register'. Nipper's Register was the chance for you to win £10! All you had to do was send off your details, and you'd get a special number. If your number was picked you could win (more details at a later date). This ad was in full colour.

The centre spread was a two page, full colour advertisement for Nipper No. 1, with illustration by what looks like Gordon Bell. It had a description of all the new characters you could meet (no names yet), plus news of a free gift!

The free gift in question got a full colour advertisement over the page, and it was a free bag of Anglo Bellamy Wilkinson "Children's Mix" sweets! As with most other gifts, this was only avaliable in the U.K.

Advertisement Comic (Part 1)

A 24 page sample of Nipper was given away with different comics when the comic was launched on 31st January 1987 (it came with other comics of the same date).

The Contents:

Cover/Page 1: Nipper, Full Colour, Artist: Gordon Bell, Scriptwriter: Unknown
Page 2: Nipper (cont.), Full Colour
Page 3: First-Time Fred, Black and White, Artist: David Jones, Scriptwriter: Unknown
Page 4: Brad Break, Black and White, Artist: Steve Bright, Scriptwriter: Unknown
Page 5: Brad Break (cont.), Black and White
Page 6: fLapper, Full Colour, Artist: Gordon Bell, Scriptwriter: Unknown
Page 7: fLapper (cont.), Full Colour
Page 8: Blaster and Bignoise, Black and White, Artist: Clive Hanning, Scriptwriter: Unknown
Page 9: Blaster and Bignoise (cont.), Black and White
Page 10: Blaster and Bignoise (cont.), Black and White,
Page 11: Advertisement, 'Sign Up Now For Nipper's Register', Full Colour
Page 12: Advertisement for Nipper No. 1 and brand new characters, Full Colour, Artist: Unknown, possibly Gordon Bell
Page 13: Advertisement for Nipper No. 1 and brand new characters (cont.), Full Colour
Page 14: Advertisement for 'Free Sweets' with Nipper No. 1, FUll Colour, Artist: Unknown
Page 15: Strongarm - Command Kart, Black and White, Artist: Mike Lacey, Scriptwriter: Unknown
Page 16: Strongarm - Command Kart (cont.), Black and White
Page 17: Strongarm - Command Kart (cont.), Black and White
Page 18: My 'Dad' Mum, Full Colour, Artist: Anthony Hutchings, Scriptwriter: Unknown
Page 19: My 'Dad' Mum (cont.), Full Colour
Page 20: School Funds, Black and White, Artist: Sid Burgon, Scriptwriter: Unknown
Page 21: School Funds (cont.), Black and White
Page 22: Double Trouble, Black and White, Artist: Terry Bave, Scriptwriter: Unknown, possibly Sheila Bave
Page 23: Nursery Crimes, Full Colour, Artist: Frank McDiarmid, Scriptwriter: Unknown
Page 24: Nursery Crimes (cont.), Full Colour

Like the next few issues to follow it, this 24 page sampler was designed as a 'Pocket Comic', hence it's name 'Nipper'. It measured 15cm across and 21cm tall. Like The Big One from the mid 1960's (which was massive instead of tiny), this wasn't very popular, and so the comic was revamped to the standard size after just 5 issues.

Next part coming soon...